Oliver Russell - 10 months

Oliver's first year is just flying by.  I knew it would be it still amazes me how quickly time can go by. This boy has been the biggest and best surprise of my life.  I just love him so much. 

Oliver is a pretty good eater, the things he loves he eats great.  He is definitely a picker eater than Elle.  I have been so shocked to learn he does not like fruit.  The only fruit I have had success with is watermelon and I recently tried to give him more and he didn't eat it.  Any fruit I've tried he spits out.

He finally has some teeth, only 2 but still...something!  My babies get their teeth late. :)

Oliver and Elle love each other so so much.  He thinks she is hilarious and she just adores him. 

These monthly pics are getting harder.  I have his attention for mere minutes before he is over it. 

Oliver Russell - 9 months

My little doodle bug at 9 months old!

He is still on the lower side of height and weight...mainly height.  I think we may have a shorty.  :)

We officially have a crawler and he loves to dance.  Anytime music comes on you can find Ollie sitting on the floor bobbing to the music. 

The word "no" is being said more at our house because he is starting to get into everything!  He just thinks "no" is funny.  Little stinker!

If he coughs while eating or drinking and I acknowledge it he will then fake cough several more times.  He thinks this is hilarious...and I do too.

My littlest love bug.  I just adore him!

Waving hi!

Oliver Russell - 8 months

Oliver Russell is 8 months old!

Nicknames:

Oliver Russ

Ollie

Doodles

Doodle Bugs

Doodlins

He is so close to crawling and loves to stand.  He is such a happy baby and it is so easy to make him laugh and smile.  Our sweet boy still isn't the best sleeper, sometimes he needs a bottle in the middle of the night but most times he just wakes up to be held. :)

Elle was pretty much a mama's girl from day one but Ollie doesn't seem to have a noticeable preference between Eric and I...at least not yet.  Writing this with him being 11 months old I think he is starting to be a mama's boy. :)

These cheeks get hundreds of kisses a day.  I can't get enough of him!

Oliver Russell - 7 months

I am so so behind on Oliver's monthly updates.  I'm going to try my best to get up to date today...and I'm a couple days behind on even taking his 11 month pictures.  Gotta get on that this weekend.

7 months was the first time Oliver ran a fever and actually got sick. It didn't last long but you could definitely tell our normally smiley little guy wasn't feeling well.

He is saying "mama" and "dada", tried mashed potatoes, yogurt, yogurt drops and puffs...and loves them all. Especially the puffs!  He is starting to pick up his food and feed himself.

Oliver loves bath time!  He does not mind water being poured over his head at all which makes ma and Eric  think he is going to love the pool this summer. Elle still hates water being poured on her so I think Ollie may be our water baby. He also tries to catch the water in the bathtub which is adorable.

We noticed he is getting a bit too big for his swing, he can now sit up and swing himself in it so we realized it was time to retire it. Although it was pretty funny watching him swing himself.

This boy loves to be held....looooves it!  He will reach out his little arms for me to pick him up all the time...and I always do. :)  Most of my days are spent with my unloading the dishwasher, doing laundy, making lunch while holding my Ollie boy.

Elle Belle

As Elle was turning 3 I wanted to blog about some of her favorite things, well that was about a month ago so about time I should do that before her favorite things change!

Look at this little face, I mean I just don't think it gets any cuter than this.

Bink and Boke are still regulars at out house. From time to time Jesus shows up.  She always points out our church "Jesus' house" when we are driving by.  I love her imagination!  

She also rotates between playing characters throughout the day, here are some of her favorites.

Elsa - she walks around freezing things throughout the house

Buzz Lightyear -  she jumps off the coach because she is flying.  When she is Buzz her birthmark on her arm is her laser and Oliver is usually Woody. If I call either of them by any other name she immediately corrects me. 

Jessie - the red cowboy hat she got for Christmas is on pretty heavy rotation

Cinderella - this is a new one for her but lately she is loving Cinderella...both the original movie and the new one that came out in 2015.  This is also helping with her big fear listed below.

The biggest thing that Elle doesn't like is mice.  She is very scared that a scary mouse will come in our house.  I have told her mice are scared of Vito and Hermann so there is no way they would come to our house, that Eric sprayed our house so no mouse can get in, that mice (like Ratatouille) live in Paris and that is so far from where we live. Oddly enough she likes the movie Ratatouille and has never been scared when watching it. She has never actually seen a mouse, a mouse has never ever been in our house.  We think the fear came from a movie she watched with Eric called Strange Magic.


She is still sleeping in our bed (which I love!). Awhile ago (around November) Eric was trying to get her to sleep in her room one night and I spoke up that she had a cold (she really did) and when she was feeling bad wasn't the night to start sleeping in her room. Now every night she says she needs to sleep in our room because she still has her cold. :)


She is a mama's girl through and through. She is my shadow, talks like me, imitates everything I do down to using my makeup brushes to put on her own makeup.  If we go through a drivethru she has me roll down her window (she sits right behind me) so she can give our order...she repeats everything I say, love hearing my little echo in the backseat as I'm ordering a coffee, chocolate milk and chocolate cakepop at Starbucks.


Potty training is not our friend. Accidents happen frequently and it wears on my patience.  I always tell Elle to use her patience and I need to practice what I preach!


Pizza is still her favorite food, and turkey sausage is a close second. She also loves watermelon, apples, chocolate milk, hummus, popcorn, chips (Cheetos are her absolute favorite), marmalade (lemonade), and anything sweet.


She asked me the other day if we could go to Paris together one day (after seeing it on TV). I told her absolutely! I now have a goal to travel to Paris with my sweetest girl for a big birthday. Maybe 16? 18? 20?  I'm determined to make this happen. :)


I just love this little girl so much, she is my world, my heart, my best friend. 
Eleanor Bailey, I love you to the moon and back...500 times.