Ollie's first Birthday Letter

Life passes way too quickly and it is just crazy what a different experience a second child in the family is versus the first. Luke had monthly letters written to him by me until age one, and every few months thereafter, telling stories about what he was up to, how he was eating, sleeping, etc. Despite my best efforts, Ollie has gotten a little monthly paragraph in his picture book, and whatever else i have written here on the blog. Luckily we take a lot more videos these days to help us remember these precious moments that fleet away too quickly. 

Anyways here is a little letter I've written to Ollie about his first year with us. I feel like I have been too busy to even be emotional about it. 

Last night (April 26th) Ollie woke up unusually early for his first milk of the night, I checked the time and sure enough it was 9:34 pm.  He needed an exact birthday hug and snuggle. :) 

 

My Sweet Little Ollie man!

Happy happy first birthday! I cannot believe this day has arrived, it feels like a literal blink of an eye. You were just hanging out in my belly, kicking around and not really ready to come out despite everything the doctors thought about when your entrance to the world would be. After a little dr's push, you came out into the outside world in a flash and time stood still.  As the second little baby in the family, you had to learn to go with the flow from early on. You slept on blankets in the park, you slept in the living room to the sound of the roomba vacuum, lots of naps in the carrier, and stroller. You continued with these on the go naps in Algarve and Morocco. Yeap, you traveled to another continent in your first year of life!  In the early days, you looked so similar to your big brother, but as you got older, you started really looking like yourself, and a lot less like your brother. In your first year of life, you got to hang out with your American grandparents twice (at birth and then around 10 months), and meet Uncle Cody and Alexis in addition to all your POrtuguese family!

You were always a pretty good napper, which was so different from your brother. But night time sleep was always much more challenging. We tried to do some sleep training to make it better but it just didn't really stick with you. You did however learn how to put yourself to sleep at night, which was very helpful. To this day, you still wake up to eat sometimes once or twice a night. You go to bed at 7pm and wake up between 6-7am usually, more often on the earlier side of that wake up time. While I think i've been a lot more tired because of your night time wake ups, I've also enjoyed all those moments to snuggle you, hear your breathing, and the sweetest milk breath while I get you back to sleep in the night. After just a few weeks, we started going against textbook advice and putting you to sleep on your belly because you slept soooo much better. We just couldn't survive much longer with how things were going on your back. Shhh don't tell anyone! :P

I don't have the dates of a lot of your milestones written down but you rolled over around five months. You grew sooo quickly, gaining tons of weight until around 6/7 months. Then at 9 months your weight gain slowed down. You started crawling around ten months old. And you really excel at crawling today. You can get to Mel's water bowl in just a second when we turn our eyes, or you love to start climbing up the stairs before we can catch you. We need to put that baby gate up ASAP! We think that the fast crawling you do has made me less interested in figuring out that walking thing. You love to put your little fingers in the electrical outlets. You love to be with Mel and she tolerates you being really close to her. It's so sweet.

You adore your big brother, he makes you laugh so much. You tolerate his shenanigans with his car obsession quite well and are very happy to share yours with him.

Some words that you are babbling so far (and in order) are Dada, (daddy), nana (banana, your ultimate favorite food), ola, uh oh, poo poo, bra-da- (brother), Na - mama.

You don't have any teeth yet!  You love eating pancakes, any fruit, and grains like rice, quinoa, cuscus, and pasta. Oh and you are obsessed with oatmeal as well. You get so excited for some water sips from a cup, but usually after the first drink you stick your tongue out and play around with the water that spills on your tray. Forget about using plates with you, just love to throw them on the ground right away.  It took you about two months (from 6-8 months) until you really started to enjoy eating. After that you caught on, and stopped making grossed out faces after every bite of any food! 

You are the buttons man. Remote controls, phones, watches, anything you can press is your favorite thing. You also love to dance to great dance music like David Guetta that your big brother puts on google. You also love books with sounds and your bear that has music and words.

You throw a hat off your head the moment it is placed there! We are in trouble for the summer! You are slowly becoming a bigger fan of books but especially LOVE the book Llama Llama Red Pajama. Your eyes light up when I ask if you want to hear the story! You usually try to close the book after every page but listen until the end, unlike most other stories. You love putting rocks and sand in your mouth at the beach.

We loveeeee you like absolute crazy!!! and Cannot wait to see all the great things you will do in the next year and in life.  Keep keeping us on our toes with your surprises, challenges, and adventures. It's good for mum and dad! :)

xoxoxo

Mom