Chritmas Time

Oliver had a great Christmas. We spent 5 days in Sauk Centre to celebrate with all of the Family. First we had Christmas with the Nelson Side, and then we headed over the celebrate with the Gamradt/Miller Family.

Snow Fun

Snow, Snow, Snow! What a great year it has been for Oliver to explore and play in the snow. Oliver and I try to get outside daily (weather permiting) to play in the snow and get some fresh air. I think we have also started a new Christmas tradition of bundling up to walk around our neighborhood to check out all of the Christmas lights. Oliver loved it! He would point to the lights and say "ooooooooooooh" It was so much fun.

A fun filled weekend with Oliver's Cousins

We have had a very busy, but exciting December. Oliver's cousins Shelby and Raegan decided to join us for some Minneapolis fun. We went to the 8th floor Macy's and then watched the Holidazle Parade. We had a blast with them!

A Birthday Party Success!

Well it was a success! We had Oliver's birthday party with friends and family and we had a blast. Oliver loved his birthday cupcake so much he would not set it down. He literally sucked the cupcake until it was just some crumbs. Here are a few pictures to show you.

A Tribute to my son: Oliver Robert Gamradt

I had always wondered what it would be like when my first child arrived. I had images of me playing catch with him or her, images of wrestling on the ground in the front yard, making him or her laugh until they thought it was time to stop, images of their first words. There are many images that made up my fantasy of my first child. As a fulfillment of part of that fantasy, Oliver Robert Gamradt was delivered, more like taken out, into this world on November 24th, 2008.

Oliver Robert Gamradt, a sight to behold. With the constant hurried walking and talking of our Nurses and Doctors, the hustle and bustle of an emergency C-Section, Laura and I never got the chance to make a proper introduction and hello to our newly ‘born’ child. Needing help to pass all the tests every new human being is asked to pass, breathing as an example, Oliver spent the night receiving the care that he needed. After a long and arduous journey and we hadn’t left the hospital yet, Laura and I started off our new life as parents with a bang.

All my images of playing catch, wrestling on the ground in the front yard, of laughing until it was time to stop, and of first words, seemed now to be a distant chapter of a book of 20,000 pages. When finally home, I stopped and thought about that fantasy of mine, and how eagerness was built into my perceptions of what having a child really means.

My fantasy had become the here and now. Oliver, the present living child of ours, is a reminder that their future is but a fragment of what being his parent really means. The future is the smallest sliver upon a story that will take years to be told. Oliver is a lifeline that is different. A lifeline that is less selfish in nature. A lifeline that must be nourished until it is time for him to leave the nest, which I’m sure in spirit he never will. Oliver is a lifeline that was added to our marriage that acts as thicker glue that binds our story together. No fantasy of mine was ever a reality, only a dream of something I expected for my child. I will always have hopes and dreams for Oliver, but even now realize that Oliver will fulfill his own fantasies, and I have only a chance to influence what those fantasies become. Oliver has now spent one year honing me into a newly developed individual with experience and knowledge that could never be foretold.

Oliver Robert Gamradt, the newly formed human being that needed help passing all of the life tests, is now one year old. Through one year, Oliver has changed the very foundation of what an inexperienced father to be perceptions are of having a child. Oliver is now a wonderful boy, a boy with the piercing blue eyes, the beautiful smile, and the dazzling spectacle of being resilient, like his mother. Oliver is now a beautifully natured boy, a boy with a personality, features, and stubbornness like his dad. Oliver is now the added joy that brought our joy-o-meter from Joy-FULL to Joy-Fullest. Oliver has molded his beautiful existence into something that we thought was beautiful already. He has molded himself as a part of our family.

Oliver, you are our son. You are our friend. You are our lifeline. You are the exceeded expectations of the unexpected. You are the exceeded expectations of the expected. A ‘thank you’ to God is not enough to capture the thankfulness that we have for you being our child. (Thank you God) Here is to you my son. Here is to a life filled with Christ. Here is to life filled with Joy-Fullness-est. Here is to our future and to living in the present. Here is to your dreams and fantasies. Here is to your beautiful piercing blue eyes, your beautiful smile, and your dazzling spectacle of resiliency, your personality, features, and stubbornness.

Happy Birthday Son!

God’s Peace and Love, and yours sincerely, Dad

Happy Halloween!

Oliver's First Halloween! Tonight Oliver and his friend Lily went around our neighborhood trick or treating. He was a great sport about it.
After a fun night of going around the neighborhood he had to wear his Halloween PJ's to bed.

Pumpking Carving

We thought Oliver needed to have his pumpkin personalized for Halloween. Here are a few pictures of the Carving celebration. And yes, Josh did use his drill for the carving. Real baby proof!

Oliver's Group Birthday Bash

Last night we meet up with a bunch of our playgroup buddies to celebrate all of our kiddo's 1st Birthday. We thought we would throw a group party, exchange names, and then put the kids to bed so the parents could have a fun night. The Dad's were there too, but unfortunantly we did not get a picture of them with their little ones. Here are a few pictures to show how it went. As you can see Oliver was a huge fan of the cupcake!

Way to Go Vikings!

We think Oliver was the Vikings good luck charm because he wore his Vikings get-up for them. Nice work Minnesota!

More Fall Fun

Last weekend we thought it would be fun for Oliver to go to the Apple Orchard by our house. Again he was drawn to the pumpkins. Here are a few pictures of our fun time there.

Our Little Pumpkin

This weekend we went to Sauk Centre and Oliver got his very first pumpkin. For some reason he was in love with the pumpkin and was laughing and patting it over and over. Last year at Halloween I think my tummy was the size of the pumpkin. (At least I felt that big)














Here is Oliver with the pumpkin grower AKA his Grandma

Our little Twins Fans

Here is Oliver and his new 3 day old, cousin Nolan cheering on the Twins. Noland and Mom are doing well, but Rhea is ready to get rid of the Bells Palsy she developed when pregnant. (Doctors say it should go away in about two-three weeks after giving birth)

Oliver's new cousin, Nolan

On September 10th, almost two weeks early Nolan David decided he had enough of the belly and made is first appearance to the world. He weighted 7 lbs, 4 oz and is 21 inches long.
Here he is just three hours old.

Our little Scholar

As many of you know, I love to decorate and before our little man was around, my house was anything but baby-proof. Well after much deep breaths I have come to accept that my house is going to have to evolve into a kid friendly zone. So I have been slowly moving breakable and kid unfriendly objects down to our basement for the next decade. I thought I had done a pretty good job, but leave it to a crawling little boy to find things that you forgot. Well Oliver found some of Josh's keepsake books and decided to read a few pages. What a little scholar! While catching up on the books he also thought it would be fun to try to ripe out a few pages to keep for later. Luckily we were able to save the books and relocate them.

Oliver's rearranging

Oliver is getting to a really fun age where he is crawling and wanting to explore everything, but unfortunately that means exploring EVERYTHING! He also wants me to always play with him by his side. The other day, we had to make a compromise when I was trying to get dinner made and I let him crawl around the kitchen next to me. Well, after checking out the container cabinet I guess he felt the need to reorganize it.