Pretty Pretty Princess

I know you must be wondering what is Rooney up to? It's been so long since his blog has been updated he must be into all kind of mischief. You would be right but he has also been booked, booked, booked and his mom has found very little time to keep everyone up to date.

Last weekend I decided that Rooney was ready to use the toilet. We've been dancing around with this for a long time and someone had to make the decision. Since I'm the mom I guess it had to be me. I started Rooney off in just underwear and took him to the bathroom about every 1/2hr. He did really great the first day and used the potty all day. He never told me he had to go potty but he kept his pants dry until evening when I let him watch Spongebob. As soon as the TV goes on, he is in the zone, and no amount of poop or pee in his shorts would distract him. We started using Pull-Ups that evening. His enthusiasm has certainly waned and I never realized how physically & mentally exhausting it could be. It's been a week now and we're progressing...slowly.

Rooney also seems to be off the naps. I really think he's too young to be done with them so I'm still implementing "quiet time". It is becoming more of a challenge lately though. He's starting to master the fake cry to get me in there and will then let me know, without a tear in his eye, that he is awake. Despite deceiving his mom he is very polite to stay in his crib until I come in there. He is really in there more as a courtesy than to keep himself safe. We will be converting his crib into a big boy bed soon though and I think that may really open another can of worms because Roon has also learned how to open doors.

Since the naps or "quiet time" are now becoming shorter we are having to find things to do in the afternoon. We have been seeing alot more of Vala and April. We are lucky to have them so close (and we hope they don't move away. No pressure but I know you're reading this). Recently when we were over at their house April was dressed up as a princess. She really wanted Rooney to dress up as a prince but he kept saying no and distracting April with other toys. Finally, not too long before we were going to leave Rooney said he wanted to be a Princess Daddy. I wasn't quite sure what that was but here you go:






















Love the shoes!

Obama For Your Momma

What an amazing day at the polls! Here is a pic of Rooney with his Voters Pamphlet voting for Obama with Momma. Maybe that should have been a bumper sticker.

Rooney doesn't know it today, but he just participated in a amazing historical moment and as I believe, made this world a whole lot safer to live in.

Wadezenegger

Halloween has come and gone...unless you ask Rooney. He is still in Halloween mode and wonders when he is going to go trick or treating again. Mike and I have told him a few times that it is done, but he seems dubious. However, for the one magical night that is Halloween, Rooney had a great time. This was the first year he went trick or treating and despite not really knowing what he was getting, he just seemed to really enjoy getting it.

This year we had dinner and then went trick or treating with our friends Vala, Michael and April. What troopers these kids were. They kept wanting to go to the next house and persevered even when their bags got too heavy for them to carry. Afterall there was candy to collect. By the end of the evening once April got to the doorstep she had to drop to her knees. I don't know if that was because she was too tired or her pumpkin bucket was too heavy, but it was refreshing to see none the less. These days so many people are down on Halloween. They want to give out toothbrushes and go hit corporate America for their logo imprinted pens and pads of paper that it really takes away from the fun of the Halloween I remember. Man if we had those Heely's when I was a kid there could have been a turf war! Our roller skates were clunky and you had to be careful running in them. God forbid you hit a sprinkler head. You could have twisted an ankle and possibly ended your night without having to empty out your candy bag at least once. We ran into some kids while we were out this year but nothing compared to the hoards we used to see. Due to the waning enthusiasm I felt so proud to see that Rooney and April had the "ready to do anything for the candy" spirit of Halloween. Just as it should be.

This is a little off subject but something funny happened yesterday morning. I follow a community blog here and posted on there was a Before/After picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger. As I was reading the post, Rooney looked over my shoulder and said "that's my daddy". I giggled as I asked him which one was his daddy (the Before or After) and I think both Mike and I held our breath waiting for his answer. Obviously, we expected to hear the more obvious and funnier answer, but once again Rooney faked us out and pointed to the Before.




