Daddy's Little Helper

This picture really doesn't pertain to anything I'm going to write about (I think Rooney is showing Mike how to use Excel), but we have not taken many pictures the last couple of weeks, and I thought it was cute, so I threw it in. I was hoping to post the video that I intended to post in the last entry, but it's still not edited (no pressure Mike).

However, there have been a few new things happening. As you know I have already started Roonster on baby food. He is eating well off a spoon now and has on occasion grabbed the bowl out of my hand. Apparently I'm not getting it in his mouth quick enough. I think Courage and Rocco are wishing I would look away, just for a second.

Since this photo was taken, Rooney has tried several new foods. In this picture he is eating sweet potatoes. Each week I have introduced a new food and since then he has eaten carrots (some may call them "carrots of death"), bananas, peas & apples. He really seemed to like the apples. We also increased the amount of formula per feeding. He's as tall as a 1yr old and it's tempting to have him eat like one. I've almost bought him biter biscuits several times but I know he's just not ready yet.

There hasn't been alot of progress with the crawling, although he is sitting up pretty well now. Sometimes when he gets a little too excited he'll topple over. However, this allows him easy access to the crawling position and he'll crawl, scoot or whatever it is he is doing, backwards into the bottom of the couch. It's really cute and sad to watch at the same time. He's trying so hard to do something, we're just not quite sure what it is at this time.

Butch and Sundance

I know it seems like forever since I've last posted. Since we signed up for web hosting I've had the video camera on more than the digital. I think we have a lot of good footage. I've captured Rooney almost crawling, Rooney sitting up and almost talking and this footage...Ride'em Cowboy.

This is not the footage we originally planned to post, but Mike and I were laughing so hard when he was editing, we had to post it.

Courage will never forgive us.

Bend It Like...Rooney?!?

Who knew Rooney would have such skills when we bought him this little soccerball...



Although, as you can see, we're still having problems with the concept of no hands...

Mom's Club...Shmom's Club

I don't know about this Mom's Club. I have met some very cool people and some great kids, but it seems whenever we have an activity, it's a real let down. Of the 4 activities I have actually participated in 3 did not turn out well.

The 1st activity I went to was a "Craft Day". I believe I mentioned this one before- I ended up being the only Mom, of the 3 that were there that had a baby. There were supposed to be several other moms there with babies, but they No Showed. I left early.

The 2nd activity we attended was a Valentine's Day party. This actually went pretty well. I had a good time, Rooney wowed people with this rolling moves. This good time kept me going.

The 3rd activity was "Mom's Night Out" which was just last week. This had all the makings of a great night. We went to a new bowling alley that's pretty nice, I really liked alot of the moms that were going and I could finally have a beer at one of these activities and not look like a lush. This is kind of a long story but I will say that after waiting at the designated meeting up area, a few of us decided to do a loop of the place, found a whole group of moms already playing and having drinks! They broke off from the rest of us and had their own "Mom's Night Out". I thought it was kind of rude and also showed me how disorganized these little events seem to be.

Finally, the 4th activity is one I attended yesterday. We went to KidQuest Children's Museum. I've been wanting to go here, because I heard it was pretty great and heard they had stuff for babies to do. There were alot of moms signed up to go, many of them had babies, and I liked alot of them. We were told to meet out front, so I was there, in front and there was no one there. I went inside & did not recognize anyone. I decided to do a little shopping at Osh Kosh & when I came out I still didn't see anyone. I did end up running into one other mom, whom I did not know, but she was from the Mom's Club. Renae says I should be more flexible but I made alot of effort to get there and get Rooney there. I could have gone by myself any time and not joined a social club to do these types of activities with.

We did end up having a good time at the museum and it's a pretty cool place, but I have learned that before I agree to go to another activity with the Mom's Club I am going to have to make sure that it's an activity I wouldn't mind just doing with Rooney.

Finally, I want to let everyone know that Mike's website was taken down by UWis because of inactivity. So we are looking for another web host. That means videos should be up and running soon.

Who's A Little Leprechaun?

Friday was St. Patrick's Day!!! It was Rooney's first but he certainly took advantage of it being on a weekend this year. He chose this day to officially start his crawling...albeit he goes backwards, but it's crawling nonetheless.

He also spent the day with Mom and Aunt Annie. Rooney loves his Aunt Annie and wishes she would come to visit more often. As an incentive he has offered to show off his cool, new, backward crawling moves and he'll even throw in a few sitting positions!

That's right...Rooney is learning to crawl and sit up at the same time. Talk about an overachiever. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of it but we did get video. We have one video up and running (Rooney Sitting) that we took today. Well...saying it's a video of Rooney sitting isn't the complete truth. I'll leave it as a surprise but it is not for the faint of heart- be warned.

Besides the wipe-outs it's been a good week for Rooney. In addition to being mobile he has also started a new food this week...carrots. I don't think he likes these as well as sweet potatoes but he still tried to grab the bowl and opened his mouth for the spoon each time. I think we'll try bananas next.

Topping off the week Felix came for a visit! Mike and I babysat Felix while the Howard Clan went out for the afternoon. I'll try not scoop the Howard's (in case they may blog about it) but I will say it was a bit touch-and-go in the beginning but once bribed with crackers Felix warmed right up. We took a nice walk, played with toys and watched a kids DVD. Felix and I sang a song about a doagie and by the end of the afternoon he was crying when I left the room. I can hardly say I blame him.

