Our weekend in Washington

We left for DC on Thursday evening to drive to St. Louis and fly from there to Baltimore where Ray and LeeAnn picked us up to drive to DC.  It made for a long time of traveling, but with all the break-ups between car/airport/plane/car -- it really seemed to go fast.  Rudy didn't know what to think.  From Thursday on, he had nothing resembling a schedule (but that's what vacations are for, right?!)  

Thursday morning packing with Dad.  He was SO happy to be home with him.  In fact, Rudy developed quite the attachment to his Da-Da over the weekend!

It's like "they" were filming our week...

 Snoozing before we even hit I-55.  (Some kids snuggle with animals or blankets, ours likes sticks)

 Sound asleep on the plane

 Snuggling in to the hotel bed (right before he woke up and decided it was party time at 2:00 am)

 Breakfast on Friday at the hotel 

Friday we went on a tour of the White House and had brunch at Andre's (Maria's now husband) parent's house.

Here we are waiting outside the White House for our tour

 And outside the White House

Friday evening John and I took Rudy by stroller to the rehearsal dinner.  It was a beautiful night and about a 20-25 minute walk.  It was so nice to get fresh air and Rudy loves his stroller rides!  On the walk home we saw a pretty intense fire, too.  John was so intrigued.  It was interesting for him to see and think about how different it would be to always have "building" fires since hardly anyone has just a regular house like we are used to.  There were several fire trucks, lots of hoses out, ladders to the top floor, the works.. it was pretty crazy.  And we weren't the only ones to think so.  There was a crowd of people at every corner trying to check it out. 

Saturday morning Rudy woke up with a fever and running nose -- helped explain his demeanor, that's for sure!  Poor guy had been through a lot the last couple days.  But all things considered, he was a champ and we were still able to get to everything, if not all, at least a part of it!

Here we are at the outdoor wedding ceremony.  It couldn't have been a prettier day and it was outside at a gorgeous garden.  I don't have pictures of the actual ceremony because someone was trying obsessively to get to Maddie (their dog who stood with them at the ceremony) or his Dad while he did his reading.  

 Rudy finding and pulling on Michael's ears and nose -- that'll teach him to call Rudy cankels!

 For 13 months, he has quite the grip

 What a good lookin' group!

 Playing with Da-Da

Back at the hotel being onry...sneaking away into the bathroom..."Where's Rudy?"

 And then he pops back out, "Here I am!"

 We opted out of the full trolley tour so Rudy could get a nap, but we were able to jump on for the tail end.  Rudy loved seeing the sights with the wind in his hair.  

 And our visit with the Keough's wouldn't be complete without a quick game of football!

 "Touchdown!"

 Rudy, John, and Mark huddled up strategizing

 Rudy blocking for Dad

 Saturday evening we went to Maria and Andre's reception.  It was just a short cab ride away.  But on a side note, how do people with young kids live in big cities??  I mean, seriously, it was ridiculous carrying his huge car seat around and buckling it in the cab only to have to take it out 5 minutes later.  And what if there weren't two of us?? -- one with the car seat, diaper bag, my purse, and another to carry Rudy.  There is no way I could have managed all of that by myself.  And I see people with young kids all the time... how do they do it??  It is a law to have children under 40 pounds in a car seat, right?? (or I don't know when it "technically" ends) -- and cabs can't possibly be exempt from that, right??  Then we had to find a place to put the car seat during the reception (not that that was hard, but it could easily be if you were going somewhere else in a cab in just regular day-to-day life).  I asked Jamie before we left and she had to pause... she hadn't really thought about it and then said "maybe that's why everyone walks everywhere?"  I'm perplexed.   Anyway, moving on... 

Sunday morning John, Rudy, and I woke up early (not that that was unusual) and took a long stroller ride around to do some site seeing.  We walked for a good hour or so and saw the National Monument, the World War II memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the reflecting pond, and several others along the way.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning and we had a great time together.

Rudy at the World War II Memorial

 This might be my favorite picture of the weekend

As I mentioned earlier, Rudy couldn't have been happier to have his Dad with him all weekend.  It makes me sad to think how much he is missing him these days since John is always busy working at the house, but also even more excited to have him around more in (hopefully) a few short weeks!  Rudy is attached to John whenever he is home, and I mean attached!  He won't let John do anything but focus on him.  Mom is old news now!

One of the Hardest Decisions Ever

Daycare.

I haven't blogged about it because I was so all over the place with how I felt about it and I didn't want to ramble or have to even put it in writing.  But we have decided to put Rudy in day care one day a week.

