Do Re Me & Roon

It's been awhile since I've posted. It's not that things haven't been going on, it's just that I haven't taken any pictures. And I really feel like I should post pictures.

I took these pictures this morning of Rooney playing with his Leapfrog Magnetic Frig Farm. I don't really know if that's the name but it's something along those lines. Rooney really loves this toy. When you push the button it plays little songs which Rooney kind of dances too. He hasn't quite figured out how to match the animals on the toy, which is the real point of the toy, but that doesn't seem to matter. He loves it just for the music.

I have also been building up Roonster's instrument collection. He likes music so much I thought it would be nice if he could play with the instruments and learn how to make music. So far he stands in his tambourine but he really likes to hit the triangle and he bangs out rhythm on the TV with his drumstick (Courage's head too I think!).

Speaking of toys! I decided to throw a Discovery/Do Re Me & You Toys party. What was I thinking? I hate throwing parties, they are too stressful. I hate when people whom I have selectively invited say they can't come. Plus my house is too small. How am I going to fit a handful of people in here plus toys? Anyway I am hoping to get some Christmas shopping done for some little kids I know (maybe a new baby gift for others).

Frank and the PB Pie

What do you do with your antiquated computer equipment...



give it to your kids as a toy, they were going to play with it anyway.





Talk about antiquated, Mike and I went (with Dana & Renae) to a Frank Black concert Monday night. Halfway through the opening act Mike was looking for somewhere to sit because his back hurt (to be fair he did just help Dan move his storage locker stuff around). He left me with Dana & Renae in front of the stage. A very enviable position. Thank god for technology though. Mike was able to text message me that he found a stool, in the back of the venue, with very limited visibility and I hot footed it over to him. Going to a General Admission concert with a hurt foot was not the brightest idea. I was starting to get toeaphobia when the crowd kept moving in closer and closer. I was protecting my foot like a newborn baby.

Tuesday afternoon Roonster and I went to a Thanksgiving Potluck at another moms house. It was a great turn out; kids everywhere! I made a point of bringing somewhat healthy food so I would have something I did not feel guilty about eating. I think I was doing really well until I saw it. There is was with a spotlight on it and angels singing in the background...the Peanut Butter pie! I could not resist it's temptation and had a small sliver of a piece. It was absolutely delicious but afterwards I felt like I had eaten the whole thing. It was so rich and peanut buttery. How do people eat like this all the time? Oh who am I kidding I could get used to eating Peanut Butter Pie real quick.

Come back to me Peanut Butter Pie!!!!

Rubber Chicken Lunches

Even though I'm still licking my soccer wounds I thought it was time to get out of the house and go to the Regional Luncheon for MOMS Club. MOMS Club members from CA, HI, OR and WA all converged on Bellevue, WA. Children in 4 states were running amok. You may have seen the news reports.

We had a good time, met some new friends and as you can see came home with some prizes! MOMS Club of Renton seemed to be big winners and came home with 4 gift baskets. One of our members won 2! I happened to win the gift basket made by the Renton chapter. There seemed to be alot of alcohol in our basket. The theme was Date Night...makes me wonder how alot of our moms met their husbands and/or became moms.

If MOMS Club wasn't enough I have finally joined a Renton Moms Meetup. A few of my friends have already joined and really enjoy it. After attending a Discovery Toys party at one friends house (who quit MOMS Club and exclusively does Meetup's), Sherry and I (my partner in crime in the red jacket) decided to enlist Krista and all join together. We haven't done anything yet but keep checking back to keep posted.

Don't worry I have not given up on MOMS Club and I have even agreed to take over as Newsletter Editor. I don't believe I can post the newsletter here so everyone can see my handiwork (confidentiality issues) but there maybe a blog post about it every once in awhile.

Lucky You!

Urgent Care Blues

Will somebody get this kid a haircut?

This week has been kind of different for Rooney. Monday Roonster went with his mom (me) to an Urgent Care. Sunday while playing soccer my left hand and right foot were injured. My hand got hit very hard by a soccer ball. The ball kept going after it hit me, and since it was kicked by one of my team mates, I was saddened when my body didn't at least deflect it into the goal. I have no clue what happened to my toe but I'll attribute any injury to getting older or from being pregnant with Rooney. I haven't found a link with being pregnant and my feet yet so it must be attributed to age. (Yikes! I can't believe I can start saying that) Good news is nothing appears to be broken. Bad news is we still lost the game.

