Summer Adventures (photo dump)

I'm home sick with hand foot and mouth that Ruby lovingly passed onto me after catching it at daycare. I swear, our family cannot get a break in the sickness department. So, what better thing to do than update the very neglected blog....

SUMMER ADVENTURES!

We had a really, really great summer. I don't think I can stress enough how grateful I am to have had the chance to spend 6 weeks with my girl. Even if we did absolutely nothing it would have been fabulous, but, we did have a few adventures. 

We started out the summer with a visit from Andrew's parents. Ruby got extra spoiled when Dano and DD bought her a new swing/play set for our backyard. Ruby LOVES to swing, and we have used it almost every day since it's been set up (which was quite the labor of love, I might add). 

Before summer break technically began, it was already summer, so that's why I'm counting our fun trip to Alabama! I took off work early on a Thursday afternoon and we jumped in the car and made the 3 hour drive to Gulf Shores. We had a great time celebrating our friend's marriage (Andrew did the ceremony....and did a wonderful job!), and got to spend a little time at the beach. Ruby LOVED playing on the hotel bed, but wasn't a huge fan of the beach. The waves freaked her out, and she wasn't crazy about the feeling of sand between her toes. Her favorite part was waving to people while we dried off at the gazebo...crazy girl!

We then celebrated Andrew's first Father's Day (with a baby outside of the womb), and we actually had TWO kiddos. Our sweet foster-son T helped us celebrate how great of a daddy Andrew is. We're so lucky that he's ours. 

 Ruby and I took a whirlwind trip to Texas right after I got out of school for my Grandad's 80th birthday and my cousin's baby shower. We saw a lot of people and had a lot of fun, but missed Andrew way too much!

The rest of our summer was spent at home, in humid, sticky, hot New Orleans. We received the placement call about T while we were in Alabama, and he came to live with us the day after we got back. We had such a sweet summer with him, and fell in love with him so hard. Andrew text me about 30 minutes after he arrived (I was still at work) "this one is going to be rough...", but he actually ended up being the sweetest, funniest, most adorable 3 year old boy there ever was. 

We had a really fun fourth of July. Our friends came over, we grilled hotdogs and ate way too many chips. We tried to catch the firework show over the Mississippi (does anyone else still have to spell out m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i  in your head when typing Mississippi?? Hopefully I'm not the only one) River, but there was a wreck on the interstate and we weren't able to park in time. We saw bits and pieces of the show from the car, and rolled down the windows while we were driving to be able to hear the fireworks, which was basically the coolest thing in the world to T.  He stretched his neck as far as he could to see out the window and watched with amazement. I loved getting to experience that with him, his face was absolutely priceless. Ruby slept the entire time, even through T screaming "oooohh that's a BIG one!!" 

We spent a lot of time this summer playing at home in our pjs, going to the zoo, aquarium and park, and watched a few too many episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 

T went back to be with his family after about 2 months with us. It was heart-wrenching, even more so than seeing Bug (our first placement) go. T was very sad to leave us, and driving away without him in our backseat was enough to make this mama bawl. We are hopeful for a continued relationship with him, even though we aren't really sure what that means for us yet. We're giving him and his family some time and space to adjust to being together again, and will hopefully get to see him sometime this month. 

So, there you have it. Our summer in a nutshell. It's fun to look back on it (at least the parts I decided to capture). Now that I'm back at work it's especially meaningful to remember all the sweet times I was able to have with the babies this summer. 

Ruby -- Eleven Months

 

Hi! Hello! We haven't disappeared!
I started back at work this week and that has come with quite a bit of transition (mostly for me, Ruby has done wonderfully), tears (again, me...not Rubes), and guilt (me, again...) after 6 whole weeks at home with my girl. I'm starting to get over my pity party, moving on, and cherishing the heck out of our evenings together. Life of a working mama!

