A New Experience

I had the most marvelous experience today! A first as a mom. I woke up because I was done sleeping, NOT because Rudy was awake and needed me. It felt FANTASTIC! Rudy took a super long nap for him (just under 2 1/2 hours). I had put him down and immediately went down myself. When I woke up two hours later, I was absolutely refreshed. Even better, I got to mosey around for a bit before Rudy woke. I'm so used to the hop out of bed and go straight to the nursery routine, I hardly knew what to do with myself. It was luxurious. Lovely. Wonderful. Splendiferous!

Breaking in the Sewing Machine

At last, about a month after receiving my sewing machine for my birthday, I have put it to use! It's been a long time coming because I needed to get all set up. I got a small sewing table off of Craigslist and put it in our bedroom so that I'd have a door to close on unfinished projects, since I'll be doing my sewing mostly during nap time. Then I needed notions, especially thread. To Savers we went, and came home with a grab bag of slightly used thread spools. Last, I needed a project. Rudy generously provided.

His Dumbo costume head gear didn't fit him well, and he hated wearing it. I'd put it on, and he'd pull it right off. So, I altered it a bit, so it wouldn't be so cumbersome. I'm super pleased with how it turned out, and so is Rudy. He consents to wear it all around the house and neighborhood, showing off his extreme cuteness and holiday spirit. It makes me feel great to be able to whip something up (simple as it may be). Thanks so much for your rockin' gift, Mom!

The sewing machine in its new home.

Rudy in his altered Dumbo hat.

Rudy in his original Dumbo hat.

An Introduction to Rock Climbing

Jason loves to climb. He goes to the climbing gym every Tuesday and Thursday, which helps him maintain his Zen throughout the rest of the hectic week. Anyway, he's always wanted to bring Rudy to the gym to introduce him to the sport. This week we finally made it out as a family.

Jason demonstrating the idea of climbing a wall to Rudy.

Acquainting his apprentice with various holds.

Rudy's first attempt on the wall. We chose a nice deep bucket hold for him, but his little hands could hardly fit over edge. He still clamped on pretty good, though.

Pumping Iron with Daddy.

Victory!

After the proportions problem on the adult bouldering wall, we shifted over to the kids wall. That suited Rudy just fine, and he actually supported his weight a few times. (Don't worry, we were hands on spotting him.)

The fam. Maybe our little guys a little overloaded, ya think?

Little Rudy and the great big bouldering wall.

Watching Daddy climb.

Rudy and Jason relishing in a good climb. Jason's showing off Rudy's chalky feet. It doesn't show up very well in the picture, but they really were covered in climbing chalk.

Bedtime Helmets

Jason and Rudy are goofing around before bedtime. These are Rudy's fancy nighttime cloth diapers. They handle the volume of pee better, plus they're easier to change in my middle of the night haziness. (Someday I won't be nursing in the middle of the night anymore, but today is not that day...maybe soon though. I just have to get fed up enough with it to find trudging through a few sleepless nights more desirable than getting up a couple times a night for 15 minutes and then slipping back into blissful sleep.)
Rudy usually fusses about getting into his jammies for bedtime, so Jason was helping him to see how totally awesome his nighttime gear really is. They went buzzing around the house in their bedtime helmets for a bit before I slapped that diaper where it belonged and got to the soothing story time part of his bedtime routine. Silly boys. :)

Pregnant?

