Summer's Last Splash

Les Gove Park
Originally uploaded by Q

Today was a beautiful day and not knowing how many more of these we are going to get, I thought I better commit to going to the sprinkler park. Rooney and Parker seemed to have a great time, even though Rooney was a bit tentative about running through the cold water. He really seemed to like pushing the button to make the water come on but he would run back to my safety once the water started showering. It was so cute but my pants got soaked. I guess we both got to cool off.

The Little Dictator

I've fallen back into my bad habits and not posted for 9 days! Wow, that may be a record. Rooney's Grandma Peggie came to visit. My goal was to get a good picture of Grandma and Rooney...I didn't take one photo the whole time she was here! Doh! I may have to Photoshop something together. We had a nice visit with Grandma. Mom and Grandma went shopping, got pedicures and got coffee with Aunt Annie. There weren't alot of family outings although the Howard & Hoover clans were present almost every night.

The last couple of days have been beautiful here, so of course I get sick! Thankfully Mike had jury duty and it worked out that he could be home early. Who would have thought jury duty would be a good thing? I was feeling better last night so we took Rooney out back to play. I recently purchased a wagon off of Craigslist for him, so last night was the first night he got to play with it. I think he's pretty jazzed.




Here he is ordering Dad to go faster...or else





Here is Dad obeying the little dictator












Rooney misunderstood the saying and thought it was "Talk loudly and carry a little stick"

A Moment On The Lips

So you may be have been asking yourself "What are so and so doing that they are too busy to post"? I don't want to brag too much but it would appear that Roonster and I have floated up to the cream of the crop and we are now well-to-do, hobnobbing with the likes of the Mayor of our city.

La-ti-da

That is not the Mayor standing up there. That is the President of the club, my friend Krista. The Mayor is the one sitting down. This was really a meeting the MOMS Club setup regarding children's literacy but it was nice to be able to talk to the Mayor in this small forum and we were able to ask alot of questions regarding the city, schools and business.

Today was also a big day for me. Today I received my Lifetime award with Weight Watchers. This means that I have reached my weight goal and I have maintained that weight for 6 weeks. You may be saying to yourself "Susan, doesn't look that different to me" and you would be right. I have been maintaining this weight for about a year, but with more babies eventually coming down the pike (I hope), and the obvious desire my body has for my body to be at this weight, my leader and I decided to call this goal. In preparation for tonight my leader requested I bring in pictures from before I joined. As I searched for a decent picture of me 45lbs heavier, I realized 1. there are very few pictures of me post-Rooney and 2. there are NO decent pictures of me 45lbs heavier. Both points made me sad. I brought in my pictures tonight and everyone from Mike, my leader and her assistant on down said "Oh"!

That should make me feel good, but I still have vanity for my 45lb heavier self. Despite that I decided to put my vanity aside (and will only cringe when I read this post) to show you what every one else got to see.





November 2005
















August 2007

The Crusts

I have been called out! It is not that I have not intended on updating Roonster's blog, I have. We've been busy though. Roonster and I went to Farm Tots, we've had coffee, book signings, tricycle riding and playdates. I had my first BabyCrazy party, dinner parties and we got to babysit Super Dave for the first time. The rest of this post is a montage...

A Day At The Races

A few weeks ago we purchased a Little Tikes "climbing system" for Rooney, off of Craigslist. It was very dramatic because at first I kept getting outbid or out emailed when I would inquire about other systems I found, and when I was given the green light to come look at this system I was warned that another couple was coming in the morning. The race was on because I was not letting this one go.

(Read the next few lines with the sound of a time clock going through your head) Mike and I hurriedly tried to arrange some sort of transport for the system. It was too late to rent a truck so we called everyone we knew with a minivan or larger vehicle. We secured a vehicle, but not for that night, so we called the owner, arranged to meet her that night, drove about 30-45min to look at the system, we paid for it then drove home...without the system.

The woman seemed trustworthy and had 2 little kids scampering about, so we knew she wasn't going anywhere. What mattered was we beat that other couple. Mike went the next day with Dana's minivan and spent several hours disassembling the system. It sat disassembled at our house for about a week taunting Rooney before we could get it together...but we did (or should I say Mike did?).

