Ho Ho Ho

Well, first of all, I hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas!! Ours was very nice. On Christmas Eve we rented out the clubhouse and invited over 10 friends. Amanda made a very nice dinner for everyone and we had a great time. We played basketball in the gym, drank some choice beverages and had fun.

Amanda only made one small mistake making cookies. Instead of putting 1/2 cup of coffee into the frosting for cookies, she put 1/2 cup of coffee grounds into it. All of a sudden I hear a frustrated sigh and "this frosting looks disgusting". OK, no more picking on Amanda. All of the food she made was great!

Since I was such a good boy this year, Santa came and was very generous. Hayden received a small rocking chair (we already had to take it away twice because he is standing on it and sitting on the arm) and a tickle-me-elmo. He also received a plethora of toys from everyone...thank you soooo much everyone!! It seems like at times he doesn't know what to play with because toys are everywhere. Amanda is already sporting her Coach purse and wallet and I'll get my present this weekend if the weather gets warmer. UPS has not been able to make deliveries in about four days, so there are a lot of packages that we ordered and have not received yet.

On Christmas we headed to Joe and Sue Ann's house to have dinner, we had a prime rib dinner and it was amazing! Hayden ran around talking up a storm even his "ho ho ho".

The snow is still here, I believe we have close to 2 feet now. Some of the roads still have not been plowed so it remains challenging to get around the city. Last night we had to park at the top of the hill and walk home because it was too slippery. It really is amazing that it has not snowed in 2 days and there is still A LOT of snow on the roads.

That is all for now, I wish we could have seen everyone, but we hope you all had a great holiday!!!

All we want for Christmas...

Well it is almost Christmas Eve, and we couldn't be more ready for Christmas! It has been a crazy last week with all of the snow we have been getting. Since we got a total of approximately 18 to 19 inches, it has caused chaos in the state of Washington. Tonight we went to the grocery store to get items to make dessert for our Christmas party tomorrow night and I was there for a total of 4 hours! Almost two of those hours Jon was stuck in the parking lot in a complete grid lock. I cannot believe that this state doesn't do anything to the streets when it snows. Although last night at 11:00 pm they did plow our complex and Jon was able to drive to work, but hardly any of the other streets were cleared. It was like off-roading!

Anyway, Jon and I do have one wish for Christmas, and that is for a silent night. Hayden has only slept once through the night (December 12), but has yet to sleep more than five hours in a row since his 11 hour sleep through the night event. Needless to say, his sleep pattern is all over the place, I am not sure if this is because I am weaning him or what, but I would like some advice!

Well I hope everyone else gets their wishes this year for Christmas, we love you all, and Merry Christmas!

Winter wonderland in Washington

Well it is going to be a beautiful white Christmas this year! I would like to say that is a good thing, but unfortunately Jon had to walk to work to day because it is impossible to get down or up our hill we live on and we had planned a Christmas party at our place Christmas Eve and we are only going to get more snow this weekend! In fact it is snowing right now, on top of our already 6 to 6 1/2 inches. Here is a picture outside our dinning room window.

The fun and exciting part about today, was I took Hayden outside to play a little bit in the snow. I got him all bundled up thanks to everything, everyone got him for his birthday. He was wearing the Packer's outfit from Aunt Nanc, his jacket he got from his Auntie Lisa, and his hat from his Great-grandma Clauer. He was wearing two sets of gloves because I didn't want his little fingers to get cold, and because we don't have snow boots for his monstrous feet, I put plastic bags over his socks to keep his feet warm and dry (an old trick from skiing I learned in Colorado). I took pictures but this is my favorite!

I will upload the rest to flickr. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, I know many places are going to be hit with snow, so be safe out there!

1 Year Check Up

Well Hayden had his 1 year check up today. He wanted to wear his Elmo slippers to the doctors office and all of the nurses cooed over how cute he was in them. He is 22 pounds and 30 inches tall, which places him in the 49th percentile for weight and 45th percentile for height. He is finally in the middle for both height and weight.

He got 4 shots today, ouchie! He was suppose to get 6, but the doctor likes to break it up, so he got 4 today and will get two more at his 15 month check up. He cried really hard for the last two, it was so sad. To cheer him up we went to Jon's work to give Jon a smile and to cheer Hayden up as well. There is a lady at Jon's work that gives him cookies every time we go in, so I figured that would cheer Hayden up.

We came home about 11:00 and he has been sleeping for almost 3 hours. I guess those shots really do a number on him. As soon as he wakes up we are going shopping before it gets dark. It is suppose to snow again here! Well I hope you like the blog face lift and Merry Christmas!

Yah! We fixed our computer

I know I said I would keep everyone updated more once school was out, well we had a minor problem with the computer. It crashed again, and we thought we would have to buy a new one. Well last night Jon was messing around with the computer and he fixed it! We are not sure how exactly but who cares it runs like a new computer.

Our apartment is almost decorated. We have the tree up with very few ornaments, our garland on the fireplace mantel, and our stockings hung (not on the fireplace). Decorating has been kind of a challenge. Hayden first pulled the tree down on himself, luckily it is fake and small and had no lights or ornaments on it and he hasn't touched the tree since then. The stockings were hanging first from the mantel off their stocking mounts, until Hayden pulled one down on his head and got a huge knot on his head. So lets just say I had to rethink the stockings. He likes the decorations though and likes putting his beads on the tree to decorate it, which is very cute.

For St. Nicks Hayden got his most prized item yet - Elmo slippers! He had to wear them all around the house. If he doesn't have them on he brings them to you to put on. At first it was funny to see him try and walk in them because he wanted to pick Elmo up as he was walking. If you can only imagine how well that turned out.

Anyway, his birthday was a hit. He had so much fun at Chuck E Cheese, I wish everyone was there to share in the fun. Chucky came out for another birthday party and Hayden wanted to join in their fun. It was too cute he was chasing Chucky around the front of the stage. We found out he loves pizza, being the first time he had it, and he ate 2 pieces! The cake was another story. He had his own cake and we tried to get him to dig in and he did for a little bit and then decided he hated the icing. He would put the cake in his mouth and then pull it out. It was probably too sweet for him! After the 30 minutes it took to clean him up, we gave Hayden cake without the frosting and he ate that! He loved all of his presents although we did save some for him to open on Wednesday his actual birthday.

The weather took a crazy turn giving us snow last night! It is beautiful here, a little cold, although not as cold as Wisconsin, but it is really getting me into the Christmas spirit! With that said I sent out cards Saturday so be on the look out for them! Miss you all!

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

I know, I know, we have been slacking off on the posts, but it has been extremely busy in our household, and it seems the little time Jon and I have to ourselves we want to do nothing but be couch potatoes. Between Jon writing proposals for work and finishing up his training, and me finishing up school, tutoring, and getting up with an either sick or teething baby has been exhausting.

Hayden is a little handful even though I love him with all of my heart. The little guy does not stop until he is ready to hit the sack and go to bed. He hates the car seat with a passion, so long car rides are out of the question, even though we had to go down to Portland for Thanksgiving. He is starting to be a little nicer to the cat and the kids in class, although anything laying on the ground will get trampled because it is in his way of walking. Hayden also started giving kisses, it is the cutest thing, and they really are not that sloppy.

Like I said on Thanksgiving we went down to Portland to be with my step-dad's side of the family. His oldest son asked us over and we accepted because otherwise we would be just by ourselves and would be eating turkey for months to come. Jon finally got to meet the rest of Gary's kids and we got to witness our first holiday with Hayden and a lot of people in the room. Lets just say the poor kid was so stimulated he did not nap all day long and had a rough night at my moms. He didn't want to sleep there, so at 2:00 am Jon and I decided it was time to leave and went home so Hayden could sleep.

We did get all of our Christmas shopping done, which is one less stress off our backs, but we still have Christmas cards, Hayden's birthday invitations (which reminds me if I don't get them out we are going to celebrate his birthday at Chuck E Cheese on December 13 at 1:00 pm), Hayden's one year pictures and family pictures, and decorating for the holidays. As you can see we are pretty busy, but I promise once school is done on the 9th I promise to update pictures and post more often. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we miss you all!

Late Trick or Treat Blog

I know I was slacking a little on getting a blog up about trick or treating Friday night. I am going to post pictures and a video too!

It was a lot of fun! The night started out rough when we went to our friends house to go trick or treating with their girls. Hayden was crying in the car and we thought it was going to be a rough night. Turns out he was just hungry and once he got a little food in him we were off trick or treating. The temperature was perfect and it was fogged over which made it the perfect Halloween night. Hayden had his own ride in the wagon, which he loved, and his own little bucket. He was too cute, every time we went to the door he would hold out his bucket and when they put candy in it, he would look in his bucket then look back at the person with a look that said "Is that it?" At one house he got a juice box, which was his favorite treat he had got all night. He played with it for most of the night.