Positives:

• Rudy LOVES other kids and he will get lots of interaction with others.  Not to mention, he is very used to getting what he wants whenever he wants.  It will be nice for him to learn some social skills like sharing and not throwing a tantrum every 5 minutes. 
• Rudy could use some help with his attachment problems
• New stuff/toys/songs/etc -- Let's face it, I have not been the most creative when it comes to entertaining Rudy these days and he could probably use a mix-up and both of us will learn some new games/songs/activities/etc for at home (his music class should also help with that!)
• Immunities -- he'll be sure to get sick (tear), but better now than missing school (right??)
• Help with naps -- Maybe Rudy will actually learn to fall asleep on his own laying down.  Wouldn't it be great if he just curled up on the couch and fell asleep?  The day John and I went to check out the day care, all of the kids in "his room" were sound asleep on cots next to each other.  We thought, "There's NO way you are getting Rudy to do that."  Everyone we have expressed this concern to said that was common for us to think that, but that we'd be surprised what they will do.  So we'll see.
• Schedule flexibility.  LeeAnn will still watch Rudy one day a week, too, but if she has something come up on a certain day or is leaving for Iowa for a long weekend, we have another option for Rudy.  Also, John has a "free" day that he can finish up work on our house, or at a later time, work other side jobs.  Luckily, the day care is flexible with us and we can bring him any day (sure, they would like it to be consistent, but they seem to be very flexible if it's not -- and I would know because I already switched up his "day" for Week 2)
• Come the end of December, it will give me a day of alone time with the baby and Rudy a chance to get out of the house -- considering he loves being on the go now, I imagine (or I hope) he will be happy with a day away from his mom and sister doing fun things.  

Negatives:

• What happens when he cries when I leave? (I've cried all 3 times I have gone to the day care)
• What happens if he doesn't stop crying?
• What if he doesn't like what's for lunch and he's hungry?
• What if my poor baby gets sick?
• What if another kid is mean to him?
• What if Rudy is the mean kid?  (I would like to note...the two different days I took Rudy in to see his classroom, he wanted down immediately and cried when we had to leave.  Granted I was right there, but he was having lots of fun)
• What if he doesn't understand why he can't have this, eat that, go here or there, and is upset and crying the whole time?
• What happens when he doesn't take a nap like he's supposed to?
• Since he's only one day a week, is it going to take forever for him to get "acclimated" and be sad/unhappy one day a week for who knows how long?!

Clearly, on paper, the positives are more legit and the negatives are me being an overprotective, anal, overbearing mom.  And it's only ONE day!  ...also, they said I could call as many times as I wanted, or stop by whenever I wanted (to visit or just to peek in)...you can bet they will be hearing from me!!

I also keep reminding myself that if I don't like it and the negatives end up outweighing the positives, we have options.  We can try something else or we can go back to the routine as it was before.

The results:

Day One

Awful, horrible, no good very bad day.  I was in tears, real crying tears, not just the tears that stream down your face.  I HATED leaving him.  Of course he was playing and distracted when I left, even pushed me off when I tried to kiss him good-bye.  But when I went around to the viewing window, he was whining and reaching for the door handle.  Broke my heart.  I called around 9:30 to check on him and he was "ok" - they said he was crying off and on but that he was fine.  Then I called again about 1:30.  He was still "just ok" - still having his spurts of crying but he was playing the whole time, he would just whine/cry and play.  He slept for about 30 minutes and did eat.  So at least that was good.

It was killing me not being able to go "rescue" him.  I could not wait until 5:00 -- literally, I couldn't.  I had to leave work 30 minutes early.  I think it was worse than my first day back at work.  At least then I knew he was with John or Grandma.

He burst into tears when I walked in the door and came running to me.  He snuggled up on my shoulder and stopped crying but still had the hiccup cries - I don't know how best to describe them.  The teachers both said he did really well for a first day.  He found a big stuffed bear that he kept snuggling with and dragging around.  Poor baby.

Happy once we were settled in the car!  But look at those red, puffy, crying eyes :(

Rudy's Report

And, go figure, he now has a cold/fever that we have been fighting since Friday.  Granted, we did have a crazy Thursday on through the weekend and spent time in places full of germs (airports, etc) so I can't completely blame daycare for that, but still.

Not to mention, he has been COMPLETELY attached to John and I since.  I think he's terrified we will leave him again.

He goes back tomorrow for Day 2.  John is going to drop him off because I can't handle it again.  I have a feeling tomorrow will be worse because he will understand what is going on (i.e. Dad is going to leave).  I told John I'm not convinced this is "right" for him anymore.  But maybe that's normal and we both need to adjust.  John is going to see how he feels when he drops off tomorrow and we will decide from there.  But, ugh, I am dreading tomorrow!!

The Red Paint Incident and Other Fun Times

Some days.

