23 MONTHS

It never fails.  Another month flashed before my eyes. And as the months fly by, they seem to just get more fun with our little man.  He's growing and learning at a rate I never imagined.

At 23 Months...

-Hanley mastered his colors literally the day after I posted his 22 month post.  So, I decided we needed to start working on letter recognition. One of the things I purchased for him was an alphabet place mat.  Since so much of our evening is spent at the dinner table, I figured that would be a good way to incorporate letters and learning into our nightly dinner conversations. It's been a great addition to our evenings. 

-Beyond learning, the place mat has been fun for Hanley too.  Most evenings after dinner, he hides his fork under the place mat and says "Where the fork?" with the biggest grin on his face. 

-I mentioned in my last post, Hanley had school pictures. His individual pictures turned out pretty good. His class picture just cracks me up though.

2014 Class Picture

-One morning, Uncle Wayne and Hanley were playing and they made a couch fort together. That started Hanley's fort obsession. Now, He has to have a fort on a daily basis. Sometimes we will be playing "dumps" and all of a sudden he will say "dump fort". So, we have to build a fort to park all his dumps in. 

-Hanley loves stickers.  What a boy will do for a sticker is unbelievable! Who knew something as simple as a sticker would have such an impact on him. Once we realized how important they were to him, we started using them as a rewards. He "earns" stickers by using his listening ears, using the big boy potty, etc. One evening we learned they work quite effectively as a punishment too. We had an incident where out of frustration, he hit me.  I told him that was not okay and he needed to use gentle hands.  He hit me a second time.  I told him if he didn't use gentle hands, I was going to take his sticker away.  He said "no" and hit me a third time so I took his sticker away, walked straight to the garbage and thew it away.  He followed me screaming and crying "No! No take sticker!!" I had a cold that week and lost my voice so I knew he couldn't hear me over his crying. I told Cody to sit him down and explain why I took his sticker away.  He refused to listen to Cody and hit him too. It landed him in time out then an early bedtime.  It was a rough night for everyone.  We could hear him in his room crying "No take sticker" clearly still upset about losing his sticker. This was a good learning lesson. Since that evening, we have never had to take another sticker away from him.  Yes, there have been times that we have warned him that he would lose his sticker if he didn't do XYZ but that simple warning always does the trick.  He knows Mom and Dad WILL do exactly what they say if his behavior doesn't change. Following through with what you say has already proven to us it's importance as parents. Something we need to always keep in mind but especially as we near the terrible 2's stage coming up.

-Hanley recently got a couple new pairs of PJ's. This has really helped with getting ready for bed because he gets excited about which PJ's he's going to wear. The first time he wore his new Fox PJ's he went around the house saying "Fox Shirt. Fox Pants." The only problem is that it sounded more like F*ck instead of Fox.  So, I made a mental note to never send him to school in a Fox shirt.

-Most evenings I let Hanley choose which PJ's he wants to wear.  He always seems to have a strong opinion about wearing his "Dump" PJ's one night or his "Fire Truck" PJ's another night. So, one Saturday morning I thought maybe he should have more say in what he wears during the day. We were in his room and when I asked him what he wanted to wear today, he grabbed tropical swim shorts and a Dinosaur PJ shirt.  I let him wear it (after all, it was a Saturday at home) but now I make sure to just pick out two outfits and let him decided between the two rather than have full range of his closet!

-We took Hanley to the pumpkin patch.  Something that I really enjoy doing.  We had a good time picking out pumpkins, eating apple cider donuts, and playing in the nut hut but what he really loved was the hay ride.  He's been telling us for weeks "Mommy, I fun at tractor".

A Big Day for the Olson Family

Friday October 10th, was an exciting day.  It was Hanley's 23rd month Birthday, school picture day, and the day of our ultrasound.

I dropped Hanley off in the morning and met Cody at the hospital for our ultrasound.  The time had come to find out if a Little Lady or another Little Mister was going to complete our family.  Baby was loud and clear when it came time to show off the goods.  Turns out we didn't even need a professional in the room. Cody and I both looked at the screen and at the same time said "Another BOY!".

It was important to me that Hanley be the first one to hear the news, So, after our appointment, Cody went to work and I picked up Hanley from school with a BLUE balloon in hand to tell him he was going to have a little brother! Hanley and I spent the rest of the beautiful October day at the park celebrating the news (and of course his 23rd month birthday).

Handsome Big Brother!

Later, we made calls and sent texts to close friends and family announcing the news of Baby Boy Olson. My favorite response was from a co-worker (who was rooting for another boy from the beginning). A text that read, " Yay!!!! Cody will love it! You already have everything! A financial wind fall!". I was laughing so hard because her and I both knew that would probably be the first thing to run through Cody's head.  And guess what? When he got home from work that evening he said two things: "Well I guess we better start discussing boy names" and "So, this means we already have everything. We don't have to buy anything for the baby, right?" I can't think of better news for such a frugal person...Getting a second use out of everything we already have!

We didn't waste anytime.  We started discussing baby names at dinner that evening. We asked Hanley for his opinion. When the name he came up with was "Seven!!"(with such excitement), we decided for the sake of the Baby we would keep this decision between Mommy and Daddy. So, it was decided. His name will be Henrik Loren Olson but I am sure he will be called "Seven" a time or two :o)

Baby #1 vs. Baby #2

This pregnancy has been way different than the first. I had it so easy with Hanley.  This time around- not so much.

