Life with two

These past 5 and a half weeks have definitely been some of the hardest, most joyful, challenging, and humbling weeks of my life. I was pretty naive going into it, thinking "oh, we've had THREE kids so we can totally do two. No problem!". I think I underestimated how difficult this transition would be on Ruby, thus making it difficult on ALL of us. From the minute Ruby met Lucy, she has been crazy about her. Constantly loving on her, hugging her, kissing her, pointing out her body parts, and wanting to help burp her, change her diaper, put her paci in, etc. She's the sweetest little girl in the whole world, and being a big sister really brings out her sweetness. However, she's an almost two year old, and no longer the center of attention 24 hours a day. Her mama spends her days with a baby attached to her, and can't always jump up and play with her whenever she requests. It's hard on her, and she has been having some seriously intense tantrums.
I felt a lot of guilt at first, wishing I could give her all the attention she wanted while also being able to meet all of Lucy's demands. We've watched waaay too much TV the past three weeks, and at times I've felt like my toddler is being raised by Mickey Mouse and Doc Mcstuffins. The first days at home were emotionally draining for me. Mostly, I'm sure, because of the crazy hormones raging in my post partum body, but also because I wasn't the mama I wanted to be for Ruby. Thank the good Lord that my wonderful in-laws were in town. They helped make Ruby feel loved, supported, and took her out to do fun things that we couldn't have done without them here.
Here's the thing though, it's okay that I feel like I'm doing a crappy job at times. It's okay that our tv is basically always playing cartoons. It's okay that I'm choosing my battles with Ruby, and maybe, just maybe, am letting her eat way too many fruit snacks and animal crackers because the child has decided that sitting down for a meal is the absolute worst form of torture we could ever come up with. We're figuring it out, and it's going to take a while to fall into a groove. That's okay.
One thing that I feel really good about is how much we love these girls. That, I know, is something that will leave a mark on them.  Seeing Ruby softly hold Lucy's hand as we rock each night singing our goodnight songs, hearing her say "ohhh no honeyyy!" when Lucy starts crying tells me that we're doing at least one thing right. Teaching her to love. And she loves so well.

She also throws a mean tantrum.
But let's focus on the love.

These two girls of ours are such a gift. They bring us so much joy and so much love.
I feel so lucky to get to be their mama. Watching them grow is the best gift.

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. 

Ruby -- Month 17

Oh my goodness! This age is SO. MUCH. FUN. I seriously love spending time with Ruby. Its sad for me to put her to bed at night because I genuinely love hanging out with her. She is sweet, determined, and really, really funny! She's learning and soaking everything up so quickly, and watching her grow is the best thing ever.

Ruby's vocabulary has taken off this month! She is saying SO many words. It is so fun hearing her learn to talk, and come up with her cute little Ruby renditions for words. It would be impossible to list all the words she is saying, because she really is talking so much, but I would like to highlight some of my favorites.
-Bath "Baaaht"
-Snack "Naak"
-Yes "YESH!" (my favorite)
-Bye (said in a very country, southern accent) "Biii"
-Ball "bah"
-Cereal "see-roll"
-More "moh" (usually in a little whiney voice).
-Elmo "la-la-la"
-Book "buh"
-Bible "bib-el"
-Flower "oww-ah"
-Shoes "shoosh"
-Socks "ock"
-Baby "be-be"
-Counting to 3: "uhhh - ooooh - eeee!!!"
-Car "vrrroom vrrroom"
-Trees "tees"
-Patting her babies back. She says "pat, pat, pat"
-Names: Mama, Dada, Banjo "an-jooooo" (usually preceded by "NO! NO!"), DD, Dano, Rachel "Ray-Ray", Anna "nana", Beckett "Bet-bit", Nolan "Noh-Noh", Margret "Mah-geh"
-Animal noises: Added frog "ribbit ribbit", rabbit "hop-hop" and bird "twee-twee" to her animal sounds repertoire this month.

