Another day in the life of Cash

No, you are not seeing things....this IS JW holding Cash - and they both seemed to be enjoying themselves! It may come as a surprise, but JW is a great uncle. Of course, Cash isn't much of handful either, I'd like to see what JW would do under pressure (a.k.a. crying or diaper changing)!

Here's a picture of Cash in his papasan chair, he seems to be happier with it now than he was before, guess it's growing on him. Speaking of growing.....I already have an entire box of clothes that don't fit him anymore. We have just been dressing him in 6 and 9 month clothes - they're a bit on the big size, but better too big than too small!

A picture of Cash in his cow jacket (thanks Cora!) - I hate to say it, but this is the first and last time that he has worn this little jacket. I completely forgot that it was hanging in the closet and we pulled it out today and realized that it's probably a no go from here on out. Of course, he could always wear it with the zipper down....or maybe just not right after he eats. It's the cutest thing, his little belly gets HUGE after he eats....like a little tick! :)

I'm sick...

Cash is the proud owner of his very first cold (doesn't he look sick in these photos?). I hate to say it, but it's almost kind of cute - his tiny little sneezes and coughs. He isn't too upset about the whole situation, same old Cash. He hasn't even cried about it at all. As of today, he's pretty much over it, just a quick little thing!

Brent is off to North Dakota this weekend....he's got a manager's meeting and a 'fishing trip' with the boys from his college days. Lucky duck! Wait, what am I saying??? Who really wants to go to Fargo in the middle of the winter?? Poor sap! Ha ha!

Our little guy is smiling now...a little bit when you're talking to him, but it seems that his favorite place to be these days is his changing table. If not the changing table, it's the crib. He's just a happy little baby in general, which makes for happy parents!

And....after a long hard day:

Too Much Fun

Has it really been an entire month since I've put anything on here?! Time flies when you're having fun. Cash has been such a wonderful little addition. He has already fallen right into our routine here at the Olson house - a perfect little boy....sorry Jenny, I can't scare you out of having a baby by telling you how horrible it is to get up every 2 hours to feed him, listen to him cry, colic, etc.....Cash has allowed us to sleep from 10:30 to 4am nearly every night for the past few weeks. He's really not a crier, a pretty happy baby for the most part. He has started smiling and letting out little shrieks of joy that I can't get enough of.

Grandma Olson made a Target run the other day and got him a little safari play mat (I guess that's what you'd call it). He just lays there and 'talks' to the toucan and the giraffe, he loves it! He turned 6 weeks yesterday....he's now a 'big boy'. His next appointment won't be until 2 months, but he sure seems like he's getting bigger - longer for the most part, he really doesn't seem all that much heavier to me. It's so amazing to watch him grow and change daily, but I'm so sad at the same time.

I have gone back to work, although most of my day is spent calling home to see how Cash is doing - I swear I'm worth every government penny! Brent is also hard at it at the old C'Mon Inn, but the real work has been here at home. We've been working on the basement for the past few weeks. We've finished painting (we got our red wall), Brent's become quite the electrician (thanks to Christian) and they are putting the carpet in as I am writing this. We bought a fantastic sectional and a giant tv. We all know what that means - more B.O.S. days! We were hoping to have everything all set up for the Superbowl, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise that the couch hasn't arrived - at least this way we'll get to be the first ones to spill on it!

Okay, so I got a few pics up, but I am currently working on a slide show....so come visit us again soon - it'll be up and running!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cash & Mika

This is going to be one great year....we're looking forward to many wonderful times with all of our friends and our new family! Today is Cash's 2 week birthday. He seems to be focusing more, stays awake a bit more during the day (still let's his mom sleep at night, little sweetie), has 'fatter fingers' and is kicking and moving around more. Next Monday is circumcision day....I'm dreading it! I think I'm more worried and upset about this than I was worried about labor! Does this mean I am officially a Mom since I'm already worrying about our little boy? Or do I still need to buy a big purse and a minivan? I have been clipping coupons, that's gotta mean something!

I've included some photos of Cash's first bath....it looks a lot worse than what it was. He really wasn't crying, just a few fake cries and a lot of sad faces! He loves having his head scrubbed and quiets right down once you get him in the water - the little guy just hates being naked and cold, who can blame him? I put up another photo of Mika and Cash because it's just too darn cute! She's getting to be a little over the top, I'm thinking we're going to have to calm her down a bit on her motherly instincts - for my sanity more than anything! She drives me crazy running around after me every time I go in to check on him....I don't need a little black dog watching my every move to determine if I'm a fit mother or not!

