Catching Breaths

Houses, birthdays and boys have eaten up the hours over the past week. On the homefront, we have endured another house inspection on our current house. The report generated yet another list of repairs that we are currently sorting through. But the good news is that this report -- as opposed to the report generated by the infidels' inspectors -- listed repairs that should be much more manageable to address. Plus this house is ideal for our current buyers so the threat of cold feet should be minimal, and their real estate agent is much better to work with.

Amy & I both celebrated birthday #32 this week. Amy was glad when my birthday came and went so her annual two days of endless "cradle robber" jokes came to a close. (Amy is two days older than me.) ;-)

The boys are up and moving fast as ever. Owen is getting more confident on his feet. He's still four weeks behind Gus in walking, but he is catching up fast -- especially with his new kicks that Amy got the boys. We have been spending a great deal of time next door at the Guthries as they graciously offered their house while we went through the house showing process over the past month. Thanks to Chad for the good shots he snapped below.

We look forward to Nana and Granddaddy's visit as they fly into North Cackalackee tonight. It should be a great time for grandparents and grandsons to bond again, and Amy & I will gladly use the helping hands as we prepare for a weekend of painting & pulling up carpet at the new abode.

We'll check in soon. Cheers!


"Can MacKay come out and play? Pretty please???"

"Chad, Claudia, I'm not sure if you knew this but there is a turtle on your porch."


"Pass the chips and the remote please."


The Guthries house is a favorite play spot with rocks, sticks, steps, and dogs.

As Chad and Derek frequently take care of the boys, Claudia and Amy can frequently be seen socializing in the street. The only thing missing here is the bevvie in hand. ;-)

Ode to Bill Craft

There is a tremendous sense of relief at la casa de Kronos tonight. Our house is back under contract as a young couple from Raleigh made an offer last night which we negotiated and finalized this afternoon. For Amy and me, the sense of excitement that was trampled by dread three and a half weeks ago when the first contract fell apart has welcomed itself back into our house. We are very cautious not to let ourselves get too excited over this -- after all we still have to go through another inspection process. But we hope this time it will be a success. Amy & I have done a lot of work on the house since the infidels walked away from the first contract so we are hopeful that anything that comes up will be minor.

Our buyers are a young couple in a very similar situation to ours seven years ago when we moved out of our apartment into our first house. They really wanted the house, and it was obvious that they would take care of it and make the house a good home. Amy and I told each other when we set out to move that the target market for our place was a young couple without kids just like the ones that we met today.

There is a lucky part of this story as well. Earlier this week Amy and I were feeling dejected about not having any showings on the house for over a week. We made the decision to call the listing agent to drop the price on our house. That night however we had a message on our voicemail from a man named Bill Craft telling us that he would like to see our house. I called the agent back and told her to hold off dropping the price until we saw how the Bill Craft scenario would play out. When I finally reached Bill the next day, he told me he would get back to me about coming by to look at the house. We never heard back from the guy, but because of his phone call we held off on dropping the price long enough to make it to the weekend where our house finally had its prom date show up in the driveway.

Wherever you are Mr. Craft, we're glad you called.

Cheers!

Whirlwinds

Busy week these past seven days....here's an update.

The hospital in my hometown was doing its best to gather up our family members last week. My grandmother was admitted with an infection followed by my aunt Karen with a broken hip the next day. My cousin's wife Carrie had surgery and would have been in that hospital had she been in town. They say bad things happen in threes. Best wishes from NC to all the family on speedy recoveries.

On the homefront we continue to move closer to closing on the new house and trying to sell our current house, although not without challenges. In the past week on our current house we have finished dealing with "my-dog-ate-my-homework" contractors who finally completed the siding work, contacted realtors who have shown our house, fixed the window springs, and touched up paint. The house has been washed behind the ears, is wearing lipstick, and is ready for the prom date to show up in the driveway. Unfortunately the housing market here has slowed since Labor Day. We did not have any showings last weekend so we dropped the price today, something that we thought we would have had to do weeks ago. We'll get there....

On the new home front, Amy and I found out last week that the sales contract had to be rewritten because the flooring allowance we got from the sellers didn't fly with the lenders. We are still waiting to hear back from the sellers on this one -- it should not be an issue, but then what in this process has gone smoothly? ;-) Amy & I have met with lenders, mortgage brokers, home inspectors, movers, insurance agents, and flooring contractors. We are thinking about buying a house every three or four months or so just because this is so much fun - ha! It truly will all be worth it though in the end, and we continue to forge ahead.

