New Blog

The time has come for "Life with the Carneys" to get a new web address. This one will continue to exist, but not be updated. There are reasons for the new blog, which I am not going to publish publicly, but do not mind sharing. The new web address is: http://dayswitholiver.blogspot.com/. It will take me a while to get it updated to look and have the information like this blog, but that is my eventual goal. Thanks for reading, and please continue following us!
Love,
Brent, Melissa, Oliver, and Wilson

7 Months Young

This past weekend Aunt Amy came to visit. She loved playing, feeding, and holding Oliver, which he loved too! She also taught him how to shake his head "No", which is funny for now, since he doesn't really know what it means. Over the past few days Oliver has been working on his sitting, standing, and "walking" skills as well, all with much help! Today he rolled over from his back to his belly for the first time. I'm sad to say that the milk is running dry, though not out yet, so he had his first bottle of formula tonight and drank it as though there was no difference. We are fortunate to have a boy that will eat anything! The latest new foods are peaches and broccoli (not together!) and he loves them both. The funniest thing is that he loves playing in his crib- shaking Mr. Giraffe, squirming around, and squealing with delight- sometimes instead of napping. We can't believe 7 months have passed already!

Oliver helped me do his laundry earlier this week!

He thought it was super fun!

He worked on "walking" with Aunt Amy.

Oliver loves his Aunt Amy

More walking practice. 

This was taken right after he rolled over while he was playing with Daddy. 

Wilson wants in on the fun too!

Growing and Changing

Oliver is learning lots of new things these days! One of them is holding a sippy cup. He knows how to hold it up to his mouth, but cannot get the water out without help yet. He also loves grabbing for things- hair, toys, the camera, a burp cloth, and the list goes on. Though he's not done it yet, he's starting to roll over from his back to his belly. He mostly only does this because he's grabbing for things. 

Which reminds me that he loves it when we read to him. He looks at the pictures and listens to the words. One book has furry parts to the animals that he reaches out to touch. He is not able to find the furry part without help, but he knows when I pull out the book to reach out to touch it. He's a smart fella! 

Oliver is also growing like a weed. I've decided that he's going to have my long legs and shorter torso. Again, some pants are too short and they are the right size around his waist. The best is when I put on his pajamas and the legs of them are stretched to the max while the torso part is saggy. It's absolutely adorable. His hair is also definitely going to be a shade of red! It's especially cute when it's wet because it has a slight curl to it. He also has one tooth coming out of his gums on the bottom. It's hard to see, but easy to feel when you rub your finger in his mouth.

This week we also tried going for a walk in the stroller without the car seat. He loves how he can see things, but not when the wind blows in his face. I may not have mentioned it before, but Oliver has a few girlfriends. One is Macy at the babysitters. She is only 5 days younger than Oliver. The other is Reece, who is 4 months younger to the day. 

I can't believe our little guy will be 7 months old in just a few days!

He thinks his sippy cup is pretty neat!

Oliver loves grabbing for things.

Check out that red hair!

Peek-A-Boo

Blogger is having issues downloading my video, so to watch a little game of Peek-A-Book click HERE. (The link may only work if you are my friend on facebook. The problem is that our new camera has HD video capabilities and blogger can't handle this much information. Blah!)

Enjoy these pictures too:

Hello! I'm a happy boy!

Deep in concentration

Update with No Pictures

I don't have any pictures today, but can share some things from this week.

1. Oliver loves to hear himself squeal! We've heard him a few times from all the way across the house.
2. My favorite thing has been nighttime cuddling. From 5-7 each night Oliver has a fussy time for at least 30 minutes. One of the ways to comfort him is to have him cuddle with me on the couch. I love it!
3. Brent and I are getting back to exercising this week. In the end we'll have each worked out at least three days this week.
4. Wilson is enjoying chewing on Oliver's plastic toy monkeys from his play gym. Unfortunately all 3 of them have seen their last days. Fortunately Oliver will never know the difference.
5. One of our favorite games these days is "Mommy's nose... Oliver's nose" where Oliver takes his hand and touches my nose then his own. He can't do it on his own yet, but he does know to go back for my nose again after his. 
6. Oliver is up to eating 3 "cubes" of babyfood with 7 ounces of milk for three meals a day and another bottle before bed. He still loves all of his fruits and veggies! 
7. During Spring Break Oliver has to have a cyst taken off of his man parts. It shouldn't be a big deal, but still kind of scary since they'll have to put him under for the procedure. We're getting it done while he's young so that he won't remember it.
8. Though I can see them through the gums, those silly bottom teeth have still not popped through. Any day now...
9. Only 4 more weeks until Spring Break! We can't wait for some serious amounts of family time! 

