Baby Passport

Today we received Oliver's passport in the mail. Since we're going to France for Christmas, we wanted to get the passport process started early to make sure we received it on time.
When I opened the envelop I laughed at the picture. Oliver is changing every day and by the time we go to France he will look nothing like the picture on his passport!

Happy Baby

Today I went to my OBGyn who had not met Oliver yet. He welcomed her with lots of smiles and she was amazed he already smiled that much at his age. Then I went to the store and Oliver also used his charm on the cashier. She saw I was buying fish oil, and said: "ah it's the fish oil, good for their brain!"
Here's a little preview of what we experience multiple times a day...

Famous!

Check out Oliver and me on Dadlabs: http://www.dadlabs.com/Gear-Daddy/babybjorn-baby-carrier-miracle-spotlight.html

or watch the video below:

The boy's getting big!

More smiling, more pooping, more awake time, more Oliver.   This boy is getting big fast!  We don't know any other newborn well, so don't have much of a perspective, but he seems to us like a pretty mellow kid.  (I type this while he is starting to cry!).  Definitely not many patterns, but generally he is keeping up his easy going early beginnings.  The increase in smiles is wonderful....I'll get some pics and video up soon.

Steph is starting a Mon/Wed Yoga series this week, so I am going to work from home these days and watch Oliver while she teaches the class. We'll see how much work the little fella lets me do.

My garden buddy

I usually wake up earlier than steph, especially since Oli showed up and I'm trying to give her a break from the milk monster we call our son.  I love to make coffee and mess around in the garden at sunrise, its a great, relaxing way to start the day. Lately, I have a friend.  Little Matisse loves to say hi to the chickens (we are still finding names for them).  Since the weather has cooled a bit, the garden has come back to life and it is attracting more of my enthusiastic attention.  I planted tons of seeds last weekend and am hopeful to a great fall harvest. Speaking of planting, this week we are going to find an olive tree to plant to commemorate Oli's arrival. A bit late, but still special.

Oliver's first friend

Not the first young person Oli's been around, but certainly the most similar in age.  Eliza is the beautiful little girl of our friends Adam and Cate.  She's 7.5 months older than Oliver.  Not a span right now for them to play together, but I'm guessing in a year they'll be old pals.  I work with her dad Adam, and together we've created and run the inkedanimal.com website.  Here's the pic of the encounter....it went smoothly enough, no fussiness or hair-pulling.

1 month old

My parents arrived last Saturday and Ben returned to work this week so we've been slacking on the blogging, sorry about that.
With my parents in town, Oliver gets to practice his French, smell a lot of cheeses his grandparents brought over, and he also gets to hug his Mamie.

Oliver just turned one month old yesterday and for his birthday we got him 3 chickens. Well, the truth is we've been wanting chicken for a long time and we finally got to it...
After Ben chased the chickens around the side yard last night to put them in their coop, they had a good night of sleep but they couldn't quite figure out how to get out of it this morning... The coop is so ingeniously engineered, it looks like a hamster house, thanks Ben! :)
We have yet to give them names. If you have any suggestions, feel free to add a comment below.

For Oliver's birthday, we also opened a bottle of Champagne and put a little drop behind his ears like my grandmother does for good luck and happiness. Ben and I definitely attribute our happiness to this little trick from my Mamie and to the many bottles of Champagne we've shared over the years to celebrate - even when there wasn't a real reason for it...

Oliver is doing great, as of today's visit at the pediatrician - who he really likes by the way, he measures 22 inches and weighs 11lbs 11oz which puts him in the 90-95 percentile. The doctor called him "chunky"... He does have nice cheeks now.

Happy 3 Wk bday Oliver.

Mom's in town and we're all over town with and without Oliver.  With him we've headed shopping, to the farmers market, and on walks.  Without him, Steph and I have taken advantage of my mom to watch Oliver while we had a brunch date yesterday and a grocery shopping date the day before!  Its been great to have her around and to not only have her to help out, but just to spend some quality time together.

Here are a few pics from today.  Oliver is growing so fast....and he's starting to smile more.