Once we got done trick or treating, the girls laid their candy out to trade the ones they don't like. Bad idea because Hayden wanted their candy. We have a video of him mobbing their candy it is pretty funny. Hayden also had his first own bowl of spaghetti. He was a mess, but he loved it! It was a fun Halloween and defiantly a night to remember!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! Hayden is now 10 months old and is exploring new and exciting things. Jon already posted his walking performance, but he have a few more videos I will post today as well as a ton of new pictures. Tonight we are going trick-or-treating and Hayden is going to be a Monkey. He will be trick-or-treating with a Banana and a Pirate! Don't worry I will post more pictures this weekend.

I will start with new updates from last week. Hayden started clapping which is exciting because he likes to clap for daddy when he does good playing tennis on the wii. Also any time he is proud of himself he claps for himself it is super cute. Plus we have a video of it! We also went to the pumpkin farm to pick out pumpkins. Hayden wasn't walking yet so he was in the carrier, plus it was too dark to get some good pictures.

Carving pumpkins with Hayden was fun, he loved the guts. They even tasted good to him because he kept diving in, then putting in his mouth, and of course mommy and daddy had to stay on our toys so he didn't sallow a seed or too much pumpkin guts. I have pictures and a video post that will go up today.

Finally yesterday we had our play class, and all of the parents dressed up the little guys. I have pictures of that too. So enjoy the new videos and pictures and have a great Halloween and a good weekend!

Walking

We got a couple "walks" on camera tonight. Check out the video bar...more to come tomorrow!

Good Week

Well it was a good week in the Ollmann household. Hayden is feeling so much better and sleeping very well considering his nasty cold last week. His black eye is hardly noticeable anymore and he is progressing with his walking although only when no one is video taping of paying attention(at least when he thinks we aren't). He has learned to stand on his own without pulling up or getting help. He still won't walk while we are holding his hands, I think he wants to do it all on his own. He is a little independent, which stinks because he only wants his crib and won't fall asleep in my arms anymore. Yes it is kind of sad, I miss the little Hayden that cuddled. He is playing better in his crib which is nice because it gives Jon and I an extra hour or so in the morning to have to ourselves.

Yesterday, we had our normal class together on Thursday (we missed last Thursday because of his cold). I found out a lot of moms and their kids missed last Thursday as well. I as learned that Hayden is biting because he is teething which is perfectly normal for him to bite my shoulder, fingers, toes, and anything else he can get his mouth on. His ears are still bothering him from the pressure of being congested so he has been sucking on his nuk a lot lately, and yesterday at the class a little boy stole it from him. Well, I hate to say my kid is going to be a bully, but Hayden bit his nose. Yes the kid cried and I thought the mom was going to hate us, but she just laughed and said he will think twice about taking it next time.

Sorry we have been so lax on the pictures. I am putting some new ones up on fickr once I am done, also I will post a new video of Hayden waving. Hope everyone had a good week and hope the weekend treats you good. Bye for now, I will try and post every Friday!

Sick

First of all, I have to say I did not know so much snot could come out of a baby. So, our little man got his first cold this weekend. He was very congested and had a rough couple of nights, but still managed to smile most of the time. It seems like Hayden is starting to feel a little bit better anyway. Needless to say we didn't do very much this weekend. Amanda and I got away on Saturday since Grandma Melissa came to visit. We headed about an hour and a half north through the Cascade Mountains to Port Townsend, WA. It was a quaint little town with a historical motif. We ate lunch at a restaurant that was built in 1885, it was surprisingly good. After we spend a couple hours wandering around the town we took a ferry to Seattle and finished the day in Auburn.

Like I said, besides getting away on Saturday it was a pretty quiet week. Oh we did find out that Grandma Ollmann is going to fly out in November for 4 days, so Hayden was pretty excited about that. I'm sure she will get a big wet kiss from him. (He is getting good at those.) Sometimes he gets a little confused and bites, so just look out. Well, hope everyone has a great week and is starting to get ready for Halloween!!

(I also posted a video of Hayden blowing raspberries) Enjoy!!

Baby Steps

Caught a couple steps tonight while we were talking to grandma and grandpa...check out the video bar to see it.

Taking Steps

I know it has been a few weeks since our last post. For that we apologize, the only time we get to ourselves now days is during nap time and in the evening after my class is over at 8:00. Jon is getting close to finishing his AIT, only one more month of hours the comes the board tests. I have three classes lined up this semester, one is another baby/parent class that I am taking again with Hayden.

In the class are 14 babies, most of them are around Hayden's age, so it is good he has a few playmates. There are actually more boys in this class then the last. I have only been to the class once, we have it today at 12:30, but it was fun to watch all of the babies crawling around playing with each other.

I do have some bad news, Hayden is growing up too fast. He has been taking a few steps, the max has been two, but still I think it is too soon. I miss my little cuddle buddy. The nights have been getting better, but ever so often he wakes up at 2:00 am and won't got back down until 3:30 or so. Yes this happened last night, and I am not sure if it is because he is getting a few more teeth, or why it only happens every 5 days.

Anyway, things are good here. Still trying to keep Hayden out of things, he is a handful when he wants to be. He sure knows how to test his boundaries. You should see the little smirk he gets when he knows he is into something he shouldn't be. It is vary similar to Jon's "I didn't do it" or "I don't know what you are talking about" look. You all know what I mean. Well, we miss you all and hopefully we can make it back to Wisconsin before the year is up.

First babyless weekend

This weekend was our first without Hayden. We dropped him off at Grandma Melissa's and headed to a suite right on the Pacific ocean in Lincoln City, OR. Despite initially being worried and sad, it went good. Hayden behaved himself with Grandma and even slept better than he does at home.

Us, on the other hand, had a much needed 2 days of relaxation. Friday night we got into town at about 6; headed for some dinner checked out an car show and had some drinks on our patio listening to the waves. We ended up sleeping on the pull out couch with the patio door open so we could hear the waves all night. Saturday morning we woke up at 6. I know I thought we would sleep in, but no. So we headed to breakfast and then to Newport Beach. We were walking down the historic Bay port and decided that we wanted to go whale watching. While we were waiting to head out, we found a Sea Lion hang out and watched them for a while.

OK, back to the whale watching, Amanda and I have both wanted to go for a while, just never have. Boy, am I glad we did. About 15 minutes into the hour and a half trip we spotted a gray whale. Really all you an see is the water shoot up from their blow holes, and their bodies as they swim. We got quite the treat when the whale decided to breach (jump out of the water). I guess it does not happen very often with gray whales and it was amazing to see. I even got a picture!! We named the whale Jerry, and I decided I should work for National Geographic as a photographer.

Well that was about all the excitement of the weekend. It was great to see Hayden again when we got home, but decided maybe we need to take a weekend twice a year just to get away. Hope everyone had a great weekend as well, and feel free to come visit!!

Baby to Boy in a matter of weeks

I can't tell you how amazing it is to watch Hayden grow. Jon and I have decided we no longer have a baby that likes to be held, cuddled, and kissed; rather we have a little boy that loves to play, crawl, and get into as much trouble as possible.

Staying at home with Hayden has been a challenge these last few weeks. The other day while cleaning up a bit I swore Hayden was playing with the cat in the tunnel (which can keep him distracted for hours), and the next thing I knew he was gone. What do you know he found the bathroom and the toilet. Lets just say we are going to keep the bathroom door closed from now on. Yesterday, I was making Jon dinner before he came home and Hayden was helping by playing with the gobs of Tupperware all over the floor. The next thing I knew Hayden was chewing on something. He had grabbed a hand full of cat food and stuffed it in his mouth without me noticing. I got the majority of it out, but I think he got a few pieces down.

He is starting to stand by himself for longer than 30 seconds now, and is even attempting steps. I am not encouraging this, but I guess he is ready to grow up, even though Jon and I aren't ready. He has learned how to give "high-fives" and can even chase the cat around at a pretty good pace. The cat is handling it pretty well, but he sure runs when Hayden spots him anywhere.

But from day to day when I look at him I smile to myself and think of how lucky I am to be blessed with such a wonderful boy. He is becoming a handful with shorter naps, wondering crawling adventures, and sleepless nights, but he is truly a blessing. It makes me wondering how long it will take until he is just like his father. Which by the way does everything Jon does, he is teaching him some pretty sneaky stuff. So watch out Grandma and Grandpa, next time you see Hayden he may just remind you of your own son.

Home at Last

Well, it has been a busy past couple weeks. I have been in Colorado and I am sorry for taking the camera, but I didn't want to miss anything if Hayden were to do something new.

My grandma is doing great, she is at home and doing the best she can with what she has got. Hayden got to meet some new people. All of my cousins and aunts, plus his great grandparents, and great uncles. He loved Ethan and Owen my cousins on my Aunt Shelly's side. He couldn't resist playing with Ethan's hat.

