you take the good you take the bad you take them both...

I realize my blogging is getting worse. My excuse this time is that we left our digital camera on the cape a few weeks back and I hate to make an entry without a photo. But since I don't know when we are getting our camera back... hopefully it is in the next two weeks before Paudie's insane first birthday party!

The last few weeks have been like a rollercoaster in Paudie's world. Highs - starting to walk, getting his top two teeth, making horsey noises, eating cookies - and Lows - falling down, getting an ear infection, having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic, and getting his finger pinched in a door. But all in all he remains totally and utterly awesome. He is starting to demonstrate some hella good climbing skills - over the top of his new car, up the gate blocking our stairwell- and given his long legs and long arms, he can get to doorknobs and things on the countertop with ease. We are starting to experience some temper tantrums - it's like, you can't help but laugh at the child.

Eating remains a problem, though somedays it seems like it is getting better. His new fascination is eating fuzzies. Off the rug, from under the refrigerator... strands of hair, fibers from his diaper... kinda weird. Even his dad's chest hair. Maybe he's part cat. He's holding at about 22 lbs, will be interesting to see how his profile has changed at his well visit in two weeks - I am predicting off the chart for height, 50% for weight. Everytime I see super tall and super skinny men on the street I think, yup, that's gonna be our boy in a few years. Maybe we have another Michael Phelps on our hands! cha ching!

So as I mentioned above, we are having a small gathering for Paudie's first birthday. This is a huge milestone for us for obvious reasons. I am not yet sure of the party's theme, but I already know that in addition to his car and his PAUDIE Mass license plate, he is getting a funky pair of walking shoes. The boy has worn shoes maybe 5 times in his life? It's going to be interesting when he goes to daycare and has to wear them every day! With socks!! And pants!!!

the park, the pool... the hamper.

worth 1000 words

So my whole issue with keeping this blog semi up-to-date is that I am lazy when it comes to uploading digital photos. John is very good about capturing lots of moments with Paudie - but he never uploads so when I go to do it, there are like 200 new photos and they all have to be red-eye adjusted etc then sent to Snapfish so I can access them. Sigh. Hopefully this week I will grad some newer pics.

Paudie is doing soooo good! He is trying his darndest to walk - and getting scarily close. The entire house has been baby proofed - there is no furniture in the living room, a massive gate has been put up by the stairs, the dining room has been turned into a massive baby jail with lots of toys and a new play room has been set-up in the basement. Lots of options for PC to play. His top two teeth are working their way down and he is super drooly. It's quite impressive. As for food, he's getting a little better. Still gaggy, but not as barfy.

The major concession we have made is around our sleeping arrangement. Paudie will not sleep in his crib - he just won't and frankly, I don't have the heart to make him cry it out for a few nights. He's happy with us, we're happy with him. So we bought a king size bed. It came today - I don't know who is most excited between the three of us. Hopefully John and I will get more sleep with more room away from our little heat seeking missle.

Paudie has also started to point. Out of the blue, with no prompting. He points a lot at totally random things. I love these new little developments! They are fascinating to me.

I promise to post new pics soon.

the living's easy

We are back from our week away and it is really feeling like summer. Man is it easier to deal with an uncooperative, squirmy baby in the summer than in the cold weather. These days its like, okay, you don't want to put clothes on? Diaper for you. Paudie has also been spending lots of time in an inflatable pool on our back deck. It's next to his sandbox, which he also loves. The problem is that he can speedily go from pool to sandbox and it makes him sorta a grimey, gritty mess. But he's happy and we're pushovers so there you have it.

Paudie did some sight-seeing last week. The petting zoo was a bust as it started to rain as soon as we arrived, but we were able to spend a day at Letchworth State Park which is quite lovely. He went for some strolls - checked out the falls and the Mt. Morris dam - not really too impressed with any of it. We also spent a morning at the Rochester Public Market which was interesting - tons to see and smell and try and touch. Oh, and he got to go for a dip in his grandpa's pool, but I think the inflatable frog pool is more his speed. It was awesome - though very exhausting - to spend a week with him. It felt like he changed so much - he is now crawling like crazy, cruising everywhere and can even stand on his own for a little bit. We feel as if he is putting all his energy into trying to walk. Food be damned.

The sleep schedule is still a disaster. Last night he slept from 10:30 to 10:30. It's great he get's his 12 hours but really he should be putting us to bed. I can't even stay awake to see him drift off most nights. But I shouldn't complain too much because with his late schedule, I do get to spend a decent amount of time with him once I get home from work.

