A Day with Oma

Rudy and I spent the day at my parents' house today. We road up with Jake on his way to work. Jake diligently helps Rudy practice saying his name or anything like it whenever he's around Rudy. I swear, my baby's gonna say Jake before he says Mama! ;) Anyway, it was a fun ride, once we got all Rudy's gear packed into Jake's two door car. Having to get a car seat into a two door car made me very grateful we are no longer clunking around in our '98 Neon. It's a two door nightmare when it comes to keeping it running...we've been trying to sell it ever since we got our Camry...a year ago. Ugh. I've been seriously considering junking it or donating it to the Kidney Foundation. Something! I'm sure my neighbors are just as tired of staring at it in our parking lot as we are. But I digress. Back to our day with Oma!

Rudy took a little cat nap on the way up to Oma and Opa's house, so he was ready to explore when we got there. (Welcome back, happy Rudy! Yea!) He and Oma perused her garden while I took a shower (double yea!). They had collected a big bowl of delicious tomatoes by the time I came downstairs. While I was admiring their stash, Rudy executed the perfect "snatch and bite" maneuver. He's my little ninja in training, I guess. Anyway, within about 3/4 of a second, my little man was covered in tomato juice that had exploded from his prize. I decided this would be a fine opportunity for Rudy eat tomatoes for the first time. ;) He soured on the idea after a few moments...my guess is that the acidity of the tomato juice got to him. Another fruit with hidden defenses (See my millions of peaches entry).

We spent a lot of time outside. (Duh! This me we're talking about!) Rudy enjoyed making personal visits to all the puddles left in Mutti's pathway from watering. (Yes, he's still doing the one knee gimp crawl...and he's standing on his own for 10 seconds or more and making more and more daring transfers from farther and farther away objects. I seriously doubt he'll perfect crawling before he starts walking.)

Rudy's scolding me for not sharing the camera.

We put Rudy in Mutti's cabbage patch so he could be a Cabbage Patch Kid. He he he. Rudy didn't get the humor of the situation. I guess Cabbage Patch Kids were a thing of my generation...I haven't seen any little girls cuddling one for years. When I was little, they were the ultimate doll. My parents actually finally convinced me to stop sucking my thumb by promising a Cabbage Patch Kid as a reward.

Rudy's helping to water the tree. Or he's just playing in the mud...

Yeah, I think he's just playing in the mud!

I finally had to intervene when Rudy brought out his ninja hand-to-mouth skills again. After much wrestling about, I finally retrieved most of the wood chips and other miscellaneous organic matter that he had successfully shoved into his mouth with one fluid motion. By that time, we were both covered in mud.

I decided Rudy had ingested enough of the outside world for one day, and brought him in to play. That's Gus Gus the hamster in the ball. Nothing like a hamster in a ball to encourage a baby to crawl nonstop! (No animals were harmed in this photo shooting session) :)

We topped off our visit with a tubby in Oma's ultra cool tub. I bet every parent has a picture of their baby sucking on a wash cloth. It must be wired into their brains "Pick up wash cloth, insert in mouth, suck." Actually, that pretty much what Rudy does with everything he comes in contact with. Sucking on wash clothes just happens to be cuter than sucking on the hundreds of other things he manages to get into his mouth.

One more tubby shot just 'cause it's cute.

So, we pretty much spent the day taking pictures of us doing nothing. It was great! Way relaxing-a welcome vacation after a hectic week last week. Thanks Mutti and Vati for letting us crash at your place for the day!

***P.S.***

So, Jason thinks it's the most ridiculous idea to take nudy pictures of babies...even in the tub! I think its the cutest thing ever and if I had my way I'd be displaying Rudy's cute little bum on here. So, we'd like to hear your input: Are you glad you've got baby tubby pictures of yourself? Are you mortified? Should I be prosecuted? Let us know what you think...not that either one of us is likely to "see the light"--we're pretty dedicated to our opinions. :)

Patience is a Virtue

Rudy's face says it all. I'm sick. I'm cranky. I have a frustration tolerance level of negative one. And my Momma is ready for the old me back.

Rudy's got a little cold. Nothing earth shattering, but enough to turn my fun loving explorer into a cranky little hermit crab. Poor little guy. Poor, poor me.

Yeah, I guess I'm being a bit self centered here. After all, Rudy's the one that has to chew with his mouth open just to keep breathing. He's the one being attacked by the boogie sucker so he can nurse without passing out for lack of oxygen. He's the one who's head is probably pounding. Wait a minute. My head's pounding too.

