More Oliver!

Well tomorrow is Ollie's 2-week birthday! He already looks SOOO different from when he first came to us - his little cheeks are starting to get pleasantly plump and every little expression he makes is absolutely wonderful!

See how different he looks?

Week 1
Week 2

Yeah, he is the most adorable little man in the entire world (yes, I'm biased, but it's still true)! He finally had his first bath, albeit a sponge bath, and truly didn't even cry about it at all! He huffed and puffed a bit, but still no crying!
Afterwards, he got all bundled up in his cute hooded towel and snuggled with daddy!

Last week, Papa Jim came back in town to drop of Oliver's birth-day present: the most amazing dresser ever, designed and built especially for Oliver!
Pictures don't quite do it justice - it is surely a thing of beauty! Papa Jim built in 2 secret drawers, one on each side of the dresser... but on the left side he included an even more secret gift!
Yes, that's right, Oliver's very own iPod (mama and daddy don't even have iPods)! Papa Jim built in a weighted cord that sneaks down the back of the dresser and connects to built-in speakers! Mhmm. So, in the late night hours when Mr. Oliver decides he wants to be wide-awake and stare at me with those big blue eyes for hours, I can sneakily stick on some sleepy music and rock him back to sleep! It's really amazing and actually sounds really great!
Thanks Papa Jim!

Well, time to go make dinner. Here are some parting shots, just for your viewing pleasure!

Wide awake - look at those big blue eyes!

He's so long and skinny - just like daddy!

Very mis-matched, but very cozy (in his laundry basket, of course)! :)

We just love our little man!

Mr. Oliver!

6 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 long inches of pure delight....As most of you dear readers have probably heard by now our very own Oliver James David Bird came into the world wednesday afternoon. So far even with the staggering lack of sleep he has brought about he is still pretty much the best little baby I've ever seen. Of coarse, I'm obviously biased but he has been super calm and sweet as well as generally mild mannered for basically his entire life and with such a cute little face on top of his skinny body he's pretty much perfect by my standards. I'm sure we will fill you in on every tiny little detail of his life rather soon but for now I will leave it at that. Enjoy the pictures!

beached whale.

That's right, everyone. I'm officially huge. Well, to be honest... everyone that sees me tells me how small my stomach is, and how ridiculous it is that I'm literally due at any moment. Oliver's been a tiny little guy this entire time - but that doesn't mean that I don't feel big. Actually, sometimes I still forget that I have this big belly - until I move, or take a breath, or anything similar to that... :)

So, this is me at 38 weeks, 2 days (yesterday).
For some reason, I feel like my belly looks smaller this week than last time I took a picture... but I guess it's probably just about what I'm wearing at the time.

Anyway - no major updates. Had an appointment yesterday and Dr. says I'm somewhere between 1-2 cm. I do have to go back in tomorrow, though, instead of waiting a full week like normal... my blood pressure has been getting a bit high the last couple of appointments, and he wants to monitor me more frequently to be sure that it doesn't get unhealthily high... so, there's a chance that we may have to talk about inducing. *sigh* I'd really like to avoid that, because I desperately want to have a natural birth, but I also realize that I can't really control what my body is doing right now, and I need to listen to my Dr.'s advice in these matters... I'm just praying that I'll go into labor in the next couple of days, that way we don't get to the point of inducing. So, you can keep us in your prayers for that.

Besides sitting around waiting for Oliver to come, we've had a pretty crazy last week or so... Andy's computer got a really really bad virus and completely died... THANKFULLY he didn't lose everything on his hard drive, and was able to use my computer to back everything up. As of this morning (a week later), his computer is up and running as normal, and everything seems to be working properly. But, it was a stressful/frustrating week for him, because he's actually had a lot of work he should have been doing... so, we're trying to catch up/keep up and also make sure we have enough flexibility in our schedule for when Mr. Oliver decides to arrive. On top of that, I'm busy trying to pull together all of the business taxes... I am thankful that we don't have to pay someone to do our book-keeping all year, but even so, I really really really don't like doing it myself. Thankfully we have a real accountant to file everything properly for us - but it still takes me weeks to pull everything together for him... so, I'm desperately trying to get as much done as I possibly can before Baby gets here. So, you can pray for that too!

Besides working, working and now taking lots of naps (to help keep my blood pressure low) - the only other newsworthy item is Andy's beard. It's coming along very nicely, and he allowed me to take a quick photo shoot of the progress for you all. He still complains that it doesn't look good - but I think he looks great, and it's coming along very nicely (it hasn't even been a full month yet)! Enjoy.

Growing a beard has made him very pensive.

And happy...

And... like usual... he's quite the ham.
(this one is my personal favorite)

I think it looks great - don't you?

That's about it for now. I'll leave you with these lasting images... sorry that I'm not quite as good at posing for pictures as my dear husband is... he's got skills. ;)

That's right, people, that's a beard.

(and, no, that is not a basketball... it is a real baby)