Easter Baby

Dear Auntie Lisa and Uncle Matt were kind enough to bring Paul a plethora of toys that their little rascals are too old to care about. (Thanks again, by the way!) If you've been keeping up on this blog, you've already seen how Paul feels about the baby rain stick they gave him. His reaction to the Jack-in-the-Box was, surprisingly, more positive.

In order to share with Paul the joys of Easter, we had to simplify the activities somewhat. Namely the egg hunt. Take a gander at the kind of Easter Egg Hunt you can do with a five month old baby:

Paul found one egg...because Dad put it on his tummy.

 Paul's first Easter is also, I presume, the last Easter he will be okay with getting unsweetened applesauce as a treat. Next year if he wants more sugary treats, I'll just make him share with me.

Of Toys and Clean Teeth.

I don't remember ever being one of those kids who hated the dentist. My parents and childhood dentists might tell it differently, but in my recollection I was never particularly troublesome about the whole business.
It had been at least a year, maybe two, since my last appointment. Time for a cleaning! I finally got around to scheduling one and promptly forgot about it. Not to worry! I was reminded in time (barely) to get Paul babysat and peddle myself to the torture chamb--I mean, dentist.

I have completely taken Dr. Huffaker for granted. I was used to 15 minute, timely, in-and-out appointments. Ford, if you ever read this, thank you for not making my visit a time of horror. Between my long hiatus from professional dental care and my hyper-sensitive, bleeding gums (compliments of pregnancy), it was excruciating. As if trying to add insult to injury, there was country music playing in the background of the entire visit. If Dante had known of such tortures, they surely would have found their way into his Inferno.
Advice for dental students: If your patient is bleeding profusely and requires a rinse every minute or so, you're doing it wrong.
I have joined the legions of people who hate dental visits. I found myself thinking, "you know what would make this more awkward? Eye contact." Think about it! Staring into the eyes of the person mere inches from your face as they maneuver around your unruly tongue. They are making you as uncomfortable as possible, might as well return the favor.

If any of my readers decide to try this, I ask that they share their experience with the rest of us. Please, entertain me.

And if you wanted more baby related stuff, I've got some of that too:

Paul has grown to love his bouncer. Not that he really bounces in it, but he twirls and tries to eat whatever he can reach. In other news, putting his play mat by the sliding door was a good idea. He spends half the time just looking out the window.

He's our cute little Jumperoo!

Milestones

We caught a few big moments on camera last week, hope you enjoy them. As promised, I got a video of Paul giggling. Ignore the TV on in the background at the beginning, I am way to lazy to edit this clip down so it's staying there.

And here is the oh so exciting new trick that Paul learned. Seriously, I have been making him practice everyday so he doesn't forget how:

Till we post again, adieu!

Our Baby Monster

Hopefully you aren't sick of all the pictures of baby and our desert surroundings, because we have more! So much more...

We've been trying to spend our weekends doing hikes and outdoorsy things as long as the weather is still good. These photos are from our hiking around the Tucson Mountain Park.

Paul is pretty indifferent to hiking. He just likes that he is up high and moving about. He would like walking around the apartment just as much.

Hummingbird!

 I just get camera happy when Paul is being this cute! He's our little monster!

Whilst putting groceries away, I noticed Paul was babbling and growling. I caught it on camera:

My next mission, as I have chosen to accept it, is to catch him laughing on camera.

Fun with Cousins

I, tragically, didn't have my camera handy to get a shot of the whole Sanderson clan while they were visiting, but when Lisa, Liam, Paul, and I went to the Desert Museum I managed to get some pictures of Liam playing and exploring.

Waiting for a ride!

The Hummingbirds exhibit made Liam nervous, he thought he might get stung.

Lazy Mountain Lion.

Similarly lazy Wolf.

Lisa and Liam in the sunny Sonoran Desert!

I had fun, Paul had a nap.

Happy Pi Day! We celebrated with Lee's delightful dessert.

Some favorite moments: Ian and Miles singing "PE-ERRY!" because they were playing with Perry the Platypus.

Ian and Liam just adored Paul. Ian wanted Paul to be his baby sister, but reluctantly agreed that Paul was his BOY baby cousin instead.

Lee was walking Paul around when Liam noticed I wasn't holding him anymore he got very concerned. "Where's baby Paul?" "Uncle Lee is holding him." "Uncle Lee has baby? I go get baby..."

When I was feeding Paul, Ian was quite surprised and told me "he's biting your tummy!" Uhhh...close enough.

Miles was fairly indifferent to the baby. But he did enjoy playing on our porch. He even got his head stuck between the bars somehow.

All time favorite: Ian running headlong into the glass door. He didn't cry, he just explained to his dad "All I wanted was to play outside!"

Also, thanks Grandma Jamie for the package you sent! We thought we might send Paul to you by post, but the box was too small.

Paul liked sitting in the box...

But got concerned that we might try to close it. We wouldn't do that!

A Grand Camping Trip.

We tried our hand at camping with Paul at the Grand Canyon. There are pros to going to the GC in the off season: not too hot, not too crowded, no bugs, no reservations necessary. There are also some cons: it's cold at night and...well that's just about it. It's a little too cold for me to be sleeping outside. Paul seemed to have no problem with it, but we put him in several layers and blankets and put hand warmers in his hands and footies. He slept much better than we did as our mattress kept deflating and his pack n' play did nothing of the sort.

 Paul handled the hiking quite well, though it wreaked havoc with his nap times.

 You never get over the stunning views, each more amazing than the next.

We hiked a mile down below the rim to "Ooh Aah Point." Luckily for me, Lee carried Paul on the way back up.

 

 Paul was more interested in eating his carrier than looking at the view.

 

 We had to take detours off our trail to avoid grazing Elk. They were all over the place.

We had some great s'mores, went on some great hikes, and we were very happy to arrive come home to a soft bed and a clean place to put the baby down.

Bumbo Boy and a Colossal Birthday

We have introduced Paul to his Bumbo. He really enjoys it, treating it like a throne. He'd like it even more if it had wheels and he could travel about on his own.

 Paul was happy to sit as long as he had Dad there to make funny noises at him.

Blanket monkey is almost as good as a Dad; softer, but not as silly.

We taught Paul this little song, you might be familiar with it. He loves it!

And here is the sleepy little angel and his cuddly duck.

This weekend we celebrated my birthday with Chinese take-out, cheesecake, and a fun filled excursion to Colossal Cave. As the name might suggest, the cave was rather large. The tour of the cave was very interesting, though Paul wanted to stop less often.

Lee and Paul at the cave entrance.

A rock formation called a Dry Waterfall.

Me n' some cave.

Every little nook and cranny had something neat to look at.

Paul was a little impatient and wouldn't let Lee stop moving.

Stalagmites/tites galore!

Paul preferred being outdoors, though possibly he just wanted a diaper change...