For the last two days, I've been struggling to find time to pee in peace, let alone shower, do the dishes or fold laundry. Rudy's been in a constant limbo between that overtired climbing up the walls state and the overtired "I didn't succeed in the first attempt at whatever it is I'm trying to do so now I'm going to melt down in the middle of the floor" state. Neither of which are very fun to be around. In this picture, I'm wearing him in the front carrier in an attempt to bring the house to some kind of order so that perhaps my sanity could tip back over to the normal end of the scale. Soon after I took these pictures, Jason came home and took over Rudy placation duty so that I could finish my war against filth. Later this evening, I went out to run a couple errands BY MYSELF. How refreshing! Anyway, don't think I hate my sweet little man. I'm just happy he's in bed, and I promise I'll be happy to see him again tomorrow morning. (No comment on my feelings about seeing him throughout the night as he makes "Momma, I need you just to rock me back to sleep" requests. Hey, he's sick, and with sickness come certain inalienable rights, such as being coddled. I use that right all the time when I'm sick--ask Jason. ;) )

In the end, I've been able to dig down deep and find the patience required to help my little man get through the day (and night). Who'da thought such a sweet little guy could push my buttons so completely?

Millions of peaches

Well, maybe not millions, but way more than our family of 3 could eat at once (without causing serious bowel issues). :)

Thanks to the generosity of Lauren's grandmother, we found ourselves the custodians of a 5 gallon bucket filled with succulent peaches. I decided it'd be a great opportunity to learn how to can. First came pitting, skinning and cutting up the peaches. Easy. I've done it tons of times before. Except that usually I'm doing it at a one peach per session rate. You know, peach fuzz is quite deceiving. I've always thought of it as the epitome of soft lusciousness. Turns out the stuff is BRUTAL!!! It's like tiny little razor blades that creep their way all over your hands and arms. Maybe I'm a peach fuzz baby, but I'll tell you what, I definitely have a new respect for the fruit's defense system.

Here's the mighty army of razor (aka peach fuzz) studded peaches, divided and conquered.

After preparing the fruit came the new territory: canning. With Oma's canning pot, and Mutti's step by step guidance through the process, I found that canning in and of itself is not complicated at all. I think I'll do it again. And again. And again, so long as I can find cheap to free food to can. :)

Of course, Rudy could not be left out. Here he is warming up the can grabber thingee so that it would be ready to perform when the time came. What a good little helper. ;)

Rainy Adventure

Ironic, huh? I planned on strolling out to Babies R Us today to pick up a weather guard for our jogging stroller with some of my birthday money from my wonderful grandparents and parents. Of course, when I planned to head out, the sky was dark with rain clouds, the wind was whirling, and the clouds were spitting little bouts of rain down on the earth below. Humph. I paced in the apartment for a bit, and then, when there seemed to be a break in the weather, I bundled my little man all up and ran (literally) to the store in hopes of beating the rain.

All went well on the way up, but as I was checking out, I noticed the storm had settled back down over Orem. Well, no problem, 'cause I now own a Weather Guard! Duh da da daaa! I whipped that guard right out of the box and managed to get it on my stroller with relatively few complications. Then off we went, into the storm. It was great. I got to run in the rain, (one of my favorite things) and Rudy got to play with the rain drops running down the sides of the guard while staying nice and warm and toasty. Hooray for weather guards! Hooray for being outside!

Maria's 27!

I had a great birthday this year! To begin the celebrations, Jason took the day off on Thursday (the day before my birthday) so that he could spend a totally school and work free day with Rudy and me. I was so stoked when he told me we'd have the day together. WAHOO! Jason let me sleep in 'till 8:00 am and made me blueberry pancakes just the way I like them. (medium size, cooked in butter, just barely cooked through so they're still nice and moist) Ahhh. He served them up with cool whip, orange juice, and the morning paper. I proceeded to have a relaxed, self absorbed breakfast while Rudy took a morning nap. That's right, folks, the child who never takes a morning nap saw fit to bestow this sweet morsel of relaxation upon his dear

sweet mother on her birthday. What a kid, huh? Later in the afternoon, we dropped Rudy off at a friend's house and went out to gorge ourselves at an all you can eat Chinese Buffet. (Our budget is really slim right now, so eating out is all but non-existent....but I soooooooo love Chinese food and I'd been craving it for more than 2 months. The idea behind gorging myself was to hopefully eat so much Chinese food that I won't even want to think about for a while, thus sparing myself the future agony of a craving I just can't fill. So far, the plan is working splendidly. :) ) That evening we finally set up the new bedding we'd bought for my birthday months before on a sale. Yipee! At last, after almost 4 years of marriage, we actually have matching bedding on the bed! I feel so high society! ;) Here's a couple shots of me and then us reveling in the victory. Jason thinks the shams and the bed skirt are absolutely SUPERFLUOUS, but I guess he's willing to put up with them for my sake. :)

