Sweet Oliver Tonight

Oliver is so smart, and he baffles us by how much he understands.

We went through a really rough period of the kids wreaking havoc every night at bed time. By wreaking havoc, I mean that they play with everything that makes me nervous. Oliver would climb the shelves to turn off the cd player, he would turn off the A/C unit (the one that almost killed the Grandma next door last year during installation), and opening the windows allowing the late summer evening light to shine in (thus ruining two of the three blackout shades), and dragging Camilla's crib over to be able to look outside with him. Camilla played along too, and she was loving it! I think it really started when she could climb up in her crib. We were all going a little crazy without enough sleep, because at the same time we were also dealing with 5am wake-ups for whatever reason. Since nothing was working, we just decided that if Camilla is really tired at night, we will just put her down before story time with Oliver, and take him to our room for story time. This has made story time such a sweet and precious time with our sweet boy (for the most part...he is still two).

The other night Matthias decided to try to sing "You are my Sunshine" with Oliver. Luckily Oliver already knew it a little because of our Pandora dance parties, and he just wanted to sing it over and over again with Daddy. Then tonight, Oliver was actually able to sing along with the second verse (at least getting all of the "dear"s in). Then after we sang the song twice through, he asked "Dada, are you my sunshine? Is Momma my sunshine? Is Camilla my sunshine? Are we family?" He often asks if we are family when we are all together and happy. It always melts my heart. Although when Dad isn't home we are three family.

Because of the Independence Day celebrations this week I was teaching him a little bit of history from his "school book" and he just keeps wanting to read the 'Nited States of America stories. Then tonight he wanted to read some of the science stories reading about mommy and baby cats and ants. Then we read through a bunch of poems and sang through a bunch of songs, with Matthias and I cracking up during "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly" while Oliver was listening stone-faced. Then he had to sing us the ABC's "all by myself!" (that's his favorite song, and he sings it countless times every day) Then we started to sing "Eidelweiss", which I've been singing to him since he was a little baby and now I just hear him singing it at random times during the day.

Sometimes I wonder about him, especially as I was subbing in to lead the singing time for nursery today and he was the only one who was wildly running about. When I've got his attention he is rapt and loves to learn, but once he's done he's done. But nights like tonight always give me hope that his wildness is really just him growing up to be a really sweet boy, and while things can be extra chaotic if I make the mistake of starting lunch late or trying to put him down for nap 10 minutes late, nights like tonight where his sweetness is just oozing out and melting my heart remind me of what a precious boy he really is and how lucky we are to be his parents.

June 5, 2012 Oliver refused a nap, so I had him sit on my lap while I was doing my Jessica Sprague Art of Poster Design class (amazing, by the way!) and he fell asleep pretty quickly, so I snuggled him for a bit and then laid him down on the couch enjoying the sweetness of sleeping baby.

To add in more sweetness, Camilla is really loving (which Matthias pointed out was the only thing that he could really say in her baby blessing before she started screaming so loud it was pointless in going on). She leans at you with her lips together saying "mmmmm" until you kiss her when she'll say "ahhh!" and she is always coming up and leaning her head against me humming in satisfaction. Tonight as we were putting her to bed I told her to give Oliver kisses, so she leaned out to kiss him and he kissed her back, and she didn't want to stop giving all of us kisses. Luckily Oliver said "Ok, Camilla has one more kiss for me!" and then we went on to story time.

Other randomness Oliver was talking about tonight was when his birthday is. He knows that he turns 3 on August 10, but he still doesn't have much concept of months as he is just really starting to understand days of the week. So tonight he said "Dad, will you please drive me to August?"

Sometimes is amazes me just how little he knows, yet how smart he is. And his imagination is just starting to really pick up and I love hearing the conversations his cars and trucks have (quite often one make the other sad and so he has to give him a hug and a kiss to make him happy). There are even moments when he and Camillie play together as opposed to stealing toys from each other, and those moments are precious. :)

Independence Day

Oliver really loves holidays, so I decided that this year we would really build up the holidays. He still asks when it'll be Christmas, but at least we can have some fun blips in the middle.

Our "school studies" have been about the 'Nited States of America. We had fun looking at the American Flag, and even made a special Jello treat over a few days. With how much we loved it I can't believe we didn't take a picture of it! Just imagine this with one box of blue and 3 of red. Oliver got really excited and would sort of growl out the word "Jello!" and say that he said Jello just like Dada. I think Dada was imitating Elf saying "Christmas Gram!"

For dinner on the 3rd we had ribs and potatoes and salad. And Jello Treat. ;) Camilla was tired, so we put her to bed, but Oliver and I had just bought a new game, Candy Land, so we had a play a little before he went to bed, and of course he didn't fall asleep until after 8 because of the excitement. He didn't even know that we were planning to wake them up to go see the fireworks! Fireworks don't start until about 9:30 here, so we thought a little sleep would help us out.