Week 13 Bump #1 and Bump #2

Weeks 6-10 were the worst. I was so tired at first..like beyond tired. Our office was on semi-vacation for a couple weeks so I had a couple extra days at home with Hanley. I would spend 2-3 hours napping during the day then turn around head to bed by 9pm. I don't ever remember being so tired when I was pregnant with Hanley but then again, I wasn't chasing a 2 year old around back then.

Dr. June arrived back from vacation at about week 10, that's when I told the office. Despite being excited about the baby, I was actually in tears when I announced my pregnancy. I was just so sick. I spent the whole morning throwing up. I took a long lunch that day and went home to nap for 2 hours.  When I came back I was feeling a little better and was at least able to make it through the day. That was probably the turning point.  There have still been a handful of morning and evenings of feeling nauseous but I think the worst was behind me at that point.

I started showing a lot sooner with this baby.  I have heard that is to be expected with baby #2 though.

I have a heightened sense of smell which I never experience with Hanley. We normally keep tomatoes in the pantry but I absolutely can not handle the smell. So, it's a strict rule in the house to keep them in the fruit bowl on the counter.

Everyone asks about cravings.  However, I have never really had any true cravings for anything with either pregnancy.  The only thing I can say is that with both pregnancies I have experienced enhanced taste buds. The difference is food tasted better with Hanley and it seems to taste worse with this baby.

Both pregnancies naturally left me feeling more emotional during the first trimester.  With Hanley, I was very emotional about all the changes in my body. It was really hard for me to accept the lack of control I had over my weight.  This time around, I feel a lot more at ease with the changes. Since I was capable of getting back to my pre-baby weight the first time, I know I can do it again. So...Pass another cookie please! J/k...

With Hanley I had the easiest pregnancy with one tough labor and delivery.  Since this pregnancy has been harder, I am fully expecting the trade off to be an easier labor! It seems that would only be fair...

Week 15-Baby Bump #2

22 MONTHS

We have spent the last couple weeks trying to get settled into the new house but its hard to unpack when your never home!!! Busy weekends away means we have been playing hard this month.  However, it also means some of the house is still in boxes.

At 22 Months...

-Hanley has a serious obsession with "dumps". Anytime he hears the back up beeping sound, he runs to the window yelling "Mommy dump!  I see dump!".  This makes one happy kid on garbage day.

Dump Day!

-He say's "love you". My heart melts every. dang. time.

-I love that he loves to read.  I can't even tell you how many books we read every day. Actually, I can...about 5. We just read those same 5 books more times than I can count.

-We spent Labor Day weekend at the Oregon Coast with my side of the family.  Believe it or not, it was Hanley's first beach experience.  He called the ocean "bubble waves" and of course loved the sand.  We totally wore him out at the aquarium.  He had so much fun and kept saying "More fish! More fish!". He played hard all weekend.

-The weekend at the coast, Wayne and Brooke announced they are having a GIRL!!!!! If you can't tell, I am pretty excited to have a little niece to spoil!!!

-Cody and I recently celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. The most time we spent together that weekend was doing the weekly grocery shopping at Winco.  It wasn't exactly how I planned on spending our first milestone anniversary. However, we had a blast celebrating April and Tyler's Wedding that weekend instead. We hope to plan a date night to make up for it in the near future.

-Hanley is doing great at daycare.  They often comment on what a good little teachers helper he is!

-He knows most of his colors: yellow, blue, green, pink, purple, and white. For whatever reason, he has a hard time with the color red.

-He loves Elmo, Mickey Mouse and "Dumps".

New House/New Baby

Coordinating the sale of a home and the purchase of another was way more involved and complicated than I imagined. We have had lots of ups and downs in the last several months but it all finally came to and end. We signed the sale papers to our old house and found a new house just in the nick of time.

Our bank was awesome to work with. We were able to close on the new house in 3 weeks! Everything went so smooth.  The sellers were moving out of state for work so they were motivated to get the deal closed too.

We had lots of help from family and friends. My Mom came up one weekend so she could help us pack. Kim and Loren came up another weekend to help with the move.  Our friends Cam, Kramer and Rachael showed up with their muscles on moving day too! 

I don't even think Hanley realized we moved.  He walked into the new house and acted like nothing changed and same with Roxy. Maxi on the other hand has been traumatized by the move. She hid under our bed for the first 24 hours. She then ventured into the master bathroom and walk in closet and hid there for another 24 hours.  It took her about a week to even cautiously make it down the stairs. She would come down in the evening after Hanley went to bed and it was quiet downstairs. She still doesn't feel very comfortable in the new house but I am sure she will in time. 

There are so many things I love about the new house:

-A level driveway, backyard and street... all which are Hanley friendly!

-Our street dead ends to farmland.  Hanley loves to walk down the street to see the horses and chickens!

-The neighborhood is so quiet!

-My kitchen and all the cupboard space! My Fiestaware looks great! 

-Cody loves the built in sprinkler system and A/C.  I am unsure about the A/C. We have already had a domestic dispute over it when I have asked him to turn it down. I told him one night that I never thought I would get in trouble for trying to save him a few bucks! Haha. 

-Our laundry room is amazing.  We are pretty sure there is more cupboard space in our new laundry room than there was in our old kitchen! My new washer and dryer are an added bonus in the laundry room!

