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.

Day 1 of the Cast

I'm so proud of my quick little learner.
Paul is feeling much better today and it shows.
So far he has learned

1. how to crawl with his right leg sticking out to the side (the wood floor is his favorite because his leg just slides beside him)
2. that if he reaches his hand out towards an object I will immediately give him the object (Paul unfortunately thinks it is a game akin to dropping items and watching me pick them up over and over again)
3. how to stand up and even walk with a cast!
   

He still trips a lot when he tries walking, but at least he can stand up to things and get around. Way to go Paul.

I was lucky enough to catch his first try at walking on the video camera. Here he is:

Breaking News - Paul Broke His Leg

Well, actually I broke Paul's leg, but that sounds malicious and intentional and this was nothing of the sort.

Yesterday while carrying Paul down the stairs, I slipped and fell, dropping Paul in the process. When Paul finally calmed down, I discovered that while he was okay with sitting and crawling, he would start to cry whenever he would try to stand or walk and refused to put weight on his right leg.

Thankfully I really like the pediatric office he goes to. They got him in yesterday evening, took x-rays, and quickly confirmed that something was wrong with his leg. Today we had an appointment with a pediatric orthopedist who put his leg in a cast. In two weeks the doctor will take off the cast, do more x-rays and go from there, but I have a feeling that he will be in a cast for at least 5 weeks. I just hope that after two his cast won't have to go all the way up to his hip.

The worst part of this is that Paul has a respiratory cold and just feels miserable on top of having a broken bone. I'm hoping that when he starts getting over his cold he'll warm up to his new appendage.

That's the story, here is the picture.


I'm sorry Paul, I love you.

Happy First Birthday Paul

Paul turned 1 yesterday!

Here's a video of Paul first thing in the morning opening Mom and Dad's gift.


Paul got to do all of his favorite things on his Birthday. He had pancakes for breakfast, practiced his golf swing, opened fun presents throughout the day, rode around in the cool shopping cart, had stir-fry for dinner, and of course he ate some cake.

And here are some pictures:









In case you were wondering, yes Paul got a hair cut. I was going to wait until after his 1st birthday, but his hair was always so hot and sweaty that it just had to go. I just hope he doesn't need another hair cut for a long long time. Here are some before, during, and after shots:






Hopefully pictures from this summer and from our big move will come shortly so stayed tuned. In the mean time, Happy Birthday Paul.

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.