Jack, Wall-E & the Back

This past weekend Amy acquired another child to care for. Sensing that she was not content with chasing three kids around I pulled a muscle in my abdomen on Friday which made me virtually useless all weekend. At one the lowest point of my self-pity party I waddled off the bed onto to the floor where it took me a good 7 minutes to put my socks on.

"This shows you how much pain I'm in. Look, I can't even put my #$%@ socks on, honey."
"Um, try nine months of feeling like that."

Touche.

So despite the grumpiness and high maintenance that comes with having a husband who is confined to the couch, our crew managed to have a decent weekend. The boys and I got in two end-to-end viewings of Wall-E, which has quickly become the movie of the moment in our quarters. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. As Cars was brilliant on multiple levels for parents and kids alike, Wall-E has a wonderful message of taking care of the planet for adults and a sweet, lovable little robot for kids. Not to mention the robot Eve who "shoots hot fire out of her fingers, Dad!" which thrills Owen.

Owen has really taken an interest in learning the sounds of his letters. He told me that he wanted to learn to read like a friend of his at school. Once I told him that the best way to learn to read was know all his sounds, he immersed himself in "what word starts with..." and "what sound does this letter make" games. He took the occasional break from the learning games as he did when I flipped to a volcano show on Discovery Channel -- "Dad, look hot lava and fire shooting all over that truck!" But for the most part a light has gone off with that kid.

Gus has taken an interest into the imaginary world as he now routinely informs Amy and me that he in fact has another brother besides Owen. This brother is named Jack, and apparently Jack is about 10 years old -- or a baby depending on the situation. Yesterday Jack told Gus that Gus didn't need to eat his breakfast or get dressed. Well no wonder my back hurts -- we've got more kids running around here than even Amy & I know about.

Cheers!



Here's the culprit btw. I think I twisted a muscle when I was holding this little one in the driveway. I would be frustrated, but it's kind of hard to get frustrated at a child with a duck hanging out of her mouth.

Snow Day

In the 11 years we have lived in Raleigh we can almost count on one hand the number of times we have had a measurable snowfall. So last night when the weather forecasters called for 1" to 3" of the white stuff, Amy & I didn't fully believe that the snow gods would truly deliver.

But deliver they did as 5 to 6 inches of snow fell overnight and this morning, making for the kids' first snow day experience. You would have thought it was Christmas morning with the shouts of excitement as the boys looked out the window after they woke up. It reminded us of how excited we used to get at the prospect of being out of school all day and playing outside in the snow with friends.

So Amy & I dressed and undressed and dressed and undressed the boys for several trips outside to make snow angels, chase the dog, and sled down the hill. Our neighbors next door came over and the girls shared their sleds with the boys as they all took turns sliding down the hill over and over in the backyard.

School is canceled tomorrow as well as a hard freeze will make roads treacherous tomorrow. So we'll likely wake up and do it all over again.

Ah, to be a kid again.

Cheers!
The dryer worked overtime to keep the clothes dry in between trips out in the white stuff.
Gus and his neighbor next door Sarah shared a sled ride to much laughter and shouting.

Unsure of the slippery footing of the snow at first, Owen quickly adapted and enjoyed eating flakes.
Alas, the sun goes down on snow days too. Buck up little fella, it will be around tomorrow too.

Jodie Meeks

With all due respect to the UT fans among our readers, this was taken off the Kentucky message boards today:

“Rocky Top, you’ll always be
Known for Jodie Meeks
Good ole Rocky Top
54 for 23″

Jodie Meeks unloaded 54 points on Tennessee in Knoxville last night. The game was quickly classified with "Save until I manually delete" status on the DVR.

What a night -- Go Big Blue!

Nose beads, channel locks, and sitting down to pee

So the New Year is off to a busy start for our crew after a great holiday break. The boys are back in school and come home every day with stories of their learning adventures. Yesterday one of their friends in class stuck a bead up his nose. The teachers called his mother who took him with her infant son in tow to the emergency room for 5 hours (!!!) before the boy revealed to his mom that the bead had in fact fallen out of his nose while he was still at school.

I am ever so thankful that this "teaching moment" for our kids was one that we learned through someone else's trials and tribulations rather than our own. Amy & I spent much of the dinner conversation last night pounding it into the boys' heads that only Kleenex go into our noses, not fingers and certainly not beads.

Dorothy is back taking care of Tess in the mornings so our little girl is back in her routine as well. Still not a napper, Tess is fully mobile now which led us to dig out the baby gate for the top of the stairs.

