Summer Time

"Yea Summer" as Paul would say

Between visiting family and spend as much time outdoors as possible, we've sure been enjoying summer.

We had a great time having lots of family around for our summer vacation. Paul especially loved all of the attention from his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. I wish I had more pictures! Maybe we'll just have to visit more often.



Paul came home with a special treat - the love of water! Since our trip we've tried to spend more time at the lake, in the pool or at least enjoying some of the splash pads near the parks in our area.









Kate is so good to just come along for the ride! I'm sure glad she likes carriers because I don't how else I'd keep up with Paul.





While we were home with family we got to have Kate's Baby Blessing. What a great day.









Since we've been home Kate hasn't taken a break from growing up. I can't believe how big she is already getting.




She finally graduated from a port-a-crib into a big girl crib. I was going to take back Paul's crib and move him to a bed, but I gave up before trying when I found this crib on Craig's List for a great deal. I can't believe we are a two crib family, but my back is already thanking me for it.





Here's a little clip of Paul playing baseball. When my aim is on, his batting average gets up in the .500 range. He loves it.

Smile

We had so much fun visiting family the last week and a half!
Pictures will be coming soon as I get back in the swing of things.
But in the mean time I just couldn't resist a few pictures of Kate trying out her new smile.

Thinking about it...


Trying oh so hard...


Almost...


There it is!

Paul and Kate

I love pictures of Paul and Kate together




But even more than pictures, I love watching Paul interact with Kate. He is getting better ever day, but he still does some crazy things sometime:



The picture above got me thinking that they really don't look all that much alike. I think they look like family, but definitely not clones. Here are pictures taken of each around 5 weeks.



Maybe Kate just needs to lose a little weight and work on holding that head up better. It will be fun to watch the similarities and differences as she grows.

Anyway, here are two more pics for good measure

Picture Perfect

I'll start with pictures since they are more fun!

Day 2
Just home from the hospital:


Day 3
First time Paul wants to "hold it"


Day 4
First bath


Happy again


Day 6


Enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom takes a break


Day 11
First big outdoor adventure - to the park with Paul







Week 2


I love her spunky hair


Bonding with Dad



Almost 3 Weeks
First time going to church



I know pictures are much more fun, but what mom doesn't want to gush about her new little one, so here come the boring words.

Kate's timing couldn't have been better. All I wanted was to not be in labor all night long, and Kate gave me that and then some. I woke up Tuesday morning after a normal nights rest and noticed that my still painless contractions were quite regular. I was hopeful, but not convinced, that Kate would be born soon. By 8:30am I figured I should call my mom and at least see if she could fly out just in case it was the big day. I had a scheduled appointment at the clinic for 10:30, but the hospital triage desk said I might as well go there instead of to the appointment just in case I got admitted. I'm glad I took their advice! At 10:45 I was admitted and Kate was born just 3 hours later.

Kate is a wonderful baby! We are still working on the whole burping thing, but she seems to be doing great with all that eating and sleeping that newborns do. She is definitely not as demanding as Paul was and that is a relief. I can't wait for her to wake up a little more and start showing us her little personality.

As for Paul's side of the story, well...
He is actually doing better than I hoped. He gives "baby sister" many more hugs and kisses than he does kicks and hits. He doesn't want to get in the car and go anywhere unless she is coming too. And he always wants to see her when he wakes up, especially if that means waking her up.

Between Dad taking paternity leave and Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit, Paul had a lot of attention that first week Kate was home. I think it helped a lot with the transition.

Grandpa spent hours with Paul outside playing baseball and basketball. Paul was in heaven. He is actually a pretty good little t-ball player, but I get a kick out of the backhand swing Paul occasionally shows off. Maybe we'll put the kid in tennis someday.


Paul also spent those first two weeks bonding with Daddy. They have become quite good buddies and I love watching them play.




And here is the big boy himself showing off his new haircut. I can't believe how much he seemed to grow during those two days I was in the hospital. He is a good big brother.

She's Here!

We're happy to announce the birth of our baby girl, Katherine. She was born at 6/1 at 1:45 pm, 8 lbs 4 ounces, 22 in. long. Toria and Kate are doing great. We'll post more pics soon.

Paul the Jumping Bean

Paul has been really active lately, probably related to the great weather, and it is bringing out a fun, athletic side of him.

Jumping has become one of his favorite things and it adds a little flair to his step everywhere he goes. Here are a few clips of his jumping progression. Sadly he no longer says "bibbit" (like a frog) when he jumps, but he is getting quite good at jumping off of higher and higher platforms.




The other day I came looking for Paul and was surprised to learn what had been keeping him so entertained.



My favorite is when he adds a little jumping to his dancing.



He is also really into balls. I'll probably regret letting him throw balls around the house sooner than later, but it is a great way to pass the time on a rainy day. Thanks Grandma for the balls.



Maybe someday it will all amount to something. But for now I enjoy watching him try.

Oh, so close...

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!