Our Smart Little Cookie

Waving Bye Bye and more sounds.

Our little man is now waving bye bye, and it is just so adorable. It's so much nicer saying goodbye to him when you get that little wave. Apparently they are supposed to have learnt this skill by about 8 months, but I am still yet to find a baby who has done so. so I think that 9 months is pretty good for this little milestone. Ollie is also learning new sounds. Much to his Nonna's delight, he is now using the nononononon sounds and very often babbles Nonononononona! We are also very sure that his first proper word is going to be Jack (the dogs name). He quite often says "Ja" and lots of the time it is when the dog is around. What a clever little boy.

On Oliver's door we have his name written with some wooden letters. Usually when I walk in and out of his room with him we stop and look at the letters and I spell out the letters and then say "Oliver". Oliver has always loved looking at his name, even when he was really little he used to lie on his change mat, whilst being changed, and giggle at his name. Well in the past two weeks he has started pointed at the letters and uttering noises whenever we get close to the door. I swear he understands, so when he does it I stop and make sure to spend a little more time spelling out his name for him, and he loves it and laughs when I do it.

Pulling Up to Standing!

I'm always so amazed at how quickly babies learn and grow. It's like when they learn a new skill they think, wow I can do this! and then they just do it over and over and over again. For example, whilst at work on Monday morning, Amie (was looking after Oliver for me) rang to tell me that Oliver pulled himself up to his feet all by himself. I was so excited that I didn't even feel too sad that I missed out on seeing one of his firsts. Anyway, by the time I got home he was a pro at doing it, and just did it over and over and over again. Yesterday, when Craig got home from work, Ollie heard him opening the door and he crawled to the front door and waited for Craig to come through the door. When Craig came through the door he crawled right up to him and pulled himself up on his legs. Awwwwww that is just too cute!

More Teeth!

Oliver's third tooth is coming through! Not much to really say about it, it has been pretty pain free so far, but I don't want to jinx myself.

9 Month Weight and Height

I forgot to write in my last post about Oliver's 9 month weight and height check. Oliver's stats at 9 months were:

Height: 71cm (45th percentile)

Weight: 9 kilos (40th percentile)

Seems like the little man is starting to slow down in growth, but you could never tell, because he looks just SO chubby!!!

Mumma's Boy is Crawling!

Crawling!!!

On Monday this week (2nd August) Oliver started crawling. It was amazing, just the night before I was helping him move forward and thinking to myself 'this little man is never going to crawl!' he wasn't showing many signs. He would push up on his hands and knees but that was it. He wouldn't commando crawl, he would crawl backwards, so I just thought well it will happen when it happens. So Monday morning I took him to Dad and Mum's house so Dad could look after him whilst I went to work. I put him on the mat to play and turned around to go and make his breakfast when I hear Dad say "ohhhh he's crawling?" and then I turn around and there he is crawling, as clear as day. And not some kind of starter crawl, no he was doing the most perfect crawl there was. Each hand and knee was placed in the each position perfectly, no legs being left behind or anything. At first he could only crawl on carpet and brick floors as he was having trouble with slippery surfaces. But now we are proud to announce our little man is doing very well crawling all over our slippery floor boards and getting to all those naughty places :O)

I think that a baby first learns no when they start moving around, because there are a lot of no's. NO Oliver don't touch that, NO Oliver don't go over there, NO Oliver, leave the dog alone! Hahaha but it's so super cute and I just love it now he is moving around.

And to top it off he has started pulling himself up on things as well, so cute, I think that he won't take too long to learn to walk.

2nd Tooth!

Oliver got his first tooth on the 13th of July, I'm not sure if I

have told

you all th

at already, but just 2 weeks later out pops the second one. So quick! He is so cute with his two little teeth. And I think that they top teeth wont take long to come out either as he has started to really rub on those ones as well.

So with teeth comes the toothbrush. Oliver has always, for some reason, found it hilarious when Craig and I brush our teeth in front of him. He just sits there and laughs at us. So now that he has his own teeth we let him brush his teeth with us. First I give his two little teeth a scrub and then whilst I am brushing my teeth he brushes his teeth. He is so super cute, and looks so proud of himself.

Ollie has been a little bit of a Mumma's Boy this week. He cried for the first time ever on Wednesday when I left him at Child Care. It was so heartbreaking for me to walk away from him when he was crying. You have to go against all your motherly insticts, it's just horrible. And ever since then he has been very very clingy to me, not wanting to spend much time out of my arms if I am around, or out of Craig's arms if I am not there.

And he is sick again!!!! Poor little thing has a rash all over his body, I had to do a quick doctor run today (a sunday) to get him checked out. Luckily we have a doctors office who is open on Sunday's. Anyway it turns out it is a viral rash, poor guy, he's been so out of sorts, and there is absolutely nothing you can do for it. It seems that he is sick all the time, and he has maybe 3 days off from being sick and then he is sick again. It must be so tiring for him, but he's a brave little fella and is still the most beautiful child or being there ever was.

Every night I go into his room, just before we go to bed and I say a little prayer for him and give him lots of kisses on his face. I then go into our room and say to Craig "Have I ever told you how much I love that little man?" and of course I have because I say it every day. I still can't find the words to explain just how much I love him and how much he brings to our lives.

Oliver's First Tooth and many many more

Keeping everything up to date on here is really getting away from me. I think about it every day but by the time the night comes around I'm so exhausted the thought of writing anything hurts my head. So I have just got back from a 4 day mini break down in Margaret River and am feeling relaxed enough to do it.

I've also started back at work, so this just adds to my can't be stuffed attitude in the evening. I never realised just how much I did with those extra day's during the week, but gee I wish I could get them back. I thought going back to work 3 days a week would be easy, but it turns out it's not.