Brent and I stayed up last night until midnight and watched the old ball drop and enjoyed the neighbors fireworks. Windsor wasn't enjoying it so much and caused quite the commotion. Thank god the fireworks were only about 5 minutes worth, otherwise I think we would have had a maniac on our hands. What kind of bird hunting dog is scared of fireworks? I reminded Brent of the 'war zone' that we were in the time we went pheasant hunting in North Dakota - that was much louder than the show last night, heck, even I was taking cover on the hunt! I had every intention of being in bed long before the ball dropped, but obviously Cash had other intentions, so we were able to enjoy our first New Year's as a family thanks to our little one! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We've been getting snow pretty much every day since Cash was born - gotta love a beautiful, white Christmas!

A day late, but heart felt just the same....MERRY CHRISTMAS! We hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas. Ours was quite low key and enjoyable. JW came up to the house and we opened lots of presents, watched "Iron Man" (what a great movie!) and had a nice Christmas dinner.....

Cash got a bath for Christmas and then proceeded to sleep through most of the day, which made for a fun night. Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts!!!!!

Mika has become quite the mother since Cash has come home - she runs to him anytime he lets out the tiniest peep and can't let him be in a room without her. It's really funny....Windsor and Wesley aren't all that phased by Cash....I am thinking that they are pretty much oblivious to most things as long as they maintain the same amount of attention!

Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs' first visit

I have been slacking a little bit on the pictures and blog. The problem is, we have SO MANY pictures that I haven't gotten them all straightened out yet! My folks were able to come out on Friday (the 19th) to spend the weekend with all of us. Brent and I were both so thankful to have someone around to help out with the 'little things', including Cash. Of course, as new parents, we had a few questions for Mom and Dad! We had a good time enjoying family (and good food from Mom) and were sad that they couldn't stay longer. We're hoping to make a little journey West soon so that we can introduce Cash to the rest of the family. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

Cash's first week

Cash couldn't be doing better and neither could we! We are so happy and excited to finally have him here. He had his first weigh in yesterday....he weighed 8 lbs 2 oz at birth and is down to 7 lb 13 oz. The doc said that's normal, but that he looked very healthy and figured he'd be back to birth weight in under 2 weeks. Sweet, back to fighting weight! :) Another appointment with the doctor today for his one week checkup. We have probably gotten a total of a foot or so of snow in the past few days and it's still snowing. I gotta say, this is the best time to have a baby - Cash and I are just holed up here at home, watching the snow fly! A few trips to town here and there keep us 'in the loop', but I don't think we need to go to town to realize that once the snow hits, everyone goes back to their California roots and lose all sense of what it means to drive in Montana!

Cash loves his Daddy!!!

Cash James Olson

Well, here he is! Turns out Amy really was pregnant afer all. She was beginning to doubt that there was actually a kid in there. That all changed, as did the rest of our lives yesterday at 5:57 p.m. when our "little" miracle came along.

Of course "little" is an opinion that might not have been shared by Amy at the time, but she was a miracle herself when she brought our child into the world. All in all, it was a very exciting day. The first two and a half hours were long and were not very much fun. Amy had some serious "back labor" she decided that an epidural was in order to ease her pain... THANK GOD!!! After the epidural was delivered, things went much more smoothly and rest of the day was very enjoyable. Amy was fully dilated by about 5 o'clock and her time to shine kicked into high gear.

An hour later, our baby was here and our Midwife Nancy hid its "cash and prizes" from us so our dear friend Lisa could get the video camera rolling. Lights, camera, action... IT'S A BOY!!! She kept Cash's identity hidden from us until the last second and she let us see for ourselves the incredible miracle God had given us. We are so, so thankful for our healthy boy, our family, and all of our friends who helped us to realize this amazing event that we will never forget.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife who has fulfilled my life and showed me what it truly means to be strong. I Love You, Amy!!!

3's stuck in there

We had our last doctor's appointment yesterday. Our midwife said that there is NO way the baby could get any lower without coming out - she said she was surprised that I'm not in labor already. That means nothing when it comes to labor though....we made it through the night with nothing happening. If 3 doesn't come on his/her own, we're actually going to have to be induced. I thought for sure that just scheduling to induce was going to scare this little baby right out of there. What do you do? I'm home today - decided to take a day off before the show starts. I have no intention of even changing out of my pajamas! Wish us luck, we're definitely going to have a baby by the end of the week. Seems like just yesterday we were trying to decide if we were actually looking at 2 lines or 1...."What do the instructions say about lines? What do they constitute as an ACTUAL line? Okay, that's a line....let's try another test and see what that one says". Then 5 months of throwing up water and it was time to start growing. Now, we've got our little hospital bag packed and I walk around with my hands on my back and groan all the time. Ah, the joys of pregnancy!





Brent took these photos last night in hopes of them being the last pregnant pictures - we thought for sure we'd be making a hospital run....they're still going to be the last pregnant pictures, there's no way that I could possibly grow that much more by tomorrow morning! Keep watching - the next photos will be of 3!!!! FINALLY!!!!

