18 month mark, Easter, Spring and everything in between

These last couple of months have been great. Filled with lots of outdoor time, a trip to see family, and of course Paul growing up and learning new tricks. Here are a few highlights:

• Paul is officially one and a half! (okay, I'm a little late on this one, he turned 18mo on March 10th).
  
• Paul got to hang out with Uncle Connor before he became Elder Connor - we love our missionary
• When we left for the week to visit family, the snow was still a foot deep. One week later we came back to no snow and great weather. Spring is in full swing and we love it!
• Lots of park/outdoor time
• Paul is that much closer to becoming a big brother! Just another month.

Here's the big boy himself at just about the 18mo mark:

I can't believe how much Paul has learned in this last month or two. Just around his half birthday he hit a growth spurt in his vocabulary and lately I've heard him use at least one new word a day. He feels so much older now that he is better at expressing himself. So much fun.

Family!
We never seem to take enough pictures when we are visiting family, but here are a few from our trip to see of Elder Connor.









Easter!
I think Paul learned more about candy than Jesus this Easter, but at least he enjoyed the holiday right. He quickly realized that plastic eggs are filled with candy and had to stop each time he found an egg at the Easter egg hunt and eat the candy before moving on. He also got a few fun toys he's enjoyed playing it.
Here he is discovering his Easter basket and then enjoying the egg hunt.






Spring is Here!

Here is Paul enjoying the outside. We spend hours at the park each day. Luckily there are a lot of parks in the area so Paul can make new discoveries each day. There are also several trails within a mile of our house and we are trying to take advantage of them while the weather is so nice.






I am loving spring as much as Paul is. I can't get over how beautiful all the new growth is and how great the weather is. When we moved here in August, many of the plants in our yard had already lost their flowers and then when fall came I had a hard time believing that all these dead plants would ever be green again. Despite my lack of faith, spring has come and each day is a new surprise. I have so much fun just walking around the yard discovering new flowers on plants that I previously thought were just ugly filler bushes. I had not idea there would be this many flowers. It smells heavenly.

Here is our backyard just one month ago:


Here is what it looks like today:

And the best part is, there are so many more plants and flowers yet to come!

Here is Paul playing outside. I think the puddles were a little distracting. He usually jumps and hops on command. It is a great way to get him from point A to point B when I don't feel like carrying him. At least he was having fun.




Getting Ready for Baby

Funny how, now that I know what I'm getting myself into, I'm so much more excited for our new baby to come along. I guess it was too much to take in when I was pregnant with Paul so I figured I'd just wait and see how motherhood was before I established any expectations. Now that I've had a little taste of it, I can't wait for another baby to come along.

Paul on the other hand, has no clue what is coming to him. I've been trying to prep him, but there is only so much a boy his age can understand. He can say baby and correctly identifies baby items, but he doesn't understand that what is for baby isn't also for Paul. So I've pulled out some old baby toys hoping he would get sick of them before his sister comes along. I don't think my plan is working. I'll find Paul laying on his tummy on a blanket saying baby while playing with a rattle. I think he thinks he is the baby.




Wish us luck!

Our Snowman and other videos

We finally built that snowman I've been dying to make all winter long! The weather has been beautiful and the snow has started to melt just enough to make building a snowman quick and easy. Thanks to the cool snowman kit Paul's cousins gave us we had great success. Here is a video of Paul encountering the snowman.



Paul has been pretty busy lately learning new words and tricks.

Paul recently learned how to say "where is it?" and "there it is". Now he likes to go around the house and come up with things to look for and find. One of his favorite things to look for are clocks. He can find them almost anywhere since he calls everything with a gauge or dial a clock, even this thermometer.


Paul's most recent word is bubble, and like clocks, he manages to find them everywhere.


Here's Paul showing off his new jumping ability


Paul loves music time and has started to learn the actions to some songs. I think his favorite spot in the house is his "dancing platform" which is simply an unassembled coffee table. And since I don't want him dancing on a table that is more than a foot off the ground, I don't think I'll be assembling it anytime soon.

It's a Girl!

Just wanted to share the good news!
Our little girl looks healthy and we're excited.

Big Things and Little Things

We have BIG NEWS!

We are so excited to share the good news that we are expecting baby #2 in early June!
I know we've already told so many people, but it doesn't feel official without a blog post. I have an ultrasound this Friday and if we're lucky we'll have a Boy/Girl announcement soon!

While it is hard to trump such a big thing as having a baby, Paul does a lot of little things that are also blog worthy; so here they are.

The Little Things

• Paul's vocabulary is growing every day. While his only official/consistent words are still "Ah Oh" and "Tick Tock" he repeats most words I say to him and can point words I say like ears, nose, water, car, etc.
• Paul has started to imitate me, and not just the little things that must look like fun to a toddler (e.g., taking out pots and pans, pushing buttons on the phone, and moving laundry from one basket to another). The other day he went into my bathroom, took out the blow dryer, plugged it into the electrical outlet, rubbed the dryer on his head, and then put it back in the bathroom drawer.
  