So loads has happened since I last posted and I am sure that I will forget something but here we go:

Oliver has his first tooth!!! And it was soooo easy. For months I thought he was getting his first tooth, all those sleepless nights, but the week before he got that tooth he was a little angel. So happy and sleeping right through the night every night, being nice to Daddy and Mummy and giving them some extra much needed sleep. So now my little gummy man is no longer gummy, and I can tell you, when that little man grabs my finger and bites on it, boy does it hurt!!!!! Biting on fingers is now officially banned!

He is so interactive now, such a happy little boy, really easy to settle when he is upset, I think he is setting me up for failure with the next baby when we chose to have another. He is learning yes and no at the moment. I don't think that he is understanding it as yet, but he seems to under stand when I say no that shaking his head means no and he shakes his head at me, and he is just learning to nod his head, but he gets extremely over excited and cannot seem to nod his head with out nodding his arms as well hahaha.

Our little man is also just about on the move. Well he is already on the move but just in a backwards notion. He is getting up on those knees all the time and goes to move forward but either falls flat on that belly of his or pushes himself backwards. He can go very far backwards, he found Daddy's DVDs today, which we will now have to find another spot for.

Oliver has also figured out that he quite likes that little white fluffy thing that walks about our house (the dog). He tries to go after Jack whilst on his hands and knees but fortunately for Jack, like I said before, he can only go backwards so never quite gets there, but I feel that when he gets himself going forwards that he'll be chasing poor Jack around the house. Jack doesn't mind Oliver so much any more. He used to dislike him quite a bit when he was a newborn, I almost thought I might have to give Jack away, the way he was always barking at Oliver and trying to get at him. Jack has cottoned on to the fact that this kid gets him in on more human food. So when Oliver is eating his dinner and I give him the finger food portion of his meal, Jack sits there very patiently waiting, waiting, waiting... and before you know it, Oliver is bored of his food and throws it on the floor for the dog to eat. Now where did he learn that from? Craig and I will have to stop giving the dog food from the table. And the other day when I was making the bed, I put Oliver in his bouncer and gave him a biscuit to eat, I turned away from him for just too seconds, when I turned back it was to find him sharing his biscuit with Jack. They both looked sprung when I turned back around, but it was super cute, glad I caught him though, before he put the biscuit back in his mouth.

Oliver also started Day Care 4 weeks ago, but has only been twice as he has been quite sick and I chose to leave him with Dad one day instead, who by the way did a fantastic job looking after him. I'm still not too sure about the day care thing, a few things are making me a little unimpressed but I have vowed to give it a go for a few more weeks before I give up on it. He doesn't seem to mind being left there, he doesn't cry when I leave, but he does act up a bit and refuses to sleep, unlike his older Cousin J who is the perfect sleeper.

Ever since being out of hospital we are on high alert as he just gets sick so easily. I know most babies get sick easily, but he just always seems sick. He gets better for maybe 2 or 3 days and then he is sick again. We are pretty sure that he does in fact have asthma as he gets wheezy all the time and the ventolin is helping this, but they will not diagnose him with asthma until he is older. We had his follow up appointment with the hospital doctor who wants to keep him on the steroid he is taking to get him through winter and as long as he gets through the rest of the winter with minimal assistance from the ventolin then they will try reducing the amount of steroid we are giving him and then hopefully get him off it all together. We now have another appointment with her in October to see how he is going.

Well as I have said I am sure I will be missing something but for now I must go because my sick little man has woken up and is very unhappy. I must relieve poor Dad.

P.S before I go and relieve him we had his 8 month appointment almost a month ago now and his stats are as follows:

Weight: 8.710 kilos (50th percentile)

Length: 70 centimetres (50th percentile)

Oliver's First Hospital Visit

A few weeks ago I drove past Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and said to myself "never want to have to go in there!" and a week later, that's exactly where we ended up. So a little earlier than we would have liked it (well we would have liked it to be never) but we had our first trip to the hospital with Oliver. This is going to be long, so credit to you if you actually read the whole thing.

On Sunday 13th of June Oliver had symptoms of a cold. He had a runny nose that just wouldn't stop running. But having said that, he slept really well, he was eating all his food, he was really happy when awake, laughing and smiling and interacting with people so I was not worried at all. In the late afternoon he started a little wheeze but again we weren't too worried. I had been to the doctor with Oliver for the same symptoms 4 times already and was always told it was just a cold and that it would just have to run it's course. Oliver went down to sleep that night without a problem but around 11pm he started this really heavy shrilling cough. It lasted all night and he did not sleep at all. So we spent an all nighter trying to console him, but even at this stage we weren't too worried, he didn't seem to distressed, he was just coughing and refusing to sleep. Craig had called his Mum in the morning, she usually looks after Oliver on Monday's when I go to work, but considering the fact that I hadn't slept all night there was no way I could go into work, and he thought it may be better that she come here and look after him while I had a quick sleep. Whilst I waited for her to come Oliver was grumbly and whingy and I could not put him down at all, he just wanted to be held. When Amie arrived he stopped crying and gave her a big smile (cheekly little man). By this stage I thought he wasn't really acting like it was just a cold and maybe I should get him checked out just in case. So luckily I was able to get an appointment straight away, and off we went.

Sometimes I wonder why you bother making an appointment with a doctor, because you always seem to end up waiting for at least 30 minutes. But on this day I wonder it if was a good thing that we did have to wait. Had we gone in straight away Oliver wouldn't have been terribly whingy and maybe we may have been told to go home as it was just a cold, but as we waited and waited for our turn, Oliver got worse and worse and couldn't even be consoled by me. So by the time we got into the doctors office he wouldn't even calm down enough to be checked out properly, he couldn't check his ears, Oliver wouldn't open his mouth long enough, through all that crying I wonder how the doctor could even hear his chest when he checked. He said that he was pretty sure it was viral but he wanted us to go to Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) to get it checked out. So off we went to PMH. I still to this day can't believe how quickly Oliver went downhill. Just in the half an hour drive it took us to get there (because we had to endure peek our traffic) he went from breathing perfectly normal to really struggling to breath. And the crying, oh my gosh, he cried the whole way there. I feel so sorry for Amie who had to sit in the back with him and try to calm him down with no success at all. Before we left I had called Craig to let him know we were on the way to the hospital but not to worry to come as it was just precautionary and he was fine. Whoops.