(Interesting baby gate side story -- when I was securing the gate to the posts with cable ties, the channel lock pliers slipped and I hit myself right square in the eyeball. I wallowed on the ground screaming for a few minutes until the pain finally subsided. Meanwhile Owen -- who again is going through his ups and downs adjusting to life with a baby sister -- immediately took off for Tess's room to tend to her. Amy had quickly set Tess in the floor to check on me which upset Tess. Owen continues to surprise us. One day he is checking to see if we are looking so he can box Tess's ears; the next he is tending to his sister's cries. We will see how his adjustment continues to play out.)

Tess has started mimicking her brothers grunts and screams as she absorbs everything the boys do while eating or playing. She has four teeth coming in at once so there have been several nights lately where she wakes up crying. This makes for some long days for mom and dad as our bodies have become accustomed to sleeping through the night again. But for the most part, we continue to thank our lucky stars on how easy of a child Tess is.

I took the boys to get haircuts over the weekend. They are truly well behaved when they are in the haircutting chair. Owen takes his curls very seriously, and Gus enjoys looking at himself and making faces in the mirror. The lobby was full of customers when Owen was finished and came over to sit by me. He inquired why there were so many girls there. I explained to him that sometimes boys cut hair but that today only girls were cutting people's hair.

Seeking his continued reaffirmation of gender differences Owen then blurted out, "And these girls pee sitting on their bums too, right Dad?"

I shrugged and couldn't help a smile as some amused people chuckled beneath their breath.

Ah, children and their inquisitiveness.

Have a great week -- cheers!

Holidays

Well here we are in 2009. The Rutledges had a great two-week break from school and work (paid work at least) and are now getting back into the routine. Gone are the days where the family sleeps in past 7:00 in the morning and where movies play throughout the day. The pile of sugary holiday sweets on the counter has been replaced by fruits and veggies. The Christmas tree, ornaments and lights are stowed away until next December. But it sure was fun while it lasted.

The holidays were a time of celebrating with family -- both immediate and extended. On Christmas day there were 12 people and 4 dogs in la casa de Rutledge. And although we were all a little cramped, we are fortunate to have family that made their separate treks via car and air to come share in the celebration with us.

This Christmas was the first in which the boys really started to comprehend it. They were bouncing off the wall with excitement, but we got them to sit still for just a moment to snap a photo with Mom.

The prospect of Santa's arrival generated a ton of excitement around our house -- so much so that Gus & Owen even sat on Santa's lap this year without screaming in terror.


Luckily the nice outweighed the naughty as Santa visited our house on Christmas morning. He even ate the cookies and left a note for the kiddos, leaving a plate full of crumbs as evidence of his visit.

GJ, Pappy, Aunt Mel, Uncle Dude and cousin Corinne spent the beginning part of Christmas week with us. Two 3 year-old boys and a (soon to be) 2 year-old girl can certainly generate a lot of energy. But that's what it is all about, and the energy reminded us that Christmas is best when seen through the eyes of little ones.

There was plenty of down time as well with Frosty, the Grinch, and Rudolph providing the entertainment during the breaks.


Young Corinne was so worn out most days by noon that she struggled to make it through lunch.

Aunt Mel got to prep for the coming baby Crumpton by hanging out with Tess.

Gus enjoyed a moment of relaxation with a movie and his GJ.


On Christmas day Granddaddy and Nana arrived to share in the fun and excitement. Tess showed Granddaddy that she prefers the shovel method of eating to a more civilized spoon.


The boys received a whole host of gifts from Santa and family. When you ask them what their favorite present was, the answer will depend on the day. A highlight for Gus was a pair of boots that Santa brought which Gus promptly showed off with his Batman costume and Superman belt. Owen thoroughly enjoys his Computer Cool School, as Nana helped him navigate through painting, counting and a safari hunt.

As for Tessa Lane, she preferred the simple joys of ribbons, boxes, wrapping paper, and her Santa Claus hat.

After our families left Amy & I spent a few days together just the five of us. The boys got to experience their first sleepover at Ms. Ann's house while Mom, Dad & Tess partied down on New Year's Eve -- as much as parents of an infant really party down of course.

Amy & I took Tess to our friends the Learys' house to experience a multi-course fondue dinner with good cheer and company. There were four couples in the dining room surrounded by six baby monitors as we toasted in the New Year. It was comical to see the parents jump as a monitor lit up -- Is it mine? Is it yours? But it was truly an enjoyable time.

