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

Gotcha!

I have been stressing lately and trying what feels like nonstop to get Rudy to eat vegetables and more fruit (currently, he only will eat watermelon).  But last night I succeeded in getting him to eat some vegetables!  I found a "just-for-one" cauliflower and cheese sauce frozen thing in our freezer and decided to give it a try.  He gobbled it down -- probably because it had a similar look and feel to his mac and cheese, which was the exact reason I thought it might work.  Even though it was covered in cheese, it still counts as a vegetable!  Self...high five!

Rudy and I had a busy weekend (what's new?).  Rudy helped me clean out Gran and Grandpa's cabinet and refrigerator.  Since we moved in, Grandpa has consistently complained that there was too much stuff shoved in everywhere.  So we threw away everything that was expired (which we had to do at Greenbriar and had a similar pile, even though we had only been there less than 3 years).  Rudy loves taking things out of the cabinet and refrigerator so this project was right up his alley (in the beginning, at least... then he got mad he wasn't the center of attention).  Gran was happy, Grandpa -- well, not so much.  You would have thought I threw away his keepsake treasures.  I think he's still inspecting, trying to figure out what is gone.  

We also have been trying out some new food accessories for Rudy.  I have bought 3 different sippy cups with straws.  The first one was awesome, until it leaked all over.  The second one didn't leak but it was also near impossible to get any liquid out, period.  The third is a wonder.  I will be buying a couple more and getting rid of the others (because I wouldn't want to clutter anything up!)  We also tried out some "snack pods."  The top lid is made of soft rubber (??) with a bunch of slits in it.  Rudy can get his hand in and pull out snacks, but if you turn it upside down, the snacks won't fall out.  It seemed perfect.  Until Rudy's intense inspection began and he quickly figured out he could hold open one of the rubber pieces and THEN dump it out and the snacks would spill out.  Luckily, he used it as it was intended the rest of the time.  And if I fill it with something besides Cheerios, it won't be as easy to dump, even with Rudy's trick.  Some Cheerios would still spill out when he did it the right way (he'd pull out a fist full and a few stragglers would come out with).  Rufus stayed close by.  Peculiarly,  Rufus won't eat Cheerios off the kitchen floor, but he couldn't get enough of them off the living room floor.  Rudy caught on and would give some right to Rufus, too.  So they sat and watched Mickey Mouse and ate Cheerios one morning.  

I finished some craft projects over the weekend.  Here is the present Rudy will open at his birthday party to reveal whether he will be getting a little brother or a little sister:

Rudy loves the wrapping paper!

This thing was way harder to wrap than I had anticipated, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  Rudy can slide off the lid and either pink or blue balloons will come out.  Can't wait!

I also finished his set of birthday blocks that will also be used as balloon holder centerpieces at his party.  John cut the blocks for me and drilled holes down the center to hold the balloons.  Tony and Patrick helped me paint them last weekend.  I compiled 86 different pictures of Rudy from the last year (like that was hard) and printed them off on thick paper, cut them in squares, and decoupaged them to each side of the block.  One side I left blank and glued on wooden letters that I painted white.  It was more of a project than I expected, but I'm happy with how they turned out and I'll be able to keep them beyond just his party.  

 the backs

the fronts

And speaking of wrapping, I also wrapped my State Fair competition entry.  I entered the "gift-wrapped box" category.  Two years ago I won the pink ribbon (4th place), skipped the competition last year, and I'm back this year pining for a blue!  (By far, one of the oddest things I do)  Gran has been busy working on her entries.  She does the paper craft, wreath, and Kentucky Derby glass collection categories.  

I was also able to help out at the new house this weekend thanks to Gran for watching Rudy and the weather for being less than 100 degrees.  I went over Saturday around noon and John and I were going to decide on the three colors for the back bedrooms...ya know, an hour or so.  Four hours later we had colors picked out and I was suckered into doing a little painting, too.  (For those raising an eyebrow, we bought the low odor, no VOC paint and the windows were open and fans were on)  John and I took Rudy with us to Lowe's on Sunday morning to get some items for the day. 

He sure loves being with his Dad :)

John said, "Really?  You're taking a picture at Lowe's?"  How could I pass up taking a picture of this cute pair?

John and I painted all day -- until about 7:30 pm.  I may have overdid it, but I was loving seeing progress and I was so happy to finally be doing something there.  We didn't get the rooms completely done.  One bedroom still needs a second coat (probably because we had to re-paint it from the first color we picked out because it just wasn't right) and the door and window trim needs some touching up.  But wow, what a difference paint makes!  And the best part of the day, Gran and Grandpa brought Rudy by to visit.  He's a big fan of the new house.  Gran said as they were walking up he got really excited and started squealing.  He walks around and inspects it all.  

John showing Rudy some tools

Rudy's latest favorite toy are his bats.  That's right, wooden bats.  Last weekend a group went to the Sliders baseball game and it was bat night.  They passed out mini wooden bats.  Rudy loves them.  Gran tried to hide them but Grandpa gave them right back because, "he really likes them."  Right now he is harmless with them -- bangs them together, uses them as a walking stick, etc.  But as soon as he starts swinging, we are going to have problems.  

Bats - first toy he finds in the morning

 Sure, I'll play the piano, as long as one bat stays close and I'll hold the other. 

The house is coming right along.  Hopefully I'll have some progress pictures to show soon :)