Also he found his shadow and isn't quite sure what to do with it. He loves my grandma's piano and I have a video of him playing it. I don't know where he learned but he would also turn the pages of the music and then continue playing. I only got him playing on video, but I do have a few pictures of him turning the music.

Finally Hayden met a new friend at the airport, he would crawl and crawl to him it was really cute, they even hugged. I almost forgot to mention. Hayden is crawling at full force, he follows me everywhere, which is good because when I leave the room he is starting to get upset. So now he can follow me around the apartment.

As you can see from the videos and pictures, Hayden is a good size boy. In fact we bought him a new car seat Saturday when I got home because he had out grew his infant car seat. He is growing up too fast.

Also I found the most amazing scrapbook store to ever lay eyes on. This store is in Ft. Collins, Colorado and it is call the Treasure Box! It is huge I only made it though about half in 2 hours. Lets just say it is about 5 times bigger than the one up North when we ate breakfast. We might all have to take a trip to visit it some time hahaha.

Well enjoy the pictures and videos, love you all!

No pictures

Well I planned on updating some pictures today....but Amanda took the camera to Colorado. Sorry!

Leaving daddy behind

Yesterday Amanda and Hayden flew to Colorado for 10 days to visit 2 more of his great-grandparents. So that means in the last month he has been to Racine, WI; Rhinelander, WI; Olympia, WA; Sacramento, CA; and now in Colorado he will go to Denver, Greeley and Fort Collins. If babies could get frequent flier miles he would be set!!

I am getting closer to finishing my AIT, the end of October cannot come soon enough!! That means hopefully by the end of the year I will be assigned a facility to run, and we will have an answer to the famous "where are we going to live for the next couple years" question. Amanda finished her internship and loved it so much she is probably going to to it again this fall. She made a scrapbook for Brooklynn's first birthday and it turned out amazing!! Now she is on to her next project and took it with her to Colorado; I'd imagine by the time they get back it will be done.

Before Amanda and Hayden left I was looking at him in his crib...he is getting so big!! I think he has to be over 24" long; but is finally starting to lean out. The baby fat is leaving him. (You can ALMOST see his wrists!!) When I get some time this week I will post some pictures while they are gone. That's all for now...hope everything is going well with everyone!!

Home sweet home

Well we have been home for almost a week. I never thought an apartment could feel like home, but now since Hayden has been sleeping better my guess is he is glad to have his own crib back. Sunday and Monday nights he slept great only waking up once and then twice Monday night. I thought it was going to continue, but unfortunately I think teeth are starting to make there way in again. He has be restless and naps have been an issue these last two days. Last night we woke up crying every couple of hours, poor little guy I think he still has a while before those teeth pop through.

Other then teething, Hayden has made vast improvement standing. That is all he wants to do now is stand. He can crawl regular now, but if there is anyway he can get to his feet he would rather walk. He has been walking along the couch going from his walker to the couch, back to his walker to the chair. It is amazing to see him let go and then grab back on when he knows he isn't balanced. He has crashed a few times (one I got on film) but he is a trooper no tears.

Just the other day he started doing this pity cry when we put him down for naps or to go to bed. He now stands up in his crib where he has plain view of the door and wales until someone opens the door and then is all smiles from ear to ear. I got that on film too, not so much the crying, but when I put him down for his nap all I heard from the room was DADADDA DADA DAADDA, really loud too, it was as if he was calling for someone to come get him. It was pretty funny because I found him standing in his crib just waiting like he has been. Now of course it is the screams because if we go in their too often he gets the wrong idea. Today it only took 30 minutes for him to go down. He took a hour nap earlier in the car, I went down to see Jon and on the way home Hayden passed right out. I didn't want to wake him up so I drove around for a while, of course when I took him out of the car he was wide awake ready to go again. It seems now that he is moving he doesn't think he needs a nap because playing is more fun.

Next week Hayden and I are taking off to go to Colorado. My grandma had a triple bypass today, she is in recovery and the surgery took two hours less than expected. She is a trooper that is for sure, so my mom and I are going to be heading there for 10 days to help out. I don't know what I will do without Jon. It will be the longest we have spend apart sense Europe over a year ago. Anyway, my class is almost over for the summer, so I will have time to update more often. I have pictures to upload and will probably get time tomorrow to do so, just wanted to update everyone today. Miss you all! To bad vacation couldn't last forever!

Time for a little R&R

Well it is finally time...time to get out of the office and head to the great northwoods...Wisconsin that is. We leave tomorrow to fly back to Wisconsin for 8 whole days of nothing. Thats right, absolutely nothing. Nothing but fishing, water sports, relaxing and of course camp fires.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Updating Pictures and Videos

Ahh... Hayden has finally gone down for a nap and I am able to upload pictures and blog. I was told that was my job today and in all honesty we haven't uploaded in about a month. Sorry about that, it has been one crazy month, so glad vacation is only 3 days away. Well we are almost packed (have everything all out on the dinning table), and still think we are forgetting something. Don't worry we will not forget Hayden.

Hayden is doing very well this week with sleeping. Last night he woke up at 11 hungry as can be. Don't know how he eats as much as he does for dinner and then wakes up 3 hours later hungry. I thought it was going to be a long night, but he didn't wake up until 6:00 what a relief. Lately he has been very independent, playing on his own and rolling and scooting everywhere. He knows what he wants and he goes for it. I think he is also learning how to get what he wants when he can't get it. It seems these past few days when he wants to go down for a nap he has been doing this little coughing thing. Also if he sees someone eating he thinks he needs to eat something too.

Well that is all for now and we probably won't blog until we get back from vacation. All recent pictures have been uploaded and two new videos should appear in the video bar by tonight. Miss everyone!

6 Days

Well it is almost that time...Rhinelander. I can not even begin to tell you how excited we all are to head back to Wisconsin.

Same ol' same ol' this past week. I went to Shelton, Wa to help out the interim administrator transition for the majority of the week and spent a day in Vancouver for a meeting. Interesting side note...my petition to the state of Washington got approved and I can count more hours towards my AIT. Now it looks like I will complete it at the end of October instead of the end of December and should hopefully get my license and own facility by the end of the year.

Amanda is doing great in her internship and her instructor invited her back next semester to do the same thing. She is getting some great experience and really seems to be enjoying it.

Hayden has been doing great! That second bottom tooth did poke through so he is much happier. We also discovered that when he shakes his head "no", it is a game for him. If you shake your head back at him he laughs and does it again. Tonight I was waving my foot at him and he was shaking his head back at it. Sometimes I wonder if he fell one too many times on his head.

He is also starting to move a lot more and can pretty much get where ever he wants to. Hasn't started crawling yet though, but is getting close.

That's all for now, have a great week everyone!!!

Doctor's appointment

Well we had our check up with the doctor today. Hayden's head circumference is 17 inches, 2 inches larger than last time and he is in the 50th percentile for head circumference. His height is 27 3/4 inches which is 2 1/4 inches taller than last time and he is in the 50th to 60th percentile for height. He weighs 19 lbs and 6.5 ounces, which is almost 3 pounds more than last time and he is only in the 60th percentile. I was shocked to know that he wasn't in the 90th to 98th percentiles any more and was informed that he has more lean then most babies (most babies are formula fed these days) because he is so strong and is developed as much as a normal 9 month old baby. Watch out Sadie here Hayden comes.

Some of the questions I asked the doctor were about Hayden eating too much or not enough. He told me that babies know when they are too full and will stop or throw up the food that is making their tummies sick. Well apparently Hayden isn't getting enough food and that is why he won't sleep through the night. So the 1 1/2 containers of babies food, oatmeal, 5 cheese raviolis, and cheerios just aren't cutting it. I know that sounds like a lot for a baby doesn't it? Anyway the doctor informed me that I need to start feeding him more protein and fatty foods at night which will help with the sleeping. Which covered the next question I was going to ask. When should he start sleeping through the night? Another question was about the airplane and giving him something to calm him down since he is so active. He gave me a lot of good tips. I just hope they work, otherwise Jon and I are going to have a long flight before vacation.

All the new things

For some reason it is much easier to post on Fridays during Hayden's nap, but his naps haven't been lasting very long due to teething and the painting going on outside his window last week. Plus my mom was here at the beginning of last week and she wore him out and threw off his sleeping schedule a little bit! I don't think he sleeps because he is too interested in what Grandma Melissa will do next.

My class is going great. I am learning a lot about teaching adults and the struggles they have with learning. It has been interesting, but hopefully I will walk away with some knowledge to put towards my future students. Last week Jon was running the building all by himself and he was able to get the building back on budget. This week he is in Shelton helping that building. Sometimes I think the company takes advantage of how hard working and knowledgeable he is in the health care profession.

A lot has been going on with Hayden these past few weeks. We are hoping his bottom second tooth will pop threw soon. He has been going through a growth spurt slash teething all at the same time and you can tell he is miserable. You can tell he wants to eat, but also that it is bothering him to eat. Sometimes we can't believe how much he polishes off when eating baby food, then there are other times all he wants to do is nurse and not eat the baby food. Today Tuesday July 15, he has a doctors appointment and Jon and I have discussed questions to ask so we won't feel so helpless.

