Saturday Nap Time

Oliver is taking a nap, Keith is at Home Depot.... SO, I thought I would update the blog. YAY!!! I thought that I could do some work around the house, maybe work on my tan or even brush the cat. Instead, I decided that you would all like to see new photos of the cutest kid born on Oct 14. (I think this is a safe claim since I don't know anyone he shares a birthday with)

We have had a busy morning today. We kicked it off bright and early with the Coors 5K run/walk. This is an annual event that is the morning of the company picnic. It is followed with a pancake breakfast with events like a car show, face painting, jumpy castles, fire truck demonstration, etc. It started at 7:30 AM with the kids run with the family run/walk to follow. We got there at 7:45 thinking there was no way they had started. Come to find out, we missed it by 10 minutes. We could have bagged out on it, but instead, we took off jogging!!! If you know me, you know I don't run. I suppose I might if I was being chased by the boogie man, but I usually choose not to. So, we actually participated in the run/walk, just as it says, run/walk. We finally caught up with the group and passed a few people so we weren't the last ones in. We were probably very close to the end, but not the VERY END! We really enjoyed ourselves and Oliver slept the whole way. We think he may have allergies because his nose is running and his eyes were running like a waterfall. His eyes stopped when we left the Golden Valley so hopefully it's just allergies. Of course, it could be a tooth, FINALLY! We say that for every little ailment and I'm sure it's just allergies.

Carrie and Oliver ready to head out on Oliver's first 5K run/walk.

Oliver at breakfast, SO glad to have time in the grass.

Doing a little dance with Mom.

Whew... taking a nap for a 5K and flashing my smile during breakfast is a lot of hard work!!!

Time for another nap.

So happy to be back in the backyard with my bongo drum!

This is a good picture of his bottom gums with no teeth. Someday he'll have teeth too!!!

We noticed that since I take most of the pictures there aren't many of me. Keith decided he wanted a picture of me with his "championship rose bush". It's going to climb the house before we know it.

Thursday evening we were treated to a visit from Keith's parents, Nana and Papa. They were in OK visiting her twin sister and they swung by here to spend the evening with Oliver. Keith and his Dad went golfing that afternoon and they said they had a great time. Oliver wasn't much for company that night but he eventually decided to cheer up for his guests. Evenings get shorter and shorter the further we go into the week. He just gets tuckered out from the busy days at school. I refer to our evenings as the 3 B's - Bath, Bottle, Bed.

Oliver with Papa.

I thought this was a good snap shot of me working in the back ground cleaning off the table. Since Keith wanted me to post pictures of me lounging last weekend while he worked in the yard, I thought it was only fair to show the other half of our story. HA!

Some of Oliver's new developments:

Oliver decided to flip over and sleep on his tummy last night. This is a first! He was on his tummy for 2 hours last night from when he fell asleep to when we went to bed. I turned him back over so I wouldn't go to bed worrying that he wasn't on his back. At 1 AM I woke up to him fussing in his crib. I tip toed into his bedroom (I usually avoid this since I don't want him to want to get up, but I just thought I should check on him) and he was on his tummy again and pushing up looking around. I quickly flipped him back over, gave him his blanket and scooted out of there. He was back to sleep in no time. Hmm.... Maybe it's time to lower his mattress before he starts pulling himself up. We are starting to think that he is having parties in his crib but pretends that he's sleeping when we go to check on him. We find him at all kinds of angles in the crib. His favorite seems to be to shove his head as far up into the corner as possible with his nose in the corner. Well, I guess if he's happy. It was kind of fun to see him sleeping like me last night on his belly with his feet out from the blankets. He also sleeps with his arms above his head which Keith tells me is how I sleep. He also tells me that he steers clear of me while I'm in this position since he has received an elbow to the head a time or two. How can I possibly be to blame? I'm sleeping and innocent!!

Another thing that Oliver has started is talking with repeated words. I can't quite capture this on camera since every time I bring the camera around he clams up. We hear a lot of lalalala gagagaga babababa and some dadadada. We're working on mamama but it is still just mmmmmmm. Mmmmmmm is the universal signal for when he wants something, usually food or a nap. The best news for me is that this is suppose to be a developmental milestone, even if it sounds like gibberish. Today he was talking up a storm in the yard, which was very cute. Unfortunately, when I brought the camera out he clammed up. Here he is anyway, demonstrating his clapping skills.

That is the update from the Hamilton's House. We are enjoying the summer and hopefully my pasty white skin will get a tan one of these days. Darn that desk job that is indoors! ha ha!! Tonight we are headed to see our friends Jeff, Marian and Jin in Conifer. Tomorrow we are off to see Bob and Susan in Brighton. We are looking forward to it and maybe I'll have a few pictures to share.

