SOLD!!

In short, we had a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!  While at work on Friday, John got a call from a realtor that wanted to bring her clients by the next day.  They lived out of town so only had a few hour window.  LeeAnn came over to help clean and straighten, Ray, my Mom and Dad all came too to help move out some unnecessary furniture...and after a hectic several hours, Rudy and I were sound asleep and ready for our trip!  We left early Saturday morning and LeeAnn came over to "show" the house later that morning.

Rudy slept almost the entire trip and when we arrived everyone was just finishing up the Tower Trot...which Uncle George won a second-place medal in his age group and Aunt Ga-Ga the Great won an award for finishing in her age group!  Pretty good start to the day! 

Grandpa Ballweg was participating in a Chili Cookoff close by, so we decided to go visit him and cheer him on.  John left with Rudy to cruise around and try to get him to fall asleep before we left.  He pulled back into the driveway to pick me up and got out with his arms out wide, "We got an offer on the house!!  And, Rudy fell asleep!!" -- two great things!  We went back and forth a bit on negotiations and settled on a final amount that John and I are thrilled about, and especially that we sold it in less than 30 days!  (I'm nervous I'm jinxing ourselves here...something could still technically fall through, but that's not likely to happen and I'm trying to think positive).  Mom and Dad will be getting a few roommates and a dog in the next few weeks and until our new house is ready, which hopefully won't be more than a couple months or so.  So back to the weekend...Dad brought home a third place trophy...a winning day, all around!

 Rudy was a natural at figuring out his way around the chili tent...even found Grandpa's stash!

That evening we had a cook-out at the Minella's and some friends of ours from the area came over, too.  We all went to see Frank's band, Walsher Clemmons, play at a bar near by.  Aunt Dawn the Great was nice enough to stay home with Rudy for a few hours so I could go, too.  I don't make it that late these days, anyway! 

 Sunday, we all caravan-ed to the Brookfield Zoo.  We laughed on the way there...we haven't gone to the zoo as a family is yeeeeears.  But because of Rudy, the 9-month old who won't even know the difference between the stationary tiger and the tree and definitely won't remember the trip, we all wanted to go!  Get ready for lots of pictures...

 Even though Rudy was well-rested from a 3-hour nap earlier that morning, the heat really wore him out!  He was happy when Dad was holding him and took little interest in the animals, except for the dolphins and polar bear that were active and swimming around (I don't think he knew what to look at with the others)

 Uncle Tony is so enthusiastic!

My favorite :)

 Viewing the penguins

 Gran was Rudy's personal driver when Dad wasn't holding him.  She stayed on the side with the shade and kept him moving.  He snoozed for about 30 minutes!

 And we couldn't leave without some souvenirs!  Uncle Tony was nice enough to treat Rudy to a little turtle (his favorite on Baby Einstein) and a giraffe (another favorite site at the zoo!)

...walking to the car.  Someone looks tired!

It was such a good weekend, but we were also glad to get home.  Thanks to the holiday, I was able to have 2 more days at home with Rudy.  John was busy working on the house and has gotten a lot done in the last couple days.  I have been packing up what I can and John, George and Max already loaded up a few car-loads of stuff.  We will slowing start moving things out, besides the essentials until we make the "official" move.  

Rudy LOVES to be outside playing.  I "let him go" yesterday and he was squealing in delight, picking up and throwing the rocks and yelling at Rufus running back and forth...completely covered in dirt (even found it in his diaper).  But that's what summers are for, right?!  

It's Rudy!

Rudy is going to be a BIG brother!!!

His little brother or sister will be here on or around December 20, 2012.  Pretty hard to believe!  John and I are thrilled and can't wait to welcome another baby into our family.  We sure like to keep things interesting, though, huh?? 

We found out the week we got back from Iowa.  Actually, I found out first in the morning when I took a test.  By the time John got home from work, LeeAnn was already over so I had to leave for work with such big news kept to myself!...but it gave me time to plan a fun way to tell John.  When I got home from work, John was showering so I made a quick dinner of salad and grilled chicken.  John had been roofing all day and was exhausted.  When he came downstairs and sat down, I told him there was a surprise for him in the oven.  His first response was, "Is it a frozen pizza?!  Chocolate chip cookies?!  Peanut butter cookies?!"  I was laughing and kept telling him to just go look.  He walked over and this is what he saw...