So Roonster and I have been hanging around the house the last couple of days. Mike was home 1-1/2 days to take care of us. The week before I bought Rooney castanets (to build his band) and they became very useful while Mike was home. Since he didn't want me up on my foot, he had me use the castanets to call him when I needed something. I felt really silly using them but they worked and Mike didn't get mad at me for getting up.

I think the Urgent Care may have made Rooney sick though. While we were waiting forever in the waiting room, I let Rooney run around and play with the toys they have out. God knows the last time, if ever, those toys were washed and how many little snotty hands have played with them. Plus I'm sure any clinic is just cess pool of germs. Rooney has since become a snot factory. There is more than one type of flooding going on in Western WA!

The Pea Soup Incident

He looks so sweet and innocent in this picture but you can tell...there is something lurking behind that smile.

Lately, Rooney has been trying to exert his independence when I'm feeding him. He will start grabbing at the bowl and spoon but when he can't get them he will throw a little fit in his chair. So I started to give him his own spoon. This worked great and he would play with it, dip it into the bowl I was holding or pretend to feed himself. This worked well and we were both happy...at least I thought we were.

Who would have thought that the sweet little boy in this picture would turn into a little demon a few hours later when he dumped pea soup all over his Momma? One minute he was eating the soup and loving it and the next I was wearing it. I wouldn't have believe it if I didn't see it with my own eyes and have to change my pants.

Of course he does have his lovey moments and there have actually been more of them. He will now just run up, give me hugs and then be off again. I love it. Now anytime I am on the floor means it's time to wrestle. He will jump on my back and start laughing. I'm assuming he learned wrestling from Dad and I'll play along. The wrestling is really cute and Rooney really likes to do it but secretly I really just use it as an opportunity to get even more cuddles.

Halloweenies

Halloween 2005

The Cutest Little Chicken
Originally uploaded by Q.

It's really been Halloween week around here. Rooney's had so many costume parties to go to and getting pumpkins, cleaning pumpkins and finally carving pumpkins became a very long affair. I love Halloween though and I love Rooney in this costume! I wonder if it would be too much to put him in it everyday?

Last night we did not take the little chicken trick-or-treating. Mike and I are trying to avoid candy, and Rooney doesn't eat it yet, so it seemed a little pointless to us. He was fascinated by everyone coming to the door though. He even flirted with a few. Thankfully where we live there are alot of kids and we had a pretty good turnout . We actually had more kids than teenagers, dressed as teenagers, ringing our doorbell.

We do have leftover candy though. However, we devised a foolproof way for us not to get into it...we decided to store it in Mike's car. If you saw the inside of Mike's car , believe me, you wouldn't want to eat anything that came out it.

Chicken's Coming To Get You

I'm coming to get you
Chicken Costume Pictures

Originally uploaded by Q.

We kind of had a running joke this weekend...you have a kid and you become a social butterfly. Saturday Mike, Rooney and I were invited to 3 events. We could only stretch ourselves so thin though, and only committed to two.

This weekend Rooney's bud Parker celebrated his 1st birthday! Welcome to the Big Boy Club Parker. All the kids were dressed in their Halloween costumes. Oh man they were so cute! What was kind of funny is that none of them seemed to fight the costumes either. I've decided Halloween and the custom of dressing in costume has become instinctual. Possible "Survival of the Fittest"- whomever has the weakest costume gets the least amount of candy. As we all know, when you're a kid, whomever has the most candy runs the schoolyard.

The second event we went to was a Costume Party at Mike's friends' house. Everyone that was invited seemed to have kids. So many little kids and so many costumes. Yikes they were adorable. To our embarrassment their was another little blond boy in a chicken costume though. What were the chances?

The pictures will tell the story

Sybil

When Rooney was a baby I found it very difficult to get out the door to start our day. Working around his sleep schedule to get ready proved to be difficult at times and then trying to get him dressed, changed and packed to go always threw me off time wise. I had the hardest time working his "getting ready time" into my time management. It's been a year now and for the most part we've got our rhythm worked out although I am still running short on time every once in awhile. Generally it's just when I have to be anywhere before 10am.