When we got there there was actually a line of cars to get into Emergency. I thought that this was going to be hell and we would be waiting for hours. Then there was a line of cars trying to get out of the car park to leave Emergency. Amie jumped out with Oliver and took him in whilst I tried to get parking. I tried for 45 minutes to get parking!!!!!!!! It was horrible knowing my child was in emergency struggling to breath and I couldn't find parking anywhere. They really need to do something about the parking situation there. I know they never will because it's right next to the city and too many people taking the parking for work purposes but it was bad. I ended up parking far away for some horrific amount and running back to the hospital. Luckily they took Oliver in straight away and Amie did all the triage information for me, so by the time I got there they just had to ask a few more questions. When I saw him he was sucking in so heavily, his belly was sinking in and it was so horrible seeing my little man like that. It reminded me of when my little brother used to get his Asthma really bad, his stomach used to do that too. So I then called Craig and said, "ummm yeah, you better come". I always do that to the poor guy, make him stay home and tell him everything' going to be ok, when really I should just tell him to come in the first place. They told me it was bronchiolitis which is the most common illness amongst babies all over the world, and it was nothing to worry about and there was nothing they could give him to make it go away as it was a virus, but that usually a baby peaks between days 3 and 5 and because he was only day 2 that they wanted to keep him in for observation. At this point they had said that his oxygen levels were ok and that he wouldn't need any oxygen but they would monitor him upstairs.

So we went up to the wards where we were given our own room as Oliver had to be in isolation because it's extremely contagious and pretty much as soon as we got there the nurses said he wasn't getting enough oxygen and would have to be put on oxygen with the nasal prongs. Poor little darling, he was not impressed but just too tired to really fight it. In the mean time Oliver just couldn't be settled for longer than 10 minutes. He would whinge and whinge and whinge until someone picked him up. I could rock him to sleep in my arms and put him down for a sleep but then he would wake up 5-10 minutes later and we would start all over again. This went on for many many hours. Oliver's oxygen still wasn't high enough and they started about talking about putting him in an oxygen box. A box that went over his body and enclosed him in, from the waste up. I was really hoping that this wouldn't have to happen. They checked his carbon dioxide levels in his body as they weren't sure he was getting rid of it and they came back to say that they were too high and that if it didn't get better then he would have to go down to ICU. At this stage they also decided that because he hadn't eaten or drank pretty much anything all day that he would have to get fluids in another way. They asked us in the emergency room whether we would be happy to be part of a CRIB study to find out which was of delivering fluids, if necessary, was best. For example nasal gastric tube or via IV. They said that both of them were equally as evasive and both had their pros and cons but they wanted to see if one helped with quicker recovery than the other. The method they would use on Oliver, if necessary, would be picked completely randomly, pretty much they would toss a coin. I was fine with it, both of the methods sounded terrible to me, we asked every doctor and nurse that came to talk to us which they thought was the better option and none of them could say that one was less evasive or better than the other, so we decided to take part of the study. So when they decided he needed to have fluids another way I was actually really relieved when they came and said that it was to be delivered via IV. I know that they both are apparently the same but for some reason the thought of a tube down the throat seems a lot worse than a drip. Maybe because I have had a drip many a time. But then when watching them put the drip in it was so hard, because babies have these little tiny veins and it took her about 20 minutes just to find one. Oliver was so brave, he didn't cry at all whilst they put the drip in. He was just so good. After they put in the drip they also checked his carbon dioxide levels in his body as they weren't sure he was getting rid of it. To do this they needed to prick his heel and get a small tube of blood. Unfortunately they couldn't use the blood from the vein so they couldn't take the blood from the IV site which would have been much easier. They tested it and they came back to say that they were too high and that if it didn't get better then he would have to go down to ICU. To top it all off, throughout the day they kept telling me to understand he was going to get worse as he was only day two and that the worst days are between days three to five.

They were worried about the fact that I have quite a strong history of asthma in our family, and even though they cannot diagnose asthma in a child until after 12 months old they thought they would try some ventoline, which they gave to him I think every 20 minutes. This made him so jittery and shakey. They then decided that he was still working too hard to get the oxygen and that it was time to use the oxygen box. His head was bopping a lot, which is sign that he was really struggling. They put him in the oxygen box, his tummy was sucking in deep on both sides, he had a trachea tug which was causing a sucking in where is through is, his head was bopping around whilst trying to breath and he looked like he was having a fit because of the ventoline, and all whilst he was stuck in a box where I couldn't hold him, and yet here I am having to understand that he is going to get worse than this. After a while of him being in the box they came back and pricked his heel to test his carbon dioxide levels again, and this time they came back worse. They told us they needed to do an xray to check to see if maybe he had a collapsed lung and then they would have to take him down to ICU where he could be monitored more closely. Luckily the xray came back ok with no evidence of a collapsed lung. We packed up all our stuff and headed down to ICU.

When we got there there one of the nurse was very good at getting rid of us so they could do their stuff. She said she would show us to our accomodation where we had our own room with a double bed and bathroom. By the time we had put our bags down and got back to ICU they had him hooked up to everything the needed. They had him on the CPAP oxygen, they use this time of oxygen on premature babies. It has big tubes coming out of his nose and he had to wear a cap so that the cap could hold down the oxygen. He had the ECG monitors attached to his chest, a drip on his left leg and another monitor attached to his right foot. My poor little man looked like a trauma patient. And yet they keep telling us that he was going to get worse. I couldn't understand how he could get worse, to me worse was dead. I asked them if he was going to be ok and that he wasn't going to die and all they would say is that they had the next step planned out if they need it. In my head all I could think was "what does that mean?!?!?! how many more steps do you have planned out?!?!?!?!" but I needed to try and keep calm for my little man. Oliver's heart rate was just under 200 beats per minute, his temperature was just under 40 degrees celsius and his oxygen was still just in the 80's. Nothing was looking terribly good.