We found an amazing location. Being from out west, seeing the fireworks from all over town is no big deal, but with huge trees all over town it can be quite difficult to see them. Luckily we found a park to watch them. Once they started everyone just went onto the street to see them, and we had an amazing view! I didn't bother taking my big camera, but here's an iPhone picture of us enjoying the fireworks. I love family pictures! :)




We had played with a few sparklers while waiting for them to start, and the kids loved them!

The whole thing didn't take too long at all, and we are totally going to do it the same way next year!

On the day of the 4th we decided to mess with our kids' sleep some more and go see a parade in Amherst. It was full of amazing things!



A Baptist church we walked by on the way there gave our kids free balloons! They loved them!



I made a little red bow for Camilla's hair. She wore it as a bow tie most of the day though.



There were many generations of fire engines there. Oliver loved it!



We counted 3 bagpipe bands, most of them servicemen.



Uncle Sam made a visit.



These old bicycles were awesome!



She totally reminded me of Anne Shirley. I wondered if this was a tricycle so that she didn't have to straddle a bike in a skirt.



Revolutionaries





A cute little circus camp.



Check out their skills!



Old men in little cars. Would it really be a parade without them?



Another bagpipe band



Fancy horses

New Hampshire State Seal on a float. Vote for Ovide, right? ;)



Oliver loved that balloon, and was really cute wanting to sit on the curb to watch the parade. He really didn't get bored.



The parade was REALLY hot and of course we were facing the sun. Poor Camilla was already late for her nap, and was overheated and both of them had wet hair from sweat. So what else should we do but get Italian Ice at the little fair that the parade passed by? It was absolutely amazing and the kids (and adults) loved it. Camilla loved hers so much that she spilled it all over to cool down. Of course, then she was wet, hot, and tired, so after we attempted to watch a circus act, Oliver lost his balloon and was crying uncontrollably over it, and Camilla was just done, we decided to head back to the car to cool down and head home. Camilla fell asleep in the car, but as we were getting her out she had a blowout, so we had to wake her up to change her, and then she had a hard time getting back to sleep. Oliver joined us for lunch and then went down for his nap after watching a little bit of The Music Man. It was such a late nap for two overtired kids, that we had to wake them up for dinner. Poor Oliver is impossible to wake up when he's not ready. It was actually pretty hilarious how he would balance himself while sitting while completely asleep.

 As I was finishing up at the grill for dinner (grilled pizza! mmm...) Oliver discovered Camilla's balloon that Matthias had tied to our watering can outside as he was trying to clean the Italian Ice sticky out of the stroller. Of course, in trying to hold it he untied it and it flew up into the sky and we had another huge lost balloon breakdown. Luckily pizza helped, and prayer. (Side story: a week and a half before the 4th I was changing Oliver's sheets and walking down the stairs with him when he decided to come up the stairs to help me. I told me that he could help me carry them when we got down stairs, and as he turned around he fell down half of our steep wooden stairs. Poor guy got a huge bump on his head, along with some scrapes on his nose and under his eye. There was nothing I could do being above him, so my heart just broke. However, it turned into a really good lesson on prayer. When Matthias and I realized that there was nothing that we could really do to comfort him beyond ice, water, a popsicle for his hurting teeth, and hugs, we told him that we could say a prayer for him and that Jesus would heal him. Now every time something hurts, he says "Don't worry, Momma! Jesus heals me!" and  it's totally true!) So we said a prayer about the balloon. We asked Oliver if he wanted to say it, but he didn't. However, he reminded Dada to pray for his balloon.

After dinner we played Oliver's new favorite: Candy Land!





Oliver had been asking all day if we could play with the sparklers again, so we totally intended on waking him up again when it was dark to play and even attempt pictures. However, he never really went down and it was already getting dark. He finally stayed in bed for 5 minutes, so we got him up to play and boy did we have fun!

Camilla is 1!

It's hard to believe that a year ago I was in labor and had the fastest delivery imaginable to welcome our sweet little Camilla girl. Camilla, whose name wasn't even on our list, but came to us and we realized that it's perfect. I don't think I ever wrote it down, but she was going to be Amelia Grace. At least that was the only name we didn't hate the idea of, but it was never quite right, and she came out and just wasn't an Amelia. Matthias was thinking Catherine, but I just didn't think she was a Catherine at all. Jokingly, Matthias said we should put the two names together, and call her Camelia, and well, that let us to going between Camille and Camilla. We decided to sleep on it, and when I was waking up for the morning (although I'm sure I nursed a time or two in there) Matthias told me that he felt really good about that name because he'd looked up the meaning of it. Both names meant "perfect", which was all we could ever call our precious little girl. Camille is French, and Camilla is Italian, so we went by Matthias's mother's heritage since she is half-Italian. Camilla has been perfect for our little girl, and I'm excited to see how she likes her name.

We decided to continue our tradition of sneaking presents into the crib while she was sleeping. She didn't even notice.

We got her a little teaset to play with. Notice how perfectly her little finger is extended. Oh, and that's a picture of a yawn, but it sure looks like Camilla-zilla, doesn't it?