Now that Rooney is getting older I've noticed it's a lot harder to get out the door for new reasons. The window is getting so much smaller these days between happy Rooney and Not-So-Happy Rooney. Some days I would believe it is non-existent. I did not want to be one of those moms that was chained to their houses for hours while their kids napped but I find myself doing just that. And once Rooney wakes up the clock starts it's countdown. However, before we can go anywhere he's got to eat and be changed. Ahhhhh! He can take 45min. to eat and sorry to be crude but it's all gone to hell if he has a load in his diaper. That window is half closed now.

I used to believe that having Rooney nap in his carseat was unfair. I believed it wasn't a "real nap" but as our window closes quicker now, and being as Rooney can turn on a dime these days, I'm starting to understand that maybe any nap is a "real nap". I finally had to make the decision that if I wanted us to go anywhere these days Rooney better be prepared and start bringing his little dog blankie along for the ride.

Quacker!

How do you know when someone is your good friend? When their first name becomes one of your first words.

This weekend Mike, Rooney and I went to a dinner party at our friends Krista, Tim & Parker's. We had a very good time and were joined by our other friends Sherry, Rick and Alex. The boys all got to play and we dined on some delicious fried halibut (freshly caught by Tim). While I was standing talking to Krista, who was holding Parker, Rooney said Parker! Here's the really weird part...Mike heard it and acknowledged it. Now you know it's legit because Mike doesn't think Rooney is saying anything.

Of course when Rooney said Parker, it wasn't clear as a bell and I thought he said "quacker" or something like that. But then he said it again, and I heard it, and I was amazed! Parker is a big word for a 1 year old. I have noted Rooney saying "dog", "duck", "hi" and "uh oh" (and of course Momma and Dada). Comparatively Parker is a big word. I'm pretty amazed by my kid. I honestly didn't think he would be very verbal so young. He is an action man and I figured he was putting all his energy into moving. Now that I know he is talking I've been trying to get him to say everything. Nothing new...but it's coming.

However, just because there aren't any other new words doesn't mean there isn't something else new. Mike taught Rooney to do something pretty cool. While all those other babies are busy learning signs, to feed themselves and chess Mike taught Rooney something he can really use in the future.

Click here to watch the video.

Quick Like A Cat

Now that Rooney is doing more things for himself, he is also getting into more things. Ah this kid is going to keep me on my toes.

Our livingroom/kitchen is pretty well baby proofed (or so I thought) and occasionally if I have to walk out of the room I feel OK leaving Rooney for a minute or two. Well this morning I had to leave the room and when I walked back into the kitchen I saw Rooney standing on a cardboard box at the kitchen sink! We had an empty cardboard box at the end of the kitchen. Rooney turned this box over on it's side and pushed it in front the sink. He was so proud of himself.

Unfortunately for us, not only is Rooney getting smarter about how to get what he wants, he is also getting quicker. As soon as you have a baby gate or the fridge open Rooney is there. You turn to close the gate and he's already going through it. I find it pretty funny that he would beeline for the fridge when he so rarely wants anything that's in it. However, there is something he wants. Everytime he can grab something he grabs the same things. We're still baffled by his selection, but it is always his selection...Szechwan Sauce!

I don't remember eating alot of Chinese food when I was pregnant.

The World's An Oyster

Now that Rooney is older he has started to do more things for himself. I have recently caught him starting to climb his toys to get to other toys and books. Instead of climbing on his toys I put a little step stool out for him. He started using it right away. Probably felt alot better on his feet than the blocks he was tromping all over.

Rooney loves books. He will sometimes bring books to me to read to him (his 2 personal favorites are Snuggle Puppy and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb) but many times I find him on the floor looking through the books all by himself. He's no bookworm though. Rooney has many interests and most recently Roon-ham has really become interested in our Nerf soccerball. He will chase this thing all over the house. I don't want to make any big predictions on Rooney's future profession but I do see some potential soccer skills. He's already kicking the ball. Maybe he picked up a few things watching Mom play...or maybe he's trying to give me some pointers. I'll have to pay closer attention to his moves next time.