By the time the holidays were over some of us were zapped -- as evidenced by Tess catching a snooze on Pappy's shoulder.

But by today when preschool opened its doors back up, Owen and Gus sprinted from my car to the door, stripped off their coats and didn't even give Dad the goodbye high five. Even kids can have enough of home days to want to get back into the routine.

Here we go!

Happy New Year everyone -- cheers!

Rudolph & Stagefright

Owen & Gus had their Christmas/Holiday singalong at their preschool on Wednesday. It did not turn out how Amy and I would have anticipated.

Gus, normally the ham of all hams who never met an audience he didn't love, was struck with stagefright as the cameras from a couple dozen parents flashed. He proceeded to try to disrupt the song by pestering his brother which promptly warranted a removal by his teacher. Gus was so distraught that he began to break down and the teacher quickly moved him back into place. Owen then comforted his partner in crime.

The funny thing was, if you would have asked Amy or me a hundred times which one of the two boys would have broken down at the sight of all the cameras, we would have said Owen (because of his more reserved personality) 99 of those 100 times.

Kids surprise us.

It's a pretty cute little scene to mark for them regardless. Cheers!

Tis the Season

The Christmas spirit is alive and well with our crew these days. Much like our birthdays and Halloween, the anticipation and excitement from the boys is contagious and takes Christmas to a whole new level for Amy & me.

Last week we started by going to the Apex Christmas parade. We enticed the boys there with the possibility of seeing Santa. When we got there the MC announced that there were a record 108 floats in the parade this year, meaning we had a long time to wait for St. Nick. After an hour & a half of the cold, Amy & I persuaded the boys to table Santa with the promise of a milkshake. But the parade was fun nonetheless.

This past weekend we made up for missing Santa with a Saturday for the ages. We started off with a birthday party for one of the boys' buddies from the neighborhood. Then we drove down to New Hill, NC for the New Hope Valley Railway train ride. Complete with a real live train ride and a decked-out Santa Claus, we had two excited little boys. Owen gave it the Roger Ebert special.


One morning last week the boys were dreadful trying to get ready to go to school. I think I ended up carrying one under each arm out of the house to the car. On the drive to school I pulled out my phone and "called" Santa's office to ask what the guidelines were for him to stop at our house on Christmas. It was dead silence in the car and both boys conceded that they had to be good.

So on Saturday after Santa had his picture taken with our crew and had moved on to the next family Owen had to make sure that Santa knew the episode earlier in the week was a behavioral aberration. He tugged at Santa's waist and after getting his attention said, "Santa, I've been good."


Tess was a trooper. Our train was open air and it was 42 degrees outside. No matter for Baby T. She was up next to Mom and happy as a clam....er, a pink piglet.


Two thumbs up from the Owenator.

Caption

Gus: "You know, I think you'd make a pretty good Robin, kiddo."

Tess: "You do know that mask is supposed to be over your face there, don't you chief?"

Doghouse

To all the guys out there preparing to shop for the wife, mom, or girlfriend, stay out of the doghouse this holiday season.

Enjoy!

O Christmas Tree

The Rutledge crew concluded Thanksgiving week by conquering a cold, gray, dreary Sunday with some Christmas cheer. We hoisted a Fraser fir up on top of the van in the misty rain, came home, cranked up the Vince Guiraldi, and unpacked Christmas gear to get into the spirit.

The boys are tremendously more excited about Christmas this year. Owen insisted that "we keep the Christmas tree for a very, very, very long time and not let the vacuum truck take it away." (Last year, Amy & I took the tree to the curb the day after Christmas while the boys were napping, and apparently Owen's elephant-like memory still bares the scar.)

After assuring Owen that the tree would be up for several weeks, we proceeded to decorate the tree with lights and ornaments. We put out the Advent calendar, and the first thing out of the boys' mouths this morning was the question on who got to put up the first ornament for December 1.

Meanwhile, Tess enjoyed the lights, the hustle and bustle from her brothers, and any spare paper that she could get in her mouth before one of us grabbed it away. Amy & I chuckled at the kids' enthusiasm -- and we haven't even really brought up Santa Claus yet.

Cheers!


"I know I've seen those boys take this horse and make it fly some way or another."


At last count the bottom branches of the tree had 26 ornaments courtesy of Owen & Gus while the top branches had 3.


Rutledge boys show off their decorating prowess.


Apologies for the darkness, but you get an idea of the energy and the skill de decor of 2 three year-olds.

