Hayden William

Wow almost 3 months!

2010-06-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry we haven't been keeping the blog up. I can't believe it has been almost 3 months since our last post. We have been so busy since then. Easter at Aunt Pat and Uncle Brian's house. We have had birthday parties to attend and we even got a dog. Jon took a new job with LaVie and started today. Since he took the new job, he gave in to me getting a dog. We went to the humane society and got a Rhodesian Ridgeback/lab mix 5 month old puppy that weighs almost 50lbs. She is a cutie and her name is Bentley and they told us she may get up to 100lbs. Hayden gets along great with her. They play all of the time and Hayden even gives her treats whenever he feels like it. We had to hide the treats from Hayden and not the dog. We have been trying to get more done around the house... we have 2 shutters painted, the ceiling fan put up, and the guest bathroom light installed.

Hayden is talking more and more each day in full sentences. Some of the things the kid says makes me laugh. I wish I could recall some of them but I am drawing a blank. He does tell me that he has a headache... well usually it is because I tell him he is giving me a headache. Now that he is potty trained he tells me he has to "poopoo peepee potty" although you are never sure which one it will be. The best part is when he decides to go number two, during the red face and holding on the breathe he yells "here is comes!" I am not sure why that makes me laugh, but maybe it is just the tone of his voice as he is saying it. He is potty trained during the day wearing big boy underwear, but still wearing pull ups at night.

Anyway, I still need to upload recent photos of Hayden and the new pup, but I figured I would at least get an update going on the blog. For now I hope everyone had a good evening and I hope you all have a good week!

Good News... We found the camera cord!

2010-03-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

With much searching and destroying of the office basement and everywhere else we looked, we finally found the camera in the wii carrying case of all things. I have begun to upload videos as I am typing. If you can't see them on the video bar you can go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for HaydenWO2007 you will be able to view all of his videos. Hopefully I can get some pictures up as well.

Since our last post we have been pretty busy battling colds and going to Tennessee to visit the Komolls. We had a great time: Easter Egg Hunt, Golf/Shopping (you will never guess who did what), The Rain forest Cafe, and the Grand Ole Opry Hotel. I have got a lot of great pictures I will post.

Hayden's vocabulary is amazing. I can't believe some of the words the kid knows. We have flash cards and yesterday we went through them and he knows the words (even though they are pictures) on every card and there is about 3 words per card. He is starting to make 4 word sentences and actually have a conversation with someone. The only problem know with his vocabulary is that he gets frustrated when we don't know what he wants... results screaming and crying! But we are working on it and if we can get him to settle down then the words usually come out.

We found out our neighborhood is a kid haven. Every time it is nice out kids run around everywhere. They even block a portion of one of the streets off so the kids can play. We really got fortunate with our neighborhood. Well that is all for now. I will upload the pictures to flickr. Have a good weekend.

Mommy Timeout!

2010-03-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a kid try and put you in time out? Well yesterday Hayden was up earlier than usual and with Jon at a conference neither of us sleep very well... so of course I am dragging just a little at 6:30 in the morning. Well Hayden wanted his breakfast faster than I was willing to move. So he started counting: "1...2...3...4...Mommy timeout... Now!" At least he gave me until 4. I just looked at him with my mouth open. He really wanted me to go in timeout for not listening, since he gets put in timeout for not listening. I am not going to lie it was pretty funny. He has also learned how to open the freezer and refrigerator and if you aren't paying attention the ice cream, Popsicles and fruit are the first things to come out. He has also been reading books a lot more. We have been to the library every day this week just so we can get new books to read. This morning while Jon was getting ready and I was ironing he spent a good 15 minutes in his room just reading to himself. Right now I might have to buy one of the books from the library, I don't think he will be able to let it go when it is time to take it back!

On the home front we have only painted one more room since the last post and bought a vinyl sliding shade for our patio door (since the curtains we picked out seem to be more of a hassle that anything else). We have been looking at sectionals but haven't found anything we can't live without yet. Still working on finding our camera cord. I know it is here somewhere but there is a lot more house here than our apartment! Just think when we do get the pictures and videos up there will be plenty for everyone to look at. Well I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Window Treatments Cost How Much???

2010-02-27T00:54:00.000-08:00

I know this post doesn't have too much to do about Hayden, but I had to post it anyway.

Amanda already posted that we got new shades/curtains last weekend, what she didn't mention was that they cost the same as a used car.

Seriously...they hang over your window and you pull them up and down so people don't see your butt. I understand that; but do they really have to charge that much for them? I would have expected them to be made of gold with a diamond trim. At the vary least maybe come with a bottle of liquor and a massage. Or maybe if the shade gave you a quarter every time it opened and closed it might pay itself off by the time the mortgage is paid.

Well, Amanda is happy with them and happy wife, happy life. Maybe I'll save a little more on energy costs.

On the Hayden front - I taught him to sing "Happy Birthday" to Amanda, so she got a nice rendition on her birthday. Lets just say the boy will not be a music star at any point in his life, a little tone-deaf, but he got the words right and we got it on video.

Potty training is going OK at times. At least there is a glimmer of hope there and we can get some of that "curtain" money back on diaper savings soon.

That is about it for now, just had to get my little rant out! Enjoy your weekend everyone!!

Making Big Progress

2010-02-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

Since we have moved into our new house we have been trying to help Hayden become a big boy. Last Monday February 15 we traded in Hayden's baby car seat to Toys R Us to receive 25% off a toddler bed. Jon had picked it up while Hayden was napping and we put it together before he got up. We told him he was growing up and needed a big boy bed. Well his new big boy bed is a Lightening McQueen race car... pretty cool huh? Well Hayden thought so too, because he forfeited his "mimi" aka pacifier to sleep in McQueen. So now Hayden's room is almost complete... we just need to touch up the paint in his room. He has "Super Hero Blue" walls with Cars decals, a McQueen mural, and a welcome race fans banner. We just put up red curtains this past weekend and can't wait to see the valance Aunt Nancy has made for his room.

Another thing we have been working on is potty training. The first day we tried Hayden did great, but I think that was because I put him on the potty at the right times. Ever since then he hasn't wanted anything to do with the potty and goes off and plays when he needs a diaper change. Well today was different... We had just gotten back from the library when Hayden told me he was poopy and needed a diaper change. He was very upset about it... well he wasn't poopy but he had just peed in his pull ups and was finally feeling the wetness. Then tonight he went on the potty, and got it all out before bed time. We even asked him if he had anymore in him and he pushed more out. PROGRESS! He really is turning into a big boy.

On the home front... we bought blinds for most of the house. Down stairs we got all the blinds and curtains we needed. We actually like how it looks and even bought the thermal blinds and curtains to help save our energy costs. We haven't painted anymore, that is on the agenda for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Then we get a load of surprises this weekend that will finally complete our home. Thanks Aunt Pat, Uncle Brian, and Aunt Nancy for your generosity!

Oh yah, I almost forgot... I passed my drivers test!

The Nightmare called Hayden

2010-02-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

The title says it all... today Hayden has been a nightmare! I went this morning to get my license and registration for the state of Indiana, and I had to take a 44 question drivers license test. I haven't taken one of those in just about 9 years. Needless to say, Hayden decided that he was going to run wild around the building, so between chasing him around and trying to take the test. Well I get the test back and it turns out I failed the sign portion of the test. Yes, I failed a drivers license test... go ahead laugh it up. Just looks like I will be stuck with a Washington license until tomorrow when I can take the test again, without wild child to interrupt me.

So after we left the BMV, we went to Home Depot to get paint, since it is on sale and we still have lots of painting to do (by the way we finally found a red for Jon's office). Anyway, Hayden found a display to knock over and destroy as I was talking to a guy about paint. Who knew the terrible twos could be so horrible. I have never been so frustrated with the kid in my life. On top of everything else his new thing is "I sorry" and he says it every time you scold him or tell him "no." He even told me when we got home. "Momma Hayden naugy" aka naughty... and I said "yes, don't bother momma right now." He said "okay" and went off and played. Sometimes I you want to be so mad at the little guy but you can't. So for all of you out there waiting on another kid from us, you may have to wait just a few years longer after today!

Lots and lots of snow...

2010-02-10T11:12:00.001-08:00

We are now wondering why we choose to move back to the Midwest... We have got a total of 10 to 12 inches of snow in the past 3 days and for the past two weeks the high hasn't touched the 30s. We are now happy home owners with a fixed dishwasher, a painted kitchen, and a painted office (well almost had some problems with pink paint). Yes we tried to paint Jon's office in red and white (Wisconsin colors) and well the paint was pink!

Anyway, sorry we haven't posted. Ever since our wonderful Christmas in January things have got pretty crazy around here. Jon has been up north the past few weeks and lucked out this week with the snow otherwise he would be down in Louisville, KY. Hayden has been the non-stop chatter box like usual (check out the side bar for funny Hayden talk) and is loving the new house. When Jon shovels the snow Hayden plays in it... he actually lays down and does snow angels and slides down the hill on his butt (I have a video but need to find my camera cord). Well, once I find the camera cord I will post old videos and pictures. I have a lot to post so hopefully it will be soon. Hope everyone has a great week!

Lot about Nothing

2010-01-25T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well, sorry it has been a while since we have posted. There have been some family things going on and the move has left us limited time.

We have officially moved into the new house. It is a lot bigger than I remembered, and even with most of our furniture in, there is still TONS of room for Hayden to run around. We have already painted the downstairs bathroom and 2 other walls. That only leaves us about 9 other rooms to paint. *sigh* Good thing Amanda likes painting. Hayden is more than willing to help out as well. Problem is that he will paint just about anything in sight. If he gets paint on himself, he will look at you and say "owwwie". He learned that from his mother.

The new job is keeping me busy. This entire week is already planned out for me. I am in Louisville today, tomorrow and Wednesday...then to Fort Wayne and Muncie the rest of the week. For now, Amanda and Hayden stayed back; next trip they will be with me.

That's all the time I have for now...more to come later...especially when we get our Internet hooked up...waiting on the homeowners group...hope everyone has enjoyed the beginning of 2010!!!

Correction...

2010-01-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

I (Amanda) did not break the dishwasher. I ran it 2 times before and it did just fine. The third time I didn't do anything different and it just would not drain. So a correction to Jon's last post. I did not break the dishwasher.

"Hayden's House"

2010-01-04T16:16:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a happy holiday! As expected, we were extremely busy. Some good things, some not so. But hey, that is the way life goes. Roll with the punches, take a couple extra low blows every once in a while, and move on.

We have officially moved all of our belongings into the new house. Amanda already broke the dishwasher; pops and I already broke in the Weber; and Hayden has already grown accustomed to calling it "Hayden's house". From what we can tell, he thinks mommy and daddy's house is the apartment in Washington. In his mind, Grandpa Jack lives in "Hayden's house" too. Maybe I won't pay the electric bill next month at "Hayden's house". I'm sure after a day of not being able to watch Barney I will be able to move in too. Amanda is on her own for moving in.

I cannot even begin to describe the joy it brings to us to see Hayden in the house. He is so happy. Happy enough to even run up to his room, shut the door and play with all of his toys. If you walk past his room when the door is open, he will shut it in your face when he notices. Sort of a nice "get out my room, dad!" He also figured out how to lock the bedroom door...even better that if he held the button down, you couldn't unlock it with the key. Amanda said she could hear a giggle as she tried to open it. I love it. Most of the light switches are within is reach (that means Grandma Cheryl will be able to reach them too) so when I came downstairs Saturday morning, every light was on. Energy company will love him!

More to come later, out of time for today. Just wanted to get something up in 2010! Happy New Year everyone!!!

The New 2 year-old

2009-12-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

Hayden is such and big boy now. He is two!!!! I can't believe our baby is growing up so fast. His speech is expanding and he is getting a little smarter about how he gets away with things. You will be pleased to know I finally updated pictures! There are now 39 new pictures available on flickr and one new video of Hayden dancing on the youtube video bar.

Hayden had 3 great birthday parties. Jon and I are thinking the kid is going to think every day of December and now January is either his birthday or Christmas. Lets just say he is getting really good at opening presents. His favorite gifts were the school bus tent from Auntie Lisa, his trucks and tractors big and small from Nana and Papa and Allison, and his Cars tricycle from Joe, Sueann, and the girls. When he is not playing in his tent with his toys he is riding his bike all over the apartment. We are finally ready for a house.

I haven't found my address book yet. I am hoping it is not packed away, so we can get out Christmas cards with our new address on them. If I don't, expect a Christmas card to come after Christmas. Well I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. Miss and love you all!
Also much thanks to everyone for the wonderful gifts for Hayden's birthday!

"Santa is coming"

2009-12-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Since we are moving our Christmas we haven't been emphasizing Santa for the sake of Hayden, but Hayden is really into Santa right now. He loves the Christmas movies and reindeer and Santa. Today he kept saying "Santa comin" and "ere reindeer," so Santa is coming and where are the reindeer. Every time we see a Santa decorations he gets very excited. I just hope we can make it through traveling on Christmas day and Santa can find us wherever we are. As of now Hayden and I (Amanda) are still flying out Christmas day while Jon drives later. The date is yet to be determined, but we are hopeful he will start the drive the day after Christmas. We are so excited about being in our new home soon.

P.s. I didn't get a chance to get invitations out for Hayden's birthday, since I have been so busy with finals for school, but his birthday party is Sunday at 2:00 at Chuck E Cheese. I know no one can probably make it, since I think the Christmas party is going on at the same time, but maybe we can coordinate a phone call. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Happy Holidays

2009-12-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Well, things have been moving very fast.

The movers are scheduled to pack up the apartment on the 21st and load everything on the 22nd. Then they start the drive to Indy and we should have everything on by the 31st of December (holidays make it longer). Feels weird to know that everything will be moved in less than 2 weeks, even more strange to not box anything up.

We are scheduled to close on the house on the 23rd. So, fingers crossed, everything keeps moving smoothly for that to happen. I still don't know when my last day will be, but I do know my start date in Indiana is the 4th of January.

After weeks of discussion, we decided to fly Hayden and Amanda to Milwaukee on Christmas Day. The more I thought of driving 47 hours in a car with someone that cannot sit still for 2 minutes made my hair start falling out...add to that a 2 year old that talks non-stop and it would be a very "fun" drive. (Just kidding, Amanda =] )

It looks like "Papa" will be flying out to make the drive with me. Looking forward to spending time with him. It has been 3+ years since I first moved away, we have lots to catch up on. It will be a long drive, but a stop in Vegas makes it do-able.

As for the little man, he loved St. Nick. He woke us up and wanted cereal, when he saw the stockings by the fireplace...all you heard was "ooooooo" "oooooo". He did have a hard time understanding that all 3 stockings were not for him...Amanda was about to fight him for the chocolate covered cherries St. Nick left for her.

We will try to update a little more often until we move, but with everything that is going on, please forgive us if we don't get a chance to.

(Also, since out holidays are all screwed up with the move, we have decided to move our Christmas to the 24th of January. This way we at least get to enjoy the day and decorate a little. Hayden is young enough that it won't make a difference to him, so we figured, why not? If you would like to join us, let me know via e-mail. We will be treating the 23rd as Christmas Eve and Amanda will be making her traditional dinner.)

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

So much to do...so little time

2009-11-22T05:14:00.000-08:00

As the time ticks down on our time in Washington, we decided to make a list of things we still want to see/visit before we move.

Last weekend we went to Pikes Market for, presumably, the last time for awhile. It was a little cold, but we had a great time. There is this awesome pasta stand that we had been talking about for 2 years...finally bought some. We also bought a piece of street art to go in the "new house", home-made doughnuts, and of course we had to get drinks from the original Starbucks. We took Hayden out to lunch on the pier, he got excited since "football" was on during lunch.

