Mama's little helper

Today was a major cleaning day in the Ollmann household since I will be working Saturday morning when Jon and I usually do our cleaning. Hayden was a big help. He was helping me with the dishes and putting away his toys. I have pictures of him running around with the silverware holder on his arm like a purse. He was cracking me up. He would take it out of the dish rack and then walk to the silverware drawer and want to put the invisible silverware away.

Later in the afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies. Jon and I have been working on the oven being hot, even when it is not on. I don't know where Hayden got the idea, but he thought he could help with the oven too, taking the cookies in and out. I didn't realize but he had an oven mitt on his hand just like me. It was great to see he is already thinking about his safety! Afterwards he got to eat the cookies. Lets just say he got a little messy. Enjoy the rest of the pictures on flickr!

15 month check up

Today we had Hayden's 15 month check up. He got 2 shots: his MMR and the first chicken pox shot. He didn't like them very much, but I managed to take the tears away. Well, if I didn't put him down - which was difficult while trying to dress him. Hayden is 31 inches and 23 lbs 7 oz. For height he is in the 50th percentile, while for weight he is under in the 30th percentile. So now we have to watch his weight to see if there is anything going on the doctor needs to know.

It was surprising to find out your son has a weight problem in the opposite direction. Specially since the kid eats non-stop! Sometimes Hayden eats more than Jon or I in a single setting and yet the kid is underweight. The doctor also pointed out he is very active (he wouldn't stay still for the doctor). So he could just be burning all of the calories he is eating. None the less, we have to go back in a couple of months for a weigh-in.

On the positive side, Hayden now holds my hand when he walks outside. I think he figured out I will let him walk to the car and outside, when not at a park, if he holds my hand. Since we live in an apartment complex I get so nervous that he will take off and get hit by a car. So I have been carrying him to and from the car. Not anymore thank goodness. He is such a big boy. He can go up the steps (no more crawling up) with help from the railing and he can crawl into the car and get in his car seat. It helps out so much now he can do more stuff on his own.

He is growing up so fast! Anyway I hope the weather is going well for everyone else, we are still waiting for the sunshine to come out. Miss everyone and wish everyone was here with us!

Grandpa's Visit

Grandpa Ollmann has been here 4 days, and we have been busy going and doing fun things. Thursday we went to the zoo and had a good time doing all the fun things watching the walrus talk and do tricks, see the sharks out and about, and play in the kids zone. We also got to touch some starfish, well everyone did but me. I was helping Hayden use one finger to touch gently. Last time we went with Grandma Ollmann and Auntie Lisa, it had started to rain and we were unable to let Hayden play in the kid's zone. Good news both Grandpa and Hayden had a good time, specially on the spider web.

On Friday we went to Snoqualmie Falls, which is about one hour north of us, just east of Seattle. The falls is taller than Niagara Falls, and absolutely amazing. We got some great pictures, plus we took a hike to the lower observance deck. Of course Jon has to go out of his way to take some great pictures. Here is a look. They are standing on a tree stump that is about 10 feet high. Yes they both had to climb to the top to pose.

Today was a little less exciting. I had to work around noon, so we took it easy and decided spending a couple hours in the car with Hayden wasn't something we wanted to do again. Tonight for dinner we had bacon wrapped sirloins, twice-baked potatoes, and green beans. Hayden even wanted to help feed me with my own fork. It is pretty cute and we got it on video, so check out the video bar. Then after dinner the boys finger painted. We got some great pictures, and everyone had a good time.

This is mostly the end results, but they had a blast and Hayden got pretty messy. I will put the rest of the pictures on flickr. In the mean time don't forget to check out the 3 new videos. Hope everyone's weekend is going as well as ours. Wishing everyone was here!

End of the Week

Well it is the end of the week and I finally found the camera cord. Who would have thought we would have put it in the Wii box, but then again we have an organizer that likes to put things away and who knows where they will end up. Yesterday I found an old sippy in the back of the cupboard, it appeared to have yogurt in it, so I am guessing that the sippy had been put there a few days ago. Again I am not surprised. I have found puzzle pieces in the dishwasher, nuks in the fridge, and books in the cupboards as well.


Since I last blogged, Hayden has started saying a few more words (well that we can make out). Hot is "ha ha" and he does this when his food is too hot while pulling the food out and putting it back on the plate. Also a new work is "caca" or "kaka" and we still have no idea what that means. He started saying it on Sunday and we tried to figure out what it meant and still have no clue. I don't know if he is learning his c's or his k's, or if it is an actual word he is trying to say. This morning he said it when he wanted his nuk from Jon, but who knows if we will ever find out.


Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Miss you all. P.s. I uploaded pictures to flickr.

New favorite play zones

The weather in Washington has been a little nicer this past week, and because of the sunshine and 50 degree weather Hayden and I have been going to the park in the afternoon. I have some great pictures, but for some reason the camera cord I have is the wrong one and I will have to hunt down the other cord to post the pictures.