This one's for you, Jen!

No baby yet! I'm still working, I plan to work through tomorrow (Tues), then take Wednesday off and we are supposed to be induced on Thursday morning at 8 am. I'm still feeling good - just getting anxious to see what Brent and I have created! We went through about 5 hours of 'false, back labor' on Saturday, didn't seem all that 'false' to me. We packed our bags, showered and were ready to roll, but all contractions pretty much stopped sometime around midnight. Darn....just a teaser! At least we know something's actually happening and now we're officially packed and ready. Way to procrastinate, huh?!

Sorry I missed your call Jen! I wish I could call you back, but those darn international numbers just aren't callback savvy - I tried redialing the number that came in, but to no avail. If you get a chance, email me and let me know how I can call you! :) Germany....sheesh. I've been in the back, burning dirt, so just missed you. Nobody worry....I'm still here and the baby's not going anywhere!

3 FYI

Here it is....D-Day....and I'm sitting at work (I'm on break - 15 minutes every 2 hours, or is it every 4?) adding this post to the blog. This would indicate no baby. We had an appointment yesterday and 3 is doing just fine, loving life in there with a nice strong heartbeat to go along with it's nice strong kicks. We talked about inducing and came to this conclusion: if 3 doesn't come out on his/her own, then we will be inducing next Thursday (the 18th) at 8 am, it has officially been scheduled. I am really hoping that 3 just decides to come out because it just seems too weird to 'pick' the day that your baby is going to be born. However, the labor is said to be a little less intense....toughie. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't have to wait until next week - I'm getting short on clothes that fit and am probably getting short on 'good attitude' now that I've started my 10th month of pregnancy. I told Brent this morning that I'm getting closer to the gestation period of a horse than I am a human....he said maybe I'd have a foal. Then we got to thinking that maybe a pig would be better (they're only pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days), but in the end you'd have to give birth to 14 little ones....I'll just stick this one out and try not to think of myself as a 700 + pound farm animal! :)

Nothing yet....

No baby yet....don't worry, we promise to call/text everyone as soon as things start happening - actually, if it's the middle of the night we won't wake you with our news, we'll wait until morning at least!

We haven't been doing much of anything. We went to the Griz game this weekend. We had a great time and did some jumping around (in hopes of bringing this baby into the world a few days early). Today we set up the weight machine downstairs. I'm super excited - I'm hoping it will give me that little boost of motivation that I'm going to need post baby. It's way too easy to not drive to town to go to the gym....harder to say no to a decent workout when all you have to do is go down the stairs. I'll keep you posted on that one - this could be just wishful thinking!

Well....everyone, keep your fingers crossed that the baby comes by Wednesday - we don't want to be 'overdue'! Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this baby will come late.....I don't know why I think that.....guess I just feel like that's my luck. But really, what's another couple days after you've been baking a baby for 9 months?!?! We double promise to keep everyone posted - the very latest that my midwife said she'd let me go to would be December 20th. YOU WILL HEAR SOMETHING BY THE 20TH (or I'll go crazy)!!!!! :)

Three's Ultrasounds

These are some ultrasound pictures that I finally got scanned into the computer. You won't believe it, but Brent and I enjoyed a day of shopping on Black Friday! No fights or anything. We were able to pick up a new printer that prints pictures and scans....I'm sure we're way behind the times, but we're pretty excited about this one. We also picked up a video camera - yep, we're filming the whole birth and we're going to post it online for everyone to enjoy.....JUST KIDDING!!! This camera was a belated wedding gift from Brent's folks. In all reality, it was only belated because Brent and I kept putting off our shopping, but finally got to town and made the big purchase.

The ultrasound on the bottom was the very first ultrasound....Three is 11 weeks here. The one on the top is from 20 weeks....a good look at the little legs! The other ultrasound pics that we have are next to impossible to decipher, so I left them out. Enjoy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

We stacked up all of the dog beds this morning....looks like Mika wanted to make sure she got a good one - wonder where the other two are going to sleep tonight?! You would think that she was the one that ate all the turkey at Thanksgiving. She was in bed by 7:30!

Here's the spread - pies first!!!

Isn't it amazing how you can cook all day long and then it's all gone (for the most part) in less than an hour?!

Belly comparisons - looks like someone had too much pie! :)

We hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!! We definitely enjoyed ours! :) Missed being with more family (JW made it up to help put the hurt on our 20 pound turkey).

Are we there yet?! 14 days and counting....

Pics from the Cat/Griz game....what a blast!