Ruby's appetite has increased some this month. She is not quite as picky as before, and usually will try what you put in front of her. Breakfast is her favorite meal and the meal that she eats the most at. She loves eggs, bananas, granola bars, yogurt, cereal, muffins, and toast. I made banana bread last week and she was constantly pointing to the kitchen signing more and saying "bed" (bread). She's still kind of finicky about meat, but LOVES chick-fil-a chicken. I haven't been successful in getting her to eat much beef, but we really don't eat beef often, so that could be why. I've still been making her smoothies, which she loves and sucks down so fast. I've slowly added more and more green veggies to them, and she hasn't even noticed. She's maintained her weight this month at 23 lbs, and is wearing mostly 12-18 month clothing. She has the funniest, cutest little toddler frame you ever did see with skinny, short legs and arms and a round, kissable potbelly. She looks so funny in a onesie with pants with her big belly and little legs. I love it.

Ruby's dreaded bottom, back left molar FINALLY made it's entrance after a good month and a half of cutting through. I don't see any new teeth right now, so she's currently got 12 total. It feels great to have a little relief from teething.

Which brings me to my next subject: SLEEP. Ruby has been sleeping a million and ten times better than she was. I think her messed up sleep schedule was thanks to a mixture of her teeth bothering her, and our holiday schedule messing her up. She has been sleeping great though, with only a night here and there of fighting sleep. She never WANTS to go to bed. When we tell her it's bedtime she almost always cries and says "nooo!" and makes up reasons to not go to bed (asking for milk, mama, baby, etc), but once she gets in there and snuggles with her animals she usually is asleep in 5 minutes. We pushed her bedtime back to 8:30, and she usually wakes up around 7:30 or so, sometimes sleeping a little later on the weekends. She's taking two hour naps at school, and usually a little over two hour naps at home. One huge change this month was she is now sleeping on a nap mat at school instead of a crib. I can't imagine how they get a classroom full of 1 year olds to sleep on mats at naptime...but they do it!

Health wise, we almost had a sickness free month. Unfortunately, our girl got her first stomach bug. Thankfully it only lasted 24 hours, and didn't really seem to affect her mood at all. She had a terrible diaper rash afterward though and it left her traumatized to take a bath (I think the bath water really hurt her poor booty). Since then she has really disliked sitting down in the bathtub. She still asks for baths and gets excited about them, but once we get in there she freaks out if you try and make her sit down.

Ruby has recently become highly obsessed with babies. She loves to mama and take care of her baby dolls, but loves real live babies even more. She likes to carry around the two birth announcements (Becketts & Ashers) that we have on our fridge, kissing them, and hugging them. When we see Beckett in person, it's like he's Justin Timberlake, she screams "BET-BIT!!!" and wants to hold, hug, kiss, and "pat, pat, pat" him. When he is laying on the ground she bends down with her hands on her knees and looks over him so sweetly. Seeing her interact with these babies makes me so excited to see her as a big sister. I know it's not going to be all sunshine and roses and she might have some pretty heavy feelings of jealousy, but I really think she is going to be the sweetest big sister ever. She loves to hug and kiss my belly, but I think is a little confused about the whole concept of a human being in there. Someone at church asked her "where's your baby sister?" the other day and she lifted up her shirt and patted her belly. Ha!

Favorite things:
-Babies
-Mama & Dada
-Banjo
-All animals
-Books
-Dancing (she starts grooving the second she hears any music, but really loves to dance to Katy Perry's song "roar")
-Sesame Street
-Lucky charms (I know, terrible mother...)
-Smoothies (does this make up for the last one?!)