So, over the weekend and into Monday, I was really tired. At first I just thought I needed to get more sleep. I did, and I was still dragging. I thought to myself, "Man! I haven't been this tired since I was pregnant! ....hmmm." With the pregnancy bug buzzing in my brain, I found all sorts of other symptoms to match my diagnosis; unusual squeamishness, low appetite, minor weight loss. When I told my mom my suspicions, she said she'd just been thinking the same thing after a few comments I'd made earlier in the day. Ha! If both Mutti and my pregnancy radar is going off, it must be true! Mutti and I chatted about how far away in age our children would be as Jason sat hyperventilating in a (luckily) very supportive chair.
Well, I took a test and it turned out negative, plus that very night I developed a fever and threw up. I'd probably just been fighting some bug that had finally gotten the best of me, accounting for my symptoms.
I was actually kind of disappointed, which is surprising to me, because up until now, I've thought I was a million miles away from being ready to be pregnant and go through the whole early infancy insanity again. It's been quite a revealing experience for both of us, I guess. Jason discovered that he is really really, most definitely NOT ready for a second child. I don't blame him--he's the one who's trying to finish school while working full time, being active in his church calling and being the stellar husband and father that he is. I'm just a full time momma, so, the more the merrier, right? (Well, I guess I also work at my church calling and being a stellar wife, but mothering is much more flexible as far as finding time to fit other things in than say, class schedules or work shifts.)
Anyway, post pregnancy test, our splendiferous home is filled with both extreme relief and a growing baby hunger...hopefully the two feelings will settle into some sort of middle ground Jason and I can both be delighted with.

TAG

So, I'm publishing this post for Kat, and 'cause I think it'd be fun to take a moment and ponder on my eccentricities. Pretty much everyone else I know that blogs has been tagged, so, I don't tag anyone else, unless of course, you'd like to elaborate on your quirks...I know that most of us have way more than 8!

1. If I ever hear a new name, I try it out in my head for one of my future children's names. Even if it's a name like Bobisita or Lazarus and there's no way I'd go through with it. I just try it out. I'm constantly on the look out for children's names. Maybe I'm gonna have sextuplets next or something and I'm unconsciously preparing myself with plenty of name ideas. :)

2. I cart surf and don't try to contain myself. Once in a while, I think, "come on, Maria, you're 27 and a mother...be RESPONSIBLE!!!" But then I think to myself, "You're responsible about so many other things, let 'er rip, baby!" And Rudy and I go flying through the parking lot. (I do keep an eye out for traffic, lest anyone feel the need to add my or Rudy's safety to their prayers tonight.)

3. I'm afraid of the dark. Used to be deathly afraid. I'm getting better. Now the only thing I absolutely CANNOT handle is looking into a mirror in the dark. EEEEK! It's an anxiety that is hanging on from sleep over ghost stories when I was like, 10 years old. Maybe some day I'll grow up, but in the mean time, it's Jason's job to tell Rudy there's no monsters in his room.

4. I lean back on my chairs. Jason's says I'm ruining the chairs, but I just can't help myself. I do it and don't even realize it.

5. I have food obsessions. I'll eat the same thing over and over again (at least daily, sometimes a couple times a day) until I'm totally burnt out on them. Then I move on to a new one. It's been cottage cheese, yogurt and oats, scrambled eggs, tuna pasta, Grape Nuts, etc. Right now it's pancakes, though I'm thinking I'll be done with them soon.

6. I am always barefoot in the summer. If I'm wearing shoes, I slip out of them when ever I can (standing in line, sitting in church, etc.) In the winter, I'm always in socks-my feet get freezing! Which leads me to my next quirk...

7. Jason jokes that I only have one ventricle because we read one day about how turtles or some other cold blooded thing only has one ventricle. I get cold really easily (if I drink ice water in the summer, I get goose bumps), so Jason says I'm cold blooded (but warm hearted) :) Lucky for me, he's always hot, so I've got an eternal space heater at my side. :)

8. Dirty ears are a pet peeve of mine. I clean my ears every day, and I check Rudy's ear for any sign of grime or wax every time I nurse him.

TA DA! Maria's nuttiness in a nutshell. :)

Snowy Smorgasbord

Here's documentation of a good snow on October 12th followed by random pictures of Rudy's absolute cuteness. :)

It snowed Saturday night and into Sunday morning. In my desperate stubbornness not to be chased inside by icky weather, I insisted that we still walk to church, as has been our custom through the summer. With Rudy's weather shield plus his fleece bunting on, by the time we got to church he was sweating. I guess I need to find my bundling touch again. :)

Rudy loves to open and close drawers. He especially likes this one on our rescued-from-the dumpster-desk because it often sticks and keeps things interesting with multiple opportunities to problem solve.

