28 December 2011

wordless-ish wednesday: baby mozart

i don't know if ruby will want to play when she's older and i don't really care what hobbies she picks up, as long as she's happy, but she sure is sweet on her baby grand piano.

16 December 2011

officially as much time on the outside as on the inside

well, ruby is 9 months old. so technically she hasn't quite been on the outside as long as she was on the inside since she was really on the inside for more like 9 1/2 months, but close enough!

in the past few days, she has really started moving. in her 8-month birthday post, i said that she seemed to be focusing a lot of her energy on getting moving and that has sure been the story this last month, too. on the 14th, she pulled herself up from sitting to standing and on the 15th, she started rolling repeatedly from her back to her stomach and stomach to back until she was just rotating in a circle on the floor. it was pretty funny to watch. then before i realized it, within a few minutes of starting that, she figured out how to get into sitting position. that kinda sent me over the edge of "what-the-heck-kid-settle-down-&-slow-your-crazy-growing-self" and just when i was about to get weepy, she got up on her knees and started rocking back and forth. what the?! seriously, i was starting to think she was going to pull herself up to standing again and just start walking. it was a little mind boggling how quickly she went from one thing to the next. like she knew how to do it all along in her head but was just waiting to execute her mad skills. so, yeah. now i really need to get the house ruby-proofed. oy.

i haven't weighed/measured her lately so i'm not sure of those details but she doesn't look/feel all that much bigger to me. she's definitely slowed down in that department. when we were at the pediatrician a couple weeks ago because of a cough she had, she was in the 25% for weight and the pediatrician said that was fine because "she's not really that tall." yup, sorry little peanut. tall genes aren't really your friends. :)

she's still in size 3 diapers. she's in mostly 6 - 9 month clothes, but still fits into some 6 month stuff and is also wearing some 12 months clothes, too.

she goes to sleep each night at about 7 pm and wakes up usually b/w 6 - 7 am. the last few days she's been up for an hour or two in the middle of the night. i'm not sure what that's all about but i assume she'll grow out of it, so whatevs. aside from that tho, she still wakes up a few times. all in all, sleep is going fine. and altho i am tired most of the time (read: always), the exhaustion is not as bad as i thought it was going to be. i cannot imagine being pregnant again right now, tho. oh, no. no way. oh, the torture. i can't even think about it. ok, moving on.

let's see. ruby doesn't say much more than "mama" that you can make out, that is. she is still pretty loud and babbles a lot. she has started kind of yelling at me if i don't respond to her. it's pretty funny. at first, she'll just be happily saying "mama mama mama mama" and if i don't answer, all of the sudden it's "ma-MAAA! ma-MAAA!" i usually respond with "yes, ruby?" and she just smiles. stinker.

overall, ruby is a very happy little girl. she is quite the flirt with just about everyone. although she's happiest when she's in my arms, she is getting to know her extended family better and is more comfortable visiting with others. it's so sweet. she is full of smiles (almost) all the time.

she's the best part of everyday and the absolute light of our lives. i can't believe she's already 9 month old. we have her 9 month check-up (a little late) in two weeks and then the next appt i make for her will be here 12 month. holy shmoly. a year old? craziness.

okay, favorite part - cuteness overload:
someone's a little happy :)

she's such a mover - so this is a little blurry. but look how
long she is getting!

whoops! oh, there she goes.

i love her little chicken legs.

this girl is ripped! look at her little muscles. :)

picture time was a lot of work. time to relax in the tub and
play with dad's shaving gel. happy 9 month old little lady. :)

07 December 2011

wordless(ish) wednesday: busted



"uh-oh. it wasn't me. the cat did it."


"okay, i got it. i'll flash you one of my goofy
grins and you won't even see the mess."


