Santa Barbara

Grandma and Grandpa Rucker being charmed by their Grandson-not hard to do!
"Grandma" JoAnn getting some love in at lunch before we all head home after the wedding.

Crazy baby on the plane. He wore us out! Funny story, too long to describe. I'll let you insert your insert your imagination. Here is a condensed version. I'll set the stage: It was an amazingly long, super, super long weekend. Russell (and thus us) slept maybe 3 hours total the first night in the hotel. He was non-stop crawling all over us all-the-way to Seattle on the airplane. Crying and whining. We barely (as in like literally 5 minutes) made our connection to PDX (the last one of Sunday night and we both had to work Monday morning). It is like 9pm at this point. We had just left 70 degree weather (we were all dressed in shorts and flip flops and if you know Horizon Air, you know we are walking outside to catch the planes-awesome) and the California beaches I love and my family to land in Seattle where it is freezing and soggy wet.

We started to take off and Russell pooped. A big, stinky one. We laughed so hard, mostly from delirium. I was perfectly happy waiting until we landed to change him (the whole 30 minute flight). I am a nurse, I can handle a little whiff of poop, especially my own son's. poop. I was NOT about to use the bathroom/changing table on the plane. I purposely dehydrate myself when flying just to avoid using airplane/airport restrooms. Brian decides he is gonna change Russell in the bathroom. On the plane. And he did. With the door to the bathroom closed. I have no idea how. I can't even fit in there by myself, let alone with a baby to change! Needless to say Russell had a clean tush for the remained of the ride to PDX. I am certain the crew and the passengers were also grateful for Brian.
Clearly Russell could careless. As long as he could continue to play/chew on his flashlight, poopy diaper or not!

Until our next flying adventure....

We do have one coming up in July..... a much longer flight to Alaska. Russell will be walking by then. EEEKKK!!

Just for Reference

This is Brian as a little guy. Grandpa Barry (Arnold) sent this over to us the other night as he was preparing slides for family trip up to Alaska this summer. Amazing resemblance to our little Russell....


And I was uncertain who Russell looked like! Ha! Guess I can't deny it now!

So close to crawling

Life is about to change for us again. We might have to baby-proof a few things.

First Haircut

My Little Helper

Confession time: I have officially experienced my worst parenting moment so far. I "so far" very seriously because I am painfully aware I will have many, many, MANY more to come. Sadly far more upsetting than this one. Looking at the pictures you are probably thinking,"upsetting? what is upsetting? Russell looks so happy and curious!"

Well a couple days before these pictures, I had placed my precious son on my bed in our room while I was getting dressed for the day. I have a small bedroom. I was literally less than 10 feet from him. I was in front of our mirror-not the bathroom mirror but the dresser mirror. I had just told myself, "you know, Russell is rolling so much these days, I should put him on the floor...." Just as I thought that thought the unthinkable happened....

Yup. My sweet boy rolled off our bed. Right. In. Front. Of. My. Eyes!

I gasped. Then screamed. He cried. I cried even harder! I apologized profusely to him. (I offered to call Child Protective Services on his behalf to report myself). The Nurse in me knew he was fine, but the Mommy in me was devastated. Crushed. Physically ill. Russell isn't much of a crier by nature and to see/hear him cry after this was torture. He didn't even have bump or red mark on his body! I think it mostly scared him-and me!

Once I recomposed myself and did an injury assessment we continued on our day. Our relationship has been restored. Russell seems to still trust me as his Mother and caretaker! Good thing-sometimes I wonder if I can be trusted! :)

So now I put him in the laundry basket and fill it with his toys. He isn't crawling yet, but he scoots and stretches to get to where and what he wants. I have caught him with electric cords among other items I don't approve of. So Russell gets to hang in the basket while I shower or am cooking or doing chores around the house. Basically anytime I am not able to devote 100% of my time to his actions. I am totally paranoid now! He seems content for now. I especially like the bottom picture where out big fat cat, Samson is laying on the table where I just folded the CLEAN laundry that was in the laundry basket that is Russell's "jail cell" (as Brian calls it). Guess I better get myself to Target for another laundry basket or two!

The Meeting

Brian and I took Russell to meet this guy yesterday at SantaLand in Macys in downtown Portland. Russell didn't seem too impressed with it all. Actually, what fascinated Russell the most was the red wall with stars painted on it. Yup, a flat wall painted red with stars. Never mind all the characters that had moving parts that sang songs, or the houses that lit up and sparkled or even the train that roared through a pretend city. It was the red wall. Kinda predictable, really. But his parents enjoyed it nonetheless. At least he didn't scream and cry and we got a decent picture! :)

Bottle it up

I can't believe I am posting such "naked" pictures of myself. Meaning no makeup, hair a mess, etc. Oh well. I just wanted to capture this moment.

I had just returned home from work and taken my usual shower to rid myself from the hospital germs. I slipped into my around-the-house-cozy-clothes and fed Russell his afternoon bottle. He was so tired he crashed on my shoulder. He fell asleep-hard. He even left a drool puddle! I thought, "well I better go put him in his crib; I have laundry to do, dinner to make, a house to clean and...." I stopped. I looked at this precious moment and decided to just sit. So we did. For 40 minutes. By our lit up Christmas tree. My heart was so filled, it was bursting. I am so glad I decided to enjoy this moment because this little man is getting very close to crawling. So I know it will only be a matter of time before he is far too busy to snuggle with me. If only I could find a way to bottle this moment and this feeling in time. This is what being a mom is all about for me.