Also in the last few weeks Hayden has learned NO NO, well he has been shaking his head no no. We have it on video, but I haven't go it uploaded yet. He can also pull himself up to standing. We figured that out on day when we sat him up in his crib to get ready for the baby and the next thing we know he had pulled himself up and was hanging over the railing. Scared us half to death, so we moved the crib down where he can't do that anymore. Another big step happened last night Monday July 14, Hayden started to feed himself. Well he can only grab Cheerios, because they don't squish between his fingers, and they only made it in maybe 25% of the time but at least he is getting the hang of it. We also got that on video but on the camcorder and I have yet to figure out how to download from the camcorder, so it may not make it to the blog. We will catch him at it again though so have no fear.

Well Jon and I are very excited to start our vacation. With little to no sleep we are both exhausted and can't wait to relax. Can't wait to see everyone and show off our big boy. Oh yes, he is getting bigger and not much longer until he is crawling, he almost has it down. Miss you all and can't wait to see you!

Already July?

I can't believe it is already July! We have been having gorgeous weather here in Washington. Saturday we went to Ocean Shores to see the sandcastles. There was also a wood carving exibit too which was really cool. It was almost more interesting to see the wood carvings then the sandcastles. There were three master sandcastles groups, a few intermediate, a couple novice, and a lot of beginners. It would have been more interesting if there were a ton of masters, because there sandcastles were amazing. This one group had a huge elephant on top of a throne it was pretty cool. Sunday we stayed inside, because it was just too hot for our little man. The best part about Sunday was Hayden only woke up once that night. He woke up at 3:30 and then not until morning.

I thought he was going to start sleeping through the night. Little did I know that teething was going to hit us all week. Starting Monday night Hayden started crying a lot and not eating as much as he usually does. We just thought he was tired, so we put him to bed early and he woke up a couple hours later with a fever. He gave him some motrin and it knock the fever out, but poor Hayden was up a lot that night. This has been his routen for the whole week. Waking up 5 to 6 times a night, wanting to be held and nursed. I think he thinks I can take the pain away. I wish I could, he was been crying a lot most of the week and it is just not like him. Jon and I both want our happy Hayden back. It is not that he isn't happy, you can just tell he is miserable. They say this only last until the teeth break through. I can't wait!

Not much else has happened this week. We have been trying to keep Hayden enterntained to keep his mind off his teeth, which requires around the clock entertainment if he isn't sleeping. We did go to the driving range this week so Jon could teach me how to golf. My very first swing I missed the ball and Hayden laughed at me. He actually laughed because he was quiet and good for everything else but me missing the ball. It was pretty funny, he had Jon and I laughing pretty hard as well. Hayden has been saying DADA a lot lately. I have been trying to teach him MAMA, but whenever I say MAMA he just says DADA.

This 4th of July weekend isn't going to be too exciting. Tomorrow Jon is judging the floats in our town 4th of July parade. So Hayden and I plan on going down and watching it. Other than that we are afraid we are going to miss the fireworks due to little man's teething, but there are always other years. Jon has to work Saturday and Sunday, and my mom is coming on Sunday to babysit Hayden for the week while I am doing my intrenship, because Jon's boss, wife (our babysitter), and kids are on vacation.

Well I hope I didn't bore too many people. We miss you all and can't wait for vacation, 3 more weeks!

Hayden, who is your favorite???

Little bit of babbling for your enjoyment!! In this clip, Hayden tells us who his favorite person is...

Scrapbooking

This weekend Jon and I pondered a great idea. Making custom scrapbooks for people, since I have become completely obsessed with scraping. So I am going to try it out and see if this is what I want to do in my spare time. So if anyone knows of people that would like a custom scrapbook made send them my way. Also I am doing a few scrapbooks for people just to get my name out. We researched it online and there are not a whole lot of people that do custom scrapbooks and if they do they charge outrageous amounts. Right now Jon and I are thinking of a name so we can get a web page going and business cards, if anyone has any ideas let us know. So far we have Captured Memories, Memories Transformed, and Memories in the Making.

Now to move on to the important subject Hayden. Jon and I think he is teething again. He woke up screaming last night which was unusual for him. We figured it might be his teeth because he has been fussy lately and has had a lot of poopy diapers (which usually happens when a tooth is about to come in). Today he went to the sitters because I had my first day at my internship. It was fun, I am working with adults ranging from 20 to about 65 working towards their GED or just taking basic adult education due to their job demand. I will be working with some of the people in small groups one day a week to help them with math. I get to plan my own lessons and use my own props I am very excited! However, that excitement can only go so far. Jon left this morning for Portland for the whole week. I am a little sad and when Hayden goes to bed early a little lonely. We are hoping he doesn't have to do this a lot. So if any one is bored and would like to chat I am open for anything. Other than that I am just scraping!

Did you hear about that new pirate movie? I heard it was rated ARRRRR!!!!

Well another busy weekend...Friday night after work I went golfing with my boss at his country club. It was an amazing course, but we only had time to play 9 holes. Afterwards we headed back to his house for some cocktails, where Amanda and Hayden were already. It was a blast.

Saturday morning we were excited to go to the beach because we thought there was a sand castle building contest...turns out that is next weekend; glad I can read a calendar!! :)

Instead we went to Westport, they have a little pirate festival every year so we decided to check it out. It was actually kind of neat; saw a seal swim 2 feet from where we were on the pier; two huge pirate ships...and A LOT of people dressed as pirates. To be honest that was kind of weird...especially since they all acted in character...well at least I think they were just acting...hopefully. We got home pretty late, rented the "Bucket List" (which was really good, but made Amanda cry) and headed to bed.

Tomorrow I head back to Portland for the week, by myself this time. Not really looking forward to that, I'm going to miss them both since Amanda has her internship starting this week.

Next weekend we are going to head to the beach for the sandcastle contest. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Busy week

Since Father's Day we all have been pretty busy. We were in Portland for half the week. Hayden and I hung out at the hotel most of the time. Monday my mom came by and we went shopping. I got a bathing suit that actually fits so I won't feel left out during vacation. We bought the new carrier which Jon already posted on and Hayden got to ride in a very large firetruck stroller at the mall. Tuesday Hayden spent most of the day sleeping while I worked on my scrapbooks. He probably slept for a good 5 and 1/2 hours during the day. Tuesday night we went to Multnomah Falls to hike and try out the new carrier. It was beautiful. We got some great pictures on our mile hike up the falls. Wednesday we had to check out of the hotel so Hayden and I went shopping while Jon was at work. I strapped him into the carrier and we went to about 20 different stores (Best Buy and Ikea were the top priorities though), but we refrained from buying anything. Probably because I didn't want to carry anything else while I had Hayden on my back.

Finally back at home we can relax. It was a little difficult in the hotel sleeping wise because Hayden got too cold with the air on. We ended up moving his play yard over by the door, which worked - we should have done that the first night. Thursday was Jon's boss's anniversary so we babysat for them. Lizzy and Morgan love Hayden so we had a good time. First we started off at the swimming pool. Hayden loves the water! We put him in his little floater and he just kicked and kicked. But we were only in for about 15 minutes, his diaper completely filled up and he hated it. So needless to say I had a naked little boy on my hands that I was hoping wasn't going to pee on me through the towels I had him wrapped in (Lets just say I bought little swimmers today so we could go to the pool more before vacation). Later that night we went to Chuck E Cheese. We had a good time and were there for about 3 hours. Just in time to get home and get Mr. Crabby Hayden to bed. Good news is he slept very well. Waking up twice and then sleeping until 8:30 this morning!

I almost forgot. Hayden weighs 19.4 lbs now! Isn't that crazy, he is almost too big for his car seat. It is amazing how fast he has grown. Also with him turning 6 months this week today I took his 6 month pictures. They are adorable and I will upload them and all of our other pictures we took this week today. As soon as I find the camera cord. Well we miss everyone and can't wait - 1 month to go!

Fathers Day

Hello everyone, hope you all had a great fathers day!! Mine was great; went to church in the morning, grilled some burgers for lunch and then went to the Portland Zoo with Amanda, Hayden and Grandma Melissa. It was a beautiful zoo, but kind of disappointing in the fact that there were a lot of exhibits closed. Oh well, it was 75 and sunny and felt great to just be outside. Amanda even got a little sunburn.


Since we are in Oregon till Wednesday, we decided to take advantage of no sales tax and upgrade Hayden's carrier. Up until now we had been using a Jeep infant carrier where he sits in the sling in front of us. But because he is such a porky little guy, our backs are taking the brunt of his chubbiness and have been wearing down quickly. We figured is time to go with a carrier where we can carry him like a backpack. Plus, we are planning on doing a good amount of hiking with him in the coming years we wanted one that would last more than 6 months. This one holds up to 50 pounds so hopefully that will at least get us 2 years... hopefully.