This weekend, unfortunately, we did not get to do much. I have pneumonia and Hayden has a little cold. So, we started packing/labeling boxes...you know, the fun stuff. Next weekend will be better.

Hayden has been speaking a lot more clearly lately. Sentences are flying out of his mouth. This week if I started coughing, he would come up and ask me "daddy ok?". If I was sleeping "daddy seeping", if bugging him "no-no daddy stop it". There is also "please mommy more chips now" and "i love you daddy/mommy" is stating to come out uncoaxed. Almost everything that we say he tries to mimic.

When he does something he is excited about, he proudly states "I did it!" to which he usually gets a big smile and a hug. His toys are starting to occupy more of his time. He lines them up and even drives/moves his cars around. Most of the cars have names..."Mack"..."Queen"...you know, right out of "Cars".

OK, we will post more as time permits...hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!!

Movin' on

2009-11-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

It is official, we are moving to Indiana. I flew out on Tuesday, interviewed/toured the area on Wednesday, and flew back to Washington on Thursday night. We are looking at houses in a town called Fishers right now...seems to be out best option.

Realistically, this is somewhat bittersweet. We have established a nice life in Washington. The views are incredible, the ocean is only an hour away, there is tons to do/see, and we have meet some wonderful people and feel like part of the community in Tumwater.

We will also be leaving Hayden's first home, he has lived here his entire life. This is also where Amanda and I first started our family. I sit on the Tumwater parks board and have been pretty involved in community activities. The people I work with are incredible and as an Administrator, I couldn't ask for a better staff.

I understand that we will meet many new and wonderful people and have the same experiences, but is always hard to say good-bye.

Now we have less than 30 days to get packed up and out of Washington.

Halloween

2009-11-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday we took Hayden Trick-or-treating. We worked with him for about a month to wear his horse costume and didn't think he would wear it. So, we took a back-up costume for him just in case. Earlier in the day, we stopped and bought him a cowboy hat. That is what sold him on the costume. So he was a cowboy on a horse for Halloween this year.

The first couple of houses he wanted to go inside. People would open the door and in would go Hayden. He got better at waiting outside and getting candy. He got "trick-or-treat" down and he would hold his bag out. Some people were silly enough to let him pick out of the bowl. 3-4 pieces of candy later he was happy. Then, there was the guy that answered the door with his dog. Lets just say Hayden thought he was getting a dog from him. Hayden wasn't happy when he found out he just got some tootsie rolls.

Hayden has also gotten a lot better with his speech and communication. Sentences are getting a lot more clear and he has no problem telling you "daddy stop now" or "mama sit down" or say "my mama" and throw himself on top of Amanda. On the word "now". It has been added to almost everything; "all done now"...etc. Also, he is able to say his name. (That started a couple weeks ago, but we forgot to mention it.) He loves to go on the computer and talk to "Daby", (Gabi) "nana", "papa", and "Haiee" (Hailee).

Well, thats all the time I have, will update more later...there is so much new happening it is hard to tell everything. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

New Hayden Moments

2009-10-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

First of all we are trying to update the blog as much as possible. Midterms have begun to work their way into my schedule. Which means less leisure time (not that I had much before) and extra study time. Jon has been a great help, taking Hayden to the park in the evenings and helping with other things around the apartment.

Hayden has been pretty good with everything. He has been at play school more this term then the last. So he is being a good sport about everything. His new words now are I love you which sounds like olive. Also when he watches Cars, after the tractor tipping scene he wants more tractors. He looks at you with the most sweetest face and will ask for more tractors until he gets more tractors. I have decided that he gets that look from Jon. You know he is trouble but he is too cute to resist.

Anyway, this weekend we are going trick-or-treating. Hayden is going to be a little cowboy with a horse, well if he wears it. I will take lots of pictures and hopefully post again soon. Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Side Note for the Day

2009-10-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

So this morning Hayden clearly said two new words. First it was applesauce. Which he use to call just apples, this morning he reached into the fridge and pointed and said applesauce. The second word happened on the way to play school. Every day we look for buses, trucks, and tractors, while we are driving in the car. This morning I saw a bus and pointed it out to Hayden. I said look Hayden here comes a bus. Once the bus passed he said "scoolbus." He distinguished the difference between a transit bus and a yellow school bus. I was so excited I said yes that is a school bus. From then on he just kept repeating "scoolbus, bye bye scoolbus, mor scoolbus." It was the best moment of the day. Thought I would share with everyone else!

Taking a Sick Day

2009-10-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well... Hayden has a little cold so we are out of school today. Which gives me time to finally update the blog and and flickr. So I have uploaded about 25 pictures to flickr, from the State Fair the first part of September, to our trip to Wisconsin, and finally this last weekends pictures of the pumpkin patch.

Hayden is getting a little more fluent with his speech. He still struggles sometimes when he is trying to tell us what he wants, but this morning he did pat his head and told me "hoz" which means hot. So that is defiantly a plus that he can finally tell us what is wrong.

He has a little peoples dump truck that goes everywhere with him. Every time we leave the house he has to take his "tuck." We found his new favorite movie is "rarr" or Madagascar II. We have tried to get him to watch other movies, but Bolt is now out of the picture, although he still watches Barney occasionally.

Anyway Jon and I are doing well. We are both extremely busy, me with school and Jon with work and helping me with Hayden. Everything is going great and we will try to keep you all more up to date.

Almost October?

2009-09-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks.

2 weekends ago, we took Hayden to the Puyallup fair (the Washington state fair). Of course, he loved all of the animals. We took him on three rides and he wanted "more" of each of them. The little guy made it pretty much all day. He even took an hour nap in the hobby barn.

Then early last week, we made a last minute trip to Wisconsin. We took a red-eye Thursday night and got into Wisconsin at about 10:30 in the morning. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, Hayden slept the majority of the flight. He did wake up in Houston and had breakfast with us. Even ate a breakfast burrito and watched the buses. Our time in Wisconsin flew by; not the best circumstances, but it was nice. We got back into Washington on Tuesday night about 8:00. Again, Hayden slept most of the flight. We got our seats upgraded which was extremely nice, plenty of extra room.

This weekend was great. We did n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Relaxed at home and did some errands. Little man is doing new things by the day; his vocabulary is expanding and so is his attitude. He takes after his mother. The leaves are starting to change so next weekend we are probably going to take a drive though the mountains and go apple-picking. Nothing like some fresh Washington apples.

I think we will leave Hayden at home.

Road Trip - Ollmann Style

2009-09-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I decided last Tuesday that we were going to take a road trip with Hayden. We have been talking about how we both wanted to check out the Redwoods. So we called around, rented a cabin for labor day weekend and took off after work on Friday. We knew it was going to be a challenge keeping little man occupied for the proposed 8+ hour car ride.

When I got home from work I saw that Amanda had packed up the entire place. There were 2 suitcases filled with clothes, 2 laundry baskets filled with odds and ends and of course, Hayden's entire toy box. The term "everything but the kitchen sink" comes to mind. But then I looked in one of the suitcases and she packed the sink too. (Amanda: It wasn't that much stuff. I just wanted to make sure we had everything we needed.)

Friday night since we didn't take off until 6:00, we decided to stop at Grandma Melissa's for the night. It worked out great, plus she had this shampoo called "Big Sexy Hair". Let me tell you, it works! On Saturday morning we headed out on the 5 hour trip to Port Orford, Oregon. We stopped there to see a friend and took US 101 along the coast. What a beautiful drive. If anyone has not driven the Oregon coast, I would recommend it. After a couple hours visiting with Shelia, we said our good-byes and finished the final hour and a half drive to Crescent City, California.

We stayed at a KOA campground and rented a cabin that had a full size bed and a bunk bed. Seriously, that was it. It was about 15x20 and we had to bring our own bedding. Simple, yet just what we needed.

The campsite was surrounded by small Redwoods, walking paths, and of course a playground. There were berries growing all over. Some nice fellow campers showed us where huckleberries were growing as well as a ton of blackberries. After Hayden ate half a bush of blackberries, we took him to the swing to go "wee". That night, we cooked hot dogs and marshmallows on the fire.

After we put Hayden to bed, I taught Amanda how to play Rummy 500. Of course, I won every game, and now she is hooked. We didn't get to sit by the fire very long, it started raining. Luckily there was a large porch on our 15x20 cabin.

On Sunday we went to the Trees of Mystery. There were three paths all under a mile and some monster trees. It was humbling to look up at some of those 350ft trees and realize just how small you are in this world. Hayden had a great time, running in the woods. Amanda also had a great time chasing him down the paths. I got some great pictures of that.

Monday morning we headed home. It was a quick trip, but well worth it. I forgot how much fun camping is, and it was really neat to see how much fun Hayden was having. Amanda is putting up a bunch of pictures on Flickr, so check them out. There are some great scenery ones.

Quick Hayden updates:
- He loves Disney's "Bolt". Watched it almost 13 times in the car, kept Amanda and I sane.
- All the boy needs is berries and a forest to have fun. Add some puddles he can jump in and he will have the time of his life.
- The ocean in northern California is cold, but Hayden will still run into it.
- He is talking in consistent 2 word sentences. Most common one so far is "nono dada".
- He is extremely good at putting puzzles together. Kind of scary, really. Some seem way too hard for a 20 month old.
- He ate dirt this weekend. Evens out the puzzles...think "not as smart as advertised".
- This is a really fun age, seeing him react to new things in the world just make me smile.

OK, well that was our redwoods weekend. I would recommend to anyone reading to go see time if you haven't. Breathtaking/humbling/awe-inspiring are really the only way to describe the views we saw.

This weekend Grandma Melissa is coming to visit and we are all going to the Washington State Fair. Should be a good time as long as Hayden doesn't eat any of the brown "dirt" there. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

September Already

2009-09-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already September. Where does time go? Both Jon and I have been busy with work and trying to get our apartment arranged so we have more room and less clutter. We bought a new Samsung 40 inch tv. A great buy considering our other tv kept buzzing every time we watched tv. It was rather annoying. So that meant that we needed a new entertainment center plus we had to rearrange our living room to fit the new entertainment. But we finally have everything the way we want it.

Hayden news!!!! We the kid his talking more than ever. However you still cannot understand him. He is doing puzzles like crazy and without help. It is unbelievable! He can sing his ABC's well, you can kind of understand him. This week daycare is out so they can go to conference so it is Mommy and Hayden time all week.

For Labor day weekend we are taking off to see the Oregon Coast and heading down to spend a couple days camping in the Redwoods. We will let you know how it goes, 12 hours in the car may drive us crazy! Hope everyone else has a great Labor Day weekend.

Back from Vacation

2009-08-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well we are back from vacation although not back into our old routine. I still have to upload pictures all 300 of them so please be patient with me.

We all had a great time. Hayden and I went out to Wisconsin a few days before Jon did so we could spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa Ollmann, Auntie Haliee and Auntie Lisa. We were even able to do a play date with Brooklynn and Ruchell. Hayden's favorite thing was playing with "Woof" or Codee. They were like the best of friends. Hayden wasn't intimidated at all by the dog. During vacation I did put up a video on our youtube bar showing Hayden playing fetch with Codee. It is a really cute video you will have to check it out sometime.

Saturday July 25 we left for Rhinelander. Hayden rode with Grandma and Grandpa, while Jon and I headed to Madison to the Nitty Gritty and to view the city. We had a good time and best of all with didn't have to entertain the little man for a 5 hour car ride. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Vacation in Rhinelander was relaxing. The weather wasn't the greatest so we spent most of the time fishing, playing cards, and relaxing. We were able to ski on Friday the nicest day of the week, and if you can believe I actually got up this year. I guess it paid off getting a gym membership.

It was sad when we had to leave, but we were able to have dinner and a bonfire with Nick, Ruchell, Brooklynn, Mike and Mel on Saturday. On Sunday we were heading to Ben's birthday party. We had no idea the family set it up so it was also a surprise party for Hayden as well. Thanks everyone for doing that, we had such and great time. Special thanks to Ben for sharing his birthday party with Hayden. We know it must have been hard to do since Hayden loves being the center of attention. As we know if he isn't he will run out into the street....

Monday Hayden and I met Estelle at breakfast. Then went to see the grandparents at the nursing home. It was a very busy vacation. Jon headed home Monday and then Hayden and I followed Wednesday. Tuesday Aunt Nancy took us to the Racine Zoo. It was fantastic, Hayden loved the lion and tiger. At the zoo you get really close to the animals it was pretty cool. Plus the lion was roaring what a cool added bonus.

Well thanks to everyone that made vacation so special. We miss you all! I will post pictures and update our blog photo tomorrow.

Our 4th of July Weekend Update

2009-07-11T00:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I already posted our 4th of July Weekend pictures, but I am sure everyone wants to know how our weekend went. On Saturday morning we went to the parade that started at 11. Jon was already there because he judges certain entries and has to help official the parade. So, Hayden and I packed our cooler parked a mile away, and hiked to Dairy Queen to enjoy the parade (same spot as last year). Only problem was I forgot they remodeled the Dairy Queen aka no more shade. We then found Jon and set up camp over by where he was patrolling the parade.

The parade this year was quite long: 2 hours. There were parts Hayden loved: motorcycles, horses, helicopter, and of course the loud cannon, and there were parts that Hayden wasn't too fond of: the loud cars and the sirens from the firetrucks and police cars. I am not sure why they bothered him so much. We were going to have a picnic after the parade but our little man was pretty tired which means he was starting to get fussy. He went down for a 3 hour nap! We couldn't believe it.

After he got up from his nap we went to the park to swing ("weeee" as Hayden calls it). You wouldn't believe it until you look at the pictures, but the kid actually hangs on and you can push him pretty high. The higher the better according to him. After the park we went to the festival, but only lasted maybe 20 minutes. He isn't quite old enough for the bouncy floats they had there, and was upset when Jon and I were playing the bean bag game because even though he had his own bean bags we weren't paying enough attention to him.

At dinner, Hayden practically ate out the restaurant. Well not literally, but close enough. He ate off Jon and my plates from the salad bar and also his dinner. Two mini grilled cheese sandwiches and apples. We didn't think he could put anything else in there. Then after he was done it all came out. His face turned red and he grunted.... Jon asked if he was pooping and Hayden actually replied "yeh" and nodded his head. It was pretty funny. At dinner Hayden learned how to do a big smile and how to bat his eye lashes (all I am thinking is great now he really knows how to work me over).

Hayden went to bed early as usual but we woke him up for the fireworks ("boom booms"). He loved them! We sat on top of our hill and watched them and about 30 yards away a house was setting off the great big ones and he just watched in awe. Only problem was they kept setting them off until 1 in the morning and Hayden was wide awake every 20-30 minutes wanting to go watch.

Sunday we went to our friends house for a BBQ. Hayden had a blast. The girls have this bright pink guitar that plays different songs (What a girl wants, Survivor, etc). Anyway Hayden loved it, he wouldn't let it out of his sight nor reach. Jon was thinking great my son loves hot pink and girly music! It was pretty funny to watch his reaction. Hayden had such a great time, the kid didn't stop running until we got in the car to go home. At the end of the night the two girls were exhausted from playing with him, Jon and I just had to giggle because they are 9 and 12, too young to be worn out in 3 hours of play time.