-There are so many little details I love: The recessed ceiling in the formal dining room and the office, the wainscoting in the formal dining room, the french doors going into the master bedroom and master bathroom, the built-ins in all the closets, the fire place and the classy look of the wrought iron fixtures. 

It's almost like this house was built for us.  It's the perfect family home for our growing family.  Yes, I said GROWING family...

As of March 2015, our family will be complete when Hanley becomes a BIG brother!

21 MONTHS!

Hanley is almost 22 months old and I am just now posting his 21 month post.  Life has been busier than ever around here with packing and moving, work, friends Wedding's and busy weekends. It's pretty sad that it took Cody and I getting sick for us to actually slow down.

At 21 Months...

-I recently mentioned how much I love our bedtime routine before we tuck him in for bed.  Well, Hanley has switched things up and started tucking us in! It is so funny. He forcefully demands that we lay on our belly so he can place a 'baby' over each of us. Then he pats us on the back and says "Night Night Mommy. Night Night Daddy." Then as soon as we close our eyes and pretend to snore, he takes the babies away from us, lays down himself and pretends to snore.  I can't even describe how cute it is.

-Our neighbor girl gave Hanley a bunch of her old toy dinosaurs.  He loves them. So, of course we had to take him to Discover the Dinosaurs at the Portland Expo Center last weekend.  We were certain he would love it but we had some reservations when we walked in and heard how loud was inside.  Cody reluctantly paid the parking fee and the inflated ticket fee and we entered. There were about 10 scenes, each dinosaur scene was complete with a backdrop, sound effects (LOUD sound effects), motion, special lighting and even a fog machine. I packed Hanley around in the Ergo and we made a couple loops around making sure to look at each exhibit closely and read up on each species (I learned a lot about dinosaurs!). Hanley seemed to enjoy it but we had other plans the rest of the day so we decided it was time to go. As soon as we walked out the doors, Hanley pointed toward the doors and said "in".  Apparently, he wasn't ready to go. So, we went back in.  I explained to him that we would go around "1 more time then go bye-bye". This time, he directed us around.  He pointed to each exhibit in the order he wanted to see them.  So, we saw each exhibit one last time then headed out (which Hanley was okay with because we prepared him in advance that we were going bye-bye).  Cody was underwhelmed with the experience but we both agreed that Hanley really enjoyed it....and thats all that matters.

-The next day we met up with my cousin Melissa and her family for a fun day! We went out to lunch and then to Rosse Posse Acres. It was our first time so Melissa showed us the ropes. She scheduled the tour where we got to learn a lot about the elk farm then meet the elk themselves. After the tour, the kids got to check out the petting zoo then play on the playground.

-My brother Mark bought his first home! So, Hanley and I made a quick trip to Eugene to check it out.  It's a perfect house for him.

-Cody was in Quincy, WA for work the day that Hanley and I drove down to Eugene to check out Marks house.  Earlier that week, Cody said "Watch....watch our dream house come on the market the day both of us are out of town." And....that is exactly what happened! I got a text from Cody at 9 am Friday morning when I was half way to Eugene.  "THE" house popped up on the market first thing Friday morning.  As soon as I got to Eugene, I called our Realtor. Cody and I both rushed home Friday evening to look at the house and place our offer right away. There was no messing around. We were going to get this house....and we did! So, the packing began...

-Hanley has been Daddy's little buddy lately.  Whether Cody is mowing the lawn, pulling weeds or fixing something, Hanley is right there next to him and the action.

20 MONTHS!

Another month flashed before our eyes.  We now have a 20 month old on our hands and he's a blast.

At 20 Months Old...

-This has honestly been such an awesome stage in our little mans' life (Do I say that every month?!).  He's talking up a storm!! It's insane how many new words he's using and how he can use them in the correct context. I think he's a little bit of a smarty pants.

-He also copies everything we say and do.  Especially when it comes to Daddy.  One day, Cody stubbed his toe on a chair and said "ouch". Hanley witnessed the whole thing then walked down the hall, purposely kicked the chair and said "ouch" just like Daddy!

-We really have to start watching what we say around him because he dropped his first F Bomb around the campfire 4th of July weekend.  Oops! That was a little bit of an eye opener for us.

-One of he new words is "hot dog!".  He actually uses the term when he wants to watch Micky Mouse Clubhouse. At the end of each show they play the "hot dog" song and he loves it! It's so cute but we don't encourage too much TV around this house so we strictly limit his screen time.

-We gathered with family to help Easton celebrate his birthday.  Easton had a Duck Dynasty themed party which was super fun. Plus we loved spending the extra time with family.

-My absolute favorite time of the day is just before bed.  We brush his teeth then have family snuggles on our bed.  Sometimes we spend the evening tickling him and laughing. On rambunctious nights he tries to wrestle us or we play "dog pile on Daddy!". Other nights we just cuddle up and watch the ceiling fan (for whatever reason he really likes the ceiling fan). Some nights we quiz him and he points and says "eye", "nose", "mouth", "ear", "hands", "feet". Some nights we read.  Whatever we do its fun, relaxing, we put all the worries of the day are behind us, and we just focus on family time.

-He loves his Baby Bogs Meme bought him. Rain or shine he wants to wear them...