We got the Kelty FC 3.0 because it has a shade, plenty of storage, and is REALLY comfortable to wear. It is like he weighs 6 pounds again when you are carrying him. It's amazing!! (See picture above)....it even has a little kick stand for when we want to put him down on the ground. Seems like it will work perfect for what we need.

Well, that is all for now. Hope everyone had a great fathers day. Also hope that everyone in Wisconsin is staying dry and didn't have too much water in their basements. Love you all and have a great week!!

Back to normal

Well everything is finally back to normal with Hayden. He was going through a growth spurt. Last night Jon and I finally got some sleep. Hayden only woke up twice 12:30 and 4 then not until we got up. Finally we actually got some sleep. He is now eating less too, only going through 2 containers of food instead of 3.

I weighed him too thinking that he was a little heavier. Anyone want to guess? Well his weight is 18.5 pounds. Yup he went from 17.2 pounds last week to eighteen and a half. Goodness! He tends to surprise me each day.

Well this weekend we are heading to my moms. Saturday I am doing make-over stuff with my mom and sister. Not a clue what Jon and Hayden will be doing at that time. Then Saturday night Jon and I are going to go out for Father's Day to a movie or dinner, but we haven't decided yet. My sister really wants to watch the baby. But she may have to fight my mom for that privilege.

This coming week we will be in Portland most of the week. Jon's company wants him to train a new referral manager. Go figure he isn't even a regional in sales and marketing and yet they want him to train this new person. I think the company thinks pretty highly of him. I just can't wait until we know where we will be at with this company so we can finally settle down.

Anyway, if we don't get a chance on Father's Day to wish everyone a Happy Father's Day - Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there. Miss everyone and vacation is only a month and two weeks away!

Another Growth Spurt?

Jon and I are so confused right now. We are not sure how much to feed Hayden anymore. I am afraid I will over feed him and give him a belly ache, but when it comes down to it I want my sleep more. We have been feeding Hayden 3 times a day. A total of 2 and a half tubs of solids. Morning is usually the sweets (fruit) mixed with oatmeal or rice cereal, then we do a little of both fruit and veggies for lunch and then usually veggies at dinner. Sometimes we mix up the sequence first giving veggies in morning and doing fruit and oatmeal at night. I thought this would be enough food. Last night I didn't want to feed him too much so I stop feeding him after a full container plus a little extra. He still woke up ever 2 hours to breastfeed last night. I don't know what to do. We are not sure if he is going through a growth spurt or teething. Needless to say both Jon and I are a little tired today. I could really use some wise input or tricks of the trade.

Don't Worry We are Still Alive

I know it has been a couple of weeks since we have last blogged. Well, lets just say we all have been super busy. After coming home from Wisconsin it has been a non-stop week. I have been extremely busy with school (my last final is tonight) and interview for an internship this summer (which I got). The internship is helping adults and kids in the head-start program get their GED. I get class credit which transfers to any Washington college and the work experience. I am very excited to see how it works out. I will teach Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to 12, which are great hours and I am not away from Hayden that long. Jon has been doing his usual working like crazy to finish his training. He is a third of the way done, and he just looked at the Wisconsin requirements after of course passing the board tests. He only has to have a year experience which is much better than 2 years.

Hayden well he has not been his normal self. It took him a good week to get back in the swing of things. Since he wasn't use to taking a nap in his swing Jon and I have been trying the crib for naps. It works only problem is they are cut short because Hayden rolls on his tummy head first into the mattress and wakes himself up. He has been doing that at night as well, which sometimes is a little annoying because I don't get much sleep then, but lately it has been getting better. He has been eating a lot more solids. If he doesn't get enough to eat he is crabby too. I think his teeth are bothering him as well, because lately his moods aren't the greatest. Now that I think about it, it could be an accumulation of everything going on these past weeks.

We are all ready for summer, the nice weather, longer daylight, and of course vacation! Jon and I did some shopping Saturday for ourselves for summer clothes, wait we did shop for Hayden too (it is hard not to get him some cute outfits when we find such great deals). Jon got some more "daddy" t-shirts to wear during the summer, I got some nicer clothes that I can wear for my internship, and Hayden, well he got two outfits a a 3 piece nice outfit we will use for pictures and special occasions, and then just a cute short outfit.

Sorry we haven't updated the pictures lately either. I will do that later this afternoon during Hayden's second nap. I have to study for my final tonight. Other than being busy we are all doing fine, but we are getting a little too excited to be up north in July. We all can't wait to relax, and get Hayden in the water!

Wow has the week flown by

What can I say. It's Friday and I couldn't be more excited, minus the fact I have to work all weekend and Jon is working Monday. But there is not much we can do about that.

First of all I want to say welcome home to our family. Jon and I have missed you all very much, talking everyday and sharing Hayden's random outbursts with you all. It was hard going without a chat every once in a while. I know we all can't wait for July.

Second, Hayden is a dream. He has been sleeping a lot better, even when he does wake himself up, he plays for a little bit in his crib and sometimes goes back to sleep. The first time it happened this week, I was in heaven. I never thought sleep could feel so good when there has been lack of lately. He still gets up twice a night, but that is usually at 12 and 4, then he usually sleeps until Jon is about to leave for work. It is nice to sleep in, but unfortunately Hayden's naps are starting to disappear and that stinks because that is when I get my school work done.

Third, Hayden can roll over now back to front and front to back. Now he won't do it in front of you but when I leave the room for a second and come back he is either on his stomach or back, different from how I left him. Jon tried to get him to do it for him the other night. It was unsuccessful. I guess we are just going to have to hide the video camera to catch it.

Fourth, I uploaded the video of Hayden playing in the sand. I hope you all enjoy. Miss and love you all!
Amanda, Jon, and Hayden

Adventures in Seaside

To start, we have a triad of birthdays. So....happy birthday Grandpa Strickland, Grandpa Ollmann and Auntie Hailee (1 day early)!!!!!! We hope that you all enjoy your days!!

OK so it has been another busy week/weekend. On Thursday night after Amanda's class we headed down to Vancouver. I did some training at another facility on Friday so the company put us up in a hotel for the night so I could be there nice and early. As soon as work was done we headed down to Newberg to visit Grandma Melissa and had a nice relaxing evening.

Saturday morning we headed out early with the intention of going to the Portland Zoo. When we got there there were about 1000 people waiting in line for opening and it was 80+ degrees, so we decided it was not the best of ideas to go. Instead we headed out west to the ocean again.

We ended up at Seaside, the city we got married in. It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze off the ocean. The water was still a bit chilly; Amanda lasted about 2 seconds in it up to her ankles before she had to get out. We spent some time playing in the sand with Hayden, there are some pictures on Flickr and we have a video of him playing with the sand by himself. We decided we will probably need to get a sandbox for him shortly since he liked it sooo much. When we buried him he giggled so much, but when Amanda took him into the bathroom to clean him off....lets just say he didn't like it too much. It was another great day at the beach and we got some sun so it was very nice. Plus we bought some tear-free spray suntan lotion for Hayden which made getting him ready 10 times easier. Grandma Cheryl - It was SPF 50 so you could use it too!!!

Well that is about all for today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!!!!

Jon, Amanda and Hayden

P.S. Aunt Pat when you read this if you could give me a call I would greatly appreciate it!!! Thanks!!

A visit to the doctor's office

Even though Hayden will be 5 months on Saturday, yesterday was his 4 month check-up. Which means shots for the poor guy. With Jon's new schedule he cannot come with me, so I was all alone and worried i wouldn't be able to handle it.

Good news is we have a very healthy and extremely strong boy. Hayden weights 17 lbs, is 25.5 inches long, and has a head circumference of 15.5 inches. He is of course in the 98th percentile for weight and height.

While we were waiting on the nurse to come in and give him his shots he did his circle thing on the doctors examination table. Tearing the paper on it to shreds. Oh he loved that. It took all I could do to keep him from eating it.

Now comes the most dreadful part, the shots. Hayden did great, didn't cry or anything. On the last shot, the one that will cause the fever, irritation, and pain he let out a little noise as the needle was coming out. But there were no cries on the way home.

It wasn't until the band aid came off did he cry, unfortunately Jon had to deal with that all on his own since I was in class. I feel horrible, I know that is the hardest part on me to see our baby cry. He handled it pretty good, he was smiling when I got home.

Well Jon's car was having problems again and because of it being in the shop we are down in Vancouver, Washington for the day until Jon is done with his training. Good news is I decided I am going to have a little fun with Hayden and we are going to IKEA and Best Buy and do a pretend shop for what we want in our future house. It must be a woman thing, because I am extremely excited and Jon just looked at me like I am crazy.

Tomorrow we may be going to the Portland Zoo. We will take lots of pictures. Miss you all!