Rudy found a great treasure on one of his morning exploration expeditions; an old mirror leaning against the dumpster. It's one of those flimsy cardboard backed ones so that he could jiggle it and distort his image. He thought that was fantastic!

Rudy's finally starting to understand that sand is for playing with, not eating. (Though we often have minor relapses into his younger days of sand ingestion. I guess its a tough habit to kick.)

Catch me, Daddy!

Rudy has a special game he saves for his Daddy. We used to call it the chasing game, but Rudy loves to get caught so much that it's more like the catching game. He gives Jason "the eye" and then takes just enough crawling steps to get him engaged in the chase. Next, he plops himself down flat on the floor and waits for Jason to tickle attack him. It's the funniest, cutest thing to watch.

Video of "Catch me, Daddy!"

Ha! I finally got the video to load. See the "Catch me, Daddy" post for an explanation. Or just enjoy the cutest father/son combo in action.

Welcome to the Fall

The changing seasons serve as a reminder to me that nothing's permanent; in fact most things are fleeting in the grand scheme of things. Rudy is growing so fast! Almost every mother of a child older than Rudy has told me he would be grown before I know it, but somehow, it still surprises me. :)

Here's just a few pictures from this weekend.

It snowed for the first time today. It didn't stick, but still...SNOW! Vati, the family ski fanatic, must be giddy with joy at the first sign of winter. I'm excited, I guess. It took us almost ten minutes to be ready to go outside this morning. Gone are the days of simply heading out the door to enjoy the great outdoors. When I was working at Soldier's Hollow during the Olympics, a Norwegian spectator told me, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing". This will have to become my mantra for the upcoming winter.

Rudy and Jason go Keith Moon on a couple of oversized pumpkins.

Rudy bestowing his approval upon a pumpkin almost his size. (Sorry baby, we can't spend $25 on a vegetable we're not even going to eat!)

Our sweet little pun'kin!

Afloat in a sea of nick knacks at the thrift store. I love the expression of authority on Rudy's face. "I am the captian of this ship! Now, lets sail on!"

Over the last week, Rudy's really been focused on communication. He's constantly pointing and babbling all about the world around him. It's a blast! At last, I feel like my conversations with him are not quite so one sided. He can at least say in effect, "hey, look at that motorcycle buzzing by, or that sea gull over head, or that dog on the corner, or that lady with crazy hair and make-up"(at which point I pretend he's pointing and "ga GA GAAing about the candy display behind her ) :) Anyway, its been fun. Sometimes I'm almost convinced he's got a few words down in his head at least. His babbles seem more consistent and pronounced, and are sometimes very close to the real thing when he's pointing to cars (surprise, surprise), dogs, books, and me (yea!). It's probably mostly the "my kid's a genius" mom in me, but hey, you never know! :)

Grape Juice Tradition

My Grandma (I call her Oma) has been making grape juice from the grapes in her backyard for decades. It's the most decadent juice I've ever tasted; rich with flavor as well as memories. One sip takes me back to visiting Oma in the summers as a child.

Well, this season, Oma was gracious enough to pass on the tradition to Mutti and me. What follows may be boring to most-it's just a step by step explanation of the art of grape juice making as per Oma. For me, its a bit of family history. :)

STEP ONE: HARVEST THE GRAPES

Opa (my grandfather) kindly did the harvesting the day before. Here's Rudy checking to be sure Opa was thorough. Not a grape in sight. :) Oma says its best if you can keep the grapes on the vine until the weather turns cool for a few days. She says that helps the grapes sweeten up.

STEP TWO: SOAK THE GRAPES IN COLD WATER IN THE SINK TO GET THE GRIME OFF.

Oma would run the water every once in a while and scoop the floating gunk off into the other side of the sink.

STEP THREE: PICK GRAPES OFF STEMS

Discard any green or shriveled ones. This step takes a lot of time, but is a great chance to catch up on family conversation. :)

STEP FOUR: SIMMER GRAPES UNTIL MUSHY AND THE JUICE HAS BEEN RELEASED

Oma fills a pot up with grapes until it's about 2 inches from the top. Then she fills the pot with water just to be even with the grapes, no higher. Then you just stir off and on until you've got grape goop.

