The days of cutting the air with a knife are over... or are they?

Where to begin?
It's already almost been a month since my last update. Some questions you might be asking are...
What are some of Paul's newest accomplishments?
A day or two ago, he sat up all by himself(while i was holding his legs down)! He has successfully eaten baby food such as turkey, chicken, bananas and applesauce. I don't feed him this food every day, we're just testing it out to see how he does. I've tried several times to feed him formula, but he hates it.
He is fine-tuning his skill of rolling over by rolling from his back to tummy and tummy to back. He will also push with his feet and get his butt up in there air, he just hasn't quite figured out how to keep his head up at the same time. He's also been able to scoot, so even though he's slowly becoming more mobile, it's definitely happening fast, before our very eyes!
Paul is also smiling, laughing, cooing and screaming! He's smiles most often at me(mama), and will laugh less than often when I tickle him. He will laugh when we(daddy, mama and Paul) play together. He still doesn't get peek-a-boo yet, but we still try it on him now and then. His cooing is delightful and his screaming is ear-piercing. Thankfully he coos more often than he screams.

How old/big is Paul now?
Paul is nearing 5 months old. At his last checkup at 4 months he weighed 14lbs and 7oz. And measured in at 25 inches long.
Have anymore questions? Email me and I'll answer them as soon as I can!
As far as the family goes... Jerry has been worked very hard at his job in the last month. It's been ridiculously hot and humid and there was one day he developed heat exhaustion. He literally looked gray. It was a little scary, but I knew what to do and he felt better pretty soon after he got home.
I, Rachael, have been taking care of Paul and the home(obviously). Only, I haven't been able to take real great care of myself so I haven't been feeling the greatest nor on the best sleeping schedule. We have two cats, one that sheds on anything she touches and the other that does numerous unmentionable disastrous deeds. Because of all the unmentionable deeds, I have recently kicked her out of the house until I can get a handle on the required cleaning she has so kindly bestowed upon me. I have been feeling good about going back to church on Sundays. It was a bit lonely going before Paul was born and then after he was born I was too tired and sore. Now he's been doing quite well and it's been so wonderful to be going again. Paul has also been growing out of his clothes very quickly. He was already in 3-6 month clothing when he was 2 months, and now he's been fitting into some 6 month clothing. So, as you can imagine, I need to go through all of his clothes that are currently in use and filter what stays and what goes. Not only that, I'd like to keep his clothes organized and stored properly, which is proving to be a daunting task.
And now, together, Jerry, Paul and I are going to Turkey in January to visit Jerry's parents. It will be a nice vacation. Two weeks long. We hope to at least get our feet in the Mediterranean and take lots of pictures so that you may all see! Thank you for being in our lives, we hope to hear from you soon!

Summer is already half over :(

Well, summer is at it's finest. Very hot HUMID days, with plenty of rain and threat of storms and tornados. Twice this week! It's been great though. Paul has been fascinated by it all and I've been glad to show him. We've been working on getting the house put back together after all the visitors we've had and then with Jessy getting married and moving out. It's been crazy, but awesome at the same time!
Paul has been growing so fast. Some days I'll look at him and just know and say, "You've grown!" It's so exciting to see all that he is able to do now! He's not crawling yet, but he'll get there soon enough. He is rolling over though! A couple of weeks ago he rolled over on our bed while he and I were hangin out there. I thought..."nah, it's a little too early for that. It's just because I was laying next to him. He only just happened to roll over like rolling down a hill." Well then my family came and I'd say he only got like 2 seconds on the floor before someone offered to hold him. Next thing I knew, I was walking in his room to find him lying on his tummy! I'm all like, "What?!" Well, you know, I worry when I find him on his tummy because they say it's best for them to be on their back at night. But my rationalization is that, if he can get there by himself, he will likely be just fine if I'm not there. I do roll him back over though when I find him like that anyway. So now in the last couple of days I've been watching him and he's got it! He's rolling completely over on the floor, no help from me and even getting both arms out from underneath him! It's so crazy! I took some video of it and so if you go to the link it's one of the newest two I just posted. The other is of him cooing and laughing at the tv. I've also posted plenty of new pictures of all of us and with my family.
Anyway, check out the video, its fab!

Better and busy days!

