Our little one has learned to splash in the tub

Great fun for her.....a little messy for us but it keeps her happy so that is all that matters.

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Ruby's first day in the ExerSaucer

Watch and enjoy!  She puts up with it for a little while now before getting fussy.

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the good always outweighs the not-so-good...

The Not-So-Good:

  As Ruby is becoming more alert and aware, she is wearing herself out more and transitioning to sleep has been harder.  Our consistent 'sleeping through the night' is out the window for now.  We are hoping it is just a growth spurt... as she has gotten up to eat at 2am the past few nights.  The easy routine we have always had to get her to sleep is now not so easy (last night there were many trips back up the stairs to put the passefier back in and rub her tummy), but these parents don't give up easy.  We purchased a new sound machine to help provide white noise for Ruby throughout the night (previously we were using radio static, but the recent thunderstorms have thrown a wrench in that!) and we have started throwing a bath into the bedtime routine...something to help settle her down for the night.  So cross your fingers for us, I just put her down and so far the bath/calming ocean waves have Ruby snoozing with no trips back into her room!  Hooray!

  The Good:

  Ruby has had a few giggles in the past week, but tonight we found her tickle spot!  Same as her mama, Ruby is ticklish in her armpits.  We got her to laugh over and over tickling her there.  Her laugh is funny, lower pitched than I had imagined!  I wish we could have videoed it to share with you, as I would watch it over and over.  Maybe sometime...  Anyway, Ruby also learned to splash in the bathtub tonight.  She has been trying to figure this out for a while and has definitely splashed before, but I think tonight was the first night she actually new she was doing it.  She would pull her feet up out of the water, wait a minute, and then go crazy - of course getting a big reaction from Mom and Dad.

  Tonight we go to bed exhausted (lacking sleep not only because of Miss Ruby, but because of a surprise visit from my brother and a basement full of water in the middle of the night), but after dinner with friends and a night of baby giggles and bathtime splashing, how can't you be happy?!

  The pictures are some of the many faces of Ruby... you can say she looks like Mom or Dad or Papa  or that she has red or brown or blonde hair.  She's always a-changing!

Gotta get ready for our advanced child's future

Not nearly as exciting as Ruby turning 1/4th a year old or even as exciting as wondering when she'll poop again, tonight we started Ruby's very own Coverdale ESA!!! ??How exciting!! ??I'm fully expecting her to get a scholarship to a top college but just incase hopefully this will help.

a quarter is a big deal!

Yesterday Miss Ruby turned one quarter of a year old!  I kinda feel like that 5 year old who finds it very important to tell you that she is not 5, but more specifically "5 and a half".  Well, half of a half can be a big deal too.  Ruby is no longer that teensy cuddly newborn.  She has a new list of things she likes it seems almost each day.  I am sure in another 3 months, it will be hard to even remember what she is like now.  So for those of you who haven't spent time with a 3 month old lately and in effort to remember Ruby at this age months and years from now...

  Ruby loves...
being naked
chewing on her hand
sitting up like a "big girl" (with lots of help...this quickly falls apart when she's tired)
admiring herself in the mirror
watching golf with her Daddy (her Papa got her started on this and it is the only TV she is allowed...golf on TV is pretty boring - can't be too overstimulating! :) )
being swaddled - helps her sleep wonderfully ( 8pm to 7:20am last night)  :)  :)  :)
talking, she surprises even herself sometimes with her voice
showing off - moving her feet and arms all at once in a less than coordinated movement and then giving her audience a look like "top that!"

  Happy One Quarter of a Year Ruby!