One of the best parts of the whole house experience happened on Sunday. Our neighbor a few houses up the street just sold his house. The couple has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, but Amy & I didn't know them very well. As it turns out, they had a lot of the same repairs required on their house that we had on our house. Ryszard ("Ree-shard") offered to help me fix my windows, and after dealing with an awful contractor experience I gladly took him up on it. As it turns out, Ryszard is from Poland (we thought they were Scandanavian) and knew a guy I used to work with at IBM who was also from Poland. And Ryszard knew the Polish mechanic that used to repair my Chevy Cavalier every other week when we lived up in Raleigh. I guess if you're from Poland living in North Carolina you probably network with other Poles in the area. Still it was one of those eerie, small world experiences. What a tremendous person though -- Amy & I just wish we had gotten to know them sooner.

Finally on the monster front, Owen continues to walk more and more. He can still buzz across a room faster on all fours which he reverts to at times. But I'd say he chooses walking over crawling over half the time now. Gus continues his biting tendencies and bit Owen on the cheek Sunday before I took the boys to the park. That was wonderful noticing all the expressions on parents' faces as my child sat in the sandbox with these gigantic teeth marks down the side of his face. And to think, we have years of this ahead of us. The good news is the weather is starting to break here with temperatures in the 70s and low humidity. So we can get the boys outside more often and let them run off all their energy.

Cheers!

Morning Mumbling

The boys are all about pointing to their body parts these days -- eyes, nose, mouth, head, and the latest addition, bellies. Throw in a couple of "Ma-ma's" and I know one Mom who is a happy camper. :-)

Working 9 to 5

The boys wanted everyone to see how hard they work during the day. It's not just graham crackers, Baby Einstein and naps at the Rutledge house.

A Gus masterpiece. He adds, "If people don't see the inherent beauty of my work, then I don't have time to explain to them what this is."



Holding tank. Owen takes a break from the dishes.


Gus ponders whether he should talk on the workbench phone, dump out a container of nails, or just wail and bang on the whole thing.


Owen is a tremendous help folding the laundry.



Owen performs the daily tune up on his car.

Labor Day weekend

Today is back to reality after a nice three-day holiday weekend. Amy, the boys, and I stayed put in NC and enjoyed the time at home. Our focus and energy continues to be all h-o-u-s-e.

On the selling front we had a contractor working on the siding on Monday. This story could easily be a long, drawn-out soap opera post in and of itself, but I'll spare you the details. Let's just say Amy and I were thrilled to get the guy out there for a few hours on Labor Day. We had four calls to show the house over the weekend -- one cancelled on Friday night, two people looked at the house on Sunday, and a young couple looked at the house on Monday. Of those showings, two groups seem to be promising leads for second showings later this week. Amy and I are hopeful, but one thing we have learned through this process is not to get too up or too down with individual showings or events. Otherwise we would be basket cases. Nevertheless the positive feedback both realtors left on the showings website was encouraging.

On the buying front Amy & I continue to play the financing game with mortgage brokers. Amy is dealing with one broker, and I am dealing with another. Then at the end of the day we compare notes and go back to each of them. It's like buying a car, only it's over the phone and if a kid goes to the bathroom while we're negotiating we're not confined to a small room. ;-)

The rest of the weekend was relaxing. We got to visit with the Poneleit and Hughes families on Sunday. Gus and Owen got to play with Marlyn and Bree Poneleit and all their wonderful toys. The boys were in heaven. Gus thoroughly enjoyed wearing a tiara and prancing around with pearls around his neck. The women thought it was adorable, and we guys just shook our heads. (It's a phase, Dad, it's just a phase.) ;-) Owen was a happy little camper sliding down the girls' slide and trying to pull down the Poneleit's projection TV. Speaking of which rumor has it there was a Kentucky football game being played on that TV, but we are all still wondering if that display of athletic mediocrity actually counts as a game. It may be a long year for the Kentucky football Cats.

Finally we wrapped up the weekend with some drama at 4:00am this morning when a long, sustained car horn/alarm went off waking up the whole neighborhood. Many of us walked out into the cul-de-sac in our boxers and nightgowns to see what was going on, afraid that our vehicle was the one making all the noise. As it turned out, it was a car several houses down and the alarm just stopped going off all of a sudden. Then a half hour later after everyone returned to bed, the alarm went off again and someone drove the car out of the development lights flashing and horn honking. We don't think it was any foul play, just a bizarre, unwanted wake-up to start the week.

Cheers!

Free At Last

Free at last, free at last, the Owen man walks, and he's free at last.

Clip of the Week

YouTube clip of the week.