Anyway, now that I have blabbed on and on I guess that comes to the end of our weekend. This week the only thing that is new with Hayden are his new words. He can say cookie... although you can't tell it is cookie, and he is starting to use Thank You. We are also working on Lisa and Hailee since we will be seeing you two very soon! Well I hope everyone has a good weekend and miss you all very much!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

I know it is no quite the 4th yet, but I figured we could tell everyone Happy 4th of July early. We have been keeping pretty busy since our last post. My mom (Grandma Melissa) came down last week and Hayden went to his very first movie. During the summer Regal is putting on a Family Film Festival, and Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10 there are free movies. Well we thought we would give it a try, since the kid can't stay still to save his life, and that way we would have spent 6 bucks on a movie we wouldn't sit through. Well he lasted 30 mins, and that is only because we had popcorn (His new favorite treat)! I don't have any pictures because they are on Grandma's camera, but they were super cute. He was double fisting.

Last Saturday we went to the coast. There were to festivals going on: The Pirates Festival and the Sandcastle and Wood Sculpting Festival. It was hard to pick which one to go to since we went to both last year, but we ended up going to the Sandcastle one because there was beach access where Hayden could run around. The wood carvings weren't as good as last year, but there was a super cool car made out of sand that you could stand in and get your picture taken in (pictures are on Flickr). When we got to the beach, there were huge kites being flown. Hayden thought they were balloons and kept calling them "boons." Once we got onto the sand we took Hayden's sandals off so he could run and play. Wow did he not want to be put down. At first he hated the sand and didn't want anything to do with it. However, once we got down by the water and showed him how to splash and stomp on the water, that was enough to convince him the sand was okay.

Hayden got soaked! I was smart this year and brought an extra pair of clothes, blanket, a wet wash cloth, and plastic bags. But, apparently I wasn't smart enough to bring them to the beach (I left them in the car), so Hayden ended up wrapped in my coat while we finished looking at the sandcastles. Amazingly enough the semi-pro sandcastles were ten times better than the pros. All in all we had a great time. Hayden is starting to talk up a storm, in words: flower (bower), chocolate (kacolat - I think that is how he says it), swing (wee), and a if you ask him to say a some words he can mimic you a little.

Anyway, this weekend we plan on going to the parade tomorrow. Hayden I am sure will like all of the sirens this year. Then tomorrow night we plan on going to the festival that Tumwater is putting on. Hopefully this year Hayden can play in the big blow up balloons they will have. We aren't going to keep Hayden up for the fireworks, because the kid has to have his sleep. We are probably going to do what we did last year: grab him from his crib, drive to the top of our hill and watch from the car. So Hayden may or may not get to watch them this year!

Father's Day Weekend

2009-06-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

We had a great Father's Day! We went to an air show, which was just down the road from us. We figured Hayden would have a great time because, every time he sees a plane in the sky he yells "bye bye" at the top of his lungs like he thinks the air plane is going to hear him. He also points and says "pain" or plane.

At the air show it was no different. It was "hi," "pain," and "bye bye" all day long. He got to sit in a transporting army helicopter, and he thought that was pretty cool. In a couple of the pictures on flickr you can see him in the drivers seat and also getting buckled in. However, after he did get buckled in he shook his head no and wanted out! After that he was very intent to watch the officer buckle the other kids in, he then wanted to figure out how to buckle himself in. He wasn't too happy when we took him out of the helicopter, but has quickly distracted by the flying air planes.

We saw a helicopter drop an SUV from probably 300 yards up and it just completely flattened. That was pretty cool! Jon had a good day, I was able to surprise him with his gift this year (The first time I was ever able to keep it away from him!). Anyway, we had a good weekend now we are just waiting for vacation to come. It couldn't come soon enough for either of us!

YAH... It's Summer!

2009-06-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

The title says it all... It is finally summer and today was my last class, well until summer school starts June 22, but hey at least I get a little of a break. The summer weather has also kicked in, the last two days it has been 90 here, way to hot for no AC. Also I uploaded some cute pictures of Hayden eating watermelon (his new favorite food), they are too cute you have to check out the juice catcher picture.

Anyway, Hayden is starting to flourish with speaking. He is starting to mimic words a little if you ask him to say something and in the morning when he wakes up, he seems to be talking to his panda. We will try and get it on video. He can also tell you what a cow says, what a kangaroo does, what an alligator does, and what a monkey does and sounds like. We tired to get that on video but it didn't go quite as we planned.

Hayden is starting to hit the tantrum age as well. A couple of days ago he learned how to put the key in the car door. Well he tried putting the same key in our front door. I tried to explain to him that he needed to use another key and showed him which one, well he didn't like that too much and right there he laid down kicked his legs and screamed. It took all of me just not to laugh. Anyway I got him inside and let him finish while I made him dinner. Once he got a whiff of the food, he forgot all about the key.

I can't wait for vacation and a 4 hour plane ride... telling Hayden he can't move for that long period may just drive me and everyone around me crazy. We plan on buying a portable DVD player to play his Barney (the only thing the kid will watch), bring his puzzles, and books which he loves, but if anyone else has any suggestions for a 4 hour plane ride I would love to hear them. Less than 2 months to go! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Mariner's Game and Memorial Weekend

2009-05-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

Finally... I have loaded new pictures and videos.

It has been a crazy month. Hayden is as active as ever, never stopping unless he is asleep. Now that it is nice out we have been spending more time outside. A couple of weekends ago we went to the Mariner's game. We were 8 rows up from the first base side. It was a great game (well the parts we saw). Hayden had a good time too. Jon and I both got beers and when I wasn't looking Hayden grabbed my beer and was tipping it to have a drink. Don't worry I caught him in time, but the couple behind us got a good laugh out of it. Hayden lasted 8 innings, but he was so tired that as soon as we got in the car he was out. When we got home, we got Dairy Queen. He ate his own bowl of ice cream, not well but he got the majority of it down.

This weekend, Hayden went to Grandma Melissa's house. I had to work and Jon ended up cleaning the apartment, since we didn't have a little man to "help" us clean. Sunday we checked out houses just for something to do, the houses were absolutely gorgeous, but they had no yards and if anyone knows Hayden, we need a huge yard. Yesterday we went to pick up Hayden from grandma's and we were able to stop at the Nike employee store and check it out. It was pretty cool too, we got some good deals on shoes. After we got home we went to a friends house for a Barbecue. Overall we had a great weekend.

Hayden slept through the night last night, and we came to the conclusion that Hayden needs a house, a huge yard, and a dog, because then I am pretty sure the kid would sleep through the night every night.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sorry about slacking on the updates

2009-05-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am sure everyone is wondering how Hayden is doing. The little guy is fine. Last Tuesday he started acting more like himself. In one day our apartment went from spotless to a disaster. It is like everything is new again to him and he has to learn "no" all over again. Hence very busy mom and dad. I still have no idea where the camera cord is to add the hide-n-seek pictures or video, so you will have to be patient for a little longer.

School is getting crazy right now with only 4 weeks left, and for some reason work has me scheduled to work every day I have free. Jon has been at a conference all week in Vancouver. So needless to say it has been a crazy household these past weeks.

One other thing Hayden likes to do at night is cry and get up every hour or so, which means physically exhausted parents. Jon and I know we have to start over with a sleep program, only problem is his cries are not the same as when we was a baby. He now wails at the top of his lungs. You would think we are killing him. Anyway, before we can just let him cry in the middle of the night we have to warn the people above us in the apartments so they don't call the cops on us. I was thinking of getting her something (besides ear-plugs) to kind of show how sorry we are. Any ideas?

I know this weekend is Mother's Day and Lisa's birthday, so Happy early Mother's Day and Birthday (Grandma's and Lisa). We will talk to you all soon.

P.s. I will look for the camera cord this weekend.

Pictures and Videos

2009-04-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

Posted Easter pictures and Spring Fair pictures. I also posted his Easter candy video. I have some hide and seek pictures and video to post yet. Hopefully I will get those on the computer soon. Miss you all and hope everyone had a good weekend!

Month from h _ _ _

2009-04-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

What a month.

The weekend before Easter, Hayden started getting sick. Runny nose, drainage from his eye, fever of as high as 104…etc. We took him to the doctor and they put him on Amoxicillin thinking it was a virus. The next morning he woke up with red splotches all over his back and butt. Needless to say, we found out he is allergic to Amoxicillin. They put him on Azrithomycin for three days and we thought that he was feeling better. The Saturday before Easter he was doing better and we took him to the Easter Egg Hunt in Tumwater. Hayden even picked up his own eggs this year and held his basket. He likes candy.

Everything was good the next week, fever seemed to be going down and he was getting back to himself. On Sunday, we went to the spring festival in Puyallup. He loved all the animals, and we even got to hold a crocodile. There was an arts and crafts section where we made him a Frisbee which turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit a little short, Hayden felt a little warm. That night, his temperature hit 104 again.

The next morning, Amanda had to take him in for a blood draw. The following day, he was back to the doctor for the results. The blood results looked good, just a high white blood cell count…which means an infection. Just to be sure, they took a chest x-ray…sure enough…pneumonia. In both lungs. They put him on some more antibiotics and we hoped he would start feeling better. Friday night, after he went down for the night, he woke up screaming. You could tell he was struggling to breathe. His chest was heaving, when he inhaled it sounded like he was barking, and he was kicking his legs as he tried to get air in. So we took him to the ER again. The doctor there said…Croup. They gave him an anti-inflammatory with some steroids in it and sent us on our way after a 3 hour visit. If it happens again, they told us to take him right back to the ER, otherwise to make an appointment with his doctor on Monday. So…that is where we are at right now. Tomorrow he has his follow-up appointment with Dr. Duncan.

Stats for April (so far): 6 - Visits to the Doctor, 2 – ER visits, 2 – Nights of sleeping through the night.

He needs to get to feeling better…for all our sakes…and sanity.

Play school

2009-04-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

The last two days have been pretty big days for our little man. Since I started school during the day Hayden has to be in day care. Monday we went to visit to get him use to the teachers and children, and it didn't go to well. I left the room for 15 minutes and I could hear him crying down the hall. Lets just say I was very scared to drop him off yesterday.

Monday night I even told Jon that I didn't know if I would be able to leave him if I heard him cry, then of course I started to cry on my own. Well, Tuesday came and the little guy surprised me. He handled me leaving very well, waving at me as I left the room. No tears were shed all day long, and he didn't even use his nuk for 3/4's of the day. I stopped in about 11:30 between classes to see if he was doing alright. Turns out he looked like he belonged there, which just broke my heart. I know it should have relieved me, but I was upset because I felt he didn't need me anymore. Even though I know that isn't true.

Today going to class was much easier, and of course he was a perfect angel. Anyway I just thought you all would like to know he can sleep without his world being cut off. Good news for vacation this summer!!!!

Mama's little helper

2009-03-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a major cleaning day in the Ollmann household since I will be working Saturday morning when Jon and I usually do our cleaning. Hayden was a big help. He was helping me with the dishes and putting away his toys. I have pictures of him running around with the silverware holder on his arm like a purse. He was cracking me up. He would take it out of the dish rack and then walk to the silverware drawer and want to put the invisible silverware away.

Later in the afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies. Jon and I have been working on the oven being hot, even when it is not on. I don't know where Hayden got the idea, but he thought he could help with the oven too, taking the cookies in and out. I didn't realize but he had an oven mitt on his hand just like me. It was great to see he is already thinking about his safety! Afterwards he got to eat the cookies. Lets just say he got a little messy. Enjoy the rest of the pictures on flickr!

15 month check up

2009-03-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today we had Hayden's 15 month check up. He got 2 shots: his MMR and the first chicken pox shot. He didn't like them very much, but I managed to take the tears away. Well, if I didn't put him down - which was difficult while trying to dress him. Hayden is 31 inches and 23 lbs 7 oz. For height he is in the 50th percentile, while for weight he is under in the 30th percentile. So now we have to watch his weight to see if there is anything going on the doctor needs to know.

It was surprising to find out your son has a weight problem in the opposite direction. Specially since the kid eats non-stop! Sometimes Hayden eats more than Jon or I in a single setting and yet the kid is underweight. The doctor also pointed out he is very active (he wouldn't stay still for the doctor). So he could just be burning all of the calories he is eating. None the less, we have to go back in a couple of months for a weigh-in.

On the positive side, Hayden now holds my hand when he walks outside. I think he figured out I will let him walk to the car and outside, when not at a park, if he holds my hand. Since we live in an apartment complex I get so nervous that he will take off and get hit by a car. So I have been carrying him to and from the car. Not anymore thank goodness. He is such a big boy. He can go up the steps (no more crawling up) with help from the railing and he can crawl into the car and get in his car seat. It helps out so much now he can do more stuff on his own.

He is growing up so fast! Anyway I hope the weather is going well for everyone else, we are still waiting for the sunshine to come out. Miss everyone and wish everyone was here with us!

Grandpa's Visit

2009-03-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Ollmann has been here 4 days, and we have been busy going and doing fun things. Thursday we went to the zoo and had a good time doing all the fun things watching the walrus talk and do tricks, see the sharks out and about, and play in the kids zone. We also got to touch some starfish, well everyone did but me. I was helping Hayden use one finger to touch gently. Last time we went with Grandma Ollmann and Auntie Lisa, it had started to rain and we were unable to let Hayden play in the kid's zone. Good news both Grandpa and Hayden had a good time, specially on the spider web.

On Friday we went to Snoqualmie Falls, which is about one hour north of us, just east of Seattle. The falls is taller than Niagara Falls, and absolutely amazing. We got some great pictures, plus we took a hike to the lower observance deck. Of course Jon has to go out of his way to take some great pictures. Here is a look. They are standing on a tree stump that is about 10 feet high. Yes they both had to climb to the top to pose.

Today was a little less exciting. I had to work around noon, so we took it easy and decided spending a couple hours in the car with Hayden wasn't something we wanted to do again. Tonight for dinner we had bacon wrapped sirloins, twice-baked potatoes, and green beans. Hayden even wanted to help feed me with my own fork. It is pretty cute and we got it on video, so check out the video bar. Then after dinner the boys finger painted. We got some great pictures, and everyone had a good time.

This is mostly the end results, but they had a blast and Hayden got pretty messy. I will put the rest of the pictures on flickr. In the mean time don't forget to check out the 3 new videos. Hope everyone's weekend is going as well as ours. Wishing everyone was here!

End of the Week

2009-03-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

Well it is the end of the week and I finally found the camera cord. Who would have thought we would have put it in the Wii box, but then again we have an organizer that likes to put things away and who knows where they will end up. Yesterday I found an old sippy in the back of the cupboard, it appeared to have yogurt in it, so I am guessing that the sippy had been put there a few days ago. Again I am not surprised. I have found puzzle pieces in the dishwasher, nuks in the fridge, and books in the cupboards as well.

Since I last blogged, Hayden has started saying a few more words (well that we can make out). Hot is "ha ha" and he does this when his food is too hot while pulling the food out and putting it back on the plate. Also a new work is "caca" or "kaka" and we still have no idea what that means. He started saying it on Sunday and we tried to figure out what it meant and still have no clue. I don't know if he is learning his c's or his k's, or if it is an actual word he is trying to say. This morning he said it when he wanted his nuk from Jon, but who knows if we will ever find out.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Miss you all. P.s. I uploaded pictures to flickr.

New favorite play zones

2009-03-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

The weather in Washington has been a little nicer this past week, and because of the sunshine and 50 degree weather Hayden and I have been going to the park in the afternoon. I have some great pictures, but for some reason the camera cord I have is the wrong one and I will have to hunt down the other cord to post the pictures.