-His last day with April was just before the 4th of July Holiday weekend.  He started at his new day school and the transition was horrible.  For the first 3 days he cried all day.  When I picked him up at the end of the day, his eyes were red and swollen from all the tears.  It absolutely broke my heart. He acted as if I was going to drop him off and never come back. I always stayed strong and positive around him but behind doors, I cried myself.  Yesterday was the beginning of week 2 and he had a great day! His teacher said he only cried for about a minute after I left and was great the rest of the day! What a relief! I actually really like his day school and I want him to like it too.  I think the interaction with other children and the structure will be great for him.

-Cody was in Seattle over the weekend so Hanley and I had the weekend to our self. To get out of the house and beat the heat, I took him to the Portland Aquarium.  We went with low expectations and ended up having a total blast. Now I really can't wait to take him to the Newport Aquarium next month with my Mom and Brooke (while the guys go tuna fishing).

-He finally got his 2nd haircut. His locks were getting pretty out of control. He looks like such a big guy now!

-He shot his first gun camping over Father's Day weekend in Eastern Oregon.

-Due to our buyers financing issues, our house went back on the market.  We went pending (again) after 14 days. So, we have been busy looking for our dream house (again).  So, far no luck in that department but at least the sale of our house is going good this time around.

-The most exciting thing that happened this month is that we found out Wayne and Brooke are expecting in January! That means Hanley is going to have a COUSIN!!!!!!!!!!! As you can tell, I am just a little excited! I look forward to Hanley growing up with his cousin and having a little buddy to play with during family gatherings.

19 Months Old

It's been another great month with our growing boy! It's hard to believe he will be 19 months next week.

At 19 Months Old..

-This month has been a pretty big turning point for Cody and Hanley.  Hanley has always been a little bit of a Mama's boy which has always been hard on Cody. There have been many nights in the past year when Cody comes home after a long, hard day from work and then Hanley acts like he wants nothing to do with Daddy. It would absolutely crush Cody. We thought we were getting past this stage a couple months ago then Cody left for St. Louis for work for a couple days.  After his return, they were back to square one. We hope those days are past us now because Hanley is finally starting to ask for Daddy for certain things or pass right by Mama to grab Daddy's hand to go play. Probably one of my favorite moments earlier this week was as soon as Hanley heard the garage door open, he screamed DADDY!!!! (and I mean, screamed with more excitement than I have ever heard from that boy!). Then he started dancing around, calling for Daddy. I ran to grab the video camera it was so cute. No video though.  The camera shyness kicked in apparently.


-We have been enjoying the sun to the fullest this month. We bought one of those little blue kiddy pools-best $10 bucks we have ever spent. Hanley's favorite evening activity is playing Ring Around the Rosie in the pool, holding both Mama and Daddy's hands (he insists we both be in the pool). His excitement leading up to the "....ashes, ashes, we all fall DOWN" is contagious. And clearly, the bigger the splash, the better in his eyes.


-We have tried really hard to teach Hanley proper manners. So, he's really good at saying "please", however he seems to think its the magic word.  He tends to assume by saying "please" you 1)know exactly what he is asking for, 2)will respond in milliseconds to his request, and 3)thinks that even if its something he knows he can't have, you will change your mind if he asks for it nicely.


-We kicked off the camping season with another great trip to Crescent Lake for Memorial Day Weekend. Hanley absolutely loved it.  He loved the dirt, the rocks, the water, the food, the friends, family and all the dogs (seven dogs, if I am counting correctly). He played hard all weekend. We ended up being blessed with a beautiful weekend. God knows, we were due for some sunshine after the past couple years we have had up there! Of course we set up the wall tent for the weekend.  Cody was able to keep it plenty warm for both Hanley and I each night. So, we all slept well...well, everyone except Cody who was up in the middle of the night keeping the fire going!

-The sale of our house isn't going as ideal as we hoped for.  The buyers ran into a financing issue and everything is up in the air at this point.  It's really disappointing.  Things were going so well right up until the end. We hope to have more information next week but lets just say I am not holding my breath.


-Hanley has one month left with April. Researching new childcare has been very emotional for me. So emotional, that I even cried on the way to one of our scheduled tours! I know, I am ridiculous. As a parent though, you always want to make the right decisions for your kids and deciding when, where and how he will spend the majority of the week is hard. Weighing out the costs, convenience of location, quality of care, interaction with other children, etc. can be overwhelming at times.

18 Month Well Baby Check Up

I realized when I posted Hanley's 18 month update, it was the day before his Dr.'s appointment so I didn't post his stats.


Weight: 30% (22lbs, 10oz)
Height: 20%
Head Circumference: 50%


His Dr. thinks his height measurement is off because he didn't seem to want to fully stretch out when they recorded his length. Either way, he's still small.  Small but mighty.


In preparation for his appointment, I dressed him in his "Texas Tough" shirt. He had 2 vaccinations at this appointment.  He sat on my lap and while we read a book, the nurse gave him the shots, one in each leg.  Not a single tear.  He lived up to Texas Tough status. Way to go boy!

18 MONTHS

At 18 Months Old...

-The biggest thing I noticed this month is Hanley's vocabulary really picking up. And let me tell you, he is a little chatter box! New words: Bubbles, Sissy (he refers to Roxy and Sophia both as Sissy), Apple, Outside, Help, Where it go? (and throws his arms up in question).  Book, Hat, Blanket, Duck. He's starting to put 2 words together like "Help Please", "Sissy Outside", etc. He also sings "Let it Gooooooo, Let it Goooooo" from Frozen. It's even more adorable than you can imagine.