Not-so-favorite things:
-Shoes & Socks. She usually likes putting them on, but they are usually off within 10 minutes. Especially if we get in the car. That's the first thing to go.
-Car rides. Depending on her mood, she can sometimes tolerate going in the car, but if she's the slightest bit cranky or tired- forget about it!
-Highchair. The highchair got the boot this month. She simply refused to sit in it, much less eat in it. Thankfully we bought the handy graco that can turn into a seat that attaches to a regular dining room table, and that compromise seemed to do the trick.
-Grocery shopping and not being allowed to walk around, tear everything off of the shelves and destroy things (I'm mean, right?!).

Beautiful girl, 

You are so challenging, but with every challenge that we come across with you comes 10 times the smiles, delight, and joy. There's no way these posts could accurately describe your feisty, tenacious, and incredibly sweet personality. You bring so much light and love into our lives. These 17 months with you have been the best. I pray every day that you keep your determined, yet kind and loving spirit forever and ever. Never change, baby.

All the love in the world, 

Mama

Ruby -- 15 & 16 Months

Hello from the land of pregnancy, two toddlers and an almost 5 year old (oh yes, I'm pregnant! With another girl! This poor baby probably already has 2nd child syndrome from the lack of blogging I've done about this pregnancy compared to Ruby's. I'll try and get better.)  I don't know why I haven't sat down to blog in 2 months (sarcasm)! We are going full steam ahead over here. We had a great two week break for the holidays. We spent about a week in Texas and came home for the remainder. I got SO much done the second week, and enjoyed a little one on one time with my sweet girl who is changing from a baby into a toddler right before my eyes.
(These are the pictures I took to announce that Ruby is going to have a little SISTER. I took them right around her 16 month birthday, so we're going to count them as her monthly pics for these two months!)

My girl is still a little ray of sunshine. She continues to amaze us with how much she is learning and absorbing every day.

Ruby decided toward the end of month 14 that walking is a good form of transportation, and hasn't looked back since then. She's FAST and gets into EVERYTHING. She's mischievous, and smart enough to know how to be sneaky. She definitely keeps us on our toes.

Communication with Ruby is something that constantly takes me by surprise. She's really not much of a talker. Wait, let me rephrase that; she LOVES to talk, but has yet to really form too many understandable words. However, she can totally communicate with us effectively. I would say that she understands at least 95% of what we say to her/ask her to do, and she loves following commands like "please go throw your trash away" or "take this to dada". She can choose when given a choice, and is generally a pretty obedient little kid (except to when it comes to playing in the dog's food and water...that's one no no that she can't quite get over). Her language definitely expanded during month 16. She started really trying to talk a lot more and when asked to say a certain word, she usually will give it a try. If words don't get across whatever she is wanting to communicate she can definitely communicate with her sign language and pointing.

Words:
-Mama
-Dada
-banana "nana"
-Juice "juuss"
-Milk "mulk"
-Night Night "nigh-nigh"
-More "mo"
-Shoes "shus"
-Elmo "eh-mo" (she also sings "lalalalalalala" whenever she wants to watch sesame street")
-This & That "dis" & "dah" (with pointing)
-No (usually "nononononononononono!")
-Yes "yah" (usually said in a really pathetic, sad, whiney voice) or "yeth!"
-Dog "daaah" or "woof woof!"
-Loves trying to say people's names. Right now she's enjoying pointing to all the Christmas cards on the fridge and naming who she knows. The names are not understandable but you can definitely tell she is trying because she always get the amount of syllables correct (Beckett is "deh-dii").
-She also tries to sing the ABCs all the time (SO CUTE)