Rooney seems to want to be a well rounded kid. He loves literature, athletics and he also enjoys music and dance very much. Besides being in Kindermusik classes, Rooney has always listened to music before going to sleep and owns many little musical instruments. It was only recently that he started getting down though. He's already got head banging down and he is currently working on the butt shaking. Even if he is unable to get his dance moves coordinated he can always carry an instrument around and no one will notice.

We've recently starting playing along to CD's (Mom and Rooney's Little Bug Jam Band), sometimes trying to woo new members (Rooney's cousin Felix). The They Might Be Giants "No" CD, that Aunt Kristi and Uncle Andy gave him for his birthday, is great to play along to. Rooney seems to really like their CD's and we have alot of fun playing along.

We really need to be a trio though. Maybe once Rooney's little brother or sister is born we'll start looking for an old school bus to take the band on the road.

Lean Back Fat Joe

Rooney kicking back on the swings
Originally uploaded by Q.

Life's rough for Rooney. He has parents devoted to him, friends to play with, we try to get him to eat food and he can throw his clothes all over the floor.

Oh man is he going to get a wake up call!

I love this picture of Rooney and Parker. Reminds me of being a kid. I can imagine exactly how he is feeling at this moment. As of Friday, I officially became one year closer to old, and had a birthday. It was a good birthday. My friends took me to lunch, Mike and I went out for a great dinner and there were gifts. I was warned as you get older the birthdays become less important. I believe that to be true now. I easily put my birthday out of my head when I was focused on Rooney's birthday.

Last night we had a get together with all the usual suspects and a few of our new good friends. Rooney even had a little playgroup! Our house is small and people sat on the floor but I had a good time and was so glad to see everyone.

As you get older, birthdays are kind of like funerals in that they generally draw a large crowd. And as in the case of mine...no one took a picture.

3rd Rock From The Gums

With all the excitement of Rooney's birthday and Mike's new program I totally forgot to write about Rooney's new teeth.

A couple months ago one of the moms in my playgroup noticed that Rooney had bruises on his upper gums. She said she heard sometimes that happens when molars are coming in. Well I think this mom is a little crazy so I didn't think much about it. Then, not too long ago at Kindermusik Rooney was laughing really hard when I noticed a navy blue spot on his right upper gums. This spot was dark. It was like chewing-on-an-ink-pen dark blue spot! Oh my god the crazy lady was right and Rooney was getting in his molars.

The week of Rooney's birthday our little prince also had a cold. He was a bit cranky and not sleeping very well. All the signs were there, but his cold masked the symptoms and it wasn't until about a week later that we saw he had molars coming in on both sides! Wow that kid is a trooper. Then this week I saw it...his 3rd molar (right side lower). I want to say this kid is a genius but I guess he can't control tooth growth...or can he?

More cute bath pics could be found here

Can't Get Enough Rooney

You may have noticed recently the links on this blog pointing to some of our Flickr photosets. Now, it is possible to enjoy those photos without even having to go through the effort of getting on the internet!

Introducing Flickr Wallpapr, a program I wrote which will cycle through photos from Flickr and set them as your desktop background.

Now, I suppose you don't have to use our photosets, but if you want to, use wade0016 as the username. Honestly, why would you want to use any other photos?

How About A Little Pumpkin?

How about a little pumpkin
Originally uploaded by Q.

Yesterday Roonster and I went to Carpinito Brothers Pumpkin Patch (click link to see pics) with the Moms Club. Going to a pumpkin patch really kicks off Fall and gets me into the Halloween spirit. Next to Christmas, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I feel like Mike isn't as into Halloween as I am, but maybe having a kid now, will change that.

The pumpkin patch had alot of nice pumpkins, although we did not get any yesterday. I thought it would be fun if Mike and I went back and we could spend some time with Rooney picking out the perfect pumpkins to carve for our Jack-O-Lantern pictures. Rooney seemed to have a good time with all the other kids running around in the pumpkins, but the real hit, seemed to be the bark covering the ground. I think all the "babies" tried to eat a piece at some point.

After most of the other moms left, my friend Sherry and I, decided to take our boys through a corn maze. It was 1.8 miles of walking through corn. We tried to use bent or fallen corn stalks as our breadcrumbs through the maze until we realized all the corn looked the same. We did do a few circles but managed to find our way out...eventually.

