ollie-isms

ollie is so funny lately. i've been taking note of some of the things he says and does and i want to record them here, a little glimpse of what our ollie douglas is like at the age of 2 years plus a couple months. he is sweet and funny, sometimes sassy and starting to push his boundaries with his little brother. he pretty much only plays with duplo and his trucks & cars. he likes to read books and is starting to memorize stories and "reads" them to himself. his favourite foods are sweet "pobaboes", rass-berries, bananas with "pea-buh" butter, cheerios and cookie balls.

we live on a very busy street in edmonton and i really don't know what ollie will do when we move. he loves watching cars drive by and shouting out what kind of vehicle it is. "car! car! truck! bus! truck! van!" he knows most different kinds of truck by sight and insists on being lifted up to see each and every firetruck or ambulance drive by. the other day, two firetrucks drove by in succession. the first was shorter and the second was really big & long. ollie said, "oh! little firetruck! and big firetruck! he's his mama." so good.

watching the cars out the window

a few weeks ago, a truck drove past that had two outhouses on the back. ollie asked what kind of truck it was, so brian explained what outhouses are. a couple days later, the same type of truck drove past our house and ollie yelled, "poop truck!" he yells that every time we see one now...awesome.

we went on a ward camp out a couple weekends ago and ollied loved it. he absolutely reveled in being outside, eating camp food and sleeping in a tent with dada. he still talks about it.

i was washing his hair before bed one night and as i did so he requested that i wash my hair. i told him i already did and he replied, "ooh. looks pretty good." then this morning i was wearing a shirt i haven't worn in a long time and he said, pointing at it, "what's this?" "it's a shirt." "oh...a new one?" "no, i just haven't worn it lately." "oooh...i 'yike' (like) it."

he is turning into a little con man at bedtime. he'll do anything to get out of going to bed, my favourite of which is when he says he wants to "suggle" (snuggle) with us on the "towch" (couch). boy, he sure knows how to tug at my heart strings.

we were home sick from church one sunday. he and i were in the living room, looking at the picture of the temple on the wall and talking about temples and how important they are. then he jumped up off my lap, looked at the picture a little closer and said, "i wanna go to dat park! it'sa park!"

he loves going to church and attending nursery. he likes to find his friend theo, grab his hand and the two head off to nursery together. he talks about it on the way home and we sing nursery songs all week long, his favourite of which are "popcorn popping", "snowman song" and "i love to see the temple." he says, "make a temple?" and holds his little hands together to a point.

in his "worka man hat"

he still likes to help me in the kitchen and is actually getting pretty helpful. ollie will put the cut up veggies in the salad bowl and very willingly stir anything i let him. he also helps me with laundry and takes dirty diapers away for me. brian sometimes takes ollie down to the condo on saturdays where he helps him with yard work. ollie is a hard little worker! 

ollie watches everything i do with jack very attentively. he knows that jack only eats milkies from mama and is getting less jealous about all the time jack monopolizes. ollie is mostly very patient with both me and jack. it's fun to watch him learn about babies. whenever i'm putting jack into the wrap and whenever ollie sees other babies in wraps & carriers, he says, "oh! in da caowie-o." it's so sweet. the other day we used one of my old scarves to "wrap" his baby against his chest and he walked around, playing and doing other things for awhile with his baby wrapped to him. i die!

his vocabulary is constantly expanding. it is so fun to hear him learn new words and use them when he speaks. he knows how to express himself pretty well, but that doesn't stop him from screaming his lungs out quite regularly. oh, toddlers.

handsome brothers

we love you, sweet ollie! you are our favourite big boy. it is so fun to watch you learn & grow so quickly. you are a great big brother and baby jack loves you too. thanks for being a "big mama helper" around the house and trying to be obedient. love you boy!

two months!

ollie & i took some two month photos of jack yesterday. prepare for photo overload...how could i pick just one? love his chubby cheeks and double chin, his yummy legs and dimply elbows. he is smiling and starting to chat. he is such a sweet & happy baby!

two brothers

the rate at which my heart has expanded over this past month and a half has been welcome and totally unexpected. i've come to the realization that, gratefully, a mamas heart never stops growing.

we tried to prepare ollie as much as we could for the birth of his little brother or sister. we read books about babies, what they need and what it's like in the home after they come. we talked about the baby every day and i encouraged ollie to "talk" to the baby in my belly. he did often, saying "i'ma big brudder!"

giving birth to jack and then watching ollie fill his role as a big brother has filled my heart to the brim. i am so grateful for these two boys, my two boys, two brothers who will grow in love and friendship over the coming years.