Ruby is still pretty finicky when it comes to eating. Some days she will eat a ton, and the next she will pick at things she usually loves and barely eat anything. Enter: smoothies. I decided to try making her smoothies this month and it has been a major success. She now knows that when we get home in the evening, it's smoothie time! I sneak in veggies, and she gets her fruit, dairy, and protein! It makes me happy to see her enjoying something AND getting some nutrients into her.
A huge change in month 15 was that Ruby is no longer nursing. It wasn't really planned to wean her, it just kind of happened, and it's been smooth sailing ever since. She was away from me overnight for the first time a few days before Thanksgiving, and after that she just wasn't super interested. One night while we were in Texas she was demanding to nurse basically all night long, and I told her no, that it was time to go to sleep. She threw a huge fit, but eventually cuddled up next to me and went to sleep. She never asked for it after that. I think it was a combination of being SO busy and outside of our normal routine in Texas, and just being ready to stop. I'm sure she sensed how uncomfortable it was becoming for me (being 12 weeks pregnant at the time she weaned), and it just worked out. I was convinced that she was going to be impossible to wean because of how much she LOVED nursing. I really did not want to be nursing two babies at a time, so I'm really glad it all worked itself out. There have been a few times where she has been a little upset and wanted to nurse, but I've been able to comfort her other ways. I've missed it some too, but I also have enjoyed not having to share with her (especially knowing that I'll have another little one to nourish in a few months).
She gained a pound this month, so I don't think her body is missing mama's milk too much.
Weight: 23.4 lbs
Height: 31 inches
50th percentile for both height and weight.

Sleep. Oh, sleep! I miss the days where my girl would sleep through the night without a peep, and look forward to their return. Rubes has been Miss Unpredictable when it comes to sleep the past couple of months. The rollercoaster all began over Thanksgiving when we were in Texas. She slept in the same room as us, and decided that if she was going to be in the same room as us, why not be in the same bed too? Some nights she will sleep 10-11 hours without waking, and others she will wake up screaming and will not stop until she is in bed with us. Once she gets her way, she falls asleep within seconds. Yes, I realize she is totally playing us, and it's ok. I'm tired, and I need to sleep, so I let her have her way. She's also cutting her molars which can't be fun, and I'm hoping that's a big contributing factor to this sleep mania. Either way, my main goal is to have her not constantly in the bed with us by the time we bring home a newborn in June.

Ruby is hilarious. She is constantly watching and absorbing everything around her, and it's a little scary how much she picks up on. The other day she dumped out a whole box of q-tips while I was trying to use the bathroom (any other mamas miss peeing without having to clean up a huge mess of toddler destruction afterwards???), and put one up to her ear and started twisting it. It cracked me up that she has picked up on that. She loves to dance, and actually has some pretty good rhythm most of the time. She LOVES reading. She can sit still for an hour if you're reading to her. When we finish a book she will run, get another one, and come plop right back down where she was for some more. Right now her favorite is a book that her Great Auntie C found at a coffee shop somewhere in Texas called "Goodnight Baby Ruby". She has the entire thing memorized and has made up her own little motions and sounds for each page. Adorable. She still loves all animals and knows mostly all common animals and their sounds. We're working on expanding into the zoo/wild animals.

I wish I could think of all the cute and funny things she has done over the past two months, but I can't, so you're just going to have to believe me or come see her for yourself! ;) Even though she is dreadfully cute, and impossibly funny she is also a complete DRAMA queen. She started slapping around her 15 month birthday whenever she didn't get her way. After several (hundred) corrections we finally taught her "gentle" and usually if I catch her mid-swing and remind her "be gentle" then she will start caressing whoever she is about to slap and say "awww". This doesn't work so well when the aggression is aimed toward her foster-brothers though. If they snatch a toy, or do something she's not fond of she usually responds with a yell and slapping. We correct her every time, but I'm not sure what it's going to take to get her out of the habit. Her teachers at daycare haven't said a word about it, so I'm assuming it's just something she does at home.The girl knows what she wants and makes it very clear that it's her way, or screaming. So, we deal with the screaming. Ha!

All of that last paragraph aside, Ruby really is a doll. We are so lucky to have her.

Ruby, 

I can't tell you enough how special and important you are to us. We are so blessed to have you in our lives, and get the chance to watch you learn and grow every day. My favorite things about you right now are how much you love your mama and always want to be close, your funny, quirky personality, and your extreme determination to get what you want (even if it makes me want to pull my hair out some days!). I am so proud of the little person you are becoming. We cannot wait to see you become a big sister. You already love to hug my belly and say "awww" to the baby. You are going to be so sweet to her, and I know you two will grow to be the best of friends someday. We love you so much sweet girl.

