Months 10 & 11

So life has been a bit crazy to say the least, hence I had to combine month 10 & 11 together.  And let's be honest folks, will I remember what was in each month respectively?  I think not.

Ollie
* He's a skinny little man weighing in at only 18 pounds.  It's going to be a sad day when he is 1 and can't go forward facing in the car because he is too little.  He definitely has his dad's eating habits, and not mine.
* He is standing all on his own.  I think he will be walking in no time.  I find him in the middle of the room just standing solo all the time.
* His eczema is looking SO much better. We saw a pediatric dermatologist at Children's in Seattle and it has made all the difference. We go back in a few weeks.  I'm curious to see what is going to happen when he is off all the 'roids.
* He is finally starting to eat.  Come to find out, the kid just didn't like baby food.  Do you blame him?  He went straight to booty, Cheetos, and animal crackers.  We learned he just wants to feed himself.  He wont eat anything off a spoon that you try to feed him.  He MUST do it himself.  So maybe he is a bit like me.
* He is still a delight.  He's happy 99.9% of the time and is such a love.

Elliot
* He continues to LOVE school.  He loves teacher Dawn and Jamie and talks about them at home.  We are all going to be in mourning when he turns 3 in April.
* He has a new obsession with "wegos".  He loves to build and will play in his room for hours just building cars.
* He continues to love youtube videos.  He prefers motorcycle documentaries or "how to" videos on putting different Lego sets together over any animated movie.  Weird.
* He is really excited about Santa this year.  When we are at the store he says, "Please Santa I want" over and over and over again.
* He loves to borrow things, but doesn't quite understand why you can't "borrow" motorcycles from the store.
* Speaking of the store, he takes it upon himself to shop for himself while we are at the grocery store.  If I don't keep an eye on him our cart tends to be full of all sorts of treasures by the time we get to the check out stand.
* He continues to receive in "F" in sleeping.  We give him melatonin to get him to go to sleep, which seems to be doing the trick after an hour or so, but he doesn't stay asleep during the night.  We are getting up with him multiple times a night which is just a joy!
* He continues to talk non-stop!  And to think we thought he would never say a word.  He loves to talk about "Uncle Suck" and "Carly", also known as Uncle Scott and Charlie.

Andrew & Emily
* Andrew continues to stay busy with his business, Moulton Maintenance Solutions.  He has been busy cleaning gutters and putting up Christmas lights. 
* I am still teaching kindergarten...feeling more and more exhausted every single day.  5 year olds sure do have a lot of energy.  I do love my students and feel lucky to be their teacher.  They teach me things every single day.  For example, it was one of my student's birthdays today and I asked him if he was going to do anything special.  He said, "not this birthday, but once I had a really special birthday so that's all that matters".  I asked him what he had done and he said his dad had come to his party at Chuck E Cheese and that he never gets to see his dad so it was really special.  I melted.  To think that he hangs on to that one memory and that is good enough is quite touching.  The kids I work with definitely come from rough backgrounds, but man are they sweet. 
* Andrew was just called to be our Ward Clerk.  That means three words for Andrew....early. morning. meetings.
* We are going to leave the boys for the first time next week for our 5 year anniversary.  I could not be more excited.  A friend from high school helped us get a room at a fancy hotel in downtown Seattle for the night. 
* We went up to the Moulton Lodge and had a friends Thanksgiving dinner.  Check out the pictures below taken by our talented friend Zach. 

9 Months

Ollie's 9 Month Stats:
* Weight: 18lbs. 3 oz. 10-25%
* Length: 28.5" 50%
* Head: 18.5" 75%
* Summary:  Fairly long skinny boy, with a big ol' head!

* He continues to be a really happy baby!
* Will only eat liquid goods.  He prefers those created by the female body, but will settle with formula if needs be.
* He will be visiting the same eating specialist Elliot saw at Children's Hospital soon.  The turkey WILL NOT eat food....this is something that as his mom I will never understand.  This is obviously something he did not inherit from me.
* He loves to jump!  If you put him in his Johnny Jump Up he goes to town.
* He loves to pull himself up on furniture, but hasn't tried to walk or stand solo yet.
* He is still a fairly good sleeper (when his brother doesn't wake him up).
* He loves to smile and giggle!  He is a total charmer!