06 December 2011

we are thankful!

we had a lovely thanksgiving and i got a slew of fun pictures that i wanted to share. we had a very busy, but exciting, few days in both WI and MN (for ruby & i). it was soo good to see so much of our families. we don't get to see our sickels' side nearly enough and although T wasn't able to go up with ruby & i, i was still grateful to be able to visit for the holiday. here are some (okay, many) snapshots of the holiday festivities.

we spent thanksgiving day with T's family at his parent's house. we ate a ton and had great company. it was a good day. :)

yay! it's thanksgiving! let's eat!

some QT with grandpa sun

 funny! ruby and her auntie rhonda

just chillin' with grandpa sun. no big deal.

ruby was not all that interested in the packer game.

max, however, captured her interest. ruby loves pets. she always laughs at them and gets very excited when they come by her. it's pretty sweet.

cuddle time with dad :)

our favorite! it's time to eat!
 friday morning, ruby and i got ready for ruby's first airplane ride. it was pretty exciting. i was a little nervous about traveling alone with ruby and how it would all go, but seeing as how the flight to MN would only be 45 minutes, i knew it would work out fine. and it did! i managed to pack all of our stuff for the entire weekend into one backpack, which was super convenient. ruby played with her toys while we waited to take off. i fed her before we took off for both flights and she fell fast to sleep. and i was out-of-my-mind with happiness that we didn't have to drive 5 1/2 hours to get there. score!

ruby's favorite thing to do - read books! she was very interested in this one while we sat and waited to board the plane.

hanging out with her catepiller in the terminal (and check out her mad sippy cup skills!)

watching the planes come and go

more reading! and this time with cousin hannah. this is too sweet. :)

oh more sweetness! quality time with cousin hannah. ruby, as always, loves to be with her cousins. she watches their every move and laughs at them when they play. she's such a social little lady. i love it.

ruby has started feeding herself her food. she concentrates really hard and is pretty impressed with herself when the food actually gets in her mouth. and even more entertaining is when the food doesn't get in her mouth, ends up on the floor, and she looks around down at her hands as if to say "where'd it go??" and as with every new milestone she reaches, i'm so proud of her.

the night before we came back home, we helped lisa and her family decorate their christmas tree.
 ruby likes the lights, although mostly she just wants to eat them. :) we stayed up way too late helping with the tree and (as you can see here) ruby was pretty much zoned-out by the end of it and in much need of some sleep!

22 November 2011

three quarters of a year

ruby turned 8 months old on november 15th. not that she wasn't before, but she is so much fun now! she has a flirtatious smile that she gives people when she knows she's being funny, then buries her head in my shoulder. she fake coughs and looks around to see if anyone's noticed, too. she's becoming quite the jokester and i can only imagine what she will be like in another year.

so, here's a snapshot of ruby at 8 months:

she's still in size three diapers and i think she's around 18 lbs.

she finally, finally (finally!) rolled from her back to her stomach. once. and she was still laying on her arm when she did it and couldn't figure out how to pull it out from under her. it was pretty hilarious. but also so exciting! she's been trying to do that for months!

she can stand up if she's holding on to something with two hands. she stands up next to the tub and watches me fill it up each night. it's so sweet.

she's still babbling away a lot. and let me tell you, she is LOUD. i think it's pretty awesome. except for when she wakes up at 4:30 and starts up talking at the top of her lungs. i think she will be quite a chatty little girl.

in the last month, it seemed like ruby's spent the majority of her energy on figuring out how to get moving. she sits up on her own all the time and has started lunging forward to get where she wants to go. she pushes herself backwards when she's on her tummy. it is so much fun to watch her figure out how to do something she's been working so hard on. i'm so proud of her.

ruby's sleep is pretty good. she goes to sleep pretty easily each night and sleeps from about 7:30 - 6:00 and wakes up a couple times most nights. i think she's doing great and am loving all the snuggles.

she's still eating everything we put in front of her. and very recently she's started eating puffs and other solid snacks. she can definitely put away some food. her dad is proud. :)

ok, now for the good stuff. pictures! she is less and less happy each month to be laying down. she can sit up & darn it, she wants to! which i think is pretty sweet, so she's like that most of the time.

anyway, she rocks. we love the socks off you, rubinski!