And if it wasn't all bad enough, but if you look up at the back of the room he was in and read the labels on the drawers you would see that one of the drawers was labeled "the bereavement drawer and christening gown". So if you ever needed a reminder that kids died in this place, there it was staring you in the face. I reckon they should probably not have that drawer labeled. Oliver didn't get any better during the night. By this stage I had only managed about 2 hours sleep in over 48 hours. Oliver's nurse was really really nice and very accommodating to me who would not leave his side. But then she went on break and another nurse (older and more pushy) came to look after him and she made me go and have a sleep. She practically pushed me out the door. She told me that I need to eat and sleep because when he got out of ICU I would be the one who had to look after him and would not have a nurse sitting in on him the whole time. But what she didn't understand was "I WASN'T TIRED!!!!" still she forced me out the door, I went and found Craig and cried and told him that the mean nurse was making me go to sleep, and he told me it was for the best. So my condition of sleep was that he would have to keep an eye on Oliver and come in and update me every hour, which he did :O)After 3 hours sleep I was awake again and Craig had come to me with news that he had gotten a little worse and that they were not thinking of intubating him as he wasn't getting better. I knew I should never had gone to sleep, I felt like it was my fault for leaving his side. I know that the outcome would have been the same had I had stayed awake but I hated myself for leaving him in that condition so I could get some sleep. I rang Mum in tears and asked her to come to the hospital for some support. They put it off for the doctors on the next shift to make that decision. When that doctor came in he decided that they wouldn't be intubating him and that he wanted to try another asthma drug through his IV first, I can't really remember the name of this one, but this didn't work either. The doctor then decided to try some steroids, which they started just before lunch time.

We had so many visitors throughout the day, and I felt that maybe Oliver may have needed a little time by himself to try and rest as he wasn't sleeping and this wasn't helping him get better. So I made the call for all of us to go downstairs and have some lunch and that way the nurses could do their thing and Oliver would hopefully get some sleep. Well when we got back I went in with someone (sorry can't remember who it was) and there was little Oliver without the CPAP oxygen on and with a hi-flo oxygen which was less invasive. It was nice seeing him without the big massive tubes, and then the magic words came out of the nurses mouth "would you like to jump in the bed and hold him?" I don't think I could have got in that bed any quicker. I couldn't believe that in the space of 3o minutes, whilst we were having lunch, they changes his oxygen and he was well enough for me to hold him. The nurse that was on at the time spoke to the doctor and said that because the pressure wasn't working on the C PAP oxygen, due to Oliver not breathing through his nose, that maybe they should make him more comfomortable and put him on the hi-flo because he was getting really bothered with the C PAP and not resting. So they changed him over whilst we were downstairs. Now I can't tell you what it was that made him turn the corner. But it seems that the combination of steroids, change of oxygen and me being able to hold Oliver really helped him get better. He slept in my arms for an hour before I had to get up, then Mum took over from me and he slept in her arms. So he got heaps of rest. And that was it, as quickly as he got sick he started getting better. Everything was going well, all his stats starting coming down and before we know it they were giving him less and less oxygen. That night both Craig and I went to bed and had a good 6 hours sleep. When I woke up and went to his room, he was awake and playing with a mobile that the nurse hung above his bed. As soon as I walked through the door he looked at me, held his arms out and cried for me to pick him up. I was so happy to see him so aware of his surroundings. The nurse said he was really good all night and that he hadn't cried at all and slept for most of the night.

That morning when the doctors came in and did their rounds (seriously, like they do on Gray's Anatomy haha) they were all talking about him and saying it was a miraculous recovery. They seem to think it was the steroids which may have done it but cannot be certain. Oliver was discharged from ICU and taken back up to the wards. They took out his drip but kept him on the oxygen, but turning it down more and more. We spent the night there and he did really well with his breathing. The next morning they took him off the oxygen all together and we were told as long as he did one long sleep and his stats stay up then we could go home that afternoon. And that's exactly what we did. So the doctors think there is an underlying issue of asthma which caused him to go downhill so quickly. We not have an asthma plan which he has to have a steroid twice a day until around September. They just want to see how this goes and get him through winter with all the winter colds around. We also have a ventolin we are supposed to give to him at the sign of wheezing, but luckily he hasn't been sick since we have been out of hospital and we have not had to use it as yet. xxfingers crossedxx. We have a follow up appointment with the pediatrician this month and will also be having a follow up appointment with the asthma specialist. We are really hoping that he doesn't have asthma, but that is out of our control for now and at least it can be controlled.

So that's it for now. If you saw Oliver today, or even a week ago, you would not have known at all that he was in hospital. He is so happy and laughing and healthy and we are so glad that it is all over. It kind of feels like a dream now.

A big thank you to all our family and friends all over the world who prayed for Oliver and who sent us their well wishes whilst we were in hospital. It was a rough time for us, but it means so much to have such beautiful family and friends around us.

Goo Goo, Gaa Gaa, Doo Doo... Dada!!!

It's been a big couple of weeks for Oliver. He is growing so much and so much has been happening. I only hope I can remember most of it.

Firstly, Oliver has started to talk. It literally happened over night. Sure he used to make noises

before but now he talks and babbles and even does what sounds like singing to a tune :O) A couple of weeks ago Oliver by chance said 'Mama' twice. I knew that it was just a fluke but being of 'Mouttet' blood the competitive side got the better of me and I might have said on facebook something along the lines of 'in your face Dada'. Whoops. So of course karma came and kicked me in the butt because Oliver's very favourite thing to say is Dada. And he is always happy when he says Dada, just happily babbling away something along the linkes of da da do da do da da dada! Now thankfully, just to make sure Mum isn't feeling too left out Oliver is also now saying Mama! But unlike the happy babbling of dada that he does he uses mama when he is upset or angry. For example, the other morning we had a bad night where we didn't get much sleep. Craig very kindly took Oliver with him into the living room and played with him so that I could get some sleep. Well this was all good for a while but then Oliver started to get grumpy again and this is when he uses the words mama. It's and angry mmmmmmmmmmMAMA! mmmmMa mmmmMAMA haha but at least he says it right :O)

Oliver has now started the first steps to crawling which is pushing up his bum in the air and pushing backwards. So I can't really say he is commando crawling yet, but it's a great sign of things to come. I did however see the child health nurse last year and she said by no means is he expected the crawl yet and that if he was she would say he is advanced. So that was nice to know. I love the child health nurse, because she always makes me feel like such a good Mum. Always praises me for my efforts with continuing breast feeding through all the troubles that I had. Told me that she fully expected me to give it up, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.It's really nice to hear praise when you are a new Mum, especially when most people like to tell give you their advice and tell you what you are doing is wrong.