CNN anchor Kyra Phillips left her microphone on while in the ladies room. Her conversation was played over a President Bush's speech about Hurricane Katrina. I'd be interested in what her sister-in-law is going to get her for Christmas.

This could have been so much worse than it was -- like when Lt. Frank Drebin from The Naked Gun left his microphone on while in the bathroom. ;-)

Apparently she had a good sense of humor about it because she followed the performance up with a Letterman appearance where she was the subject of the Top 10.



Top Ten Kyra Phillips Excuses Presented by CNN Anchor Kyra Phillips:

10. "Still haven't mastered complicated On/Off switch."

9. "Larry King told me he does this all the time."

8. "How was I supposed to know we had a reporter embedded in the bathroom?"

7. "I honestly never knew this sort of thing was frowned upon."

6. "Couldn't resist chance to win $10,000 on 'America's Funniest Home Videos."'

5. "I was set up by those bastards at Fox News."

4. "Oh, like YOU'VE never gone to the bathroom and had it broadcast on national television!"

3. "I just wanted that hunky Lou Dobbs to notice me."

2. "OK, so I was drunk and couldn't think straight."

1. "You have to admit, it made the speech a lot more interesting."

Good Riddance...

....to this past week. With the disappointment over losing the contract on our current house this past week, we gladly ushered in the weekend. Even with the frustrating turn of events, we managed to end the week on a high note. Friday was a night like old times with Chad, Claudia and a bottle of wine on the deck discussing the ways of the world. It was a shot in the arm that Amy & I both needed. Saturday we got to take the boys to a pool party where they feasted on their first potato chips and ice cream sandwiches. And today the naps were abbreviated as we had an afternoon house showing. So we packed the boys up and invaded the house of our friends Brian, Kelly & Gracen Wise. It was a good catch-up visit and a relaxing way to conclude a good weekend.



Realizing that we have been going full force and have not stopped to post many pix and stories of the boys, here are a few updates.

Gus has entered the headbutt phase. He always gives a warning shot look before leaning in and going for the headbutt as shown here. Along with the little biting streak he is also on, we are wondering where he gets his action hero violent streak. (my bet is from Amy of course) ;-)


The workbench has been a popular addition to the play rotation at our house. Nails and screws, hammers and screwdrivers, the boys enjoy banging away at it. Talking on the workbench telephone is also an added bonus.


Owen is still content to crawl as his mode of transportation and refuses to walk solo. He is happy as he can be pushing his little trucks around the house. We thought seeing Gus walk around would make Owen want to let go and join the ranks of the upright and mobile. But to each his own -- he'll walk when he's good and ready we suppose.


Gus's latest fashion craze is the scarf. He drapes it around his neck and prances around the house looking for an audience. He is happy....

....until the front door closes and no audience to perform to. Tis tough on a young lad when the curtain closes and there are still songs to be sung.



Cheers!

GJ and Pappy

GJ and Pappy were a huge help to us when Amy and I were on our house-hunting expeditions. We would essentially wake up in the morning, make the coffee, kiss the grandparents on the head, and leave for the search. The grandparents were all too happy to oblige as they got lots of quality time to take care of and bond with the boys. Still, it is not an easy job to entertain the boys all day. GJ and Pappy were troopers.

Owen got over his shyness as he bonded with his grandfather. Even if C.E. would leave the room for a minute to go to the bathroom or take a shower, Owen followed him to the door, sat down and waited for his Pappy to come out. Gus on the other hand tried out all his tricks on his grandmother, showing her all the different smiles & gushes to see what worked on her. (Nice try little man, but GJ has been around children for a long time and read you like a book.) ;-)

We were very appreciative of the free time we were given so we could immerse ourselves in the housing market here. Now hopefully if we can get our current house back under contract in the next week or two we can keep the house we found while the grandparents were here. Cross your fingers.

Cheers!


Owen leads Pappy around the park.



Gus relaxes in the sandbox with his GJ close by.



Corn on the cob is a hit...



....for both the boys.



GJ and Pappy give the boys a last squeeze before hitting the road.



The boys pose with their grandparents and Sayla the wonder dog.

Pluto is now a Dwarf

This is going to mess up the Disney stories for a long time.

August 24, 2006: The International Astronomical Union strips Pluto of its planetary status. The group says a planet must, among other things, have "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Because Pluto's orbit overlaps Neptune's, Pluto is out. The celestial body formerly known as the ninth planet will be reclassified as a "dwarf planet."

Murphy's Law

Murphy's law is a popular adage that states that "things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance," or more commonly, "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."