This last weekend Jon and I got a night away and went to the Alderbrook resort and spa. We had a great time! We did a wine tasting package that included a bottle of our choice of wine and a dinner credit. We choose the Riesling. The resort was beautiful right on the water with the mountains in the background.

My mom watched Hayden and they had a blast together. They went to MacDonald's and played in the play area and also spent some time at the park. When we got back they were both exhausted. The only bad thing was Hayden woke up Monday morning with an infection in his eye and a little congested. I took him to the doctor and he is fine, I have been giving him his eye drops (well the best I can considering he won't hold still to save his life) and it has almost cleared up!

Jon is at a conference for the first part of the week, so Hayden and I are managing on our own. We are trying to keep the apartment picked up so when Grandpa gets here next week, it won't be too messy. Hayden is starting to help me put things away (although it usually is not in the right place, but it is the thought that counts). Well, that is all for now we will blog soon!

Dedicated to the man on the mountain taken out by Amanda

2009-02-24T18:53:00.000-08:00

Has it really been 19 days since our last post? Wow, where does the time go. Well...where to start...work has been really crazy...so has Amanda...and Hayden...oh Hayden. The little man has definitely been finding his voice lately. It is amazing how much he is trying to communicate. It all started with him pointing at things and grunting. His vocabulary consists of mama, dada, nanana (banana), buh buh (bye bye), daga (dog), izzy (kitty), num num (any food), nigh nigh (nite nite), blah blah blah and other sounds he decides to make at any given time. The other night he actually told me "nigh nigh-dada". I just said goodnight and walked out. Didn't hit me till I left the room that he made a pseudo-sentence.

He knows that if he reclines the recliner and pulls down on the back, he can get at the cat. Hayden also figured out that he can push his ottoman around to climb up on things. Now we really have to watch out for him crawling up on the recliner and rocking it. Also have to watch out for him jumping from his ottoman to anything near him. Still hasn't tried climbing out of the crib yet though; which is good.

Today for Amanda's birthday we let him have some ice cream cake. Lets just say he did laps around the living room, into the kitchen while shaking his head and saying dadadada..blah blah...etc. I tried to get it on video but as soon as I took the camera out he stopped.

Amanda and I did the skiing thing 2 weeks ago. She told us last year when we tried snowboarding that she would be tearing up the mountain if she was on ski's. So we rented skis and drove to the mountains. We got all dressed up and went to put on our ski's. Two seconds later Amanda was on the ground. OK, figured maybe she was a little rusty, so I helped her get up and a second later...she was on the ground again. Seriously this was without even actually moving anywhere. She forgot to mention that it has been over 10 years since she went skiing. We took it slow and eventually she had enough courage to try a little more challenging hill. Bad idea. Some poor guy standing on the hill was unfortunate enough to get taken out by my beautiful wife. Man I wish I had the camera on her. I was standing towards the top of the hill watching the entire thing happen. I laughed. Hard.

This past weekend we drove down to Portland and checked out some boutiques...bought nothing. Seriously..120 for a guys dress shirt you can see through?

OK, well hopefully life slows down a bit and we have a chance to blog a little more often. If not please forgive us. Hope everyone enjoyed Fat Tuesday!!!

The Ollmann Clan Update

2009-02-05T23:33:00.000-08:00

I am sorry it took so long to update. Even though I have been at my mom's last week, I came back a day early because both Hayden and I missed being away. Hayden is more interesting then ever now. The last few days at my mom's Hayden thought the dog needed to be fed some tuna. If you look at the flickr pictures I uploaded you can see a bunch of tuna cans in the dog kennel. I am not sure why but Hayden thought those belonged there. He also learned how to use the bike tire pump and thought it was great because he could make noise when he pushed the lever down (also see flickr pictures). I also got some great videos of Hayden dancing and doing something new. His new thing is he has to put the spoon back for you or he won't allow you to feed him. It is too cute. He won't feed himself yet, but he is getting closer. If we put something on the spoon he tries to put it in his mouth, but other than that he hasn't yet accomplished the task of feeding himself with a spoon, fingers are just easier.

We can't believe how much Hayden is beginning to communicate. Well using his pointer finger rather than words, but hey at least he can convey a little to what he wants. He still gets frustrated when he can't communicate, but it is getting better. His two new words are "daga" or doggie and "itts" or kitty. I only know this because he only says this when he is pointing at a dog or our cat.

Some big news regarding Hayden is, in the last 4 nights he has slept through 2 of those nights and woke up once in the other 2. When I got back from my mom's house, Jon and I decided that I would stop nursing him before bed, since that was the only nursing left to do away with. Well it seems to be working and thank goodness too, I thought I was going to be a walking zombie all through Hayden's childhood. I should have stop nursing sooner!

Well I know everyone reads this site just to hear about Hayden, but I do have some good news about another family member. Jon passed his test, and is now an official Nursing Home Administrator, well at least when he gets his certificate in 3 to 4 weeks. We are all doing good, and glad to be home. We miss everyone and hope everyone has had a good week! Check out the new videos and pictures!

5 days to go

2009-01-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

Well, Hayden and I are working on night 2 away for Jon. It is hard being away and for Hayden everything is new and big at grandma Melissa's. Today he spent most of the day rearranging the cupboards, playing in the dirt from the plants, and throwing things at the dog (Mr. Tumnus). The dog tolerates him because Hayden gives him food, which is one of Hayden's favorite things to do when he is in his high chair. He throws food on the floor and then watches the dog eat it. I don't know who gets more food Hayden or Tumnus.

I have also found the Wii remotes and TV remotes in the cupboards along with his milk. Today Hayden found raisins in one of the cupboards. He took the lid off and would take a handful and eat it. Then put them back and shut the cupboard door. I couldn't figure out what he was eating until I found the raisins. I am still not sure how many handfuls he got before I found them. He is one smart cookie, when he takes something out of a certain cupboard, he puts it back. It may not be in the same spot but I think he likes the idea of placing things where they should go.

After Hayden got a handful of dirt on the floor and some in his mouth, it was time to vacuum. He knew where the vacuum went after I was done and opened and shut the door for me. It is amazing how much he wants to help. Watching him grow up into a little boy is so wonderful, yet I know he is growing too fast and at night I can't help but watch him sleep knowing someday he will be all grown up and probably be locking Jon and I out of his room.

Well it is time for me to get to bed, but I hope that this brings smiles to everyone reading.

Jon - (We miss you sweetie and will see you soon! Don't worry I gave Hayden lots of kisses for you!)

Week of catch-up

2009-01-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

This week was really nothing special. Amanda and I have both been fighting colds so haven't been up to very much. We checked out a couple athletic clubs for the whole family. The one we like has everything we need, plus some great classes for Hayden. The only problem is that the classes do not come with the membership. Needless to say it is pretty expensive.

On a Hayden note: since he figured out that he can get the cat off of the recliner by reclining it and then pulling the back down he has been terrorizing the cat. Now he chases the cat around and throws random things at him...shoes, plastic balls and even his 3 pound rolling ball. Of course we are telling him "no", but secretly I think it hilarious. The cat gets revenge by swatting at Hayden as he runs by.

Hayden has also started to do this forced laugh thing. He gets this huge cheesy smile, puts his arms out like is flexing his muscles and laughs. We will try to get it on camera soon. He is also starting to try to communicate more. He waves when he wants to leave or go to a different room, he points at things he wants, he gets on his little car and lifts his legs up when he wants you to push him across the room.

There are some other things, but I can't think of them right now. Maybe later.

boy oh boy

2009-01-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

Wow. What a week, that is all I can say.

We did end up evacuating Riverside again this year. We started moving residents out of the facility at 1000 and finished getting everyone out at about 0245 the next day. All 87 residents were taken to other facilities; mine was only able to accommodate 2 since we are so full. On Monday morning we will be sending everyone back. For the second year in a row we moved everyone out, but no water got in the facility.

On a quick work note I got a visit from the chair of the nursing home administrators board on Friday. Now all that stands in the way of my license is the exam, 120 questions of fun. I should be taking the test within the next two weeks.

This weekend we left Hayden with Grandma Melissa and drove to Seattle to meet up with Clint and some of his friends. We went to Pikes Place Market and took a tour of the Seattle underground. I had no idea that there was an old "Seattle" underneath. It was interesting to see, but I think it was a one time only tour.

Hayden has been Hayden lately. He will stick his tongue out at you now every once in a while; and still will kiss anyone that asks for one. He is also starting to push the limits. Things that he knows he should not be doing, he is trying again. You know, the fun stuff. Hitting things on the table, screeching, turing the tv off, playing in the blinds, pulling the cats tail, climbing up the gates, standing on his rocking chair, climbing on the couch, playing with the wii, pulling on the dvd player. Like I said, the fun stuff. Needless to say there have been a lot of "no's", "shhh's" and whispering to him.

Well I had better get the little angel off to bed, he is starting to rub his eyes and tell me "ni-ni". He is even walking towards his bedroom door.

Hope everyone has a great week and for those back in Wisconsin, enjoy the subzero weather and snow!!!!

Flooding Ahead

2009-01-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

Well it is now the time of year for flooding and unfortunately the building Jon use to work at is in the flood plane and he is down helping evacuate the building. Hopefully I-5 won't flood again so my mom can come up and watch Hayden this weekend! Jon and I both need a break from our vocal son.

Hayden has found his voice, and since he can't communicate the way he wants, he screams at us. Plus the teething monster may be visiting him because he chews on his hands constantly. The good news is Hayden said a new word on Monday, banana, or his way of saying it "Na nana."

Another thing Hayden found was his wee willie winkie in the tub last night. Who needs bath toys when there are more interesting things to play with in the tub... hahaha

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope that everyone is recovering OK after last night. We had a nice evening at home.

Little man tried sooooo hard to stay up until midnight last night...but...he only made it to 8:00. Maybe next year. Surprisingly enough Amanda and I did make it past the New Year. We were both thinking that it wouldn't happen. Anyway, Amanda made lobster and steak for dinner and we rented a movie. I think Amanda did not want a repeat of Christmas day (she had one of Uncle Bob's migraine's) so we only had a couple choice beverages. Today we are going to head into the mountains for some fun and maybe even a little mini-golf.

We wish everyone a great 2009 and that all your resolutions come true!!

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-26T09:22:00.000-08:00

Well, first of all, I hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas!! Ours was very nice. On Christmas Eve we rented out the clubhouse and invited over 10 friends. Amanda made a very nice dinner for everyone and we had a great time. We played basketball in the gym, drank some choice beverages and had fun.

Amanda only made one small mistake making cookies. Instead of putting 1/2 cup of coffee into the frosting for cookies, she put 1/2 cup of coffee grounds into it. All of a sudden I hear a frustrated sigh and "this frosting looks disgusting". OK, no more picking on Amanda. All of the food she made was great!

Since I was such a good boy this year, Santa came and was very generous. Hayden received a small rocking chair (we already had to take it away twice because he is standing on it and sitting on the arm) and a tickle-me-elmo. He also received a plethora of toys from everyone...thank you soooo much everyone!! It seems like at times he doesn't know what to play with because toys are everywhere. Amanda is already sporting her Coach purse and wallet and I'll get my present this weekend if the weather gets warmer. UPS has not been able to make deliveries in about four days, so there are a lot of packages that we ordered and have not received yet.

On Christmas we headed to Joe and Sue Ann's house to have dinner, we had a prime rib dinner and it was amazing! Hayden ran around talking up a storm even his "ho ho ho".

The snow is still here, I believe we have close to 2 feet now. Some of the roads still have not been plowed so it remains challenging to get around the city. Last night we had to park at the top of the hill and walk home because it was too slippery. It really is amazing that it has not snowed in 2 days and there is still A LOT of snow on the roads.

That is all for now, I wish we could have seen everyone, but we hope you all had a great holiday!!!

All we want for Christmas...

2008-12-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Well it is almost Christmas Eve, and we couldn't be more ready for Christmas! It has been a crazy last week with all of the snow we have been getting. Since we got a total of approximately 18 to 19 inches, it has caused chaos in the state of Washington. Tonight we went to the grocery store to get items to make dessert for our Christmas party tomorrow night and I was there for a total of 4 hours! Almost two of those hours Jon was stuck in the parking lot in a complete grid lock. I cannot believe that this state doesn't do anything to the streets when it snows. Although last night at 11:00 pm they did plow our complex and Jon was able to drive to work, but hardly any of the other streets were cleared. It was like off-roading!

Anyway, Jon and I do have one wish for Christmas, and that is for a silent night. Hayden has only slept once through the night (December 12), but has yet to sleep more than five hours in a row since his 11 hour sleep through the night event. Needless to say, his sleep pattern is all over the place, I am not sure if this is because I am weaning him or what, but I would like some advice!

Well I hope everyone else gets their wishes this year for Christmas, we love you all, and Merry Christmas!

Winter wonderland in Washington

2008-12-18T14:49:00.002-08:00

Well it is going to be a beautiful white Christmas this year! I would like to say that is a good thing, but unfortunately Jon had to walk to work to day because it is impossible to get down or up our hill we live on and we had planned a Christmas party at our place Christmas Eve and we are only going to get more snow this weekend! In fact it is snowing right now, on top of our already 6 to 6 1/2 inches. Here is a picture outside our dinning room window.

The fun and exciting part about today, was I took Hayden outside to play a little bit in the snow. I got him all bundled up thanks to everything, everyone got him for his birthday. He was wearing the Packer's outfit from Aunt Nanc, his jacket he got from his Auntie Lisa, and his hat from his Great-grandma Clauer. He was wearing two sets of gloves because I didn't want his little fingers to get cold, and because we don't have snow boots for his monstrous feet, I put plastic bags over his socks to keep his feet warm and dry (an old trick from skiing I learned in Colorado). I took pictures but this is my favorite!

I will upload the rest to flickr. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, I know many places are going to be hit with snow, so be safe out there!

1 Year Check Up

2008-12-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well Hayden had his 1 year check up today. He wanted to wear his Elmo slippers to the doctors office and all of the nurses cooed over how cute he was in them. He is 22 pounds and 30 inches tall, which places him in the 49th percentile for weight and 45th percentile for height. He is finally in the middle for both height and weight.

He got 4 shots today, ouchie! He was suppose to get 6, but the doctor likes to break it up, so he got 4 today and will get two more at his 15 month check up. He cried really hard for the last two, it was so sad. To cheer him up we went to Jon's work to give Jon a smile and to cheer Hayden up as well. There is a lady at Jon's work that gives him cookies every time we go in, so I figured that would cheer Hayden up.

We came home about 11:00 and he has been sleeping for almost 3 hours. I guess those shots really do a number on him. As soon as he wakes up we are going shopping before it gets dark. It is suppose to snow again here! Well I hope you like the blog face lift and Merry Christmas!

Yah! We fixed our computer

2008-12-15T15:19:00.000-08:00

I know I said I would keep everyone updated more once school was out, well we had a minor problem with the computer. It crashed again, and we thought we would have to buy a new one. Well last night Jon was messing around with the computer and he fixed it! We are not sure how exactly but who cares it runs like a new computer.

Our apartment is almost decorated. We have the tree up with very few ornaments, our garland on the fireplace mantel, and our stockings hung (not on the fireplace). Decorating has been kind of a challenge. Hayden first pulled the tree down on himself, luckily it is fake and small and had no lights or ornaments on it and he hasn't touched the tree since then. The stockings were hanging first from the mantel off their stocking mounts, until Hayden pulled one down on his head and got a huge knot on his head. So lets just say I had to rethink the stockings. He likes the decorations though and likes putting his beads on the tree to decorate it, which is very cute.

