7,8 lay them straight

Okay so I am in need of keeping up on my blog. I am so sorry for those who are regular readers. I think about it everyday for 2 minutes and then I am distracted by my baby climbing up the stairs. I don't get the chance very often anymore to be on a computer. It is 4:30 a.m. and I am awake. I couldn't fall back asleep. I was screaming at myself (in my head), "Tailour! Stop thinking about random things and go back to sleep!" I kept saying that over and over in my head. Nope! Couldn't fall back asleep. So I am going to use this time wisely and catch up on my blog here.

Last Sunday my precious baby boy turned eight months. I can't believe how short of a time he has been alive because it has seemed like forever since I gave birth to him. It seems a lot longer I guess when you don't get any sleep.

Here are my notes from when he was seven and eight months.

Seven months:

• Can grab his feet and eat his toes. (We call them piggies)
• Pats my arm randomly which is super cute because it makes me feel like he is telling me that I am doing a good job at being his mother.
• Has started and tried pulling himself up.
• Being a big boy and not taking naps during church when I want him to so I can listen to the talks and lessons.
• Loves being outdoors and our walks together.
• Mimics noises. He can say "Ma" but doesn't associate the word with me.
• On May 19,2013 during Stake Conference he started making crawling movements. I put him on the floor so I could take notes. I looked down at one point to see if he was doing okay or if he fell asleep. I saw him pulling himself forward trying to get a toy. He didn't crawl with his head up though, I guess he thought it was to heavy for him. But the next day he started crawling with his head up. (I guess it really isn't crawling, more like pulling himself...army crawl I guess it what people call it.)
• HE HAS A TOOTH! And bites me nonstop. I think my shoulder has bruises from him constantly biting me. I have screamed a couple of times because it really hurts. I looked at him with a stern look and tell him not to bite me because it hurts mommy. He will either smile and do a little laugh or if I am serious enough he will cry a little. And he is so cute that I have to look the other way to smile and let out a little laugh and then look back at him with a serious look trying to teach him that biting people hurts. 
• May 14,2013 was a really cold day and so we got the wood stove burning. I think I was taking a shower at the time and I don't remember what Quentin was doing. Oliver was in his walker and back up straight into the wood stove and burned his little fingertips. I cried and cried. He cried for only ten seconds. And it didn't seem to bother him that he had huge burn blisters on his left hand. He still pounded that hand on things. I cringed every time he would hit his hand on something. 
• May 29, 2013 I was changing Oliver's diaper on our bed and I needed an outfit from the dryer. So I left him there and ran to the dryer, grabbed the outfit and ran back. I was back just in time to see him roll off of our bed and onto the floor. I screamed and tried to catch him. I was too late. I hated myself so leaving him there. But that makes one drop for Quentin and one drop for me. Not that I am counting or anything.

Oliver is eight months woot woot:

• Has fully learned how to pull himself up onto things and get himself down. It is so cute (and scary) to watch him get down from things. He will grunt and whine because he is frustrated that the ground is so far away and he doesn't want to land on his head. It takes him almost a full two minutes for him to get back down so he can crawl around. He will kneel down and try to touch the ground and then realizes how far away it is so he stands back up. If he doesn't get back down then he will look at me and cry begging for help. I find that cute too.
• June 16,2013 Quentin found a beetle in Oliver's mouth. 
• June 17,2013 Oliver ate his dinner later than usual and threw up 4-5 times that night. I think I changed my clothes a couple of times.
• June 20,2013 Quentin and I were making dinner. Oliver was crawling around on the floor. He was fine and having fun when all of a sudden he let out a huge scream. I look over and there was a wasp on his right ring finer. I immediately dropped what I was doing pulled that wasp off of my baby and threw it. Quentin found it and killed it which I am grateful for. I picked up Oliver who was crying so loudly (which I have never heard before) that my ears were ringing. I think he cried for at least an hour. I had to hold his hand so he couldn't use it. His finger swelled up and he got a little hot and I was getting worried. Quentin did some research and found out that it was normal for him to swell and get hot after a wasp sting. I don't know how that wasp got in the house or onto my child's hand but I strongly disliked him for stinging my baby. Now that I think about it, I think the wasp's wings were damaged and Oliver thought he was interesting and picked him up and the wasp didn't like that so he stung Oliver.
• I didn't write down the date on this one but Oliver has taught himself to climb up the stairs. Not just a couple of stairs but ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP! This is scary because the stairs at Quentin's parent's place don't have any side railing. I have to constantly watch Oliver now. I can't put up a gate because there is no railing for the gate to work effectively. I have learned to put objects on the first stair so Oliver can't climb up them any more.

