Good Golly, Olly is 11 Months Old and Joey is 2.5!

Good Golly, Olly is 11 Months Old and Joey is 2.5!

On July 3rd Oliver turned 11-months old, and the following day Joanna turned two-and-a-half! It’s such a super fun age for both of them, and we’re having the best summer. Joey has just become the most delightful, hilarious, wonderful little girl, and Olly is starting to develop so much personality. There’s such an interesting thing that happens with babies where you actually go through a process of “meeting” your own children. Not just on the day they’re born, because let’s be honest babies don’t really do much for the first few months, but then there’s this sort of personality explosion that happens near the end of the first year, where you really get to see what they’re all about and essentially “meet” them for the first time. Their little personalities come through more and more as they gain the ability to communicate and have more life experiences, and I’m sure it’s a process that keeps happening over a lifetime. It’s just fascinating to experience and SO MUCH FUN!!

Gah! I just love this photo so much!

I’m feeling very sentimental about this time in our lives, and I’m not by nature a hugely sentimental person. We’re not planning on having more kids, so I keep thinking about all of the “lasts” that are happening as Olly is so close to not being a baby anymore. I find myself thinking, this is one of the last times I’ll mix up a bottle of formula, one of the last times I’ll wash a baby bottle… things I don’t even like doing have become nostalgic! Haha.

This past month, Olly got FOUR new teeth, actually all at the same time. So he got his first two teeth at about eight months. Then nothing, nothing, nothing, and BAM, six teeth total. He also just learned how to stand up, and he’s even starting to take some tiny steps and do a little bit of couch surfing. Right now standing up is alllll he wants to do. When we put him in his crib, two seconds later he’s standing up, but he doesn’t know how to sit down!! So he cries until we come back to help him lie down… Only to immediately stand up again. Sometimes it’s almost an endless cycle even though we know he’s so, so tired. During the day sometimes when he gets in this mood, we’ve just been skipping the nap altogether. The good part is that all this not napping means I’ve been able to get a lot of errands done, and running errands wears him out! I remember Joey going through this same phase, and I know he’ll get through it as soon as the novelty of standing wears off, he learns how to sit and he moves on to another new skill.

In his case, I’m worried whatever his next new skill is will involve climbing! It looks like we have a climber, which Joey was not AT ALL. It’s so crazy to see how different these two kids are when we have done everything essentially the same. Olly is such a … boy! Everyone told me that we’d notice a difference, and it’s so true. Joey has always been very thoughtful, very cautious, a perfectionist. When we’d hand her a toy, even as a tiny baby, the first thing she would do is turn it over to see how it works. She’d touch every screw, explore every button. Olly, when you hand him a toy, he throws it! Doesn’t even look at it, just throws it. When Joey was interested in learning how to climb the stairs, she studied them, she cautiously went up one and then back down until she felt comfortable moving on to the second step. Last week I suddenly heard Joey say, “Olly on the stairs! Good job, Olly!” And yep, he was halfway up the stairs all by himself with no warning whatsoever. Eek! I’m not sure we’re ready for this!

I think it’s fun to make a big deal out of half birthdays, especially since Joey’s just happens to be on the Fourth of July! We celebrated with some fancy cupcakes from Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes (she chose one with a gummy worm on top!), a visit to the local pool, and her favorite Chicken McNuggets and milkshakes.

And aren’t this month’s photos just the cutest? When we were taking Olly’s photos, Joey lied down next to him. Even Ruby wanted to get in on this photoshoot!

After this one there will be only one more monthly baby update, Oliver’s big O-N-E. I can’t even believe it’s here already. I’ll be spending the next two weeks memorizing these last days of his babyhood. I mean, he’ll still be a baby, but once they’re one it just feels so different, like he’s more of a pre-toddler than an infant. But while I’m feeling nostalgic and sentimental, I’ll also be looking so, so forward to this next year and all the fun new changes and challenges it will bring, for both Oliver and Joanna.

And there will also be lots of photos from Olly’s upcoming birthday party! One of my good friends is going to be taking photos since I totally dropped the ball on taking photos at Joey’s first birthday (so sorry Jo!), and I have lots of fun details planned.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, Olly is meeting with the neurosurgeon this week to find out if he can be finished with his helmet! Cross your fingers!