Thanksgiving Week

We decided not to make the 12 hour drive up to Wisconsin this year for a variety of reasons. First of all, Tim had round two of National Boards today so he really needed some study time. We have also discovered that long trips are getting tougher to do the older Sofia gets. She can handle about 6-7 hours in the car but beyond that she really gets sick of it, and I don't blame her one bit. What we've done in the past is try to drive through the night so she can sleep but last time we did that Tim and I were both so sleepy with over two hours left in the drive we didn't think it was safe. Anyways, we decided to stay in Memphis. Tim's parents came to visit the weekend before because they couldn't handle waiting until Christmas to see their sweet granddaughter. The timing worked out perfectly because they were able to stay home with Sofia the day after her surgery while Tim and I had to work. We had a great time visiting with Tim's family and we look forward to spending more time together at Christmas.

For Thanksgiving day we joined our friends Rachael and Hayden and their family in Arkansas. We had a delicious meal, Sofia even tried some mashed potatoes, turkey, and cranberries. She wasn't a big fan of the turkey but she tolerated the potatoes and cranberries. After our meal we played a few games of Settlers of Cataan (one of our favorite games to play with the Sowers) and shot skeet (clay discs) outside. I haven't shot a gun in a long time and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, I left our camera in the car and only took a few pictures with my iPhone.

 Sofia hanging out with Rachael's mom

 Taking a little nap after her first Thanksgiving meal :)

Best for last! Hayden (who never holds babies) snuggling with Sofia

After Thanksgiving we drove home so Tim could wake up early and study the next day. I have to be honest and say that it was really nice not spending two days in the car and driving between families and feeling the stress of trying to make everyone happy. I love our families dearly but it was great to spend some quality time with just Tim and Sofia. Thinking back to last year, it's amazing to actually have Sofia with us. Last year we were just dreaming about meeting our baby and wondering what she would be like. She has changed my life in ways I couldn't imagine. I feel so thankful to God for putting her in my life and family.  I'm also thankful for how God has really protected my family and I over the last year. It's been a very busy year full of some very major life events and God has provided and taken care of us.

Sofia's Surgery

This morning Sofia had surgery to get tubes in her ears. We were a little worried about whether or not the surgery would even take place because she was a bit under the weather yesterday. Fortunately, her fever dropped off around midnight so we were safe to go. We had to leave the house at 5:45 to get to the surgery center on time. Poor Sofia couldn't eat or drink anything past midnight but she actually did really well. She kept everyone in the waiting room entertained while we waited for her turn. The surgery took all of about 20 minutes. The worst part was being all by myself, it was so hard to fill out forms and carry Sofia and everything around the various parts of the surgery center. Tim really wanted to come but I told him to go to work. Any time he misses has to be made up over Christmas break. I told myself I could not cry and I had to be strong and I did well. When they carried Sofia away I was a little nervous but by the time I sat down and had time to think about everything I was already being paged to the conference room to discuss the surgery with Sofia's doctor. Everything went really well and they cleared all of the fluid out of her ears, I am so excited for her to be able to hear at full volume. Her doctor said what she could hear before the surgery could be compared to swimming underwater and listening to other people talk outside the pool. Tim actually decided he couldn't take it and wanted to be there when Sofia woke up from her surgery and he got there just in time. We went back to the recovery room together and could hear our sweet girl whimpering and crying. We hugged her and kissed her and fed her. It was the most pitiful thing I have ever seen, she was just so confused and not sure what to think of everything. We had to stay for another half hour so they could monitor her recovery from the anesthesia. I was so happy to have Tim there. Sofia was recovering very well so they let us go home. She fell asleep in the car within 10 minutes of driving. Tim went and filled the prescription for her ear drops and met us at home. The doctor told me Sofia would probably sleep one to four hours at home. I had to laugh because Sofia is not a big napper, she sleeps very well at night but rarely takes naps longer than an hour. She woke up when I carried her in the house and was back to her old self. We spent the day reading books, playing, and snuggling. She actually did take one hour long nap but definitely just wanted to play and spend time together the rest of the day. She will have a follow up hearing test in a few weeks, I'm anxious to see how much her hearing improves. The tubes should definitely help with her ear infections as well.