I think Sherry was worried there for awhile.

Momma's Just Got To Play

I don't know if anyone remembers, but a year ago, when I went into labor, Mike and I were coming home from my sister and brother's soccer game (Mike actually played in that game also). I was really bummed last year that I couldn't play. After Rooney was born the idea was tossed around to play spring and summer sessions, but as a group we just couldn't get it together. We all agreed to play fall session but even that was up in the air until the end of September. We kind of decided (Dana and I) that I would be the new Team Captain (because the old one was out with ankle surgery) and we finally solidified a team. People get really flaky as they get older! It's been so difficult to squeeze a commitment out of people but the team we've solidified has been the core group from almost the beginning.

Wanting to play soccer was the catalyst for me when I started running. I really wanted to be able to run for 15 minutes straight. Don't laugh, I could barely run 5min when I started. Now I can run much longer than my original 15min goal but after the 1st practice and then the 1st game, I realized, there is alot more physically needed than just being able to run. We played our 2nd game last night (3-6, our loss) and I already had both my ankles taped and made sure every muscle that could conceivably be stretched was. Even with all that preparation, I woke up this morning to my back being very stiff, my left knee throbbing and my right ankle hurting. I never played organized sports before and I am turning 33 soon but I am very surprised by the aches and pains. It's not true that you're as young as you feel. Believe me!

Mike and Rooney were there cheering our team on. Mike tried to take some pictures, but despite my many aches I was still to quick for the camera so the shots are a little blurry. I hope I am still playing when Rooney is older, because I think it will be great for him to see his parents participating in sports. I know I already plan on being one of the loudest parents cheering Rooney on when he's playing.

So Big!

Rooney on Mike shoulders
Originally uploaded by Q.

Well the results are in...Rooney's a big guy. Roonster and I went to the MD for his 12 month check-up today. Before I tell you what his new statistics are let me preface what I am about to say with Mike and I understand that people are growing taller these days. That being said Mike and I were still blown away when Mike calculated that if Rooney kept up his current rate of growth, by the time he is 17 years old, he'll be 12ft tall! I don't know where we're going to find pants that fit him. Good thing I'm in the sewing club. We have also calculated that if Rooney keeps up with his current rate of weight gain he'll be 150lb. We've created a comparison chart to help you picture what a 12ft tall/150lb Rooney might look like.

The chances of Rooney having alot of dates in high school is starting to look bleak.

Oh well...there is always the drama club.

Here are his current stats: 33 3/4" tall, 24.14lbs. His height is still off the chart at >95%. Compared to his age Rooney is in the 75% in weight but when the MD compared it against his height he was in the 25%. According to the MD, he is in the normal range either way, so she wasn't worried.

However, I feel she might have changed her mind if she was armed with our projections.

Rooney's One!

(One year ago)

Rooney playing with birthday gift
Originally uploaded by Q.

Well it's official Rooney is one year old now. Not only is he 1 but I am the mother of a 1 year old. That's it ...he might as well be 18. The party is over.

OK I know that's overdramatic but of course I can't help but reflect on how much has changed in the last year. How much Rooney has grown and how we've all changed. Rooney growing and getting older is not really a surprise. It's been gradual yet I still feel a little overwhelmed by it. The Roon and I have been constant companions; making so many new friends and we have had so much fun together. In the last 365 days Rooney has learned to hold his head up, smile, laugh, roll over, sit up, stand, crawl, walk, feed himself food, grasp, clap, give himself his pacifier, hold a bottle, drink from a sippy cup (this happened 9/26/06) and play independantly. He has started to say words (Momma, Dada/Daddy and as of last night Duck). He's gone from solely eating formula every 2hrs on the nose to eating food and drinking milk from a cup.

I know the next year will be just as exciting as the last one. There should be big changes and still more first. Ahhh the 1st haircut is still looming over us!

Happy Birthday Baby Bear and here's to another "Best Year Ever"!

(Click here to see how Rooney spent his birthday morning)

Rooney's 1st Birthdays!!!

Lit Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by Q.