Father Day Surprise, Part I

The first part of Keith's Fathers Day surprise was a new driver from Oliver. He had NO idea where we were going or what he was in for until I told him right before we got to the store. He was SO exited!! I think Oliver liked it too. He couldn't take his eye off the bright red head cover. After our shopping trip, we took advantage of being out on a Friday night and went to dinner.

Oliver's first fortune cookie?
By the way... this ball was left at our house and we don't know who it belongs too. Is it yours? Oliver LOVES it, so you might have to pry it out of his hands, but he is easily distracted, HA!

Fathers Day Surprise, Park II

Since Keith now has a new driver, he has to try it out! On Saturday we went to see our friends Geoff and Stephanie in Longmont. Stephanie and I arranged a tee time for the guys in celebration of Fathers Day. It was a last minute surprise that they found out about just before the big event. Geoff got the golf cart spiffed up and they headed off into the 90 degree heat. Stephanie, the kids and I headed to the pool to cool off! I forgot my camera for the pool so I don't have any photos. Stephanie took some so I'll post them when she sends them to me. Oliver wasn't a big fan of the pool. I don't think he liked the temperature. We'll keep working with him and hopefully he gets over it. We had a GREAT day with the Hess family and can't wait to spend another day with them soon. They have a daughter, Evelyn, who will be 2 in August. They are expecting Freddy to arrive in the next 3 weeks or so. Oliver and Evelyn got along famously and I can see them being buddies for many visits to come.

Oliver checking out the drivers seat of the golf cart. He'll have to wait a few years to drive it for real.

Keith and Geoff are loaded up and ready to roll out!
Oliver with sunscreen hair, ready for the pool! This really shows how much hair he has!!

Evelyn and Oliver hanging out before heading to the pool.

"My bags are packed and I'm ready for the pool, Mom."
Quick beverage before hitting the road.

Bath time after the pool.

This was Oliver's first bath with another kid and he did great!
Dad's back from golf!!! YAY!!!
Story time, courtesy of Keith, before bed.

Geoff and Keith have been friends for many years, since Keith was at CSU in Fort Collins.

Oliver was testing out Freddy's new crib. He slept like a champ. I think it passed the test.
Keith LOVED this salt and pepper shaker!
Geoff and Stephanie dining on the deck.
Dinnertime stories.

Fathers Day

For Fathers Day, we slept in (YAY), lounged around, went to lunch, went to Jared's nursery and then came home. At home, Keith did some yard work (crazy, I know, but he wanted to) and Oliver and I got ready for the new week (we relaxed!).

This is Oliver getting lubed up with sunscreen before heading to the nursery. We got some GREAT plants for the back yard!

Here is Keith and Oliver with Keith's "Championship" rose bush. Well, that's what he calls it. He just discovered it was growing off the corner of the house last year. We didn't even know it existed until last summer! Now, it is "championship". I must say, I don't know that I've seen one grow so tall.

OH... the many Expressions of Oliver!!!

This is Oliver hanging out in the back yard this evening. All of these expressions came across in about 30 seconds. He truly is a happy kid who loves life! How can he not, he lives like a king :)

There is some serious G Brow going on here. That is short for Grandpa Garner eye brow expression. This kid definitely has some Garner in him. Not only does he have G Brow, he is a grumpy gus on an empty stomach.

Boys will be Boys... and make lots of NOISE!!! Keith and Oliver could entertain each other for hours.

Last Lecture

You may or may not have seen the "Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. I thought I would post it here (on the right panel) to share with everyone if you haven't seen it. It is extremely moving! I was fortunate to see it on Oprah while I was home on maternity leave. It was just a freak chance that it was on and I had the opportunity to see it. I shared it with my team and one of the ladies found his blog. I have posted that web page also and you can see updates as to how his is doing. Not only was the "Last Lecture" moving for me, but for the first time it really made me realize how much responsibility it is to have Oliver and it made me want to be the best parent that I could. I'm not sure that I'll let him paint his walls (like in the lecture) but I want him to look back and say that we were supportive of all of his dreams and that he is the man he is because of his Mom and Dad. I think every parent hopes for this. I know that Keith and I can say that about our parents. My parents may not have let us paint our walls, but they didn't stop us from hanging pancakes from the ceiling, HA! (well... they didn't know it was happening until it was done, but what fun it was!!!) Keith likes to reminisce about throwing his underwear into the ceiling fan to watch them fly. We tried this recently to see if it was as exiting as when he was a kid. I must say, it was quite entertaining and we laughed until our sides hurt. Enjoy!

Just Because, Photo

I just thought Oliver was cute here, so wanted to share.

