check it out! thursday i had a chiropractic appointment, so i dropped oliver off at home before running off to that, leaving him in bryan's care for dinner time. i arrived home to find oliver feeding himself! i was so proud and so sad at the same time - i can't believe he's such a big boy already! he can't hold a big bottle (too heavy) but a little bottle is just right for him. *sigh* he's growing too fast!!
hannah is here, woohoo! her flight was delayed on friday due to some bad weather in atlanta (more tornado warnings!) but she eventually made it in. unfortunately, i was home curled up in bed, sick - had another stomach virus hit me. luckily, it again missed oliver, AND he was an awesome baby and went down to bed easy so i could die a quiet death in bed.
luckily, i got better, so we could drive to minneapolis and visit shannon. we had been planning on surprising hannah with the trip for some time; we thought she would really get a kick out of seeing shannon there. i had hoped that the baby would be sleeping through the night by this time (naive of me, i know), but as that is NOT occurring, we decided our best plan would be to leave once he had his middle of the night feeding. he woke up shortly before 2am saturday morning. bryan loaded up the car while i fed ollie. once i got him fed and happy, i put him in his car seat... and his eyes went wide like "WHAT THE HECK MOM." he started fussing, but as soon as the car started rolling, he was sleep. he slept for 4 out of the 5 hour drive. i managed to doze a little while bryan made the drive. we arrived at shannon's apartment around 7:30am, a bit earlier than any of us expected. :) bryan and oliver napped while hannah and i showered and dressed. mom and dad arrived shortly after 10am, and we all hung out for a bit before heading over to hamline university to see shannon run.
her hamstring has been bothering her, so instead of the big meet in oregon, her coach sent her to hamline to test her leg, and told her not to run too fast. :) we were pretty excited to see her run anyways. luckily, the weather was GORGEOUS - got up to nearly 70! - though still a bit cool in the shade. oliver got some outdoor exposure. he's still not used to fresh air! i was able to 
get him down for a short nap before shannon's race, no small feat. then we got to watch shannon beat the pants off everyone in her heat. she took 3rd overall, but as she held back (it's funny to see her run a 400 on a pace), not too shabby! luckily, her leg felt pretty good. after her race, we headed back to her apartment, where i tried to get ollie down for a nap, and failed, and she got ready for the day. we debated where to go for lunch: i wanted tacos, bryan wanted gyros, and no one else really cared. we decided to head to lunch at a puerto rican place she and mom had stumbled across, but they turned out to be closed. wouldn't you know it, a greek place was just a few doors down! so bryan got his wish. :) we had a lovely meal at the gardens of salonica.
we ordered a round of lemonade, which mom ended up not liking, as it was sweetened with honey. we shared a combination appetizer of tyro (feta blended with greek olive oil, roasted red peppers, hot peppers, garlic, seasonings), octapodi (braised octopus in vinaigrette), and anginares (artichoke hearts in greek olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice, garlic, seasonings), served with warm pita bread. the tyro was outstanding - definitely going to make that at home. the octopus appeared to be of the jarred variety, so was kinda eh. the artichokes were good as well. we also ordered a saganacki (grilled haloumi cheese), which was served in large cubes rather than the thick slices we've normally seen. quite tasty. and a new taste for mom - who loved it. shannon was not so much a fan, however. bryan, dad, and shannon had gyros, while mom and i both had the pork souvlaki, which was served 
in a pita with tomatoes and tzatziki. i had normally only had it off the skewer, but this worked too. the pork was very tender, and had a lovely hint of lemon. all our sandwiches came with greek fries, which i am a #1 fan of (and which were sinfully delicious dipped into the tyro). hannah made quick work of some baklava, as she had had a sandwich at the track meet. we were all very happy with the meal, shannon especially, as she had been on the hunt for a greek place. needless to say, we were all STUFFED after that meal.mom and dad got on the road, and we headed to our hotel to check in. then shannon directed us (barely) to the mall of america. i had been before, when i picked shannon up for thanksgiving in the fall of 2006, but we did NOT walk around much. we stayed in one area, looked in on
