Happy Birthday Oliver!

the begining of messy winter activities...

getting coal this year...

i don't care how cute he is, stinkin' ol is only getting coal under the tree this year. beating his brother 2-0, oliver landed us in the ER again sunday night. we were at a friend's birthday party sunday afternoon, la-di-da, eating cookies, playing... when suddenly i notice oliver's lips looking a bit more angelina jolie than normal. i thought maybe he got bonked at first but little by little they started getting more and more puffy and it seems to me that he's having an allergic reaction. i check out the cookie he's been eating- NUTS! DAMN! i totally didn't notice and thought it was just chocolate chip. ack. we call the hospital to see if they think we should bring him in- he isn't breathing weird but he now has puffy lips and a rash on his face from where he touched it (with his hands that probably had nut oils on them). they say because he's so young, yadda yadda, i should bring him in. swing by to pick up mimi- he looks a lot like a puffer fish at this point- and head to condell ER. his lips already look a little better by the time we get there. they check us out almost immediately to make sure he's breathing fine (he is) so then they proceed to make us wait for an eternity. i tried to get them to let us leave after having about all we could take (it was a bit hellish at this point with jack running around like a wild banchee and oliver is obviously fine) but they insist the doctor really wants to see him. so... we hang out, they check him out, he is indeed fine. they say although it was a fairly mild reaction it could definitely be worse next time. hopefully there won't be a "next time" though as i will be paying MUCH closer attention!

please keep all nuts away from the vdm household! thanks for your cooperation. :)

The big boy.

jack has once again showed me the importance of waiting until a kid is ready to do something, rather than following some arbitrary time line. following the success of the binky cessation and potty training, i put the ball in jack's court and told him to let me know when he was ready to sleep in a big boy bed. i thought it would be a while because jack was quite content with his crib but he told me yesterday that he was ready. seeing as it was about an hour before nap time and i wasn't ready for a struggle, i suggested we wait until later on to set it up. no go. he was adamant, he wanted to nap in a big boy bed. ok, well, daddy happened to be home and didn't mind setting it up, so up it went. i thought for sure nap time would be a hellish nightmare. nope, he stayed put and even napped for a little while (something he doesn't do with much regularity any more). i thought for sure bed time would be when the struggle would begin... nope. climbed in, stayed in, went to sleep. hmmm.... i thought FOR SURE jack would be at my bedside at 5 AM, even though i told him that big boys have to stay in their beds until their moms come to get them in the morning. nope. at 7:30 (regular time) i woke to jack talking in his bed, where he stayed until i got him at 8.

my boy amazes me yet again...

now, if he could just wrap his mind around being ready to share and be nice to his little brother, THEN we would be in business!