It's finally happened!

He utterly refused. He was not going to do it. Paul was doing everything in his power to avoid rolling over, e.g., quickly spreading out his arms and legs, gripping something for dear life, or wiggling back to solid ground. It's funny to see how overly cautious he is about some things. (Hmmm, could he be the son of the girl who used to be called "little Miss Nervous"?)  He shows a lot of ambition in other areas, but this was just not his thing.

Well, the breaking news is in! Paul is finally rolling over on purpose. He has rolled over once or twice, on accident, but I don't think those count. Here's some footage of his purposeful rolling skills:

Now I have a question for you mothers out there. How close do you think this little guy is to crawling based on this next video? (Especially the second half.) If you ask me, I think he's almost got it. We'll probably both be getting a lot more exercise pretty soon. Heaven help us! 

In the background, you hear my mom talking about our first attempt at leaving Paul in the gym's daycare. He wasn't too happy about that at all. Thanks, mom, for coming to help out during that traumatic experience. ;)

Hurry home, Blair! You might miss his first... crawl(?)!

Missing for V-day.

I have a deeper respect for single mothers out there.

 Blair's been gone since Tuesday morning of last week (Feb. 7th). He's coming home this Friday (the 17th), but I was ready for his return a few hours after he left! He's in North Carolina on a business trip - something to do with trucks and antennas. People have asked if it bothers me that he's gone for Valentine's day. Honestly, he treats me like every day were Valentine's day, so I just miss him any time he's gone.


Come on Friday!!! I want my husband back!

Eating and teeth brushing

"What's new?" you ask. I'll tell you.

A lot of messy, deliciousness - that's what!

Paul has been broadening his taste-buds' horizons, defeating the odds, taking big leaps, going where no 7-month old has gone before! Maybe that last statement is a bit of an exaggeration, but he really is a trooper when it comes to trying new foods. I'm becoming optimistic about raising a non-picky eater now. (We'll see...) He'll give almost anything a fair chance! By  "fair chance" I mean, taking more than one or two voluntary bites. And by "almost anything" I mean anything; here's a list of what our Pauliwog has tried so far:

Rice cereal
Pickles*
Carrots*
Apples
Bread*
Graduate snacks
Teathing biscuit*
Corn
Peas*
Peanut butter*
Bananas*
Hot Chile* (No joke!)
Corn bread*
Avocado
Plain Greek yogurt
Spaghetti squash
Butternut Squash*
Orange
Pineapple
Rice cakes*
Pizza*
Chocolate* (I'm talking rich, dark chocolate!)
Ice cream*
Raisins*
Sharp cheddar cheese*
Home-made cheese crackers*
Potatoes
Tomato sauce*
Zucchini*
Onion
Homemade chicken nuggets*
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Water*

(* I put a star next to the things he especially enjoys.)

I've also re-discovered the magic of freezing things and thawing them later. It's so handy to be able to pull out a frozen bag of pre-blended food, run it under a stream of hot water for one minute and have a meal ready for Paul like that! (Imagine me snapping.) It's so easy! I would do a top-notch job at praising the freezer if it were on an infomercial!


 I had to get a picture of Paul holding one of these miniature ice cream cones from Trader Joes.


Of course he tasted it...


That's cooooold!!!

And with all that eating, we have to make sure we teach him to clean those teeth.





He loves brushing his two little teeth and feeling mature like mom and dad.

Giggling with daddy

Daddy's a regular comedian!

Goldfish and Peanut Butter

Paul had his six month checkup and his pediatrician said at six months we should be "going to town" with feeding Paul solid foods. My intelligent response: "...oh..." We had been letting him taste mashed fruits and vegetables since he was 4 months old, (as recommended by the pediatrician) just every couple of days we'd let him try something new. We certainly weren't "going to town" though.

So we're really trying to buckle down and get a regular solid food session going every day now.

Last week, I tried a great recipe for homemade goldfish crackers and Paul absolutely loves them! They're mostly cheese and flour without all those preservatives and food dyes.
 ( I got the recipe here/  via Pinterest. Yes I gave in and am poking and pinning the internet along with every other girly girl out there.)



He just sucks on them 'til they're mush, kind of like those teething biscuits but without all the brown slime.



Another favorite of his?

Peanut butter

 "Yes!" I said out loud as he smacked his lips in sticky delight, "You are your parents' son!" and I loaded up another spoonful.




He's really enjoying this "eating" thing and I think I am too. Although, the biggest downside to him eating more solids... is the smell factor during diaper changes. I was warned, but the strength of that stench still caught me off guard! Those little smell-killing diaper bag things are starting to make more sense now!

Christmas Break - Part 1

Okay okay, I give in. I'll post about our Christmas break. It just feels like trying to blog about the wonderful adventures of Christmas family fun will simply be overwhelming, and it is, but it must be done!!! So I'll do it in two parts. This blog post will be about the time we spent with my side of the family.

Are you ready for this? Here we go!


That's Paul reveling the glory of Christmas. ^

My lovely sisters Rachel, Reana, Railee, (and I'm sure Risa was there), as well as my brother, Ryan, and his wife Rachel all came home for Christmas! Reana's fiance, Sean, and Rachel's boyfriend, Chad, also stayed for a few short days. (Blair, Paul and I didn't have to travel because we were the good children who didn't move far away. Go us! Hint hint to any family members who might possibly be reading this.)

We just happened to be romping through nature, as we usually do, when somebody with a camera spotted our beauty and tried to capture our amazingness with pictures.

At first, we were bashful...


...but we soon complied and gathered our good-looking faces into a gorgeous clump.


We didn't spend all our time dodging awestruck photographers in parks. We did a lot of relaxing and soaking up of family love. Paul loved all the extra special, auntly attention!

Hangin' out with aunt Rachel:


Paul is a wiz at typing on keyboards. He tried to correct aunt Railee's technique.


Here we see Aunt Railee and Paul having secret bonding time. What are they talking about?




Well.... that's it, I guess. I hope you weren't expecting a long, detailed description of how we spent every day together, because I'm just too lazy for that. I wish I had taken more pictures with other family members in them, but that will have to wait 'til next year.

Stay tuned for the second half!

Six Months!

Wow. Six months really is a magical age for baby development. Everyone kept telling me, "just wait until he's six months old". I would wonder, "what drastic changes could possibly take place at six months that will make me like my baby more than I do now?"

They were right. It's so true.

On January 1st (his six month birthday), Paul woke up with two brand new teeth. He suddenly started making the sounds of "dada", "baba" and "yaya". He actually enjoys eating some solid foods. He likes playing peek'a-boo and even made up his own game (putting something in his mouth then putting it in mine, back and forth, while giggling up a storm). He prefers his thumb to any pacifier. According to my mom, he rolled over from his back to his tummy, although, I have yet to see this for myself...

This is how he has to dress these cold days for our morning jogs now. Daddy's wool socks do a great job keeping his legs and feet warm.




This picture was taking in the mother's lounge at church. He loves showing off his pearly-whites with his huge grins.



One nice thing about Paul is he's great at making the best of his situation. For example, he doesn't seem to mind me putting things on his head. He played with this toy on his head for a good fifteen minutes, before I took if off.