It has been that sort of day for the Rutledge crew today. This morning we found out that the buyers on our house were backing out of the contract, exercising a clause in the contract that if the needed repairs exceed a certain dollar amount then they are entitled to walk. All this over a front porch step that we agreed we would fix. The buyer however hired a foundation repair company to come in and say that the whole porch needs to be jacked back up to the house at a cost of $5,100. Of course it does. Nevermind that this company is financially motivated to produce such an estimate even when a $300 repair would do (which is all that is really required here).

To twist the knife in a bit further, I called another realtor today who had a very interested buyer in our house right before we accepted the offer from the infidel minister and his wife. The realtor told us that her buyer had LOVED our house and had just agreed on an offer for another house last night. She was not going to be able to bring herself to tell her buyer what ended up happening. The one that got away....

So Amy & I are licking our wounds today. We have to figure out a way to get back on our horse. Punch/Counterpunch is our philosophy in life, and it is never more meaningful than the situation we are living through right now. Sorry for the soul-baring here, but emotions are on the sleeves, pantlegs, and all over the face at our house today.

We are bound and determined to sell this house and not lose out on the house that we just found last weekend. I don't know if we'll be able to make it happen, but we're going for it. It may take us a few days to pick ourselves back up, but we will get there. Punch/Counterpunch.

Cheers!

House Hunt Week

What an experience this past week has been for Amy and me. Knowing that our house was sold and that we needed to find another place to live by the end of September, we set out to find our new home this week. Over a span of 10 days, we looked at 40+ houses in person and dozens more online. Our days have run together as have so many of the houses we have seen. During our search we had one lady call 911 on us and another lady drag her reluctant teenagers out to the front porch while we toured their house. At the beginning of the week we were ready to make an offer on a house only to be talked out of it by our realtor because of potential structural problems. By Wednesday Amy and I had rebounded and found another house that we liked. After shaking it off and finding a second house we liked, we prepared to write up an offer. On Thursday morning just before we submitted the offer though we learned that the seller had just accepted an offer from another buyer. By Thursday evening we were back on our horse after finding house #3 that we were prepared to make an offer on. Unfortunately we were crushed again to learn that night that another offer was pending on the house.

Bound and determined, bumped and bruised, Amy and I piled into the car with our realtor and set off on Friday morning to look at 18 houses over the course of six hours. By Friday night we had decided we liked only two -- a four-bedroom house in Cary that was the first house we had seen that day and an unknown house in Apex that just showed up on the computer as we were returning home.

After walking through both houses on Saturday, Amy and I made the decision to go with a six-year old spacious house in a good neighborhood in Apex. It is a house that has really been neglected cosmetically -- all the rooms are painted white, the carpet is blue and worn, and the landscaping leaves much to be desired. Still, it is a house we undoubtedly feel we can grow into and one that will serve us and the boys well over the long haul. So we made the first offer this afternoon, played the counter game a few times this evening, and verbally agreed to a deal tonight. It will be a big commitment for us, just as all houses are for any of us to invest in. But what a relief -- to find something that your gut tells you is right after a long, long search is very gratifying.

So we have sold our house and have now agreed on a price for our new house. We still have some unfinished negotiation to take care of with our buyers and a little thing called moving. Nevertheless there is a feeling of relief in our house tonight.

During the whole process this week, we were truly fortunate to have GJ and Pappy here to take care of the boys while Amy & I jettisoned off to search for the new home. We owe the grandparents a debt of gratitude and then some for all their help this week. It is much easier to look at a crawl space and size up a floor plan of a house without juggling two 16-month olds in your arms. ;-) Amy and I owe our dear friends Chad & Claudia for all their support. We are definitely appreciative of all the calls from friends and family with offers to watch boys, suggestions of MLS listings to see, and simple pick-me-ups as we dealt with the highs and lows of this process.

You only buy a few houses in a lifetime. This was a big ordeal for us. We are glad to have cleared another big hurdle and thrilled to have a good house to raise the boys in. We look forward to having so many of the readers of this blog into our new house very soon.

Although we don't have a signed contract yet, 105 Chilcott Lane should be our next address. Cheers!

Mental Wrestling...

...is the only way I can describe what has been going on in our heads the past four days as we search for a new house. Amy & I have been in 12-15 houses over the past week, sizing up what is available, comparing them to each other and comparing them to our house we are about to leave.

We narrowed the search down to one house in a great neighborhood until we found out some potential problems with it over the weekend. Two buyers had rescinded offers on this house in the past eight months. There were questions about siding, moisture problems, the furnace, the air conditioner, the windows. The sellers claim all the problems have been fixed. Amy and I are reluctant to make the leap into a potential money pit unless everything can be verified that it was fixed.

