One of the regular highlights of our week is playgroup. We recently had a new addition to our group: sweet little Frank. These boys are so fun to watch together!

Oliver agrees!

They both have fabulous blue eyes, don't they?

And we had to say goodbye to precious little Stephanie (who had just woken up in this picture!) because she's moved back to London. :( So sad...

Other than that, Oliver continues to amaze us as he grows more into a loving little man each day:

He still adores bath time; it's almost impossible for us to stay dry while he bathes because of the splashing!

And the squirt toys:

Makes your heart melt, doesn't it?

He's also thoroughly enjoyed his new high chair (can you tell he just woke up here?), where meal times are his favorite part of the day. Because I'm succumbing to the pressure of other moms who have posted these facts, I'll share that his list of foods has gotten rather long (despite the 5-day wait rule to watch for allergies), and he loves every bit of it! He's eaten rice and oatmeal; turkey, chicken, beef, veal, and salmon; potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, winter squashes, and zucchini; peas, green beans, broccoli, lentils; apples, pears, prunes, and bananas. His favorite finger foods are rice cakes and green beans, and he eats most things very finely chopped now, but no longer really pureed.

He drinks a little water during meals, but otherwise we're keeping milk as his main liquid.

Anyway, other than food and baths, play time is all he's got. Ain't that the life?!?!

He is quite a serious little player sometimes, with a passion for taking things OUT of bags, buckets, cabinets, etc. He hasn't really gotten the hang of putting things back IN... but I'm realistic; I know it may never come.

Can't beat the joy, though:

Or the intensity:

And even more than his toy bucket, he loves to play with whatever household items I leave within his reach. These pillows made a great play zone:

And dad's drumsticks are an absolute favorite:

But most surprising to me is his fascination with the washing machine. He loves to simply sit and watch it spin around (we have a front loader)... hilariously precious, if you ask me:

I know I probably sound so mushy and pathetic, but this kid is amazing. He still does his fair share of whining, and he wakes up sometimes at night when his teeth hurt... But truly, we could never have imagined that he would be the blessing that he is. I am constantly amazed by how he and his actions illicit a love from my heart that I've never known. What an amazing thing to think that our Heavenly Father loves us all the more...

Anyway, I am FAR behind on posts concerning the little guy. And since he just turned 10 months yesterday, I figured now was as good a time as any to try to catch up and at least share pics from his 8th month. We start with some photos from early February (just after our Italy trip). We had a few unusually warm days and Oliver and I decided to take advantage and visit our park at the end of the street. Although we went several times in the fall, this was a whole new experience for Oliver now that he's mobile. He was seriously interested:

And was determined to leave the blanket at explore the unknown, of course:

When it occurred to me that this was my child's first time to actually play in grass (does that make me a bad mom?), I decided to let him go and enjoy:

I even let him taste some leaves (again with the bad mom??):

A couple of days later, we had another playgroup (we love our playgroup friends!). Oliver and Stephanie are always holding hands... Is there something there?

And then Oliver showed off his new-found love of sitting up on his own. He's been able to do so since about 5 months, but he was so uninterested in it that I couldn't ever leave him alone. He would quickly get distracted and flop down onto his head... But at 8.5 months (yes, a full month after he became mobile), he's finally decided that sitting up is ok.

And he even gave himself a round of applause:

Around that time I also decided that Oliver should try feeding himself a little. Me and my OCD had not let my poor child feed himself before because I didn't want to clean up the mess... But we stripped him down to his diaper and gave it a go.

He had more trouble actually getting the apples into his mouth, though, than I had hoped:

But he seemed to have fun, at least!

And he showed off his sippy-cup skills. Long drink:

Pause to breathe:

Even more fun than food is playing with daddy:

His most fun thing is watching himself walk in the mirror (he's facing a floor-length mirror in these pictures):

Does life get any better?

And one more thing he was doing around 9 months is playing hide and seek with his books. Before bed each night we read at least one book and when we finish, we hand it to Oliver to hold for a bit. He started playing peek-a-boo with us around Christmas time. Although he usually stops if I go for the camera, I managed to kind of capture the process here:

At least I tried! Truly, though, I think each month gets better. He's playing, laughing, crawling, eating, sleeping (praise God!) and smiling all over the place. Love him so much!!

So, of course, during our short (less than 24 hour) visit to their adorable home, we had to snap some photos of the babes. Due to nap schedules and such, we only got a chance right before we were about to leave to catch our train, but I think we got some cute ones anyway. Here are Vanessa and Will with both the little ones:

Since the kids weren't smiling at Chris's attempts to entertain them, Vanessa offered to take over (since I was hiding behind the camera). Will and Chris could hardly contain themselves at Vanessa's antics, but the babes seem rather nonplussed:

So we decided to sit them down for some pics. Karis is taller than Oliver, but I have to make a note here that she was actually sitting in a Bumbo while Oliver is sitting on the floor - she's not that much taller than him:

And yes, they look a bit scared... too many people trying to get them to smile. Like I said, we were on a deadline.

Oliver: "What's wrong with these crazies?!?!"

Karis: "I have no idea..."

Both: "Whooooaaahhhh.... they've sunk to new lows..."

Oliver: "They're beginning to scare me."

Oliver: "Get back! I'll protect you from these psychos!"

Thankfully, they eventually got over their fears...

But Karis got tired of Oliver, it seems:

He didn't mind, though; he was too busy practicing his "To be or not to be..." from Hamlet:

Karis was much happier with her mommy:

Oliver seems pretty happy with Karis' mommy, too:

I guess Vanessa just has the magic touch!

So after all that, no pictures of both smiling... I tell you what, though, I know that non-moms are probably ready to puke by now, but there are few things more entertaining to me than pictures of my baby and my sweet friend's baby playing together... warms my heart.