First Swim and Other Adventures

Everyone tells you that you have to do tummy time with your baby or they will be eternal slugs. I am hoping that isn't true, because Paul HATES tummy time.

It got into the high 80's last week, which is swimming weather! I thought it might be a good time to try out Paul's pool gear and find out how he feels about bobbing about in a very large, chilled bath. You can interpret his reaction for yourself, but I think he's still undecided:

I imagine this will be our last Post-Valentine's Day outing without needing a babysitter. (We wait till the day after to celebrate) Paul was nice enough to nap through dinner at The Melting Pot, but I don't think he will be so kind again.

Sunshine and Saguaros.

Our desert adventures continued this weekend at Saguaro National Park. This park is split in half: half on the east side of Tucson around the Rincon mountains, the other half in the Sonoran mountains west of Tucson.
On Friday, we visited the east side of the park and went on a couple short hikes. Fortunately, Lee had the foresight to bring an umbrella, not because it was rainy, but because it proved to be the best way to keep Paul out of the sun. Some fun cactus facts: Saguaros live a long time and grow very slowly. They might live as long as 250 years, they don't generally grow arms until they are 50, and if you see the arms flopping around weirdly it is because they were damaged by frost. I've got more cactus facts, but I'll save some of them as incentive for people to come visit.

This is a saguaro skeleton. I bet you didn't even know they had skeletons!

Pictured here: Road Runner. Sadly, does not say, "meep-meep."

One of the best Saguaros I have ever seen is right behind me.

A Crested Saguaro: a rare mutation makes this cactus look really funky.

Paul enjoyed the desert well enough when he was awake, but mostly he slept.

A great place to bird watch, too bad I don't know very many birds.

Saturday we visited the west side of the park. Not only are there even more Saguaros (no history of cattle grazing on this side!) but there are also some petroglyphs.

I love this hat.

Paul slept through this particular hike, got us both very sweaty.

This my personal favorite cactus.

Some ancient art.

Paul loved looking around at Picture Rock!

I hope you like cactus, because we serve our cactus on cactus with a side of cactus!

 

We got ourselves a National Parks pass so we can come back whenever we want and try a few different hikes. Not only that, but we'll see how many different National Parks we can hit this year.

Science and Games.

Every parent does some level of experimenting on their offspring, I am no exception. Here are my findings thus far:

I have discovered Paul's musical preferences. Paul likes The Beatles. "Good Day Sunshine" is a personal favorite. Classic rock puts him to sleep just as fast as soothing lullabies. When I started singing West Side Story, Paul cried; when I switched to Rusalka, he smiled. I take this to mean that Paul is partial to Dvorak and he is fine with a German translation rather than the original Czech. As for his compositional preferences, I had him step on the keyboard and he played a piece made up of dissonant chords and tonal clusters: very Avant Garde!

That is as far as my research has taken me. In reward for your willingness to listen to my ramble, here is a cute video of a game that Paul seemed to really enjoy:
 

And Paul, the balancing baby wonder (with invisible help from Daddy.)

 

 This look from Paul's "too tired for expression" collection:

Update 2014

 Good news: Paul now weighs in at 13 lbs., which means he has just about doubled his birth weight already. He got there a couple months early, but he doesn't seem to mind. I got fed up with my tangled wreck of hair being in the way all the time, so I chopped it off. The last time I got a hair cut was almost exactly a year ago, so now I know how fast my hair grows: very fast indeed.
Life here is lovely. I won't tell you about the weather, I don't want to get hate mail, but I recommend visiting in January. Or any time after September and before May. I have no exciting stories to tell, but I do have some adorable photos...

These are my Nerds, but only the little one wears a pocket protector.

A smile caught on camera? It's a miracle!

He really is this fat.

Chopped the hair. I like it but Paul is indifferent.

Behold the Cute!

This is how we sooth Paul, it is a lot easier with an air hockey table. A friendly message to anyone who might watch this video and want to make disparaging remarks about my parenting and this particular soothing technique: Please refrain from commenting. I don't want to hear it and I will not take it as well meaning advice.

And for your viewing pleasure, I got Paul to smile for the camera. Enjoy!

A Jolly Holiday

We have returned from our two week Christmas vacation. It had nothing of the madcap antics you might experience if you spent Christmas with the Griswalds, but we did get to enjoy a little winter weather, a few fun sites, and a lot of time with family and friends. Most importantly for you, devoted reader, we took some pictures of Paul!

 Paul really likes his car seat. I suppose if he were any older he would have demanded attention and entertainment throughout most of the drive, instead he slept most of the drive. And most of the stops.

 We split up our drive and spent the night in Moab. Then we visited Arches National Park before finishing the trek north. Paul didn't see any of these natural wonders; he was asleep.

 We pretty much had the whole park to ourselves. We ran into a few international tourists, but it seems most people don't want to hike Arches in the snow.

 We spent Christmas Eve with the Phillips'. It was a lovely day and Paul looks great as a candy cane and a stocking stuffer.

Grandma Karen and baby Paul.

 

Nap time is my favorite time.

Our baby really is this perfect. No airbrush necessary.

 While visiting Pa and Grandma Jamie, we visited Temple Square. Wouldn't ya know it, Paul slept through that too! The rest of us particularly enjoyed the candy window display and Macy's.

 On Sunday December 29th, Paul was blessed at Grandma and Grandpa Burnett's house. It was very special to be able to share that with so many in our family. For those of you who weren't there, marvel at how cute this baby is in his little sweater and fake bow tie.

Almost a smile...

I know, I know. We're the cutest family ever.

 Paul's double chin almost entirely obscures the bow tie, but we managed to uncover it for a few shots. Special thanks to Cassie Loveless for manning the camera and capturing some of this darlingness for posterity.

 

For New Years' Eve we visited Logan to meet up with a few pals, including Paul's future girlfriend, we hope, Rosie. Their feet are the same length despite the 6 month gap in their ages.

And, with the arrival of the new year, we departed the icy north and made for more temperate weather. This time we stopped off in Boulder City, Nevada. We spent the night in a very lovely and truly historic hotel that I could not say enough kind things about, and we stopped to drive over the Hoover Dam on our way out of town. Paul slept through that too.

Lee and Paul in front of the Boulder Dam Hotel. Again, I could not recommend them highly enough.

 Even though we have driven on the Memorial Bridge several times, it is impossible to appreciate how huge it is until you see it from below. It was shocking to realize just how high up we had been!

One Month Older and Wiser Too!

Here are some more baby photos. Paul isn't doing any fancy tricks yet. He insists on trying to hold his head up all by himself, which means he ends up doing a little bobble head before face-planting on my shoulder. He's also getting much better at sleeping at night, which is really more exciting to me than anyone else. Since we have no exciting stories to tell, instead we'll share some pictures of Paul's newly acquired chubby cheeks.

Paul plays on his blanket on the floor. By play, I mean kicking and punching the air.

This is the same outfit Paul wore home from the hospital that he was drowning in a month ago.

Thug Life.

Mamma and baby snugglin'

My faux-pro photos

Paul has already mastered the art of stylistically staring off into the distance instead of at the camera.