Elliot 2 1/2 Years
* Still obsessed with motorcycles and sho-bums.
* Loves to have "dirt jumps" set up in the living room.  This entails laying a brown fleece blanket over pillows where he will drive his motorcycles for hours.
* He loves art.  He will sit and paint, draw, and his new favorite...cut, forever!
* He still loves his dad best.  He is his little shadow.  They are alike in SO many ways...it's a bit scary!
* His speech has come so far.  He can say just about anything now, although he still calls Aunt Megan and Katie, "Ka-Key".  He is still convinced they are the same person.
* He is also a very picky eater.  He will only eat chicken nuggets and honey, black beans, and pizza.  He is also a bit obsessed with chocolate milk and pop.  Like I said, he is just like Andrew.
* He thinks he is quite the comedian and loves attention.  If I had a dollar for every time I hear, "Mommy, watch" I'd be rich.  Unfortunately the things he wants me to watch usually involve jumping off something or trying some crazy stunt.
* He still LOVES going to preschool and is learning so much. 

8 Months

I know people say this all the time, but I really can't believe that Oliver is almost 8 months old already! 

Oliver
* Is crawling ALL over the place.
* He is starting to pull himself up on furniture....GULP!
* Still has no teeth.
* Still insists on a liquid only diet.  He passionately dislikes solids.
* He loves to play with all of his brother's toys. 
* He is patient, happy, and oh so lovable.

Elliot
* He speech is a little too good now.  Andrew was asking why we decided to send him to speech therapy the other day when he would. not. stop. talking.
* He just got his very own 4-wheeler for the cabin.  He loves to ride and be one of the "big kids". 
* He has loved going to the beach this summer.  Every morning he wakes up and when I ask him what he wants to do he says, "Go a beach with Henry". 
* He LOVES the water and is not afraid of it at all.  We went to a community pool the other day and he couldn't get enough of the water slide. 
* His speech has improved, but his articulation is less than perfect.  When he asks for "my fork" heads turn.  Use your imagination.

Family News
* We have continued to spend lots of time at the Moulton Lodge in Easton.
* We went to our ward camp out last weekend.

Almost 7 Months!

I can't believe that next week Mr. Oliver will be 7 months old.  He was a busy guy this month....
* He isn't crawling yet, but scoots himself all over the room by moving backwards or spinning around 360 degrees.  I think he might be a break dancer someday!
* He had a double ear infection a few weeks ago and was still soooo happy!  The only reason I knew something was wrong was because he kept tugging on his ears.
* He is at the "I MUST TOUCH EVERYTHING" stage.  There is no more eating dinner with the love on your lap.  If you choose to go that route, your dinner ends up on your lap. 
* He loves to giggle and laugh, especially when Elliot does something funny.

Elliot is now 2 years and 4 months old.  He continues to be a pretty cool kid.
* He is talking soooo much now!  Just the other morning he yelled from bed, "Mommy, I want my milk".  A little demanding, but we were so proud of his complete sentence. 
* He is now LOVING preschool.  He used to cry when we dropped him off, but now he doesn't shed a tear.  His teachers say he is doing really well with the routine.  I am so grateful fro Kindering.  It has made a world of difference for Elliot.
* Elliot's favorite part of school is the projects.  He is always so excited to show me what he made in class.  It surprises me that he would rather sit at the table and paint then go do free play with all the toys.  We may have an aspiring Van Gogh on our hands.
* He is obsessed with kicking dirt/dust wherever we go.  He is like Pig Pen from Snoopy.
* He loves going to Grandma and Grandpa's cabin to ride "shobums".  We think he means  snowmobiles, but shobums works too.
* He is loving that his Eastman cousins moved back to Seattle.  He constantly asks if "Herry" aka Henry can come play.  Occasionally he also asks for "Puppy" also known as Sophie.

Our family activities this month have consisted of....
* Running the Torchlight 5k together.  Painful, but we finished.
* Spending time at the new Moulton cabin in Easton. 
* Attending our niece Megan's baptism.
* Spending time with the Porters from Draper when they came for a quick visit.