I promise to have pictures next time...

Pain in the Teeth

This week has been very interesting for a number of reasons. First, Oliver has been full-fledged teething. Second, Brent has been sick for about half of the week. Therefore I was with some fussy boys. They are both feeling quite a bit better now.

In other news, my school has a Girls on the Run team. I am not a coach, but am running with about 12 girls and 3-5 adults on Mondays and Fridays. Because Brent has Oliver on Mondays, I stay after school for a little exercise. On Fridays I rush to the babysitter's house to get Oliver, which is about 5 minutes from school, and rush back so we can walk with the girls. Today I carried him in our carrier as we circled the school building. I don't know who enjoyed it more... Oliver or the girls.

Despite the fact that we tried so hard, this little guy loves his thumb!
The number one way you can tell he's tired is that his thumb is in his mouth.

We tried a new toy where you put fruit in the mesh and he sucks out the juice.
We learned Oliver really likes strawberries! 

Oliver got to sit in the grocery buggy for the first time.
I had to help quite a bit, but overall he loved looking around! 

The Lord Will Provide!

Right now life is kind of crazy in the Carney house. Despite the fact that Brent and I have totally opposite work schedules, I'm finishing up my masters in school administration while Brent is studying to take the GMAT this Wednesday to begin his MBA. We feel like we are both going in opposite directions much of the time. However we know this will not last forever so we continue to strive for patience through this season and look forward to this summer when I am off of work.

I also had a run-in with a minor case of mastitis this week which made me feel dizzy and have chills Friday night. My doctor put me on an antibiotic and it seems to be helping. Though this is not the most pleasant thing I've dealt with, I must say we know we're fortunate that Oliver is still getting breastmilk. It's amazing how the Lord has provided this for us. Even as my amounts are decreasing I'm still getting the amount that Oliver needs for each day and have some (though the amount has shrunk tremendously) reserve in the freezer.

In other news, we've started going to a Bible study on Sunday nights at our new church. So far that is wonderful and working out to where we are in similar places in life with a lot of the people in the group. Again, the Lord is providing! 

As for Oliver, he's doing great! He's trying really hard to sit up, as pictured below, but can't balance himself well yet. The best he's done so far is this afternoon when in his crib, grabbing for toys. He sat up for 3-4 minutes before falling backward. On another note, his bottom gums are really white, meaning some teeth are coming soon. Maybe in the next week we'll have some pearly whites to show off...who knows? 

This afternoon my little guy and I enjoyed a trip to Target for diapers, Meijer for groceries, and taking Chick-fil-A to Brent at work where Oliver got to meet some of Brent's co-workers. (As a side note, I must say I could never work in a cubicle... my husband is amazing!) My favorite thing happened in Meijer. Oliver has a little monkey rattle I had given him to play with while we were in the store. Originally it started on his wrist while in Target, but that seemed to be annoying him when we first got to Meijer so I took it off and laid it where he could reach it. Well, after getting Oliver's special organic applesauce and going to the next aisle, this man came up to me, handed me the monkey and said, "I think he may have dropped this." I thanked him and answered a few questions about Oliver before moving on. This was a favorite moment because I got to share with someone about my little guy. And because it cracks me up how Oliver is starting to "throw" things, though I know it's not on purpose. If it were I'm sure it would not be so funny. He just drops them, but never even seems to notice they are gone. I must say I am very grateful to the man for returning Mr. Monkey.

Which leads to the fact that we are calling all of Oliver's toys "Mr." Brent and I have decided that it will be hilarious when he talks if he calls everything Mr. ____ for a while. For instance, he sleeps with Mr. Giraffe, has a different Mr. Giraffe on his car seat, Mr. Elephant plays with him in his high chair, Mr. Butterfly hangs in his crib sometimes, and Mr. Monkey is his rattle.