07 November 2011

best. halloween. ever

okay, i'm a little late with this one. but i have been swamped in every area of my life. i manage to take pictures of everything that i want to blog. it's the actual blogging that takes more time and energy than i can usually muster up after i get ruby to bed and everything situated in the house each night. but tomorrow, i'm home with rubinski b/c T has to work and we can't put her in daycare the extra day. so that means, among many things, that i get to nap (!!!) tomorrow when ruby does. holla! what up?! yeah, you know you're jealous.

so, i must must must recap our halloween celebration. waaay back in august, i found this post at www.pinksuedeshoe.com and was immediately inspired. i knew immediately that i had to make this happen for ruby's first halloween costume. i, too, was obsessed with rainbow brite, as a child. one of my co-worker's wife is quite a talented seamstress, he showed her the link, and she said she'd be happy to make it for ruby. and i'm serious when i say she's very talented - she made the costume, without seeing/measuring/even peeking at ruby, and it fit like a glove. i lost myself in giggles the first time i put her in it (and every time after for that matter). she was a huge hit! everyone has said she was adorable and that it was one of the best costumes they'd ever seen for a little baby girl. i couldn't agree more. it was a great day, great memories, and as you'll now see, some great pictures!
i just love her little leggings. and the star antennas. and her fluff. :)

rainbow brite and her sidekick, twink


handing out candy to the masses!

this was during a quick costume run-through the day before halloween. we had to make sure everything fit just right. she doesn't look at all excited, does she?? :)
behold, the final painted pumpkin product!
and making ruby into a kung fu baby
(you know, the rainbow kung fu baby version)
:)

other halloween festivities - painting her pumpkin. ruby loves to paint and she did a lovely job, if i do say so myself.
other halloween shenanigans included playing in a pile of rainbow
we had an absolutely awesome halloween. next year, ruby will be old enough to have some input into what she wants to dress up as, so i think i did a great job of taking full advantage of being able to put her in something ridiculously over the top when i had the chance. mission accomplished, eh?

21 October 2011

7 months! go on with yo bad self, rubinski!

here we are. 7 months in. parenting is wonderful. and exhausting. and a comedy show repeating every day. ruby is constantly changing. while i know her so well now that i can predict what she is going to do before she does it and what kind of cry she's going to have before she opens her little mouth, she keeps coming up with new tricks and i am loving it! 

so, here are the 7 month highlights:

ruby is a great eater. she continues to like pretty much everything we give to her. she makes some crazy faces when she eats peaches but keeps right on eating. 

she still hasn't rolled over from her back to her stomach, and now that i think of it, she hasn't rolled over from her stomach to her back in a while, either. right now, she just loves to be sitting up. she'll spend more time on her back than her stomach but she has really been getting good at keeping herself upright. a few nights ago, she almost pulled herself up on to her knees from sitting position when she pulled on a laundry basket. and my immediate thought was something along the lines of "oh crap. we need to baby-proof the heck outta this joint pronto!" hopefully she doesn't go mobile for a few more months b/c we don't even have all our stuff unpacked yet. (yeah, we moved in almost two months ago. whoops.)

she's almost in size 3 diapers and my guess would be that she's around 17 lbs. 

she will dance immediately if you start to sing to her and bounce her on your hip. she went to her first wedding and i just have to say, made her mama very proud at how excited she was when they played madonna. from the stories my big sisters have told me, i think she comes by her love of madonna honestly. 

we don't need to talk about how she's sleeping. ha ha. nah, really, she sleeps pretty well at night...as long as she's sleeping with us. that started about a month ago after she got her 6 months shots. it seemed her shots coincided with some serious separation anxiety. i know many will say that we're going to have a battle on our hands when it comes time to moving her back into her crib, but i'm not convinced of that. her sleep, like everything else, is constantly changing. we'll figure it out. and in the meantime, we are stocking up on some serious snuggles. i love it. 

she is quite the talker and is often hollering whatever it is that she wants to communicate to you. she started to say "mama" a few weeks back but only when she cries. and she's been saying it more often lately. particularly when she's in her carseat and screaming to be released from her restraints. she had a nice week where she didn't mind the carseat, but alas, apparently it sucks again. poor thing. oh, and speaking of car seats - she's graduated to the bigger carseat. and i must say, she looks too cool for school in it. 

and now for the fun part, picture time!


her 7 month photo shoot started out as normal - this is her usual arm-out, shake-it-like-a-polariod-picture pose...