when ollie came to meet jack for the first time, he sat with him on his lap, pressed his face close to baby jacks and said, "hi hi hi, how aw yoo? how aw yoo?" he smelled his head and inspected his hands. he repeated his name, "baby dack!"

every morning, when jack wakes up and i bring him out of our room, ollie wants to hold him on the couch. he calls him "sweet boy" "nice baby" "little brother"...all of which sound adorable coming out of his little mouth.

right after my mama left, just before jack was two weeks old, we took a trip to the grocery store (miracle of miracles!). it went really well, actually. when we got home i told ollie i was going to leave him and jack in the van while i took the bags of groceries into our apartment. "i'll be right back!" i told ollie. when i opened the back of the van to pull the groceries out, i saw ollie looking over at jack in his car seat and saying, "hey buddy. mama in the back, k? be right back, k?" it was so sweet to hear him talking to and reassuring his little brother.

just last night we asked ollie is he wanted another little brother or sister and he replied, "no. i like dis one." uhh...cue my heart melting into a puddle.

we've had a few moments of uh...intensity from ollie. most of the time i don't think he means to hurt jack, he's just learning how to love a little more gently. he tries to pick him up off he couch like, every day and wants to hold him often. when i'm wearing jack in the wrap or carrier ollie always says, "take him out? take him out?" ollie is doing pretty well with the adjustment, learning how to share his mama must be hard. in no time at all, jack will be growing up and ready to play! i couldn't be happier to have these two little boys in my home and my heart.

ha ha! 

one month of baby jack

jack is already a month old! he is the best. he is a champion nurser, sleeper, burper and pooper...so basically he's awesome at everything. he is a happy, easy baby (knock on wood!) who is pleasant pretty much all the time. he sleeps well at night and has figured out to only have awake time during the day since day one of life. he is growing quickly, going from 7 lbs 12 oz at birth to 10 lbs 3 oz at just four weeks. i'm quick certain most of that weight has gone straight to his cheeks and chins. he's edible. he's starting to work on giving us smiles and he is pretty tolerant of his big brother, who sometimes gets a little rough. his favourite activities are eating, sleeping and snuggling mama. we love you baby jack!

those lips! kissable.

i love his profile. the cutest nose!

little fatty baby!

he's here!

our handsome baby boy has arrived!
jack dieter thomson was born on friday april 25, 2014 at 9:40 am.
he weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long.
he has dark hair, big lips and long fingers and toes.
welcome to the family, baby jack!

before you arrive

dear baby,

your pregnancy has flown by, seemingly in a single instant. whether by my own busyness or the speed of days at this point in my life, it feels as though we just found out about your existence, but now your arrival is imminent! we couldn't be happier to welcome you into our family...you'll make us four! four! the thought makes me full of so much joy and so many nerves i can hardly contain it. it's hard to believe we'll be four, when it feels like not too long ago that i was just one.

carrying you has been a joy and a pleasure. i've said it before and i'll say it again; growing and bringing babies into this world is my very favourite thing i have the priveledge of doing. it's a miracle to watch my body expand and grow all on it's own, without me telling it to do a single thing, as it makes way for your growth and development. i'm now more pregnant than i've ever been, because your big brother was born almost three full weeks early. i'm starting to feel achy and sleeping is getting harder to do, but i guess that is natures way of preparing me for our nights together once you're on the outside. i really have nothing to complain about. my body has accommodated your growth and i feel strong, healthy and happy. i love laying in bed at night and feeling you wriggle and kick inside me. your big brother thinks he can see you, talk to you and feed you through my belly button...it's pretty cute.

i can't say i really have a single inkling about your gender. by the end of ollies pregnancy, daddy had me fairly convinced that his thought was right and the baby was a boy. this time around, neither of us are sure, so i'm excited for what feels like a real surprise, though, once you come along, it will feel like it was always you. i'm looking forward to that...the instant familiarity when i meet you for the "first" time. we've known eachother all along, haven't we baby?

see you soon, sweet baby. we're so excited.

"ha-pee birt-day" ollie!

the day of his birthday party, ollie walked around the apartment, pointing at the banner we hung and telling us what it said, "ha-pee birt-day ollie!" he kept insisting that his friends come over; i don't know how many times i had to tell him that it was after lunch, after nap, after dinner that they would be coming. i baked a doubled layered chocolate cake the night before and iced it in the morning, while ollie stood on a chair beside me and dipped his fingers in the chocolate frosting, saying "have some? have some?", which usually comes out sounding like, "awesome, awesome." he spent a few hours running errands with daddy and then came home and fought nap time. once he finally fell asleep, brian and i had fun finishing party prep, including decorating and destroying his construction cake. it was definitely the funnest cake i've ever made and ollie liked seeing his tractors in action. happy happy birthday, sweet boy!