I wonder if the ensuing let down in a few years, when you realize your parent(s) are not Super Heroes, would account for the angry teenage years?

Securitas

We've hit our next milestone in the steps we have to take towards bambino numero dos. Before I get into that, and I will warn you if you are afraid of TMI you may not want to read the end of this post, I wanted to share of few other things that have been happening around here.

The Friday before last I came home to police and our community security in my driveway. I noticed them first and as I drove down the street towards my house I was wondering what was going on. My first thought was that they were there patrolling for barking dogs (I won an appeal on a previous complaint). I thought maybe the dogs figured out some way out of the house but that really did not explain why the police were there then I noticed this...

Someone hit & run our tree! They guy turns out to have a warrant and decided to run. Probably not a smart thing to do. Attached to this truck was a trailer and a stump grinder. All 3 were later impounded and will probably cost 1 year's salary to get out. Thankfully we have some insurance coverage for the damage but just like the economy bombing out this was not a great thing to happen right before Christmas. The tree will have to be cut down most likely and the soil near the tree dug up and replaced because the truck spilled oil and anti-freeze. Hopefully the neighborhood cats have stayed away.

As I spoke about in my last post Rooney is getting really excited for Halloween. I think he's really just excited to don his red Power Rangers costume (Felix is going to be Batman). Finally this weekend gave him cause to be really excited because he finally got to put it on. We have two costume birthday parties to attend which are good practice for mask wearing on the big day. Here Rooney is giving us a preview of some of his crime stopping moves:






















Finally the milestone...

On Wednesday I had outpatient surgery to remove the fibroid I wrote about last month. The surgery went well and was successful. The MD's felt it was necessary but due to results from other tests not related to the surgery, it looks like we will probably have to proceed with IVF for the next baby. The good news with the IVF is that it has a higher % of successfully getting pregnant but the bad news is that it is stressful, there will be alot of unpleasant procedures, alot of drugs and of course it is ridiculously expensive. Even with Microsoft's very generous medical benefits we hope we do not need to go past 1 cycle because we will have to make some serious decisions. The medication for 1 cycle I was told is between $5,000-$7,000! Makes my body sick just thinking of that much medication going into my body. Since the surgery I have been had sick stomach and alredy gained a few pounds. It was a real shock to try and put on my pants. I thought I was still being effected from the surgery but now I'm pretty sure that these are side effects from the huge dose of hormones they have me on.

We have a reconference on Oct. 30th and we will come up with our game plan for proceeding. I will be getting this stupid balloon removed and we can talk with MD about side effects. I am currently slated to start IVF in January but we'll know more after the 30th. Check back here for updates...

There Goes His Hero

Today Mike, Rooney and I took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch as a family. I drove so Mike would not have to get stressed out dealing with a crowded parking lot but thankfully the day went off without a hitch. The parking lot was crowded and there seemed to be a sea of people when you first walked in, but I was able to get a great spot (that made leaving really easy), we had the foresight to bring Rooney's wagon and the sea of people seemed to thin out as you got into the fields.


I think we timed this trip pretty well also. Last year Rooney ended up falling apart as we were leaving. I think that memory was still seared into our memories and we did not stay too long. That meant we didn't do the corn maze this year. However, Rooney and I are going to the corn maze at Farm Tots this Friday so he really won't miss out.

Fall, Halloween and crisp, breezy sunny days at the pumpkin patch really make me feel good. I remember this feeling as a kid but the warm fuzzy feeling was so short lived because Fall lasted about 1 day in LA. If you look at the news now the temperatures are pretty warm and they are having wild fires. Can't say I miss those Santa Ana's. Although I might be the first to admit my tune has changed when we are in the middle of our December wind storms!