Yard Project - Update III

Here is some photos of the yard progress from last weekend. Keith got the last two flower beds out and the ground smooth. He said he is letting in settle before we re-plant it. I think he is just taking a break. We are going to see our friends Geoff and Stephanie in Longmont today. Geoff is a horticulturist and we are hoping to get some advice as to what to do in that space. He always has some creative suggestions to plants we've never heard of. He helped Keith with his Loveland house and they did a great job.

The flower beds are out!!! The wood was quite rotten in several places, so it's good that we got it out when we did. Now... what do we do with the wood? Keith bundled it up and we're hoping the trash man will take it away. Otherwise... we may have chiminet fires every night for the rest of the summer!

Keith admiring his hard work. Yes, this is Oliver and Carrie lounging in the grass. Make note... Keith was lying between us until he went to get the camera. He said he wanted to make sure I post these on the blog to show people how much "work" Oliver and I were doing. This just happen to catch Oliver enjoying the shade, and me enjoying the sun. I suppose Keith got his revenge when I ended up with a sunburn.
Note: Keith isn't REALLY raking! He posed this for the photo. You can't really see it in this photo but he has a HUGE grin to show that he actually set this up. He made a point of asking me to post these on the blog. If he knows me well enough he knows that I am going to tell the real story of what was going on here. However, notice how smooth the ground is where the flower beds used to be. We can't wait for it to be done!

Oliver's First Football

Oliver loves to play with balls; baseballs, bouncy balls, squishy balls, Madalyn's balls with bells.... you get the point. Keith stopped at the store yesterday to get him a new ball. He didn't bring home exactly what I had in mind, but obviously it was exactly what Oliver had in mind, he LOVES IT!!! Here are some photos and video of Oliver's first football. Do we have a sports star among us?

SO Cute!

This was just last night and I thought this was too cute not to share. It is hard work to be the most charming ladies man in the class. Not only that, but he's the cool guy, hanging with his buddies. Kind of like Danny in "Grease", he's the cool guy with the T-Birds AND the Pink Ladies! Tires a little guy out. :)

Have Hawaiian shirt, will travel!

Oliver is ready for Hawaii.... too bad we don't go until September. I hope this still fits him by then!

Fun in the Grass

This photo cracks me up. It makes me think, WOW, Oliver is becoming such a big boy!!!

We tease Oliver that he has Grandpa Garner eye brows. Since day 1, he has let us know what he is thinking by the position of his eye brows. I didn't know that newborns could have such strong eye brows until I met Oliver. Can you tell what he's thinking here?

Back Yard re-do, Part II

1 flower bed out, 2 dug out, 2 to tear out.... 1 sore back and 1 major sunburn for poor Keith. This weekend we have high hopes that the last 2 flower beds will be out and we'll be at the nursery shopping for some aspen trees. Overall, Keith is making some great progress, sore back and all. So far, I think Madalyn (the cat) is the happiest about the progress. She rolls around in the dirt and pounces in it like she's a real tigress. Then, she usually pounces (like Pepi Le Pu) across the lawn and attacks the tree trunk. Don't worry, she isn't getting TOO WILD! She still just watches the birds walk past her in the yard. Maybe they have an agreement to co-exist in the backyard that she thinks is heaven.

Hair Cut

Oliver had his first hair cut on Saturday. Well... it was more like a trim. He was growing fuzzy wings over his ears and they were driving me CRAZY! I do like a clean guy, husband OR son. Keith finally agreed that he could take flight at any minute so he was due for a trim. Perhaps I fluffed the wings up a little extra for the photos.

Before

After.... so handsome!

Saturday with Friends to the North

We spent Saturday visiting friends who live North of Denver. First, we went to Shawna and Phil's in Fort Collins. Some of you may remember Shawna who I met in high school while I was in Seattle for a week at the Art Institute, we lived together in Seattle after high school and then a couple of years after her and Phil moved to Denver, I moved here too. They recently moved from Lakewood to Fort Collins so it's not as easy to get together. I sure miss our lunch dates! They recently added a new addition to their family, Ian. When we visited, Ian was 9 weeks old. Abigail is now 2.5 and getting taller by the second. We were all celebrating Ian's arrival and Phi's completion of his Masters degree. He is a fellow graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver, just like myself. Way to go Phil!!!





On our way back south, we stopped to see Nate and Kelly and their daughter Maisie. We hadn't seen them in months. Last time we saw them Maisie was practically brand new and now she is almost 10 months old. A little history on Nate, Nate and Keith are friends from the University of Wyoming. Nate and Keith are SO funny when they get together. I would have never thought grown men could giggle like little girls, but these two do when they get together. It is SO funny! They truly do share the same sense of humor.