Oliver has now been moved out of his capsule into the next size car chair. We still have him in a new born seat as I would prefer to keep him facing backwards as long as possible. His seat is so plush. I wish that I was given a seat like that in the car to lie back in and enjoy whilst someone else drives me around. The only down side to this new car seat is, gone are the days where we can take him out of the car in the capsule and click him straight into the pram. If he falls asleep in the car, I have to try and take him out as gently as possible in order not to wake him up, which is not always so easy.

I am in great need of a holiday. I am dreaming of just chilling out in another place, being looked after by a hotel and just relaxing with my family. So just in case we decide to go on a last minute holiday overseas we have started the application for Oliver's passport. And with a passport we need a photo. So this week we got Oliver's first ever passport photo done. It's so cute haha, his cubby face is just gorgeous. He looks like a little baby criminal. Don't we all look like criminals in our passport photos these days? Firstly we had to find somewhere to actually have this photo done. We went to a few different post offices, each one saying the didn't do baby passport photos because they were to hard. Finally after speaking to my friend who had her bub's done recently I found what may be one of the only places that do them. I was warned that it could take up to 15 minutes because there is no exceptions for babies. They also need to be looking straight at the camera, both ear showing, mouth closed and not smiling. So add that on top of how hard it is to get a baby to look at a camera in the first place we prepared ourselves for the worse. Well my angel baby did it on first shot! What a clever boy. Maybe Oliver also wants to go on a holiday.

Well I think that is all for now. Oliver turns 7 months this week. I can't believe just how quickly time flies by when you are having fun. He is just so adorable and makes everything just sooo damn good!

My First Mother's Day and Other 6 Month Stuff

So in my last post I knew I had forgotten something. I guess the baby brain is still at it's worth. I forgot to write all about Oliver's 6 month weigh in with the child health nurse. Every month I take him to get weighed and measured and here is his statistics for the month:

Weight: 8.05kg! Can't believe how much he has grown. Still everyone always says how big is but truth is he's only 55th percentile for his age. I think that massive head of his gives a little misconception of this.

Height: 68cm - or ma

ybe this is why people thing he is so big. On his height he is in the 78% percentile, pretty sure he's going to be taller than Mummy and Daddy.

Head Circumference: 45cm!!!! Wow he's got a big head, 80th percentile on the chart, coming a long way from his 10th percentile when he was born. It's that Petta head! ;O)

So on Sunday I was able to enjoy My very first Mother's Day. Up until now

I didn't REALLY appreciate how much Mum has done for us, well Mum and Dad really. But there is something about those Mothers :O) And now that I am one I really really really appreciate my own. Mums work very very hard!! And yes being a Mother is by far the most rewarding thing in the world, but it's still hard work. So on this day not only did I feel so extremely loved by my beautiful husband and baby but I felt so much extra love towards my own Mother.

Craig and Oliver absolutely spoiled me as well. I got a spa voucher for a head, neck, shoulder and back massage and a facial, and I got New Moon on Blueray. I am really looking forward to my spa package. Craig has said that he will look after Oliver for me, so I am really looking forward to relaxing. I'll probably fall asleep haha.

We had a lovely breakfast as Craig's parents house, and Oliver showed off how he can stand supporting himself on the coffee table and was just showered with so much love as usual. Then back home for us where Oliver, Craig and Myself all had a quick afternoon nap. We then had my family over for a BBQ dinner and it was just so nice having everyone around. And the best thing about it? The whole day was over by 8.00pm so Craig and I had a moment to relax in the evening.

I'm really looking forward to every Mother's Day to come now. It was so special and I felt so loved and so loving. Mother's Day has really taken on a whole new meaning to me this year.

6 Months Old

Our little guy is 6 months old. We can't believe that he has been in our lives that long already, and it's crazy to think that in a short 6 months more he will be celebrating his first birthday. Time really does fly when you have a baby. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy these first beautiful months with Oliver, he has brought so much joy, happiness and love into our family and we look forward to years more to come.

So unfortunately for Oliver he had to celebrate his 6 month birthday with his vaccinations and boy was he not happy about this. One need in each of his arms, and nearly a week later he still has little bruises and welts to show it. Last time he had vaccinations was at 4 months old and he didn't seem to mind too much, but this time around he screamed so much. All I can say is thank goodness we don't have to do this for another 6 months, every 2 months was getting a little upsetting.

This week we also gave Oliver his first rusk to chew on. Thought it would help with his teething as I am sure I can feel a tooth coming through, and the sleeping! Oh my he has turned into an extremely bad sleeper. Anyway gave him the rusk and after a few wrong positioning's with the rusk he finally got it in the mouth, and I have to say... he's not too interested.

Yesterday we had some professional photos taken of Oliver and us with Oliver. We are really looking forward to viewing them and hoping to get a few nice family shots. Of course Oliver tried to sabotage the photo shoot. Firstly by scratching his nose in two different spots two days before the photos were to be taken. I purposely kept cutting his nails all week just to make sure this didn't happen, but he still found a way. And of course our very smiley Oliver, who just needs to look at his Dad or Mum to smile, just would not smile! Oh my gosh, it was so hard, but even though we didn't get any smiley photos, he was very content and hopefully got some nice ones. He was intrigued by the grass and the dirt and kept picking the grass and trying to put it in his mouth. Oliver just loves being outside, I think he might be a gardener when he is older.

