ollie eats and is 5 months young

After meal after meal of Oliver staring at our forks as they move from plate to our mouths....after grabbing our plates and food on our plates....we decided that Ollie is ready to eat some solid foods. If you have fed a baby before, solid foods are anything but solid, but you get the idea. Here is a shot before we got started. Clean face. Clean shirt. Ready to go!

But none of that lasted for long. He dove right in a did a great job. Much better eater than Charlotte was her first time for sure.

Can you tell that he is loving it?

Big sister Charlotte had to join in as well. She did a great job feeding her little brother.

She had to open her mouth wide to demonstrate apparently.

Ollie has been eating for the last 3 days now and now that he is a 5 month old we have some new pictures as well. Enjoy.

He loves grabbing his feet and has become an avid roller over-er in the last two days. If you lay him down on his back he will be on his tummy in no time. He hasn't mastered tummy to back rolling over just yet, but in the mean time he is loving his feet. They haven't found their way to his mouth just yet, but just give it a few days.

More toe grabbing.

Full body shot. He's filling out nicely as they say.

He is a happy boy for sure!

oliver is 4 months young

Oliver's 4 month check up puts him at about the 70th percentile on weight and height. He seems to be growing well so far and he is now smiling and laughing all the time. He is such a happy baby and he sleeping better than he ever has at night. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

big O is three months old

Oliver has already been to Cincinnati 4 times. His most recent time, by airplane. He is a great napper and he loves sleeping in his car seat at night. He eats well and likes to watch the ceiling fan and sometimes a bit of television. It doesn't take much to get him laughing and smiling. He sleeps in the car...Charlotte never would. He likes swinging in his swing and playing in his "gym". He is a happy go lucky kind of boy and he puts up with our loud and always on the go family. Every three months we take a few extra shots other than our standard month by months shots. We hope you enjoy.

two flights, a contract and explosive residue!

For years I have been saying that I wanted to teach college... in the future... when I thought it would be possible.  In December I heard of an opportunity at CCU and although I thought it was a long shot I decided to first figure out what a curriculum vitae was and then try my hand at writing one.  By trying my hand at writing one, I really mean Jay and myself pored over a computer for hours one night figuring it out together. Anyways, several months later I was given the opportunity to have a phone conference with part of their eduction team and I was thrilled.  It was scheduled for a Friday night and I was going to be ready and available no matter what!  Now, some of my family members will say that I had the good old fashioned flu that week and some say that the week of my big interview I was having the you-are-about-to-have-a-baby-flu, either way I was dead dog sick that week.  So much so that on Friday I refused to eat just about anything due to fear of getting sick during my phone interview.

That night was a big night for our family.  I had a great conversation with the two people that were interviewing me, we finally got to celebrate Jay's birthday dinner and I began the process of bringing our son into the world.  We ended the night by timing my contractions.  Oliver was born the next morning!

Well two months later, serval trips back to Cincy with the presentation of a social studies methods lesson and several interviews later and a flight back on Thursday night with Oliver in tow I was officially hired and signed a contract with CCU yesterday.  It was a great feeling and I am so excited to be  member of their team this coming fall.  Now, all I had to do was get me and Oliver back home to Charlotte (thanks Smith family for always being there for us!) in one piece without disturbing too many people on the airplane with an infant.  On the way out to Cincy he was wonderful, but I have learned as a parent never to assume anything when it comes to children!

My parents and Jenanne dropped me off at the airport in Cincinnati and I was really looking forward to flying through security as I had done less 24 hours before.  I knew that by carrying Oliver on in a baby carrier that I was subject to a hand swab to test for explosive residue....but seriously I had no worries there!

So I make my way through security and luckily the airport was fairly empty for a Friday night.  I follow one of the guys on duty over to the machine that they swab your hands with, he places it in the machine and after about thirty seconds the machine lights up with a big red light that says TEST NEGATIVE...EXPLOSIVE RESIDUE DETECTED.....really?!  That is actually what I said when the machine started going off.  The guy informed me that I probably had just touched fertilizer earlier in the day and I replied that I wasn't sure if it helped me much, but I definitely hadn't touched any fertilizer that day!  To make a long story short, I got to tour some back rooms at CVG, got to chat with some really nice ladies and then they evidently decided I was no threat to fly the friendly skies and let me and Oliver go on our way!

What a whirlwind of 24 hours! Two flights, a contract and explosive residue!  -melissa

here are some pics of our little traveler on his first two flights!