Saturday and Sunday was almost exclusively devoted to celebrating Rooney's birthday. Saturday we invited family and a few friends over for food, drinks, cake and Rooney. It was great to see everyone, unfortunately, Rooney, received a gift of a cold also this week, so he was a little under the weather. However he prevailed and partied with the best of them.

Sunday we had a kid party for him at Kids & Music (where he takes his Kindermusik classes). This was alot of fun and all his little buddies got to come and celebrate with him. Many of whom also have birthdays coming up.

There are tons of photos so click here for Saturdays pictures and click here for Sundays pictures.

Mike, Rooney and I would really like to thank everyone that came. We had a great time celebrating with you!

"PB" & J Time Photos

Please open and play this while looking at the photos

I took some really cute photos showing just how much Rooney was enjoying his "PB"&J sandwiches:

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

One of the nice things about having friends with children around Rooney's age is that we are all basically going through the same thing at the same time. We all have our "issues" with our kids, but we can pretty much relate to each other's problems.

My "problem" with Rooney has been getting him to eat solid foods. He was such a great little jarred baby food eater but once we moved on to chunkier foods he's been hesitant. I've written about little accomplishments we've made and how I have to be creative with Rooney but there are times where I have been so excited because I got Rooney to eat eggs or diced apples, and wanted to post about it. However I thought it might make for dry reading and chose not to. These events I am grateful to be able to share with my mom friends and they understand and are excited for us.

Along the eating lines, I have a Rooneyism I feel I can share with you. This definitely should have been an R2R, but I'm really the only one posting these days, so it gets its own spot. Anytime you try to feed Rooney a new food or put something on his tray to self feed he touches it with his index finger. It seems the food has to pass some sort of touch test with his highness and if the food is too soft (he does not appear to like self feeding soft foods such as peas, noodles etc.) it gets tossed to the lions (Courage & Rocco) or smeared across his tray. Often to bypass the finger test I have to sneak something into Rooney's mouth so he can taste it before automatically dismissing it and waving it away.

This approach has only been minimally successful and sometimes takes several days for one food. Last night I was able to get him to eat spaghetti easily but I have tried since last weekend to feed Rooney Sunflower Seed Butter (tastes just like PB but without the allergen worries) & jelly sandwiches. He has picked up the sandwiches, he's ignored the sandwiches, he's smeared the sandwiches across his tray, fed them to the dogs, gotten PB&J in his hair and finally yesterday, when I got a dab on his lips and then put some on a Baby Mum Mum, Rooney ate his nouveau PB&J... and loved it!

To Sew a Bunny: The Saga Continues

Rooney with tubes
Originally uploaded by Q.

This is a picture of Rooney from this morning. He just looked so cute in his jammies that I had to snap some pics. He's playing with some wooden blocks my friend picked up for me from a consignment shop. This may have been the best $4 I ever spent. He loves banging stuff with these, especially these tube-ish blocks. He bangs the floor, the window and his favorite thing to bang on...the TV! Ahhh he can't break that we'll need it as a babysitter pretty soon!

Yesterday I went back to my friend Krista's house to work on Rooney's bunny. Krista assured me the bunny pattern was idiot proof. Oh boy did I prove her wrong. I love when I'm right! (Here's a picture of Krista "fixing" my bunny).
Anyway, according to Krista the bunny will be fine and we'll just have touch up a few spots. Supposedly no one will notice. I'm a little dubious but I am still hoping that it will come out OK. That pattern on the fabric is really cute, although, I did get razzed a little because his bunny will have a dog pattern on it. In reality though, my fabric selection was no surprise to anyone.

So what was Rooney doing while I was creating this masterpiece for him? Click here to see how Rooney entertained himself while I toiled.

To Sew a Bunny

Wow what a difference a year makes. With Rooney's impending birthday I can't help but reflect on where we were a year ago. A year ago today we were officially past both due dates we were given for Rooney and I was very uncomfortable (see What's It Going To Take? Sept. 21, 2005). It's amazing to me that a year ago I could barely walk because someone's little head was in my pelvis and today I can run around freely and am able to prep to play soccer. Rooney has been so fun and we've done so much together it will be sad when this chapter of his life closes. We have many pictures and the blog of course, so at least I (and eventually Rooney) will have something to look back on and reflect.