My Running Buddy

This morning Sofia and I ran in the Southern College of Optometry Eye 5k race. The race is to raise money for SVOSH, a group Tim has been involved with for the past 3 years. The entire week the temperature has been in the mid to high 70's and sunny. Unfortunately this morning it was rainy and about 65 degrees. Tim had to work at the VA Hospital today so Sofia and I were on our own for this race. I was a little worried about her getting wet but our awesome BOB jogging stroller kept her warm and dry. She slept during the entire race. We had a great time! Tim actually finished work early and was able to cheer us on at the finish line.

Sofia is a great little running buddy. She has been with me for quite a few miles as I train for the St. Jude half marathon. She usually just takes a nap while I run but sometimes she'll sing to me or laugh when we pass different runners. It's hard to believe there are only a few weeks left until the big race. I have wanted to run the St. Jude half marathon ever since we moved to Memphis, I've heard it's a great race and it's definitely an amazing cause. St. Jude works with the school I teach at quite a bit so I've had a chance to spend a few days at the hospital. One of the things I like best about St. Jude is that no child is ever turned away for financial reasons. If you are ever in Memphis I definitely recommend taking a tour or at least making a small donation.

Thankful.

I am thankful for my family, especially my husband and daughter. I'm thankful for the time we were able to spend enjoying one another this weekend. Last week was a bit of a tough week. Sofia battled a fever throughout Tuesday night so I stayed home with her Wednesday and took her in to the doctor. Her left ear was blistered, pussy, and infected. Her left ear has actually been infected since August, a week after she started daycare. Her daycare is wonderful, she attends FLICC (The Foreign Language Immersion Childcare Center). We were on a waiting list for almost a year and it definitely isn't cheap but if I have to work, I want Sofia in the best possible place and Spanish immersion is a plus. It's amazing to see three and four year old kids running around speaking Spanish with beautiful accents. Anyways, Sofia has been on every antibiotic you can think of since August but they only seem to help her out temporarily, the ear infection has never completely healed and always come back stronger. It's odd too, because her right ear always looks perfect. Last week I brought her in to the doctor Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The doctors gave her a shot of Rocephin (equivalent to 30 doses of amoxicillan) each day. It was awful, Sofia is actually pretty tough when it comes to shots but her pediatrician warned me that these shots are especially painful. And you have to stay in the office for ten minutes after the shot to watch for any adverse reaction. Watching my poor baby suffer was awful. After three shots, the doctor told me her ear looked almost the same as it did Wednesday. We've been dragging our feet on ear tubes but the doctor told me we have no other option at this point. Two of the pediatricians in the practice came to the conclusion that the problem is likely something in her Eustachian tube that she was born with, especially since her right ear has never had any problems. I will take Sofia for a consultation with an ENT doctor this week, please keep her in your prayers.

I've been feeling very guilty about the entire situation. I find myself thinking maybe if I stayed home with Sofia she never would've gotten an ear infection to begin with. I would love to stay home but with Tim in his final year of optometry school it just isn't feasible. Even though we have the childcare expense, we still are able to pay some living expenses and have health insurance with my salary. I also felt committed to my school and the group of students I have this year, the only problem is I'd rather focus on teaching just one student, my daughter. Maybe someday this will be an option for me. This morning at church I took a lot of time reflecting and praying about the whole situation and I realized I really need to trust God and trust that things will work out.

The last two weekends we have had family in town, Tim's brother and his girlfriend and then my parents. We LOVE visitors but it definitely wears you out. This weekend Tim worked at the VA Hospital on Saturday and then we rushed off to Overton Park for a SVOSH fundraiser where we had our picture taken. We're hoping we might be able to use one of the pictures for a Christmas card or something. Sofia did not get the memo about Daylight Savings time and woke up nice and early Sunday morning so we took the opportunity to go out for breakfast at our favorite Memphis breakfast place, Brother Juniper's! It was amazing, as always. Then we enjoyed a great church service, some time at home, and a beautiful hike out in Shelby Forest.

8 months old already?

Today my sweet baby girl turned 8 months old. Unfortunately, I waited until right before bedtime to take her picture and she definitely was not in the mood so I'll have to try again tomorrow afternoon. I can't believe how much she has grown and how quickly the time has gone by. She has been very healthy except for one issue with her left ear. Shortly after Sofia started daycare she had her six month well child exam. Her pediatrician, Dr. Mathis, who we absolutely love, noticed that she had a nasty ear infection in her left ear. She has had a hard time shaking the ear infection and we've been told that tubes may be in our future. Sofia's last visit was a week ago and after a few different antibiotics her left ear is finally starting to improve! We are so thankful because we would really like to put off tubes/surgery as long as possible. Other than Sofia's left ear, she is a very happy and healthy little girl.