Lastly, I made some pear baby food tonight. Guess who gets to try something new tomorrow for breakfast? You guessed it! So far he's still loving his fruits and veggies, which is fine by us. If the pears go well, green beans are coming next! This whole making baby food thing is so fun to me.

We just feel very blessed... fortunate... lucky... whatever you want to call it! We know God is watching out for us and that He is providing for our needs. Lately we mostly notice him in the small stuff, which reminds us that He is a God after our hearts. We need that reminder!

Gotta love that little tongue! 

Oliver working on sitting up. The stuffed animals got his attention,
especially the donkey from Uncle Blake, and he wanted to hold them. 

Every time I see that smile my heart melts! 

Oliver thinks it's time to eat his sock when I'm changing his diaper.

"Now, what are these? Can I have one?"

I love to watch my precious fella sleeping.

6 Months Old

Today Oliver turned 6 months old. This has definitely been the fastest six months of my life so far! This afternoon we went for his 6-month check-up to find out that he's a healthy boy. He's now 17 pounds, 11 ounces (in the 60th percentile) and a little over 27 inches long (the 90th percentile). Teeth are coming in soon, according to the doctor, since he could see white buds. Dr. A said they should show up any day now. Most of the time he's a very happy baby who eats well and sleeps amazingly. The only time he gets fussy is when he's bored, has a dirty diaper, or gets tired between 6 and 7 each night (which luckily does not last the entire hour). He loves squealing out loud and laughing. Though he can't sit up on his own yet, he does it well with help. Often when we pull him up with his hands he'll go straight to his feet. As Dr. Adams said today, he looks really tall when he stands up. Oliver loves sitting in his Bumbo seat and playing in his Jumperoo (Thanks for the great deal, Gwen!) or Exersaucer (borrowed from the babysitter). Every time we turn around his tongue is sticking out of his little mouth. The grin on his face when either Brent or I walk in the room is amazing. He starts to laugh when he hears us coming. We are madly in love with this little man!

There's that little tongue!

Learning how to save money from John Madarese on the news

Hello, everybody!

Aren't I cute?

In the Exersaucer wearing Daddy's hat

This afternoon Oliver helped me do laundry... or maybe was just teething on the hanger...

Happy Birthday to the Mom!

Today was my 30th birthday. I honestly don't mind this too much and am pretty excited about a new decade. As a treat to myself I spent the day at home with the boys. Brent made me pancakes and bacon for breakfast and a beautiful chocolate cake  with vanilla ice cream for tonight. He knows how to speak to my heart. I enjoyed some time playing with Oliver and a short shopping trip with Brent to get some new jeans. So far 30 is looking pretty good! As another great part of the day I had the opportunity to take more pictures of Oliver. I don't think I can ever get enough of this little guy! 

I love these little fingers. They are so precious.
I enjoy pulling up on them to help Oliver sit or stand up.

Tiny little toes

His overalls from Grammy finally fit!
He's definitely my little man! 

Sharing some lovin'

He wanted some cake,
but we told him in about 6 more months we'd let him have some.

Saturday Fun

On Saturday the Short Family came over to hang out for a while. Kristen and I went out to lunch and window shopping while the guys took care of Oliver and Everette for a while. We enjoyed some "girl time" to just relax without any worries. Once we got home we all hung out and enjoyed one another. Oliver and Everette are becoming quite good friends, which is a good thing! 

The baby food stash!

The newest thing for Oliver is that he's realized he has a tongue. He sticks it out all the time! It's hilarious to watch, as are most things Oliver does these days. The other exciting thing of the week was that I got a new food processor for making baby food. Now our freezer is full of squash, peas, carrots, and potatoes. Oliver loves everything he's tried, which is everything except for normal potatoes. 

New bath time tricks include sticking out his tongue,
which is all the time now, and trying to catch the water when
I pour it over his hands. He's constantly amazed that he can't catch it! 

My little man after church today in a shirt Grammy
got him a long time ago that finally fits.
Here he's got that tongue hanging out...again! 

Oliver and Everette sharing the play gym. They were good at sharing! 

Playing in their Exersausers and Jumpers.
They had a staring contest for a while.

Oliver was all tuckered out after such a hard day of playing.
Don't you just love how he sleeps?