These are my favorite pics - Brent and his 'driving gloves'....I swear he drives better when he wears them!! Ha, ha, ha....I have to say I had never, ever heard of such a thing. He says that you wear them when you're driving so that your hands don't get cold. Hmmmm....last time I checked all of our vehicles have heat - guess he grew up in North Dakota with no heaters?!

Ah yes....the belly - I know it's not the best view, but I can't get it to turn, so you'll just have to turn your head to get a good look at the ol' thing!

BIRD'S EYE VIEW.....NO TOES!!!! :(

Here's some of the room pictures. As you may notice, there are no handles on the dresser. Yes, pregnancy has only enhanced my laziness. It is full of clothes though and they have all been washed, so I haven't been a complete slacker.

We are planning to go to the playoff game this Saturday, but I suppose that will depend on Three. While grinding meat at Mike & Trina's house last night, it was cleverly pointed out that this baby will most likely make it's entrance on December 3rd. We'll see! I know one thing for sure - there's no more room in there for baby growth!

I have a feeling that this room is going to get moved around a few more times before it's all said and done. The dresser/changer finally arrived today and Brent surprised me by coming home from work early and setting the whole thing up, not to mention a wonderful meatloaf ready and waiting for me when I got home. What a great man! I couldn't have asked for better!

Pre bedtime update:

Three has officially had the hiccups for the past 5 minutes....it's the funniest feeling ever! Brent is off playing hockey. Turns out the team has had a few injuries: broken nose (I'm pretty sure that's what I heard), stitches and a bad knee or back or something from Miotke. Well, Brent has bravely taken up his skates and stick and has become the sub for the night (and probably many to come). Let's all pray that he comes home with everything in the same shape that it left in! Oh, and so much for having dog beds - Windsor has decided that our bed will be his for the night...hmmm....not going to fly. His last babysitters said that he only gets on the bed when asked.....boy was he pulling the wool over their eyes! Sneaky. Aren't 12 year old dogs supposed to be getting to the point where arthritis is setting in and they can't JUMP on beds? I'm thinking that Brent has his dog ages mixed up because that dog is as healthy as a horse and as far as I can tell, has no problem with jumping! :)

That's all she wrote...

And that's it....hunting season has now come to a close for this family! This is a picture of Brent's bull from this morning. I'm sure when he gets home we'll have a few more to add and maybe even a story or two. Oh, and Dad got his big whitetail in Canada yesterday....hopefully we'll get a few pics of that posted when he gets home too!!! :)

Pics

No, I'm not a liar - pictures are just delayed at the moment! The baby room is finished as of last night (minus the handles for the dresser drawers, I'll put those on tonight), but it was officially done at 9:30 pm and this pregnant lady's bedtime is about 9 pm after working my 10 hour days - I only do this so that I can get my work week over with faster, I really just like to be lazy at the end of the week! Plus, Brent had everything all packed up and ready to roll for his hunting trip....he's leaving straight from work today.....and 'everything' included our one and only camera! He'll be home Friday and there will be pictures by the weekend, don't you worry!

I have to say that I'm very excited about how well the baby room turned out. Everything fits nicely and I like to think that I have it organized 'just right' for mom, dad and baby. However, since I know nothing about babies, it may have to be revamped come Three's arrival. We'll see what happens.....maybe my motherly instincts kicked in early?!?

Season's End

I thought I'd better just throw in a few comments regarding hunting season before it is all said and done. I think that most everybody knows that my Dad shot a nice bull elk last month in WA - unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but if you click here you can go to my brother and sister in laws blog to see the pictures that they have posted. Currently, he and his cousin Bert are hunting big whitetails in Canada. They had a 10 day hunt, no word yet, but I'll post information as soon as I hear! Oh, and last, but not least.....Brent is headed out for one last elk hunt with Jeremy in Bozeman this week. It sounds like this is it - a day of hunting Thursday and a Friday morning if needed. It sure would be nice to have some elk in the freezer (deer and antelope start to get old after awhile), but it's not like we're going to starve! He swears that he's pulling out the stops on this trip....cow or bull, he's hoping to come home with something. Wish him luck! :)

Baby update: as of my appointment last week the baby is officially head down and straight as an arrow - ready to come on out! Yikes! We're not ready, we haven't even put ALL the clothes away yet, I swear this baby has more clothes than Brent and I combined - spoiled before arrival. Probably a good thing. The plan is to finish the baby room tonight....I've been having contractions as of last week, nothing big, just practice for the big day. As my mom said, "Amy, you tried to throw up that baby for 5 months, I think that it has a pretty good hold in there!" - something like that - either way, tomorrow marks the official 37th week. This means that, technically, the baby is full term and can come anytime (you hear that Three?). I'll post some pictures later tonight of the baby room and the baby belly!!!

Big Jim

I finally got this picture today....figured we'd better get a picture of Dad with his buck!