The Wheels are Turning

I really, really wish that others could have been witness to the Saul play I observed. Or I wish I'd thought to grab the video camera. The next series of pictures just doesn't do the scenario justice . . . .

Grandma Beth, Aaron's mom, gave Saul this cute little wooden rattle toy. It's cylindrical, with a head that pops out of either end when shaken - accompanied by a nice, not obnoxious wood clinking. The toy proved challenging to the little guy trying to slobber all over it. Gravity would cause a head to drop out the bottom, which Saul immediately recognized as slobber worthy. But, but the time he got the toy up to his mouth the head would be gone, but would have shifted and popped out the other end. He could see it happening! He still slobbered plenty on the toy, but you could tell that he knew that he wasn't chewing on the prize. So, he'd tried to grab ahold of the head as he raised it to his mouth, but by then it was so slobbery that it would just slide through his fingers as he would reach his mouth with the toy and the game starts over. Poor guy! I doubt Grandma Beth ever intended for this to be such the challenge. Despite the evening drawing to a close, Saul never whimpered, cried or otherwise indicated frustration. Those wheels in his head just kept turning and his determination was obvious. Hmmm . . . which side of the family is that from?

Christmas Morning with Saul

Santa was a little lame this year, but we figure it's the only year he/she can get away with it. We never did manage to get the tree in the house. We got a live tree and Aaron put it in the garage to dry out so we could bring it in last weekend. But, then the weather got nasty and it was slick and the tree is heavy and then there was a snow drift IN the garage. Then I decided that it would be cool to decorate it Christmas Eve, but then we didn't. By Christmas morning Aaron suggested that we could bring it in and, well, the motivation was gone. I just couldn't see putting that much effort into it when we would simply take it back down four days later. There are plenty of other things to spend time on this year.

To be even more lame, Saul only had one thing in his stocking from Santa and it was pre-owned, used, re-gifted, whatever you want to call it. In fact, he'd pre-slobbered it, though I guess this means that we knew he would like it! Michelle got the rubber giraffe (Sophie) for Claire (see picture below). Saul showed his affection by slobbering on it so much that Michelle just gave it to him. I'd planned to get him one for his stocking, but he just couldn't wait and then the weather got bad and I didn't get to the store in time. So, for the sake of it, we still placed Sophie the giraffe in the stocking, partly because it just looked so cute and I wanted a picture to prove that we did something. And, more importantly, I wanted a picture to show off Michelle's handiwork - she made the beautiful stocking just for Saul.

Then, Saul got his one big present, an activity cube. The plan is for Santa to leave presents unwrapped. The cute pajamas he's wearing are part of another tradition we're hoping to start - wearing Christmas pajamas all day. And he did wear them all day! I just made sure to change his diaper extra frequently to avoid any leakage.

Saul's First Christmas Eve

Saul's first Christmas is one we will remember for a number of reasons. First, it's his first Christmas. And, second, it's a real white Christmas. We had a low key couple of days, which is what we aimed for, but the weather made them even quieter. It just wasn't safe for Aaron's parents to come across town Christmas Eve, so we hung out with Michelle, Jeff, Claire and Ingmar and Krista. Here are a few Christmas Eve pics.

Unwrapping his first package.

Look! It's a soft elephant on wheels from Auntie Michelle!

Saul squirming on Krista Saul's lap (yes, Krista's last name is Saul).

Escaping the house

Yesterday was day 8 of "arctic blast 2008". We don't have television any longer, so we're counting on others for the appropriate name for this year's storm. All I know is that by yesterday we just needed to get out of the house and move. Fortunately, the strong east wind had died down and we were able to get out without worrying about causing Saul too much discomfort.

We packed him up in the hiking backpack, all bundled in his warm snow suit, and marched off to Jim & Patty's for coffee and a pig newton (modern version of pig-in-a-blanket). Jim and Patty are the original owners of Coffee People, a classic Portland coffee spot from before Starbuck's, and provide tasty coffee drinks and treats like coffee cake. After getting fully caffeinated and rested, we moved on to Marian's to drop off a little gift and the check for Saul's day care. As we were leaving Marian took these pictures:

And we then made our way to the local market for a few groceries and the walk back home. Saul did great! He talked, he kicked his heels, he rubbed my head and he took a nap. Then, the last three blocks he final cried and let us know that he was done. When I got him all unbundled and his diaper changed I found that his poor feet were red and colder than I would have liked, so he got a nice bath to warm him up. Maybe we should go do it all again today -- he slept six hours straight last night, the longest he's gone in weeks!

