Merry Christmas!

funny cats

some favorite things...

Playing in the water...

and the cats...We'll see how he reacts to MK and Ryan's puppy, Weezie, at Christmas!

Grandparents and Godparents

Papa, Gran, Rudy, B and Big Poppy

With Rudy's godparent's Doug and Kathy

Autumn is here and so is halloween

Here are some (a lot!) of photos from the past few weeks - 8 months old, halloween monkey and showing off his first teeth. Check out the overalls below - Uncle Matt wore those when he was a baby!

If you click on the image to the right you can just see Rudy's lower teeth starting to come through.

Auntie MK visit

Mary Katherine came up to Chicago from Nashville to cheer on John as he ran his 7th (yes!) marathon in the blistering October heat. Rudy and MK bonded over carrots and rice cereal.


Rudy with his GO DAD! onsie on. He was recently given these Nike trainers and we thought it appropriate to bust them out on marathon day! Check out those knees...

a mouthful of peas

Rudy loves sweet potatoes, apples, plums, pears, avocado, winter squash, nectarines and peaches. Does he love peas as much as he loves all of the above? Watch the video to find out. I doubt he will leave you guessing!

this weekend

I've been enjoying making solid (well, pureed) food for Rudy. I steam or bake a fruit or veggie, puree it, and then freeze it in ice cube trays. I then store the cubes in labeled freezer bags. Each cube is about 1 oz of food. I love the fact that it's pure nutrition in a perfect cube!

On the way to the park today Rudy and I passed this board. Click on the image to see the message more clearly!

He fell over right after I took this photo...What good posture he has!

Improvised sun hat using a burp cloth!

St. Louis

Last Thursday John took Rudy and I to the Megabus which R & I took down to St. Louis. Here we are on the El early in the morning.

It was so nice to to take the bus as I didn't have to think about driving and could hang out with the Ru-bear (below)

Mum and Dad's garden was so beautiful. I sat on the porch while Mum was at work and Rudy was asleep. I haven't been that relaxed in so long!

Here are Mum and Dad with Rudy. Check out Mum's gorgeous new haircut! She is so glam!

Papa and Ru

At the end of every summer in St. Louis there is a balloon race that starts in the park near Mum and Dad's house. I remember the year we moved there it was the first St. Louis event we went to. This year it marks the 16th year we've lived in the states!

6 months old

Rudy has reached the grand half year mark! We can't believe how fast it's gone. He is such a lovely child - very visual, observing everything around him, especially people, trees and cats! He loves a good chat, and kissing your chin with lots of drool involved. He's so excited about trying new food every morning. This week he had steamed peaches and tomorrow we move on to avacado. One of his favorite places to play is standing on Dad's tummy as you can see below.