June 12, 2012

marked our 2 year wedding anniversary!  It seems hard to believe, but then again, we have done a lot in two years.  Its been the most amazing two years and I wouldn't change a thing.  Being married to John just keeps getting better and better...

We had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and Baby #2 and I are doing great.  The baby's heart beat was a strong 158 and all my stats were great, too.  The doctor warned me, "This one is going to be a lot different than the first time around.  If you haven't noticed already, you are going to be a lot more tired."  I'd say so!  Even though I have all the symptoms of being pregnant, it still is very surreal to me.  I'm sure its a combination of everything else going on in our lives, but its very hard for me to fathom the fact that we are going to have another baby in just 6 short months (give or take a day or two).

 Here I am at 13 weeks:

Gran watched Rudy for us and we went out for a nice dinner.  John really impressed me with his gifts.  He sent flowers to me at work and made a shadow box full of our wedding keepsakes -- invitations to every "event," the ceremony program, our flowers, golf tee, the favor tag, our thank you card, etc.  It's beautiful!

We also went by the new house to check out some of the work that had been getting done the last couple days and I had a chance to take some more pictures...let's just say it makes me laugh when people say things like, "You can't just live in it as you are finishing it up?"

 Mid-way done tree work...

 The backyard looks so much bigger and more open!

 John's checking it all out

 Our kitchen floor, plumbing almost complete

 View into the pantry without walls

 Torn down library

 Half bath floor, waiting for plumbing to be finished

 Master bedroom with the furnace room and closet walls in progress

 Rudy's bathroom

 Playroom bathroom...completely disgusting looking/smelling

  

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!!

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?!