-We were at a party last weekend celebrating our friend Rachael's 30th birthday.  Hanley apparently wanted to make it very clear to EVERYONE at the party that Cody was HIS Daddy.  He would tap on Cody and say "My Daddy".  He didn't bother to tell anyone I was his Mama though.... Little stinker!


-That same party Hanley drank juice (which we don't ever really give him juice), ate all kinds of snacks and birthday cake.  He was pretty much bouncing off the walls when we got home.  He went to bed late that night and was up at 1:30 in the morning.  When I went in to check on him, he was talking to me and wanting to read books. Ha! Nice try kid. Back to bed he went. Don't worry, I took notes: NO MORE birthday cake and goodies at 7pm!


-Nutrigrain bars are out the door. Cliff Z Bar's for Kids are in.


-He is now wearing size 5 shoes.


-The first day of nice weather we had here, April got out the kids pool.  Hanley loved it soooo much that he refused to nap that day.  When Cody picked him up from daycare, he fell asleep in the car.  He didn't wake up when Cody brought him into the house so after indulging in his cuddles on the couch, Cody put him in bed so he could start dinner.  Thinking, Hanley would wake up since it was 2 hours before his bedtime, Cody put him down as is- fully dressed, shoes and coat on and all.  We weren't sure what to expect out of the night but the boy slept all night.  Apparently wearing your shoes and coat to bed when your 1 1/2 ain't no problem.  However, going to bed 2 hours early meant he was ready to rock and roll bright and early the next morning.


-He loves bubbles! Thanks Josh! His bubble gun has been a blast.


-Sleeps from 8:15pm-6:30am.


-My brother Wayne is here this week for work.  It's been fun to watch him and Hanley play together. Hanley absolutely loves Uncle Wayne!


-He has 2 upper teeth coming in. They should be his canines coming in but we have some concerns about the upper right one (it's coming in right next to his central) Either his canine came before his lateral (which is unlikely) or he has an extra tooth (which is also unlikely)....but it has to be one of the two!


I have been really enjoying this age.  He is old enough to communicate his wants/needs in his own way and really be interactive and playful.  It seems like the older he gets, the more rewarding parenting is. Cody was out of town the other weekend. I put Hanley down for bed, enjoyed a glass of wine and looked through his "baby" pics.  I almost started crying, wondering where my baby went? Then the next day, him and I had so much fun. Tickling. Bubbles. Outdoor fun. I don't think I have ever seen him laugh as much as he did that day. Then I thought to myself, this is so much more fun than the baby stage!

Sold in 7!

My post have been few and far between.  We have been so busy that there is just no way blogging has been able to fit in my schedule.


We decided its time to upgrade. Time for a new casa, something with more space. After Hanley came along, it seems as though we quickly outgrew this house. So, we decided to put our house on the market earlier this month.  Thank goodness, our beautiful home sold in 7 days! Keeping this place spic and span with a one year old is darn near impossible.  As I would clean up one mess, he would be in the other room making another mess! It didn't help that Cody was out of town too so all the mess management was on me.


The thought of leaving this place in 7 weeks is just heart wrenching.  We gave this house so much character and personal touch that part of me can't imagine not living here.  I guess its pretty natural to fall in love and have an emotional attachment to your first home though.


After making it past the inspection period, it's become more real to me that we will be leaving here for good which means we will be leaving behind so many great memories.  I often find myself pulling out my camera, feeling the need to capture the last memories we will ever make in our first home.  

17 MONTHS

This past month flew by in a flash.  Life has seriously been beyond crazy here.

At 17 Months Old...

-Cody has had to do some traveling for work lately...everything from driving to the Canada border, nearing the Idaho border, and flying halfway across the country to Fort Lewis, Missouri. It's made for some lonely nights around here and exhausting days for him.
-Hanley took his first big tumble the other day.  He tripped outside and fell face first onto the concrete. His poor decision not to break his fall with his hands lead to one messed up little face.  Poor kid.  Of course it happened when Daddy was out of state.
-Drop off's for daycare have been especially hard on Hanley lately.  I think it's related to Cody being gone so much.
-Words he has added to his vocabulary: Bite, Please (which sounds more like peeeeease), Shoe, Hot and Puppy.
-He still loves bath time.  As soon as you turn on the bath water, he comes running. He will try to crawl into the tub fully clothed and everything, he's gets that excited.

A Spring Break Tradition

My first day back to work post maternity leave was Spring Break last year.  My Mom was here to watch Hanley that week and help us adjust back into our new routine.  Well, that started the tradition-The Hanley and Meme Spring Break Tradition.


My Mom was here the whole week....we ALL got spoiled. 


My Mom helped around the house, prepped dinners for us and would do dishes after dinner to give us time to play with Hanley. 


Hanley and Meme played outside as much as possible.  Most the days were raining but Hanley didn't care.  He still tried to convince Meme to take him outside...and he usually got his way.


We attempted potty training.  Hanley started out doing great the first half of the first day.  I was sooo impressed with him! About mid-day though, he decided he wanted nothing to do with the potty. So, most of the week was trying to get him back on track with being okay with sitting on the potty.  Needless to say, its still a work in progress.