New things going on in the Ollmann House

A few new things are happening with Hayden. They have been progressing over these last few weeks. He can now sit up by himself, well until he gets distracted and kicks himself back or when he goes for a toy it is head first into the ground. He also started holding the bottle by himself. When Jon feeds him at night he will push him away and want to feed himself. Another thing he loves to do is do a circle when he is on the floor with his toys. Once on his back he tries to sit up, but since he can't make it up all the way he ends up on his side holding his ankles. By this time he straightens himself out, while doing so he scooted a little bit in a circle. He did this while I was doing dishes the other day. I had him on the floor and when I was done I came back into the living room and found him 180 degrees different from where I left him. My teacher in the parent infant class told me he is starting to gain his mobility. She also told me he is going to be a jumper (when starting to walk, throwing himself from one object to another to stabilize him while walking). In other words I think he will be hitting his head on a lot of things. Another thing that is really nice that Hayden started doing this weekend was entertaining himself in his crib, swing, highchair, and everywhere we put him. Which is nice because in the morning Jon and I can catch a few more minutes of sleep. He has started to grab at his mobile in both his crib and swing. He only cries now when he is in need of something, which hasn't been the case lately. We can usually tell his signs of hunger and sleepiness before it gets to that point. It has been fun watching him grow and progress. He is such a happy baby, Jon and I really couldn't ask for more. This weekend is suppose to be super nice and we are all excited to take Hayden out again in the stroller for a walk or maybe to a festival. We weren't sure if he would like his stroller, but a couple of weeks ago we tried it out and he loved it. Well he didn't fuss in it, until he was in the sun and we couldn't shade him from the bright light. We ended up carrying him for that stretch of the walk. Other than that he could look out and see everything, without putting strain on Jon and I since he is getting heavier. The more weight he puts on the harder it is to carry him unless he is in the jeep carrier. Well I hope everyone has had a good week. Thanks Aunt Pat for the package. We got them this weekend. A thank you note is in the mail. Sorry we haven't updated the pictures lately, but we haven't really taken many. We forgot the camera on Mother's Day and have been super busy during the week. These pictures are the most recent. Miss you all and hope to see everyone soon.

2 Posts in 12 hours...huh?!?!?!?

Just wanted to share this with everyone...we heard it yesterday in church and found it perfect for my mom and dad!!

Legacy of an Adopted Child
Author Unknown

Once there were two women,
Who never knew each other.
One you do not remember,
The other you called mother.

One gave you a nationality,
The other gave you a name.
One gave you the seed of talent,
The other gave you aim.

Two different lives shaped,
To make yours one.
One became your guiding star,
The other became your sun.

One gave you emotions,
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile,
The other dried your tears.

The first gave you life and,
The second taught to live it.
The first gave you a need for love,
And the second was there to give it.

One gave you up,
It was all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child,
And God led her straight to you.

And now you ask me through your tears,
The age-old question through the years;
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither my darling, neither
Just two different kinds of love.

Mother's Day

My mother's day started last night. Since my mom came up Jon and I were able to slip away and do some fun and exciting things. We went to a very nice restaurant in the bay. It over looked the bay and the Olympic mountains. The food was absolutely amazing. We got the Mahi Mahi and Alaskan Halibut. Then we ended the meal with apple bread pudding and ice cream. Best bread pudding I have had by far. It just melted in your mouth.

We were going to go see a movie, but we got out of dinner too late and the next movie wasn't until 9:45, too late for us. So, we went to the casino. I didn't play the slots this time, because the casino we went to was jammed packed. Both Jon and I ended up playing roulette together. It was fun because he won pretty big and I was able to win consistently and ended up winning my money back, so we came out on top.

The only bad thing that happened was the car almost died coming home. Yikes! It was late and we ended up losing all power after we got off the expressway. We ended up putting the car in neutral and coasted into a parking lot. We called the insurance company because we have towing insurance and were about to call the tow company when Jon tried to start the car one more time. It started! Thank goodness, all the way home Jon and I kept praying we could make it home. Don't worry we made it safe and sound, now we just hope the car starts tomorrow so we can take it into the collision center so they can have round 2 of fixing it. Seems like no one out here can do something right the first time.

Today was just as good. I woke up next to a handsome man and a little bundle of joy just as happy as he could be in his crib. Couldn't ask to wake up a better way, no hungry cry! Jon fixed my mom and I pancakes. I was just excited because I could put the blueberries in them. In the end it was more like we had a little bit of pancakes with our blueberries. Oops. Another oops on my part I got us lost on the way to church so we ended up going to the late service.

The church service was on adoption which hit close to home. A poem was read during the service and if you want to read it, it is on Jack and Cheryl's comment page for Mother's Day. It was very touching, it had my mom in tears.

After church we went to the boat festival. It was pretty cold out but we had a good time. Hayden slept through the majority of it, but he does that anywhere we go. We saw Irish jig dancers that did Cotton-Eye-Joe which was really cool and everyone got into it. We got my mom a massage and we got cookies and beef jerky sticks to snack on. The real treat was at home though. Yesterday I made homemade carrot cake and it was AMAZING!!!!

My mom left around 3 and Hayden took a little nap, but then woke up and wanted to play. About 6 he was ready for bed, he had a long day. Now I am just ready for another piece of my cake, so that was all for today. Hope everyone else had a good day as well. Happy Mother's Day, I miss and love you all.

Jon and Hayden send their love too.

Yah for solid foods...

Well it is official. Hayden is now eating solids, well as solid as baby food gets. He is on the first foods. We have so far given him sweet potatoes, sweet peas, carrots, and bananas. He absolutely loves sweet potatoes and bananas. Sweet peas he is a little unsure of. Last night was his first experience with them and his faces when it was put in his mouth were priceless. Shame we didn't get it on video camera. Now carrots we are unsure if he likes or not. I was feeding him them, and I am not sure if he was slapping my hand away or trying to help but lets just say the entire jar went all over him. So we have yet to give him large quantities of carrots. This weekend Jon is setting up the highchair. I can't wait to have him at the table and see how he reacts.

I have good news. Hayden woke up twice last night! Yah! We at least got some good sleep although I still felt I needed to catch up on sleep from this busy week. Well I just wanted to inform everyone about the solids he has started on. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Mothers especially! Love you all.

Busy Week

Sorry there hasn't been many updates this week, but I have been extremely busy with observing classrooms and school this week, and Jon has gone back to work a couple times after I come home from class. So needless to say Hayden has spent about 10 hours with the sitter, Jon's boss's wife Sueann, this week during the day. Hayden loves going to Sueann's in the morning. They have two daughters one 11 or 12 and the other is 8. They both love him and play with him, well while they are home and not at school. He comes home completely exhausted and usually sleeps the rest of the afternoon.

He seems to be getting better with his teething. He still has only one tooth that has broke through, but we know the others are coming in. When we give him his nuk he usually grabs it with his hand turns it on its side and chews on it. We were almost wondering if maybe some back teeth were coming in to that were bothering him. He has been sleeping a lot during the day. Jon said this was due to his teething - maybe it isn't as painful when they sleep.

With that said his sleeping patterns are good and bad. There are times when he sleeps great and then like last night up every 30 minutes (although I decided it was the warmth of his room that woke him up so much last night), once I turned the heat down he slept for a 2 hour stretch.

He is just the perfect angel though, learning to play by himself. His tummy time has extended in length before he gets frustrated and wants attention. He has almost got the rolling over from back to front down. He needs a little help getting his heavy legs to role with him. But its his smiles that bring so much joy to my heart. He is such a beautiful baby, Jon and I couldn't have gotten any luckier.

Well this weekend is Mother's Day weekend and we have a boat festival in town down by the pier so we are very excited to go to that. Good news too, I don't have to work Sunday. So I get to spend it with my handsome guys, we will post more pictures this weekend. Miss everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there, hope it is as special as all of you.

Love,
Amanda, Jon, and Hayden

Shout Out to my Mama

Hello everyone. Jon here.

First of all, just want to say to Grandma and Grandpa Ollmann and Auntie Hailee that we are thinking about you right now. I know that it is tough, but you all have hearts of gold and god really will help you through this. There is a child out there waiting for you in Uralsk and you will find her, don't worry, be happy. (Yes, I did just sing the song in my head in case you were wondering.)

OK, mister Hayden is doing great. Three of his canine teeth are coming in right now, so when they finally do he will have fangs. Come to think of it, if we can teach him how to hiss, his mouth looks like a snake. Instead of the hiss, he is starting to shriek which we hope is just because of the teething and is only temporary.

Yesterday, when Amanda was in Portland visiting Grandma Melissa she fed tried sweet potatoes, he likes them. He also spent the entire day at high school while Amanda doing observations.

