12 Weeks

Our little Gabriel is 12 weeks old today, and he is living life to its fullest. He has had quite a fun-filled summer tagging along with his big sis to the park, the zoo, the library, the pool.... He's been quite the trooper with minimal complaints!

Gabe's doing great. At his two month check-up he weighed in at 9lbs 12oz, so I'm sure he's well into the 10lb range by now. He's a good eater and he's been sleeping well. He's had many "almost" full nights of sleep- he'll go 8 to 9 hours, but he's been needing a pacifier around hour six to make it the rest of the way. Last night, though, he gave us a nice solid eight hours of sleep without interruption. Here's hoping there's plenty more of those nights to come!

Mama's Cherry Pie

(think "Country")

I wanna tell y'all a little story about a recent family activity...

Yesterday we packed up our car real good and took a little road trip down to a real nice place called Berry Patch Farms. Them people who run that there farm, they're real good people.

You know what them farmers asked us when we done got there? They asked us if we was interested in doin' some cherry pickin'. Cherry pickin'? We ain't never done no cherry pickin'. But we all looked at each other real hard and then we said "What the heck. Let's go and do us some cherry pickin'!"

And you know what? We got us some real nice cherries. And I done turned those cherries into a real nice cherry pie. I ain't never made no pie before.

And you know what else? That cherry pie was dee-licious. The chilluns liked it, their daddy liked it, I sure liked it, and even them doggies liked it. It was real good.

We had so much fun doin' that there cherry pickin, I went and wrote me up a little diddie all about it. I sure hope you enjoy...

Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine,
She picked lots of cherries for the cherry pie.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.

Snow in July

As Denver begins to heat up for the summer, it's nice to get away to cooler areas. The fabulous thing about Colorado is that you can always hop on I-70 West and you will inevitably hit cooler weather somewhere down the road. Today we did just that. And, not only did we hit cooler weather (a refreshing 64 degrees), we also hit snow.

Just 50 miles west of Denver is St. Mary's Glacier. With a short rocky hike upwards you soon reach a picturesque lake and the year-round snowfield that lies behind it. While Ruthie had very little interest in actually hiking the hike, she loved bouldering on the big rocks, throwing little rocks in the lake and walking in and eating the "no."

So, when the kids are hot and sticky in the middle of July, we can hop in the car for some sledding and snowball fights and, yes, even skiing!

I Wanna Be Like Ruth

As I've been snapping photos of Gabe, I've noticed that many of them look an awful lot like big sis Ruthie. I'm not referring to their faces looking alike (I'll let you decide that) so much as their mannerisms. I won't say anymore, because I think the pictures speak for themselves. And, just in case you can't tell them apart, Gabe is always on the left and Ruthie's on the right.


First days




Coming home




Naptime




Striking a pose




Oy!

And then there were four

Gabriel Lars Olson, 1 day old


That's right- the Olson family is expanding! Gabriel Lars joined us in the wee early hours of Tuesday, April 22nd (1:42am) to become the newest Olson on the block! His arrival was a bit of a surprise, since he wasn't due to join us for about 5 more weeks, but we are very happy and excited that he's here.

He weighed in at a healthy 6lbs2.8oz, 19 1/4" long (for this I am thankful that he did not wait another 5 weeks to come out!). However, since the lungs are the last major organ to develop in a fetus, Gabe did need some extra help breathing. I got to hold him for just a minute before he was taken off to the NICU where they put him on oxygen and helped to relieve some of the extra fluid in his lungs.

Since then, he's been improving steadily! He came off his oxygen and all tubes on Tuesday night. His goal now is to eat more on his own so that he can come off his IV and come home to his family. We're hoping that with the vast progress he's made so far, that this won't much time to achieve.

From what I can tell, though, Gabe is already trying to catch up with his big sister. He had a very quick birth (first written contraction to birth=2 hours, total time in delivery room=27 minutes, total number of pushes=4 or 5). Just like his big sister, he decided for mommy that she was not going to get an epidural. He also decided he wanted to be born in April, and to be born on a Tuesday, and to give his mommy the rest of the school year off, all just like his big sis!

And, in return, we already love him just as much as his big sis!


First family photo!

Turning Two

Before I post any more blogs, I just want to wish my little girl a happy birthday. She turned 2 years old on April 4th, celebrating in style at the park with all her friends young and old.

It's still amazing to watch her grow and learn, to see her struggles and successes, and to have her presence in our lives every single day.

Happy Birthday, Ruthie!

Dinner Time

No, this dinner is not for Ruthie. It's "feed the doggies" time and we have the perfect little helper. Ruthie can run this routine with her eyes closed. She knows where to find the bowls, which bowl belongs to which dog, and where each of them eats. Before we switched Gertie to Hirschel's adult food, Ruthie could even tell you which container held which dogs' food. I wonder how many years will pass before Ruthie determines "feed the doggies" time to be a chore and begins demanding allowance money?