Baby Steps

I can finally announce that Rudy has taken his first step(s)!  It's taken me this long because I wouldn't admit it until I was able to see it for myself, the ones before this morning don't technically count.  In the last couple weeks, my mom saw him take 2 steps, then John saw him take 2, this weekend at Isabela's 5th birthday party he took a whopping 3 in front of John, Jennifer and her dad, he took a few 1-2 step moves while at home with Dad yesterday, and FINALLY this morning he took a step to me!

At 10-months old Rudy is keeping us on our toes.  

 He's happy...

 He wants to clear everything off any surface within his reach...

 "Really, Mom, now?  I just woke up and I'm busy"

 His smiles are still the best...

 He's busy...

He has the cutest little baby butt...

 "Hey!  Put that away!"

 He's mastered his fake smile...

(and popping teeth out like crazy.  The broken-skin teeth count is up to 10 now!)

 He's makes the funniest faces...

And he's still the most peaceful sleeping baby.

He also loves to climb stairs,

 loves to play tug-o-war with Rufus, 

loves to scream and make noise, 

loves saying Da-Da (nonstop), 

loves being independent (can't hold him for very long at a time), 

loves playing catch,

and loves attention.

John celebrated his 29th birthday on June 8.  He "forgot it was his birthday" and agreed to help do a roof that day so we opened presents before he left...

 Rudy was so excited!

The loves of my life

They finished early and we spent some time at Miller's pool.  Rudy had a blast!  

Playing catch with Dad.

The floating raft and pool balls were a big hit.

We finished off the day by going out to eat with Mom and Dad...it was a great first annual 29th birthday for John!

We also celebrated Isabela's 5th birthday.  She had a party at her house and Rudy had lots of fun!  We didn't know what to expect with Rudy around a bunch of other kids, but he was a bit of a bully.  When it was time for Isabela to open presents, he got right up to Isabela (even if it meant pulling hair, dresses, etc to get to her).  At first Isabela said, "It's ok guys, he's just a baby.  That's Baby Rudy."  Five minutes later of having Rudy crawling on top of her trying to open her presents for her and she wasn't so understanding.  She kept trying to give him a bow or paper to distract him and it would last for about 2 seconds before he worked his way back to her stash.  We had to end up pulling him away from the excitement!  

We recently took Rudy to get his first "professional" haircut.  John and I quickly discovered that we needed an extra pair of hands when attempting to use the clippers again.  So we made Rudy an appointment at BJ and it went surprisingly well.  He was so fascinated by all the people, mirrors, etc, that he sat still for the most part (until the end when he'd had enough but that's to be expected).

 (food distraction)

The end product.  Handsome, happy boy!

Rudy and I have been visiting John when he works on the weekends.  Rudy is getting pretty comfortable around the place.  He is not shy - anyone that comes around he screams at, he crawls around all over, bangs on the fire truck, and when put into the truck this time, he stood up and took control.  He's something else.

House pictures and Baby #2 info coming soon!!