Oh Oliver, where do I begin...

A lot has been happening in these neck of the woods lately and I am feeling like I need to catch up.

Oliver turned 4 towards the beginning of November and he had a super fantastic birthday week!  We had a fun party for him with friends and family at a nearby park where the kids ran around eating popcorn and cupcakes. Two of his favorite treats. :) We also celebrated his big day at home on that Sunday and made him a perfectly pink strawberry cake (his suggestion) but I made sure to make WHITE vanilla frosting, because you know...I couldn't go that far.

Oliver at his park party. Happy Birthday Oliver!

Oliver is super energetic and ornery at times, but this boy is definitely a sweetheart. He melts my heart when he says "Mommy, you look really pretty today." Or when he calls Myla "sweet pea". Today I told him I thought that was really an adorable nickname for Myla and he said " I know Mommy. That's why I made it up."

He is intensely curious and loves learning about new things. He still loves his trucks and trains, but has branched out into jets or helicopters (which he now flies around the house), Legos, drawing pictures, singing, reading a lot, and picking out books at the library. 

Oliver and his Daddy giggling in the kitchen

Making silly faces at Daddy's Ultimate game

And mulching the leaves, always good fun.

Sometime into November, Oliver and Myla decided to not listen to their mommy and come out of their "quiet time" rooms. They started giggling and thought it was just too much fun to run in and out of the bedrooms while shuting the door before the other one could make it in. Do you know where this is going? If you guessed, one of them got a finger smashed in the door, you would be correct!

Myla accidentally shut the door on Oliver's right middle finger and after going to urgent care and then being sent to the ER, the rest is history. Poor little man cut about 1/2 the way into his finger about a quarter of an inch below the nail bed. I did everything I could, but forgot to give him ibuprofen to reduce any future swelling (because it really wasn't swollen yet), which is part of the reason we ended up in the ER. He now has three cool x-ray pictures of his hand showing perfectly in-tack bones.

I have got to say that I am so extremely proud of my son. He did not cry once while he was being treated by the doctors and nurses, even with the cleaning and prodding. He was so brave! He did however release the tears just as we were about to leave when the nurse taped his injured finger to his ring finger and put a splint on it. Needless to say he was not too thrilled about that, but after a couple minutes of explaining the reason, he resigned to be super protective of his injured hand and swore he would leave it on for forty days! (He has this thing with the number forty, I think he gets it from the Noah's arc story.)

Oliver eating a super healthy meal at McDonald's after he was released from the hospital.

Sad boy

A glimpse of the injury the day after (it looked much better).

You can't tell, but half of his finger could be lifted up. Yuck.

It really didn't slow him down too much. :)

Today, 21 days after the incident, his nail finally fell off and now his finger is in a band aid until the nail grows back. Phew. What a long 3 weeks it has been, and I'm sure Oliver is so glad he doesn't have to worry about his "ouchie" anymore.

His finger, almost as good as new. 

Anyway, so that is what we have been up to. That, and we have all been nursing a cold that we caught almost a couple of weeks ago. So we are hoping for a healthier rest of the week!