Wrapped Around the Finger

Tess is methodically gaining control of the men of the Rutledge house. Over the past couple of weeks she has made inroads with Owen, who now takes very seriously the responsibility of keeping small objects away from her vicinity. Obviously Dad has been smitten with his baby girl since minute one.

Now she is solidifying her place in the pecking order with brother Gus.

"Worship me, big brother!"

Gobble Gobble

Amy borrowed an idea from our friend and fellow blogger Amanda Moore, co-author with husband Jason of the wonderfully witty Vance/Moore family blog, for a turkey made out of cantaloupe, pear, cheese & grapes for a Thanksgiving treat. We crafted this with the boys so they could take it to their preschool class on Monday, where it was a tremendous hit with the kids, teachers and parents.

Owen & Gus beamed as they showed off their creation to their cohorts. Later that night at home, the boys talked about how they were thankful for Mom, Dad, their friends and teachers at school, and their pajamas.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving -- from our turkey range to yours.

Cheers!

Baby Bjorn Tess

Baby T is a huge fan of the Baby Bjorn. Being in the carrier is still #2 to being right next to Mom -- hey, Tess knows where her bread is buttered. But being hauled around with Dad and peering down at those two brothers instead of up at them gives Tess the giggles. So I pretty much eat it up with a spoon that Tess gets excited to be with Dad, even if my back pays the price after a while and I have to use a gimmick like the Bjorn carrier to get my child to want to come to Dad. So be it.

The other thing that Tess has embraced is waving "bye-bye." At everything. Dorothy, who takes care of Tess in the mornings while Amy works, has even taught Tess the "princess wave." So now our child waves non-stop -- to the high chair when she's done eating, to Mom when she's done nursing, and to the plumber as he left the house today.

My hat is off to the Swedes for this brilliant invention. Cheers!

Friday Chuckle

Battle of the Network Stars, 1976. Gabe Kaplan, Robert Kaplan, Telly Savalas, a track & field relay controversy, Howard Cosell narrating, cigarette smoking on camera, and a run-off.

They don't make television like this anymore.

Happy Friday. Cheers!

Carolina Blues

I had the good fortune of getting a phone call from my buddy Mike Mankowski this past weekend with a ticket offer for last night's Kentucky/North Carolina basketball game at the Dean Dome. The reasons against attending were numerous.

The Tar Heels are the preseason consensus #1 team in the country. Kentucky is still in rebuilding mode and was an overwhelming underdog. The Cats had just suffered a humiliating season-opening home loss at the hands of Virginia Military Institute (!!). I would be sitting amongst 23,000 Tar Heel fans. The game was a Tuesday night game that would force Amy into childcare duty for all three kids at bedtime and put me at home well past midnight.

The reasons for it? Ashley Judd was going to be there -- in the Carolina student section wearing her UK gear no less. And I would get to see my beloved Cats live and in person -- no matter how down they are.

Naturally I threw reason out the window and trekked over to Chapel Hill, sat amongst the powder blue contingent, got some razzing from my friend, and watched the Cats fall behind early and never dig themselves out of the hole thanks to 28 turnovers.

Despite Kentucky's lackluster performance, the game was a fun experience. Hanging out on Franklin Street and catching up with Mike over pizza and Bells beer at Pepper's before the game is an all-too-rare occurrence for both of us dads these days.

And getting to see Carolina at its peak is a guilty pleasure for a basketball junkie. Tar Heel fans are riding the wave of success right now and it is fun to watch. Carolina's success is reminiscent of my time in school when Kentucky was at its peak in the mid nineties. UK fans were on top of the world, and Rupp was a raucous place to see a game.

There are some differences between the two most storied programs in college basketball. North Carolina's atmosphere is more "refined" than Kentucky's. The fans sport more sweater vests than flashy logo sweatsuits. And the Dean Dome has a banner for everything, including a national championship from a year (1924) when national championships weren't even awarded.

But despite the differences the passion is the same. It is what makes a fan like Ashley Judd sit in the middle of the opposition's student section with UK gear and makes a dad raised on Big Blue drop everything for the chance to see his team when they are in town.

College basketball -- gotta love it.

Cheers!

Grinner

On those stressful days when things get hectic and chaotic, there is a certain little girl that has a way of bringing a smile to our faces. Tess is quite a happy little baby, and her little personality is slowly starting to creep through.

Tess is a giggler, with her "huh huh huh" laugh that (as bad as this may seem) is reminiscent of Butthead's laugh on the old MTV show Beavis and Butthead. She is very alert and goes from gazing at brother to brother, especially at the dinner table. Amy & I talk about how she looks like she just wants to jump in there with them and mix it up.

