late summer, early fall

It's finally officially fall, so let's get on that, weather.  It is actually so much nicer now than a few weeks ago, but the days get a little too warm still for my liking.  We need excuses to wear all the sweaters now.  It has been nice to do some transitioning, like putting fans away and getting out Oliver's jeans and cardigans.  Then we realized that our tiny boy is way too small for any of the jeans he has in the 12 month size so we might need to get some new ones until he grows some more.  Even when they're rolled up, they are way too huge around his waist, and he can yank them all right off.  It's hilarious going in to get him from a nap and discovering that he's sitting there pants-less as he waits for us.  

Oliver got sick a few weeks ago for the first time, just a small cold, but he's been congested and not sleeping well and it makes everything a little terrible when your baby wakes up every single hour all night long.  He's better now, mostly, but it sort of destroyed his sleep and we're doing our best to fix that.  He now starts to scream whenever I put him in his crib for a nap, so that's been so fun.  The way he clings to me when I finally go in and get him up is just heartbreaking and it makes it impossible to say "let's just let him cry it out in there".  So.  The other day I drove around and then parked at the library while he slept for over two hours in the car.  But at least he slept.  But I was stuck in the car.  But he slept.  Since then it has been more of the same, and sleep training doesn't seem to help, so I feel like there's nothing to do but wait and hope it gets better.

We've had lots of fun times, though.  I went into Boston to visit my friends with Oliver one evening.  Some of them were visiting from out of town and had never met Oliver before, so it was really good to catch up, but a little strange to be there with my baby.  Sam decided to join his friend's fantasy football league, so now we have to watch football?  We helped a friend move and then hung out in his apartment trying not to let Oliver destroy the place, we have gone for many long walks and visited the playground and library countless times, and maybe soon we'll take Oliver to his first children's museum.  We took him apple picking on Labor Day, and of course he didn't care a bit about picking apples, but he did enjoy sucking on one as I carried him through the orchard.  I love orchards and all the New England ridiculousness of late summer/early fall fruit picking.  Maybe we'll go again, just to get some apple cider and cider donuts.

This weekend was full of birthday celebrations.  On Saturday, we had a surprise party for my aunt.  It was the first time I got to see her new apartment, and it's always fun to have a party (even though she'd figured it out and wasn't surprised at all).  Today, we had a panini party (as my cousin called it) for all the many family fall birthdays, and it was fun.  My highlight was when Sam went outside with some of the boys to play football and Oliver watched them longingly from the window.  He was so into it, it was adorable.  He stood in his tiptoes to look out the window until my aunt picked him up so he could have a better view, then eventually took him outside. And now our birthday celebrations are mostly complete, Oliver is officially one, and had all the cake and parties a baby could possibly want.