Tractor Boy

It took 12 hours of tractors and outside time until Oliver finally fell asleep. He went strong all day- and then only slept for about 15 minutes. Wendy said he was laughing when they would go over bumps in the golf cart and eventually he stopped laughing, then she said he got really heavy and she looked down and he was sleeping.

Oliver is riding on his Oliver pedal tractor. We were back in Iowa for Antique Acres and my mom's Oliver tractor was there (along with the John Deere). Dale drove the big Oliver tractor which pulled a trailer that Oliver's tractor was on. So we had an Oliver pulling an Oliver riding an Oliver. He did really well during the parade and waved at people, sat on his tractor, and smiled. It was a VERY hot day and we were all happy to get some air conditioning after the parade was over.

At home tonight, Eric was driving Oliver's tractor around the living room. Oliver, of course, wanted to join in the fun. So Eric put Oliver on his shoulders and drove around our house. Oliver thought it was hilarious and had a lot of fun- I think Eric thought it was pretty fun too.

Sonogram

We had a sonogram today for the new baby. Oliver went to a babysitter for the morning so Eric and I could actually get something from the sonogram and appointment. Everything looked perfect! They were able to get all of the shots they were hoping for and the baby was very active. We saw the baby do a complete flip. The doctor said the baby weighs about 13 oz and is measuring 2 days ahead of our due date so everything looks right on track. Here are a few pictures from the sonogram.

New Bed

Last week, Oliver decided that he wanted to climb into his crib and he did. We were planning to get him into a new bed before the new baby comes, but hadn't really thought about exactly when we would do it. So this made us take that step. We got Oliver a new bed on Saturday and put it together that evening. Oliver "helped" us. He was all right until we tried putting the slats in for the support, he thought it was funny to slide those around while we were trying to position them. Needless to say, at that point, he watched a movie and Eric and I finished putting it together.

Oliver was going "night-night" in his bed right after we got it put together and put the mattress in it. He seems to like it. I think he especially likes having a pillow.

His new bed in place with his Cars bedding.

Oliver was pretty excited to come in his room and see his new bed with the sheets on it. He kept pointing to the car and saying "mooo"- which means movie. Cars is pretty much his favorite movie.

Today at naptime, when Oliver fell asleep, this is how he was. He slept this way for his whole nap.


Switching to a toddler bed has gone pretty well so far. He seems to be sleeping fine in it, but falling asleep still takes a little work. Naps are a bit harder than bedtime, but I'm sure before long he'll have the hang of both without any problems.

We still have the crib set up in the room, but haven't got a second mattress yet. We're hoping he doesn't try climbing in it at all and we can just leave it up and it will be boring by the time the new baby gets here and they will share a room with no problems. For right now, Oliver gets his own room and seems to be enjoying his new bed.

South Dakota

Our South Dakota vacation was a lot of fun. We got there to our resort near Custer on Saturday, July 17th. On Sunday, I spent most of the day relaxing. Eric went with a group of people and climbed a hill/mountain. You could see a long way into the distance and you could see our cabin from the top. I did the climb on Monday. I have a few other pictures, but they are on our other camera and Eric has that in Pittsburgh.

On Tuesday, we went with Dale, Audrey, Madison, Randy, Kara, Alex, Max, Sophia, Henry, Amy, and Cody to Mount Rushmore. We had lunch in the parking lot and used the back of the truck as a play pen. :)



I don't have any pictures on the camera I have from Wednesday, but we went to Crazy Horse and then we went on a train ride. Oliver loved the train ride- he had a blast!

Thursday was a long day. We went to Devil's Tower with a big group of people. We did the walk around it, then we went and had lunch. After lunch, our big group split into smaller groups and went their own ways. We were with my mom, Randy, Kara, Henry, and then myself, Eric and Oliver. We found a coal tipple near the booming metropolis of Aladdin (population 15). We went to the general store there and asked if they had a place where we could rinse sippy cups for the little boys and they told us they didn't have sewer or running water. :) But they did have a pump out back that we could rinse them in. After that we found the geographical center of the US. It was quite the adventure. The center was in a cow pasture out on a gravel road. We had to climb through a barbed wire fence to get in. It was a small cement slab with a little marker and a flag on it. We took lots of pictures there. The roads out there had lots of beautiful scenery. It was a very fun day.










On Friday, we went to a Mammoth Site with Kathy, Dale, and Samantha. On our way we saw buffalo. It was pretty cool. Eric is much more brave with animals than I was and he kept going closer than I would have and than I preferred him to. But we all made it through. At the Mammoth Site, Oliver had fun digging for bones. We ate lunch and then we went to Evan's Plunge which was a pool that was filled with water from a natural spring. Oliver loved swimming there and the water was at a constant 87 degrees.




It was a fun vacation and we are looking forward to next year's vacation. Planning is started and it looks like we may be headed to the Ozarks in Missouri.