In the meantime the other houses we looked at did not excite us at all. One house with the nicest deck I've ever seen had damp carpet in the bathroom and no storage space. Another house on a great private wooded lot had stray paint all over the siding from a shoddy touch-up job and wasted space upstairs. And on and on. Amy and I are being incredibly picky, but you have to when you're about to make the biggest financial decision of your life up to this point.

So that's where we are -- in a mental wresting match inside our own heads, playing the pro/con game over and over. It is like being in a Lincoln/Douglas debate when you were in the eighth grade, taking one side of a debate then turning around and having to take the other side immediately afterward. We go both ways on the house. On one hand, the house feels completely right, like a place we could live in for the next twenty years. The inside has been completely redone, the location is one of the best in the Triangle, and the property will continue to appreciate from an investment standpoint. On the other hand, it does not make sense to invest in a house that we know has had moisture problems and has A/C problems unless we are certain they have been or will be fixed.

Luckily GJ and Pappy are in town entertaining the boys. Gus is prancing around the house like a little movie star with his shades and scarves (pictures coming soon). And Owen continues his progress toward walking as he pushes his little truck all over the house. So we are grateful that the grandparents have come to tend to the boys while Amy & I try our best to deal with the stress of finding the right home to raise the boys in.

We'll keep you posted. Cheers!

House Update II

Well, we did it. Amy & I sold our house on our own in six days. What a process that was (and will continue to be for the next six weeks I'm sure). We ended up selling the house to the first couple that placed an offer. But even though the house went to the first bidder Amy & I feel really good about the price we got.

So now we go onto the next set of hurdles -- house inspections, more negotiations, repairs, finding another place to move to by the end of September. Easy, stress-free stuff. ;-) But we are over the first big hurdle. We owe a lot of thank you's to people: Melanie for helping out with the boys while we got the house ready to go on the market, Chad & Claudia for loaning their house to us at a moment's notice, Darrin D for offering up his house for table storage. Not to mention all the phone calls to family & friends for frequent pick-me-up's and advice. We are very grateful, very excited, and a little nervous all at once. What a day!

Cheers!

House Update

A quick update on la situacion de la casa....

Our house went on the market last Thursday. We had one person look at it on Friday and then came back for a second showing on Saturday. We know from the buyer's realtor that the people are interested, but they want to have the side of the house checked for water damage on the hardboard siding before making an offer. Amy & I are hopeful that the discoloration on the siding is nothing more than a poor paint job and direct sunlight pounding away at it for years. We have two painters coming out tomorrow to give us their opinion.

Then this afternoon a man came by with his realtor for his first showing of the house. They called back tonight and wanted a second showing as well. We have yet to hear any feedback from the real estate agent on what that potential buyer thought.

So we have really only had two buyers be interested in the first five days that the house has been on the market. But the fact that both of them came back for second showings is a good sign.

Hats off to Amy for picking up the house, stashing toys, loading up two boys, and still having time to leave a pitcher of ice water for the prospective buyers all in 30 minutes to an hour's time. She is a trooper.

Here is the potential trouble spot. We are just hoping that this is a poor paint job or wax bleed coming through the paint and not water damage. Cross your fingers....

Mimic time

The boys are learning the art of mimicking their goofy dad. I need to work on my horse impression so it doesn't also double as an impression of a constipated person. Cheers!

Dog Days

It's hectic here at the Rutledge house. We're doing all we can to stay cool during these steamy summer days.

The Gus grin.


Gus doing whatever it takes to get Owen out of the chair.


Helpers in the kitchen

Make or Buy

There is not much sleep happening at the Casa de Rutledge this week. Owen & Gus both have colds again and have developed a deep cough that would make a chain smoker blush. The coughs are at their worst at night when the boys lie down to sleep as all the drainage heads down into their chests. So the boys have been waking themselves up frequently at night. And as you can imagine when the boys aren't sleeping, the parents aren't sleeping.

But there is more to our temporary insomnia than just the common cold that frequents our abode. Amy & I have decided to put our house up for sale next week and look for a house with more room. This decision to move did not come lightly as I imagine it doesn't come lightly to anyone who reaches this point. But with the two of us both being detail-oriented and conscientious sometimes to a flaw, let's just say there has been a tremendous amount of hand-wringing and deliberation on this decision.