Last week my dad was nice enough to help me spray paint an old chandelier I bought.  I bought two cans of red paint and Dad rigged up a way to hang it in the backyard to spray it.  Rudy and I went outside (because if someone is out there, Rudy has to be too!) but were very careful to stay away from the spraying.  Rudy was shaking one of the cans of red paint, it rattled and I was right there in case he were to somehow get the lid off (but that wasn't likely to happen, right??)  Right.  EXCEPT, what was likely to happen was for him to drop it.  Unlikely (or unexpected!) was for the can itself to break and paint start spraying in all directions out of the can.  We were standing on the patio, so not only did the patio get full of red paint, but Rudy's Nike shoes that would last all fall/winter, one of his favorite pair of shorts, and his Fire Truck Cozy Coupe.  I quickly grabbed the can and threw it in the gas, only to turn around and see Rudy squatting down in the paint, smearing his hands around in it.  He was covered.  Not to mention, Rudy found Gran's china cabinet earlier that morning and broke one of her nice china bowls.  It was not our day!

I was asked recently for some pictures of Rudy and Rufus together.  It's getting harder to take Rudy's picture because as soon as he spots the phone, he usually stops what he's doing to come and grab it.  And Rufus is either chasing after Rudy because Rudy has a snack in his hands (and Rudy knows to run away from Rufus), or Rudy is pestering Rufus -- not a lot of "photo ops" per se.  However, I did happen to catch the sweetest interaction one morning...

Me:  "Hi Rudy"

Me:  "Can you give Rufus a kiss?"

Me:  "Can you give Rufus a hug?"

Serious talk

Rudy:   "Rufus, get up!"

Rudy:  "Seriously, get up"

Me:  "Rudy, show me 'touchdown'" (we've been practicing)

The cutest Patriots fan

We spend A LOT of time outdoors these days.  Rudy could play outside all day if I let him.  He can't get enough of it.  He will stand at the back door and whine and complain until we take him out (or at the front door, or any other place you can see the outside from).  It got us thinking...there is no where in the new house to distract him from the outdoors, everywhere he looks he will be able to see it.  I don't mind if the weather stayed like this forever, but something tells me we will have our heavy coats near by a lot this winter.

A second too late on capturing the "touchdown"

Helping Gran with the ladder

Hiding his toys

We are still in crunch mode at the house.  I don't have many new pictures because things are just moving so fast!  John has almost all of the trim up and several doors, we had the backyard "scraped" (??  I don't know what to call it -- a guy came with a bobcat and took away all the junk and left us with a big yard of dirt), and I planted grass seed this weekend.  We made it to Chicago and after a VERY frustrating process, we picked out all of the granite.  We met with the Closet Guy and got our closet designs all figured out.  Today and this week I am meeting with several fence companies to give us bids on getting the yard fully fenced in for Rufus.  All of that should be installed in the next 2-3 weeks.  And the biggest job we've been getting going is having the painting done.  My uncle John Ballweg is helping us out tremendously!!  I know he's busy and has other jobs going on, but he's come over almost every day since we've asked for his help.  We are so thankful!  Having a professional do the painting just seemed like the way to go.  And having it be family is icing on the cake!  Our normal paint crew -- Mom, LeeAnn, and myself -- doesn't have the time or energy that we had before and there is a lot to paint!  They have been working on the trim work that will be black fox and should have most of that painted today!  It's getting there!!

Our master

 The kids' hallway

Front hallway

 Play room

 Rudy's room

 Master sitting room (check out the new door!)

Backyard

John will be taking about a week off starting tomorrow for Maria's wedding.  LeeAnn and Ray are leaving today so John is on Rudy-duty until we leave on Thursday.  We are flying to DC for the weekend and we are all looking forward to it!

Rudy and I went to his first music class today.  He had SO much fun!  He was his typical, social, active, happy self.  He's such a show off for a crowd!  He greeted every baby/mom/dad there and was a dancing machine.  However, he didn't want to follow the class, per se.  The other babies would sit with their grown-up and follow along with the songs.  Rudy would either follow along -- but in the middle of the circle, or be up walking around.  At orientation yesterday they said to just let them do what they wanted and not push it - they are there to have fun, however they what to get it.  So I let him do his thing.  There was another little boy there, Liam, that danced just like Rudy.  They made friends fast and it was hilarious to see them dance together.  Another highlight -- our "kit" of instruments included two sticks.  Rudy couldn't have been more happy with that 3 minutes of banging sticks together (and equally as mad when it was time to put them away).  I'm really happy we decided to do this.  I think John, Rudy, and I are going to have a lot of fun with it.  

Over the weekend, Rudy has been pretty adamant about using the fork or spoon himself.  He will still use his hands or let me give him spoonfuls (gotta get those prunes in!), but he tries to pick up food with his utensils.  Sometimes he pokes it and then uses his other hand to take it off the fork or spoon and put it in his mouth.  Other times he pokes it and as he works to get the fork to his mouth, the food falls off and he gets a mouthful of nothing.  I've seen a few successful bites of fork action, though!  He's learning, that's for sure!

 And other times he doesn't use a fork, spoon, or his hands and just digs in face-first!

I may take forever lately to get to blogging but at least I make it count when I do, right?!  :)

Have a great week and keep us in your prayers for safe travels this weekend!