With 6 months also comes me hitting a goal that I set for myself. I always said that I wanted to breast feed Oliver for 6 months. Man it was tough!!!! I have to say that this was by far the hardest skill that I have ever had to learn. It hurt for 4 months! I even had the child health nurse telling me "you know, it's ok if you want to give up, we will support you with any decision you make". Well I made it! I am extremely proud of myself and even prouder to say that I haven't stopped yet either. I have dropped one feed and I have to say that the freedom that I get from that feed being forumla is great, and next week I will probably drop one more feed using formula in it's place, but for now with Oliver's crazy sleeping and still waking up in the middle of the night for a feed it's quite convenient not having to warm up a bottle.

Anyway, once again that is it for the week but we are looking forward to the next 6 months...

Swimming is Fun!

This week (or shall I say last week) Oliver had his very first swimming lesson! We have been in the pool with him a few times, and he has always enjoyed it, or not cried, but I really wanted to start swimming lessons early as I love the pool myself and think it would be great if our kids knew to swim well. Especially now as we are looking for a new house and I am dreaming (well hopefully not) that we will be able to get a house with a pool.

Oliver's swimming lessons are only 30 minutes long and are done in the hydrotherapy pool, which is great considering the cold weather we are getting and it's only going to get colder now. They involve a lot of singing of nursery rhymes and just generally getting them used to the water, showing them how to kick and how to go under the water. It was so much fun and the half an hour went way too quickly. After the swimming lesson we are allowed to use our swim school pass to get into the big pool for a longer swim if we like, which is very nice, although I am not too sure how Oliver would like it being taken from the beautiful warm hydrotherapy into the slightly cooler (bit still warmed) big pool. I didn't get the chance to do so last week, but am hoping to be able to this week.

A big thanks to Kelly, Anthony and Jaden this week for passing on Jaden's jolly jumper to us. Not only is it the most wonderful thing to see him jumping around and having the time of his life, but it also frees up Mummy's hands for a little while. Oliver had recently gotten bored of his play mat, which meant he just wanted to be held constantly, but now he loves jumping away and lets me either sit down for a while or do some jobs that were in desperate need. OLIVER LOVES THE JOLLY JUMPER!

Not much else happening in Oliver news. Well I am sure there is but I am struggling to remember what has gone on within the past week. This coming week we have a big week, with Oliver's 6 month birthday on Wednesday, which unfortunately also means his 6 month immunisations, yuck, and on Sunday we are getting so professional photos taken of him and ourselves to celebrate him turning 6 months.

Oliver's First Easter

Ok so this is late again. But I am a Mum and what better excuse I say?

Well Oliver's first Easter has come and gone, and like every event since Oliver has been in the world it was a beautiful day filled with lots of love from all the family and friends. And wasn't he

spoilt! This little guy has sooooo much stuff, we need a new house just to store all his stuff. Even though he can't eat chocolate just yet he got loads of Easter presents and those chocolates that he did get Mummy ate for him. Don't worry, I explained to him just how good each one tasted, so in a way he still got to enjoy them.

We spent the day eating of course, we had lunch at Craig's parents house and then a dinner

at my Brother and Sister in Laws house, but of course being surrounded by so many people all day wore little Oliver out and he was none too impressed by the time 4.30pm came around and was a little sooky for the latter half of the day, eventually falling asleep on me early and even picking him up and holding him the air couldn't wake him from the deep slumber he found himself in. So cute. I can't say I mind though, since having him on the routine (and it's been a long time now) I don't have that little luxury of having him fall asleep on my chest, one of my favourite things ever, as he has to be put down awake in his bed so he can self settle. But it's that little sacrifice I have to make so that he will sleep well.

Anyway, as I said the day was beautiful, and Oliver even got a chance to show off his sitting skills to everyone at the Petta household, and we got some beautiful smiley photos of him as well.

Speaking of sleeping. We have had a breakthrough. Since his little sickness he has been a horrible night sleeper, waking up 6-7 times per night. Wow that is tough on a working Daddy and a Mummy who does some part time work from home. But I have decided to cut out his 10.30pm dreamfeed and I am happy to say that I put him down at 7pm for his sleep and he wakes up once a night for a feed, usually between 3.30am and 6.00am, which means I can feed him and put him back down and he will go back to sleep until 7.00am. So now Daddy and Mummy are happy because we are getting so much more sleep and are very refreshed every day.

Well until next time that is all.

Growing So Fast!

A lot of people have made comments to me about how I hadn't updated my blog. Sorry, I have been meaning to, I have just been so very busy this past couple of weeks. Every day I think I should come on here and write about what has been going on, and every day something comes up, or I'm so exhausted I can't even speak properly, let alone write :O). So anyway, here it is.

The last 2 weeks have been very busy, and Oliver has learnt and grown so much. Oliver is now 5 months old and so interactive with us. He is getting cheekier by the day, and we think that we are going to have a little boy who likes to push the boundaries when he is older.
We have had a lot of firsts in the past two weeks...

Oliver learns to sit up

One day I was changing Oliver's nappy on his change table, afterwards I like to put him up and he usually pushes up on his feet as he just LOVES standing up, but on this day he sat up and didn't pu

sh to his feet. I noticed he was looking quite strong and steady where he was so let go (don't worry my hands were close by in case he fell) and he just kept on sitting. I couldn't believe it, my little guy was sitting up, just like tha

t, and he looked so comfortable doing it. So of course, I had to get it on video. So I took him and our video camera to our bed and sat him up. The first time was only like 3 seconds, then 5 seconds, then 15 seconds. I was a proud Mummy. So everyday I sit him up and let him practice his sitting up. Today, he sat up for over a minute without falling. He is just growing up too fast, but I am loving every single minute of it. I can't wait for him to be running around. I dream of the day that Craig and I can take him to the park and run around with him, it's going to be so much fun. OK so I am getting a little ahead of myself, he isn't even crawling yet, but its going to be great.

