Olivers Updates

As most of you know, I was born with a Club Foot – below are pictures of before treatment, treatment and today.

I’m so happy, the doctor gave me the best news today, check out my feet!

This is what my foot looked like when I was born (right foot is my club foot) – Dr. Jinguchi told me I scored a 6 out of 6 (6 being the worst) so I was possibly in for longer treatment. He said most kids take up to 4 casts to straighten the foot out but it could be as much as 22 casts. Yikes!

Each time I went to Children’s Hospital the doctor would stretch my foot down and out the opposite way so that all the tendons could be stretched and make my foot straight.

Here the doctor is casting my foot – I normally wore these casts for 6-12 days depending on the doc’s schedule. This cast actually came all the way up my thigh so I wasn’t able to take regular baths because my mommy & daddy couldn’t get it wet. I ended up only needing 6 casts and then I had to have my Achilles tendon cut because this was the only tendon that doesn’t stretch enough. This procedure was NOT my favorite, I cried a whole lot and mommy and daddy both felt helpless. After that I had to wear a cast for 3 weeks then it was onto my special shoes.

I have open toed shoes that connect to a bar. My right foot (the Club Foot) is turned at 70 degrees and my left one is turned at 45 degrees. This helps keep the stretch in my Achilles Tendon and everywhere else. I will have to wear this 23 hours a day for 3 months.

Yesterday I went to the doctor and he said that I had excellent mobility in my foot and he was very happy – I have graduated to only having my special shoes & bar on for 14 hours a day.

Yay! Normal feet…

I have to admit I’m pretty adorable…here are some cute picture that my mommy and daddy took today. I hope you enjoy them!

Mommy went to read today and she found an bird nest in her lavendar – keep away!

Hey, how did she get in here?

It was such a nice day I had playtime in the front yard.

Today was Mother’s Day so daddy and I wanted to do something special with mommy, we had a great day. Check out the pictures below to see what we did on our adventures.

I was sitting in my room pooping my pants and daddy insisted on taking my picture…I was contemplating what to do for my mommy today…how rude!

Daddy I think I got it…

Let’s blow this joint before mommy wakes up, she really needs to sleep in today! I could also use a siesta in the car at the Safeway parking lot…

We picked out these amazing flowers for my mommy – she does like purple and yellow together, personally I think it is a great combo!

Daddy got her the combo – beautiful as well – I get my taste in flowers from him!

After Mommy was all ready we headed out to go to breakfast at Pomegranate Bistro, the place was pretty empty so we were all excited – then the guy at the front with the pink tie told us it was reservations only. Geez dude, don’t you know I’m only 6 months old…I haven’t learned to use the phone yet!

Instead we went to Remlinger Farms – Mommy & daddy had a breakfast buffet – it consisted of cold oatmeal, pastries, cold pancakes with various fruit toppings and woopin’ cream, chilled scrambled eggs with cheese and ham. I’m sure mommy and daddy thought the buffet was pretty lame especially when it cost $12 per person but they did get some excellent fruit cobbler afterwards. Daddy said it was like a $5 buffet at the Eagle’s Lodge – not recommended!

We are going to stroll the park at Remlinger’s…they have all kinds of cool stuff! I’m excited…this has to be better than the breakfast buffet!

Here we are in the Caboose of the train waiting for our ride to start…All Aboard!

Taking a ride in the canoe – scary! Mom also fell over on her way in…her tooshie may be a bit to big for these! I also refused to stay still so I was rockin’ the boat the whole time…

Petting the goats – YES, mom let me touch them! She also warned me that they might bite my little fingers off because they look like food to the goats but I’m fearless.

Oh mom, do I have to do this…daddy is the sheep, not me!

A few more for your enjoyment.

Move over mom, I got this one.

We had a great time at Remlinger Farms and I hope my mommy & daddy take me back to play again soon. Thanks mom for giving birth to me and taking care of me every day! I know how much work it can be but I want you to know I love you very much.

(…and Daddy got a new camera.  For Father’s Day.  I’m confused!)