We took advantage of having a free babysitter which means Cody and I got a date night! We had a gift certificate to Cinetopia from our friends Cam and Sarah from Christmas that we made sure to put to good use! Cody must love me a lot because he let me pick the movie...again! He took me to see the Veronica Mars movie (which totally brought back so many fun memories from college!).

The week was extra busy because we are getting ready to put our house on the market, search for a new home and Cody had a last minute business trip to Boise.  I don't know if my Mom fully understands how much help she was with all we had going on. It was a great week for all.

16 MONTHS

Well, another month flew by. Hanley's 16th month birthday fell on a Monday and I happened to get that Monday off of work! It was really fun to spend the day with him.

At 16 Months Old...

-Hanley LOVES to be outside.  When he wants to go outside he will grab his shoes and hand them to you, then stick his arm straight out for you to put his jacket on. This really makes me excited about camping this summer.


-He stopped signing once he started using a little bit of vocabulary.


-He can get up and down from the dinner table chairs without any help. When he is hungry he will sit up at the table or drag his highchair to wherever you are. The minute he decides he is hungry, you better have sometime ready for him! His patience is about equivalent to his Daddy's.


-He likes to hold hands when he's walking. I love it!


-He made a new friend named Roscoe.  We dog sat for our friends Cam and Sarah for a long weekend. Hanley loved Roscoe and Maxi hated him! She found the highest spot in the house and didn't move all weekend.


-April is expecting baby #2 early this fall.  We are so excited for her and her family but the thought of not dropping Hanley off with her every morning is hard to wrap my head around.  Her and Hanley have such a strong bond. Next to Cody and I, she knows him better than anyone. It will be sad to see him start a new daycare chapter in his life.


-We were up in Seattle last weekend to visit Courtney.  She took Hanley to the Children's Museum. He loved playing with balls in the gravity area and was obsessed with the fish tank!


-We spent some time in Eugene celebrating my Dad's birthday, visiting Baby Colton, spending time with my brother who is recovering from knee surgery and having drinks with good friends. Opa took Hanley to visit Grandma Tina. He got his first Happy Meal on this outing as well.  Thank you for that Opa...


-He got his first haircut.  Good bye curls! Hello slightly more tamed madness.

-He got to meet 3 week old Baby Jaclyn and 2 month old Baby Ellie. Yup, he already loves the ladies...


-Hanley's took his obsession with Eli and Alligator to a new level this month.  We made the mistake of taking him into a restaurant without them.  Just ask Courtney and Kyle how dinner went that night. I also forgot Eli and Al over at Mindy's house one day. I tried to put him down for nap with a different blanket and stuffed animal.  He ended up chucking the stuffed giraffe out of his crib and across the room (hey, at least we know he has a good arm!) and...then he refused to nap.


-Cody built his own mash tun and started all grain brewing.  Hanley loves to "help" Daddy brew and by help, I mean mostly be in Daddy's way :o)

15 MONTHS

Tonight I got emotional putting Hanley down for bed.  As tears welled up in my eyes, I asked Cody why he has to grow up so fast. Without skipping a beat, Cody said "Honey, he was smearing handfuls of sh*t all over his crib this morning.  He's not that old!"


Well, yes.  That did happen this morning.  Hanley was indeed caught this morning finger painting with goods from his own diaper. Not really how we wanted to start the day...but it's still hard to believe my baby is becoming less and less of a baby each day.

At 15 months old...

-Portland got snow in February! We got a 5-6 inches at our house but other parts of Portland got up to 10 inches. It was Hanley's first experience with snow!!! He wasn't too sure what to think about the snow at first and wasn't thrilled about getting bundled up in his snow gear.  We pulled him around on the sled but it wasn't until Cody took him sledding down the driveway, that he really seemed to start enjoying it. He's a natural dare devil. By the 2nd day, he had no problems getting bundled up because he knew it meant he got to go out to play! And by the 3rd day, if he saw his snow suit out, he begged to put it on!

-I have been reading to Hanley since day 1 and he has always enjoyed it.  In fact, before he became mobile, reading to him would calm him down when he was cranky. When he started walking he lost interest in reading.  He wanted to constantly be on the go and acted like he didn't have the time for that anymore! Just in the last couple of weeks, he started getting back into reading again!!! Which totally makes this Mama's day! I will often find him sitting there just flipping through different books on his own.  Sometimes he will even bring me a book and crawl up on my lap so I can read it to him. 

-Earlier I posted about Hanley's use of vocabulary.  What I didn't mention is that somehow we escaped (at least for now!) from him using the word "no".  I know far too often, that is a favorite first word for kiddos.


-If he wants you to do something, he will grab your hand and place it on exactly what he wants.  It's so cute but demanding at the same time!


-We spent Super Bowl at Mindy and Clayton's house.  Hanley had lots of fun breaking in all Baby Jaclyn's new toys! At nap time, we put him in Jaclyn's crib which is equipped with the video monitor.  We have never used a monitor of any kind at our house but I have to say, I loved being able to see him put himself down for nap! I think Mindy made me a believer in the video monitor...Future Olson Baby #2 may just get a video monitor someday!


-One night last week, Hanley woke up twice in the middle of the night.  This is really unusual for our great little sleeper.  He's working on another molar so I couldn't blame him too much though!  The first time, we let him settle himself back down but the second time I went in to check in on him. I picked him up and rocked him back to sleep.  He fell asleep immediately but I just couldn't bring myself to put him back down. I rocked him for 45 minutes before going back to bed and let me tell you...I LOVED every moment of it! Since we like to encourage self soothing, intervening isn't something I would normally do.  But in the back of my mind, I thought I better take advantage of the opportunity because someday he's not going to want me to rock him. He's only little once and darn it, I was going to indulge in the moment! So, I did just that.