We have a babysitter minding Paudie one day a week for the summer. It is so nervewracking for me to leave him even though she seems fabulous. I really have to learn to be okay with these things - but it's going to take time.

sport-o

Amazing how a baseball cap makes a booboo look like a real little boy. John picked this up for Paudie at the Red Sox game Tuesday night and I must say, it really suits him.

This pic was taken on our back deck. We bought the walker at a garage sale - they aren't easy to find in stores. I know a lot of docs hate them - not sure if it's the risk for tumbling down the stairs or concerns of putting too much pressure on baby's legs - but Paudie loves to motor around it so there you have it.

Paudie went to the beach for the first time last weekend and it was a smashing success. Not only does he love sand, he appears to at least for now, know better than to eat it. He is content to just sit and let it sift through his hands. We have a sandbox out back and he was playing by himself in it for close to a half hour the other night which was totally awesome for us. Paudie is into everything right now. It's exhausting to have to keep pulling him away from the TV and other sharp cornered/heavy objects -no matter where you sit him, he can make his way back to wherever he is not supposed to be in about 5 crawling steps. Damn 1920s colonial.

We are road tripping to see my family in upstate NY for the week. Will be great from everyone to see and get to really interact with him. Everyone but the dog that is since they are the same size and weight now. He - Paudie, not the dog - actually waved last night and did some crude hand clapping. John and I were ecstatic. It's like we don't really believe he is going to make normal developmental milestones. Not sure at what point that disbelief will end for us. I suspect slash hope his 1st birthday which is only about 9 weeks away.

Paudie still sleeps with us and refuses to drift off before 9:30. I wonder if this all falls into what our ped referred to as creating a 'vulnerable child.' Hmmm...

Paudie gets inked

Check out Paudie's tat. He got his temp ink at a lemonade stand fundraiser our good friend Ivy had at her house two weeks ago. He looked pretty badass with it and I had to wonder, is this a sign of things to come? Anyhoo we finally scrubbed it off this week.

Things are quiet in Paudie land. We think his two front teeth are going to be making some noise soon. Eating still is lackluster. Doc said not to worry and just keep on him with different options. At 9 months, Paudie clocked in at over 31 inches (99%) and 21 lbs (55%). To quote the good doctor - okay so I'm paraphrasing - giraffes have baby giraffes. I guess I understand that intellectually, I just wish he loved food as much as we do.

Nights are getting easier - we finally have given up and just let him stay up as late as he wants, usually 9:30. I know, not great parenting but we just got tired of making him angry for two hours as we try to enforce an appropriate bedtime.

unsteady yet strikingly overconfident

Those terms come to mind to describe Paudie these days. He has learned to pull himself up into a standing position and can even make his way around the perimeter of his crib and pack n' play - just barely. He often gets sidetracked by a toy and as soon as one hand goes off the edge, the wobbling sets in. Knees like rubber. And then he's down. But his overconfidence is inspiring. He only started to stand on Monday and last night he was trying to climb up the outside of the pack n' play. Maybe it's a boy thing, but it was pretty brazen I thought considering two days ago the best he could do was roll and creep.

I can finally say that teeth are coming. I know I've been talking about them for a long time but they are on their way - you can't exactly see the pearly whites, but you can feel them - very sharp and seemingly ridiculously crooked under his gum. If one were to refer to normal teeth as horizontal in nature, I would characterize what I see in his mouth as vertical. Sort of Appalachian-like. I guess he probably will inherit my bad teeth. While my husband was blessed with perfectly straight teeth, I was not so lucky. I was one of those adolescents with way too many teeth in all the wrong places. Teeth upon teeth. Had to have 4 adult teeth removed even before braces. It's all really unfortunate as I am sure braces will cost about $5000 by the time he is ready for them. We may have to send him to a makeover show for some free dental work instead. Lumineers anyone?

We are off to the doctor on Tuesday morning. I like well visits. I like our doctor, he makes me feel calm and normal. Which is huge these days. My main questions have to do around our boy's poor eating habits. And the gagging which has returned as of last week. Two full-on barf sessions last week spurred by puffies. We went to Ikea this weekend and picked up some full body suit bibs - sort of like straight jackets. If we can't prevent the barf, perhaps we can just make the clean up a little bit easier for ourselves.