Pee Pee in the Potty!

Wahooo!!! Oliver went pee pee in the potty last night!!! I think it was a total shock to him, but it is a milestone. Like most nights, he was ready for his bath and sitting on the potty waiting for the tub to fill up. He likes to sit there and then tell us he tried to go potty. I was explaining where pee pee and poop comes from (I know, if you don't have kids this may sound like a strange conversation). He was very interested and curious. He was content sitting on the potty and as I was reaching to turn off the bathtub water he started freaking out. I noticed some dribbles on the potty seat and I instantly suspected what happened. On a side note, Oliver is an extreme neat freak and wants messes (like spilled juice) cleaned up immediately. He almost acts like it's going to jump up and bite him. I wiped up the mess and explained that it was OK. He stood up and we looked in the potty. Sure enough... a yellow puddle!!!! He was curious and confused but I explained what he had done and encouraged him to go get his Daddy so he could join in the excitement. Keith and I were so proud of him. At this point, I'm thinking it was just the timing that he happened to be on the potty with warm running water nearby and nature took its course. I'm hoping that it will help connect the dots so he knows what it means to "go potty" in the future. One small step for Oliver, one giant step towards a diaperless world!

Happy Valentine's Day

After coming off of two weeks of illness and exhaustion, we decided not to spend additional energy on Valentine's Day. I know, Bah Humbug. Sometimes we have to prioritize and this weekend the high priority was rest and relaxation.

Then came Sunday afternoon. I had to run an errand (Ok, I went to get a much needed massage to help relieve a never ending headache... does it ever end?) and I decided to treat my boys and myself to a treat. After a stop at Starbucks I came home with a Grande Nonfat Chai for myself, a Grande Soy Mocha with Whip for Keith and a CUPCAKE for Oliver. MMMMmmm YUM!!!! The treats were a big hit and the perfect Valentine's day celebration for the family.

Oliver proudly displaying his vanilla cupcake.

There were three Red cupcakes left when I got in line and I watched them all sell before my eyes. :( When I got home I put red sprinkles on the white frosting and knew that Olive would love it either way.

Diving In! YUM!!

Yes, Oliver is still in his PJ's at 4:00 in the afternoon. I was washing his laundry because he didn't have any clean pants in the morning. Next thing you know, it's the middle of the day and he's still in his PJ's. Since we weren't going anywhere we figured it was a good PJ day to go with the rest and relaxation. Ahhhh... he loved it. He loved it so much he didn't want to get dressed or wear shoes today. It is so hard to explain to a two year old why PJ's are not acceptable to wear out in public.

Geoff's 40th Birthday

On Friday night we headed up to Longmont (1 hour North) to celebrate Geoff's 40th birthday. Keith has known Geoff since he was in college at CSU. We had a great time with Geoff and Stephanie and four of their other friends. Stephanie made an amazing dinner, had a sitter in the house for the kids and managed to pull together a surprise dinner party for Geoff in his shop. It was a great time. The guys reminisced about all of the good times they had... before kids and marriage. Hey, Hey, Hey... aren't these good times too? HA HA!! Yes, we gave them a hard time about that comment. Not only did we have a great time that night, we stayed over night so there was no rush to go home and some of us could hit the hay early while the guys stayed up as long as they wanted. This didn't stop the kids from having a 6:30 wake up call.

Geoff displaying his 40th birthday cake. It is his Mom's Wine Cake recipe and it was SO Yummy!

Scott, Geoff and Keith

These three spent lots of quality time together well before marriage and kids.
Scott, Geoff, Keith and Bart.
Bart was Geoff's neighbor in Fort Collins. Now, they play in a band together with Bart's wife Betsy.

Jam session in the shop.

Saturday was a beautiful day in Colorado. Stephanie and Keith took the kids for a walk in the nearby park to feed the ducks.

Oliver, Freddie and Evelyn

Siblings: Freddie and Evelyn

Icky Sicky

It has been a rough couple of weeks around the Hamilton house. You may have noticed that the blog posts have been few and far between.

Exactly two weeks ago today, I came down with a nasty bug that kept me home from work for two days. For the past two weeks I have been battling one ailment or another. Today has been the best so far, so lets hope for a repeat tomorrow.

