we made it through

we are alive, but just barely. the week of the big snow storm, we all got hit with an awful cough and cold. brian was the healthiest of the three of us, so he plowed through (literally & figuratively) and continued on in his studies. ollie & i, on the other hand, stayed cooped up inside, doing only the following activities; cuddling, sleeping, nursing (ollie), drinking tea (me), watching the snow and eating really intense garlic bread (i'm talking seven cloves to one slice. !!!). we are definitely on the up & up now, though i sometimes feel a little sluggish still. weeks like this make me so grateful for my health.

brian is very busy with school. this seems to be his most challenging semester yet (why do i feel like i've said that before?), but he is doing really well. lots of assignments & classes means that he spends most of his time at school. however, the moment he walks in the door, ollie bounces & grins like crazy. that boy loves his daddy. brian has a job for his work term and he starts right after the new year. he'll work for packers plus for eight months, learning about & designing equipment for the mining industry. he is very excited about the opportunity and about having eight months off of school!

i am doing well. being at home with ollie & taking care of the apartment building is great. this stay-at-home mom gig is the best job i've ever had; there is no dress code, if i don't want to leave my apartment i don't have to and i have the cutest boss. also, since brian has been in school since may & i am no longer working, i have come to appreciate more fully the amazing perks of managing this apartment building; free rent! and! we don't pay for our laundry. (we just take the coins out and re-use them.) i figure that if we were paying, between ollies diapers and our regular laundry, we would be spending well over $100 a month on laundry. aye carumba! i am getting so excited for Christmas and have started putting up & making a few decorations and listening to Christmas music, behaviour which has led my sister to question who raised me. (we usually didn't decorate until the beginning of december, but i figure since we are leaving to go to pense to spend Christmas with the thomsons in about a month, i better get a head start and enjoy Christmas in my own home for a bit.) in the past couple of weeks a new baby cousin has been born (welcome, baby marcus!) and another has been announced (we couldn't be happier for you, cassie & dale!). we are happy & excited to continue to welcome all these new babies into our family. ollie loves his cousin marcus.

ollie was born at 37 weeks and two days gestation, and last week he was officially out as long as he was in! without gushing too much, let me just say that this little boy has made my world these past eight and a half months. he is changing every day. although it is not crawling in the traditional sense, ollie is definitely on the move. he scoots and army crawls and drags himself around. he pulls his books off the shelf and attempts to eat any homework daddy leaves on the ground. he still loves story time. he loves food and wants to eat everything. he broke his fourth teeth and number five is not far behind. he is happy & healthy and we couldn't ask for anything more. and here's a couple of pictures of the little guy, because i am a woman obsessed.