4 weeks: belated Mother's Day, berry picking, and first parade

Oliver turned four weeks old yesterday. He sleeps a lot, but when he's awake he does a lot of kicking his legs and moving his arms around. He must be growing those little muscles to do bigger things later. When I talk he gets really still and looks at me. I'm guessing he recognizes my voice from all those months of hearing it from the inside.

Last Sunday we got together for breakfast with Evan's family to have a belated Mothers Day celebration for his mom. We had to cancel the last one because it was the day Oliver ended up being born. Oliver slept through a lot of the breakfast and tolerated being held a lot. After a while he got very fussy, I think because he was overstimulated. Hey, everyone has their limit! It was a nice breakfast. Here's Grandpa holding Oliver. Oliver and Eloise are lucky to have fantastic grandparents.

It's an early strawberry season in Oregon this year and on Friday we met up with some friends at Bella Organic Farm on Sauvie Island to do some berry picking. The 30-minute drive was very pleasant on a sunny morning, except for the last 7 minutes, which was first Oliver crying and then both kids crying. The way home was no crying at all so I'd say success with just 7 minutes out of an hour! We sat at a picnic table and had snacks and nursed until our friends arrived, and then boarded the tractor for a ride out to the best field for picking berries. Eloise and I did all the work while Oliver went along for the ride in the front carrier. Well, Eloise ate most of what she picked, but she did dump  a few into the bucket to take home! That's the top of Oliver's head and that's Eloise in the background in the pink shorts. Maybe he'll get some of these strawberries in a few months as a puree.

It is the start of the annual Rose Festival and yesterday we walked to the Grand Floral Parade. Just this year I realized the route was walking distance from our house. It was both kids' first parade. Eloise was into it and Oliver basically slept through it, even with every loud marching band that went by. He only woke up when he was hungry.

Eloise continues to be sweet to her little brother, and he likes to watch her. I can't wait until the day they can play together. Until then, he'll probably just enjoy watching her. Eloise has been kissing him on the cheek, which is the sweetest thing ever. I tried to get a picture but it just looked weird. Eloise doesn't understand smiling for the camera.

And one more photo just because: