Grandma's gone

My mom has been driving from Victoria every week to watch Oliver Monday through Wednesday for the past 6 months. This has been such an amazing gift for us and for Oliver. I think she enjoyed it too! Wednesday was her last day. We are all sad to see her go and Oliver will miss his grandma so much. The two of them have a really special bond.

Oliver loves his grandma! Don't worry, we will see her soon. Just not every week. We've already ordered the webcam!

First day of daycare

Oliver started daycare this week. He will be going to the Cottage School across the street from our work 3 days a week now. He started his "transition" by going for a few hours each day and he will go for full days starting on the 16th. He is in the "waddler" room. He is the youngest one; all the other kids are walking and some are talking. This picture is of Oliver in the morning before we all got in the car to go to work. His backpack is a little over packed for him I think...We made little name labels for all his stuff and took it all to his cubby at school.

His first week went really well. Not a single tear when we left and he likes his teachers a lot. We were also told that he really likes story time and the music teacher. He is still getting used to all the kids and not having the teachers' undivided attention. He ate lunch with his class two days; they sit at little tables and feed themselves for the most part. One really nice thing about him being in daycare is that I can go over and nurse him after lunch, so I actually get to see him more now. I think he is going to have a great time once he settles in a bit. Next week he stays for the afternoon nap. Hopefully that goes smoothly...he isn't the best napper these days.

pumpkin patch

We recently spent the day with Oliver's grandparents at a farm in Fall City picking out a pumpkin. We had lunch there - Oliver had baked squash rings - and took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. It was a really cold day, so he is all bundled up. He wore a shirt that was handmade for Mike when he was a baby in the 70s, I thought it was perfect for the farm.

Oliver had a great time riding around the field on daddy shoulders looking for the perfect pumpkin.

The hay ride back to the farm.

Back at home with Oliver's perfect little pumpkin.

Halloween

Our little bee trying to escape...

Giving his daddy a little "sting"

It was Oliver's first halloween and he decided to go as a bumble bee. Very sweet, but under all that cuteness, he wore this scary skeleton costume...

We celebrated halloween early with our friends Sara, Aaron and Ari at the Woodland Park Zoo. This is our little bee waiting outside.

He was sure loving his costume (and riding on daddy's shoulders).

This is Oliver's friend Ari...this one is going to be a bad influence I can tell already!

Oliver is on the move!

Oliver is 10 months old and he finally started crawling! He has been rocking back and forth for a few months and pulling up and cruising on the furniture, but no crawling until now. And is he ever crawling! He is into everything. We had to quickly install gates at the top of the stairs and now he heads right to them and shakes the bars! We also had to babyproof the kitchen as Oliver has been taking everything out of the drawers. Very curious little guy : )

Fall

Oliver and I take a long walk in Lincoln park every Thursday when I am at home with him. The leaves have changed and it is so beautiful. Oliver seems to be liking his first fall...

Canadian Thanksgiving and the Victoria Marathon

We went to Victoria for Canadian thanksgiving and for Mike to run the Victoria marathon again. He ran his first marathon there last year, so I guess it is now an annual tradition. Oliver was a real trooper on the trip up, as there was a ferry fire and we had to wait at the terminal for 3 hours. He had a great time actually - he really likes driving the car!

On Saturday we went over to the Withrows' house for dinner. It is so fun that they live in Victoria now and we can see them whenever we are there to see my mom. We had a really great time catching up.

Then Sunday morning was the big race, so my mom, Oliver, Lulu (my mom's bulldog) and I headed out to cheer him on. This was the first sighting in Cook Street Village.

Oliver did his best but he just couldn't stay awake for the whole race...

The next sighting in Oak Bay...unfortunately he was faster than we thought and we missed him before this. Then we had to get a coffee and we missed him again...Ooops!

Then it was off the the finish line - Oliver was up and very excited for daddy!

And there he is - much faster than last year (6 minutes faster!), although just a few seconds over 3 hours...

We went back to my mom's for thanksgiving dinner. My mom got Lulu a bee costume because Oliver is going as a bee for halloween. She made me bring his costume for a photo shoot. It didn't go well. First Oliver was super cranky and needed a nap, so he passed out in the costume. Then when he woke up we took some photos, but he wasn't his usual smiling self. When I picked him up, I realized it was because his diaper had leaked and his costume was soaked through! Poor baby, no wonder he wasn't into the photo shoot!

He got to get out of the costume but Lulu wasn't so lucky....

Grandma got Oliver a very special thanksgiving present...a fire truck!

The morning we left, we met up with the Withrows again for breakfast. Aren't they the cutest little family?

Another ferry ride...look at his arm and leg. This baby sleeps in the weirdest positions!

Oliver baby book First 6 months

Click here to view this photo book larger

New website

I take way too many pictures and it can be a pain to upload them on to this blog, so I have a photo website where I am posting all the pictures of Oliver and us. You can order photos from the website if you want a copy of anything. I will still update this blog, but maybe post fewer pictures. Check it out!

www.mcdonellchaytorfamily.shutterfly.com

Savannah's Baptism Weekend in Victoria

Oliver's cousin Savannah was baptised in Victoria last weekend. It was Oliver's first trip to Canada! Here he is with his dad (who is trying really hard to be Canadian!) waiting for the ferry.

We got there pretty early, but luckily there was a playground - Oliver loves the wind blowing in his hair!

Now that he has a little hair that is!

Oliver even took his turn driving.

We had all got up early (at 5:30) to make it to the ferry in time. Someone was pretty sleepy once we got on the boat...

We took the ferry to Nanaimo so we could meet my Dad, his new wife Kankan, and Aleah for a picnic lunch. Oliver seemed to remember grandpa. He gave him his first tool - a little toy hammer. After 3 girls, I'm sure he is going to get Oliver all the "boy" toys he can.

The next day, our little family got all dressed up to go to the church. Oliver already has his daddy's style!

Look at this baby! Her grandma Jo had this dress made for her. She was so sweet and loving all the attention - I think this one might be a little diva!

But Oliver did his drandest to steal the show. This was the first of many coy little smiles that weekend. He was loving all the socializing too!

Look at that sweet little family!

It was a pretty long service, but my boys did a great job keeping it together!

Andy gave a really moving blessing to his little girl. This is the only picture where Katie wasn't crying : )

Afterwards, Oliver gave his little cousin a blessing too.

Savannah did great for most of the day, but after it was over and her mommy was talking to everyone that had come for her special day, she lost it a bit...SO sad!

Here's the whole McDonell/Withrow/Demetruk Family

Oliver had a little secret to tell his cousin...or is that a kiss? Maybe even a bite given her expression...

Back on the ferry a few hours later. Oliver sure loves his Auntie Laura!

It was a very quick weekend, but we had a wonderful time seeing both our families (everyone except Wisty). We are back to Victoria for Mike's marathon and thanksgiving next weekend!