Oliver came up with the nickname Camillie, so that's what we call her when we don't call her Camilla. However, when she is tired and gets into crazy mode, we call her Camilla-zilla.

Camilla has been slower in motor skills than Oliver, but I feel like I can communicate with her better than him at one year. Part of that I'm sure is that I know more, but she's a little communicator. For a long time she wouldn't even put weight on her legs, she would just hold them out ready to sit down. In the last month she has been putting weight on them and climbing up on things. She'll be walking in no time, and Oliver can't wait! For now I'm loving that she still army crawls and that her shirts get far dirtier than her knees.

She decided to grace us with her first "I'm tall enough to pull up and play the piano" on her birthday.

I love her little toes!

Having a Memorial Day birthday was fun because the whole family was home to play. First we had a photo shoot where Camilla was a doll!

Do you want some, Momma?

Showing off that she actually puts weight on her feet now.

Ah! That smile! All 6 teeth and those eyes and cheeks just kill me!

Camilla's smile reaches her eyes, and she often does it with pursed lips like she's holding in the laughter.

She gets very serious when stirring her cocoa. And notice that the headband didn't last long at all. ;)

She was using her spoon on a bit of grass that was on her tutu...

That face! And you can see that her hair is getting long enough to show a little  bit of curl.

How she spends most of the day: with something sticking out of her mouth. She crawls around all day with various toys in her mouth. 

More stirring. We just discovered that she LOVES using a bowl and spoon/fork. Oliver was a disaster with food, but she is actually pretty neat with it (well, as neat as a baby can be, lol!)

Check out those little toes in our lawn of clover. ;)

Being an army crawler gets her shirts filthy, but she spends her day with her feet in the air and it's adorable!

 Such a curious little girl...

Full of so much spunk! I love our little Camillie!

Then, while I was making dinner (mmmm...I made Greek gyros!) Matthias set up our new to us inflatable pool and the kids played with him outside. I even joined them with my feet in for a little bit. The best idea was when they put the slide in. This could keep Oliver entertained for hours!

All the while Matthias was chilling with Camilla, who was playing with the Woody ball.

 I should have gotten a picture too, so we could sing "We are a happy family!" I love these three!

Then we had some dinner of Greek Gyros. They were amazing, if I do say so myself. And Oliver and Camilla would agree too.

Camilla loves to share her food.

And Oliver's gyro took a turn being a dinosaur...

For Camilla's first taste of cake I tried out a new recipe for pink lemonade cupcakes.

Camilla was really excited about it all, and once she had a taste she was stuffing it into her mouth as quickly as possible.

Matthias made sure I got some pictures with the birthday girl. She really wanted my cupcake, but luckily she shared once I gave in.

Oliver liked his cupcake too.

Then we finished the night with a family picture thanks to the timer on my camera. Luckily 1 out of the 10 shots had this perfect smile on Oliver. The others are all stony-faced!

I'm pretty sure Camilla was on sugar overload. I love our little family!

Now for the stats:
Weight: 20.8 lbs (about 40%)
Head: 46.5cm (about 85%)
Length: 28.5" (about 20%)

As you can see, she is a smart baby, but slow on the gross motor skills. Her fine motor skills constantly amaze me though. Every baby is different, right? (oh, and she has a big head and little arms...)

Her words are:

Hi (accompanied with a cute little wave)
Bye ( " )
Mama
Dada
Ssss (Potty, accompanied with the sign)
Yayaya and pretty much all other babble noises in parrot.
She calls her little lambie and her little baby doll "Buh" and hugs and kisses them.

She can also sign "More", but usually screams like Camilla-zilla first. ;) Oliver would join in, so we told him that he needs to be a good example for Camilla and we remind him to whisper scream, and she joins right in.

One of Camilla's favorite games has always been Peek-a-Boo, and now she she pulls her blanket up she says "Buh!" with her eyes laughing in pure pleasure.

Matthias loves to make our babies talk, by moving their chins and saying words in a high-pitched baby voice. It was funny when Oliver would try to mimic Matthias mimicking Camilla, but it's funnier now that Camilla mimics Matthias and Oliver mimicking her. She puts her little finger up to her chin and says "Me, me me" which is the generic word that Matthias would always use when he wasn't saying "I love Dada!" or other such nonsense. I love it!

She also started nodding her head every time we ask her a question. It is just about the cutest thing ever and she does it so confidently like she knows what we are saying (and I'm pretty sure she does a lot of the time). It's so refreshing having such an agreeable baby along with an almost 3 year old.

We love our sweet Camillie and her snuggles and smiles and kisses melt our hearts every day! She's been an amazing sleeper until recently, but I think she's starting to transition to 1 nap, and I remember this being torture with Oliver, and it's not there yet. It wouldn't be so bad if Oliver weren't insistent on playing with "my sister" when they are trying to go to bed. You know, cute and aggravating at the same time. At least they love each other, which is what we wanted in having 2 kids so close together. Oliver is pretty cute, and Camilla is pretty cute, but together they are just amazingly cute!