This last weekend Jon and I got a night away and went to the Alderbrook resort and spa. We had a great time! We did a wine tasting package that included a bottle of our choice of wine and a dinner credit. We choose the Riesling. The resort was beautiful right on the water with the mountains in the background.

My mom watched Hayden and they had a blast together. They went to MacDonald's and played in the play area and also spent some time at the park. When we got back they were both exhausted. The only bad thing was Hayden woke up Monday morning with an infection in his eye and a little congested. I took him to the doctor and he is fine, I have been giving him his eye drops (well the best I can considering he won't hold still to save his life) and it has almost cleared up!

Jon is at a conference for the first part of the week, so Hayden and I are managing on our own. We are trying to keep the apartment picked up so when Grandpa gets here next week, it won't be too messy. Hayden is starting to help me put things away (although it usually is not in the right place, but it is the thought that counts). Well, that is all for now we will blog soon!

Dedicated to the man on the mountain taken out by Amanda

Has it really been 19 days since our last post? Wow, where does the time go. Well...where to start...work has been really crazy...so has Amanda...and Hayden...oh Hayden. The little man has definitely been finding his voice lately. It is amazing how much he is trying to communicate. It all started with him pointing at things and grunting. His vocabulary consists of mama, dada, nanana (banana), buh buh (bye bye), daga (dog), izzy (kitty), num num (any food), nigh nigh (nite nite), blah blah blah and other sounds he decides to make at any given time. The other night he actually told me "nigh nigh-dada". I just said goodnight and walked out. Didn't hit me till I left the room that he made a pseudo-sentence.

He knows that if he reclines the recliner and pulls down on the back, he can get at the cat. Hayden also figured out that he can push his ottoman around to climb up on things. Now we really have to watch out for him crawling up on the recliner and rocking it. Also have to watch out for him jumping from his ottoman to anything near him. Still hasn't tried climbing out of the crib yet though; which is good.

Today for Amanda's birthday we let him have some ice cream cake. Lets just say he did laps around the living room, into the kitchen while shaking his head and saying dadadada..blah blah...etc. I tried to get it on video but as soon as I took the camera out he stopped.

Amanda and I did the skiing thing 2 weeks ago. She told us last year when we tried snowboarding that she would be tearing up the mountain if she was on ski's. So we rented skis and drove to the mountains. We got all dressed up and went to put on our ski's. Two seconds later Amanda was on the ground. OK, figured maybe she was a little rusty, so I helped her get up and a second later...she was on the ground again. Seriously this was without even actually moving anywhere. She forgot to mention that it has been over 10 years since she went skiing. We took it slow and eventually she had enough courage to try a little more challenging hill. Bad idea. Some poor guy standing on the hill was unfortunate enough to get taken out by my beautiful wife. Man I wish I had the camera on her. I was standing towards the top of the hill watching the entire thing happen. I laughed. Hard.

This past weekend we drove down to Portland and checked out some boutiques...bought nothing. Seriously..120 for a guys dress shirt you can see through?

OK, well hopefully life slows down a bit and we have a chance to blog a little more often. If not please forgive us. Hope everyone enjoyed Fat Tuesday!!!

The Ollmann Clan Update

I am sorry it took so long to update. Even though I have been at my mom's last week, I came back a day early because both Hayden and I missed being away. Hayden is more interesting then ever now. The last few days at my mom's Hayden thought the dog needed to be fed some tuna. If you look at the flickr pictures I uploaded you can see a bunch of tuna cans in the dog kennel. I am not sure why but Hayden thought those belonged there. He also learned how to use the bike tire pump and thought it was great because he could make noise when he pushed the lever down (also see flickr pictures). I also got some great videos of Hayden dancing and doing something new. His new thing is he has to put the spoon back for you or he won't allow you to feed him. It is too cute. He won't feed himself yet, but he is getting closer. If we put something on the spoon he tries to put it in his mouth, but other than that he hasn't yet accomplished the task of feeding himself with a spoon, fingers are just easier.

We can't believe how much Hayden is beginning to communicate. Well using his pointer finger rather than words, but hey at least he can convey a little to what he wants. He still gets frustrated when he can't communicate, but it is getting better. His two new words are "daga" or doggie and "itts" or kitty. I only know this because he only says this when he is pointing at a dog or our cat.

Some big news regarding Hayden is, in the last 4 nights he has slept through 2 of those nights and woke up once in the other 2. When I got back from my mom's house, Jon and I decided that I would stop nursing him before bed, since that was the only nursing left to do away with. Well it seems to be working and thank goodness too, I thought I was going to be a walking zombie all through Hayden's childhood. I should have stop nursing sooner!

Well I know everyone reads this site just to hear about Hayden, but I do have some good news about another family member. Jon passed his test, and is now an official Nursing Home Administrator, well at least when he gets his certificate in 3 to 4 weeks. We are all doing good, and glad to be home. We miss everyone and hope everyone has had a good week! Check out the new videos and pictures!