Ruby -- Month 18

I wrote this last month and just never got around to putting pictures in and posting it. Finally did it! No formal 18 month pictures like usual, but these instagram shots capture her pretty perfectly.

A year and a half. I'm not sure how it's possible, but time just keeps flying by so quickly. Our sweet girl is growing up so fast.

First pony-tail (rockin' the side pony!)

Andrew and I say almost every day to one another "I just love her so much" and "she is so much fun". I think I say this every month, but getting to watch her learn and grow is such a fun experience, and a privilege! Her little mind is constantly working and she is learning so much so fast! Ruby's vocabulary has exploded. She's talking non-stop. Not everything is understandable, but she definitely can get her point across and is trying so hard to say the words she hears us say. It's adorable.

Mardi Gras in style

She's really a smart little cookie. She can count to 3, sometimes 5. She likes to sing ABCs (granted, they aren't understandable), and she knows more animals than I knew in kindergarten probably. She loves to talk, and can understand everything we say to her. She is getting to where she will answer questions about her day like "who did you play with today?" or "what did you have for lunch?", which is really fun. I'm really proud of her, in case you can't tell.

Ruby's first St. Patrick's Day parade! She caught her first cabbage, too!

Dinner at our favorite po-boy place...Parkway!

Ruby spent her first week (really first time over 24 hours) away from us while we were in Hawaii this month. She had a blast in Texas with her Dano & DD, but definitely missed mama and dada (we missed her about 100x more, I can assure you!). I wasn't sure how she would do with facetime, she sometimes just gets sad to hang up when we have done it in the past with friends/family. She did great though. It was sad at times because we could tell she just wanted to touch and hug us, but she handled it really well and it definitely helped passed the days to be able to see her sweet face and hear her raspy little voice.

 When we got back from Hawaii, we celebrated my long time friend Danielle's marriage to her sweet hubby Tim. Ruby was one of their flower girls, and was basically the cutest little thing you've ever laid eyes on. She walked down the isle so well, and made everyone in the crowd smile from ear to ear.

Emily Davis Photography

Emily Davis Photography 

I can't say for sure, because we haven't been to the doctor recently (horray for that!), but I think she has gotten taller recently. Her little face seems like it's starting to thin out and she is losing some of the 'babyness' about her. She's eating great lately. Loving a lot of healthier options (broccoli, carrots, peas, apples are her favorites), and still loving all the not healthy stuff too (graham crackers, teddy grahams, cookies, ice cream, mac n cheese, pizza). She's become more of a decent eater although some days are hit and miss. She usually eats 1/2 of her lunch at daycare, and will most of time eat even less dinner. She definitely gets the bulk of her food in at breakfast and snacks.

Picking out flowers for our yard

I was a little worried that our being gone for a week would totally wreck havoc on our amazing groove we had gotten into in the sleep department. Ruby was a trooper for her grandparents though, and slept amazingly the entire time. She was pretty clingy when we got back. It didn't help that we were in a hotel for 2 nights right after we got back from Hawaii, so she got to sleep in a big bed with Mama. We had a few nights that were a little rough putting her to sleep when we got back to Louisiana, but she's back to going down mostly smoothly now. She's sleeping 10-11 hours at night, and takes 2-3 hour naps. Definitely can't complain! She's started asking to "wok" (rock) before bed, which I happily oblige to, and it has become a sweet little wind down time for us at night.

Sleeping in the bed with mama & daddy in Texas

The morning after we got back from our travels...tired girl!

Ruby has been interested in the potty for a couple of months now. Back in January she started telling us when she was about to go poop (TMI? sorry.), and so I did what every other first time mother would do, dropped everything and ran to target to buy a training potty. Ruby loves it. She loves to sit on it and read, and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever, but she definitely does not quite get the entire concept. She knows "poo-poo" and "pee-pee" go in the potty, I just don't think she's figured out quite how to get them in there. She asks to sit on it all the time "potty mama! potty!", and I almost always just let her sit on it in her diaper because 99.9% of the time she's just playing. I'm optimistic though (and most likely extremely naive) about it. I feel like she's interested and excited about using the potty and hopefully that will pay of sometime soon. We're not going to push it, and I definitely expect to have two in diapers for a while.

                                     

Favorite things:
-Babies. ALL babies. At restaurants, church, grocery stores, she gets SO excited when we see a baby. She's going to be such a great big sister.
-Dancing. This girl has some serious moves. I love it so much.
-Ruby has become very encouraging this month. If you do something good (sing a pretty song, dance with some good moves, give her something she likes), she loudly claps and says "YAAAAY Mama!!!" She also loves to "cheer" for people by doing a fist pump in the air and saying "Go Ruby, Go Nolan, Go Mama, Go Dada!" Whenever we start cheering we have to go through all of her favorite people before we can be done cheering (usually multiple times).
-Animals (especially dogs and cats). She's become extremely obsessed with our neighbors cat, Minnie. Every time we go outside she starts calling "Minnnnieeeee!!!" She's always so disappointed when Minnie doesn't want to be pet.
-Reading
-Ice (sonic ice). She loves to have the ice after we finish our drinks. I ordered her her own little cup of ice at sonic the other day and she was so excited.
-Elmo. She can now sing "la la la la, la la la la, elmo's world!". So darn cute.
-Being destructive. She is literally a tornado in our house. Just going around finding things to pull off of shelves, out of drawers, and into toilets.
-Climbing. She's gotten to where she can climb up the ladder on our playground in our backyard. I'm always right behind her still because she just seems too little to be climbing so high, but she definitely gets mad at me if I try and help her.

These two...melt. 

Not so favorite things:
-Being told "no". She always thinks it's a joke. Like "no way they are ACTUALLY telling me to not do something!" When we get serious with her she is really heartbroken that she can't always have her way. She's a hardheaded little girl. It's her way, or screams. So, we hear a lot of screaming these days.
-Still not crazy about the car seat. Usually once the car is in motion she gets distracted by looking out the window, though. I still have her rear-facing, with no real intentions of forward facing her anytime soon, but I do wonder if forward facing would help her enjoy the car more. We'll see someday, I suppose!
-Sitting still (this includes in the grocery cart, doctors office, anywhere where running around like a wild child is not appropriate)

My girl, 

I love you so much. Being your mom is truly the best gift I've ever been given. Every day with you is an adventure, and getting to watch you grow is my joy. You have so much personality, spunk, character, and determination in your tiny little body. It's inspiring, and exhausting. You are an amazing little girl, and I am proud to be your mama.