It’s almost Mother’s Day and I can’t believe little Oliver is 6 months. I often find myself thinking of the days when we first brought him home, his first smile, laugh and all the sweet moments in between. Here are some of the things that he does:

1. Smiles at everyone and everything – even mannequins, then he studies them for awhile because they don’t smile back…
2. Rarely cries unless he is tired or hungry – he has always been like this, I’m sure the next baby will be 10x worse!
3. Rolls over to get around – I have to think this was more difficult for him with his feet braced together but he was right on schedule
4. Is eating his veggies – zucchini is currently his favorite
5. Likes to drink out of an adult cup – bottles and sippy cups are for the birds! However his fabulous babysitter got him to take a bottle 2 days in a row…that is when you know you have picked the right one! :0 )
6. Laughs at Blu – she is one of the best forms of entertainment and she is super patient with him even when he is hurting her, she loves Oliver!
7. Pets Flora and Fauna – they actually stick around, probably because we don’t show them any love so they are thrilled with getting their hair pulled out by him.
8. Has graduated from the Pack & Play to the Crib – is learning how to sleep in his own crib – cried 45 minutes the first night, 1.5 hours the next night (Dave was gone until midnight) and 7 minutes tonight
9. Can stand on his own while holding onto something – Dad taught him this one morning at 5am
10. Is becoming coordinated enough to put his own pacifier back in his mouth – about 1 in 20 times
11. Can sit up on his own – even without his braces
12. Can tip over his toy box to get his own toys out – grabs them and tosses them aside so he can get the next one out
13. Loves to takes baths – he splashes around and attacks his rubber ducky
14. Loves baby swim classes – took him to his first one, he was the youngest one and he had a great time! I even dunked him all the way in the water and he was just fine…looked only slightly dazed.
15. Loves to have people read to him – he always wants to turn the pages too
16. Is curious about the world around him – wants to touch and put everything in his mouth all the time!

While I’m sad he is growing up so fast I do look forward to watching him develop over the next 6 months. He will be getting his bar/shoes off on Monday (hopefully the doctor says he is ready) and I’m sure he will quickly pick up crawling, or maybe he will just start walking like I did. He is such an amazing, sweet natured baby boy and I am so lucky to be his mommy! Dave and I love him very much!

A few pictures from the past 6 months.

A little under a month before Oliver came – Blu already loved her Oliver!

My little football player

My snuggle bug – I cherished the days he used to sleep on my all the time and for all of you who told me that I shouldn’t let him do that – look at him now…sleeping on his own!

Sleeping on the couch in the late hours of the evening – Blu is keeping an eye on him for daddy – such a good babysitter!

Help, she won’t stop kissing me – little does he know that I’m going to be kissing him well into his 40’s!

Sleeping on his favorite Aunt Stacey – She is a wonderful aunt and is going to make a great mommy one day!

So little and precious

Grandma singing to Oliver – She loves to her her grandson, if only she lived closer so Oliver could see her more often!

My 2 favorite guys – I can’t imagine life without them!

My little Irish guy

Visiting my Great Uncle Dick (92 yrs old) – these are the moments that make life so great!

Give me those tongues!

Chillin’ under the tulips, wondering why on earth I stuck him on the grass

Getting some love from Uncle Seth – One day I asked him if he wanted to hold Oliver, he said “what’s the big deal with holding the him?” Now he holds him every time. You can tell he loves his nephew just by the way he looks at him. He is going to be an awesome uncle to Oliver and I can’t wait!

Having his first haircut at 5 months, he looks so dapper!

Just playing with the camera – he is so handsome!

My very first swim lesson was tons of fun! My mom had to sing to me, float me on my back, make me kick, have me reach and grab a ball and even dunk me under the water. I can’t wait to go again!

Playing with bubbles.

This is a lot more water than my little ducky tub!

Wow Mommy…you need to lose a few pounds!

All the mommies and daddies were blowing bubbles in the water. Mommy said it didn’t taste very good because it was salty. Yuck!

Cierra reading to me…she reads very well and I’m sure enjoying myself!

Lazy time with Daddy

Can we fit anymore on this couch?!? Good thing mommy didn’t need to sit down…

Give me that nose!

A few close ups, because I know you can’t get enough of me! Man, look at my hair, it’s growing over my ears again – time to cut my do-whip!

Help! The blood is rushing to my head – get me down!

A close up of my dads nostrils – who ever knew you could have such a hairy nose… Chillin’ with my super soft zebra – I like to eat him too! 

Daddy taught me a new trick this morning, while we were having our special “Hey it’s 5:45 am, let’s play for an hour!” time together.