All the talk of pumpkins lately is really gearing Rooney up for Halloween. This will be the first Halloween that he really goes Trick-or-Treating and I think we're both pretty excited. I was totally set to make Rooney a costume (the best type of costumes in my humble opinion)and I thought a robot costume would be perfect and easy to make. Of course Roon was onboard with that idea until we were shopping at Costco and he saw Power Ranger costumes.

Rooney was so excited by them and talked non-stop about the costume during the rest of the shopping trip that we decided to eventually get him one. Rooney had really big ideas about that costume too. He got the red Power Ranger and had it all planned out that Felix would be the blue one. Unfortunately Rooney did not discuss those plans with Aunt Renae before she purchased Felix a Batman costume. Rooney was only crushed for a moment and now tells everyone, including his MD, that Felix is going to be Batman. This is generally how the conversation goes: (You) "Rooney what are you going to be for Halloween?". (Rooney) "Power Ranger! And Felix is going to be Batman!"

Felix, Rooney's Hero

Best Week Ever?

What a fun week we've had! We celebrated Rooney's birthday on Saturday at the Bouncy Place. Not only did the kids have a good time but most of the adults had a blast too. I've received some photos from Dana and Renae. To view them check here.

On Tuesday we continued our annual pumpkin patch trip with our AMAT. We were so relieved to have great weather and the kids really enjoyed mucking it up in the mud.



Today was a really cool day. We did our monthly tot trek at a nearby Seattle park. We meet with a Naturalist through the Parks Dept. and we always have a new theme. Today's theme was Spiders. Of course just in time for Halloween. All the kids really seemed intrigued. They listened to the Naturalist speak about spiders and their webs with their mouths agape. She showed the kids big rubber spiders, then a real tarantula shell and then the kids were able to pet a live tarantula.

At first Rooney was afraid but once he saw the other kids do it he wanted to try too. My little follower. I think he thought it was pretty cool though.



After our "class" the Naturalist took us out into the park to look for spiders and webs with magnifying glasses. Rooney had a meltdown in the middle but by the end he had perked up and soldiered on for a little more spider knowledge.

How many people get to pet a tarantula...and live to tell about it? Pretty cool week. To view all the pics from the pumpkin patch and the tot trek check here.

In The Year Of The Big Boy

This weekend we celebrated Rooney's 3rd birthday. It's tempting to go through the whole sentimental roller coaster about how fast he is growing up but I'm not going to do that. This is definitely the year of being a Big Boy.

On Friday we took Rooney to his favorite restaurant for dinner...Red Robin (or as he calls it Big Red Bird). We decided not to make a spectacle of him at this point and didn't mention to the staff that it was his birthday. He'll thank us later. We had a good dinner then came home and opened gifts from Mom & Dad, Grandma and Pop Pop and Grandma Peggie. Rooney liked all his gifts and they were all pretty different so it worked out well. No cake on Friday night but Roon got a little ice cream.

Saturday Rooney had his big party at his favorite place on Earth...The Bouncy Place. He got to invite several of his good friends (and mine) and the kids bounced & then pigged out on junk food for 2 hours. Rooney got a lot of really nice gifts and thankfully he did not get too overwhelmed. When we got home we let him play with one of the toys (a fire breathing dragon) until nap time. It seemed that toy would be his favorite but he's against discrimination so he's giving them all a fair shake.

This year was the first year Roonster really got it. He talked about his party before he even knew there was going to be one! He talked about the cake and presents for months and would ask periodically "Are we going to my party?". Now that it's over he seems pretty happy to share the experience and is talking about Mommy's birthday and Parker's.

Rooney is so into birthdays that he is even talking about Nannie's birthday (Aunt Annie), which is in January, and according to Rooney she'll be turning 5.

I'll post more pictures on Flick when they come in!