For St. Nicks Hayden got his most prized item yet - Elmo slippers! He had to wear them all around the house. If he doesn't have them on he brings them to you to put on. At first it was funny to see him try and walk in them because he wanted to pick Elmo up as he was walking. If you can only imagine how well that turned out.

Anyway, his birthday was a hit. He had so much fun at Chuck E Cheese, I wish everyone was there to share in the fun. Chucky came out for another birthday party and Hayden wanted to join in their fun. It was too cute he was chasing Chucky around the front of the stage. We found out he loves pizza, being the first time he had it, and he ate 2 pieces! The cake was another story. He had his own cake and we tried to get him to dig in and he did for a little bit and then decided he hated the icing. He would put the cake in his mouth and then pull it out. It was probably too sweet for him! After the 30 minutes it took to clean him up, we gave Hayden cake without the frosting and he ate that! He loved all of his presents although we did save some for him to open on Wednesday his actual birthday.

The weather took a crazy turn giving us snow last night! It is beautiful here, a little cold, although not as cold as Wisconsin, but it is really getting me into the Christmas spirit! With that said I sent out cards Saturday so be on the look out for them! Miss you all!

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

2008-11-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, we have been slacking off on the posts, but it has been extremely busy in our household, and it seems the little time Jon and I have to ourselves we want to do nothing but be couch potatoes. Between Jon writing proposals for work and finishing up his training, and me finishing up school, tutoring, and getting up with an either sick or teething baby has been exhausting.

Hayden is a little handful even though I love him with all of my heart. The little guy does not stop until he is ready to hit the sack and go to bed. He hates the car seat with a passion, so long car rides are out of the question, even though we had to go down to Portland for Thanksgiving. He is starting to be a little nicer to the cat and the kids in class, although anything laying on the ground will get trampled because it is in his way of walking. Hayden also started giving kisses, it is the cutest thing, and they really are not that sloppy.

Like I said on Thanksgiving we went down to Portland to be with my step-dad's side of the family. His oldest son asked us over and we accepted because otherwise we would be just by ourselves and would be eating turkey for months to come. Jon finally got to meet the rest of Gary's kids and we got to witness our first holiday with Hayden and a lot of people in the room. Lets just say the poor kid was so stimulated he did not nap all day long and had a rough night at my moms. He didn't want to sleep there, so at 2:00 am Jon and I decided it was time to leave and went home so Hayden could sleep.

We did get all of our Christmas shopping done, which is one less stress off our backs, but we still have Christmas cards, Hayden's birthday invitations (which reminds me if I don't get them out we are going to celebrate his birthday at Chuck E Cheese on December 13 at 1:00 pm), Hayden's one year pictures and family pictures, and decorating for the holidays. As you can see we are pretty busy, but I promise once school is done on the 9th I promise to update pictures and post more often. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we miss you all!

Late Trick or Treat Blog

2008-11-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

I know I was slacking a little on getting a blog up about trick or treating Friday night. I am going to post pictures and a video too!

It was a lot of fun! The night started out rough when we went to our friends house to go trick or treating with their girls. Hayden was crying in the car and we thought it was going to be a rough night. Turns out he was just hungry and once he got a little food in him we were off trick or treating. The temperature was perfect and it was fogged over which made it the perfect Halloween night. Hayden had his own ride in the wagon, which he loved, and his own little bucket. He was too cute, every time we went to the door he would hold out his bucket and when they put candy in it, he would look in his bucket then look back at the person with a look that said "Is that it?" At one house he got a juice box, which was his favorite treat he had got all night. He played with it for most of the night.

Once we got done trick or treating, the girls laid their candy out to trade the ones they don't like. Bad idea because Hayden wanted their candy. We have a video of him mobbing their candy it is pretty funny. Hayden also had his first own bowl of spaghetti. He was a mess, but he loved it! It was a fun Halloween and defiantly a night to remember!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone! Hayden is now 10 months old and is exploring new and exciting things. Jon already posted his walking performance, but he have a few more videos I will post today as well as a ton of new pictures. Tonight we are going trick-or-treating and Hayden is going to be a Monkey. He will be trick-or-treating with a Banana and a Pirate! Don't worry I will post more pictures this weekend.

I will start with new updates from last week. Hayden started clapping which is exciting because he likes to clap for daddy when he does good playing tennis on the wii. Also any time he is proud of himself he claps for himself it is super cute. Plus we have a video of it! We also went to the pumpkin farm to pick out pumpkins. Hayden wasn't walking yet so he was in the carrier, plus it was too dark to get some good pictures.

Carving pumpkins with Hayden was fun, he loved the guts. They even tasted good to him because he kept diving in, then putting in his mouth, and of course mommy and daddy had to stay on our toys so he didn't sallow a seed or too much pumpkin guts. I have pictures and a video post that will go up today.

Finally yesterday we had our play class, and all of the parents dressed up the little guys. I have pictures of that too. So enjoy the new videos and pictures and have a great Halloween and a good weekend!

Walking

2008-10-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

We got a couple "walks" on camera tonight. Check out the video bar...more to come tomorrow!

Good Week

2008-10-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well it was a good week in the Ollmann household. Hayden is feeling so much better and sleeping very well considering his nasty cold last week. His black eye is hardly noticeable anymore and he is progressing with his walking although only when no one is video taping of paying attention(at least when he thinks we aren't). He has learned to stand on his own without pulling up or getting help. He still won't walk while we are holding his hands, I think he wants to do it all on his own. He is a little independent, which stinks because he only wants his crib and won't fall asleep in my arms anymore. Yes it is kind of sad, I miss the little Hayden that cuddled. He is playing better in his crib which is nice because it gives Jon and I an extra hour or so in the morning to have to ourselves.

Yesterday, we had our normal class together on Thursday (we missed last Thursday because of his cold). I found out a lot of moms and their kids missed last Thursday as well. I as learned that Hayden is biting because he is teething which is perfectly normal for him to bite my shoulder, fingers, toes, and anything else he can get his mouth on. His ears are still bothering him from the pressure of being congested so he has been sucking on his nuk a lot lately, and yesterday at the class a little boy stole it from him. Well, I hate to say my kid is going to be a bully, but Hayden bit his nose. Yes the kid cried and I thought the mom was going to hate us, but she just laughed and said he will think twice about taking it next time.

Sorry we have been so lax on the pictures. I am putting some new ones up on fickr once I am done, also I will post a new video of Hayden waving. Hope everyone had a good week and hope the weekend treats you good. Bye for now, I will try and post every Friday!

Sick

2008-10-12T20:36:00.001-07:00

First of all, I have to say I did not know so much snot could come out of a baby. So, our little man got his first cold this weekend. He was very congested and had a rough couple of nights, but still managed to smile most of the time. It seems like Hayden is starting to feel a little bit better anyway. Needless to say we didn't do very much this weekend. Amanda and I got away on Saturday since Grandma Melissa came to visit. We headed about an hour and a half north through the Cascade Mountains to Port Townsend, WA. It was a quaint little town with a historical motif. We ate lunch at a restaurant that was built in 1885, it was surprisingly good. After we spend a couple hours wandering around the town we took a ferry to Seattle and finished the day in Auburn.

Like I said, besides getting away on Saturday it was a pretty quiet week. Oh we did find out that Grandma Ollmann is going to fly out in November for 4 days, so Hayden was pretty excited about that. I'm sure she will get a big wet kiss from him. (He is getting good at those.) Sometimes he gets a little confused and bites, so just look out. Well, hope everyone has a great week and is starting to get ready for Halloween!!

(I also posted a video of Hayden blowing raspberries) Enjoy!!

Baby Steps

2008-10-05T17:09:00.001-07:00

Caught a couple steps tonight while we were talking to grandma and grandpa...check out the video bar to see it.

Taking Steps

2008-10-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a few weeks since our last post. For that we apologize, the only time we get to ourselves now days is during nap time and in the evening after my class is over at 8:00. Jon is getting close to finishing his AIT, only one more month of hours the comes the board tests. I have three classes lined up this semester, one is another baby/parent class that I am taking again with Hayden.

In the class are 14 babies, most of them are around Hayden's age, so it is good he has a few playmates. There are actually more boys in this class then the last. I have only been to the class once, we have it today at 12:30, but it was fun to watch all of the babies crawling around playing with each other.

I do have some bad news, Hayden is growing up too fast. He has been taking a few steps, the max has been two, but still I think it is too soon. I miss my little cuddle buddy. The nights have been getting better, but ever so often he wakes up at 2:00 am and won't got back down until 3:30 or so. Yes this happened last night, and I am not sure if it is because he is getting a few more teeth, or why it only happens every 5 days.

Anyway, things are good here. Still trying to keep Hayden out of things, he is a handful when he wants to be. He sure knows how to test his boundaries. You should see the little smirk he gets when he knows he is into something he shouldn't be. It is vary similar to Jon's "I didn't do it" or "I don't know what you are talking about" look. You all know what I mean. Well, we miss you all and hopefully we can make it back to Wisconsin before the year is up.

First babyless weekend

2008-09-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our first without Hayden. We dropped him off at Grandma Melissa's and headed to a suite right on the Pacific ocean in Lincoln City, OR. Despite initially being worried and sad, it went good. Hayden behaved himself with Grandma and even slept better than he does at home.

Us, on the other hand, had a much needed 2 days of relaxation. Friday night we got into town at about 6; headed for some dinner checked out an car show and had some drinks on our patio listening to the waves. We ended up sleeping on the pull out couch with the patio door open so we could hear the waves all night. Saturday morning we woke up at 6. I know I thought we would sleep in, but no. So we headed to breakfast and then to Newport Beach. We were walking down the historic Bay port and decided that we wanted to go whale watching. While we were waiting to head out, we found a Sea Lion hang out and watched them for a while.

OK, back to the whale watching, Amanda and I have both wanted to go for a while, just never have. Boy, am I glad we did. About 15 minutes into the hour and a half trip we spotted a gray whale. Really all you an see is the water shoot up from their blow holes, and their bodies as they swim. We got quite the treat when the whale decided to breach (jump out of the water). I guess it does not happen very often with gray whales and it was amazing to see. I even got a picture!! We named the whale Jerry, and I decided I should work for National Geographic as a photographer.

Well that was about all the excitement of the weekend. It was great to see Hayden again when we got home, but decided maybe we need to take a weekend twice a year just to get away. Hope everyone had a great weekend as well, and feel free to come visit!!

Baby to Boy in a matter of weeks

2008-09-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how amazing it is to watch Hayden grow. Jon and I have decided we no longer have a baby that likes to be held, cuddled, and kissed; rather we have a little boy that loves to play, crawl, and get into as much trouble as possible.

Staying at home with Hayden has been a challenge these last few weeks. The other day while cleaning up a bit I swore Hayden was playing with the cat in the tunnel (which can keep him distracted for hours), and the next thing I knew he was gone. What do you know he found the bathroom and the toilet. Lets just say we are going to keep the bathroom door closed from now on. Yesterday, I was making Jon dinner before he came home and Hayden was helping by playing with the gobs of Tupperware all over the floor. The next thing I knew Hayden was chewing on something. He had grabbed a hand full of cat food and stuffed it in his mouth without me noticing. I got the majority of it out, but I think he got a few pieces down.

He is starting to stand by himself for longer than 30 seconds now, and is even attempting steps. I am not encouraging this, but I guess he is ready to grow up, even though Jon and I aren't ready. He has learned how to give "high-fives" and can even chase the cat around at a pretty good pace. The cat is handling it pretty well, but he sure runs when Hayden spots him anywhere.

But from day to day when I look at him I smile to myself and think of how lucky I am to be blessed with such a wonderful boy. He is becoming a handful with shorter naps, wondering crawling adventures, and sleepless nights, but he is truly a blessing. It makes me wondering how long it will take until he is just like his father. Which by the way does everything Jon does, he is teaching him some pretty sneaky stuff. So watch out Grandma and Grandpa, next time you see Hayden he may just remind you of your own son.

Home at Last

2008-08-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a busy past couple weeks. I have been in Colorado and I am sorry for taking the camera, but I didn't want to miss anything if Hayden were to do something new.

My grandma is doing great, she is at home and doing the best she can with what she has got. Hayden got to meet some new people. All of my cousins and aunts, plus his great grandparents, and great uncles. He loved Ethan and Owen my cousins on my Aunt Shelly's side. He couldn't resist playing with Ethan's hat.

Also he found his shadow and isn't quite sure what to do with it. He loves my grandma's piano and I have a video of him playing it. I don't know where he learned but he would also turn the pages of the music and then continue playing. I only got him playing on video, but I do have a few pictures of him turning the music.

Finally Hayden met a new friend at the airport, he would crawl and crawl to him it was really cute, they even hugged. I almost forgot to mention. Hayden is crawling at full force, he follows me everywhere, which is good because when I leave the room he is starting to get upset. So now he can follow me around the apartment.

As you can see from the videos and pictures, Hayden is a good size boy. In fact we bought him a new car seat Saturday when I got home because he had out grew his infant car seat. He is growing up too fast.

Also I found the most amazing scrapbook store to ever lay eyes on. This store is in Ft. Collins, Colorado and it is call the Treasure Box! It is huge I only made it though about half in 2 hours. Lets just say it is about 5 times bigger than the one up North when we ate breakfast. We might all have to take a trip to visit it some time hahaha.

Well enjoy the pictures and videos, love you all!

No pictures

2008-08-16T10:01:00.001-07:00

Well I planned on updating some pictures today....but Amanda took the camera to Colorado. Sorry!

Leaving daddy behind

2008-08-14T21:36:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Amanda and Hayden flew to Colorado for 10 days to visit 2 more of his great-grandparents. So that means in the last month he has been to Racine, WI; Rhinelander, WI; Olympia, WA; Sacramento, CA; and now in Colorado he will go to Denver, Greeley and Fort Collins. If babies could get frequent flier miles he would be set!!

I am getting closer to finishing my AIT, the end of October cannot come soon enough!! That means hopefully by the end of the year I will be assigned a facility to run, and we will have an answer to the famous "where are we going to live for the next couple years" question. Amanda finished her internship and loved it so much she is probably going to to it again this fall. She made a scrapbook for Brooklynn's first birthday and it turned out amazing!! Now she is on to her next project and took it with her to Colorado; I'd imagine by the time they get back it will be done.

Before Amanda and Hayden left I was looking at him in his crib...he is getting so big!! I think he has to be over 24" long; but is finally starting to lean out. The baby fat is leaving him. (You can ALMOST see his wrists!!) When I get some time this week I will post some pictures while they are gone. That's all for now...hope everything is going well with everyone!!

Home sweet home

2008-08-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well we have been home for almost a week. I never thought an apartment could feel like home, but now since Hayden has been sleeping better my guess is he is glad to have his own crib back. Sunday and Monday nights he slept great only waking up once and then twice Monday night. I thought it was going to continue, but unfortunately I think teeth are starting to make there way in again. He has be restless and naps have been an issue these last two days. Last night we woke up crying every couple of hours, poor little guy I think he still has a while before those teeth pop through.

Other then teething, Hayden has made vast improvement standing. That is all he wants to do now is stand. He can crawl regular now, but if there is anyway he can get to his feet he would rather walk. He has been walking along the couch going from his walker to the couch, back to his walker to the chair. It is amazing to see him let go and then grab back on when he knows he isn't balanced. He has crashed a few times (one I got on film) but he is a trooper no tears.