Friday, my actual birthday, passed relatively quietly. Jason had to work and go to school and give plasma (to pay for our Chinese food), so yeah, Rudy and I partied. That evening, though, Mom stopped by to drop off a ROCKIN' gift--A SEWING MACHINE! Woohoo! At last, no more trying to figure out how to accomplish the sewing projects I want to accomplish sans sewing machine. I'm excited to sit down and really get familiar with the ins and outs the machine. Maybe sometime soon I'll be posting pics of my first completed project!

At last, we come to the Jarvis Birthday Dinner. Everyone was kind enough to show up for a 3 in the afternoon "linner" to try to accommodate Rudy's early bedtime. (I'm usually nursing him to sleep by 5:30 pm) Mutti and Vati decided to throw me a Wizard of Oz themed dinner this year. At first I was grasping at straws to understand how the theme fit, but after they explained it to me, I thought, "Cool, my parents are insightful people." So, here's the explanation:

I have plunged into a whole new world this year by becoming a mother, and in this world I have needed the courage of the lion, the heart of the tin man, the brains of the scarecrow and the pep and faith of Dorothy. Cool, huh? I totally identify with being in a new world, and I think the fact that Dorothy went from a black and white world to one in technicolor is significant too. Somehow, the world seems brighter with a little child sharing his life with me. Anyway, it was a great dinner with all my favorite foods: Griesnokel Suppe, Rosemary chicken and rice, and fruit pizza for dessert.

Here you can see the yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City as I blow the candles out.

There was one last candle I just didn't have the breath to get (I started laughing in the middle of blowing...I don't remember why). Then suddenly it magically extinguished! Or Jason helped. He's always good to step in when I need it...thanks Schmoopie. :)

Here's the Emerald City table, complete with flying monkeys. Rad, huh?

Our tired little munchkin. We didn't leave 'till about 5:45... when Rudy's usually entering Lullabyland. Add to that all the attention he is showered with as the first and only (to date) grandchild, and you've got a tidal wave of fatigue building. We had been driving no more than five minutes on our way home before Rudy was out cold. He slept the whole way home (about 30 minutes) bawled through getting his jammies on, nursed and went right back to sleep.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who wished me well (or even just thought good things about me) on my birthday. It was a great way to enter into the realm of being 27. :)

Time flies

So, I'm kinda struggling to keep up with all our splendifferousity lately. In an attempt to skip to the present without losing the past, I'll just do a quick montage of several photos/events from the last couple weeks. Enjoy!

Rudy's becoming my little helper. If I'm "playing" with kitchen things, he wants to play with kitchen things, etc. It's so cute to see how seriously he takes his "work". P.S. nice linoleum , huh? It brings me back to my childhood kitchen. Rudy finds it fascinating, so I guess I can't complain. :)

The family posing with Launi, our Hypnobirthing instructor. This lady is a saint--she actually invited us into her home and spent 2 hours holding a private lesson with us at no extra charge so that we'd be ready to have Rudy with as little medical intervention as possible. (We were a little late in signing up for a class and the last session of our classes was scheduled on my due date. We were glad we did that last class early with Launi, since Rudy had already been breathing fresh air for 3 days by the time our class was learning how to properly 'breath' their babies into the world.) Anyway, Jason and Rudy and I came to one of Launi's classes recently to reassure her current students that non-medicated birth is possible and actually quite exhilarating.

Rudy and his Opa B. (My dad's father). Rudy is learning through first hand experience that his plucky smooth skin will not stay that way forever.

We're out for a morning adventure. Rudy is becoming quite the wood chip Connoisseur. No one can ever say my baby isn't getting enough fiber. :)

I cut up some super sweet and succulent pieces of watermelon for Rudy to practice self feeding with. Turns out, he's a rind man. You can see how he bit the watermelon down to the white part as far as he could reach and then went for the other side. His toothless gums made the cutest "eek eek eek" sound against the rind as he happily chewed away.

Only a baby can look this serious while wearing his pants on his head!

Here's a more dignified shot of our handsome prince. :)

As always, Rudy is ready and eager to try something new. He is about to go from vegetarian to omnivore.

Maybe I have a little Vegan in the making...he doesn't seem too sold on the idea that turkey should go in one's mouth...which is saying alot coming from a nine-month-old.