However, all that ended once Mom and Dad came home. It was nice to have you over Felix, you should come hang out again.

The Forehead Has It

What's with this kid? Is he about to crawl or sit up?

He's acting a little shy now but there have been great strides...

He can get up on his knees, has even moved an arm or two...

but as you can see by his little red forehead he's very astute at the face plant.
Sometimes you just have to say screw it and go back to what you know

Electric Boogaloo

This weekend Rooney went to two birthday parties. Both were for babies turning 1 year old. Of course, one of those babies, was Rooney's cousin Felix. I didn't want to post until Dana & Renae posted about Felix's birthday, but they are taking too long, so too bad. Can you believe Felix is such a big guy now? Wow, one year old. That went quick.

Here is a picture of Felix with his "Big Guy 1 Year Old" cake. Let's just say he really wasn't that interested. Dana & Renae have been very health conscious with Felix which is great, and his little cake was made with a blueberry frosting and I think the cake itself was with all organic and non-allergy producing products, but I think Felix was thinking the same thing as the rest of us..."Where's the chocolate?" . Sorry guys but as you can see, he is eyeballing the delicious looking chocolate/peanut butter (?) cake made for all the adults with poor eating habits (Hey Felix, Aunt Suse took a bite & it was delicious!).

Afterwards there was a big Dance Off and Rooney thought he'd bring down the house with some of his super cool break dancing moves.

Rooney's other cousin, Cuyler, later came over to congratulate Rooney on his boss moves and to pick up a few pointers.

They Call Him "Boy With Crazy Arms"

Since Rooney was in utero he has always done this thing with his arms. I call it "Crazy Arms" and what it is, is when Rooney is laying down, his arms are constantly moving and spiraling around. He doesn't do it all the time, but he tends to do it when he is tired or hungry. I was taking pictures of Rooney today and when I was editing I realized the photos captured his crazy arms. I wanted to share this with you (and the pictures are just pretty cute):




When I bounce him to sleep, during the day or at night, I have to use his arm as a gauge to whether Rooney is asleep or not. While I am bouncing him, his right arm is always flailing about. Sometimes he throws it around wildly, other times, he tries to see if my lips are detachable. Although his eyes may be closed, you have to watch the arm, because even though his eyes appear closed and Rooney is asleep, he is not truly asleep, until he finally rests his arm.

Sweet Potato Pie!

Today was a big day for Rooney because he ate sweet potatoes for the first time.

Our little Roonster did really great. He seemed a little unsure of the spoon at first (definitely not the potatoes) but he soon caught on and was chomping on the spoon like a pro.


I think this was a big day for Courage and Rocco also. I bet they have been waiting for this day for 5 months!

It's Hard To Crawl...On Your Face

It's been brought to my attention that I have not posted since Thursday. I haven't been lazy. Really. This weekend we went to a 1 year old's birthday party. The party was at Gymboree and we seemed to be the only one's without a camera. Hence, no Gymboree pictures. Rooney actually seemed to have a good time even though he couldn't really play with the other kids or play on alot of the equipment. He seemed to enjoy watching all the kids, flirting with the adults & we found that he can catch a ball with his feet.

We also went to Uncle Dan & Aunt Kim's for dinner on Sunday. (This pic is from January) I think Rooney, lord help us, might be going through a growth spurt. He seems to be sleeping alot and because of this seemed to have slept through alot of the visit with Dan & Kim. However, Dan did discover that Rooney might be learning how to wave. Now I'm not saying he's ready for a parade but it looked like he got the general concept. Of course, when he was awake he kept his eyes glued to Uncle Dan.

Finally, as you may have seen in the last post, Rooney is getting on all 4's. Since I last wrote I think he has tried to crawl. On Monday, we were at Renae's house & Rooney was on the floor on all 4's. I wanted Renae to see how he rocked. That was pretty cool all by itself, but then Rooney moved one arm & the opposite leg...at the same time! Then he did a face plant. It was so cool though. I tried to get pictures later at our house. I think his little arms were tired because this is what I captured.

Gotta Move

This week I am trying something new. Well I guess it's not "new" because I have tried 2 other carriers, but I got a new ring sling & I am going to try wearing Rooney. He's been such an easy baby that a lot of the issues babywearing is supposed to help are kind of a moot point. However, I needed a convenient way to carry him since he will soon be in his new car seat (which is sans carrier). Rooney really seemed to like it at first, but of course, once I got home I did stuff wrong, and now he is a little iffy. He definitely lets me know when I have screwed up getting him in the sling though.

This week we have continued to go to our playgroups. This is a picture of Anna w/Rooney. This was taken by Anna's mom, Laura, who goes to 2 of the mom's groups Rooney & I go to. I think Anna already has her eyes on my sweet baby...what do you think? Rooney is trying to be aloof but he later shared his drooly hand with Anna & then tried to roll on her head.

Finally, Rooney is continuing to move. I've been waiting and waiting for him to sit up on his own, but it appears maybe he'll crawl first. He recently started getting up on all 4's and is rocking. I have seen him get a knee moved before he does a face plant but I think he'll get that mastered soon. After looking at the statistics my mom posted, on me, in a previous post maybe Rooney will crawl before sitting up.

I hope Rocco is ready.