R-O-O-N-E-Y

(Super Rooney with Power Ranger Sword)

Now that Rooney is almost an official big guy (he's 3 next Friday!) his maturity is really becoming evident. He has entered the stage where he really wants to be independent. We are constantly hearing "I wanna do it!". Sometimes this is great and makes life easier like when he can climb into his own carseat and booster seat at the table or that he can also comfortably traverse the stairs by himself. Of course with the good there is bad and Roonster is now wanting to push the grocery cart instead of ride in it, he wants to walk everywhere including parking lots and he has started the dreaded talking back. So far it hasn't been bad. We are very lucky because he is a pretty sweet kid. Most of the time, although it seems almost counter instinctive, if I get down to his level, speak in a softer tone and explain to him:

a. he is too little for cars to see him when walking in a parking lot then he will hold my hand.
b. that we consider him an "official big boy" once he is potty trained. That means he will have a big boy bed, he will no longer have to sit in highchairs at restaurants, he will be able to walk in stores (not the cart) and finally he an go into the ball room at Ikea.
c. I am the boss and I do the bossing

Point B normally covers most areas and he gets it. He will list all the things that will happen once he's a big boy and potty trained (which he is definitely in the process of). If Point A or C don't cover the rest we rarely, but sometimes have to, resort to dreaded Point Z...timeout. Ugh!

Also now that Rooney is getting older it's time to start learning even more things like spelling his name. I came up with this little song awhile ago- maybe even a year ago where I spelled out Rooney's name! This kid has a great memory (and I know that will come back to bite me) and he remembered it. So this is a short clip of Rooney singing the spelling of his name and letting everyone know its Rooneytime!

The Monster Within...the House

The other day I was casually walking through our office to let the dogs outside. As I was walking back across the room something caught my eye...this something was something large. I gasped and nearly screamed when I saw the biggest, ugliest and strangest looking spider I had ever seen in real life. I suddenly found myself in a real conundrum. How was I going to get this monster out of the house? There is a small child and two small dogs to protect. I'm sure they would have been small appetizers to this thing! I quickly thought "how do you get rid of such a large spider"? Normal spider eradication means would not work. He was much too large to crush, I was way too afraid to get close enough to capture him and even the thought of vacuuming him up left me uneasy. However, the vacuum method seemed the least likely to go awry and I decided to get him with the shop-vac. I know there is a chance of reemergence but I just couldn't see any other way. I got the shop-vac out and was all prepared to take care of business when I realized he was as big, if not bigger, than the hose opening. It was too close for comfort so I decided to get the wide hose attachment. I mustered up all my courage and put the hose over the beast. He struggled a bit but it appeared he was gone. I was relieved and all the small inhabitants of the house were safe...so I thought.

The very next morning, in the exact same spot, there was either the same spider or his brother came out looking for him. Thankfully Mike was able to handle this one. I don't know if my heart could have handled it. Whoo!


This is also really a bittersweet week for all of us. We've been seeing alot of Grandma and Pop-Pop (which is great) but I am sad to say this is their last week with us. I'm still so amazed how fast the month has gone.

In the last week or so Rooney has spent the night over at Grandma and Grandpa's...twice, had several meals with them (along with Mike and I), we got to go to the fair, had a beautiful trail walk and Rooney finally got his great canoe ride on the lake with Grandma and Pop-Pop. Not that Grandma wasn't excited but Rooney and Grandpa seemed really jazzed. You know what they say about men and their boats (although no one has shared what that is with me). We all have such wonderful memories of this summer, that I think it's safe to say, we are kind of dreading Saturday when they leave us.


Finally, my last update on baby# 2 for awhile. I have been scheduled for minor surgery on October 22nd. Once I am healed from this hopefully we will be able to progress with the program. We will know more about how to proceed next month.