There are so many variables that go into our decision, a big one being whether or not to finish our basement to give us the extra bedroom & space we need with the two boys. Just like the professors teach in Economics 101, at its core the decision is a simple make or buy decision. Is it cheaper for you to make something yourself or is it cheaper for you to pay someone else to make it for you? My employer IBM faced this decision for years before finally announcing it was selling off the part of the business that made PCs -- ultimately it was more cost effective to buy PCs from Lenovo than it was to continue making them internally. But a house is difficult to think of in purely economic terms. There are emotional connections with a house -- the blood, sweat and tears you put into making your house your home; the first time your kid takes a step; the fun times you have had with family and friends; and on and on. After weighing all the variables -- leaving our neighbors who are like family, resale value, cost of reinvesting in a new house, interest rates, being in a neighborhood with more kids -- we have decided to make the leap.

So next week our house goes on the market. We are taking the weekend to make one final push for some aesthetic improvements. The hard part for us has been holding off from going in to other houses we have found that we really like. The last thing we want is to find a house that we think is perfect and have to make yet another decision about whether to make an offer when we haven't sold our house yet. I don't want to imagine the insomnia that would be living at our house in that situation!

Have a good weekend. Cheers!

Grandparent Fix

The Rutledge crew was treated to a visit from C.E. and Jane, aka Pappy and GJ last week. The grandparents were on a tour of the southeast, visiting Melanie and Roman (and future grandchild) in Charleston then trekking to Raleigh to see Amy, the boys and me. The visit was a bit of work -- hopefully we didn't throw Pappy's back out -- and a lot of play. Amy & I even got a date night out of the house complete with dinner and a play while the grandparents watched the boys. Owen continued to come out of his shell and did fine away from Amy. Gus continued to milk his cheeky grin for all it's worth. A great time was had by all.

Some highlights & pix:

• Dinner at the pizza parlor
• Sand & swings at the kids' park
• Amy's sweet potato nachos
• Late night chats on the patio
• House hunting
• The Last Night of Ballyhoo
• Bath night and GJ's bedtime stories
• Pappy's french toast
• Painting on ladders
• Yuengling & Russian WWII war medals
• Ka-bobs, Bombay, and unwinding with the neighbors

At Kids Together Park, Owen shows Pappy how to properly shovel sand.

Gus leads the way to the swings with GJ.

Grandparents and grandsons peer from a house in the sandbox.

The Rutledges happily enlisted the services of Pappy Van Gogh to help finish the painting in those hard to reach places. Doo-rag sold separately.

We let Pappy relax a bit too amid his home improvement work, including riveting games of 'slap the table' with Owen.

Weigh-in's, Peacekeeping, and a Muzzle

Today was the boys' fifteen month checkup. They are still lagging behind a little bit in some areas since they were young thirty-three weekers at birth. But the doctor was very encouraged by the progress the boys are making. We discovered Owen has a large head as his head circumference is in the 92nd percentile of children his age. This was encouraging for two reasons -- one, it explains why he has a conniption fit when we put shirts on him; and two, it gives us hope that his brain will grow to superhuman size enabling him to evolve into one of his generation's greatest thinkers. Ok, maybe we should stick with the shirt explanation. Young Gus on the other hand is a little taller & weighs more. He is up to 22.5 pounds and 31.5 inches long -- his height is in the 70th percentile (still not sure where he gets this). ;-)

Gus is building up his courage to walk more frequently. He will now take steps on his own if he sees something he wants. We think Owen will follow suit very shortly, especially after he sees his brother moving about with more mobility.

Our latest role as parents is playing Kofi Annan. Granted having two boys the same age Amy & I knew we would have to play peacekeeper; we just didn't know it would start so early. Gus is usually the culprit as he enjoys tackling Owen to the ground, usually when Owen has control of the baby walker. Being the little stinker he is, Gus will then look at us after Owen crashes to the floor knowing the reprimand is coming. He bats his eyes and hugs his brother. It's as if he is saying, "Yeah Mom & Dad, I know I wasn't supposed to take Owen's feet out from under him and I know his head hit the floor pretty hard, but I really do love him." I'd say we're in for 17, 18 years of fun.

Finally, continuing in the aggression vein, Gus has developed a lovely little biting habit. Exhibit A occurred as we sat in the pediatrician's office today. The doctor was examining Owen as Amy held him, and I was letting Gus crawl about the room. Owen was rather fussy as he was being poked and prodded, and Gus decided he wanted some attention. So he proceeded to pull himself up to the chair I was sitting in, opened his mouth, and bit me right in the cojones. Fun times. Exhibit B took place once we returned home. The boys were playing on the kitchen floor as Amy & I cooked dinner. The next thing we hear is Owen belting out a good scream as his face turned beet red. Gus -- with his head pressed against his brother signifying a hug -- looked at us as if he had done nothing wrong. Of course he had locked his jaws down on Owen's wrist as the teethmarks gave Gus away. More fun times.

