Before...

Well its officially ours!  Here are some "before" shots...

Car port (eventually garage)

Walk way to the front

Front door (isn't it so inviting?!)

Window into the kitchen from the front "patio"?  We were discussing what to call this little area over the weekend..."fountain..." something.  What'd we say, Dawn??

Front hallway -- hall closet to the right, two doors to the kitchen

Kitchen

Looking into the kitchen from the "dining" room

Pantry behind the kitchen

Living room from the far corner - courtyard to the left, kitchen wall through the opening

(which I believe is being removed as I type)

View of library/dining room from the hall way

View of courtyard from the library (hard to tell but the courtyard patio is all brick)

Bedroom 1

(eventually our master bathroom)

Bathroom 1

(eventually a half-bath and the tub area will be wall-ed off and house the washer and dryer)

Bedroom 2

(evenutally play room)

Bedroom 2 view to the courtyard

Bathroom 2

(attached to Bedroom 2)

Bathroom 2

(attached to Bedroom 2 -- view of closet)

Bedroom 3

(with the exposed brick wall and sky light - my favorite)

Bedroom 4

Bedroom 5

Bathroom 3

Original addition

(eventually our master bedroom)

Outdoors project #1 - remove the tree that is notched into our roof

Hard at work

Wasting no time getting busy -- Ray taking down the wall between our master and what will be the master bath

John tearing our the hall closet to "open up" the maze we have going

I took hardley any outdoors "before" pictures.  It was too overwhelming.  The outside needs just about as much work as the inside.  Its unreal how overgrown the yard is.

...More to come on all of that later...

Dave, Dawn and Peter came in town for the weekend.  Peter had a baseball game against SHG and Dave was coaching.  We took Rudy out for the game.  He did ok...he really is not himself if he isn't well rested. 

Hanging with the guys

So interested in whatever Kurt has to say

Clapping for Peter

Borrowing Grandpa's beats

And while we were there, we went and checked out the new football field.  It is so nice!  They did such a great job with it, down to every detail.

Monday Rudy and I had a day to ourselves and it was MUCH needed.  We did laundry, went to the grocery store, visited Dad at the new house, ate good meals, and had great naps.  It was a perfect end to an exciting weekend.

Rudy was so happy Rufus was actually sticking around (only because he was too scared to leave his treat).  But nontheless, Rudy was thrilled he didn't run away immediately (like he usually does these days!)

He has been SUCH a needy baby this past week, especially over the weekend.  We have had some awful nights of Rudy crying hysterically, for no reason.  When we picked him up, he would be quiet immediately and fall right back to sleep.  But as soon as we set him back in the crib, he'd freak out.  It was like a panic, frantic, cry.  This happened Thursday night from about 1:30-4, Friday from 10:30-4 (from about 1-4 John slept with him on his bedroom floor using Rufus' bed and The Hungry Caterpiller stuffed animal as a neck pillow), Saturday from 8:30-11 (when I resulted to sleeping in his bedroom on the floor next to his crib so I could reach my hand in to him when he started to wake), Sunday luckily from just 7:30-9 (and then stayed asleep until 6:30) and last night was glorious and he slept from 7:30-4:30, took a quick bottle and went back to sleep until 7:00.  He must have heard us talking about which "crying it out" method we were going to try.  I even took him to Prompt Care on Sunday morning, just to make sure nothing was wrong.  And nope, he was a-ok!  From his behavior lately, I think he was just wanting extra comfort.  He has been pretty attached to me and with all the activity and him getting passed around through Saturday, I think he was getting tired of it!  It broke my heart to come back to work today.  We were having such a great day yesterday, were so in sync and he slept great.  After this past weekend, I'm a bit apprehensive about our trip to Iowa coming up on Thursday.  I hope it doesn't throw him off too much and he is his happy self!  Only time will tell...

Before I stop, two other exciting things...

1.  Rudy babbles "mmmma mmma ma ma ma ma" and I love it so much.  I can't wait until he associates it with me!  :)  Until then, I don't think we can count it as his first word.

2.  In my recent weekly/monthly emails about "what's going on with your baby now," it said by 8 months Rudy should be able to see the equivalent of an adult with 20/20 vision and that his eye color is here to stay...which means Rudy should get to keep his baby blues!! :)