Well there you have it. News from me about Oliver's developing and growing up. I have to say he is a handful and it makes me not want to have anymore kids. But I know deep down inside of me I want more. Quentin and I think we will have about five. We wrote down the order of which gender our kids will be just for fun. 

Oliver is still so sweet and adorable. I like his Jack O' Lantern smile. How curious he is about EVERYTHING and how things work. I like watching him listen to sounds outside and how calming the wind is blowing through the leaves on a tree. I like how active he is when I change his diaper and he rolls over to see what is behind him and then cries when I put him back onto his back so I can put a diaper on him. I love how much of a mommy's boy he is. I love seeing him learn how to use his body. I love how excited he gets when daddy is done working and can play and give attention to him. I love seeing those two together. 

Quentin has been the most wonderful husband. I couldn't have asked for a better companion. In the mornings he takes Oliver so I can get some much need sleep. He also takes Oliver when I get frustrated with him. Quentin reminds me that I am not alone in raising this child of God. He helps me see things in a different perspective. He show me love and kindness. And tells me that I am beautiful even when I don't feel like it. Recently at night before we doze off he has been telling me what he loves about me. I smile and cry a little inside because I need to hear those words. I am grateful for such a wonderful and amazing husband. I don't know what I did to get him but I am glad he is mine. Oh goodness, I just teared up a little. I have learned that having children makes you more emotional. I cry all the time, they are happy tears of course. I am remind how good Heavenly Father is and how blessed I am.

Here are some pictures of Oliver when he was seven and eight months:

Got him a Johnny Jumper. He loves it!

Do you see those precious tears?

Working with dad. Giving him a high five for working so hard.

I love his face in this picture.

My world!

We decided to give him a lemon...

and this was his reaction.

:)

I think he liked it in the end.

I love spending one on one time with this boy!

His eyes are amazing.

I think someone took my phone and took a picture of us sleeping.

I love seeing these two together.

He got stuck between the toilet and the wall. He couldn't figure out how to back himself out of it so he let out a yelp until someone came. 

Isn't he adorable!?

I love watching him sleep. 

That sounds creepy.

And I just remembered that there are pictures and videos on Quentin's phone. I am too lazy to upload them though so I guess you will just have to deal with only getting half of our pictures and such.

5,6 Videos

So here are the videos that I promised. I don't know why it has taken me almost forever to upload.
I thought there were more videos but I guess not. Well there are more videos but not ones worth sharing. I hope you enjoy these! I guess while I am writing a post I will talk about Mother's Day. It was an amazing day and I enjoyed every second of it. I got a mug with a star on it with Peanut Butter M&M's inside it from Quentin and Oliver. At church they passed out flowers to all of the mothers which was thoughtful. I got to sleep in. I can't remember if Q and I went on a walk or not. Actually I can't remember all of the details that happened but I just remember it was a good day. This is my first Mother's Day that I got to celebrate thanks to Oliver for making a mom. He is so precious to me and I love him to the moon and back and more. He makes me smile, laugh, cry (happy tears during those tender moments), and he makes me see life with a different perspective. I love my little family and I can't wait to celebrate Father's Day. I have it all planned out.

Fun stuff

I am getting way behind on my blog posts and I am going to use nap time to play catch up. So bear with me. Also these are going to be short and not as detailed as I would like them to be because Oliver doesn't take long naps anymore.

I know Father's day was two months ago and I don't really remember everything but I will do my best. Father's day was exciting for me because it was Quentin's first Father's Day. I made him a memory book from Shutterfly. It tells a story of Oliver looking up to his dad and thanking him for the things that he has taught him so far. It is really cute. It has pictures of just Quentin and Oliver. I think I did a nice job and thanks to Shutterfly for helping me make it.
Oliver and I gave Quentin the book and some Reese's Pieces. At church there were some nice talks. I can't remember if  there were handouts for the fathers. I think we went on a walk after church. It was just a really nice day for us all.

Quentin's 30th birthday was in June and I had fun planning that out. I just invited family, the missionaries, and one family friend. It was suppose to rain that day but I kept going with the plan of having an outdoor camp out party. It didn't rain thankfully and we got to make a fire and have hot dogs over the fire. I made a gluten free cheesecake with everybody enjoyed. I also made 3D cardboard numbers and wrapped them in birthday wrapping paper. The numbers were a 3 and a 0 because that is what my love was turning that day. We had some outdoor games going on like volleyball, Frisbee, horseshoes, bad-mitten, and something else. It was a good day. Quentin really enjoyed it too. He said that was the first birthday that he has ever been excited about and that made me smile.