Ruby -- 14 Months

This kid is pure delight. I mean, seriously, she is the best.
I know I'm her mom and I'm supposed to think that, but its true.

I'm loving this age. Ruby is a little person. She's "talking" up a storm and has quite the personality. Her teachers at daycare have declared her their little helper, as she knows everyone's name in the class, whose bottle/pacifier/lovey is whose, and will help distribute them when asked. I had a pretty serious talk with the daycare director about reducing our monthly fee on account of my daughter being put to work every day. ;) Every time I pick her up from daycare she is either perched on something she's not supposed to be on top of, or under something she's not supposed to be under. She's a mess, and everyone loves her for it.

Ruby can totally walk now. Does she? Heck no. She still prefers to be carried, or crawling. She recently has really started loving walking as long as she has one of my fingers to hold onto. I really don't mind that she is taking it slow on the walking front, besides the fact that she's heavy, and demanding about what direction she wishes to be going in. I think once more kids in her class start walking, she'll want to keep up and do it more often.

We've gotten her completely off bottles now. The transition was so much easier than I expected it to be. She sailed through it like a champ and never looked back. She's drinking sippy cups of whole milk at school, and nursing 1-2 times in the evenings. Now nursing, that's another story. She's an addict, and I don't see her giving up any time soon. I'm not pushing it yet, but I'm planning on trying to wean her completely by 18 months (we'll see...). Rubes is still SUUUUPER picky when it comes to table food, and turns her nose up at things that she once adored. I can't understand this girl and her palate. The one thing that has changed is I am able to ask her what she wants to eat, hold up some options, and she can pick. This has helped SO much in decreasing the amount of food we waste because I can just give her what she wants (within reason...because she would eat 10 bananas a day if I let her). She's really enjoying those fancy squeeze pouches of apple sauce, or other pureed foods, which is odd because she started despising purees around 9 months old. Oh well, we go with the flow around here, and she's definitely not malnourished!

Like I said, this girl has quite the personality, and with lots of personality comes lots of EMOTIONS. Oh the drama! She can go from smiling, clapping, and having a grand ole time to head on the floor screaming like her leg was just cut off in seconds. She has started putting her hands over her mouth when she laughs/cries/thinks something is funny/is surprised and it is just the cutest most dramatic thing ever. Lets just say, Ruby knows what she wants, and she makes her needs and wants very clear...

We finally had a month of NO doctors appointments! She still has a consistently snotty nose every morning, but I think she just has terrible allergies like her mama (sorry, baby!). This has been our healthiest month so far (since last December). I'm hoping this is a trend. 

We still have a great sleeper on our hands! Thank goodness. She goes so hard during the day that her little body needs all the rest it can get. We've had to change our nighttime routine a little bit because Ruby no longer likes to nurse to sleep (kind of sad...). She will nurse and then want to play for a little while. She has kind of stopped showing her normal sleepy signs when she's all wrapped up in playing before bed, so we usually have to cut her off around 8-8:30. Daddy takes her to her crib where she will now lay down by herself, let out a few little cries and fall asleep on her own. She usually sleeps until around 7:30. 

Speaking of playing, Ruby LOVES to play! She is go, go, go when we are outside (hence the lack of pictures on her quilt this month...and the ones I did get are WAY over exposed...). She really loves to play up in the little play house in the back yard. She watches the boys and Banjo run around and screams and laughs at them. It's adorable. I think she kind of feels like queen of the world up there. 

