11 Months

Oliver is only one month away from his first birthday! This month has been pretty eventful for our little Ollie bean.

Oliver has started pulling up to a stand more easily and has started showing interest in his little baby walker. In fact last night he walked back and forth across the living room with it until he literally couldn't go anymore. I think he'll be taking his first steps close to his birthday!

We all went through about two solid weeks of the flu here in the Nichols household. It was miserable and awful and completely messed up Oliver's wonderful sleep schedule. We're finally getting back to a regular routine, but he's definitely not sleeping the 10-11 hours he was last month. The most frustrating thing about it is that we switched rooms with the boys to put them in the same room just before everyone got sick, so there were lots of late night re-arranging of sleeping quarters so that poor Tay didn't have the baby keeping him awake all night.

Ollie is right on par with Taylor at this age as far as communication skills go. He can now say the following words and phrases:
- Mama and Dada
- Grandma (when he really, really wants to say it)
- All done
- Bye-bye
- Hot dog
- Cracker

He also understands a lot of the words we say. For example, if I ever say the word, "breakfast," "lunch," or "dinner," Oliver takes off for the kitchen. This little chunker takes his food very seriously.

Speaking of food, Ollie is an absolute garbage disposal when it comes to eating. He eats just as much if not more than Taylor does! I don't know where all that food goes, but he's definitely been chunking up lately and is most happy when he's got a full tummy.

Oliver and Taylor have started playing together more this month. Ollie will tackle Tay and they'll roll around on the floor laughing and screaming at each other. I love watching them interact and goof around together.

Now that Halloween is over I'm in full party-planning mode! Oliver's first birthday party will be fish themed (his very favorite book is "Friendly Floppy Fishy") and I'm just finishing the invites to send out soon. I can't believe my baby will be a year old in one month!