Saul in a sweater

In keeping with the intended play on words, it's finally time to post a picture of something yarn-related. Of course, Saul's also involved. Here's a picture of him in early October wearing a newborn-sized sweater I made for him before we knew just what a big kid he would be. I only forced him to wear this long enough for me to take a few pictures as proof that he actually wore it. I have a larger version in the same pattern that I'll need to be sure to document soon.

(Note to self: don't make super warm sweaters in newborn sizes for June babies!)

Contrast II

Another example of Saul's growth as seen through the position in which he sits in his high chair. This top picture is from Saturday (12/13)--the kid probably thought he was being followed by the paparrazzi this weekend! The bottom picture is from mid-August. I think it's time to remove the little infant head rest from the chair.

Contrast I

Proof that our son is growing and we change our sheets at least every five months! The top picture is from last week and the bottom picture is from mid-July.

The pacifier

We have a few pacifiers in the house -- two or three are just loose and one has wooden beads on a rope attached to it so we can clasp it to something (like his shirt) to keep it from hitting the ground. Saul discovered last week that the pacifiers without the string are great for more than sucking or teething. They also make for silly faces! Below are pictures of his new "trick".

Daycare fun

I've noticed in the last few days that Saul is really in tune with older kids. He loves to watch them at the coffee shop and was particularly interested in neighbor Ella (almost 5) and Jessica's little girl Sophie (almost 3) today. It made me realize that he's around two older kids at day care three times a week and is paying close attention to them. Oscar turns two soon and Violet is about 18 months. Corbin-a June 2 baby-is there, too. Corbin's moving around a little more than Saul right now. Of course, we found Saul spending some very determined floor time this last weekend trying to figure out how to keep up! This involved laying on his belly, arching his back and moving his arms and legs as quickly as possible ("swimming") with deep gutteral noises for full effect.

All of these thoughts reminded me that Marian, Saul's daycare provider, has kindly sent us pictures on a number of occasions so I thought I'd post some to share.

Playing on his 5-month birthday.

Playing outside on a cool afternoon.

The happy guy at play.

A teething baby

Saul is teething . . . again. It feels like we just got through his bottom two teeth making their way up and now he is definitely working on his top two teeth. Before we were fine with him using our fingers to gum but now he has more than gums and his teeth are sharp! Uncle Jeff can attest to this. He rode in the back seat with Saul the other afternoon and loudly hollered, "Ouch!" after kindly (and ignorantly) letting Saul nosh on his finger.

We keep finding ourselves comparing Saul to a puppy. But it's true! Between the whimpering, chewing on anything in sight and the cuteness-factor, the comparison is definitely there. Here are a few picture of Saul chewing on anything in sight this weekend.

Chewing on his book

Chewing on his pacifier.

Chewing on his chew toy . . . I mean teething toy!

Saul loves the shower!

In the midst of Saul's three weeks of a snotty cold, ear infection AND teething, we discovered that the steam from Aaron's shower in the morning was a great way to get his stuffy nose flowing. Saul and I would hang out in the steamy bathroom (easy since we have no fan) and use the shower curtain to play peak-a-boo with Aaron. A few times, I would hand a naked Saul in to Aaron to let him get enveloped by the steam and to just make it fun. We found he loves it!

To rinse off the overnight diaper dampness this morning, Saul got to join Aaron in the shower and embrace his nakedness! Don't worry, we cut off the photo in just the right spot.

Lulled to sleep

The stroller has proven to be a place that induces sleep. Saul may be awake on the walk to Jim & Patty's, but he'll definitely be asleep on the walk home. Only once was he awake on an entire expedition in the stroller, and that was on a walk to Trader Joe's and back sometime in late-September. He must have just woken up from a nap when we started out.

These pictures were taken last Saturday morning when I walked/jogged during Aaron's dragon boat practice. I couldn't resist stopping to catch both my breath and these pics of Saul.


And, for comparison, here is a similar shot in August, when the weather obviously impacted Saul's attire.

We're going live!

I've given up on trying to catch up and, as Michelle said recently, "Just start!" So, here we go - I'll send the blog address out to everyone after this post and then see what happens.