The 4th of July was a fun day for us. We watched a parade that was held in town. Oliver ate graham crackers and drank water during the whole parade. Quentin dropped his phone and cracked it. ( And then he dropped it a couple days after that. It is a good thing he had insurance on it because I wasn't about to pay $400 for another phone.) After the parade we came home and had some watermelon and lunch. I think we went to Beaver Brook Falls but I don't really remember. That night we went over to Quentin's Aunt Saundra's place and watched the fireworks from her porch. It was neat. Oliver was sleeping but then woke up from the noises of the fireworks. I was surprised that he didn't cry at all. He would watch them and then close his eyes because they were bright and he just woke up. That was his first firework show. We then came home and went straight to bed because we were pooped! I wish I took pictures but I didn't. I'm sorry.

We recently found a place to live. Our closing date is August 15 and we are super excited to finally have our own place and to move out of his parent's house. We wanted a house with several bedrooms and that came with some land. The property would also have to have access to fast internet because that is basically Quentin's job. Well we looked and looked and looked and we found some nice land but the houses were just trash and gross and not livable. We got desperate so we found a place in town but not directly in town which is nice that way we still have some privacy. We are purchasing a trailer that is in a really well kept trailer park. There are many people that live there. The trailer has three bedrooms and one bath. It comes with two decks and a carport. We also get to choose what tree we want on our lot. The trailer park is also very quite and there aren't a whole lot of children there but there are some. We are just going to be here for a few years until we can find a place that has everything we want.

So that is an update on our little family. Oh and there he is. Oliver is calling my name peeps. Sorry for such a short update.

5,6 Pick up sticks

I see that I titled my last blog 3,4 Shut the door so I guess I will continue the nursery rhyme with 5,6 Pick up sticks. I need to get better about writing in my blog. I have been thinking and thinking about it and now I am just tired of thinking about it that I am just going to write in it. Well so updated news, I have graduated from BYU-Idaho and I am now a full time mother. YAY! Quentin has a new job and quit his other two jobs. And Oliver is growing bigger and more handsome each day.
I am not good at remembering Oliver's milestones so I write them down on a post it note and then I stick it in my journal. So I am just going to go down the list that I have here for you peeps to be involved and know what is going on in his life.
Oliver's 5th month on earth:
March 1- While I was holding Oliver up in the air above my head he spat up so quickly that I could not dodge it and so it landed in my mouth and I accidentally swallowed some of it. It was really REALLY gross and I think since that day I haven't held him above my head.
March 4- Daddy was watching Oliver while I was doing some chores. Oliver was in the swing while daddy was working at his computer. Oliver was crying and I asked Quentin to hold him till I got this last thing done. I think I was doing laundry or something but I was watching Quentin. His head was fixed on the computer screen reading something. He stopped the swing, opened up the tray and then paused for a moment. That little pause was enough time for Oliver to lean forward and fall out of the swing and onto the floor flat on his face. I screamed, "QUENTIN!" And then rushed over to pick up Oliver and I got really upset at Quentin that I stormed to our bedroom and tried to comfort our son. Quentin comes in looking all sad and then I felt angry at myself for not letting Quentin comfort Oliver and make his wrong right. I think I will forever have that image in my mind because writing it is making me all upset again.
March 10- Oliver was giving signs that he was interested in food. So I went to the store and I bought banana baby food, rubber spoons, and some bibs. We fed them to Oliver and he just spit every bite out. I learned that he wasn't ready for food. And since then I have done a lot of homework of baby food. I have decided that I will not buy already made baby food. I have bought a Baby Bullet online and I get it tomorrow and I will be making his pureed food.
March 15- I forget why Quentin and I were wrestling but we were on the couch. Oliver was in his swing. Quentin then tickled me and I let out a scream. I guess Oliver thought I was in trouble because he started to cry and he looked like he wanted to protect me. It was cute that he thought that I was in trouble.
March 18- We bought a walker for Oliver to move around the house in. When we first bought it he would only move backwards. But now that he has had it for over a month he moves forward, backwards, and sideways. Pretty soon he will be running up and down the hallways.
March 19- Oliver flipped over after weeks of not doing it.

Oliver's 6th month on earth:
April 1-My poor baby boy was sick. Quentin and I were sick too but we didn't look cute being sick. Oliver was though and I took some pictures.