His Growing Vocabulary

Today I got an extra snow day (okay, more like an ICE day) at home with Hanley! Today has been one of those days that makes me wish I was a stay at home mom.  All I am going to say is that Cody better come home and remind me of the "difficult" days at home before I walk into work tomorrow and resign...


Today also happens to be Hanley 15 month birthday! We celebrated by finally getting out of the house to play (after being snowed/iced in since Thursday evening)! The roads weren't too bad (I only hit one slick spot that made my heart race).


This month I really noticed Hanley's ability to communicate has increased drastically but I don't believe I have really blogged about his use of vocabulary.  So here it is...


1) His first word was "bye" at 10 months old. I distinctly remember going to the grocery store on a Sunday in September (the day after Cody's high school reunion).  He went around the store waving to everyone, saying "bye".
2) His second word was "hi" at 12 months old.  He shocked Cody and I both when he picked up the phone and said "hi".  This was also his first phone call.  Here is Kim's account of that call on Nov 19th...

"I had my first phone call from Hanley last night. It went something like this:
Oma: Hello ( a little jostling of the phone) hello, Hanley is that you?

Hanley : Hi (clear as a bell)

Oma: Hi Hanley ! How are you today?

Hanley : (a little Hanley speak Oma has not learned yet)

Oma: Have you been a good boy today?...

Hanley: (very enthusiastically ) Da!

I think that is Norwegian or Canadian for 'Hell yeah!'
And then he hung up! I love you little man!"

3)A few days after that phone call he FINALLY started saying "Mama" and "Dada".

4)More recently he has started saying "uh-oh" whenever something is dropped (He often purposely drops things so he can say it! He also says" stinky" and plugs his nose!

5)Other words he says but aren't as clear are "thank you" and "cracker".

Date Night!

I called my Mom a three weeks ago and begged her to come up to give Cody and I a night out.  Okay, lets be real, there was no begging involved! My Mom jumped at the chance to have a night with the boy Hanley lucked out and got a night with not only Meme but Grandpa too! This can only mean one thing...he was double spoiled :o)

Cuddles with Grandpa!

We started our night with dinner and drinks before the Blazer's game.

The Blazers were playing Minnesota and Cody happened to get great seats from work! The last time I watched Kevin Love play was at Mac Court and we all know the local boy didn't get any love there (after choosing to play for an out of state team-UCLA). It was fun to watch him play again and see him receive lots of support from the crowd. We both had a great time cheering on the Blazers and were happy to leave with a win that night!


After the game, we went out for ice cream before heading home. It was a fun way to spend our night out together.


I was a little worried about leaving Hanley just because he had been so clingy since our return home from vacation.  It would be the first night since then that someone else put him to bed. Of course he did great! My Mom said the night was filled with lots of laughter and he went to bed right on time with no problems.


Meme was extra lucky that night. Not only did she get to spend the evening with such a happy boy but she got to be the last one to give him his VERY LAST bottle.  After that night, he was done.  Done for good.

14 MONTHS!

By far, the coolest thing Cody and I have ever done is create the cutest little man on the face of this earth.  How is it possible that he is already 14 months old?!

At 14 months old...

-Still wearing size 3 shoes.

-Got in his very first MOLAR tooth! (Of course it was making its way up the week that he was home with Oma). That makes a total of 9 teeth (if you include his upper right one that is just partially in).
-Started having serious attachment issues to Mama upon our return home from vacation.
-He cried for the very first time dropping him off at daycare last week.  Talk about ripping your heart out as you have to just turn and walk away. Thankfully, he only did this for 2 days. Now, he seems to be okay with drop off's again.
-Gained another buddy! Colton Wayne was born on January 16th weighing an adorable 6 lbs, 12 oz!! His tough Mama, rocked an unmedicated birth!
-We have recently noticed he can be shy about playing with other kids. Cody says he's just a "one man wolf pack"! Hopefully, he will become more socially engaged with age.
-He shares his love for watermelon like his Mama! He thinks watermelon is good now...come August when they are actually in season, he's in for a real treat!
-We have finally dropped the morning and after nap bottle (he did this completely on his own). He dropped the morning bottle about a month ago, and we just got rid of the after nap bottle last week.  That means we are only down to the one bottle before bed. I haven't really pushed to bottle issue because Hanley is pretty good about just deciding when he's done with these kind of things.
-He gives the best kisses.  He puckers up and everything. It's adorable.  The one catch.... he ONLY gives them to DADDY!
-He seems to pick a few favorite foods of the month.  He no longer likes yogurt (uh, that was totally last month...).  His flavor of the month seems to be Quorn nuggets, peanut butter toast, and fish sticks.  Oh and nutrigrain bars, he usually has one after nap each day.
-We finally did Hanley's 1-year photos with Marissa Lynn Photography! Thank you Marissa for another job well done! What are we going to do when she moves across the country this summer?! Check out his photos at http://www.marissalynnblog.com/2014/01/one-happy-family/


Blogger is not letting me post any photos tonight, so make sure to check out Marissa's website!

