Party Time!

Rudy had an awesome 1st birthday party!  John hung out with Rudy the morning of the party and they went to Scheels to pick out some new shoes for the birthday boy.  Hanging out with Dad all morning would have been enough to make it a great day for Rudy but he had no idea what was waiting for him... 

I have so many people to thank for making it such a memorable weekend, I'm sure to leave someone out.  Tony and Kate took a bus to get here a day early to help me decorate.  Thank goodness they did! All together we spent about 6 hours getting everything set up.  If I don't blow up another balloon until Rudy's 2nd birthday, I don't think I'll mind -- and I'm sure Kate and Tony would agree with me!  But it was well-worth it.  The place looked great!  

The guest of honor's seat

Unbelievably, this isn't even all of them

Tony missed our photo op because he had to run home and sadly, once the party started, we never did it again

Mom, Dad, and LeeAnn prepared and brought all of the food and it was delicious!!  Rudy especially liked the pasta salad and watermelon (no surprise there).

The night before Julia, George, Peter and Jimmy spent what seemed like several hours putting together toys for Rudy.  Good thing they are available for Christmas!  (Julia said she had a "thing" but I think she can get out of it.)  Rudy was happy and loved his assembled toys!  

 Even at the party, they jumped right in and put together Rudy's new basketball hoop!

Rudy wasn't so sure about his cake at first.  I don't know if it was all the people looking at him or that he has never had anything bigger than a dime put in front of him, probably a combination, but it took him awhile to dig in.  

 "What is this??"

 Still not too sure...

 after one bite...

"Grandpa, you gotta try this stuff"

Rudy LOVED his balloons!  He wanted to chase them, pull them, and carry them around.  

 This and then some is what Kate and I drove home with

 Rudy and Tony the next morning... the party's not stopping!

Rudy got lots of great presents and had fun opening them and checking them all out.  We are actually STILL opening presents.  While there are over a hundred balloons in the house, he's pretty occupied.

...he also got a very special one from Mom and Dad, too!

Rudy will be getting a little sister this December!!  The box was a bit of a flop.  With all the excitement and activity going on, it was difficult to keep the crowd and Rudy's attention for long.  When the balloons popped out I think it startled Rudy because he backed up, fell down, and didn't know what to think (probably an appropriate reaction if he really knew what was coming).  Kate and I spent so much time the night before tying the balloons down to the bottom of the box with clear string.  But the other kids around couldn't see that (obviously because it was clear) and yanked all the balloons out, confused and complaining, "why won't they come out?!"  So we didn't get much of a photo op, but it was all still exciting!

We are so thankful to everyone that was able to come to the party!  It wouldn't have been the same without each and every person (and Rufus) there.  We had so much fun, Rudy especially!  He is so blessed to be loved by so many.

  Heading home...exhausted!

We had our appointment Friday for Baby Girl (who will probably remain nameless for awhile because John and I can't agree on anything or find the "perfect" one just yet).  She was very active and well-behaved.  Her heartbeat was 148 and she weighs approximately 12 oz (compared to Rudy at this point at 15 oz).  The sonographer did a whole anatomy scan -- basically she had to get images of several different parts of her body.  As she was looking for things, Baby Girl would respond perfectly.  For example, at one point we were looking at her face and the sonographer was explaining how she was looking for her hands.  Almost right away, she moved her hands up to her face -- right where we were looking.  Both of her hands were in fists.  I was asking if that was normal, as with Rudy we were able to count all 5 fingers and toes.  She said it was actually very normal, she just was looking for movement.  As she said "movement" Baby Girl started moving her fingers on one hand.  Then, she said it was good to see the one, and it wasn't likely to see them both move right now but one was good enough...and what do you know, Baby Girl started moving her other hand and fingers, it looked as if she was waving to us.  Similar situation of the sonographer talking about looking for something or wanting to see something and Baby Girl responding as if on cue, happened at least 2 more times.  She asked, "is your son real laid back and listen this well?!"  Well... you can imagine our response.  She said this one was going to be an easy, perfect baby.  I asked her to put it in writing.

And me at 20 weeks