Speaking of crawling, the first step to that is to get him comfortable on his stomach. Well most days he is quite good on his stomach and I have noticed him pushing his knees into the floor every now and then and the little bum going into the air. However saying this, I think Oliver is going to be like his Daddy and walk before he crawls. He just loves to be

on his feet.

Oliver gets his first illness *sob sob*

Our poor little dude got his first illness. He started out with a croaky voice. OK before you say "how did you know he has a croaky voice he doesn't speak yet?", he does speak, just doesn't know the words haha. Anyway I noticed that his voice was a lot more croakier than normal, but though he seemed fine so I left it for a while. And then he got the most pathetic little cough, and it was heart breaking, and then he got cranky and I could hear him wheezing a little. Of course he decided to fall sick at a very inconvenient time. Perth got hit by quite a big storm. We had big golf ball sized hail, crazy strong winds that were blowing down trees everywhere, flash flooding, thunder and lightening that was coming down every couple of seconds and all of this caused our power to go out for 36 hours. So, even though we have a gas hot water system, and a gas stove we still need electricity to get it all started, which means no hot water and it's very difficult to cook without the oven. I have learnt that having a baby without electricity is

very hard. So with our little man not being well we did not want to chance it having him sleep without his monitor. I just could not sleep knowing that the sensor pads weren't working. They have a back up battery which charges whilst the power is on, but I had not idea how long it would last. So we took a trip to Dad and Mum's house and stayed there for 2 nights whilst we were without power. Oliver did not sleep well with his little cold. He woke up several times during the night needing settling, with me having to sleep with him until he fell asleep one night and then putting him in the cot and having to sleep in his room anyway. Thankfully Mum and Dad have a great nursery in their house which includes a single bed that I could sleep on. The next day I rang and rang and rang the doctor trying to get him in for an appointment, but they were also out of power, meaning the phones weren't working, so eventually I bundled him into the car and thought I would go to the doctor and make the booking there. They told me they would see him straight away which was nice. So I explained to the doctor how I thought he was sick because he was all croaky in his voice and had a cough and was just generally

unsettled, then Oliver looks up at the Doctor and gives her one MASSIVE smile and giggle, trying to make Mummy look stupid. The doctor says to me "I think he's trying to tell me he is fine" then turns to Oliver and says "Is your Mum a first time Mummy worrying about nothing?" haha I know I wasn't worrying about nothing. She checked him out and yes, this first time Mummy was right! He had a congested throat and a fever. Unfortunately not much you can do about when they are this young, but with some baby panadol, a vapouriser and loads of cuddles from Daddy, Mummy and Grandparents he became well again very soon.

Oliver has started solids

And I can tell you he LOVES his apples. At first he wasn't too sure about it all. He looked at me like, "why are you sticking this hard thing into my mouth?" Oliver is now eating, Baby Cereal, Carrot and Apple and is starting pear tomorrow. I am sure he will love the pear as he gobbles down his apple, I think he will take after his Mum in the food department and be a sucker for sweets. Most people know that I am definitely not the cook in the family. Craig takes pride of place in the kitchen, but I think I have found my calling... Pureed foods, I am successful at cooking these every time! :O)

Oliver is 5 months Old!

Oh my gosh! Hasn't time flown by. I love looking back at all his photos and seeing how much Oliver has grown. For me I obviously don't notice it that much as I am with him 24/7. People are always saying "wow he's grown since I last saw him" (which by the way is usually only a couple of days) and I think "little exaggeration don't you think" hahahaha, but then I look back at his photos and I am astounded by how much he really has grown. He was so teeny tiny when he was born and now he is so much bigger. Anyway, with each month I get Oliver weighed and the following is his statistics:

Weight: 7.4 kilos (50th percentile) wow only put on .3 or a kilo, he really is slowing down on the weight gain, he used to be 70th percentile.

Height: 66.5 centimeters (75th percentile) he's getting taller, use to be 50th percentile here! The nurse said to me "I'm pretty sure that he's going to be taller than his Mummy and Daddy" to which I had to reminder her it wasn't ever going to be hard seeing as we are both small.

Anyway that is it mostly, a bit long this time around, but I promise to be better at my updates.

Rolling, Laughing and Grabbing Feet

The last two weeks have been so wonderful. I feel like Oliver has grown so much just in the last 2 weeks. A friend from my Mothers Group, K, told me that it was amazing how much they grow and learn between 4 and 6 months, and it is like they learn something new every day. Well I think she is right :O) Every day seems to be something new with Oliver. Last week he started turning from his belly to his back. He had already turned from his back to his belly but hadn't done it again in some time. So when he started turning from his belly to his back like it was nothing at all I was completely shocked. He did it three times in front of me and his Nonna, so I thought I was going to get it on video and of course he wouldn't do it for me. The that night his Granny and Grampa came over and he did it 2 more times in front of them, but the next day he would not do it for Craig. He is such a tease.

This week he started turning from his back to his belly again. One morning I was sending a text to a friend and I heard him grunting and groaning and looked up to find him on his belly. He has rolled every day since then, and of course I keep trying to get it on video but he will not do it for me. So today I finally caught him rolling over on video, but when I went to look at the recording it was only to find that I had not pressed the record button. Boo, silly me.

Last week after seeing Oliver's cousin J in the big bath I thought it would be cool to try Oliver out in it. We fill the bath just enough so he can lie down without the water covering his face and he splashes and laughs and even today started to squeal. He has the time of his life. Needless to say we do no need the baby bath anymore, well not until the next baby anyway.

Also this week Oliver has started to reach for his feet and has actually grabbed hold of them a couple of times. I give credit of this achievement to my Dad, as he is always making him hold onto his feet. I can't wait for the foot in his mouth stage, it is so cute.

On a sadder note...
When I was trying to conceive and also when pregnant with Oliver I used to go on the forums called What to Expect. I have made some really wonderful friends on there who I keep in contact with on a regular basis. They are all overseas except for a couple who have moved from overseas to Australia, but I just love catching up with them, especially as most of them have babies now as well.