Smashmouth

As promised I have updates from the last blog post. Mike and I had a reconference appointment this week. There was news. I would not really call any of it good but there is alot of it. First, the semi-good news is that the MD believes the PCOS I was diagnosed with over a year ago is a mild case (as I suspected). My OB felt this is the reason that we have been having problems with baby #2, but after having it confirmed that this case is mild, I am dubious. I am quite certain this is something I have had a long time and not a new development. Now for the series of bad news. We appear to have issues on both sides here. It is really almost laughable that we could have obstacle upon obstacle. To further the bad news, the MD believes that I should have surgery to remove a fibroid they found on ultrasound. Earlier this month I had an MRI to find it's exact location and size. Wow that was kind of a weird experience! Anyway, it looks like the size is small but the location is bad. A small percentage of it is basically in the way and the MD's feel it should be removed. I have recreated the exact picture the MD drew for us so you can get a clear idea of what I'm talking about.

I'm sure that explains it all, but if not email me and I'll see if I can draw some more pictures. Mike is going to have to endure some unpleasantness also for his issue and has started to use a pillow when using his laptop. There were also more pills given to me to do various things. The pharmacist was really selling them to me while going over all the possible side effects and grimacing. She ended the lengthy consultation with a happy "I hope you won't have to take these very long". I think I will try to stay positive about this and find her honestly refreshing.

It's not all bad news here though. Since my last post I have run two races. I did a 4+ mile on Labor Day and I completed my first 10k on Sunday. The 10k was pretty tough and the race photographer actually got a picture of the exact moment I died. However they are charging $35 for it so you'll have to use your imagination. I was able to get a picture from the 4+ race though. It's almost sadistic that they take these. Does any one's turn out well? Maybe the marathoners know how to smile while trying to suck in precious air, but I haven't grasped that yet (as evidenced by this picture). If you are really curious I think you can view the 10k photos temporarily here.

Also in the last post I made no mention of Rooney's 2 Grandma's and 1 Pop-Pop visiting. My mom was here for a long weekend but Mike's folks have been here about 3 weeks so far. Rooney really enjoys his time with Grandma and Pop-Pop. I really feel like he has a special bond with Pop-Pop and I love having Rooney spend time with them. On Tuesday night he did his first sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa. I think we were all a little nervous, but Mike and I turned off our cell phones and had a great date night! (Just kidding we didn't turn our phones off for the whole night). I think Rooney had a really wonderful time and wants to do it again real soon.

Finally, yesterday was another first for all the Wades present...we went to the Puyallup Fair. I have lived here 13 years and I have never been. I don't know if it was worth waiting 13 years for, but Rooney had a great time (for most of it). He got to go on alot of rides and really enjoyed them until he smashed his face on one of them. He trooped on to do one more though but by that time the tears had already been shed and so the end of the day had begun. Most of the day was happy times though and here are a few pics. I'll try to post more photos soon on Flickr.

The Specialist

Now that Roonster is going to be 3 soon I am sure many of you are wondering when is little Mike Wade numero dos is going to be announced. I'm not making that announcement today but we have decided to share what has been going on in the sibling department for the last 1-1/2 years. We are having trouble. I'll save you any gory, TMI details but I will share that on August 5th we started seeing "the specialists".

Some people reading this blog may not want to read about this. I've been told this is a "happy blog" so why depress everyone with this unhappy news. I thought about it and just had to decide that this was important to me. This is our blog, our lives and everything we are going through is shaping this family. When I started this blog it was a way for me to document what was going on in Rooney's life (and ours at the time). Even though Roon is not really aware of having a sibling at this time, the difficulty we've had during the past 1-1/2 years has surely effected him. When Mike and I decided to start planning for baby #2, shortly after moving into our new house, several of the moms in our moms group were also planning their 2nd children. Most of those women, two of which are now Organizers for our new group, have become pregnant and already had their children. That was really difficult for us, especially me. It seemed I was coming home every day telling Mike a new person was pregnant. It was not difficult because these women were pregnant with their own children, but because I was waiting every month to make our own announcement, and I have yet to be able to.