Speaking of things we do together...the Moms Club has come up with a new club within the club called the Sewing Club. This club was formed by my friend Krista so I decided to participate. She promised to teach me how to sew and I thought that knowledge might eventually be useful. Maybe I'll even learn to iron one day...although we just sold our iron & ironing board in our garage sale...anyway I did do a little sewing and here's a picture as proof! I am working on making Rooney a stuffed bunny. This is supposed to be a pretty easy project but we had a lot of problems and I will have to redo some of my work. Nevertheless Rooney will one day have a little stuffed bunny that was made with love for him by him Momma.

The Birthday Plan

Well Rooney has recovered nicely from his illness. It seemed like he was really only sick 2 days. I kept him home for almost a week other than visiting his friend Parker (who was sick previously). Last week was a hard week because Rooney had to be so homebound. I am kind of thankful that Parker was sick (sorry to say that Krista) because it was nice to be able to escape someplace & know it was safe. I've come to this conclusion several times since living in this house, but when we were home all week I realized this house is just way too small. I found myself perusing the real estate listings when Rooney slept.

Other than Rooney being sick a few other things have been going on. I've been talking about signing Rooney up for Kindermusik for quite a while. Well we finally did it. Mike is still skeptical that it is worth the cost, but I've heard nothing but good things about this program and we both know if sports were involved there would be alot less skepticism and complaints about cost. Rooney and I had our first class today and we had a good time. The teacher, Mrs. Lauren, has a beautiful singing voice and Rooney would just stop and watch her when she was singing. You'd think he never heard good singing before. Which is surprising because I sing to him all the time. Anyway we got to move alot, sing and play with instruments plus Rooney got to hang out with Parker and those two seem to love being together.

Mike and I have also been planning Rooney's birthday. We kind of hemmed and hawed about what to do for his 1st birthday. I really felt I wanted a party for him, although the trend these days seems to be not to make a fuss. However, since Rooney is my 1st child and it's his 1st birthday, I decided I wanted to make a fuss...so we are going to have 2 parties. Now I know that sounds excessive but it's really only because our house is so small. We decided to have family over to our house on Saturday for some food & cake and then have a kid's party at Kindermusik on Sunday afternoon.

I was a little stressed over what to get Roonster for his birthday. He has alot of toys, but I love getting him toys. He could use clothes and pj's, but from his parents, that is not a very memorable gift. I decided to get him one toy that could be somewhat memorable & a few things to wear. So I hunted for the toy. I found this really cool doggy pull toy. I was pretty jazzed about it and couldn't wait to give it to Rooney. Here's a picture of the toy: I should have looked at the dimensions I guess, but from the price and how the toy looked in the picture I thought it was normal sized. However I was surprised when I opened the toy and it looked like a Christmas ornament! I decided to send it back and thankfully found him a comparable toy. So the party is planned, Rooney's gifts have been purchased and now I just have to get a cake. I really hope sugar isn't going to be an issue.

Rooney's First Official Word?

There is a small debate between Mike and myself on what and when Rooney has said his first word. It is my belief that Rooney has already said "Mommy" and meant it, a couple months ago, when he was crying in his crib. Mike and I both heard it over the baby monitor, Mike even asked "Did he say Mommy?", but he is denying Rooney actually meant me.

However, there is no denying Rooney has already acquired comedic timing. Tuesday night, Mike and I had just finished dinner and I was feeding Rooney in his highchair. Mike was still sitting at the table with us and I noticed a funk smell in the area. I asked Rooney, "Did you fart or was it Daddy?" knowing full well who the originator of the funk was. Rooney answered clear as a bell and confirming my suspicions..."Da-ddy"!

Mike couldn't deny it and I couldn't deny Rooney meant it. The debate remains whether this was Rooney's first official word though.

Mr. Pathetic

Rooney sicko
Originally uploaded by wade0016.

Rooney is sick again. Monday he seemed to have a slight fever and wasn't as frisky as he usually is but he seemed to eat OK and he kind of bounced back later in the afternoon. I thought maybe he was just teething or getting a cold but that night he was awake all night! Mike and I got about 3 hours of sleep each. We kind of took turns staying up with Roonster. Each time I would get him to sleep in my arms and try to put him down in his crib he would wake up crying. It got to be so frustrating...for both of us I'm sure.