Unfortunately 2 days ago I heard of one of the girls from my "Due in November" board has lost her baby to SIDS. I am so sad for her and do not know where to begin in understanding how she is feeling and how she will ever get through this hurt and sorrow she is feeling. How can a perfectly happy and healthy baby just die in his sleep? It is the most dreadful thing that could happen to anyone. She has an enormous amount of support from all the girls she has met on the forums, but at the same time I wonder how she feels with all these women around her with their babies. I am so sorry for her and wish there was a way to take away all the pain she is feeling.

So of course now I am on high alert with Oliver. I am lucky enough to have the angel care monitor which monitors his breathing and will alert me if he stops breathing for 15 seconds. I dread that the alarm will go off, what if he does stop breathing and I can't kick start him back to life. I know I shouldn't be thinking things like this but my life revolves around him now. I don't know how I would ever deal with losing him and I hope and pray to God that this will not happen to me. I say to God "I know this is selfish, but please do not ever take Oliver away from me, I do not have the strength to deal with that sort of loss and will not be able to handle it. Please take me first". I love Oliver so much, no amount of words will ever be able to describe it.

I had a bacio chocolate the other day, and inside the message that comes with it said "If you were to give me all the kisses in the world, it would still be too few". I thought how it should be the other way, especially when I think of it in relation to Oliver, it should say "If I were to give you all the kisses in the world, it would still be too few".

And so every day I give him as many kisses as I like because even then I still can't show him how much he means to me.

Oliver's Milestones So Far

Seeing as I am starting this 4 months and 2 weeks into Oliver's life I thought I would write down Oliver's Milestones (what I call milestones anyway) so far, and other interesting facts.

28 October 2009 - Oliver was born!
2 November 2009 - Came home from hospital. I cried the whole way home, I did not like the thought of not having the nurses near by. Craig was very excited.
5 November 2009 - Visit from Child Health Nurse, Oliver is doing wonderfully, and is back to his birth weight. Exactly 3.58 kilos
7 November 2009 - Craig had a wet the head party planned, which was cancelled at last minute due to a emergency rush back to hospital for me. Sorry Craig.
9 November 2009 - Back out of hospital today, for good this time. I did not cry on the way home this time.
10 November 2009 - I know it is early but Craig and I are sure Oliver is smiling. I know I know, probably just the poos.
12 November 2009 - First smile at Mummy. OK so you probably think I am dreaming, but I was singing a song that I made up to him and he smiled and did a little laugh at me.
14 November 2009 - Daddy's wet the head party take 2. Was successful this time. Craig was very unwell the next day and did not take well to a hangover and crying baby. Lesson learnt.
18 November 2009 - Appointment with Child Health Nurse as we were unsure if Oliver was getting enough - Oliver weighs in at 4.1 kilos.
19 November 2009 - First photo with Santa!!!!
21 November 2009 - Starting to follow people around with his gaze.
24 November 2009 - Lifted his head for 10 seconds!
25 November 2009 - Whilst doing tummy time lifted head and turned it to the other side.
26 November 2009 - Whilst doing tummy time, turned head to my voice and smiled at me. First Coo!
28 November 2009 - 1 MONTH OLD
30 November 2009 - Cooing on a regular basin now.
3 December 2009 - Smiling on demand
7 December 2009 - Smiled at Granny
8 December 2009 - 6 week check up, now weighing in at 5.15 kilos. 55th percentile.
22 December 2009 - Starting to find hands
23 December 2009 - First immunisations :O( Slept all day, grizzly in the afternoon and fever at night.
24 December 2009 - Lots of laughing today, must know Santa is coming :O)
28 December 2009 - 2 MONTHS OLD
30 December 2009 - Hands starting to go in mouth now.
1 January 2010 - Officially into 000 clothing now.
5 January 2010 - Grasped a toy
6 January 2010 - Really talking a lot now
15 January 2010 - Started to use his feet on the play mat
22 January 2010 - Has started to blow raspberries. When you blow them back he finds it incredibly funny.
26 January 2010 - NEARLY rolled over today, but arm got in the way.
28 January 2010 - 3 MONTHS OLD
31 January 2010 - Baptism
3 February 2010 - Started to lift legs really high now
8 February 2010 - Rolled over 2 times from back to belly!!!
9 February 2010 - Really laughing now
10 February 2010 - Visit Child Health Nurse - 6.9 kilos - 70th percentile
12 February 2010 - Has found thumb and is purposely sucking on it.
13 February 2010 - Rolled over again
28 February 2010 - 4 MONTHS OLD
3 March 2010 - Weighed - 7.1 kilos, 65th percentile.
5 March 2010 - Turned from Belly to Back 5 times
8 March 2010 - Slept through the night!!! 7pm - 7am for the very first time
11 March 2010 - Officially in 00 clothing now.
12 March 2010 - Turned from back to front 2 times
13 March 2010 - Turned from back to front. Grabbed his foot with his hand for the first time!
14 March 2010 - Turned from back to front 5 times, and from belly to back 2 times, can I say he is officially rolling now. Grabbing feet more now as well.

Oliver Luke Petta

Oliver Luke Petta was born on Wednesday the 28th of October, 2009. He was born in St John of God Hospital, Murdoch at 3.25pm and was 7 pounds 14 ounces (3.58 kilos) and 51.5 centimeters long.

Oliver is the most precious thing to Myself and Craig and he has already brought an infinite amount of joy into our lives. I always knew that having a baby would be the most precious gift I could have received, but I never knew just how rewarding it is to be a Mother. Even to this day I struggle to believe that I am in fact this little miracles Mother, I feel like I need to pinch myself to make sure it is not a dream. Oliver is what dreams are made of! I don't think that even the happiest dream will ever top what it feels like to be Me.

So this is the story of Oliver Luke Petta, and I have a feeling it's going to be the most wonderful story every.