A bun in the oven! :) 

It was very difficult keeping the news a secret for so long, especially as much as we are around family.  We had our first doctor's appointment on Monday, May 14 (the same day we celebrated "my" Mother's Day) and I was 8 weeks, 4 days pregnant.  The baby's heart beat was a solid 174 and everything looked great.  It was surreal seeing another baby up on the screen.  It hasn't even sunken in all the way quite yet...it helps that I've been very nauseous and extremely tired...hard to forget!  The doctor gave me some medicine for the nausea that has been helping a lot and even helps with my tiredness because I'm not fighting that all day.  Our next appointment in June 12 -- a special day for many reasons :)

We decided to go ahead and tell our parents and siblings May 20.  It just worked out that we were having dinner together that night and the next weekend we were going to be around all of my mom's family, so why wait?  We dressed Rudy in his Big Brother shirt and headed over.  It took a surprisingly long time for anyone to realize what he was wearing!  But they figured it out and were all very excited!

It will be challenging to have 2 babies, but we are up for the challenge (and very much looking forward to it).  The more the merrier!  

Something BIG is coming!!!

Progress!

I was looking for progress and we are getting there, ladies and gents!  Last week John text me this picture while I was at work. 

If you can't tell, it was the exterior kitchen wall that had to be replaced completely, somewhat unexpectedly.  We had to move the window over a few feet to get the cabinets to work out and apparently in doing that, John decided the whole wall should be replaced. 

 Here it is completed, in addition to the interior wall completely removed and the beam put up across the opening.  If you look closely, you can see Ray has been busy getting electric wires ran and boxes put up, too

And the view in to the living room/courtyard.

We also figured out the final cabinet arrangement (minus the island) because we picked out and bought appliances last week as well.  True to form, we bought ones we were not planning on and in sizes are had not planned on.  But it all worked out and I'm even more anxious to see it all together! 

Next up is renting a jack hammer and tearing up the concrete where new plumbing has to be ran.  The furnaces are being replaced starting this week and will likely take a couple weeks.  We are having several trees and nonsense removed at the end of next week that will allow us to put up the fence so Rufus can get accustomed to his new digs.  And word is the roofers are there today finishing up.  Progress!!

Rudy has been his busy self.  We spent a lot of the weekend at Gran and Grandpa Ballweg's helping with their garage sale.  

 Rudy also scored some new toys when I took him on a stroll to check out the other sales.  He basically was crawling out of the stroller to get to that fire truck and another play table, that I couldn't say no...already! :)  He has issues getting to sleep these days.  He HATES to take a nap and its especially hard when we aren't at home with no fun stuff going on.  Mom had to trick him into taking a nap by taking him on a walk where he fell asleep in the stroller because he was clearly so exhausted.  He doesn't want to miss anything!  We are contemplating a "sleep training" method.  Everyone I've talked to say it is so hard getting through it, but everyone agrees it works and they all wish they would have done it sooner...ugh. 

He has gotten pretty good at waving "bye."  It takes us even longer to leave anywhere now because we have to wave "bye" to everyone.  It's adorable, though!

He is still as much in love with Rufus as he's ever been and Rufus is still not much of a fan.  One morning Rufus was actually putting up with him (he must have been really tired or comfortable) and let Rudy lay on him for a few minutes while he watched cartoons.

 Then Rufus turned quick and gave him lots of wet kisses!...

  Rudy belly-laughs at Rufus at times.  I've never heard him laugh as hard and loud as he has when Rufus gets him going.  Our parents were able to see it over the weekend.  They had us all laughing!

 Cute boy, hanging with Dad.

Teeth!  Check out those chompers!

Our poor baby's teeth have been giving him so much trouble these last few days.  He has had some really rough nights (for Mom and Dad included) this week.  He acted like this last time right before the top four broke skin, so we are pretty sure more teeth are the culprit to his sleepless nights.  

We are hoping they pop through soon because we are looking forward to our weekend in the Chicago-area and want Rudy to be his happy self!  We are headed to see lots of family there and hopefully the zoo, too!  Hope you all enjoy the long weekend!

Just for Fun

Mom: ...Uhh... Rudy... you have a little something stuck on your foot...

Rudy:  Eeek... how embarrassing!

Happy Mother's Day

John and I are lucky enough to have some exceptional mom's to look up to.  We can't imagine a world without them and they are appreciated more than we could ever express in words.  We are thrilled to have a family, but it makes it all the better knowing these two are going to be the most loved grandma's in our little ones' lives (Rudy has already taken quite a liking).

And Happy Mother's Day to all the other amazing mothers out there - our grandmas, sisters, aunts, cousins, friends - we don't know a mom that's anything less than great :) 

Before I was a Mom

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. 

I didn't worry whether or not ordinary things could be dangerous. 

I never thought about immunizations. 

Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on. 

Pooped on. 