Eventually I decided I had to focus on something else and just stop expecting news. We are not exactly sure what the problems are right now. It could be one of us or it could be both, it is still inconclusive. For awhile there, I was so sad about not having a new baby and probably wallowed in it. We don't really know if the reasons we are having problems now were present when Rooney became a bun in the oven, but after we saw the specialists and started having tests done I realized Rooney could be our "miracle" baby. Although I have always loved him more than anything, I realized that despite the difficulty, we really did need relax and focus on him (then ourselves). Accepting that Rooney may be our only child is hard (we're not ready to start thinking about having someone else's child), but thinking we may have been close to a life without him is even harder and makes me love and appreciate him even more.

Now I remind myself that he may be our only one so I better damn well enjoy him and be enjoyable for him!

Follow ups to come

Try It You'll Like It

Rooney being "funny" doing his best Quarterback pose
Originally uploaded by Q

I think there is a point in everyone's life when they realize they sound just like their parents. That is always a chilling moment. Recently a similar experience happened to Mike and I, but in this case, it was the moment we realized our kid sounds just like us! Thankfully what Rooney said was funny (we know because he told us) and can be repeated here.

We were sitting at dinner the other night. Mike and I had finished our meals and of course waiting on Rooney. He had actually managed to eat a considerable amount of this meal and just had his diced apples to go. Before they were yummy in his tummy (something else new he is telling us), he had Morningstar mini corn-dogs that he dipped in his beloved ketchup. These days everything is requiring ketchup.

Anyway, some of his diced apples had spilled over into his ketchup. He stuck his fork in the ketchup apples and Mike and I both cringed. I was about to stop him when I thought "Oh well, if he likes it". But oh no, Roonster was faking us out, and he was trying to get Mike to eat the apple while saying "You'll like it". Oh boy did that ever sound familiar!

This went on for awhile and Rooney was having a laughing fit thinking he was being so funny (which he was). Finally Mike thought he would outsmart Roon and said "I'll eat one, if you eat one first". Rooney seemed to think about the deal Mike had on the table for about 1 second when he turned to Mike and said "You're weird".

Who could argue?

Glimpses of Summer

Although Rooney is nowhere in this picture I thought this was a great shot of our Butterly Tot Trek I wrote about in the last post. (There's Felix's best bud April!).
Rooney and I hit the farm. We had a great time at Farm Tots on the South 47 Farm. (Hey there's April again!).
This picture was taken at the "Toddler Baking Class" (although we are doing more eating than baking) we've started with our group at Aunt Renae's house. This months theme: Dirt Cake.
One of summer's best benefits: 50 cent cones! Here's Rooney with his first cone. He ate almost the whole thing...or was he wearing it?

The Wades Descend on Microsoft

So far this has been a pretty good summer. I think I have finally committed to this running thing and I am currently training for a 10k. So that's great and I feel good about it. Active Moms and Tots is doing exceptionally well. We have over 75 members and making all sorts of new friends and going to cool places. Rooney went on his first art tour of a sculpture exhibit recently. He probably does not remember what he saw but maybe some hidden talent will be sparked. Also, our group recently had a private class through the Parks Dept and got to go with a naturalist through the park and see bugs, butterflies, bees, dragonflys and even a snake! That was a great experience and we are fortunate enough to be able to set up more classes for our group. Next one is Tide Pools. That should be really interesting. Rooney is already familiar with Starfish (thanks Patrick Star).

Beside AMAT events we've had a few family days in there too. Near the end of last month was Mike's company picnic. Of the 6 years Mike and I have been together we have never attended this. This was so cool. A few pics...

Mike's Company Picnic June 20, 2008





There's more to be written but Blogger is giving me issues. Check back soon!

Piss or Get Off The Pot

Ahhhh! Finally a moment to catch up on my reading.

Piss or Get Off The Pot
Originally uploaded by Q

A Boy's Life

(This is poor cell phone footage. So sorry.)



There's is something happening. This something has been happening for awhile. Despite keeping my head in the sand about it, it has become evident to everyone...