Lately Oliver has learned that there are things behind him. He will arch his back to see what noises are behind him. He is so adorable. I will be holding him and talking to him and then he would look up and see me and smile. Oh he melts my heart when I look into those big blue eyes. Oliver is getting better about grabbing objects.

April 9- Oliver rolled over from his back to his belly and then scooted himself backwards. Pretty soon he will be crawling I fell like.
Oliver "kissed" my cheek. Well, more like sucked on it but it was still tender of him to do that. He has been touching Quentin and I's faces. He is more gentle with my face than daddy's. I love it when he touches my face or pets my arms or grabs at me hair and pulls it. I don't know if I really love that last one.
April 15- Oliver was laying on our bed one morning and he tried catching a sun ray. It was the cutest thing to watch. He believed that he could touch it and hold it in his hand.
Oliver wraps his feet around EVERYTHING!!! When I am feeding him he pulls his legs forward and then wraps them around my arm. When he is on his play mat he wraps them around one of the poles and even some of the toys.
April 19- This was the first day that felt amazing outside. It got up to 70 degrees. Winter was finally over and Spring is on its way. Daddy took the day off from work and we went over to Beaver Brook Falls with Oliver's cousins, Maya and Chase, and Aunt Ivy. It was a wonderful day. It was Oliver's first time at the waterfall and sorta hike. We then came home and played out in the sandbox. He mostly ate the sand. His overalls collected a lot of sand.

Something else that Oliver does is play with shadows. He likes to fake cough. He makes bubbles with his mouth and spitting noises. I taught him that I think. When we are changing his diaper he will kick his legs non stop. He loves having his diaper changed and being clean. He smiles and even laughs sometimes. He watches me and where I am walking and if I leave the room he will start to get worried and do a soft. I come back into the room and he is all good again. There is this lady at church that loves Oliver to death. She sits behind us and Oliver gives her smiles and she says that makes her day. I believe her because I love seeing his smile. Lately Oliver hasn't been sleeping through the nights. Last night was horrible, he cried for an hour I think. Quentin was trying to comfort him. I didn't want to hold him because I was tired and kind of mad at Oliver for waking up so much. After a while I took Oliver and he quieted down. It made me feel good. There are times where I wish I wasn't a mom but then I look at Oliver and see his precious little body and I fall in love with him all over again. I love being a mom. It is hard work but I don't mind. I am willing to go through the hard times. Mother's day is coming up in a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully I can get the day off or something close to it. Probably not but a girl can always hope.

I will also take this time to say that I love my husband so much. He is such a great supporter, husband, and dad. He is the best man that I could have married. He is helpful and patient with both Oliver and me. He is kind and forever loving. He cares so much about Oliver. I don't talk to much about Quentin now that Oliver is in our lives. Yesterday Quentin came home from work early and came up to me and said that he wanted to go on a date. We haven't been on a date since we moved and that is almost 5 months. I got all excited and even some butterflies in my stomach. Aunt Ivy and B (Grandma Skousen) watched Oliver and off Quentin and I went. We got some lunch to go from First Run and we went to Beaver Brook Falls and hiked the river all the way back. It was so much fun. Quentin and I got to enjoy nature, sit down and talk without any interruptions. It was a joy to be alone with my eternal companion. I fell in love with this man all over again. He is handsome and strong and I love his eyes. I just love my little family. Oh goodness, I am starting to get teary eyed just thinking about how special my family is to me.

NOW FOR SOME PICTURES!!!:

I don't think I have said this enough but I love sleeping babies.

His pants were so big that you could pull them up to his chest.

Oliver tackling his toy.

He fell asleep in his walker

Oliver in the nude with a blanket that Aunt Lara made.

I love him so much!

Looks like he is smiling. 

His little feet are adorable. He can curl his toes around my finger.

All prepped to eat.

First time eating bananas. We stopped feeding him after that first try. Now that he is 6 months we are picking it back up again and he is eating like a pro now. So proud of him.

My little man and my man together.

I forgot who asked me to get a profile picture of him but here you go!

I like his lips in this picture.

"Hey lady"

Eating his book while we are at church.

My poor sick baby.

Sick boy sleeping. Love his long eye lashes!

He likes to stick out his tongue. Don't ask me who taught him that.

There is that tongue again.

I think he was looking at Winkie but I like that his hands are folded together.

You don't get to many mommy and Oliver pictures because I am the one taking them but Quentin managed to get us together.

This is Beaver Brook Falls

Family Picture

Playing in the sandbox

SEE!? His feet can grab things.

I still have to upload some videos but I am too tired to right now. So the next blog post I write will be just videos and you will LOVE them. Okay goodnight!