Palm Springs

Another Olson vacation is in the books.

I first realized how life as a mother has taken it's toll on me, when we boarded our flight and I passed out immediately.  When I woke up, I leaned over to Cody and whispered in a fairly annoyed voice, "What are we doing....? We have been waiting on the tarmac for like 30 minutes now." He just looked at me and smiled, then opened the window shade so I could see we were already in the air.  Moments later, the pilot announced we would be landing in less than 20 minutes. Ha. I suppose I was a little tired. Sounds about right for a working Mama.

We landed in Palm Springs to spend 5 glorious nights and 6 sunny days on vacation with just the two of us.  Hanley was back at home with Oma.

We spent the first day lounging at the pool, racking up a bar bill charging it directly to our room. Yup, that will get you in trouble real quick!

We spent the second day with our friends Jeff and Jeana who live in L.A. We met them for coffee, went up to Big Bear Lake and did some goofing around.

Big Bear Lake

 

 

We spotted Marilyn!



 

Dinosaurs anyone? 
There is a gift shop INSIDE this dinosaur...We passed on the entry to the mechanical dinosaur museum in the back. 
Can you see Cody in the picture?

 

We spent the third day back at the pool. Then played a friendly competitive game of tennis. All you need to know is that I won and Cody owes me a back massage! Later that evening we planned a date night: Mexican food at my request and a movie. You know your husband loves you when he lets you drag him to the second Hunger Games movie, even after he hated the first! Despite Cody also hating the second movie as well, we really enjoyed our night out. This was the only night of our trip we stayed up past 10 pm.

 

Nothin' like starting out your day at the pool with a bloody mary and some California sunshine!

Getting ready for our date night!

We woke up before the sunrise on the fourth day for a hot air balloon ride.  When Cody first mentioned the hot air balloon ride, he thought he was going to have to talk me into it but I said YES right away.  It wasn't until I was standing in the balloon ready for take off when I started having second thoughts. We soared through the air at over 1,000 feet at the grace of the wind while we watched the sunrise (and all the dogs below bark at us!). It took us about an hour to travel about 17 miles across the desert. The guide had us me a little worried about the landing, mentioning several times "it's not going to be smooth", "bend your knees", "don't be surprised when we bounce and all kinds of stuff". The landing was actually lots of fun!! We bounced 3 times but overall was much better than he had mentally prepared me for. I am so glad we did the hot air balloon ride! We actually used our Christmas money from my Grandparents to splurge on it, so I better make sure to call my Grandma and let her know how much fun we had!

I wasn't panicking just yet :o)

Morning sunrise with our fellow ballooners in the air

When we got back to the hotel, I immediately spiked a sudden fever. We spent the rest of the day cooped up in our hotel room and had to cancel our dinner reservations for New Years Eve.  Later that night, Cody spiked a fever too.  We were quite the pair let me tell you. Sick and missing our baby was not a good combo.

We laid low the fifth morning.  After a bad case of cabin fever and getting some antibiotics in our system for our strep throat, we decided to make the drive to Salton Sea. It's a pretty interesting place.  The beach looks sandy but it is actually nearly 100% barnacles. The "sea" is large but shallow, it's 55% saltier than the ocean (and increasing in salinity with each passing year), there is an abundance of tilapia (so much that there is not a fishing limit), and the once popular destination area is practically deserted nowadays.

That is all barnacles on the beach! Dogs aren't allowed on the beach because the barnacles will get stuck and infected in their paws. I was in flip flops and worried about my own feet!

Beautiful day at the "sea"!

On our way back to town, I insisted we visit a date farm (we saw a couple date farms from the air on our balloon ride that struck my interest). So, we stopped at Shields Date Garden right off the HWY 111.  It was NOT what I expected! I wanted to learn about the growing process and harvesting of dates but instead we got a biblical tour. Seriously...

Date Palms!
We made sure to enjoy a Date Milkshake while we were there!

Jesus on the Cross

We spent the rest of the day back at the hotel trying to recover from our day out.  It was probably more than our bodies were ready for.  We were back in bed by 7:30 pm when both our fevers came back.  Neither of us got any sleep that night.

By the sixth morning, we were ready to be home, back in our own beds and more than ready to re-united with Hanley.  Other than getting sick, we really enjoyed some quality time together.  We had zero expectation for this vacation other than trying to sleep in (which yeah right, our bodies are just wired to be up at 6 am regardless) and relaxing. We successfully got in lots of relaxing down at the adult pool during the day and soaking in the hot tub in the evenings.

We didn't do any research before leaving, so we stole Jeff's motto of "Google that shit" for all our little adventures (which included checking out Elvis' neighborhood and house-totally retro by the way), restaurant reviews, etc.

On flight home was hard.  I was feeling HORRIBLE by this time and I couldn't stop thinking about getting home to Hanley.  There was a 1 1/2 year old that started crying just before boarding our flight which in turn made me cry.  I missed Hanley so much.  Cody said (with a smile) the baby girl crying, did just the opposite for him.

We landed. Oma welcomed our return and we peeked in on our sleeping boy.  My heart was full and my throat was sore. It was indeed another Olson adventure.

The next morning we got to wake up to this little guy...

Thank you Madaline from Peak Travel (http://www.peaktravelgroup.com/) for booking this vacation for us! Despite getting sick, we had a great time!!! The resort was beautiful and the weather was more than perfect!!!