• Paul finally figured out how to climb on things like the kitchen chairs and then onto the kitchen table. I don't think he will be a climber, but he sure has fun conquering everyday obstacles.
• Paul is getting better and better at stacking blocks and legos. It keeps him entertained and gives me a nice little break. We recently set up a tent in the play room and often I find him in there just playing away with his various blocks and stacking toys.

Here are some pictures of what Paul has been up to lately.

Paul is obsessed with steering wheels:


Stacking blocks in his tent:


Merry Christmas!
Paul wasn't so sure about meeting Santa at Dad's work party. Maybe next year...


Paul with his big Santa gift:


Lots of love from his cousins and grandparents:


More fun Christmas toys:


Paul got to rekindle an old friendship when some friends got stranded here at the airport.
He was a bit nervous at first...


But things warmed up after he remembered the value of a good handshake:


Paul walking in Mom's shoes:


I know I shouldn't be surprised by it, but I still am amazed at how much snow has piled up after what has felt like so little snow fall. After all it is only January. At least it is beautiful.

Here is our house:

And here is the street we live on:


Finally, Paul's dancing just cracks me up. He has been "dancing" ever since he learned to sit and wiggle his hips. Every few weeks he adds a new step to his routine. The evolution has gone something like, stomp stomp, turnaround, squat, clap, lunge. Unfortunately he is even more interested in electronics than dancing so I've had a hard time capturing all of his moves on tape, but here is what I have so far.

Paul's snow adventure

8:15am
It is 15 degrees outside, but the garbage cans need to go out for weekly pick-up so I bundle up just to walk 20feet down the driveway and put the cans out. Back inside Paul looks out the window and gets very jealous. Upon returning Paul asks (in his non-verbal way) to go outside.

Why not I think!

8:25am
We are finally ready to go outside.

8:27am
The first thing Paul notices ... no not snow, the garbage truck which I will admit is pretty fascinating for a 1 year old.



8:30am
The second thing Paul notices is how annoying gloves are.



8:34am
After the gloves, he continued to roam around getting into everything but the snow. Eventually I give up on self-discovery and introduce the two. I don't think he knows what to make of the cold wet stuff. Maybe that is why he's been ignoring it.



8:35am
Upon realizing that his hands are cold (remember it is 15 degrees)Paul begins to cry and we make our way back inside.

All in all we spent about as much time getting ready to go out as we did outside, but it was an adventure nonetheless. Maybe next time I will have better luck getting Paul to keep his gloves on.


For kicks, here is a full visual of Paul in his snow suit. Oh how he loves just being outside.

October and November

We've been sitting back and enjoying these last couple of months. Most of the time you can find Paul and me either at the park or playing with/putting up the pots and pans. It is a charmed life, the highlight of which was Grandma and Grandpa's visit. Here are some pictures:

At the Park with Grandma:




Conquering the Neighborhood Park:


On top of the world:


Happy Halloween!


I can't believe how quickly Paul is growing up! He is definitely a toddler now and not a baby. We even got rid of his pacifier to prove it (well, during awake time that is). He has also made a big jump in comprehension. I feel like he finally understands the gist of what I say to him. I didn't realize how fun it would be to watch him figure things out. I'm loving it.

Paul also has a new haircut to show how grown up he is becoming. After a few days of unconquerable bedhead I caved in and buzzed off Paul's hair. I'm not sure why I thought he would act better than he did the first time, it was another miserable experience, but at least he looks a little nicer. Here is the new cut:






I'm not sure if it is the new haircut, all the cousin hand-me-downs he wears, or just my imagination, but I can't help but think this boy looks so much like his cousins on his dad's side. There is no doubt that this boy is his father's son.


Finally, I can't go another post without mentioning Paul's cast. He got it off about a month ago (yay!) and by now it is like it never happened. But when he first got it off he still walked around as if it were on. Even in his sleep he would keep his foot flexed. I thought it was the funniest thing so here is a quick clip of Paul walking the day after he got the cast off:

Pictures - and lots of them

It has snowed ALL DAY today and it is only October! I guess it is about time I got some of our summer pictures posted.

We had a great summer with family. It was especially nice for Paul to spend time with his grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. We are so grateful for all the wonderful support we have from family and the time we can spend with them.

Here are just some of the pictures of Paul with family from the summer...













Thanks to my family for watching Paul, and Chris's Dad for taking us sailing, Chris and I were able to enjoy a day with friends in San Diego this summer.


And if summer wasn't enough, Paul and I got to visit family again last month while Chris was traveling for work. Thanks to my parents who watched Paul over the weekend, I got to meet up with Chris in New York! Paul had a great time with family and hardly noticed I was gone. Thanks Mom and Dad!










(poor Paul, with a cast he can't ride a trike or swim)



Now that summer is over we've been settling into our new place. We've gone to the state fair, an apple orchard, and pretty much spent a lot of time outside. Here are more pictures...

(note the "Deep Fried Candy Bar" stand in the background
we got a kick out of that)





Unfortunately, this is the new reality:


Let's hope the weather warms up at least one more time before the real winter begins.