Happy Halloween!!!!!

Today being Oliver's first Halloween, we thought it would be important to start his life off in an anti-phobia way. So here he is in his spider Halloween outfit...that's right spiders. For all of you that don't know, Jennifer has as phobia about spiders but we are going to try our hardest not to pass that along to Oliver.

Here's Oliver looking all sweet and kind.


Here's Oliver doing his best zombie impression. Yet another one of Jennifer's favorite things...not.
Here's Oliver doing a Frankenstein impression. Thank god he didn't have these shoulders when he was born.

Please, Don't Vote

Watch this, Oliver said so.

Spitting Image?

The top picture is of me (Marina) at 5 days old on April 7, 1978. I weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 18 inches long. By the way, the nurses thought it would be funny to style my hair in a fauxhawk...little did they know how stylish it would be one day. The bottom picture is of Oliver at 1 month and 1 day old on October 25, 2008 and he weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was almost 21 inches long. Unfortunately, Oliver does not have enough hair to style yet.

See any resemblance?

Oh How a Month Flys By

On Friday Oct. 24th Oliver turned one month old...only a day after his due date! As part of newborn ritual we celebrated Oliver's one month birthday with a visit to the pediatrician. Oliver weighed a whopping 7lbs 7oz...only one more ounce than Marina weighed when she was born. He was almost 21 inches long and got a perfect bill of health. He's eating between 2oz and 4oz at each feeding and has more good nights than bad. His Mom's are doing well and can't believe how big he's gotten already .

As part of Oliver's birthday weekend we visited with lots of friends. On Friday night, Auntie Q came over to play and brought us such a yummy homemade soup. On Saturday Tami, Emily and Joey came to visit and then we went to Katie and Angie's house for some delicious homemade pizza. Oliver also got to see his Aunts Kris, Tamar and Q (again) which made him more than happy. He felt so at home in all of their arms...he better get used to it since they are all going to be in his life for a long time and will be baby sitting many, many times.

On Sunday we initiated Oliver to the world of woman's flag football...and all the yelling and screaming that accompanies it. He did so well and hardly batted an eye...except to flirt with some of the girls taking peeks at him...too bad most of them were lesbians.

Later that day Shawn, Jeff and Zoe came over for a visit. Zoe oogled at her future boyfriend and started making wedding plans in her little notepad.

Oliver really enjoyed his weekend and all the awesome festivities in which he got to partake. Time is flying by so quickly and each day we look at each other and shake our heads in disbelief that we are actually parents.

First Bath

Today Oliver had his very first real bath. No more sponge baths! Woo Hoo! Oliver seemed to really enjoy the water and the feeling of being clean (what a good little Novoa). The bath was so relaxing that he saw it fit to just fall asleep on the bath mat in the bathroom.

Oliver's New Wheels

This weekend Grandma and Grandpa were awesome enough to come up to Boston to babysit their grandson Saturday afternoon while the Moms went out to purchase Oliver a new car! Oliver gave us a list of features that we should look for like a roomy back seat for his car seat, a spacious cargo area to fit the pugs and all his baby stuff, a smooth comfortable ride, and a sweet sound system 'cause Ollie loves his jams. After a long deliberation the Moms decided the Honda CR-V EX-L fit all of Oliver's criteria. It was a long day and it was also the first time Oliver stayed home with someone other than his Moms. Grandma and Grandpa did an amazing job and took to his care like old pros.

Oliver also spent a little more quality time with Stella this weekend. They have really bonded and I think Stella is going to tattoo Oliver's name on her tail any day now.

Let's Play Dress Up

I'm not sure if you know, but part of the fun of having a baby is to be able to play dress up. Every little girls dream! So here are some of our recent attempts to play dress up with our little boy.

Here's Oliver with his Red Sox rally cap and his pre-Halloween outfit. All provided by Aunt Katie and Aunt Angie. The knee high socks were added as a throw back to an era when it was ok to look like a goof.

Oliver really loves his froggie outfit too. It keeps him nice a warm while still looking very stylish.

Brown and blue is the new black so of course Oliver had to have an outfit with a coordinating blanket.

Even when Oliver is asleep, he needs to look his best...but we don't actually have to do anything extra to make him look cute.

Visiting with Uncle Erik and Aunt Anna

Oliver really enjoyed meeting his Uncle Erik and Aunt Anna this past weekend. Erik and Anna had lots of conversations with him about his potential future in dance given the size of his feet. Greatness is certainly in Oliver's future.

Stella and Gizmo have also gotten very close with Oliver in the past few days. I think Stella feels that it's her duty to protect him.

A Visit with the Aunties

Little Oliver and his Mommies were lucky enough to get a visit from awesome Aunties on Friday night. Stacey, Suzanne, Ari, Kris and Tamar were sweet enough to schlep all the way to our house to make us an awesome dinner which included spectacular lasagna, a fantastic salad and some yummy bread. We also had an amazing dessert of vanilla ice cream with fruit and chocolate chip cookies with chocolate syrup. We totally felt spoiled but the company and the food were really appreciated. Oliver had a great time too being held by his many Aunties and getting initiated into our little lesbian world complete with baton routines and balance beam acts.

Thank you to all you lovely ladies who came over. Oliver is one lucky little man.

Sometimes You Can Have It All

Life with Oliver is simply awesome so far! He sleeps and eats at pretty regular intervals and has even given us a stretch of good sleeping hours at night. He has really proven himself to be a pretty sound sleeper. He can sleep through loud noises and even dog barking. I think Stella has taken a particular liking to him. I'm pretty sure they are going to be best friends any day now. Gizmo also likes him but seems indifferent to his existence so far. I'm sure that will change once he's old enough to drop food on the floor.