Other cute things Ruby has added to her repertoire this month? Her cheese face. Oh, it's so darn cute. She squints her eyes and gets the biggest grin. It's destined to make you swoon if you should meet it. She has also started to fake closing her eyes during prayer. She will squint her eyes as tight as she can while still keeping a tiny slit to see out of while we pray. She looks around, tilting her head in every direction possible to get the best view out of her tiny eye slits. Hilarious. She has mastered the dance moves to the song "My God is So Big", and she does them with such passion and enthusiasm.  She still gives amazing hugs and kisses, and is very generous with them. She also still loves to blow raspberries on my belly. Andrew and I cannot get over how much she makes us laugh. It's the best.

Ruby's 14 Month Favorite Things:
-Bananas. So. Many. "nanas"
-Bath time
-Playing outside
-Carbs
-Laughing at Banjo
-Kisses and hugs
-Eating dog food
-Dancing, singing, being cute
-Pointing at everything
-Taking her shoes and socks off
-Climbing
-"blowing" her nose. She makes a fart sound with her lips when you hold a tissue up to her nose. So cute.

Ruby's 14 Month Not-So-Favorite Things:
-Wearing shoes or socks
-Being told "no"
-Falling down when trying to walk (instant meltdown every time)
-Sharing...need to work on this.
-Not having everyone's undivided attention
-Meat. My little vegetarian.
-Getting in the car seat.

My Girl, 

Your sweet, spunky, quirky personality melts me. I love how at only 14 months old you are already so full of passionate opinions about how things should be. Some may call it trouble, or hard headed, but I think it's great. You're becoming your own person. A wonderful, silly, creative little person that is so full of life. I am so proud of that. I don't think it's anything your dad and I have done, or haven't done, I think it's all you. I love that. I am so thankful for you, sweet girl. Your hugs, slobbery kisses, and sweet raspy voice can turn a horrible day into a great one. I know God is going to use you in a mighty way, and I'm so happy that we get a front row seat to watch it all unfold. 

You're loved. So very much. 

Mama

Ruby-- 13 Months

Finally getting around to adding pictures to this post that was written in September...

It's hard to believe I have a toddler. Ruby still feels very much like a baby in a lot of ways, who am I kidding, she still IS a baby...my baby. She is definitely growing and changing at a rapid rate at this point. She is learning SO much every day, it is so fun to watch her change.

Our girl is not interested in walking...at all! She will take a few steps to us if we force her to, but that quickly turns into a meltdown if we don't reward her with some holds and cuddles. What can I say? She's spoiled, and loves to be held. I oblige because I love to hold her. It's win, win really. Until my arms start to feel like they are about to fall of. She's crawling at lightening fast speeds and cruising around furniture like it's her job so there's really no point in her walking. I get it, Rubes.

Speaking of her love of being held, this girl can give a great hug, and it's one of her favorite things to do. Just say "Ruby, can I have a hug?" and she will wrap her chubby arms around your neck and rest her sweet little head on your shoulder. Occasionally she'll make this adorable "awwwww" sound while she's hugging, too. It's the best. Seriously. She's also mastered the open mouth kiss, full of slobbery love.

Ruby got a really cute little tea set from our friends for her birthday, and she LOVES to pretend to drink out of her tea cups (and the kettle). She makes sucking sounds as she tilts the cup back and always offers it to others with a cute little "huh?" as if she's saying "would you like some tea?" (in a fancy British accent of course). Playing with her is SO fun these days. She is imaginative and silly. She's still a huge fan of music and dancing, and can always be cheered up by getting her groove on.

We finally have Ruby eating some solid food! This girl loves carbs just like her mama and can devour a piece of bread like a grown man. She's currently a vegetarian and turns her nose up to any meat that I place in front of her. One time she mistook a piece of ground beef for a chocolate chip (because everyone eats their spaghetti and cookie at the same time, right?), and her face was priceless. She slapped her tongue over and over again like I had just tried to poison her. She loves fruit, especially bananas, mangoes, and peaches. She will sometimes eat veggies, but only when the mood is right. My little cajun baby really enjoys jambalaya, red beans & rice, and french bread. She loves greek yogurt, apple sauce, and oatmeal, but ONLY if she can feed it to herself. Cue: huge mess. I'm practicing letting go of control and letting her explore and make a mess with her food. Baths have been bumped up from 3 times a week to a nightly occurence because of this, though. We've gotten her down to nursing just once a day (at night) on school days and 2-3 times a day on the weekends. She still takes one bottle (of whole milk) in the morning when I would usually nurse her, but am normally gone before she wakes up, and is drinking the rest of the day out of a sippy cup. She still asks for "na-na" (milk) pretty regularly, but her requests can be deflected by playtime or a cracker.