the amusement park, and that was it. so i knew how large the place was, and that this wasn't the kind of mall you just go bum around in. bryan, on the other hand, thought we would be walking all over, doing real shopping. so we did not communicate well on that. the place was PACKED - an absolute zoo. we had wanted to go do amusement rides with hannah, but every line was VERY long, so we nixed those plans. plus, the screaming throngs at the amusement park nearly did me in. we went right around oliver's bedtime, and the mall definitely over stimulated him. he did end up napping for awhile (passed out from sheer exhaustion, i am sure), and when he woke up, i knew it was T minus about 30 seconds before he had a very serious meltdown. in all reality, we messed up his schedule something serious the whole day, and messing with his bedtime was not a good idea. he screamed all the way out the mall and back to the hotel. i have no desire to ever go back to that mall, myself.once i was able to get him fed and changed, he calmed down considerably. unfortunately, a group of kids was in the room above us, running, jumping off the bed, and screaming. it didn't take us too long to decide that this just wasn't going to work, and we agreed we might as well get on the road NOW rather than trying to sleep for a few hours and leave in the middle of the night anyways (the hope being that oliver would sleep). we checked out and got moving. poor oliver, he would sleep for an hour or 2, then wake up VERY unhappy. and we couldn't blame him - he didn't get enough naps during the day, then the whole mall fiasco, plus he was strapped in his car seat (which he hates for long periods)... we had to pull off the highway a few times to take him out, let him eat and stretch and rest. every time we did, we had to pull a chinese fire drill and everyone switch seats, so we kept having to wake hannah up and make her move, poor girl. i tried driving some for bryan, but it seemed i couldn't get far before oliver would wake up. i'm not sure how bryan managed to stay awake, but we arrived home around 3am. i sent bryan straight to bed, got hannah tucked in, fed oliver (the rocking chair never felt so comfortable) and put him down (he seemed infinitely happy to be home), unloaded the car, and finally got to bed around 4am (which felt SO good to fall into).
driving 5+ hours with a baby goes on the NEVER AGAIN list for sure. why it was ever really on the SURE LET'S DO IT list seems silly now, but here we are. we ended up paying for our hotel room that we didn't use, but as we got a deep discount via shannon's boyfriend (his parents own a few), let's call it a $42 stupid tax.
oliver woke me up shortly before 7am on sunday, which was less sleep than i had been hoping for, but we were home so i was happy. we spent the day around the house, where i continually attempted to nap but couldn't seem to get it together. i had been worried we would have screwed up his schedule so terribly 
with the trip that sunday would be a disaster too, but proving once again that he is the best baby ever, oliver settled right back into his normal routine and schedule. bryan and hannah made a quick trip to get some yard stuff, and planted a japanese magnolia in the backyard, which we're pretty excited about. i did eventually get a short nap in before mom and dad came over for hannah's birthday dinner.
hannah chose Breakfast For Dinner for her birthday dinner, so we had some OJ, bacon (lovely thick cut stuff dad couldn't stop raving about), sausage, eggs, and pancakes with many toppings: raspberry sauce, fresh blueberries, grilled pineapple, mini chocolate chips, and whipped cream. i also put out syrup but no one had any. :) it was all really delicious (i opted for the pineapple and chocolate route). everyone agreed that it really hit the spot. we took a break from eating to open presents. 
then came The Cake. hannah had wanted pineapple frosting for her cake. i had made a pineapple cake for oliver's baptism, which she had loved. i wanted to formulate a brand new cake for her. her favorite ice cream is birthday cake ice cream, so i decided to make an ice cream cake. so i came up with the Birthday Cake Ice Cream Sundae Cake. i made a maraschino cherry cake, topped with a disc of homemade birthday cake ice cream, with a hot fudge cake on top, and, of course, the pineapple frosting. it was a bit messy, but very delicious. i got oliver to go nearly all night without feeding: he went down just before 6pm, as scheduled; woke up at 8:30pm for a bottle; woke up at 12am but instead of a bottle, i just gave him his nuk; and he slept until 3am, when i did feed him. it took some work to get him back down, as he seems to have a sinus infection. he wasn't crying or even really fussy, but i could hear him snorting and draining, so we did a steam shower and i rocked him for a bit. you always feel better when your mom takes care of you when you're sick, right? :)
i have tomorrow and wednesday off so we can all hang out together as a family. i am REALLY looking forward to getting in a nap or 4. we were smart in not making any real plan other than just spending some downtime together. thank god we got that right.
a bunch of new pics are posted in the NEW april 2008 gallery.
WFD: cheesy sloppy joes. i made these over the summer when hannah was here, and she and bryan both LOOOOOOOOVED them. so they are on the menu while she's here. :) with green beans. easy peasy.
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