June Congratulations

June was a busy month for us.

Paul learned to pull himself up to a stand. He turned 9 months and checked in at 24lbs 11oz - finally slowing down on that weight gain!

I managed to pack up our Chicago condo even with Paul crawling around and getting into everything.

But the best accomplishment and biggest congratulations of all goes to Chris for graduating from the University of Chicago Law School!

Congratulations Dad! Thanks to all the family who came out for the ceremony.

Here are some of our graduation and packing pictures.

Paul can Crawl!

This laugh is just too good to not post...

Just Because

These days I can't seem to get enough of Paul. I've become that doting parent I never thought I'd be. Oh well, here it goes.

Paul the Musician:
I like to think that Paul enjoys music and that he will be a very talented musician. He probably responds to music like any other hearing child, but until he is five or six and past the child prodigy age, no one can prove me wrong.


Matching Mother's Day:


Why crawl when you can do this:


Food Update:
In ascending order of preference:
Carrot:


Banana Peal:


And for his favorite...drum roll please...
Newspaper!


So I dabbled with skipping the pureed food stage and going straight to finger foods in an effort to make eating a better experience for Paul. At first I thought it was working because he had so much fun playing with the food, putting it in his mouth, and even chewing it. But swallowing is another story. He never chokes, but occasionally he will smash enough food up against the roof of his mouth that he cries until I finally give in and remove it for him.

Just for kicks, here he is eating green beans. It kept him occupied for 30+ minutes and overall I think he enjoyed himself. All but this one clip in the middle. I think he secretly wishes that green beans could stick to the roof of his mouth the same way bread does.

April Recap

I can't believe it is already May!

In April Paul spent a wonderful week visiting family. Unfortunately I let everyone else take the pictures on their cameras and I don't have much to show for it. So sorry grandparents, you'll have to send me some of your pics if you want them posted. Paul had a great time nonetheless.

Besides family, April was full of some fun food experiments. I think this pictures says it all...

He makes this face after the first bite of... well... everything! Even foods he likes. I gave him some bread the other day and was so excited when he appeared to like it. But that didn't last long. As soon as the bread in his mouth got soggy the face returned.

To avoid swallowing Paul rests the food either on the center of his tongue or smashed up against the roof of his mouth. I timed him once and it took 10 minutes and a toy to chew on before he finally swallowed. It is the craziest thing, but he is definitely getting better at the food thing each day.

Here he is eating a Gerber Puff.

I don't know how he does it, but Paul can worm his way into the craziest places. Lately he likes to spend his time underneath things like the desk, the table and his jumper.

Paul has two bottom teeth now! Way to go Paul. But that hasn't curbed his obsession with chewing on things. Here he is eating his crib!

And for fun here are some random pictures I like.

Big Days

Over the course of a week Paul has gotten an upgrade for just about everything!

Paul 2.0 looks something like this:

• New Big kid car seat
• New View - Paul rides in the front seat of the shopping cart
• Genuine outbursts of laughter
  
• Size 5 diapers (this was a reluctant upgrade, but after leaking out of every diaper he wore in a 24 hour period we knew it was time)
• Size 18 month pajamas (and the rest of his clothes for that matter)
• Big kid pacifier
• Crib lowered one notch
  
• Finally eating and enjoying it!
• Bedtime at 7pm and just two naps a day
• And a new trick! Watch Paul rock back and forth on his hands and knees:
  

The Big Boy Himself:


Paul's Big Pacifier:


Playing with his favorite toy - TV remote control:


Laughter:

Happy Half-Birthday Paul!

Paul's Half-Birthday was on Tuesday!

He is now officially 6 months old.
He weighs 21.5lbs, is 27.5 in tall, and is as happy as ever.

We celebrated his half-birthday with rice cereal. A lot of preparation went into the cereal. But in the end, well... you be the judge...



Lucky for Paul, rice cereal wasn't his only birthday treat.

("E. coli" and "neuron" stuffed toys)

Paul has been busy learning new things this month. He now rolls every which way, sits on his own, sleeps in his crib, rides around in the big kid stroller, and says "da da" and "tah tah".




But even though his parents think he is growing up too fast, he is still a Momma's boy and Dad's best buddy.

(hanging out with Mom)


(downtown with Dad)

"Professional" Pictures

Even with all of the coupons we get for free sittings and free 8x10's at portrait studios like Target and Sears, the whole professional portrait thing seems too complicated for me. Paul is great with a schedule, but I just have a feeling that no matter when the appointment time is, Paul will decide at that moment that he would rather be sleeping or eating (or even worse, spitting up all over himself).

So I decided to avoid the unnecessary anxiety and do the photo shoot by myself at home. I had a great time! I even downloaded a free trial of Photoshop so I could doctor up the results. While the pictures aren't quite professional grade, I think that the smiles I could capture (and the fact that Paul took a nap between the two photos shown below) were worth it.