Ruby was NOT into taking pictures this month. It doesn't help that she was feeling a bit under the weather, and I crammed in this photo sesh right before bedtime so I wouldn't procrastinate on it anymore. We struggled to get one good picture, but I'm still glad we did it. The pictures show her growing opinions...she definitely tells us how she feels about things! :)

Ruby is long past 11 months, but I figured I would get these posted before she turned a tear. By the way...ONE YEAR?! Never mind...lets not talk about it yet.

This month Ruby's little BIG personality has emerged even more. She is our little social butterfly. She waves to EVERYONE and if they don't wave back she points and says "huh?" like "HELLO, I'M WAVING TO YOU....ACKNOWLEDGE ME!" She makes everyone we meet smile. I love that about her, but in certain circumstances it can be slightly annoying. Like when I'm in a rush at the grocery store and Ruby is waving to every little old lady there, which turns into about 15 conversations about how old she is, how pretty she is (I agree!), and "ohhh I have a little granddaughter who is ___ years old!"

"Raise your hand if you hate this"

Ruby had her ear-tube surgery this month. It was a scary experience, and it made me really appreciative and grateful for a relatively healthy child. She ended up having bi-lateral tubes placed, as well as her adenoids removed. She had a hard time coming off the anesthesia, which was most definitely the most heart-wrenching part for me. She was so sad, had swollen lips and eyes (we think she had a slight reaction to something during surgery...still not sure what exactly), and was having a hard time breathing. The whole time during recovery all I could think was "why did I CHOOSE to put my daughter through this??" In the back of my mind I held onto hope that this would help her...and it DID! She has been a different child since surgery. She is discovering so much more, using her voice a lot more, and has started to improve her terrible balance. She's happier (who knew that was even possible?!), and has shown more interest in playing independently. So far, I'm extremely happy that we went ahead and had the surgery.

Now this is more like it!!

Sleep. Oh, sleep. We were struggling MAJORLY with sleep the past couple of months. I've been attributing it to her constant ear infections, runny nose, and just general sickness. Turns out, I was right! About 3 days post-surgery Ruby slept through the night. I spent the entire day convincing myself that it was either a fluke, or it was because she had downed baby P's (our most recent foster baby) 3 oz bottle of formula when I wasn't looking right before bed. I doubted my milk supply thinking maybe she just wasn't getting full before bed, and that's why she was waking up. Desperate to have a repeat of the night before, I offered her more formula before bed. She turned her nose up at it and threw the bottle on the ground multiple times. So, I nursed her and put her to bed like we've always done...and guess what?? She slept through the night again. Since then, she has been sleeping like a champ! It's amazing, and I'm so excited for her (and ME).

Ruby still dislikes pretty much all food. She will eat puffs, mum-mums, yogurt bites, and any other "snack" type baby food, but rarely anything else. The crazy thing? She will not even try it. When I offer her something she closes her mouth tightly and shakes her head. I'm trying to not worry that I've turned my 11 month old into a snack obsessed food snob, but it's is starting to become a little concerning. She is VERY interested in nursing ALL the time, so I'm hoping once I start cutting back some (hopefully after her birthday), she will become a little more adventurous with food. We will see!

Waving with dada

That being said, she hasn't gained any weight this month. She's holding strong at 20lbs and is 28inches long, putting her in the 35th percentile in weight and 15th percentile in height. She's mostly in 12 month clothing, but still fits into the majority of her 9 month and all of her 6-12 month. We're getting some major use out of this size, considering she has been wearing most of it since she was 6 months old!

Ruby's vocabulary is also expanding. Even though most things she says would not be understandable to others, WE know what she is saying! She says: Dada, Mama, Dog (Dah!), Milk (nah-nah), More (na?). She talks all the time and is constantly pointing at things asking what they are. It is so fun to watch her learn! She's still signing more, all done, and milk on a pretty consistent basis, she signs "please" occasionally but it's not often.

pointing with dada

Ruby's Month 11 Favorite things:

-Mama, Dada, Banjo, foster brothers
-Her baby
-Blowing kisses
-Making a fish face and "smooching" for a kiss
-Waving at EVERYONE
-Pointing at EVERYTHING
-Swinging outside. This has become a nightly routine since I've started back at work...it's a great way to spend time together.
-Playing peek-a-boo
-Climbing in the dishwasher
-Playing in the kitchen drawers
-Cruising around furniture, but NOT trying to walk.
-Dumping out banjo's food and water
-Rocking in the recliner and rocking chair
-Dancing. This girl is a mover and shaker. Any time she hears a tune, she starts grooving.
-Crawling away from you as fast as she can when you tell her "no" and try to pick her up from doing something she's not supposed to do.
-Throwing food on the ground to Banjo

Ruby's Month 11 not-so-favorite things:

-Eating anything except milk
-Being told no
-Getting changed (diaper and clothes...both awful)
-Saying bye to mama and dada...this has become hard for us! She hates us leaving.
-Getting in her carseat

Sweet baby girl, 

I can't believe it's almost been a year since we welcomed you into our lives. You have changed us for the better, precious one! I cannot begin to tell you how special you are to us. You make us (and a lot of other random people) smile every day, and you brighten our lives with your sweet presence. You're charming, beautiful, smart, sassy, and quite the comedian. Daddy and I are so proud of the wonderful little person you already are! 

We love you so much, 

Mama

HOW?!

How has my baby gone from this:

to this:

So darn quickly?!?!

excuse my while I go cry...

Ruby-- Ten Months

Double digits, baby! 

It's starting to sink in that this growing up business is real, and in just two short months my sweet, tiny, infant, newborn daughter will be ONE YEAR OLD. How? I'm not quite sure, because it certainly feels like we were just bringing her home from the hospital evacuating for hurricane Isaac.

Like I stated in the previous post, these pictures were not easy to come by. Ruby is becoming less and less a fan of sitting still and posing for pictures. She's still adorable (duh) and gave me a few good signature Ruby grins.

We've been battling yet another crumby ear infection this month! I think we're all fed up, and decided to start talking next steps to get this girl well. Ruby rarely seems majorly phased by the constant infections. Sadly, I think the discomfort has become her normal, and it doesn't really bother her often. Her sleep habits have been a little screwy this month, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to attribute that to the ear infections, or just how crazy out of whack our schedule has been.

Our girl is still as entertaining as ever and keeps us on our toes and laughing. She is such a show off and will perform for anyone that is willing to watch. She has really taken to pointing this month. She stretches her pudgy little arm out with her pointer finger tight and straight and says "huh???" at random things as to say "what is that?". I try and figure out what she is pointing to every time and say the word.  She loves it. She points at every little thing. It's amazing to watch her discover the world and begin communicating effectively. She is able to tell me when she's hungry, or thirsty and uses it adamantly. If I don't respond to her request immediately she gets very frustrated and upset. I'm sure she just thinks I'm ignoring her or don't understand what she's asking for, but in reality I can't always drop what we are doing to get her what she wants. It's hard because at this point in her life I can say "I'll feed you in a just a few minutes, baby" until I'm blue in the face and all she cares about is that fact that she's signing "FOOD, DRINK, HUNGRY, THIRSTY, NOOWWWW!!!" and I'm ignoring her. She still loves to communicate, and I love watching her grow and learn. It's so fun and neat.

She's still crawling faster than a speeding bullet, and is not showing much interest in walking. She enjoys cruising around furniture, and has let go and stood unassisted for brief moments, but has not attempted to take any steps that we know of. She is growing more independent by the day though, and I foresee her walking relatively soon. Who knows though! She could wait until she's a year and a half! Crawling if effective for her and she doesn't seem to be in a rush.

When we went to the Dr. this month for a follow-up for the ear infection, Ruby was maintaining her weight at 20lbs. She may have gained a couple ounces, but wasn't over the 20lb mark yet. Our doctor said this is very typical of babies, and she could maintain this weight until her first birthday (although I don't see that happening). The girl loves to nurse still, and I plan on continuing to nurse her beyond her first birthday if she wants to. I don't have a set plan for weaning, mostly because I don't really see the point in planning it out. My plan is to do what seems best for her. I do know that I really do not want to continue pumping at work (I am beyond ready to have a normal lunch break that does not entail being hooked up to a machine), so we will probably introduce cows milk at some point after her first birthday for daytime drinking.