So as a result we are in the market for a good dog muzzle for our youngest child, Gus Edward Rutledge, age 15 months. Some examples of models are included below. Gus's favorite color is blue.

Cheers!


Owen shows off his tattoo of Gus's incisors



The culprit: May be the last time this young boy is photographed without a muzzle until he's 12.


Available at neopaws.com, $15/each. Any future Rutledge children thank you in advance.

Lazy Tuesday

Let me just say that this little gem is not representative of any Kentucky fans I know. Ok, maybe three or four.

This is so bad, but bad in a hilarious way. Hat tip to my amigo Michael Mankowski for -- ahem-- pointing this out to me and also the delight that Tar Heel fans are getting at this one on the message boards.

Enjoy!

Brooks: A Different Crisis

Just read a great analysis of the Middle East situation from conservative NYT columnist David Brooks. I'll link it here and then return to lighter posts....like baby pictures. ;-) It is a really good read though.

David Brooks

Israel's main enemies in this crisis are not normal parties and governments that act on behalf of their people. They are jihadist organizations that happen to have gained control of territory for bases of operations. Hamas and Hezbollah knew their kidnappings and missile launches would set off retaliation that would hurt Gazans and Lebanese, but they attacked anyway — for the sake of jihad. They answer to a higher authority and dream of genocide in his name.

Politico Friday

With all that is going on in the Middle East today -- continued struggles with sectarian violence in Baghdad, Iran thumbing its nose at the world in its pursuit of nukes, and now Israel fighting with the extremist Hezbollah military wing -- it is clear that the US has no easy choices in this escalating situation. It is tough for me personally to grasp what individual citizens can do. So I'll just exercise my right to have a voice and throw out my small two cents:

I hope for once that the debate that takes place between now & November is centered on the real, substantive issues we face and is not limited to soundbite-style platitudes that artificially paint our choices as more simple than they really are.

Naive and hopelessly optimisic, maybe. But that is my hope nonetheless.

E.J. Dionne has a great column on this today.

That is what the American debate should be about, but those in charge of Republican campaigns this year have another idea. They have hit upon the brilliant strategy of pushing any serious discussion of the failure of American foreign policy past Election Day. For the next 3 1/2 months, they want the choice before the voters to be binary: staying the course and being "tough," or breaking with President Bush's policy and being "soft." There are just two options on the ballot, they say: firmness or "cut and run."

If I were a Republican strategist, I'd probably do the same thing. But Democrats and, yes, the media) risk playing into Republican hands if they fail to force a discussion of the administration's larger failures or let the debate focus narrowly on exactly what date we should set for getting out of Iraq.

Steps and Stands

Gus stepping out lately....




....while Owen evolves into an upright little man.

Help Wanted

We just finished dinner. Would anyone like to come give these kids a bath? Learning to self-feed has been interesting.

World Cup

Sunday was a day for the men at Casa de Rutledge. Amy spent the afternoon out running errands so I babyproofed the downstairs so the boys and I could enjoy the World Cup final. Ok, so maybe the game was more for the boys and an excuse for me to play with Elmo and the toy banjo. Either way, it was a fun game to watch.

It still seems odd to end a championship with penalty kicks like they do in the World Cup. But the game has to end at some point. In the end, Italy won the Cup on PK's 5-3. But the most bizarre incident in the match yesterday -- aside from the revelation that France's coach was an astrology nut who didn't allow Scorpios on the French national team -- was when France's star inexplicably sank his team's chances at victory by being ejected for headbutting an Italian player.

Gus responded to the play by tackling Owen and giving him a zerbert on his belly.

Lord Stanley's Tour

The Stanley Cup began its year-long tour around the Triangle this week. Today it made a stop at GlaxoSmithKline, which is a corporate sponsor of the Hurricanes and where our neighbor Joan works. Joan extended an invite for us to come by and have our picture taken with the Cup , which was our second invitation this week from neighbors to see the Cup at their workplace -- we have some great neighbors! Amy & I being the rabid Hurricanes fans we are were all too happy to oblige.


Joan poses with the Cup.



Amy, Gus, Owen & I shake hands with Lord Stanley.

World Cup

The World Cup is down to the final -- Italy and France on Sunday afternoon. Although I am a lukewarm soccer fan as I detest the player flops and dives, I have become a big World Cup fan. It really is captivating to watch a sport that captures the enthusiasm of an entire country on each side.