Once again, rice cereal saves the day. I swear, rice cereal is like baby ketchup--add enough of it and anything's edible.

Caught in the Sprinklers

You know how couples get caught in the sprinklers on movies and its oh so romantic? I've always wanted that to happen. You know, totally out of the blue you're suddenly running through the water, drenching wet, laughing till your sides ache and hanging onto the one you love. Ahh.
Last week I finally got my time in the sprinklers...only it didn't quite turn out as I had always imagined.
I was babysitting a friend's 18 month old son and he, Rudy, and I were out at the park. We had just finished swinging and were settling down for a cheerio picnic when I heard the unmistakable "che che cheeee" of sprinklers coming up. Whoever decided that 11:00 am would be a good time to water the park must have been experienceing a shortage of smart.
These were not the friendly fountain kind of sprinklers that gently shower down. Oh no. These were the super powered leave a red mark on you if you get to close sabers of DEATH kind. And I had two babies, a blanket, and a stroller in the path of their destruction. I grabbed one child under each arm and headed for high ground. Funny, there wasn't really a spot on the lawn that was safe from the sprinklers. I guess that's kind of the point, but come on! Have some mercy on the tender children! I ended up having to strategically move forward, now back, now to the side, now RUN FOR IT!!! through the labyrinth of water. I deposited my precious cargo on the dry sidewalk and retrieved my sopping baby paraphernalia. Both kids had the time of their lives and my friend's son kept grunting and pointing over to where the water massacre took place for the rest of the outing, as if to say, "Remember when you carried us around while you were running like a mad woman over there? Lets do it again!"
Well, at least it got my heart racing. :)

Rudy Wayne

Oma Vera and Opa Rudolf

Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Deane

The two Rudy's check each other out for the first time

The two Waynes in Grandpa Wayne's garden

I'm reading about Lehi and Nephi in Helaman right now, and how their father counseled them to remember who they were named for and to honor those names. It made me remember that I haven't put up anything about the origin of Rudy's name.
I've always liked knowing that I'm named for my grandmother (on my mom's side), and I love hearing what she was like from my mom, so this post is for you, Rudy! We named you after two of your SPLENDIFEROUS great-grandfathers: Rudolf (my mom's father), and Wayne (Jason's mom's father). Rudolf (Opa to me) is Austrian, so no one thinks of red-nosed reindeer when he introduces himself there, but since you're American, and a December baby to boot, we thought we'd better go for Rudy instead of the full name, Rudolf. Opa was called Rudy throughout his childhood anyway. I've had relatively little contact with Opa, seeing as we are across the world from each other, but I always feel so loved by him whenever he gets to visit. Some things I love about Opa:
His warm smile and open arms.
His dedication to the gospel.
He takes good care of his health.
He is a spunky grandpa-he has a great sense of humor.
He can be formal and respectful when appropriate, but also fun loving.
Opa is a survivor: He was dealt a bit of a tough hand as a child, but he's made those cards work for him. He came from a single parent home with little resources but was able to get through dental school and make a life for himself and his family. He made it through Nazi occupation, being drafted into the army, and being shot down over enemy lines. He survived the heart break of losing his first wife, Maria, to an extended illness. I respect Opa's resiliency, and his faith in God and in the goodness of life that has helped him to remain filled with hope for the future. He's in his 80's now, and he joked that we need to let him know when you are getting married so that he can perform the sealing for you and your wife! (Opa sealed Jason and me, and was in the states to seal Jake and Kirstyn when he got to meet you for the first time.)

I'm getting to know Grandpa Wayne much better this summer while I garden in his yard. Before, I just took Jason's word that Grandpa would be a good man to name our baby after--now I know for myself! Grandpa fought in WWII also, although under different circumstances, of course. I don't know too much about his war experiences, except that he loved to fly those planes! He had a whole basement full of model WWII airplanes he'd built and painted until just recently, when he gave them away to family. You have one of the planes in your nursery now!
The things I love about Grandpa Wayne:
He is a hard worker.
He respects himself and others.
He dishes out the best, most sincere compliments I have ever had the privilege of receiving!
He cares meticulously for all that is in his stewardship.
Grandpa Wayne is the kind of person that makes you feel great to be around, and makes you want to always do your best. He always has a kind word for you. When something needs getting done, Grandpa doesn't hem and haw, he just does it, even if he's tired or not feeling well.
Rudy, you're named for two great men, and you're living up to their standard marvelously. I love to see your personality growing and stretching its wings as you get bigger and bigger!