Rooney is a boy!

I know I'm stating the obvious, but I mean he is really a little boy. He is no longer my little baby. He is fidgety, starting to climb trees, loves rocks, dirt and water puddles. He has very little fear when it comes to feats of boyness and I'm already embarassing him with my singing. He is getting bored alot faster when we're shopping and holding onto a cute little pair of pink shorts isn't making it more enjoyable. He knows the name of almost every type of large construction machine and dog wrasslin' is a pretty good past time (I don't think Courage would say the same thing though). If there is a most difficult way to do something he is definitely going to do it.



Although it is hard to have him grow up so fast it is also exciting and fun. I love his fits of giggles, spazzy running in circles and love of all things that seem fun. No matter where he is, he can locate the nearest stash of pillows and make a "pineapple" (toddler speak for pile of pillows) & then proceed to jump in it. If he lands on his head it only adds to the experience. His knees and shins will forever have bruises and now with summer, road rash. Sometimes his feet don't move as fast as the rest of his body and sometimes it's vice versa, but the subsequent falls hardly slow him down.

I always wanted a boy as my first child. I am not sure why that is but as we get more and more of these "pure boy" moments with Rooney I am really starting to get it.

Summer Fun

Things have been moving slow in the basement to playroom conversion. Not because Mike hasn't been working his little heart out, because he has, but of course obstacles just keep coming up. Mike had taken a few days off of work to try to get things done in the basement and that means Rooney and I made sure we were long gone!



Last week we had a mini-heat wave. It was in the 90's a couple of days. We're not really used to that type of weather here in the PNW. However, this gave us a great opportunity to try out a new sprinkler park that was built in a near by town. Rooney loved this place! He had so much fun getting sprayed with water. Of course he didn't want to leave when it was time to go. It took some coaxing but I finally got him in the car but not before being asked several times if we could go back?



Of course with sun being out it meant that some yard work had to be done. Who knows when you'll be able to get to it again? Mike decided to teach Rooney how to mow the lawn. Rooney's mower wasn't really doing a great job so they had to switch to the big guns.








Rooney has recently become very infatuated with his Uncle Jim (or as he says "M'uncle Jim"). He's already been very attached to the rest of the Hoovers and would flirt with Jim but now he talks about him all the time. He is always so excited to see his car and/or motorcycle. This weekend when Jim came over to help Mike paint the basement Rooney decided to do a little painting of his own...

after he was all done painting his arms he kept saying very proudly "like M'uncle Jim". If anyone hasn't seen Jim in awhile he has a full sleeve dragon tattoo on each arm. Reminds me a little bit of when my dad drew the little birds on my chest that matched his bird tattoos. I'm not sure if this is when the desire to have body art starts but Rooney seemed pretty proud of himself and his new "ink".

A Day in the Life (part 2)

Okay, Father's Day was 2 weeks ago, but I still have more to share (I won't go into too many details about what I was doing instead of writing a blog post, but it involved a little of this, a bit of this, and a whole lotta this). The entire day was chronicled via our camera, so no words are necessary (well, except for the incredibly witty captions I wrote). The full set of photos is available on our Flickr account, and features gems like this one.

Speaking of gems, it's time for some stories that I've been saving up for a little while but never had the proper forum to express them (well, except for this one).

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You may recall that a couple of months back, the three of us visited Susan's grandparents near Chicago. At one point during the visit, Rooney was being especially rambunctious, so I moved him into a different room to read him a story. Unfortunately, all of his books were in the car, so we were limited to Grandma and Grandpa's selections. None of them were very kid friendly. Well, I pulled down a copy of A Christmas Carol. I explained to Rooney that this was a very special version of his Chick-Boom book that Susan wrote about. I started reading this book, just like it was Chick-Boom: the same words, and flipping the pages in the right places. Rooney was still completely able to follow along, and made the exact same comments he makes when we read it at home: "Coconuts fall down", "hugging the babies", "they're crying", etc. So I thought that was pretty neat.