Just the other day he started doing this pity cry when we put him down for naps or to go to bed. He now stands up in his crib where he has plain view of the door and wales until someone opens the door and then is all smiles from ear to ear. I got that on film too, not so much the crying, but when I put him down for his nap all I heard from the room was DADADDA DADA DAADDA, really loud too, it was as if he was calling for someone to come get him. It was pretty funny because I found him standing in his crib just waiting like he has been. Now of course it is the screams because if we go in their too often he gets the wrong idea. Today it only took 30 minutes for him to go down. He took a hour nap earlier in the car, I went down to see Jon and on the way home Hayden passed right out. I didn't want to wake him up so I drove around for a while, of course when I took him out of the car he was wide awake ready to go again. It seems now that he is moving he doesn't think he needs a nap because playing is more fun.

Next week Hayden and I are taking off to go to Colorado. My grandma had a triple bypass today, she is in recovery and the surgery took two hours less than expected. She is a trooper that is for sure, so my mom and I are going to be heading there for 10 days to help out. I don't know what I will do without Jon. It will be the longest we have spend apart sense Europe over a year ago. Anyway, my class is almost over for the summer, so I will have time to update more often. I have pictures to upload and will probably get time tomorrow to do so, just wanted to update everyone today. Miss you all! To bad vacation couldn't last forever!

Time for a little R&R

2008-07-25T15:57:00.001-07:00

Well it is finally time...time to get out of the office and head to the great northwoods...Wisconsin that is. We leave tomorrow to fly back to Wisconsin for 8 whole days of nothing. Thats right, absolutely nothing. Nothing but fishing, water sports, relaxing and of course camp fires.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Updating Pictures and Videos

2008-07-22T15:56:00.000-07:00

Ahh... Hayden has finally gone down for a nap and I am able to upload pictures and blog. I was told that was my job today and in all honesty we haven't uploaded in about a month. Sorry about that, it has been one crazy month, so glad vacation is only 3 days away. Well we are almost packed (have everything all out on the dinning table), and still think we are forgetting something. Don't worry we will not forget Hayden.

Hayden is doing very well this week with sleeping. Last night he woke up at 11 hungry as can be. Don't know how he eats as much as he does for dinner and then wakes up 3 hours later hungry. I thought it was going to be a long night, but he didn't wake up until 6:00 what a relief. Lately he has been very independent, playing on his own and rolling and scooting everywhere. He knows what he wants and he goes for it. I think he is also learning how to get what he wants when he can't get it. It seems these past few days when he wants to go down for a nap he has been doing this little coughing thing. Also if he sees someone eating he thinks he needs to eat something too.

Well that is all for now and we probably won't blog until we get back from vacation. All recent pictures have been uploaded and two new videos should appear in the video bar by tonight. Miss everyone!

6 Days

2008-07-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well it is almost that time...Rhinelander. I can not even begin to tell you how excited we all are to head back to Wisconsin.

Same ol' same ol' this past week. I went to Shelton, Wa to help out the interim administrator transition for the majority of the week and spent a day in Vancouver for a meeting. Interesting side note...my petition to the state of Washington got approved and I can count more hours towards my AIT. Now it looks like I will complete it at the end of October instead of the end of December and should hopefully get my license and own facility by the end of the year.

Amanda is doing great in her internship and her instructor invited her back next semester to do the same thing. She is getting some great experience and really seems to be enjoying it.

Hayden has been doing great! That second bottom tooth did poke through so he is much happier. We also discovered that when he shakes his head "no", it is a game for him. If you shake your head back at him he laughs and does it again. Tonight I was waving my foot at him and he was shaking his head back at it. Sometimes I wonder if he fell one too many times on his head.

He is also starting to move a lot more and can pretty much get where ever he wants to. Hasn't started crawling yet though, but is getting close.

That's all for now, have a great week everyone!!!

Doctor's appointment

2008-07-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well we had our check up with the doctor today. Hayden's head circumference is 17 inches, 2 inches larger than last time and he is in the 50th percentile for head circumference. His height is 27 3/4 inches which is 2 1/4 inches taller than last time and he is in the 50th to 60th percentile for height. He weighs 19 lbs and 6.5 ounces, which is almost 3 pounds more than last time and he is only in the 60th percentile. I was shocked to know that he wasn't in the 90th to 98th percentiles any more and was informed that he has more lean then most babies (most babies are formula fed these days) because he is so strong and is developed as much as a normal 9 month old baby. Watch out Sadie here Hayden comes.

Some of the questions I asked the doctor were about Hayden eating too much or not enough. He told me that babies know when they are too full and will stop or throw up the food that is making their tummies sick. Well apparently Hayden isn't getting enough food and that is why he won't sleep through the night. So the 1 1/2 containers of babies food, oatmeal, 5 cheese raviolis, and cheerios just aren't cutting it. I know that sounds like a lot for a baby doesn't it? Anyway the doctor informed me that I need to start feeding him more protein and fatty foods at night which will help with the sleeping. Which covered the next question I was going to ask. When should he start sleeping through the night? Another question was about the airplane and giving him something to calm him down since he is so active. He gave me a lot of good tips. I just hope they work, otherwise Jon and I are going to have a long flight before vacation.

All the new things

2008-07-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

For some reason it is much easier to post on Fridays during Hayden's nap, but his naps haven't been lasting very long due to teething and the painting going on outside his window last week. Plus my mom was here at the beginning of last week and she wore him out and threw off his sleeping schedule a little bit! I don't think he sleeps because he is too interested in what Grandma Melissa will do next.

My class is going great. I am learning a lot about teaching adults and the struggles they have with learning. It has been interesting, but hopefully I will walk away with some knowledge to put towards my future students. Last week Jon was running the building all by himself and he was able to get the building back on budget. This week he is in Shelton helping that building. Sometimes I think the company takes advantage of how hard working and knowledgeable he is in the health care profession.

A lot has been going on with Hayden these past few weeks. We are hoping his bottom second tooth will pop threw soon. He has been going through a growth spurt slash teething all at the same time and you can tell he is miserable. You can tell he wants to eat, but also that it is bothering him to eat. Sometimes we can't believe how much he polishes off when eating baby food, then there are other times all he wants to do is nurse and not eat the baby food. Today Tuesday July 15, he has a doctors appointment and Jon and I have discussed questions to ask so we won't feel so helpless.

Also in the last few weeks Hayden has learned NO NO, well he has been shaking his head no no. We have it on video, but I haven't go it uploaded yet. He can also pull himself up to standing. We figured that out on day when we sat him up in his crib to get ready for the baby and the next thing we know he had pulled himself up and was hanging over the railing. Scared us half to death, so we moved the crib down where he can't do that anymore. Another big step happened last night Monday July 14, Hayden started to feed himself. Well he can only grab Cheerios, because they don't squish between his fingers, and they only made it in maybe 25% of the time but at least he is getting the hang of it. We also got that on video but on the camcorder and I have yet to figure out how to download from the camcorder, so it may not make it to the blog. We will catch him at it again though so have no fear.

Well Jon and I are very excited to start our vacation. With little to no sleep we are both exhausted and can't wait to relax. Can't wait to see everyone and show off our big boy. Oh yes, he is getting bigger and not much longer until he is crawling, he almost has it down. Miss you all and can't wait to see you!

Already July?

2008-07-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already July! We have been having gorgeous weather here in Washington. Saturday we went to Ocean Shores to see the sandcastles. There was also a wood carving exibit too which was really cool. It was almost more interesting to see the wood carvings then the sandcastles. There were three master sandcastles groups, a few intermediate, a couple novice, and a lot of beginners. It would have been more interesting if there were a ton of masters, because there sandcastles were amazing. This one group had a huge elephant on top of a throne it was pretty cool. Sunday we stayed inside, because it was just too hot for our little man. The best part about Sunday was Hayden only woke up once that night. He woke up at 3:30 and then not until morning.

I thought he was going to start sleeping through the night. Little did I know that teething was going to hit us all week. Starting Monday night Hayden started crying a lot and not eating as much as he usually does. We just thought he was tired, so we put him to bed early and he woke up a couple hours later with a fever. He gave him some motrin and it knock the fever out, but poor Hayden was up a lot that night. This has been his routen for the whole week. Waking up 5 to 6 times a night, wanting to be held and nursed. I think he thinks I can take the pain away. I wish I could, he was been crying a lot most of the week and it is just not like him. Jon and I both want our happy Hayden back. It is not that he isn't happy, you can just tell he is miserable. They say this only last until the teeth break through. I can't wait!

Not much else has happened this week. We have been trying to keep Hayden enterntained to keep his mind off his teeth, which requires around the clock entertainment if he isn't sleeping. We did go to the driving range this week so Jon could teach me how to golf. My very first swing I missed the ball and Hayden laughed at me. He actually laughed because he was quiet and good for everything else but me missing the ball. It was pretty funny, he had Jon and I laughing pretty hard as well. Hayden has been saying DADA a lot lately. I have been trying to teach him MAMA, but whenever I say MAMA he just says DADA.

This 4th of July weekend isn't going to be too exciting. Tomorrow Jon is judging the floats in our town 4th of July parade. So Hayden and I plan on going down and watching it. Other than that we are afraid we are going to miss the fireworks due to little man's teething, but there are always other years. Jon has to work Saturday and Sunday, and my mom is coming on Sunday to babysit Hayden for the week while I am doing my intrenship, because Jon's boss, wife (our babysitter), and kids are on vacation.

Well I hope I didn't bore too many people. We miss you all and can't wait for vacation, 3 more weeks!

Hayden, who is your favorite???

2008-06-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Little bit of babbling for your enjoyment!! In this clip, Hayden tells us who his favorite person is...

Scrapbooking

2008-06-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jon and I pondered a great idea. Making custom scrapbooks for people, since I have become completely obsessed with scraping. So I am going to try it out and see if this is what I want to do in my spare time. So if anyone knows of people that would like a custom scrapbook made send them my way. Also I am doing a few scrapbooks for people just to get my name out. We researched it online and there are not a whole lot of people that do custom scrapbooks and if they do they charge outrageous amounts. Right now Jon and I are thinking of a name so we can get a web page going and business cards, if anyone has any ideas let us know. So far we have Captured Memories, Memories Transformed, and Memories in the Making.

Now to move on to the important subject Hayden. Jon and I think he is teething again. He woke up screaming last night which was unusual for him. We figured it might be his teeth because he has been fussy lately and has had a lot of poopy diapers (which usually happens when a tooth is about to come in). Today he went to the sitters because I had my first day at my internship. It was fun, I am working with adults ranging from 20 to about 65 working towards their GED or just taking basic adult education due to their job demand. I will be working with some of the people in small groups one day a week to help them with math. I get to plan my own lessons and use my own props I am very excited! However, that excitement can only go so far. Jon left this morning for Portland for the whole week. I am a little sad and when Hayden goes to bed early a little lonely. We are hoping he doesn't have to do this a lot. So if any one is bored and would like to chat I am open for anything. Other than that I am just scraping!

Did you hear about that new pirate movie? I heard it was rated ARRRRR!!!!

2008-06-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

Well another busy weekend...Friday night after work I went golfing with my boss at his country club. It was an amazing course, but we only had time to play 9 holes. Afterwards we headed back to his house for some cocktails, where Amanda and Hayden were already. It was a blast.

Saturday morning we were excited to go to the beach because we thought there was a sand castle building contest...turns out that is next weekend; glad I can read a calendar!! :)

Instead we went to Westport, they have a little pirate festival every year so we decided to check it out. It was actually kind of neat; saw a seal swim 2 feet from where we were on the pier; two huge pirate ships...and A LOT of people dressed as pirates. To be honest that was kind of weird...especially since they all acted in character...well at least I think they were just acting...hopefully. We got home pretty late, rented the "Bucket List" (which was really good, but made Amanda cry) and headed to bed.

Tomorrow I head back to Portland for the week, by myself this time. Not really looking forward to that, I'm going to miss them both since Amanda has her internship starting this week.

Next weekend we are going to head to the beach for the sandcastle contest. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Busy week

2008-06-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Since Father's Day we all have been pretty busy. We were in Portland for half the week. Hayden and I hung out at the hotel most of the time. Monday my mom came by and we went shopping. I got a bathing suit that actually fits so I won't feel left out during vacation. We bought the new carrier which Jon already posted on and Hayden got to ride in a very large firetruck stroller at the mall. Tuesday Hayden spent most of the day sleeping while I worked on my scrapbooks. He probably slept for a good 5 and 1/2 hours during the day. Tuesday night we went to Multnomah Falls to hike and try out the new carrier. It was beautiful. We got some great pictures on our mile hike up the falls. Wednesday we had to check out of the hotel so Hayden and I went shopping while Jon was at work. I strapped him into the carrier and we went to about 20 different stores (Best Buy and Ikea were the top priorities though), but we refrained from buying anything. Probably because I didn't want to carry anything else while I had Hayden on my back.

Finally back at home we can relax. It was a little difficult in the hotel sleeping wise because Hayden got too cold with the air on. We ended up moving his play yard over by the door, which worked - we should have done that the first night. Thursday was Jon's boss's anniversary so we babysat for them. Lizzy and Morgan love Hayden so we had a good time. First we started off at the swimming pool. Hayden loves the water! We put him in his little floater and he just kicked and kicked. But we were only in for about 15 minutes, his diaper completely filled up and he hated it. So needless to say I had a naked little boy on my hands that I was hoping wasn't going to pee on me through the towels I had him wrapped in (Lets just say I bought little swimmers today so we could go to the pool more before vacation). Later that night we went to Chuck E Cheese. We had a good time and were there for about 3 hours. Just in time to get home and get Mr. Crabby Hayden to bed. Good news is he slept very well. Waking up twice and then sleeping until 8:30 this morning!

I almost forgot. Hayden weighs 19.4 lbs now! Isn't that crazy, he is almost too big for his car seat. It is amazing how fast he has grown. Also with him turning 6 months this week today I took his 6 month pictures. They are adorable and I will upload them and all of our other pictures we took this week today. As soon as I find the camera cord. Well we miss everyone and can't wait - 1 month to go!

Fathers Day

2008-06-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, hope you all had a great fathers day!! Mine was great; went to church in the morning, grilled some burgers for lunch and then went to the Portland Zoo with Amanda, Hayden and Grandma Melissa. It was a beautiful zoo, but kind of disappointing in the fact that there were a lot of exhibits closed. Oh well, it was 75 and sunny and felt great to just be outside. Amanda even got a little sunburn.

Since we are in Oregon till Wednesday, we decided to take advantage of no sales tax and upgrade Hayden's carrier. Up until now we had been using a Jeep infant carrier where he sits in the sling in front of us. But because he is such a porky little guy, our backs are taking the brunt of his chubbiness and have been wearing down quickly. We figured is time to go with a carrier where we can carry him like a backpack. Plus, we are planning on doing a good amount of hiking with him in the coming years we wanted one that would last more than 6 months. This one holds up to 50 pounds so hopefully that will at least get us 2 years... hopefully.

We got the Kelty FC 3.0 because it has a shade, plenty of storage, and is REALLY comfortable to wear. It is like he weighs 6 pounds again when you are carrying him. It's amazing!! (See picture above)....it even has a little kick stand for when we want to put him down on the ground. Seems like it will work perfect for what we need.

Well, that is all for now. Hope everyone had a great fathers day. Also hope that everyone in Wisconsin is staying dry and didn't have too much water in their basements. Love you all and have a great week!!

Back to normal

2008-06-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well everything is finally back to normal with Hayden. He was going through a growth spurt. Last night Jon and I finally got some sleep. Hayden only woke up twice 12:30 and 4 then not until we got up. Finally we actually got some sleep. He is now eating less too, only going through 2 containers of food instead of 3.