Oliver came down with something two Friday's ago, five days after I did. He battled a fever for four days. Keith stayed home with him on Monday since I had just missed two days the week before and I'm taking Monday off since Oliver's school is closed for teacher training. Keith also stayed home Tuesday morning to let Oliver sleep in. He woke up fired up and fever free, so he went to school. When he walked in Keith said he hugged Cadence and then ran off and played with Charlie. He was ear to ear smiles and stoked to be back with his buddies. At 3:00 I got a phone call that his fever was back. I took him to the Dr that afternoon and found out he had the beginning signs of an ear infection and pneumonia. Next stop was the pharmacy for some top of the line generic antibiotics.

Keith has been a trooper and has been battling mini versions of what Oliver and I have had. He has been wonderful at taking care of the two of us. Hopefully Oliver and I are on the mend so that we can pamper him next weekend.

Between the three of us, we have covered the following: coughing, sneezing, running nose, fever, headache, stomach ache, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, insomnia, big appetite, no appetite and large doses of crankiness! Needless to say, there are no photos to document these moments.

Oliver and I have a date day planned tomorrow. We have big plans to go to Barnes and Noble in search of new books followed by lunch with Dad. I'm hoping we all wake up feeling wonderful and rearing to go.

We did manage to get out this past Friday for our friend Geoff's 40th birthday. I have a few photos from that night as well as some Valentines day photos of Oliver to share. I'm off to get some more rest, but maybe I'll get to posting the photos tomorrow during nap time. Keep your fingers crossed for a good quality nap. Those don't come around every day now either. Something about Oliver being two and wanting to exert his independence by playing instead of napping. This usually guarantees a disaster by 4 PM.

Weekend in Beaver Creek

Last weekend we headed up into the mountains to spend the weekend with the Stack family in Beaver Creek. The weather was perfect and we had a great time! I stayed back with Oliver on Saturday while Jen, Craig and Keith hit the slopes and Parker spent the day in the Beaver Creek day care. Oliver and I started our day out nice and easy, in our PJ's. Oliver enjoyed some morning cartoons in this big rocking chair, which he loved climbing in to.

As the morning progressed, and warmed up, we headed out into the Colorado sunshine. We were staying in Arrowhead, which is ski in - ski out and has its own ski lift. I took Oliver out to see skiers for the first time, up close and person. He was quite amazed at the long sticks that people were sliding around on. He kept pointing and saying "slippy". Yup, they are quite slippy. We played in the snow, had some lunch and then enjoyed a cookie by the fire pit. The two of us had a great morning enjoying ski life, without the skiing. Next year, we're thinking it's time for Oliver to strap on some skis himself. I must admit, I was HIGHLY jealous that I was missing out on my perfect kind of ski day: fresh snow and blue skies.

Saturday evening we went into the village of Beaver Creek for dinner. Upon our arrival, we stopped for a group photo.

Jen, Parker, Craig, Keith, Oliver and Carrie

Family Photo

The Ham Fam in front of the ice arena.

Oliver checking out the latest news with one of the locals.

On our stroll through the village we came across this huge St Bernard names Gus. The woman with him was very gracious to let us pet him. She actually said that pleasure was all Gus' since he LOVED the attention. Oliver was amazed at the big dog. You'll see Parker coming in from the NW corner for an ear scratch. Gus was a very friendly and gentle dog, perfect for two little boys to love on.

After a fun dinner with the group and two of Jen and Craig's friends, we all headed back to the condo in Arrowhead. We have learned that if there is social activity going on, Oliver does not want to miss out and getting him to go to bed is a fight. Instead, we opted to let him watch Finding Nemo. He started in the big rocking chair, but as he began to look sleepy, we moved him to the couch. Within minutes, he had closed his pretty little eyes. It had been a fun filled day with lots of high country sunshine and fresh mountain air. Just enough to tire a little guy out.

Sunday we headed home and it was another blue sky day in Colorado. I can never resist taking a picture of the Continental Divide when we are approaching it from the West. It always takes my breath away. The pictures really never do it justice. You may just have to come for a visit to see for yourself. For those of you out of state, the tree line is about 11,000 ft.

Crazy in the Kitchen

Just some fun photos of Oliver getting crazy in the Kitchen.

For dinner, Oliver helped me mix up some corn bread. He was a great helper.

I know that Oliver standing on a chair is a HUGE safety hazard. I did make sure he was very stable before backing up to take the pictures.