Sleep has been a little bit rough this month. For some reason she has regressed to waking up once a night again, usually around 2am. She acts hungry (even though I know she's most likely not) and will not calm down for Andrew. I usually always cave and nurse her back to sleep. We'll see if this comes back to bite me later. At this point, since I am on summer break and can function with less sleep, I'm not super concerned about fixing her sleep. I'm hoping and praying this is just a quick phase and she will be back to sleeping through the night very soon.

Ruby's Month 10 Favorite Things:

-Mama, Dada, Banjo and T (foster brother)
-Baby dolls. She LOVES to snuggle, hold, and kiss her babies. It's the sweetest and cutest thing ever, y'all.
-Puffs
-Signing "more". Does it ALL. THE. TIME.
-Clapping
-Dancing
-Being held
-Outside (swinging, eating grass, playing in the dog's water)
-Finding whatever it is in our house that she can't have and could hurt her (cords, T's small toys) and playing with them even though she knows she's not supposed to.
-Playing peek-a-boo or "where's Ruby?!"

Ruby's Month 10 Not-so-favorite Things:

-Diaper changes have become her worst enemy. She twists and shouts like it's the worst possible thing ever.
- ^ Besides sleeves of course, those are DEFINITELY the worst things ever.
- Wearing hair bows, clips, or headbands. This one makes me sad because we have quite the collection. She almost immediately rips it off and proceeds to make it her chew toy. Oi.

Aaaand, it's a wrap!

Precious One, 

Even though time is flying by much too quickly for your mama's liking, this stage of your life is so incredibly fun! You are funny, sweet, mischievous, and just straight up enjoyable to be around. I genuinely love spending time with you and we are getting lots of it with me being on Summer Break from work. You are the sweetest, most joyful person I've ever known and I am so proud of the little person you're becoming. Life with you in it is so much sweeter.

I love you x infinity, 

Mama

Ruby is 10 Months!

The blog has really fallen by the wayside recently. I'm sorry. 

I really have no excuse other than I've been soaking up this Summer break (hello, awesome perk of being a school nurse!) with my sweet babies.
I did get around to snapping a few 10 month pictures of Ruby-girl the other day, and it was by far the hardest month to capture her. She's all over the place, and really just wanted to snack on some grass.

I'll be back soon to write her 10 month post. Until then, here's a little snapshot of how our 10 month photoshoot went down.

Ruby -- Nine Months

Well, it's official. My baby has been in the world longer than she has been in my belly. It's a strange feeling considering the 9 months she was in my belly felt like the longest 9 months of my life, yet the 9 months she's been with us out in the world have been the quickest. Funny how time will do that to ya.

Ruby has rolled with the punches this past month has her little world changed drastically by adding another kiddo to the family. She loves to play, and she does that no matter who is in our house. We got close to adding a little "brother" (9 days old!!) to our family last week, but ended up deciding it wouldn't be the best for us, or her. It's difficult to pray through these placements quickly and try and decide the future for your family and these kids in 10 minutes. God has been faithful in giving us the correct answers, and we're so grateful for his peace and comfort in the times we have to say no.

Back to the girl! She's busy, busy, busy! There is not a waking moment that she's not moving around and trying to get into something. Even when she's nursing she tosses and turns and makes silly noises. She's a mess!

One thing about her that I never ever want to forget about this stage is how dang funny she is. She has little "jokes" she plays on us and it never ceases to crack us up. She will be holding something in her hand and reach it out to you like she's saying "you wanna share??" When you reach to get it and say "thank you" she will whip it back to herself and squeal like "HAHA! GOTCHA!!!". She could play this game all. day. long. She also points at everyone and smiles so big and will squeal and scream if you point back. She dances, bounces, grooves, and claps to music, singing, and praise. She really is such a fun (and funny) baby!