STEP FIVE: STRAIN THE GOOP

Pour the goop into jelly bags over a bowl, and allow the juice to drip down at it's own pace. DON'T PUSH IT TO HURRY IT THROUGH. You may knock the bag over (a very messy occurrence-trust us) or at least you'll push sediment through that wouldn't have gone through otherwise. Oma just keeps adding more and more goop as new batches get ready, and lets the weight of the new goop do all the pressing. She also uses a spare bowl so that she can transfer the bag over the spare while she pours the juice into jars. This is a great practice of patience for me, coming from a generation of 5 second commercials and high speed Internet.

drip...

drip...

drip...

The resulting juice is so smooth, it's totally worth it, though.

STEP SIX: ADD SUGAR TO NARROW MOUTH MASON JARS AND ADD JUICE

Oma uses narrow mouth jars because they're easier to pour the juice out of when you want to drink it. She adds 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar, depending on the sweetness of the grapes. She fills the jars up to just past the first line around the mouth of the jar with juice and spoons any foam off the top.

STEP SEVEN: PROCESS THE JUICE

I don't have a picture for this one 'cause I was busy feeding Rudy his lunch by that point. Oma uses a water bath canner, but I'm sure you could steam can it too.

TA DA! A bit of family history "preserved". Ha ha ha. :)

Maybe he's teething...

Ever since Rudy was about 3 months old, teething has been the fall back excuse as to why he's doing something (anything) out of the ordinary. Jason and I have been absolutely convinced he's teething so many different times that it's become a family joke. (If I'm having a frumpy mood day, Jason may venture to say, "maybe you're teething" which usually results in either a laugh or a stink eye. Usually a laugh.) Well, today is the day of all days: at almost ten months old, Rudy has pushed his first tooth past the gum barrier! It's his bottom right front tooth, and it's just BARELY peeking through. When it's easier to see with the naked eye, I'll snap a shot of it and post it up. I guess I gotta start brushing his tooth or something, huh? My little man's growing up so quick! I'm mostly stoked about his progression, but with this milestone, I'm a bit apprehensive about the fate of some particularly sensitive parts of my body. He better not turn cannibal or weaning may become a top priority in this house!

image added 12/22/08. Now he's finally working on a second tooth, but that one is in the microscopic stage now.

Remembering the Splendiferousness of Getting Engaged

As I was nursing Rudy this morning, I picked up the children's book that I gave Jason when we got engaged, and memories came flooding back.
Both of my brothers have gotten engaged this year and both will be married before the year is through. Needless to say, there's been a lot of love in the air at the Jarvis home. As Jake and Thomas and their sweethearts have told the stories of their engagements, I found myself regretting that Jason never did that whole 'pop the question' thing. He just sorta said, "Well, I've got my answer. I wanna marry you. Let me know when you've got your answer." After a about a week (I wonder if Jason was sweating it...I'll have to ask him) I gave him the book, I Like You, by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, and told him I liked...er loved...him very much and planned on loving him forever. Then we called my dad on the phone and told him we were getting married and to spread the news. Ta da. Not too ceremonious, huh?

So anyway, I'd been feeling a bit jipped on the ceremoniousity of falling in love and getting engaged until I read that book to myself again today. And then I remembered. It was perfect.

Anything else would have sent me into a hyper-ventilating froth of anxiety. I'da been like, "Did he just ask me to dedicate the rest of my life to loving him? Am I s'posed to answer him just like that? Like he'd just asked me if I wanted to see a movie? But if I don't give him an immediate answer, it'll ruin the whole evening he's planned....etc. etc. etc. And if I would've folded and given an affirmative answer to preserve the romance of the moment, I'da be freakin' out the rest of the night about whether I'd done the right thing or not...if I said yes because I meant it or because that's what you're s'posed to say when someone you really really like drops to his knees and gazes into your eyes with unending passion. Whew. And maybe it wouldn't have played out like that. Maybe when I said yes I'da felt the warm conformation of the Spirit that I did as I prayed and pondered and pondered and prayed to get my answer. Afterall, I really knew I wanted to marry him long before my week long search for spiritual confirmation. The spirit had confirmed to me that I should marry Jason every step of the way as our relationship progressed from neighbors to friends to being a couple to being a seriouse couple. Maybe that's how all you girls survive the pressure of such a super charged moment. You just have enough confidance in all the previous confirmations you've felt throughout the dating relationship.
As for me, I'm newly grateful that Jason and I went about things as we did. And I'm grateful God saw fit to humor me and tell me one more time, "YES! MARRY THIS GUY-IT'LL BE SPLENDIFEROUS!" And it has been. :)