Our Little Houdini

After bragging her up last week at work, telling people how our little peanut slept through the night pretty much every night, I knew that I was cursing myself.  Of course, this week she started waking up at 5 and then 4 and 3 and then 2!  The problem being twofold.  One: she began escaping her sleepsack.  A sleepsack, for those who haven't had a baby recently, is  a blanket with velcro that makes it easy to swaddle little ones.  Swaddling has been the trick to keep Miss Ruby asleep.  Each night I would find her with her little arms reaching out the top, sometimes even reaching out the collar of her PJs.  The second problem took us a little longer to figure out...early in the week it was hot and we had stopped using the space heater.  Then we never turned it back on, even though the nights got colder.  So finally last night we got it figured out and although she squeeled a couple of times she stayed down from 8:30 til 7. Hooray!  I think we may be buying a new brand of sleepsacks though.  She's out smarted the ones she has!

  Sidenote: A year ago this week, I had surgery removing a ovarian cyst and along with it one of my ovaries.  I remember the days stuck on the couch thinking about how this surgery would affect my life.  Would kids even be in my future?  It was a scary time and one that really made me think about what was important in life.  Ruby is such a blessing. I am so lucky to be her mom.

Ruby's first bike night

Are we culturing her or are we horrible parents????? You decide but we don't really care :-)

Sent via pda

love to all the Mommy's out there

Ruby's mom had the best 1st Mother's Day weekend!  Saturday was spent celebrating her friend Emily's future wedding.  The celebration was held in Kansas City which meant Ruby's first night away from Mama.  She did great and continues to spoil us by sleeping through the night.  Babcha (Grandma Helen) got lots of time with her and between Babcha and Daddy, Ruby was very well taken care of.  I am positive being away was much harder on Mama then on Ruby.  It was fun for Mom to have a night out with the girls though and made Mother's Day even more special.  Ruby, Mom, and Dad spent the day having a picnic in the park and then going for a walk.  It was so beautiful out!  Then all three of us took a nap (such a gift!).  Finally Dad made supper, Ruby got a bath (one of Mommy's favorite things), and Ruby headed to bed early, leaving Mom time for a glass of wine.  Such an amazing day!  During the afternoon, our neighbor dropped off a really neat necklace and I got so many texts and facebook messages acknowledging my first mothers day.  I felt so loved and really just feel so lucky to be Ruby's mom.  She is such a blessing in our lives. 

  Below are a couple pics of Ruby's time with Babcha, and then a few of our picnic in the park.

Ruby's first tip toe through the tulips

Today Ruby, her "Aunt" Shannon, and her mom headed to Pella for Tulip Time.  We watched the parade.  Being a February baby, Ruby has not had a ton of exposure to the outside.  It's been too darn cold!  So the bright sun was a shock to her eyes... remedied by some cute sunglasses!  They truly did help her feel more comfortable and soon she was 'dancing' to the bands and spotting her favorite part of Tulip Time: the giant windmill.  It was like a giant ceiling fan (one of Ruby's favorite things to watch).  After the parade, Grandma Judy joined us, and Ruby got a little snooze in.  Then it was photo time!  Challenging, since it was hard to open eyes in the bright sun and she can't sit on her own quite yet.  Finally we grabbed a funnel cake for Shannon's mom, Sheryl, who fell and broke her ankle this week.  Ruby wished her "get well" with a few coos and shrieks and off we went.

  Ruby was exhausted after her first big Tulip Time... she slept the whole way home, ate and then went to bed early.

   

First week of daddy day care a success

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Laura went back to work this week and I got the joy of spending tuesday and wednesday with Ruby all by myself. ??We had mostly good times. ??Tuesday she slept a lot and took the bottle very well. We played, she laughed and we took a small trip to the store. ??She crashed around 3:45 and slept until about 6 when Laura finally woke her up to eat. ??Wednesday Ruby was a little more fussy but we made the best of it. ??We took a trip to the mall to see my friend April for lunch, then we did some shopping. ??Ruby sat quietly in her stroller as we walked the mall. ??Got more than a few comments on how well behaved she was. ??All in all a good first week...but I was??definitely??glad to see mom walk in the door so I could either relax some or go do work. ??A few days at work now and then back at daddy day care on Tuesday!