We're still struggling with ear infections, and colds, but it's sadly just become a norm and doesn't really even affect her mood. I've noticed that it does affect her sleeping when it's really bothering her, but other than that, she's still her happy little self.

Like I said, Ruby is crawling at full speed and is into everything. She is also pulling up onto everything and cruising around like a boss. She even climbed some steps this week at our friend's pool. She's brave, and strong and shows off all the time. She has had a few bumps and bruises from her adventure but is really a tough kid. She falls and just gets right back up to go about her adventures. Her teachers at school are amazed by how much of a little rough and tumble girl she is, and say something about it almost every time I pick her up!

I've gotten a few comments this month about Ruby thinning out (TEAR!), but she is definitely still chunkalicious (that's a word, right?)! She hadn't gained any weight since her doctors appointment right before her 8 month birthday, but had gained some length. She was 20lbs and 27 inches at her appointment putting her in the 75th % in weight, and 50th % in height. I'm sure with her new found mobility she will continue thinning out, and it makes me a little sad to see her loosing her baby fat! I hope it sticks around for a while longer.

She's still not a huge fan of eating anything other than mama's milk. She eats great at daycare, but closes her mouth tightly to foods when we offer them at home. I'm not stressing about it, and just continuing to offer her new things to try. She's nursing in the morning before I leave, and then 2-3 times after daycare. She LOVES to nurse, and would probably nurse all night long if I let her. She's at the stage where she can make it very clear what exactly she wants by pulling on my shirt and trying to chew on my boob through my shirt. It can get a little awkward in a big group of people, but we embrace it! It's pretty hilarious to see.

Ruby is still sleeping great (besides the few nights that her ears have been hurting). She has started going to bed a little earlier, but not because I want her to! I really enjoy and cherish our evenings together and kind of liked that she was staying up later, but she had been giving us lots of cues of being sleepy around 7:30. So, instead of dealing with a fussy, tired baby, we just started putting her down earlier. She's sleeping about 11 hours usually, and wakes up around 6:30. Can't complain!

Her hair has really come in this month! It's like it's growing overnight at this point. It's long enough for a clip, which makes this mama so very happy. Except, she will not keep them in for the life of her. She LOVES pulling them out and chewing on them. Oh well. It's cute while it lasts, and it's pretty funny to watch her search for it, reach up and find it, and then examine her treasure. ;)

Ruby's babbling almost constantly at this point. We joke that when she learns how to actually "talk" she's never going to stop. Her favorite word is definitely "dada". She says it all. the. time. She has the sweetest little raspy voice that just makes me smile. She already has such a tone and inflection to the way she "speaks", it's really pretty amazing. I can't wait to hear some of the things this girl will say someday!

Ruby's favorite things:
-Banjo
-Mama & Dada
-Bath time
-Playing constantly
-Swinging (Ruby's Dano & DD bought her a playset and we are loving it!)
-Clapping
-Squealing
-Dancing
-Being crazy
-Tearing stuff up (if I ever need a spare moment, say to pee, I just give her some toilet paper and let her go to town tearing it up...she thinks it's the best thing ever)
-Puffs
-Frozen peaches and mangoes

Ruby's not-so-favorite things:
-Sleeves are still the worst thing ever.
-Actually, just getting dressed at all is pretty horrible.
-Being told "no" is pretty high up on the list of things Ruby hates. (she loves to play in Banjo's water bowl and we hate to clean up the mess that ensues when she does so. we take her away from the bowl and say "no" and she gives us the saddest look ever known to mankind and then bursts into tears). It's almost enough for me to just let her play in the water, but I know she has to learn eventually!
-Getting in her carseat after I pick her up from daycare. I understand this one. She hasn't seen me all day long, and she just wants mama to hold her, but I want to get home and hold her. She just can't understand the logic.

My Sweet Love, 

Mama and Daddy are so proud of the fun, quirky, loveable little person that you are. You make us SO happy! We always talk about how lucky we are to have you, and how wonderful we think you are. We are so happy to be apart of your life, and watching you grow is the greatest privilege we could ever wish for. You're the greatest, Rubes. 

Love,

Mama