Happy Birthday Melanie!

Rudy went to his first birthday party today. Here he is with the birthday girl, Melanie. She's three years old now. Can't you just see the admiration in Rudy's eyes? ("Maybe some day I'll be that big!")

It was a "Royal Birthday party" and the kids were encouraged to wear whatever costumes they had, just to make it more fun. Rudy's costume is Dumbo, minus the head. He's not a fan of the head part of the costume. Good we had this trial run so that I have some time to conjure up an alternative before Halloween. Turns out, it's good he didn't have any head gear today anyway, since the first item of business at the party was decorating your very own crown. Unbelievably, Rudy did not protest to wearing his crown.

Melanie's mom, Julia made this rockin' palace cake herself. The children were amazingly civil when it came down to divvying up the princesses. In fact, the kids were amazing all around. I couldn't believe how non-chaotic it was, considering there were 11 small children in an apartment after it'd already been raining all day. PLUS it was conference today (meaning lots of guys just talking on the TV and no trips to the playground in between sessions). Julia must have the touch when it comes child whispering. :)

While all the big kids were eating cake and ice cream, Rudy and Amy busied themselves exploring a standing toy together. Don't they just look like a match made in heaven? They've been betrothed to each other ever since we found out Amy would be a girl and Rudy would be a boy. Amy's just a few months older, but there's nothing wrong with being into older women, is there Jason?

Rudy with one of his party favors. Cool, huh?

In this picture, I swear Rudy looks like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. A Who, maybe. It must be the hair. :)

Waiting for all the kids to finish their crown masterpieces.

Our happy prince.

The Prince and his Princess. Kelsey is Melanie's older sister.

Going to this party brought back so many memories of the parties my parents would throw for us when we were kids. I don't think I'll do a full fledged party for Rudy this year--just a family thing, I think, but it will be fun to put on parties for him as he gets old enough to understand how exciting it all is. :) I think he enjoyed himself today, though he probably just thought it was a decked out play group.

Red Cabbage is Super Cool.

I have a new favorite vegetable: red cabbage. I never knew the absolute coolness of it! Mutti gave us one of those cabbage heads we took pictures of Rudy with. Today I brought it out and commenced my first attempt to create a meal with cabbage. The meal turned out pretty edible, that's all I'll say, but the process of preparing it was a delight to the eyes!

As I peeled away the outside leaves of the cabbage head, the most vibrant color of pinkish purple came into view. After I'd cut the head in half, the view was even better! Now I had white marbled through the purple. The coolest part was when I lifted the lid off of the cabbage I was steaming for Rudy. Did you know when you boil red cabbage the water turns bright blue!?

All this was mundane and unexciting to Jason; I s'pose he's been around the cabbage patch a few more times than me. To me, it was something delightfully new and intriguing. I can't believe Mutti grew such an exotic vegetable right under her kitchen window!

Pear

Rudy wants so much to be all grown up. I cut up some tiny pear pieces and tried to feed them to Rudy as I munched on my own. No go. The kid had to have the real deal. I think pears are Rudy's new favorite fruit, 'cause he can munch on them so easily with his pink little gums. It must be satisfying to finally be able to sink his gums into something, and come away with a respectable mouthful. :) He was taking such delight in his budding maturity that I couldn't help but record the event with photos. In the last shot, he's filled both cheeks with the bottom half of the pear. (I scooped that prize out and attempted to teach my nine month old about the propriety of taking small bites) :)