I weighed him too thinking that he was a little heavier. Anyone want to guess? Well his weight is 18.5 pounds. Yup he went from 17.2 pounds last week to eighteen and a half. Goodness! He tends to surprise me each day.

Well this weekend we are heading to my moms. Saturday I am doing make-over stuff with my mom and sister. Not a clue what Jon and Hayden will be doing at that time. Then Saturday night Jon and I are going to go out for Father's Day to a movie or dinner, but we haven't decided yet. My sister really wants to watch the baby. But she may have to fight my mom for that privilege.

This coming week we will be in Portland most of the week. Jon's company wants him to train a new referral manager. Go figure he isn't even a regional in sales and marketing and yet they want him to train this new person. I think the company thinks pretty highly of him. I just can't wait until we know where we will be at with this company so we can finally settle down.

Anyway, if we don't get a chance on Father's Day to wish everyone a Happy Father's Day - Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there. Miss everyone and vacation is only a month and two weeks away!

Another Growth Spurt?

2008-06-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

Jon and I are so confused right now. We are not sure how much to feed Hayden anymore. I am afraid I will over feed him and give him a belly ache, but when it comes down to it I want my sleep more. We have been feeding Hayden 3 times a day. A total of 2 and a half tubs of solids. Morning is usually the sweets (fruit) mixed with oatmeal or rice cereal, then we do a little of both fruit and veggies for lunch and then usually veggies at dinner. Sometimes we mix up the sequence first giving veggies in morning and doing fruit and oatmeal at night. I thought this would be enough food. Last night I didn't want to feed him too much so I stop feeding him after a full container plus a little extra. He still woke up ever 2 hours to breastfeed last night. I don't know what to do. We are not sure if he is going through a growth spurt or teething. Needless to say both Jon and I are a little tired today. I could really use some wise input or tricks of the trade.

Don't Worry We are Still Alive

2008-06-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a couple of weeks since we have last blogged. Well, lets just say we all have been super busy. After coming home from Wisconsin it has been a non-stop week. I have been extremely busy with school (my last final is tonight) and interview for an internship this summer (which I got). The internship is helping adults and kids in the head-start program get their GED. I get class credit which transfers to any Washington college and the work experience. I am very excited to see how it works out. I will teach Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to 12, which are great hours and I am not away from Hayden that long. Jon has been doing his usual working like crazy to finish his training. He is a third of the way done, and he just looked at the Wisconsin requirements after of course passing the board tests. He only has to have a year experience which is much better than 2 years.

Hayden well he has not been his normal self. It took him a good week to get back in the swing of things. Since he wasn't use to taking a nap in his swing Jon and I have been trying the crib for naps. It works only problem is they are cut short because Hayden rolls on his tummy head first into the mattress and wakes himself up. He has been doing that at night as well, which sometimes is a little annoying because I don't get much sleep then, but lately it has been getting better. He has been eating a lot more solids. If he doesn't get enough to eat he is crabby too. I think his teeth are bothering him as well, because lately his moods aren't the greatest. Now that I think about it, it could be an accumulation of everything going on these past weeks.

We are all ready for summer, the nice weather, longer daylight, and of course vacation! Jon and I did some shopping Saturday for ourselves for summer clothes, wait we did shop for Hayden too (it is hard not to get him some cute outfits when we find such great deals). Jon got some more "daddy" t-shirts to wear during the summer, I got some nicer clothes that I can wear for my internship, and Hayden, well he got two outfits a a 3 piece nice outfit we will use for pictures and special occasions, and then just a cute short outfit.

Sorry we haven't updated the pictures lately either. I will do that later this afternoon during Hayden's second nap. I have to study for my final tonight. Other than being busy we are all doing fine, but we are getting a little too excited to be up north in July. We all can't wait to relax, and get Hayden in the water!

Wow has the week flown by

2008-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

What can I say. It's Friday and I couldn't be more excited, minus the fact I have to work all weekend and Jon is working Monday. But there is not much we can do about that.

First of all I want to say welcome home to our family. Jon and I have missed you all very much, talking everyday and sharing Hayden's random outbursts with you all. It was hard going without a chat every once in a while. I know we all can't wait for July.

Second, Hayden is a dream. He has been sleeping a lot better, even when he does wake himself up, he plays for a little bit in his crib and sometimes goes back to sleep. The first time it happened this week, I was in heaven. I never thought sleep could feel so good when there has been lack of lately. He still gets up twice a night, but that is usually at 12 and 4, then he usually sleeps until Jon is about to leave for work. It is nice to sleep in, but unfortunately Hayden's naps are starting to disappear and that stinks because that is when I get my school work done.

Third, Hayden can roll over now back to front and front to back. Now he won't do it in front of you but when I leave the room for a second and come back he is either on his stomach or back, different from how I left him. Jon tried to get him to do it for him the other night. It was unsuccessful. I guess we are just going to have to hide the video camera to catch it.

Fourth, I uploaded the video of Hayden playing in the sand. I hope you all enjoy. Miss and love you all!
Amanda, Jon, and Hayden

Adventures in Seaside

2008-05-18T09:47:00.001-07:00

To start, we have a triad of birthdays. So....happy birthday Grandpa Strickland, Grandpa Ollmann and Auntie Hailee (1 day early)!!!!!! We hope that you all enjoy your days!!

OK so it has been another busy week/weekend. On Thursday night after Amanda's class we headed down to Vancouver. I did some training at another facility on Friday so the company put us up in a hotel for the night so I could be there nice and early. As soon as work was done we headed down to Newberg to visit Grandma Melissa and had a nice relaxing evening.

Saturday morning we headed out early with the intention of going to the Portland Zoo. When we got there there were about 1000 people waiting in line for opening and it was 80+ degrees, so we decided it was not the best of ideas to go. Instead we headed out west to the ocean again.

We ended up at Seaside, the city we got married in. It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze off the ocean. The water was still a bit chilly; Amanda lasted about 2 seconds in it up to her ankles before she had to get out. We spent some time playing in the sand with Hayden, there are some pictures on Flickr and we have a video of him playing with the sand by himself. We decided we will probably need to get a sandbox for him shortly since he liked it sooo much. When we buried him he giggled so much, but when Amanda took him into the bathroom to clean him off....lets just say he didn't like it too much. It was another great day at the beach and we got some sun so it was very nice. Plus we bought some tear-free spray suntan lotion for Hayden which made getting him ready 10 times easier. Grandma Cheryl - It was SPF 50 so you could use it too!!!

Well that is about all for today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!!!!

Jon, Amanda and Hayden

P.S. Aunt Pat when you read this if you could give me a call I would greatly appreciate it!!! Thanks!!

A visit to the doctor's office

2008-05-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Even though Hayden will be 5 months on Saturday, yesterday was his 4 month check-up. Which means shots for the poor guy. With Jon's new schedule he cannot come with me, so I was all alone and worried i wouldn't be able to handle it.

Good news is we have a very healthy and extremely strong boy. Hayden weights 17 lbs, is 25.5 inches long, and has a head circumference of 15.5 inches. He is of course in the 98th percentile for weight and height.

While we were waiting on the nurse to come in and give him his shots he did his circle thing on the doctors examination table. Tearing the paper on it to shreds. Oh he loved that. It took all I could do to keep him from eating it.

Now comes the most dreadful part, the shots. Hayden did great, didn't cry or anything. On the last shot, the one that will cause the fever, irritation, and pain he let out a little noise as the needle was coming out. But there were no cries on the way home.

It wasn't until the band aid came off did he cry, unfortunately Jon had to deal with that all on his own since I was in class. I feel horrible, I know that is the hardest part on me to see our baby cry. He handled it pretty good, he was smiling when I got home.

Well Jon's car was having problems again and because of it being in the shop we are down in Vancouver, Washington for the day until Jon is done with his training. Good news is I decided I am going to have a little fun with Hayden and we are going to IKEA and Best Buy and do a pretend shop for what we want in our future house. It must be a woman thing, because I am extremely excited and Jon just looked at me like I am crazy.

Tomorrow we may be going to the Portland Zoo. We will take lots of pictures. Miss you all!

New things going on in the Ollmann House

2008-05-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

A few new things are happening with Hayden. They have been progressing over these last few weeks. He can now sit up by himself, well until he gets distracted and kicks himself back or when he goes for a toy it is head first into the ground. He also started holding the bottle by himself. When Jon feeds him at night he will push him away and want to feed himself. Another thing he loves to do is do a circle when he is on the floor with his toys. Once on his back he tries to sit up, but since he can't make it up all the way he ends up on his side holding his ankles. By this time he straightens himself out, while doing so he scooted a little bit in a circle. He did this while I was doing dishes the other day. I had him on the floor and when I was done I came back into the living room and found him 180 degrees different from where I left him. My teacher in the parent infant class told me he is starting to gain his mobility. She also told me he is going to be a jumper (when starting to walk, throwing himself from one object to another to stabilize him while walking). In other words I think he will be hitting his head on a lot of things. Another thing that is really nice that Hayden started doing this weekend was entertaining himself in his crib, swing, highchair, and everywhere we put him. Which is nice because in the morning Jon and I can catch a few more minutes of sleep. He has started to grab at his mobile in both his crib and swing. He only cries now when he is in need of something, which hasn't been the case lately. We can usually tell his signs of hunger and sleepiness before it gets to that point. It has been fun watching him grow and progress. He is such a happy baby, Jon and I really couldn't ask for more. This weekend is suppose to be super nice and we are all excited to take Hayden out again in the stroller for a walk or maybe to a festival. We weren't sure if he would like his stroller, but a couple of weeks ago we tried it out and he loved it. Well he didn't fuss in it, until he was in the sun and we couldn't shade him from the bright light. We ended up carrying him for that stretch of the walk. Other than that he could look out and see everything, without putting strain on Jon and I since he is getting heavier. The more weight he puts on the harder it is to carry him unless he is in the jeep carrier. Well I hope everyone has had a good week. Thanks Aunt Pat for the package. We got them this weekend. A thank you note is in the mail. Sorry we haven't updated the pictures lately, but we haven't really taken many. We forgot the camera on Mother's Day and have been super busy during the week. These pictures are the most recent. Miss you all and hope to see everyone soon.

2 Posts in 12 hours...huh?!?!?!?

2008-05-12T07:42:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to share this with everyone...we heard it yesterday in church and found it perfect for my mom and dad!!

Legacy of an Adopted Child
Author Unknown

Once there were two women,
Who never knew each other.
One you do not remember,
The other you called mother.

One gave you a nationality,
The other gave you a name.
One gave you the seed of talent,
The other gave you aim.

Two different lives shaped,
To make yours one.
One became your guiding star,
The other became your sun.

One gave you emotions,
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile,
The other dried your tears.

The first gave you life and,
The second taught to live it.
The first gave you a need for love,
And the second was there to give it.

One gave you up,
It was all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child,
And God led her straight to you.

And now you ask me through your tears,
The age-old question through the years;
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither my darling, neither
Just two different kinds of love.

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

My mother's day started last night. Since my mom came up Jon and I were able to slip away and do some fun and exciting things. We went to a very nice restaurant in the bay. It over looked the bay and the Olympic mountains. The food was absolutely amazing. We got the Mahi Mahi and Alaskan Halibut. Then we ended the meal with apple bread pudding and ice cream. Best bread pudding I have had by far. It just melted in your mouth.

We were going to go see a movie, but we got out of dinner too late and the next movie wasn't until 9:45, too late for us. So, we went to the casino. I didn't play the slots this time, because the casino we went to was jammed packed. Both Jon and I ended up playing roulette together. It was fun because he won pretty big and I was able to win consistently and ended up winning my money back, so we came out on top.

The only bad thing that happened was the car almost died coming home. Yikes! It was late and we ended up losing all power after we got off the expressway. We ended up putting the car in neutral and coasted into a parking lot. We called the insurance company because we have towing insurance and were about to call the tow company when Jon tried to start the car one more time. It started! Thank goodness, all the way home Jon and I kept praying we could make it home. Don't worry we made it safe and sound, now we just hope the car starts tomorrow so we can take it into the collision center so they can have round 2 of fixing it. Seems like no one out here can do something right the first time.

Today was just as good. I woke up next to a handsome man and a little bundle of joy just as happy as he could be in his crib. Couldn't ask to wake up a better way, no hungry cry! Jon fixed my mom and I pancakes. I was just excited because I could put the blueberries in them. In the end it was more like we had a little bit of pancakes with our blueberries. Oops. Another oops on my part I got us lost on the way to church so we ended up going to the late service.

The church service was on adoption which hit close to home. A poem was read during the service and if you want to read it, it is on Jack and Cheryl's comment page for Mother's Day. It was very touching, it had my mom in tears.

After church we went to the boat festival. It was pretty cold out but we had a good time. Hayden slept through the majority of it, but he does that anywhere we go. We saw Irish jig dancers that did Cotton-Eye-Joe which was really cool and everyone got into it. We got my mom a massage and we got cookies and beef jerky sticks to snack on. The real treat was at home though. Yesterday I made homemade carrot cake and it was AMAZING!!!!

My mom left around 3 and Hayden took a little nap, but then woke up and wanted to play. About 6 he was ready for bed, he had a long day. Now I am just ready for another piece of my cake, so that was all for today. Hope everyone else had a good day as well. Happy Mother's Day, I miss and love you all.

Jon and Hayden send their love too.

Yah for solid foods...

2008-05-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well it is official. Hayden is now eating solids, well as solid as baby food gets. He is on the first foods. We have so far given him sweet potatoes, sweet peas, carrots, and bananas. He absolutely loves sweet potatoes and bananas. Sweet peas he is a little unsure of. Last night was his first experience with them and his faces when it was put in his mouth were priceless. Shame we didn't get it on video camera. Now carrots we are unsure if he likes or not. I was feeding him them, and I am not sure if he was slapping my hand away or trying to help but lets just say the entire jar went all over him. So we have yet to give him large quantities of carrots. This weekend Jon is setting up the highchair. I can't wait to have him at the table and see how he reacts.

I have good news. Hayden woke up twice last night! Yah! We at least got some good sleep although I still felt I needed to catch up on sleep from this busy week. Well I just wanted to inform everyone about the solids he has started on. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Mothers especially! Love you all.

Busy Week

2008-05-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry there hasn't been many updates this week, but I have been extremely busy with observing classrooms and school this week, and Jon has gone back to work a couple times after I come home from class. So needless to say Hayden has spent about 10 hours with the sitter, Jon's boss's wife Sueann, this week during the day. Hayden loves going to Sueann's in the morning. They have two daughters one 11 or 12 and the other is 8. They both love him and play with him, well while they are home and not at school. He comes home completely exhausted and usually sleeps the rest of the afternoon.

He seems to be getting better with his teething. He still has only one tooth that has broke through, but we know the others are coming in. When we give him his nuk he usually grabs it with his hand turns it on its side and chews on it. We were almost wondering if maybe some back teeth were coming in to that were bothering him. He has been sleeping a lot during the day. Jon said this was due to his teething - maybe it isn't as painful when they sleep.

With that said his sleeping patterns are good and bad. There are times when he sleeps great and then like last night up every 30 minutes (although I decided it was the warmth of his room that woke him up so much last night), once I turned the heat down he slept for a 2 hour stretch.

He is just the perfect angel though, learning to play by himself. His tummy time has extended in length before he gets frustrated and wants attention. He has almost got the rolling over from back to front down. He needs a little help getting his heavy legs to role with him. But its his smiles that bring so much joy to my heart. He is such a beautiful baby, Jon and I couldn't have gotten any luckier.