Unfortunately, my wish for a healthy month did not come true. We dealt with pink eye, a infectious booty rash, and a constant snotty nose/cough this month. Still no ear infections though...praise the Lord for tubes! This girl doesn't let a little cold or pink eye slow her down though. Just like I always have said, she rolls with the punches, and is still her happy little self for the most part.

Ruby is still sleeping like a champ. I'm grateful for a good sleeper. The only thing we need to work on getting away from is the fact that I still nurse her to sleep. If she's too riled up, I will put her in her crib to fall asleep by herself, but that always means at least 10 minutes of crying. I would really like to get to the point where I can put her in her bed and she will just lay down and go to sleep. I'm sure we will get
there!

Ruby can now identify most of her body parts, and she is so proud of herself for it, too! Her favorite thing to show off is her belly. When you say "where's your belly?" she lifts up her shirt with the biggest smile and rubs her belly over and over again. She's also started copying our copious amounts of raspberry blowing on her belly and will randomly lean over and blow raspberries on random body parts, and will eventually get to your belly if you'll let her. Watch out, this girl knows how to raise a shirt! ;)

Have a accurately described how absolutely awesome Ruby is? I hope so! She is SO fun. I am loving this age. I know that with growing, learning and becoming her own little person she is also gaining opinions, likes, and dislikes. I think just because she can't put into words quite yet exactly what she wants (and her wants and opinions are increasing by the day), this has resulted in a whole new level of temper tantrums. She now throws herself on the ground with her head resting on her arms and just cries. It's quite dramatic, and I usually have to hold back the laughter. It's usually over not getting something that she wants, us not being able to understand what she wants, or just random emotional breakdowns (I get those, too!). Overall though, she's still an absolute delight. Even in her crabby moments, all she really needs are a few cuddles and she's back to her normal self. We are blessed with such a sweet girl!

Ruby's 13 month favorite things:
-Bath time! It's back on the favorites list! Last month she HATED baths...would scream like it was torture. Now she loves it. Babies are so weird.
-Banjo, Mama, Dada, J & J (foster brothers...she really does love them despite her occasional bouts of jealousy)
-Books
-Music
-Playing with her baby dolls and tea set (how girly! haha)
-Being outside
-Milk
-Pulling all of little J's clothes out of his dresser every night while we read stories and pray
-Identifying her body parts
-Putting on and taking off shoes. She could do it all day long. It drives her daycare teachers nuts.
-Giving hugs

Ruby's 13 month not-so-favorite things:
-Leaving mama or dada
-Being told "not right now" or "no"
-Meat
-Mama giving foster brothers too much attention (she's started trying to hit the little one when I am holding him...yikes!)
-Still hates being changed, but it's becoming a little easier to distract her with a book or a toy.
-Trying to walk

Our sweet Ruby, 

If I had to come up with 5 words to describe you they would be sweet, independent, determined, funny, and smart. You have such a great personality that is coming out more and more every day. Your teachers at daycare always comment on how smart and funny you are, and you have everyone wrapped around your little finger! We are so proud of you, and love you more than we could ever say. Your daddy and I often say that if we could be guaranteed babies as great as you, we might never stop having them. That's not true (because there is definitely a point where enough is enough), but that's just how great you are! I am so happy that you came into our lives 13 months ago...life would not be quite as sweet without you in it. 

We love you, baby girl!

Mama