Stats:
8 months old
21 lbs 2 oz and 28.5 inches long (95th percentile for height, weight, and head size)
Wearing 12-18 month old clothing

Developmental highlights:

• Sofia can crawl, but only backwards. She gets pretty excited when she starts moving but frustrated that she can't go forward. Overall though, she is not much of a crawler. She is very content to sit and reach and play with whatever is near her. Supposedly Tim was the exact same way as a baby :)
• She loves to stand and take small steps along the furniture.
• Sofia has almost completely weaned from nursing which is bittersweet for me.
• She eats a lot of different fruits and vegetables, most of which we steam and puree for her. She can feed herself a graham cracker and puffs. She has also learned she can feed Frodo.
• Sofia likes fruit juice in small amounts, she is getting better at drinking out of a cup as well. We definitely have to help her hold the cup but she does pretty well with drinking.
• She is definitely enjoying using her voice, we hear a lot of dada, baba, the occasional mama, oh, uh oh, and she's been experimenting with the p and f sounds recently. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow.
•  Still loves peek-a-boo but is now able to try to "hide" herself. She thinks if she can't see me that I can't see her, it's absolutely hysterical. Sometimes she falls over from laughing so hard.
• Still loves dancing with her Mom and Dad. She has loved this since she was itty bitty. When she was only a few weeks old and a little fussy she would always calm down with a little bit of James Taylor and dancing.
• Sofia is obsessed with our dog, Frodo. She is always looking for him and I think he is her biggest motivation to crawl/move. Frodo is becoming more interested in Sofia now that she eats more table food. They are quickly becoming the best of friends. Sofia also finds Frodo hilarious, almost anything he does makes her smile or laugh.
• She still loves her bath time and playing in water.
• She is a very social girl who doesn't like to miss anything. Sometimes we have a hard time getting her to nap during the day because she just wants to play, play, play.
• Sofia has always been a great sleeper at night, she sleeps from 7:30/8:00pm until about 6:00am every morning.

I'll leave you with a picture from our weekend. We had Tim's brother, Christopher, and his girlfriend Emily visit us. They arrived on Thursday evening so Sofia was able to stay home and play with them all day Friday while Tim and I were at work. Friday night we took the group to a great Ethiopian restaurant in Memphis and then we all indulged in YoLo, a new frozen yogurt bar in town. Saturday we enjoyed the Memphis Farmer's Market, a visit to Jones Orchard for pumpkins and the corn maze and Tim and I were able to go out on a date!! With most of our family far away this doesn't happen very often, Tim and I were definitely grateful for a night out. We experienced our first rainy day in about two months and decided to try finger painting with Sofia, she wasn't quite sure what to think at first but started to enjoy it more as time went on. This weekend my parents will be visiting from Wisconsin! Time flies when you're having fun.

Meet the Family!

Here is a proper introduction to the members of the Ruder family.

Tim is a fourth year optometry student at the Southern College of Optometry. He is an easy going guy who will do anything for his family and the people he loves. In addition to being a great student doctor, he is a very talented athlete in almost any sport he competes in. Tim's favorite sports include ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, and mountain/road biking. Tim also loves music, he plays a little guitar, djembe drum, and piano. Sadly, we had to sell our piano when we sold the house. I think Tim would tell you his new favorite activity is spending time with his daughter. Sofia is lucky to have such a great father and I know I am the luckiest for having him as my husband and best friend.

 I am a Spanish teacher in Memphis City Schools. I love rock climbing, reading, road/mountain biking, camping, water sports, beaches, music and traveling. Above all, I love my family.

Frodo was our first little fur baby. He is a three year old pug/beagle mix. He loves hiking, swimming, playing with Sofia, snuggling, and napping in the sun. This picture shows him on "his" couch in our old house. The couch came with the house and it was Frodo's favorite place. When we sold the house and moved we didn't have a place to put it so we had to sell the couch. Poor guy, lost his backyard and his couch and gained a baby sister who is obsessed with him.