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Sometimes its too late to let Rooney take a full bath before we put him to bed, we give him a shower instead of a bath. But the regular overhead shower is too scary for him, so we use a very special kind of shower. Yes, technically its for dogs, but he doesn't know that. He stands in the tub, I sit outside the tub and spray him down. Rooney likes to practice being a fireman: we spray down one of the walls. He'd hold onto my wrist while I pressed the button to squirt the water and waved it at the wall. One time, he put his hand on the shower head, and was spraying down the wall with maybe only a little help from me. "I'm doing it, Daddy! I'm doing it!" He was so excited and proud, I couldn't help but feel the pride as well. I gotta admit, it got a little dusty in the bathroom that night.

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Well, those are all my stories for this time around. See ya next year!

25 Minutes To Go

(The woman in front with the short red hair is my running coach and I am in the back row in black with blue hat)

I know everyone is anxiously awaiting the next installment of Mike's post. If he ever gets around to it I think it will be good. The concept is sound. As usual we have tons of stuff distracting us from being able to sit down and spent a chunk of time working on Roonster blog, but it's all for the benefit of the family, so we're justified. One of the distractions has been sports...my sports. I know some of you have probably fallen out of your seat upon reading that but it is true I have been trying to find my inner athlete since Rooney's been born. Last year I played indoor soccer. Although I wasn't a star at it I was able to land a goal and I felt good. This year I have been playing softball with my brother Dana and niece Natalie. We had a rocky start on this team, but it has been fun and we might be in the playoffs! No one thought it would happen.
(At the starting line. I'm in black with blue hat)

As many of you know I also started running after Rooney was born. At first I could only do about 5 minutes at a time. Eventually I built up my speed, stamina and confidence and I have been running about 3 miles consistently for awhile now. I ran primarily on the treadmill and only about 6 months ago ventured outside, in public view. Everyone always told me it was easier to run outside and they were right. In May I signed up to take a running class. Mostly to build more confidence and to make sure I was running correctly. Through this class, another student and a fellow Active Moms and Tots member, got me to sign up with her for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K. I have never run an official 5K and I don't think I would have chosen this one to be my first (there is so much hoopla and way too early!) but it was for a great cause.

I really didn't know what to expect so I thought it was best just to have my MP3 player and zone out of the race and into the music. I have my Running Playlist on shuffle (so I'm always anticipating the next song) and I thought it was kind of funny that as I started the race Queen's "We Are The Champions" was the first song to play. It kind of felt like that as you saw the mass of people race up the very first hill. I know somewhere in there Johnny Cash's "25 Minutes to Go" came on. It's like my Zune was reading my mind. Finally coming down the last hill I decided to sprint. I knew the finish was coming up and I really wanted to reach my time goal.

As I started to descend the hill another Queen song came on, "Another One Bites The Dust". That is exactly what was happening as I was flying past people down the hill. That was a wonderful feeling. Mike and Rooney came down to support me and it really felt great coming around the last corner, down the straight away to the finish line and seeing those two. I just couldn't wait to cross the finish line to see them (and for other various lesser reasons like being able to breathe again). I was absolutely elated after the race and thus my love/hate relationship with running goes on. I am already planning my next race.

(Reaching the finish line!)

Before I give my official time, I want to thank everyone that supported me and donated for such a wonderful cause. It really meant alot to me and it was really moving to see so many survivors and women running for other women stricken with breast cancer . I really didn't solicit many people but if you would like to donate I think you still can. Just click on the donate link.

Over the PA this morning they said there were over 15,000 people participating in all the run, walk/run, walk activities. I knew being in first place was out of the question, so after that I did not know how track myself. I decided to come up with a time goal that I wanted to complete the race in. My personal goal was 35 minutes but my official time was 30min 51sec.

That's respectable.