WE GOT IT! WOO HOO! IN YOUR FACE OTHER COUPLE! So...now what?

Just kidding. Rooney is having a great time playing on it and we have been trying to spend time together in the backyard most nights. This little family time has been great for the dogs also. I will run around the backyard with them and they just go crazy. Sometimes Courage gets up to "greyhound on speed" and just tears it up. Rooney is so cute trying to follow. He runs about 3 steps then trips but he's trying and that's all that really matters.

In other news, I recently decided to step into direct sales and signed on as a rep for BabyCrazy. This is a pretty new company that sells baby/kid products through home parties and rep websites plus their catalog of course. I am normally too cynical to do something like this. I do not think I am a very good sales person and marketing sounds like way too much effort. These products looked good though. I really think Rooney just thinks he got a whole new box of toys! I wanted him to test out the products for me and I planned to use what info I learned from him in my spiel, but he's not even coy anymore when he pulls stuff out of the demo box. The good news is he really seems to like several of the toys and has played with them constantly since I received them. In the picture here he is matching up the sensory balls with the corresponding color on the box they came in. I was really impressed by this. I do not know if this is normal development or not, but it seemed advanced so I snapped some pics.

I was really pleased to note that the box is as great of toy as the balls. Two possible gifts in one. My new marketing strategy.

(Look for my personal BabyCrazy website soon! Once the site is up the address should be www.babycrazy.com/susanw)

Rooney Esponga

Oh man are exciting things happening with Rooney! Granted, the average person might not find the next few things earth shattering, but being Rooney's mom, they are making me giddy. First, Rooney ate a shrimp! This wasn't a little tiny Bay Shrimp either. This was a "stick-me-on-a-skewer-because-I-am-a-meal" shrimp! And he ate the whole thing. Just this last week he started eating his whole 1/2 of sandwich...outside of the car! He has been sitting at the table and wolfing down his pb&j in like 5 minutes. Then just Friday, for the 1st time ever, Rooney chose to eat a piece of cheese. Oh how I was envious of my friends who could hand their kids a cheese stick and the kids would happily chomp away. Now I can be part of the crowd, because not only did Rooney eat the cheese on Friday, but he ate it again yesterday. This means he didn't forget he liked it. Woo hoo!

In addition to a new advanced palate Roonster is expanding his vocabulary. As you saw from the video he has "No" down firmly. He is also saying "Night, night Daddy", "Annie", "Natalie" and is starting to sing. I will try very hard to get this on video because it is really sweet. He is starting to learn the Spongebob Squarepants theme song, as it is fastly becoming his favorite show. We try not to let him watch too much tv, but sometimes you just need to get a blog post done or Dad is in charge.

I have also started having Rooney use paints in the house. I've been leery of this to tell the truth but these washable paints and crayons are great. It took Rooney a few minutes before he would get his hands dirty. Once he did though...oh boy watch out! Maybe there is a hidden talent in there. Maybe inherited from Grandpa Bob. Who knows. As long as he doesn't get any ideas about being a very young interior designer than I will be happy.

YouRoon

Ah! I cannot believe Felix beat us to this new Blogger feature...video upload! I mean Felix rarely updated his blog, how did he beat us to this? Oh well, no matter, his post was cute and worth posting first. Mike and I have been taking footage recently of Rooney. I do not think I could adequately put into words how swiftly Roonster is growing and developing lately. It is so amazing, frustrating and fun at the same time. These are just a few glimpses into our daily lives...

(click on the black box 1st, then click the play button)

Cell Phone Moments

Cell phones are great...at least they are becoming great. For a long time I did not want one. They were quite large, expensive and did I really need to be in constant contact with anyone? When I moved to the PNW I started to see a positive side to them. The size of them had shrunk considerably, alot of the PNW is rural and my car was older than myself. In LA breaking down on the side of the road was an inconvenience but there are call boxes everywhere- not here, so I started to see a necessity.