The Sports Guy sums up my feelings in this very funny summary, "Why I Love the World Cup."

Cheers!

The whole injury-time thing. I mean, what other sport keeps some arbitrary amount of extra time in an official's back pocket? It's so stupid yet weirdly effective. I'm convinced the guy who came up with that was drunk.

Boys, Paint & Hot Dog Eaters

As I returned to work the day after an extended holiday break, I looked back at what a relaxing weekend at home morphed into. As Amy mentioned in her earlier post we spent a a great deal of quality time with the boys, including morning breaks outside in the blow-up pool to beat the heat.

For a few days I got reacquainted first-hand with Amy's routine on a day-to-day basis. It truly is nonstop. At one point this weekend we both realized at dinner time that neither of us had stopped to take a shower. My hat is off to her as she takes care of the boys with seemingly unlimited patience. Watching the boys develop -- even over a few days -- is always a good experience as they are constantly changing and adapting.

Gus is a people person. A true example of this is how he loves to wear his sunglasses because of the attention they get him. He knows when people are laughing at something he does, and he looks for that reaction. In restaurants, he flirts with ladies as he knows they are gushing over him. From a communication standpoint, he is ready to communicate with people. He has really picked up on sign language -- milk, out, more, sleepy, quiet, dog -- and has begun constructing baby talk sentences that only he understands. He has started to stand up on his own if only for a few seconds before he crashes to his behind. Last night he tried to take his first steps while we were getting ready for bath night. As he does all of these things, he grins at you to gauge the reaction you give him.

Owen is our little introvert. He loves his mom as Amy is his safety net. He always wants her close by, and he feels the most comfortable when she is in the room with him. He is not really interested in people even when they are directly looking at him or speaking to him. Instead, Owen loves animals, lighting up when Tucker, Dutch or Harper enter the room, and staring at objects. He will ignore everything around him to gaze at wind chimes, a ceiling fan chain, or out the window. Where Gus is motivated by the people around him and the reactions that they give him, Owen is motivated from within that little head of his. He has begun to pick up on some sign langauge -- he loves spontaneously pointing to his nose to remind you that he knows what and where it is. More than anything, Owen marches to the beat of his own little drummer completely at his own pace. It is still amazing to me to see how completely different these two boys are from each other, despite being from the same parents and raised in the same environment. It is quite enjoyable to watch.

The rest of our weekend was devoted to paint. As Elaine mentioned to Amy the other day, she thinks we paint more than anyone she knows. We do indeed enjoy color and the self-satisfaction we get from changing the spirit of a room simply with a coat of paint. Our problem -- aside from finding the time to paint since we are usually entertaining two monsters -- is that it takes us several iterations before we settle on a color we like. Our bathroom is color #4. The kitchen took five. We finally decided on gold for our living room after sand, tope, coir, and two light blues. We attack it a quart at a time and go from there. If you are a Lowe's stockholder you undoubtedly have enjoyed the past month. But sell now as the Rutledges don't have any paint projects lined up for the near future.

Aside from infant sunbathing, trips to the home improvement store, and Amy in her paint clothers we did find some time to enjoy the weekend. Our friends Matt and Laura came over for dinner on Monday. Matt has lived in Sweden and frequently travels overseas with his job so he has a unique perspective on how we Americans are perceived in the world. Couple that with the fact that he likes good beer & political discussions and let's just say the Secret Service is put on surveillance alert when the four of us get together.

Finally, Amy & I also found some time this weekend to watch some Fourth of July sporting events, including Wimbledon and some fantastic World Cup soccer matches. The culmination of the sporting events had to be Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest from Coney Island. Kobayashi -- a 160 lb. eating machine from Japan -- won the event for the sixth consecutive year, downing 53 3/4 hot dogs in 12 minutes.

The groan you hear is both my stomach at the thought of eating that much so quickly and the fact that championship hot dog gorging is gaining in popularity as a "sport" in America. Cheers!

How are these people not 400 lbs.?




Living room before (colors #3, #4 & #5)



Living room after

Happy 4th

We hope you all had a relaxing 4th of July. The boys got some much needed play time in their pool. Here are a few pictures from our adventures on the back deck over the last few days. Derek and I have been painting our living room and what has turned out to be all the trim in our downstairs. For those of you that have lived through our painting experiences, this one won't disappoint you. It took 6 colors over a 6 week period to decide on 'Gold 3'.

Little swimmers.


The boys stop to check out the scenic view.


Come on dad... get in the pool with us!


Gus loves getting his feet sprayed.



A Shark!?! Where?!?



You know it's a good time when the feet come out wrinkled!