Rooney's friend had recently been diagnosed with Hand Foot Mouth Disease. He eventually had rashy blisters almost everywhere but his mouth. They hung out together Thursday (before anyone knew his friend was sick), inadvertently shared a sippy cup and Rooney got sick. I did not originally believe Rooney had the same thing because he did not have any blisters, however, he was drooling buckets and eventually soaked through at least 4 bibs yesterday (note the drool bib he has on in all the photos). I kept trying to check his mouth when he would open it. I was really looking for new teeth but eventually saw the blisters! Poor baby!

So as you can imagine Rooney has been very uncomfortable. There isn't much treatment for this disease but we have been trying to make him comfortable. He is very leery now whenever we offer him anything by mouth. He didn't eat much yesterday but we were able to get him to drink and finally eat dinner. Last night Rooney slept 7hrs and only woke up to get something to eat. Yay!

I took some pretty cute pictures of him roaming the house yesterday. Click here to view them.

Life As A Social Butterfly

Rooney in hair bonnet
Originally uploaded by wade0016.

I know, I know...you're probably wondering what has taken me so long to post. Believe me it was not for lack of wanting to. Rooney and I have just had a busy week. Tuesday we had a playgroup during open gym at Gym Starz. Babies all over tumbling mats and equipment! It was so cute. After the playgroup we decided to visit Aunt Annie at work. Rooney made sure he was dressed appropriately and tried to get to work. Her work seemed to feel there may have been some height issues but I think he could have done it.

Wednesday Roonster & I did a 4 mile trail walk with some other moms. It was a warm day on a dirt trail but we had a good time. I've been mulling over the idea of trying to join this non-official running group in the Moms Club. One of the women we walked with is in the group so this long walk gave me an opportunity to find out about the group and get good info on where to get good running shoes.

Thursday we had a coffee date with other Moms Club members. We all descended on this poor, unsuspecting coffee shop. Babies running amok everywhere. Rooney kept heading for the glass doors. Now that he's walking he seems to think he's some kind of escape artist. Later that afternoon Rooney helped Mom (and Aunt Annie) do a little grocery shopping.

Finally Friday! Grandma Peggie is coming for a visit! My mom ferried into town on her way home from Canada where she was Grizzly Bear watching and ziplining through rain forests. She was only here for a matter of hours but Rooney seemed to enjoy his visit. Before Grandma arrived, Aunt Annie came over and we all got coffee with Uncle Dana. Rooney seemed pretty fascinated with Uncle Dana so Uncle Dan better keep on his toes. There may be a new sheriff in town in Rooney's eyes. When Grandma arrived we all met up at Dana's house and Rooney got to play with Felix. They are so cute together! My mom's friend, Linda, summed it up perfect when she called them "little bookends".

What's a Doodle?

Did I not read my own post 2 posts ago? I said I hated garage sales! Yet, despite my lack of love, Mike and I decided to have a 2 day garage sale this weekend! Saturday we were very busy and we sold alot of stuff. Rooney was out there running around & being cute, Dana & Renae came for a visit (plus we got them to take buy some of our junk) and we raked in a decent amount of loot. Sunday was a whole different story. Where were my friends?!? Where was our family?!? Sunday was pretty slow and despite having Rooney out there like some dancing monkey it took a whole day to finally draw some people in. I have to admit I had a hard time letting go of some of my beloved possessions. I kind of felt like my whole teenage years was sitting on my driveway. In retrospect it was a good thing to purge myself of those possessions. I wish I sold them for more than $0.25 a memory though.

OK, now enough whining about my childhood...I have Rooney's to worry about now! I found out something awful this morning...absolutely horrific. I was cruising Craigslist when I saw a post for a Rooney Doodlebop Halloween costume. So of course this peaked my interest and I went to the internet to find out what a Rooney Doodlebop was. Well...here it is! Oh my god what is that? If this show takes off, and you know it will NOW, my poor son will share the same name as a Doodle and worse yet, if this show gets big, then people may think we named him after a Doodle! Please, I beg of you, if anyone asks you if we named our son after a Doodle, emphatically tell them NO!