Our little one is a good little eater. For the most part she eats fruits and veggies out of the jar unless her "do-it-myself" streak causes her to push the spoon away and clamor for finger foods that she can feed herself. Cheerios and fruit puffs are easily at the top of her favorite foods list.

Tess still isn't crawling at 9+ months, but we have been saying any day now for a few weeks. She will rock back and forth on all fours, and she has perfected the roll & scoot method. In reality she doesn't have to move too much when she has two brothers to watch and laugh at.

Owen has started to slowly but surely warm up to her. He will bring her a toy, and I even left him "in charge" of her for a minute yesterday while I ran downstairs to get something. The boys proudly boast that Tess has not put anything small in her mouth when we relieve them of their supervisory duties. Given where Owen was the past few months on the jealous scale, we will chalk that up to definite progress.

Finally, Tess got a great checkup at the doctor last week. She is where she should be on the growth curve and with all the gross & fine motor metrics the doctors measure. She is a little light for her age but nothing to be concerned about. The doctor just told us to enjoy her, which we certainly do.

Cheers!


Tess with a slight mischievous little grin....



....showing off how she sits up.....



....and is sporting some choppers.

Why Did I Have the Bowl?

So a few weeks ago, Gus was really a handful for about a week when GJ was visiting. Amy & I think it was because he was used to the grandparents giving him his share of attention without having to share it with his sister. One day at a pumpkin patch he ran away from Amy and nearly ran out on the highway into oncoming traffic. Needless to say there was a heart-to-heart that night with two parents and a certain three year-old.

Owen, on the other hand, had been very good during that period so we decided to reward him with a fish (and by not getting Gus one we hoped that denying him a reward would teach him a lesson about listening).

Owen was all about his fish. For about a day. After a couple of days it came time to change the water in the little bowl. So I had set some water out to get to room temperature. I placed the bowl cleaning solution by the pitcher of water and Amy was going to change the water later that day.

The problem was that Amy thought I had already put the drops in the water. So she changed out the water, and you know where this is going....

Owen's little betta fish lived 3 days before going belly-up and getting flushed down the toilet. Amy & I were then faced with a dilemma: Do we try to replace the fish with another one that looks just like it before Owen notices? Do we use this opportunity to teach a 3 year-old about dying? Or do we just put the bowl up on top of the refrigerator and hope he doesn't mention the fish again?

Of course we picked the easy route. So far Owen has only mentioned feeding the fish one time and changing the water maybe once. But other than that, the kid is focused on the bag of Halloween candy that is still sitting on top of the fridge.

Color of Fall

Fall has arrived in central North Carolina. The trees are changing colors, and leaves are beginning to fall. You wouldn't know it by the temperature -- today is supposed to be a record high 80 degrees. But you can definitely see the changing season.

The boys are all about the yellows, reds, oranges, and browns. Owen remarked on the way to school, "Look dad, a bright yellow one -- that tree is beautiful." Then he went on to tell me how the little girl, Hannah, in his preschool class is beautiful as well. It's already started.

Gus took several leaves to his school today for show-and-tell -- or as he calls them, "leave-es." It is pretty fun watching the boys become aware & experience these things. The changing season is pretty interesting from a three year-old's perspective.

Now if I could just get them to pick up a rake when all these leave-es start to fall....

Cheers!

A New Day

The moment Barack Obama walked out on stage last night in front of 70,000 people at Grant Park in Chicago, my daughter Tess woke up crying. Amy & I looked at each other with the same dejected look on our faces:

"Which one of us was going to miss the victory speech?!?"

Amy hit the record button on the DVR, and I grabbed my headphones on the way upstairs. As I sat in the dark rocking my nine month-old back to sleep I listened to Obama's speech on the radio. I could not help thinking about my little girl and my boys and the challenges that their generation will face as they grow up. And I was truly grateful that our country had just elected a unifying, inspiring President in Barack Obama to lead us through the challenges ahead.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those - to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

Pick the Electoral College

Predict the Electoral College here.

Amy's pick -- Obama 320, McCain 218

• Obama wins the Kerry states plus Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, & Florida
  

Derek's pick -- Obama 318, McCain 220

• Obama wins Kerry states plus Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia
  
• I think North Carolina is an election cycle away from turning blue. The state has the same influx of transplants from other parts of the country like Virginia. But the Tar Heel state has a million more people so I think VA will go blue this cycle and NC potentially the next.