10 months old

Oh my! 10 months old already! Paul is such a fun little boy. He is now crawling more on his hands and knees and pulling himself up on everything. He loves being wherever his big brother is. He chatters and giggles all the time. He is working on waving and loves making friends wherever he goes by flashing his cute toothy grin. His favorites right now include putting everything in his mouth, playing with Daddy and Stephen, riding his little car, dancing to music, and crawling all over the place.

Our smiley boy

Paul James - 10 months old

Brothers

Giving Paul a kiss

Growing up

Three years ago yesterday, we found out we were expecting our first child. This past weekend, that little baby transitioned into his big boy bed! It was definitely very bittersweet for me. I'm excited that he's growing and becoming such a big boy, but I also miss my little Stephen. We had some friends give us twin bunk beds, so we're using the bottom bunk right now. Stephen LOVES it! He is always talking about his "new bed." I'm curious how long he'll call it his "new bed."
Sunday naptime was his first time to sleep in it. We just had the mattress on the floor then. I had to go back into his room 3 times over 45 minutes before he fell asleep. He was very enthralled with being able to touch the floor and the newness of it all. That night we had the mattress in the bed. He went to bed perfectly with no problems. He woke up a little earlier than normal in the morning but was still in bed when I went in 20 minutes after hearing his little voice for the first time.
Monday naptime - I had to go back in once and he was asleep 15 minutes after going to bed. He again went to bed with no problems Monday night.
Tuesday naptime - I didn't have to go back in at all!
We may have Paul try sleeping in the crib tonight. I'm a little apprehensive about it because we'll have to change up our normal bedtime routine, but hopefully, Stephen will get used to a new normal quickly.

Ready for his first nap

Waking up from his second nap

In the words of Stephen

Stephen continues to be quite the chatterbox. Here are some of his newest words and phrases...

*hab it - have it, usually followed by "hand" meaning "have it in my hand"

*Paul doing - What is Paul doing?

*big trucks - monster trucks - something he's a big fan of right now

*muscle cars - He learned this phrase from a library book.

*batter out, pitch, strike - We're working on baseball terminology.

*sun - He's become aware of the sun coming up and going down.

*Pope Francis - He frequently prays for our new pope during bedtime prayers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Stephen and I did a couple projects related to St. Patrick's Day. The first one was a Trinity shamrock.

The second was a St. Patrick puppet. It was so cute to hear Stephen say, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

Moving up

Paul is starting to pull himself up. He especially enjoys being able to pound on the window.

March visitors

Grandma and Grandpa G. came to visit this past weekend. Of course, the boys had a great time playing with them. We were playing outside when they came. Stephen enjoyed shooting the football into the basketball hoop with Grandpa. More time was spent outside after naps which included bike riding and dirt digging.

On Friday we went to Little Monkey Bizness. Stephen loved running around and throwing a ball. He eventually warmed up to the slide and had a great time going down. He even went down on his tummy numerous times.

Stephen going down the slide on his tummy

Saturday was spent at home playing and watching the snow fall. We brought some snow in for Stephen to play with.

Looking good!

We went to Mass on Sunday morning and then Grandma and Grandpa headed home. We always love having them come visit!

Stephen's vocabulary

I love hearing Stephen talk. He is definitely a little chatterbox. I can understand him 95% of the time. He still likes to babble on and on at times. A couple of my favorite phrases right now are "me sad" and "right back." He says "me sad" any time he is crying. He'll tell me he'll be "right back" when he goes to get a toy or his cup. So cute! He'll also say "Paul doing" because he frequently hears me say, "Paul, what are you doing?" At Mass he likes to see "wa-wer" (Father).

I also like hearing his basketball vocabulary. He'll shoot "free throws" or do a "slam dunk" in his basket. He likes to "pass" and "shoot" the ball and take a "timeout". Sometimes he plays for the "Orange" (Syracuse - Steve's favorite team) and sometimes for the "Irish." He's also been known to be a "Jayhawk" and a "Husker." He'll say "me orange" or "go Irish."

He knows what letters are and can name "m" for mommy, "s" for Stephen, "p" for Paul, and "d" for Daddy. He also recognizes "a" for Amy. For any other letter he will say "j."

Stephen likes to sing, but he doesn't know any real songs yet. He will sing "Jesus, Jesus" for "Jesus Loves Me." I guess we need to sing more kid songs. Here's a video of a recent song.

I also love watching Stephen's sense of humor develop. The other night I said, "Say 'I love you, Mommy'". He said, "I love you, Daddy," and giggled. We went back and forth saying different people's names. Here's a video of the "Jayhawk, no Jayhawk" argument he likes to have with Daddy