Paul and I are finally over whatever we had. We never did get a fever, so I'm not really sure what it was exactly. He's doing great, sleeping longer and staying awake longer. Laughing, "talking" cooing, occassionally giggling! He's been getting more time on his tummy and doing great! Not really digging his nose in the floor as much and squirmin' quite a bit to get where ever he thinks he's going.
We've been busy too. Helping Jessy and Tom out with wedding things. Her bachelorette Party was friday night, his bachelor party was tonight after the rehearsal and dinner. And tomorrow is the wedding! Woot!
It was a bittersweet night, as it was Jessy's last night being single and living with us. I'm so excited for her to be marrying Tom and starting a new time of her life. I'm just also sad that her time of living with us is over. But I'm also very excited to have the place to ourselves again! So... lots of excitement, and a little bit of sad.
it's very nice that they are only going to be living a few blocks from where we live, so visits are on the top of my list of things to do.
Paul also has a new playmate. Chris and Michelle had their baby boy! Ethan Rayne! I find it a handsome name. I think I even considered Ethan for a name once upon a time. 7lbs 8oz 21in long! He's so cute! Looks just like his daddy, but with Michelle's lips and nose! Don't know whose eyes he's got yet. Born Friday the 18th. Not sure what time. A little over 3 months from the day Paul was born! How exciting is that! we are all very excited to watch them both grow up.

A new day

Today has been great. Jessy and I were able to reconnect after some long busy weeks this morning at Caribou Coffee! After which I came home with Paul and he's been doing really great at holding his head up off the floor while on his tummy. As well as following the sound of my voice. Good little boys sleep and he sleeps a lot! He he. He's been very interactive with Jerry and I. Talking and smiling when we've been face to face, he's just so darn cute! It's been difficult to get him to keep talking once I've gotten the camera on and close to him. He just seems to get so curious about the camera, he forgets about everything else.
WELL... when i started this blog, it was a couple of days ago. So many things are happening around here, it's hard to keep up. Jessy is getting married soon, my parents and sisters are coming to WI soon after that. We've been going through our things to clean up the place and make it a bit easier to get around... Today we got rid of one of our couches... that's a funny lookin' word... and the end table that Tom accidentally broke. We also set up a sound system that Jerry found at a garage sale at a steal of a price.
Well anyway... Paul and I got sick, not sure what we have, but I think we're getting a little better. Paul did actually throw up today. Some super projectile vomit. Poor guy. Didn't seem to phase him though. He didn't cry or anything. I'm not even real certain what caused it. It was so nice that he had just finished eating too... not.

2 months +

Paul is two months now... man... he's so big. And so cute! He had his 2 month check up and they say he's doing great! He's now almost 24 inches long and weighs about 12 and a half pounds. In the last week or so he's been sleeping about 7 hours in a row... YAY! I'm still a bit tired when we get up, but no where near as tired as I used to be. Just a little nap in the afternoon sets me right. His next check up will be in another 2 months.

Books for generations to come

Yes, books... I've been online at barnesandnoble.com making a list of all the books that we would like to add to our library at home. Books to read to our children as they grow and pass on to them as they get older and begin their own families. We already have a great selection of childrens books, thanks to everyone at our baby shower, thanks to Sarah.
I doubt the list will every be complete, but for now, it is what it is.
So as a gift idea, in the coming years, please think of books and see if there might be one you'd like to buy to give. It would be so helpful to all of us, since Jerry and I hope to homeschool all of our children and buying supplies all at once would be far too spendy for us. (even for just one child)

http://my.barnesandnoble.com/Rachael-Eldreds-WishList/cm/3596034/
I'll be posting this link under the Video and pictures of Paul section for now.
Thanks everyone!

2 months old!

I hope you all are able to keep up with the many changes i've made to this blog. I just want to point out that it's much easier for me to upload video on youtube and post pictures on facebook SO I've posted the links. These you will find under Videos and Pictures of Paul to the right of these blog posts.

Thank the Lord for nice weather. It's been so great to have been able to open the patio door and get WONDERFUL fresh air in the house. I've been more motivated to clean and get more organized than I've been able to these past few months. I'm looking forward to have a yard sale next weekend and getting the old out, and hopefully new things in. As it is, we don't have room for much else to come in. We've been discussing what we'd like to do with certain furniture items. It's hard to let them go, but at the same time... so nice to have the space!
Well anyhow. Paul is doing very well. He has his next check up on the 25th. He's 2 months old today! (That just occurred to me) It doesn't seem that long ago, he was so tiny then, that he was just born. He's grown out of many of his newborn clothes, so I've had to go digging into storage already for his bigger clothes. Which are also very cute!