Well this weekend is Mother's Day weekend and we have a boat festival in town down by the pier so we are very excited to go to that. Good news too, I don't have to work Sunday. So I get to spend it with my handsome guys, we will post more pictures this weekend. Miss everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there, hope it is as special as all of you.

Love,
Amanda, Jon, and Hayden

Shout Out to my Mama

2008-05-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Jon here.

First of all, just want to say to Grandma and Grandpa Ollmann and Auntie Hailee that we are thinking about you right now. I know that it is tough, but you all have hearts of gold and god really will help you through this. There is a child out there waiting for you in Uralsk and you will find her, don't worry, be happy. (Yes, I did just sing the song in my head in case you were wondering.)

OK, mister Hayden is doing great. Three of his canine teeth are coming in right now, so when they finally do he will have fangs. Come to think of it, if we can teach him how to hiss, his mouth looks like a snake. Instead of the hiss, he is starting to shriek which we hope is just because of the teething and is only temporary.

Yesterday, when Amanda was in Portland visiting Grandma Melissa she fed tried sweet potatoes, he likes them. He also spent the entire day at high school while Amanda doing observations.

Other than that, not much is new. Really, really busy with work lately. The training is going great and I wrote a petition to the state of Washington to see if they will allow me to count more then 40 hours a week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Love and miss you all!!
Jon, Amanda and Hayden

Hayden's Pictures

2008-04-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

I know everyone has been wanting some pictures. With Jon and I being as busy as we are right now I have uploaded the pictures to Kodak Gallery at Target.com. So if everyone would e-mail me their e-mail address I can send invites to everyone. My e-mail address is a_marie18@yahoo.com. Since you can't print off Flickr this is another option. Right now I only have recent pictures uploaded but will get as many uploaded as I can.

P.s. Hayden is doing great. Today was his first day with a sitter since I had observing at the local schools. He didn't fuss and was really good. It is crazy I worried that he would miss me, but I guess that is normal. Miss everyone, we will be in Wisconsin July 26-Aug 2, but will be up north. The Saturday in August before we fly back we are trying to get Hayden baptised, but are not sure if that will happen. We will find out soon though.

Ocean Shores

2008-04-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Ocean Shores, a small ocean town on an isthmus on the Pacific Ocean. At first we thought it was going to be a bust of a trip. The weather was beautiful, but there was not much to do. There was an area where you could rent a horse or a moped for an hour; but with a four month old that is not feisable. So we went to explore the area and stumbled on the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center. Inside the was a display of animals in the area, both on land and in the ocean. There was also a room dedicated to ship wrecks that have occurred at the entrance of Grays Harbor. There was a set of china from the late 1800's, the wheel that Hayden is holding in the picture on Flickr, and outside they even had a section of a wrecked ship.

It was not the most impressive museum, but we got a lot out of it. Plus, we found out something that Miss Amanda got really excited about. Right now the grey whales are migrating from Mexico up the western US coast to Alaska. The staff gave us directions to another side of the area where you can see them if you are lucky. Well, we were kind of lucky. We saw 2 spurts shoot out of the water and a sea lion swimming around. Unfortulately the whales did not jump out of the water like at SeaWorld and Hayden slept through about 80% of that.

The good thing is that we found a section of Ocean Shores that we liked, even an area for surfing. The only concern Amanda keeps bringing up is the Great White Sharks that are in the area. What a wuss, huh?? Well that is about it. Oh yea, when we got home Hayden was sucking on Amanda's finger and she felt something on his upper gum line. Turns out, it looks like his first tooth is coming in already. It is tough to get him to sit still long enough to get a picture of it, but I think you can see it well enough if you look on Flickr.

Thats all for now, hope everyone has a great weekend!!

P.S. Hailee, Amanda says she thinks Hayden liked your outfit the best because he NEVER pooped on it. She mistyped it before.

Good News!

2008-04-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well the good news is the antibiotics are working! We have a much happier baby today. Even though he woke up 5 times last night. I got at least 2 1/2 hour stretch of sleep for at least 2 of those times.

What Jon failed to post last night about the doctors visit was the fact we have a 17 pound baby on our hands. The doctor flat out told us "feed him." I almost laughed to myself for worrying about it being too soon to give Hayden rice cereal, and the doctor is basically telling us it is okay to start on other solids as well.

Today I went to dress him and discovered his 6-9 month onesies and some of the other 6-9 month clothes fit him. I was in shock, but I guess that is why his other onesies are so tight when he has a wet diaper. I'm sure Hayden is a lot more comfortable now. So I am sad to say we had to retire a lot of his clothes. Sorry Hailee that meant the outfit you picked out for him. It was one of his favorites. I am drawing this conclusion from the mere fact he did get poop all over it when he was wearing it (which he has done in almost ever outfit!).

Well he is sitting right here with me writing it and says hi to all and wishes that he could drool all over everyone like he is on the key board. Miss you all!

The Verdict Is In

2008-04-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well, after Amanda's call to the doctors office they decided they wanted to see him right away today.

Doc was concerned that he had an ear infection. Well they were wrong, but he does have a sinus infection. Poor little guy, 4 months old and already has sinus problems.

Well that explains why the humidifier and every other little trick we could think of were not working.

Great, he is already snotty.

Rough day in the Ollmann household...

2008-04-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well today has been no walk in the park. Hayden has a cold, he hasn't got a fever and three days ago he had a spit up that I swore sounded like vomit when coming out, but that was the only time. He is pretty congested though, and it looks like I might be coming down with whatever he has as well. Jon is lucky however because I think he had this bug last week.

Last night we put a pillow under the mattress in Hayden's crib it is suppose to help with the fluid so he can breathe better at night. Only problem is every time he moved to change positions he rolled to the bottom of the crib and woke up. He did sleep a tiny bit better last night. The monkey you see in his pictures on flickr is now his new favorite object to hold when he goes to sleep.

This morning was very rough. I woke up feeling horrible and poor Hayden could hardly breathe so we propped him up in our bed with pillows and he fell asleep sitting up, poor little guy. He slept until Jon and I started getting up and ready for the day. That was it, and for the rest of the morning Hayden was crabby. He wouldn't take his morning nap and I am not sure if it is because he doesn't feel good or he wanted attention. I tried everything from feeding him, rocking him, using his nook, reading to him, distracting him with the TV, and even trying to sooth him. NOTHING. It was very frustrating, finally about 15 minutes ago I just had to put him in his swing and leave the room because I felt helpless. What do you know, he finally fell asleep.

Well I just wanted to keep everyone updated on Hayden. If he gets worse today I am going to take him to the doctor to see if maybe it is an ear infection like Aunt Pat said. The only thing his, he hasn't been pulling on his ears, but it could be that he doesn't have the best use of his hands yet. Well wish you all were here or we were there for support. Miss everyone, I will keep you updated on Hayden's status!

Can never have enough clothes!

2008-04-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

I officially decided that you can never have too many baby clothes. Hayden has been giving me a run for our money this week with clothes and diapers. Yesterday he pooped through a total of 3 outfits and today he either got sick or spit up more than his stomach could possible hold. As you can see it has been a rough couple of days for his outfits.

To update everyone on sleeping, the little guy is getting worse. He does his usual routine with Jon and eats rice and takes a bottle and cries when you put him down. Only last night even though he did take the bottle he wanted me to put him to sleep by breastfeeding. He cried for 30 to 40 minutes which usually by the second time we go in 15 minutes later he takes his nuk and falls asleep. On top of that instead of his usual 4 to 5 hour sleep cycle in the beginning it was shortened to 2 1/2 hours. Then it got rough, I fed him but he just wouldn't fall asleep. He would only fall asleep holding my finger and then I would wait and go into the next room to go to bed. 15 minutes later he was up crying again. After doing this 4 times, trying a transitional object (his boopie), and leaving a piece of my clothing close by that smelled like me, I ended up sleeping in the guest room on the bed. Any suggestions?

Other than the sleeping problems everything else is great. He is getting better at entertaining himself, but if for a second he doesn't think you are close by or within sight he gets a little crabby. I am not sure how a babysitter is going to work when I start with observations, unless it is just separation anxiety for human contact and not from Jon or me yet.

The Big Day

2008-04-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we got the internet today. I know I know pretty exciting right? At least I can keep up with the blog and pictures so feel free to leave comments and let me know how I am doing or how I am slacking.

Last night Jon updated the headline picture and was attempting to add new pictures on flickr and wasn't able to. Once we have a good connection I will get those pictures up pronto.

This weekend was a good weekend. My mom came up to visit and Jon and I went out on a very nice date. We had prime rib and went to the casino afterwards. I came out ahead, well only a few dollars but that is pretty good for playing the penny slots all night.

Hayden is doing very well with his rice cereal. We have a few good pictures of it all over his face. He really likes the mushy feel to the rice cereal, and when you go to feed him he attacks the spoon to eat it all up. Well that is all for now, once I get the password for flickr I will put new pictures up!

Friday... Finally

2008-04-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have never been so happy that it is Friday. I forgot how much work school is then on top of everything else it gets kind of overwhelming. Thank goodness for my mom and helping out a little with some of the teaching observations I need.

Today has already started out interesting. Hayden's nap was short and he jumped right into play time and as we were playing he spit up all over himself. This is probably only the second time he has ever done that so I was a little in shock. He continues to entertain himself very well though. Lately he has been doing this squeaking thing - letting out loud shreeks every once in while.

Sleep was a little better last night. But he had a stuffy nose which made things difficult at times, eating in particular.

No sleep for me...

2008-04-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Monday night Jon fed Hayden some rice for the first time. He got it all into his mouth, which we were told the first time is a challenge. Well, I guess Hayden proved everyone wrong because he is ready to eat solids that is for sure. Bad news is, it is not helping him sleep at night.

Yesterday in the parent/infant class we were talking about sleep patterns with babies throughout the first year. The instructor informed me that Hayden is starting what is called separation anxiety. Which according to her starts anywhere between 4 to 6 months and usually peaks at 9 months. So Hayden is forcing himself to wake up just to make sure someone is there. After I heard that I wanted to cry. Just means less sleep for me, but at least I know he is getting enough food at night.

Yesterday I also weighed him again because his next doctors appointment isn't until May 2nd for round two of shots. Everyone get ready Hayden is now 16.4 lbs. Yes the boy has gained almost a whole pound in such short time.

Stacey I think you are right, we are going to have a football player for sure! We can't wait to get back to Wisconsin this summer to see everyone and show off our pride and joy. He really does spoil us, well minus the sleeping, but other than that I he is so much fun and a blessing to have.

Everything is just a giggle now!

2008-04-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Mr. Hayden is doing great. One big thing now is he is starting to giggle. I am taking a parent/infant class with him and we are learning a lot of new songs and fun things to do. So every morning when I change him from his night outfit to his outfit for the day I do the mouse song with him and he just giggles and smiles away. Don't worry we got it on video so you can see it! Once we get Internet in our apartment I will try and upload videos as well.

Last week I weighed him on the scale with me and subtracted my weight without him and he is 15.8 pounds. Yes, he is close to 16 lbs and is not even 4 months yet. He is still having problems waking up at night. So we are thinking we may have to start him on rice in the evenings before he goes to bed. He is just too big and I don't think just milk is doing it for him anymore.

The good news is he is starting to take a bottle a lot better from someone other than me. With night classes and working Jon has been the one to put him to bed every night. Which I can honestly say is hard for me because I miss seeing him close his eyes and curl up in his crib. It is funny how much I go into Hayden withdrawals and I spend most of the day with him, but I guess that happens when you become a mother.

Anyway that is about all of the updates I can think of, but I will try to keep everyone more up to date with pictures and all of the fun details. Miss everyone!

Easter

2008-03-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

After an interesting week of Amanda hurting her knee, getting sick and Hayden being a little cranky; Easter weekend was a nice reprieve.

On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt in Tumwater, where I sit on the Parks Board. It was crazy. A couple hundred kids and 9000 eggs that took about 3 minutes. They had bikes and other prizes to give away, I had never seen anything like that before and it was really neat to see all the kids Battle Royal a bit size Kit-Kat. We got some good pictures and Hayden seemed to enjoy all of the action. We had previously decided that we were not going to get an Easter basket this year since he was so young, but the hunt got us in the mood. We went to Target and bought one and filled it with stuff for us and a movie for him. :)

Sunday was pretty low key, we had steak and stuffing for a "brunch", and it was nice to just hang low for a day.

It will be a busy year for us from here on out, my Administration plan was accepted by the State of Washington and I can now start training. It will be about 50+ hours a week with the hopes that it will be completed sometime in November. 1500 work hours seems like so far away!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter, and that the bunny was good to all.

Love,

Jon, Amanda and Hayden

Amanda fall down go boom

2008-03-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a day we were looking forward to for over a week. Grandma Melissa came up to babysit Hayden while Amanda and I had a day to ourselves. We decided to go into the Cascade mountains and learn how to snowboard. The administrator at Riverside has taught about 10 people how, so he offered to teach us for free. I liked the sound of that. So we got up at 7 to leave by 7:30, (stupid daylight savings time) and got to the mountain by 9.

We both picked it up pretty quick, and by 12 we were already hitting the intermediate slopes. I have to say though, the intermediate slopes are like the hard ones in Wisconsin. We went down twice and decided to get some food. Amanda's legs were really tired and we were all hungry. I forgot how expensive those lodges can be, and $30 later for 2 slices of pizza, a Gatorade, water and a baked potato we headed out.

There were 4 separate hills at the resort, all connected by buses. We waited a bit for the bus and headed to Alpental. We should have known it was going to be a disaster right when we got off the lift. After doing great all day, Amanda fell right into the mesh fencing. After 5 minutes of getting ready we started down the slope. There was a path about 300 yards long and 20 yards wide in the beginning of the run, and Danny and I lead the way down. When we got to the part where it opened up the the rest of the mountain we sat down and waited for Amanda. Half an hour later she still had not come down so I sent Danny down to check on her while I waited in case she did come out.

10 minutes later Danny let me know that she hurt her knee and the ski patrol was going to be taking her down to the first aid office. We met them down there and the patrol put her in the Dopey bed. (Seriously, they had named all he beds after Snow White and the seven dwarfs.) Thankfully it is just a bad strain and she will be OK.

I can't wait to see what happens on our next outing. I will put up some pictures later on this week; even one with the ski patrol taking Amanda down the hill. If you want to check out where you can see it at: http://www.summitatsnoqualmie.com/

Doctor Visit

2008-03-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

We took Hayden to the doctor on Tuesday. Just like we thought, he gained a lot of weight. He is now 13 pounds 13 ounces and is 24 3/4 inches long. It really is amazing how big he has gotten already.

Of course they also gave him his 2 month shots. He was not a fan. When they stuck the needle in he was OK, he just raised his eyebrows. When they pushed the vaccination in though, was another story. I think they could hear him in the next building. That only lasted a minute though, so overall I think he did pretty good for his first set of shots.

That night we didn't get much sleep. He ran a fever for most of the night and was pretty whiny even into the next morning. Once he started feeling better he was back to his normal smiley self. Amanda says no more shots.

We have a talker...

2008-03-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

Mr. Hayden Ollmann is officially a social butterfly. He sure likes to hear his own voice; like his mother. He coos at his mobile at his swing, random old men at the doctors office, and anyone else that will pay attention to him. It is absolutely adorable. Yesterday we called Jon's parents so he could talk to them, he was rather excited. Today we went to Jon's work so everyone could see Hayden. Little did we know he wouldn't sleep because of all the new people and surroundings. I have a feeling that when he grows up he just might be a popular teenager.