Sitting up.

Paul can sit up! On Sunday, the 20th, I just sat him on the floor and let go to see how long it would take him to fall over, but he didn't! He just kind of wobbled a bit as he found his balance. Once he realized he was doing it on his own, he looked at Blair and me and started smiling and bouncing his upper body as if he were experienced enough to show off some extra stunts already!  


I grab his arm just as I say he can do it on his own. I need to learn not to talk during these videos...

The missing ingredient!

We finally have a baby picture of Blair! Special thanks goes to his sister, Laura, for finding this in her stash and e-mailing it to me. What do you think? Have we found the missing link (chubby cheeks) to Paul's genetic make up?


Let's put my baby picture and his together and see what we get.
Here's me again...


Mix them together, add a little Pauleewog juice, and voila! You get our cute little Paul!
 

Pretty neat, huh?

The pumpkin patch

On Saturday (the 29th), Laura Green, along with Tyler and little 19-month-old Ben, invited us to go to Baggensto's Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. It was an awesome place for little families! There was a hay maze for the little ones, a corn maze for us big ones, pumpkin bowling, kettle corn eating, fresh produce selling, you name it! And we enjoyed the most heavenly Autumn weather the whole time.

First we were privileged to behold the pumpkin bowling master at work. Ben knew just what to do. Can you see us in back there standing in awe?


Next, we got up the courage to explore the corn maze and hoped to make it out alive. Paul was barely awake enough for this picture before taking a snooze for the rest of the trip.


In this next picture, I'm demonstrating our lost and confused state while in the maze. Blair stands and watches my acting skills in adoring envy.


To Ben's delight, we rode the tractor to the "pumpkin patch", which was actually a bunch of pre-picked pumpkins somebody rolled out onto a field. It was great for little Ben to run around in, since there were no pumpkin vines to trip on.

Laura was so funny. We get out of the tractor and Laura says in an excited/surprised/singsong voice, "Ben! It's a land of pumpkins!" And he takes off in the reckless glee that only a little boy can exhibit.

They're such a cute family. :)

Yeah, we are so cool with our sunglasses. Paul had to shield his eyes in the Ergo strap, but someday, he'll grow up to be just as cool as his parents and he can wear sunglasses too.


We did end up picking the two, most perfect pumpkins (out of all the other perfect, pre-picked pumpkins), and here we are showing them off with pride.

Laura and I go way back, she and I. We're like this. (Imagine me doing crossed fingers.) Yeah, you should be jealous. She is such a wonderful person, and I'm so lucky to have her as a friend!

Baby Laughs!

Remember I said I would try to post some more laughs from Paul? Well here's a video I took of him laughing for no reason. He's such great company!

Does he look like me?

Here are some pictures or Paul that reminded me of a picture of me. I included the picture of me at the bottom. I would include a picture of Blair, but he doesn't have any baby pictures of himself. Can you believe that? It's a crying shame!













Besides the fact that my cheeks weren't quite as voluptuous, my eyes were darker,  I wasn't as manly of a baby, and I had a heavenly glow around me, do you see a resemblance?

Baby skills!

Paul has been busy learning about the world around him. Ever since that day he discovered he has hands - September 16th to be exact - he has been mastering the art of touching, rubbing, scratching, and whacking all the different textures around him. Below is a picture of him scratching the chair pillow.




Paul's becoming much more aware of his surroundings. He has a love/hate relationship with Mr. Green elephant. He's always straining his neck to get a good look at him. Sometimes it scares him and he whimpers. I'll physically turn Paul's head away from the elephant, but he just turns it right back. Mr. Blue elephant doesn't get any attention. It's just that sneaky Mr. Green he has to keep an eye on. You never know what that creepy creature might do when your back is turned... (Please ignore Paul's spit-up stained, out-of-season shirt. It's is a lounging outfit.)


Paul has been learning the skill of listening to bedtime stories. He was pretty fascinated by the colorful pages!


He's mastered the skill of letting mommy bundle him up for our cold morning walks.


He is now mature enough to take a bath without a fuss. In fact, he actually kind of enjoys baths now. What three-month-old wouldn't love splashing water with their legs?




And I saved the best for last. My very favorite thing Paul has learned to do is to laugh! He started laughing at about 2.5 months. Here's a video of some mild laughter - he's become much more fluent in giggles and guffaws since this video was taken. I'll have to capture some good ones for you.

Stay tuned!

Trip to General Conference

We drove for twelve hours straight to Utah with a three-month-old baby! Okay, Blair drove for twelve hours straight, while I entertained the three-month-old baby.

It was amazingly wonderful to actually leave early in the morning! We were able to leave at 5:00am on Thursday and arrived in Salt Lake City at about 6:00pm Utah time. (As a kid, leaving for Utah before noon was as unlikely in my family as going an entire day without laughing. It was impossible!) And Paul was a great little traveler. Yeah, he got a little fussy and would start to complain about being in the same seat forever, but a large majority of the time he was either sleeping, eating, laughing and babbling, or studying his fists contentedly. Before we knew it, we were being given a tour of Reana's three-bedroom apartment in Salt Lake City, and were given the empty room to sprawl all our clothes and baby gear for the weekend. It was great!

The next two days were filled with yummy food, touring Temple Square, playing the game Scottland Yard with Railee, and watching the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

On Sunday morning, Reana's boyfriend, Sean, gave Reana, Blair and I a ride to General Conference. Yes, we went to the conference center to actually see and hear the Prophet speak! We weren't that special, though, - there were so many people there. But that's kind of what made it a neat experience too. I don't know if I've ever been with that many LDS families in the same place before. The talks were wonderful and the Spirit was so strong. It was definitely an experience I'll remember forever. I have to admit, though, I was constantly thinking about Paul and my phone was anxiously perched on my lap through the entire session.

Railee sweetly volunteered to babysit Paul while we were gone. I told him to be extra cute so she would be willing to babysit in the future. Railee said he was good, but who knows what he was really like for her? Railee did say that when President Monson was speaking, Paul was staring, open-mouthed at the screen and nodding his head. I hope he'll always be that interested in the Prophet's words!

We stopped by my uncle Matt and aunt Nicia's house that afternoon and had a fun time chatting with them as well as my cousins Kelsey and Sophie. When we got back to Reana's place, she had a delicious Indian meal all prepared and we feasted on spiced couscous and chicken! Yum!

The plan was to go to bed extra early that night for our all-day Monday drive. At the last minute, though, we decided to leave right then and drive through the night! I left the decision mostly up to Blair since he would be doing most, if not all, of the driving.

Paul and I slept most of the way home, but Blair said it was a really long night as he fought the urge to sleep. I tried a couple of times to take the wheel, but I never lasted very long. I think it's safe to say it was a miracle we made it home safely!

It was a good trip. I even got a free haircut out of the experience! (Thanks Reana!)