New

Lots of new things in the Meyers' household these days!

New Birth Certificate.

Friday's mail brought Oliver's Minnesota Birth Certificate. Yippee! This document confirms his new legal name and our role as his parents in one concise piece of paper. It's nothing fancy, but it's a game-changer. 


After it arrived I called the Social Security office to see if we could possibly get his Social Security Number with the documentation we have on hand. I sat on hold for 39 minutes. Once a representative came on the line I was pleasantly surprised at how nice she was. Unfortunately, her answer wasn't what I had hoped to hear. She said we must have Oliver's amended Certificate of Citizenship in order to prove his status as a U.S. citizen, so we must wait. And wait. The last pieces!

New Experience.
On Saturday Oliver went to the zoo! Grandma and Grandpa have been waiting for years to take their grandchild to the Como Zoo, so Saturday was a big day for the three of them. While the weather was cool and many of the animals were still inside or off display, they had a blast. Here are a few photos of their time at the zoo:

New Haircut (for Oliver).
Well, the haircut itself isn't new. It's the same cut we've been doing since arriving home. However, this haircut differed in two ways: First, Grandma and Grandpa came along to see how he did (and take a boatload of pictures and video) -- and then treated us all to frozen yogurt after. Second, the stylist added a little product to his hair when she finished, making him look much older than two and a half! What a cutie... Not something we plan to do on a daily basis, but a great idea for special occasions. Here are some post-haircut pictures from the frozen yogurt store, courtesy of Grandma's phone.

New Work Schedule; Job.
Beginning this past week, my work schedule moved to four days a week, Monday - Thursday. As I've previously posted, my company is wrapping up its business in the next couple of months. As part of our winding down, a few of the key events we hold throughout the year will be transferring to other related organizations in town. In addition, our big annual fall conference will be managed by a new firm going forward. This past week I accepted an offer to work for that organization, managing the conference and working on other things. The new job will be begin sometime in May, though I'm already working on the conference items. Beginning a job at a new place after 10 years is a bit scary for this "change averse" person, but I'm hoping it will bring interesting opportunities and a nice mix of new people. It's also a blessing to have a job lined up and to have it be a four day a week position. 

New Haircut (for me).
My stylist thought it was time for a change and had a specific style in mind. She tried to explain it to me, but in the end I just had to trust her. I'm glad I did! Here are two shots -- one Tony took on our brunch date Saturday. The other I took myself, so it's not the best but it does the trick.

New Photos.
Grandma has been busy taking photos! Here are a few to end the post.

Enjoying a break with Grandpa

Oliver sharing the jeep, which dates back to Tony and Mike's childhood.

Super Sunday

This morning began with a five mile run as the sun was rising. A beautiful start. During the week I run very early (just after 5:00), so I've not been running outside much. It's too hard to avoid the icy patches when running with a flashlight. This morning I was able to go out just after 6:00 and loved running outside --- only my second time this year. Sadly there was still a lot of ice on the trails, but I'm counting on our warm day to have melted it away so my early run tomorrow is safe. 

We then had coffee and breakfast before heading off to church...for the first time in a couple of months. We finally feel comfortable with the idea of leaving Oliver in his Sunday School class, and he seems to be okay with our leaving him. We were still nervous that something would go wrong, but he did terrific! Tony and I finally got to make it through an entire service. I really missed being spiritually fed through the worship and sermon, so this was a much needed addition to my Sunday. I even snapped a photo during the peaceful sermon time:

This was the first time anyone outside of our family watched Oliver. Scary!! We celebrated with brunch after church, and thanks to a refused nap I whisked Oliver off to Target so Tony could get some work done. The afternoon also brought a walk, some tractor time and a little reconnecting with our neighbors. It's great to finally see people outside again! 

Tonight we attempted two Korean dishes for dinner. 

Japchae: sweet potato noodles with thinly sliced vegetables and beef. 

Galbi: barbecued beef ribs. 

Both were a success! A very yummy dinner. Oliver was especially happy to see his plate of japchae, galbi, rice and kimchi:

Here is our excited little guy:

Let's hope this is the start to a good week!

Nutella, a Story in Pictures

Scene: dining room table, bedtime snack

Props: whole wheat bagel with small amount of (begged for) Nutella on it

Summary: happiness and Nutella mustache ending in a tantrum because the evil mommy person wouldn't let him shove a quarter of a bagel into his mouth at once. 

Sweet dreams!

Tractor

Tractor
Oliver's new favorite word -- sometimes the first word out of his mouth (before he's even out of bed)! 

A friend of Tony's generously passed on a small battery-powered John Deere drivable tractor. When the weather warmed over the weekend we brought it out for Oliver to drive. Boy does he love it! He went up and down the driveway for as long as we would let him, and of course wanted more. The weather held out and he got to drive again Monday after work, but since then it's been too cold and/or wet. That hasn't stopped Oliver from imitating his driving the tractor, talking about the tractor, making vroom vroom noises, etc. He has tractor on the brain!

Tony took a few pictures of Oliver driving it. Unfortunately none of them turned out all that great, but you can get the idea:

With the weather taking a turn for the worse (possibly up to 10" of snow), it may be awhile before he can get back out there to drive around. I am trying to have faith that the snow in our yard will eventually melt and we will be able to leave the house without a coat or gloves sometime soon. That Oliver will be free to run around and explore without all the trash and junk resting at the bottom of the melting snow. That the massive potholes get filled. Lots of things that I hope to be thankful for soon!

This weekend Tony and I are also hopeful that we will get to go to church. We made a few attempts early on to bring Oliver with us to the service, but we simply could not make it all the way through. It is too long for him to sit (or stand) quietly. I recently spoke with our church's early childhood educator and I think it is time we try leaving Oliver in the 2 year old class during the service. She assured me that the staff will contact us if Oliver panics or struggles with being left in the class, which has been a worry for us as is one of the reasons we haven't tried it yet. With any luck he will not only tolerate it, but enjoy the interaction with the other kids. We know he was quite involved in his church in Korea, so it may be a positive experience for us all!