Chewed on. 

Peed on. 

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. 

I slept all night. 

Before I was a Mom -

I never held down a screaming child so I could simply change a diaper. 

Or let a doctor give shots. 

I never looked into teary eyes and cried. 

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. 

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep. 

Before I was a Mom -

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down. 

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. 

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. 

I never knew that I could love someone so much. 

I never knew I would love being a Mom as much as I do. 

Before I was a Mom - 

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. 

I didn't know how special it could feel to soothe a crabby baby. 

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. 

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy. 

Before I was a Mom - 

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. 

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, 

before I was a Mom.

Our 9-Month Old Little Big Boy

Rudy turned 9-months old on Monday!  Seems unreal to me.  We have made it 9 months (knock on wood) without any major problems or set backs.  Whew!  We had his 9-month wellness check-up on Wednesday morning and he weighed in at 22 lbs (86%) and 30 inches tall (97%).  The doctor seemed impressed by his development and how happy he was :)  We're so lucky to have him.

His expressions have gotten pretty priceless these last several days.  He's a ham.

The doctor suggested we dive right in to table foods...pretty much anything that can be broken into small pieces and/or mashed, as well as dairy products.  Just no peanuts, popcorn, milk, and a few others.  Makes me super nervous, but we'll do our best.  He can't eat baby food forever! 

I don't think I've shared this story, and have hardly talked about it much, either (possibly trying to block it out of my memory).  Long story, short...A few weeks ago, Rudy was chowing on some puffs in his high chair when he tried to put too many in and started coughing, which then turned into no coughing or noise, red face, watery eyes, and me ripping him out of the high chair to pat his back to get the puff unstuck.  Definitely the scariest moment of my life.  A friend that was over commented on how well I handled the situation and that the "old Jen" would have panicked and freaked out...the "old Jen" was inside and was absolutely panicked and freaked out, but phew...I don't want any more scares like that ever, ever again.

Derby weekend was last weekend.  It was sad that we weren't able to be there or have any big Derby party to attend, but we made the most of it.  Here is a picture of Rudy watching the Oaks on Friday night during dinner with me (of course I picked the winner that night without making a bet).  

Here we are on Derby Day.  Grandpa and Grandma Cicci were nice enough to watch Rudy while John and I went out with some friends.  But don't worry, even though we weren't with him for the race, I was sure Rudy still had a Derby hat!  

Rudy wanted nothing to do with the hat, like most.  He would take it off within seconds of putting it on.  Except for this one time when he was ok with it on for about 2 minutes.  Aunt Maria had bought this shirt for Rudy last year when she went to the Derby and it fit perfect for this year!  

Gran and Grandpa Ballweg were lucky enough to go to Kentucky for the weekend and even had tickets for the Oaks and Derby...here they are before heading to the Oaks (what a fabulous hat!)

 And at the Derby...

They brought back this Rudy-sized rocking chair from Ga-Ga's that was my great-grandpa's rocking chair when he was little.  It was perfect for him!

 This picture is just funny and worth sharing.  I was trying to get a picture of him standing up, when Rufus went crazy barking at some innocent people and their dog on a walk.  Big eyes and cheeks!..

NEW HOUSE PICTURES!!

... I finally made it over there with a camera.  We took Rudy and Rufus by the other night, just to get out of the house (and into another house?) and make some decisions about this and that.  Rufus walked right in, hiked his leg, and peed on the wall.  Needless to say, he went right back outside.  At least his territory is marked now... right?? 

 Kitchen view from family room

 Play room

 Hallway that shares a wall with what will be the half-bath

 What will be the half-bath.

All of the bathrooms look about like this.

 Our master bedroom (cozy!)

 Master bath from what will be the doorway 

(John's taking some measurements.  We have been busy trying to figure out the new layout, pricing, plumbing, etc for this room.  Like everything else, it's not been easy!)

 One of the bedrooms that is filled with our cabinets for the kitchen.  As you can see from the picture, some are ivory and others are "ocean floor" -- can't wait to see it all together!

John has been making lots of progress.  He is almost done tearing everything out and, once that is done, it will be a huge relief.  Putting it back together will feel like progress.  Tearing out seems to just make more of a mess, even though its technically progressing.  Grandpa Cicci is getting started this week on running electrical wires, too.  John's cousin, Max, has been helping out quite a bit and as soon as George is finished with school he will be able to help, too -- the dream team! 

We have had steady interest and walk-throughs at the Greenbriar house, but "the one" hasn't shown themselves yet (as far as we can tell).  God has a plan and it will all work out like it should... sometimes I just wish God and my plans were more in sync!