Now that I have a child I would be absolutely lost without my cell phone. My cell phone is not only a lifeline with all my friends, but all MD phone #'s are stored there and with the amazing invention of the camera phone alot of really great moments are captured. Now that Rooney is older and more mobile I do not always keep our digital camera on hand and this slim, pink little phone has picked up the slack wonderfully. Granted some of the pics may be a little grainy and you forget to change settings, so the color may be off, but I would never have been able to get a picture of Rooney "comforting" Courage (on his way home from a vet appointment)in the back seat of my car, with a big bulky digital. That look of frozen fear on Courage's face is not from the vet's office, if you catch my drift.

Here are a few cute pics I was able to capture. These have been taken over the last couple of months and it is saying something to me that most of them are in the car and Starbucks...something like...


Wake up and keep your eyes on the road, lady!

Summer of Rooney

Things have been busy for Rooney lately. Summertime always means we have a packed social calendar. Mostly thanks to Rooney. This week has been especially hot so on the hottest days we tried to plan activities indoors. On Wednesday Rooney and I went to a concert held at a indoor play area. This was really cool and I ultimately passed on our usual Storytime at Barnes and Noble because Rooney enjoys music so much. At first he was a little afraid. We were sitting up front and I think the music was a bit loud, so we moved to the back. We played wiffle ball soccer in the open space behind all the seats and as Rooney got acclimated and the drums started, he moved closer.








In the last 2 photos Rooney is boogieing down to the music. He was hopping to the Hop Song (pic 4) and doing his patented floor dance (pic 5). Rooney's really changing alot lately. Physically he is not changing that much to me (although I know he is) but he is starting to do more. That hop dance was the 1st time he has been able to jump. He is speaking alot more. He is clearly saying "Doggy", "Hot", "No" and "Daddy". Just yesterday, I heard him say clear as a bell "Where's Daddy?". I still don't know where Daddy was. Not only is he speaking more but Rooney is attempting alot more words also, like: Annie, Rocco, Natalie, I love you. Although his moods are getting tougher and he is becoming more demanding, I think it might be getting a slightly easier to get him to try foods. If he just touches the new food I consider that an accomplishment. Historically he would have just knocked the plate or fork on the floor.

Some changes are a little sad. Within the last couple of weeks Rooney has found a new lovey. He received this puppy stuffed animal from one of our friends from Mike's work. It is a cute puppy but Rooney never even noticed it until recently and now they're best buds. Where does this leave Cheesie? His fate is undetermined at this point. I would suspect that Cheesie will always be the ultimate bud, but you never know when he'll be "accidentally" left somewhere by Rooney.


Poor Cheesie!

The Rooney's New Clothes

The sad thing is that one day this won't be so cute...








hopefully by then I won't still be giving him a bath.

What's A Picasso To Do?

You might be wondering to yourself "What is Rooney doing?" and "Why is he all slimy looking?". Well the answer to both of your questions is that Rooney is painting himself with ketchup.

As you can see Rooney has tater tots (or just tots for you Napoleon Dynamite fans) on his tray. I am pleased to report that this is a new food in his repertoire. I am sure some other food got dumped, we just haven't been alerted yet. Anyway, since Rooney is eating tots I thought ketchup was the natural yin to the tot yang and I filled his plate with both.

We were having a very pleasant dinner when I look up and I see Rooney smothering himself in ketchup. He dipped his whole hand into the ketchup and just used it like a brush. Of course I was alarmed but once the first paint stroke is on the canvas what are you going to do? We let Picasso finish his meal and then sprinted to the clean up...


Things are so much easier with a boy...






(In interested of full disclosure this photo was taken several days later and that pregnant woman is not me)

Chin Happens

Today was another first for Rooney. Today was the first time Rooney earned a Band-Aid.

When Rooney and I were at our coffee house playgroup, he was climbing around the furniture and literally trying to climb the walls, when he slipped, fell and cut his chin on the metal railing in the shop. Man are they quick these days. I was obsessing on a milk option from the shops menu board, for my friends son, when this happened. I just heard a sickening THUD and then cries. Rooney is not much of a screamer so there weren't any of those horrific no breathing moments. The shop owners brought us over some supplies to clean Roonster up and a Band-Aid. I tried very hard to get it on him, but he was a little agitated, so he went without. Soon he regrouped and was ready to play with his friends again. He did great the rest of the time we were at the shop and the boys even invented a great booster seat game.

