My Baby Dinosaur

Rudy has been a lot more vocal lately.  He squeeks and squaks and it reminds me of a baby dinosaur.  He is also working on blowing some rasberries, but hasn't quite gotten it down yet.  It's pretty funny to see him try, though. 

Rudy is now 5 months old!!!  Unbelievable.  It seems like everything changes at 6 months or there are all kinds of things we can do or will start to do at 6 months so I am going to try and enjoy this last month with a "baby." 

One night after we got all the Christmas stuff unpacked and put away as best we could, I said to John, "I think I'm going to use my Christmas money to buy a big wicker basket for Rudy to keep all his toys in in the living room."  Well, as the conversation continued, it turned into this...

John and I sat down and designed a bench/shelves with all the exact specifications we wanted.  Then we found the bins we liked and, well, back to the drawing board to make them work.  And if we were going to be putting in this new bench, a fresh coat of lighter paint would really go a long way in that room.  We loved the color it was and when it was just John and I, the room was nice and cozy for our evenings of watching TV and hanging out.  But when we now spend sometimes an entire day, day after day, in there -- it just needed to be brighter!  John and I stayed up after Rudy went to bed one night and painted the entire living room -- 2 coats!  While we were painting, this was a good time to take down the collage of photos as they would likely get in the way of the "bench" part if we were sitting on it.  And as we were putting things back the next day, we deep cleaned the entire room which it desperately needed!  Ray and John built the bench, my mom made the cushion, John painted it, and I decorated :)   John likes to tease me, "Jen has an idea and poof -- she has her carpenters and her seamstress get to work."  In the end, my $50 basket turned in to...

New paint and supplies:  $200
Wood and other building materials:  $150
Cushion materials:  $100
Bins:  $140
Lion rug that's on it's way:  $120
New pictures:  $25
Having a place for all of Rudy's things that he will play on and love forever:  Priceless

We are so happy with the end product!  It is 6 ft long, 2 ft wide, and 2 ft tall.  And soooo heavy and sturdy!  It's great for storing lots of Rudy's books, toys, movies, using as extra seating, and even a changing table!  Thanks for everyone's help!!!

Funny story about the lion rug...we got everything put together and John pointed out this rug to me in a catalog we had at home. 

The area in front of the bench is just the hardwood floors and it would be nice to have something there to play on, but another square rug would seem odd next to our other big, square rug.  And with the animal motif going on, it was perfect! ....but John suggested we wait.  I agreed and said, "Maybe Rudy can get it for his birthday."  John said, "That's longer than I was thinking...you have a birthday coming up, maybe that's what you should ask for."  My parents were over for this conversation.  My dad pops in and says, "Doesn't Rufus have a birthday coming up??"  And that he does!  This weekend Rufus will be 3 and we are having a little birthday par-tay for him on Sunday.  Aaaand he will be getting a lion rug.  John said, "Oh great idea, Gary, Rufus loves peeing on rugs.  He will love it."

A lot of work from one idea but so worth it -- Rudy is one lucky little boy! 

Check out those little teeth!

Rudy has really taken an interested in Rufus lately.  Rufus is getting more play time, too so he's happy.  Playing "fetch" with Rufus keeps Rudy entertained watching him run all over the place.  He tries to "pet" him but ends up pulling on his fur.  Poor Ruf.  He better get used to it.  

Rudy also pays a lot more attention to books and movies/cartoons.  Here is a picture of him reading the book Uncle Tony recorded for him (one of his favorites, for sure!)

 

He is getting really close to being able to sit up on his own.  We keep practicing!  He does great until his attention shifts and then his whole body falls in whatever direction he looks.  While we are trying to have dinner or in the mornings when I am trying to pack up my lunch, we've been "practicing" sitting in his high chair.  Hopefully this gets him used to it and he will be ready to go in a few weeks when we start giving him food (and not just toys).  For that reason and he is also more cognizant when we leave the room and he doesn't like it.  So to leave him in the living room playing while I'm in the kitchen, really isn't an option right now.  He likes having allllll the attention!   

We went back to the doctor at the beginning of this week to get his ears re-checked and they were all good!  He also weighed in at 19 lbs, 8 oz.  He is just getting so big!!  His poor teeth are really bothering him.  It's so hard to watch him bight angrily at things and whine and cry.  We try to distract him as much as possible and give him every kind of teething toy made, but we have been falling back on Tylenol and Orajel quite a bit!  They seem to be the only things that give him some relief.  I swear the rest of his teeth are all going to pop up at once the way he is acting! 

That's all for now!  Hope everyone enjoys their weekend and stays warm inside!  I was not ready for this snow...I was hoping we might skip winter this year :( 

Here is one last photo John had from Christmas Eve...

We look a little anxious to open presents!