Aaron has the flickr page with Saul pics, but there are stories and other things to share that I think will be easier to do this way.

This four-day holiday weekend is so nice. We went to Barbara's for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, back to an old tradition from before Alexandra left for college - and now she's a college graduate! Saul had a place setting at the table in his hippo highchair and a nice wooden spoon. He didn't eat anything, but clearly found the company entertaining.

Below are a few pictures from earlier in the day. His face is so expressive! I couldn't resist posting a few of the Thanksgiving morning photo shoot.

One month birthday

We've officially been parents for a month. The good news is that according to the stats the little guy is thriving.

6/19/08: Weighed 8 lbs, 14 oz and was 21.5 in long

7/17/08: Weighed 10 lbs, 8 oz and was 22.5 in long

We're really getting a sense of his personality. Saul makes great noises (particularly while eating), loves to lay on the floor and bat at his toys, and provides us with smiles that make it impossible to have a bad day.

Saul's first month

Here's an assortment of pictures taken in the last month. Saul's definitely the same little boy, but it's still amazing to see how fast he grows and how much he changes even daily. His toes now touch the end of the little booties that he wore home from the hospital and we were barely able to keep on him at the time because they were so big.

Saul chillin' with his dad, or papa. We haven't decided what we'd like Saul to call Aaron. Of course, Saul will ultimately decide.


This is one of my favorite pictures of Saul. There's so much character in his expression. And those bright eyes capture the essence of what I see in him - an alertness and interest in what's going on around him that has us saying, "But he's only X weeks old!" No, we're not proud parents!

The little guy is celebrating the 4th of July with all the energy he can muster after a good feeding.

And, a classic baby pose.

Saul Warren's birthday - June 19, 2008

I hope this is the last bit of catch up. Then the goal is to keep up-to-date with pictures and stories about Saul growing up. I still haven't gotten to the other reason for the name of my blog . . . another day.

Here's a picture of Aaron and me heading out the door to the hospital around 5:30 in the morning. It was taken by our doula, Jill, and is a good representation of how HUGE I got carrying our little guy.

We were so glad we had Doula Jill with us! I'm not sure that Aaron or I would have thought about morning traffic. But she made sure we understood that we should either go early or we wouldn't want to go until around 9 a.m. Things were moving quickly enough, we went for the earlier option and are very glad we did. Saul was born at 12:40 in the afternoon.

Here's a picture of Saul very shortly after he was born. It's one of my favorite pictures, partly because the facial expression is one that I continue to see and love.

And here's another picture of the little guy. In both this and the last picture, you can see that he had not yet been cleaned up. But, he had already made his first poo and was working on sucking.

Growing belly

We didn't get all that many pictures of my growing belly. Here are a few from mid-April.





















The belly is much more prominent now. Aaron took a few pictures about a week ago, but we haven't downloaded them yet. Let me just say that today while at Trader Joe's a woman walking by asked, "When are you due?!" I just can't tell complete strangers how many days PAST due I am. Instead, my answer is simply, "Any day now."

Michelle was with me and after we were out of ear shot of the lady I just had to ask, "Do I really look that big?" Michelle's answer was a definitive, "YES!" Oh, well. I guess I'm supposed to considering there's a fully baked baby in this belly of mine.

A Green Theme

Green has always been a favorite color of mine. See the blog colors for proof!

The color is in my name and my birthstone (emerald). It's also that deep rich color found in the northwest outdoors. All in all, I find it a very soothing color. Now green is being applied to the little guy's room. It's been fun to see things come together so well. Here's a picture of the green application in the baby's room. We love the curtains! The little table and chairs were a gift from a friend of Julie's, in Tillamook.

Slow Adopter

I can be a a slow adopter. Sometimes I just wait for others to prove to me that the time and effort to transition to a new medium is worth it. When it comes to blogging, that day has finally come and I have succumbed to blog pressure. The pressure was not directly applied. Family and friends have so successfully used their blogs to communicate with other family and friends that I've decided that it's worth trying with the upcoming arrival of Baby Wieting and my insane need to be creative through crochet.

Due three days ago (6.7.08), Baby Wieting is a primary reason for this blog. (The other key reason being crochet.) Below is one of Baby Wieting's earliest pictures taken at about 20 weeks in utero. Yes, he's waving a greeting to all of his fans. The next few posts will be some catch up on all things baby and other related interests.