Other than that, not much is new. Really, really busy with work lately. The training is going great and I wrote a petition to the state of Washington to see if they will allow me to count more then 40 hours a week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Love and miss you all!!
Jon, Amanda and Hayden

Hayden's Pictures

I know everyone has been wanting some pictures. With Jon and I being as busy as we are right now I have uploaded the pictures to Kodak Gallery at Target.com. So if everyone would e-mail me their e-mail address I can send invites to everyone. My e-mail address is a_marie18@yahoo.com. Since you can't print off Flickr this is another option. Right now I only have recent pictures uploaded but will get as many uploaded as I can.

P.s. Hayden is doing great. Today was his first day with a sitter since I had observing at the local schools. He didn't fuss and was really good. It is crazy I worried that he would miss me, but I guess that is normal. Miss everyone, we will be in Wisconsin July 26-Aug 2, but will be up north. The Saturday in August before we fly back we are trying to get Hayden baptised, but are not sure if that will happen. We will find out soon though.

Ocean Shores

Today we went to Ocean Shores, a small ocean town on an isthmus on the Pacific Ocean. At first we thought it was going to be a bust of a trip. The weather was beautiful, but there was not much to do. There was an area where you could rent a horse or a moped for an hour; but with a four month old that is not feisable. So we went to explore the area and stumbled on the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center. Inside the was a display of animals in the area, both on land and in the ocean. There was also a room dedicated to ship wrecks that have occurred at the entrance of Grays Harbor. There was a set of china from the late 1800's, the wheel that Hayden is holding in the picture on Flickr, and outside they even had a section of a wrecked ship.

It was not the most impressive museum, but we got a lot out of it. Plus, we found out something that Miss Amanda got really excited about. Right now the grey whales are migrating from Mexico up the western US coast to Alaska. The staff gave us directions to another side of the area where you can see them if you are lucky. Well, we were kind of lucky. We saw 2 spurts shoot out of the water and a sea lion swimming around. Unfortulately the whales did not jump out of the water like at SeaWorld and Hayden slept through about 80% of that.

The good thing is that we found a section of Ocean Shores that we liked, even an area for surfing. The only concern Amanda keeps bringing up is the Great White Sharks that are in the area. What a wuss, huh?? Well that is about it. Oh yea, when we got home Hayden was sucking on Amanda's finger and she felt something on his upper gum line. Turns out, it looks like his first tooth is coming in already. It is tough to get him to sit still long enough to get a picture of it, but I think you can see it well enough if you look on Flickr.

Thats all for now, hope everyone has a great weekend!!

P.S. Hailee, Amanda says she thinks Hayden liked your outfit the best because he NEVER pooped on it. She mistyped it before.

Good News!

Well the good news is the antibiotics are working! We have a much happier baby today. Even though he woke up 5 times last night. I got at least 2 1/2 hour stretch of sleep for at least 2 of those times.

What Jon failed to post last night about the doctors visit was the fact we have a 17 pound baby on our hands. The doctor flat out told us "feed him." I almost laughed to myself for worrying about it being too soon to give Hayden rice cereal, and the doctor is basically telling us it is okay to start on other solids as well.

Today I went to dress him and discovered his 6-9 month onesies and some of the other 6-9 month clothes fit him. I was in shock, but I guess that is why his other onesies are so tight when he has a wet diaper. I'm sure Hayden is a lot more comfortable now. So I am sad to say we had to retire a lot of his clothes. Sorry Hailee that meant the outfit you picked out for him. It was one of his favorites. I am drawing this conclusion from the mere fact he did get poop all over it when he was wearing it (which he has done in almost ever outfit!).

Well he is sitting right here with me writing it and says hi to all and wishes that he could drool all over everyone like he is on the key board. Miss you all!

The Verdict Is In

Well, after Amanda's call to the doctors office they decided they wanted to see him right away today.

Doc was concerned that he had an ear infection. Well they were wrong, but he does have a sinus infection. Poor little guy, 4 months old and already has sinus problems.

Well that explains why the humidifier and every other little trick we could think of were not working.

Great, he is already snotty.

Rough day in the Ollmann household...

Well today has been no walk in the park. Hayden has a cold, he hasn't got a fever and three days ago he had a spit up that I swore sounded like vomit when coming out, but that was the only time. He is pretty congested though, and it looks like I might be coming down with whatever he has as well. Jon is lucky however because I think he had this bug last week.

Last night we put a pillow under the mattress in Hayden's crib it is suppose to help with the fluid so he can breathe better at night. Only problem is every time he moved to change positions he rolled to the bottom of the crib and woke up. He did sleep a tiny bit better last night. The monkey you see in his pictures on flickr is now his new favorite object to hold when he goes to sleep.

This morning was very rough. I woke up feeling horrible and poor Hayden could hardly breathe so we propped him up in our bed with pillows and he fell asleep sitting up, poor little guy. He slept until Jon and I started getting up and ready for the day. That was it, and for the rest of the morning Hayden was crabby. He wouldn't take his morning nap and I am not sure if it is because he doesn't feel good or he wanted attention. I tried everything from feeding him, rocking him, using his nook, reading to him, distracting him with the TV, and even trying to sooth him. NOTHING. It was very frustrating, finally about 15 minutes ago I just had to put him in his swing and leave the room because I felt helpless. What do you know, he finally fell asleep.

Well I just wanted to keep everyone updated on Hayden. If he gets worse today I am going to take him to the doctor to see if maybe it is an ear infection like Aunt Pat said. The only thing his, he hasn't been pulling on his ears, but it could be that he doesn't have the best use of his hands yet. Well wish you all were here or we were there for support. Miss everyone, I will keep you updated on Hayden's status!

Can never have enough clothes!

I officially decided that you can never have too many baby clothes. Hayden has been giving me a run for our money this week with clothes and diapers. Yesterday he pooped through a total of 3 outfits and today he either got sick or spit up more than his stomach could possible hold. As you can see it has been a rough couple of days for his outfits.

To update everyone on sleeping, the little guy is getting worse. He does his usual routine with Jon and eats rice and takes a bottle and cries when you put him down. Only last night even though he did take the bottle he wanted me to put him to sleep by breastfeeding. He cried for 30 to 40 minutes which usually by the second time we go in 15 minutes later he takes his nuk and falls asleep. On top of that instead of his usual 4 to 5 hour sleep cycle in the beginning it was shortened to 2 1/2 hours. Then it got rough, I fed him but he just wouldn't fall asleep. He would only fall asleep holding my finger and then I would wait and go into the next room to go to bed. 15 minutes later he was up crying again. After doing this 4 times, trying a transitional object (his boopie), and leaving a piece of my clothing close by that smelled like me, I ended up sleeping in the guest room on the bed. Any suggestions?

Other than the sleeping problems everything else is great. He is getting better at entertaining himself, but if for a second he doesn't think you are close by or within sight he gets a little crabby. I am not sure how a babysitter is going to work when I start with observations, unless it is just separation anxiety for human contact and not from Jon or me yet.

The Big Day

Well, we got the internet today. I know I know pretty exciting right? At least I can keep up with the blog and pictures so feel free to leave comments and let me know how I am doing or how I am slacking.

Last night Jon updated the headline picture and was attempting to add new pictures on flickr and wasn't able to. Once we have a good connection I will get those pictures up pronto.

This weekend was a good weekend. My mom came up to visit and Jon and I went out on a very nice date. We had prime rib and went to the casino afterwards. I came out ahead, well only a few dollars but that is pretty good for playing the penny slots all night.


Hayden is doing very well with his rice cereal. We have a few good pictures of it all over his face. He really likes the mushy feel to the rice cereal, and when you go to feed him he attacks the spoon to eat it all up. Well that is all for now, once I get the password for flickr I will put new pictures up!

Friday... Finally

I have never been so happy that it is Friday. I forgot how much work school is then on top of everything else it gets kind of overwhelming. Thank goodness for my mom and helping out a little with some of the teaching observations I need.

Today has already started out interesting. Hayden's nap was short and he jumped right into play time and as we were playing he spit up all over himself. This is probably only the second time he has ever done that so I was a little in shock. He continues to entertain himself very well though. Lately he has been doing this squeaking thing - letting out loud shreeks every once in while.

Sleep was a little better last night. But he had a stuffy nose which made things difficult at times, eating in particular.

No sleep for me...

Monday night Jon fed Hayden some rice for the first time. He got it all into his mouth, which we were told the first time is a challenge. Well, I guess Hayden proved everyone wrong because he is ready to eat solids that is for sure. Bad news is, it is not helping him sleep at night.

Yesterday in the parent/infant class we were talking about sleep patterns with babies throughout the first year. The instructor informed me that Hayden is starting what is called separation anxiety. Which according to her starts anywhere between 4 to 6 months and usually peaks at 9 months. So Hayden is forcing himself to wake up just to make sure someone is there. After I heard that I wanted to cry. Just means less sleep for me, but at least I know he is getting enough food at night.

Yesterday I also weighed him again because his next doctors appointment isn't until May 2nd for round two of shots. Everyone get ready Hayden is now 16.4 lbs. Yes the boy has gained almost a whole pound in such short time.