Sherry's son Alex was scooting himself along on the floor in a booster seat when the boys joined in. Parker and Rooney started pushing Alex's seat from behind while he scooted. Then Parker hopped in and took his turn and then Rooney. They were really cute playing in this little booster seat, climbing all over each other and just acting like total boys. Of course, as it often happens when boys are rough housing, someone got hurt...and it was Rooney. He fell off the booster seat and split his chin open again. More tears and blood but I still could not get the Band-Aid on him!

When Rooney woke up from his nap this afternoon, he was still Band-Aidless and bleeding a little. I finally had an epiphany! Mike's mom brought colored bandages with her on their recent visit. I got the bandages, put one on my chin, let Rooney feel it and then put one on him. I told him I would wear mine as long as he wore his. He had the Band-Aid on for about an hour! That has to be a record, somewhere.

Finally...A Sleepover!

This weekend was a big weekend for us, Rooney and Aunt Annie. For the first time in probably over a year he did a sleepover at Aunt Annie's house! I don't think the length of time was intentional (Rooney's not talking yet) but Cuyler has been asking for quite awhile and I think maybe Aunt Annie was feeling a little cuddle deprived lately.

I do not think there was alot of hesitation to have Rooney over, the big question really was where is Rooney going to sleep? I think he is too big for his Pack 'N Play now and he has never slept in our bed, so it was really questionable how well he would do sleeping in Aunt Annie's bed. And then, how well would Aunt Annie & Uncle Jim sleep? I would imagine it's been several years since Cuyler has slept in their bed. Am I right Cuyler?

Things seemed to work out- no big crying fits and no one peed the bed. Mike and I are so appreciative of Annie and Jim. We got a wonderful night away and Rooney got to be cuddled all night. Sounds like everyone won. Of course we looked at his picture over dinner and every once in awhile we caught ourselves wondering how and what he was doing? He was in very capable hands we knew, so not too many worries.

Annie even took some pictures of their time together. Looks like he had a great time:

Cuyler Pushing Rooney On The Swing










Rooney On The Slide










Rooney Orders A Drink











I was really floored because Rooney learned a new skill while at Aunt Annie's...celebrity impersonations!



Here he is doing his best Keira Knightley...

2 Lattes A Day

I know 2 posts in one day may be considered overkill but something kind of funny happened this morning that I wanted to make a note of.

Today Rooney and I went to storytime at Barnes & Noble like we always do on Wednesdays. After storytime we usually go to the attached Starbucks with a couple of other moms and grab some coffee and yak. Rooney and I were walking down an aisle at Barnes & Noble, on our way to the Starbucks, when Rooney stops in the middle of the aisle, bends down, says "Oh" while pointing at a book. There was a man standing not very far away reading and as I was about to look down at Rooney I notice the man smiling while he was looking down at Rooney. Then I saw it! Rooney was bent down, saying "Oh" and pointing to the Starbucks symbol (on a book about Starbucks)!

I'm not sure how I should feel about this, but I guess I am glad that it was a mermaid and not the Golden Arches that Rooney was recognizing.

Daddy's Day

I wanted to write about this last week but Rooney's Father's Day gift to Mike was, of course, a surprise until Father's Day so I had to wait. Now it's been a week and the gifts have been open so the magic has worn off a little bit!

Oh well.

I was a little worried after Mother's Day, but on Sunday Mike got up early, made his own oatmeal and went to play football. The beers after the game may have been questionable, but it was his day, so Rooney and I just waited in eager anticipation of his arrival home to lavish Mike (or Daddy) in love and our little gifts.

For Father's Day, Rooney and I (mostly Rooney), made Mike and his Dad, customized T-shirts. This was an event organzied by MOMS Club and despite being covered in paint by the end, it was alot of fun. Rooney did not really like getting his hand in the paint at first. He squirmed around alot (painted Mom alot) but by the time we were mid-way through the 2nd shirt he seemed to be more OK with it. This is why Grandpa's shirt got alot more handprints then Dads. Mike also got a book from Rooney called "Daddy Loves Me" and they got matching T-shirts that say "Big Guy" and "Little Guy".






In case you couldn't figure out who's is who's...