And finally, the star of the show....Sofia!! Sofia is our darling daughter who stole our hearts the moment we knew she was in my tummy. I feel so blessed to have her in my life. She is a wonderful, fun-loving little baby. She is currently seventh months old. She loves hiking, it's so fun to watch her just take everything in. She just stares at all of the trees and smiles and laughs. She loves playing peek-a-boo, patty cake, reading books, and absolutely adores her big fur brother, Frodo. Everything he does is hysterical in her eyes. She loves to pet him and roll to him and is working on crawling to chase him, she just hasn't figured out how to crawl forward yet, she's getting pretty good at moving backwards though.

Welcome to my blog!

I am so happy to finally be writing in our family blog! For almost the past two years I blogged weekly for my Master's program I didn't want to commit to another blog until I had enough time. To start off, let's recap the last few major events:

January 2009- I started an accelerated Master's program with Cardinal Stritch University. I knew I wanted to complete my Master's degree before we had a bunch of little ones running around but I wasn't happy with the programs offered in Memphis. So after a lot of research I enrolled in Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and started coursework to complete my Master's of Education in Instructional Technology. I was the only teacher from out of state but I had a phenomenal experience.


July 2009- I found out I was pregnant!! I found out days before I was supposed to leave for Cuernavaca, Mexico for three weeks (This was also during the H1N1 scare) but Tim and I decided I should go and enjoy one of my last travel experiences without a baby.


October 2009- We found out we were expecting a little girl! Tim and I were surprised but overjoyed. 

November 2009- Tim and I traveled to San Diego, California for the ACTFL Conference. I accomplished one of my career goals of presenting at ACTFL with two other teachers I worked with the past two summers in Atlanta. It was great to have Tim there to support me and we really enjoyed spending time in San Diego and taking a little pre-baby trip together. I also had the chance to reconnect with one of my roommates from my semester abroad in Spain! So all in all, a great trip!


January 2010- Most women start to "nest" when they are 7 months pregnant, we put our first house up for sale. I know, it was a crazy thing to do when I was 32 weeks pregnant but my loving husband knew it would bring me a lot of peace so he went along with the plan. I was afraid that the housing market would continue to tumble and leave us tied to Memphis because of the house. I wanted to make sure we were able to go wherever we wanted once Tim finished school.


Five days after listing our house we got an offer and we began the process to officially sell the home. We ended up closing and moving in February, two weeks before our sweet Sofia arrived. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the home. It was our first house and Tim and I put a lot of love, sweat, and tears into it. We refinished the kitchen (granite counter tops, cork floors, cabinets), tiled the laundry room, refinished all of the hardwoood floors in the house, and a number of other small but time consuming projects. Although we definitely miss our house, it will be nice to have the freedom to pick up and move when the time comes.


February 2010- Probably the craziest but most exciting month of my life so far. We closed on the house and moved to an apartment and tried to unpack and get settled before our baby arrived. I continued teaching full time, up until the day Tim and I met our beautiful daughter. (I plan to post her birth story later) Tim and I were lucky enough to have a week alone with Sofia so we could get to know her and adjust to our new family. To top it all off, Tim took round one of National Boards two weeks after Sofia was born and he not only passed, but had a great score! I'm so proud of him :)


March-April 2010- I enjoyed 8 weeks of maternity leave with Sofia. It was such a great experience having so much time to get to know her. While she slept, I finished my coursework for my Master's degree, I officially finished in July 2010. We also had the chance to bring Sofia up to Wisconsin to meet most of her extended family. I can't tell you how much joy it brought me to see my family meet her and hold her. Unfortunately, I did have to go back to work for the month of May but our amazing family stepped in to help care for Sofia so we didn't have to put her in childcare so soon. I am also grateful to my wonderful staff team at school who did their best to make my transition back as smooth as possible. I am truly blessed to have so many amazing people in my life!


June-July 2010- Summer break!! I was lucky enough to spend two more months with my sweet girl. Tim started his first externship rotation in a private practice. We were able to do a little bit of traveling as well. We took Sofia swimming almost daily, visited Chicago for a Ruder family wedding, went camping and hiking in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, visited family in Arkansas, hiked at Petit Jean State Park, enjoyed visits from lots of family and friends and finished off our summer with a Sullivan (Tim's mother's side) family beach vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.


Whew! I won't blame you if you didn't make it this far :)


August 2010- I started my fourth year of teaching in Memphis, fifth year of teaching overall. It's been a great school year so far. However, I definitely feel the pull to stay at home with Sofia but I wanted to honor my commitment for the school year, and financially we really need me to work this year.