Stacey I think you are right, we are going to have a football player for sure! We can't wait to get back to Wisconsin this summer to see everyone and show off our pride and joy. He really does spoil us, well minus the sleeping, but other than that I he is so much fun and a blessing to have.

Everything is just a giggle now!

Well, Mr. Hayden is doing great. One big thing now is he is starting to giggle. I am taking a parent/infant class with him and we are learning a lot of new songs and fun things to do. So every morning when I change him from his night outfit to his outfit for the day I do the mouse song with him and he just giggles and smiles away. Don't worry we got it on video so you can see it! Once we get Internet in our apartment I will try and upload videos as well.

Last week I weighed him on the scale with me and subtracted my weight without him and he is 15.8 pounds. Yes, he is close to 16 lbs and is not even 4 months yet. He is still having problems waking up at night. So we are thinking we may have to start him on rice in the evenings before he goes to bed. He is just too big and I don't think just milk is doing it for him anymore.

The good news is he is starting to take a bottle a lot better from someone other than me. With night classes and working Jon has been the one to put him to bed every night. Which I can honestly say is hard for me because I miss seeing him close his eyes and curl up in his crib. It is funny how much I go into Hayden withdrawals and I spend most of the day with him, but I guess that happens when you become a mother.

Anyway that is about all of the updates I can think of, but I will try to keep everyone more up to date with pictures and all of the fun details. Miss everyone!

Easter

After an interesting week of Amanda hurting her knee, getting sick and Hayden being a little cranky; Easter weekend was a nice reprieve.

On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt in Tumwater, where I sit on the Parks Board. It was crazy. A couple hundred kids and 9000 eggs that took about 3 minutes. They had bikes and other prizes to give away, I had never seen anything like that before and it was really neat to see all the kids Battle Royal a bit size Kit-Kat. We got some good pictures and Hayden seemed to enjoy all of the action. We had previously decided that we were not going to get an Easter basket this year since he was so young, but the hunt got us in the mood. We went to Target and bought one and filled it with stuff for us and a movie for him. :)

Sunday was pretty low key, we had steak and stuffing for a "brunch", and it was nice to just hang low for a day.

It will be a busy year for us from here on out, my Administration plan was accepted by the State of Washington and I can now start training. It will be about 50+ hours a week with the hopes that it will be completed sometime in November. 1500 work hours seems like so far away!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter, and that the bunny was good to all.

Love,

Jon, Amanda and Hayden

Amanda fall down go boom

Sunday was a day we were looking forward to for over a week. Grandma Melissa came up to babysit Hayden while Amanda and I had a day to ourselves. We decided to go into the Cascade mountains and learn how to snowboard. The administrator at Riverside has taught about 10 people how, so he offered to teach us for free. I liked the sound of that. So we got up at 7 to leave by 7:30, (stupid daylight savings time) and got to the mountain by 9.

We both picked it up pretty quick, and by 12 we were already hitting the intermediate slopes. I have to say though, the intermediate slopes are like the hard ones in Wisconsin. We went down twice and decided to get some food. Amanda's legs were really tired and we were all hungry. I forgot how expensive those lodges can be, and $30 later for 2 slices of pizza, a Gatorade, water and a baked potato we headed out.

There were 4 separate hills at the resort, all connected by buses. We waited a bit for the bus and headed to Alpental. We should have known it was going to be a disaster right when we got off the lift. After doing great all day, Amanda fell right into the mesh fencing. After 5 minutes of getting ready we started down the slope. There was a path about 300 yards long and 20 yards wide in the beginning of the run, and Danny and I lead the way down. When we got to the part where it opened up the the rest of the mountain we sat down and waited for Amanda. Half an hour later she still had not come down so I sent Danny down to check on her while I waited in case she did come out.

10 minutes later Danny let me know that she hurt her knee and the ski patrol was going to be taking her down to the first aid office. We met them down there and the patrol put her in the Dopey bed. (Seriously, they had named all he beds after Snow White and the seven dwarfs.) Thankfully it is just a bad strain and she will be OK.

I can't wait to see what happens on our next outing. I will put up some pictures later on this week; even one with the ski patrol taking Amanda down the hill. If you want to check out where you can see it at: http://www.summitatsnoqualmie.com/

Doctor Visit

We took Hayden to the doctor on Tuesday. Just like we thought, he gained a lot of weight. He is now 13 pounds 13 ounces and is 24 3/4 inches long. It really is amazing how big he has gotten already.

Of course they also gave him his 2 month shots. He was not a fan. When they stuck the needle in he was OK, he just raised his eyebrows. When they pushed the vaccination in though, was another story. I think they could hear him in the next building. That only lasted a minute though, so overall I think he did pretty good for his first set of shots.

That night we didn't get much sleep. He ran a fever for most of the night and was pretty whiny even into the next morning. Once he started feeling better he was back to his normal smiley self. Amanda says no more shots.

We have a talker...

Mr. Hayden Ollmann is officially a social butterfly. He sure likes to hear his own voice; like his mother. He coos at his mobile at his swing, random old men at the doctors office, and anyone else that will pay attention to him. It is absolutely adorable. Yesterday we called Jon's parents so he could talk to them, he was rather excited. Today we went to Jon's work so everyone could see Hayden. Little did we know he wouldn't sleep because of all the new people and surroundings. I have a feeling that when he grows up he just might be a popular teenager.

Mid-week Update

Well, I can't update everyone too much because Hayden is perfect as always. Today he woke up screaming but we cleaned those boogies out and he was just smiling up a storm. He has been awake most of the day, becoming more aware of his surroundings. Still eating good, as you can see by his chubby cheeks and is still loving his diaper changes. Not much more to update about, but we will keep everyone posted! Oh yeah! Jon forgot to mention Hayden has started talking. Well, technically cooing but still it is very cute!

p.s. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes it was a good day!

Birthday Trip

Yesterday we headed to Seattle for Amanda's birthday. It is about an hour drive from our place and Hayden slept the majority of the way.

When we got there we put him in his Jeep carrier and he was extatic to be able to look around again. We walked around the market for a couple of hours; got some of those fresh doughnuts that you wait in line a half hour for and Amanda got a caramel apple. Pops asked me to stop and check on shipping some clams back to Wisconsin and I think Hayden liked the fish smell. His eyes got really big and he was "ohhh"ing. (I forgot to mention he started drooling, so add that he was drooling really bad too. Lets just say he made his own Lake Hayden by the end of the day.)

After the market we headed down by the piers and decided to go to the aquarium. You'd think being on the ocean, Seattle would have a great aquarium. Not the case, my recommendation is save the $30 and look at the birds around you, basically the same experience. They did however have some bright yellow fish that Hayden followed around for a while with a smile.

By the time we were ready to leave Hayden had already passed out in the carrier. (That doesn't happen much anymore since he can face out.) We stopped in Tukwilla at Bahama Breeze and had some dinner. The food was actually really good. Of course when we got home, Hayden and I had to sing Happy Birthday.

It was a beautiful day and it was even more beautiful that Hayden was so tired he slept from 10-3:30. It was the second day in a row that he slept for more than 5.5 hours. Hopefully this keeps up.

Hello Everyone

Howdy all!! These past couple of weeks have been interesting. Lots of things going on with my (Jon's) work; them possibly moving us back east...etc.

Hayden has been doing great. He is starting to stand with a little assistance and there hasn't been a day when he has not smiled yet. (As I type this Amanda just called to let me know he is a cranky boy today.) Other than that not much has been new with him...just sleeping, playing, pooping, peeing, eating, smiling and crying. I uploaded more pictures to flickr so be sure to check them out!

Hope everyone is still enjoying the snow in Wisconsin. (It has been sunny and about 50 all week here.)

Growing up too fast

Well it is official. Hayden is growing up too fast. On Wednesday, Amanda and Lisa called me to let me know he rolled over. I was at work and didn't see it, so I was hesitant to believe it. Nevertheless, they got video of 3 different times and even showed me when I got home. He can now go from his tummy to his back rather easily. We are in so much trouble if he keeps going at this pace. I like him not moving and knowing he will be exactly where I left him.

Anyways, Hayden had a little cold this week; nothing serious enough to go to the doctor though.

Well thats all for now, I posted some new pictures and will post the video of him rolling when I get a second. Hope all in Wisconsin are enjoying the lovely snow!!!

Our little man is growing so fast!

Today at my doctors appointment my mom and I got into an argument over Hayden's weight. She swore up and down that Hayden was over 10 pounds. I told her there was no way considering he wasn't gaining much weight by the end of December. Well we weighed him while we were there and he is 11.5 pounds. Wow I was amazed! I just couldn't believe how big he is getting, we had to go up a size in diapers.

Anyway I just wanted to update everyone about his weight. I will stay on Jon to update the blog at work more often. Also I updated pictures on flickr so check those out.