...but it quickly turned into this. :) so, we switched it up...


and she's much happier this way. :) notice her holding on to her toes. too cute.
 
looking at her daddy.
this girl just kills me.

12 October 2011

..:: wordless-ish wednesday ::.. (because we're too busy stuffing our faces)

okay, so actually, i do have a few words. (it's ruby whose face is being stuffed, as you'll see)

it has been a trying few weeks, let me tell you.  i'm quickly learning that the reason parenting is so wonderful and, at the same time, so challenging, is because you just never know what you're gonna get any given day.  ruby's sleep was gradually getting better and better up to her six month check-up.  she'd actually slept 7 hours a few days before her appointment and had been staying in her crib longer and longer each night before she'd end up in our bed.  i was feeling optimistic.  that was my first mistake. haha. she got her shots, ran a fever over 101 for two days and it's been downhill since then.  she's recently started exhibiting some serious separation anxiety from me and now cries when i drop her off at day care (unless she's with her favorite teacher, ms misty). i love that she wants to be with me so much but it also breaks my heart that she gets so sad without me sometimes. anyway, i know that everything is just a phase and she'll soon be out of this one. but, don't let me fool you - as always, there are a million more sweet/funny/happy times each day than there are challenging ones.  and the best examples of the fun moments lately have had a lot ot do with ruby starting to eat solid foods. she likes pretty much everything she's tried - especially sweet potatoes, squash, and green beans. 

so, behold, ruby stuffing her face. and learning to use a sippy cup! what has happened to our little girl? 


this was the face we got a lot the first few times ruby at solid food.

ruby usually sits in a high chair now when we go out and i must say she's getting very good at it.
using the sippy cup with two hands!
still working on the idea that you have to tip it up to get any water to come out,
 but she's making progress. 
and this is what happends when ruby get a hold of the spoon and attempts to feed herself.

20 September 2011

enjoying our new normal because "babies don't keep"

yeah, i'm pretty sure it's official. we are getting the hang of parenting and becoming a family of three, instead of just T & i.  for starters, we're pretty much good with the new routine that is our life now. this includes (to my chagrin), ruby making us start our day at roughly 6 am each morning. on a much happier note, it also includes her nighttime bath which she loves and reading books before bed, another new activity that she's recently taken to. so, yeah, all this is becoming old hat to us.  but i hope i never take any of it for granted.

i'm grateful that i've finally reached the point that, for the most part, i don't worry about every little thing.  i've decided to stop obsessing about her sleep schedule and whether i nurse her to sleep or not, if she's held "too much", and least of all, the state of our house. we've still got a slew of boxes to unpack, but the way i see it, these last six months absolutely flew by. i don't want to miss a minute with our little family.

i've recently become addicted to "pinterest" (thank you, SIL candice! but that's a whole other post). anyway, as i was saying, i'm pretty much obsessed with pinterest now and last week i came across this print -

yeah, that pretty much sums it up.  i was actually on the phone with my mom a few days after i found this and we were talking about parenting, in general, when she started reciting parts of this poem.  i told her i'd just seen it myself.  before you knew it, we were both crying.  later that night, as i was nursing ruby, i was thinking about how much love i have for her and of my mom, getting choked up thinking of her babies that aren't babies at all anymore.  i know she's proud of all of us for the people that we've become, but i imagine she misses the days she could hold us in her arms and protect us from all of the harm and hurt in the world.  

we've come a long way in 6 months.  it's hard to believe how much we've grown as a family and i cannot wait to see what our lives will look like in another 6 months.

15 September 2011

where does the time go?

ruby is 6 months old today.  yeah, that's right.  6 months.  for some reason, six months always seemed like some serious milestone for us to hit.  and now that it's here, it definitely feels like the big milestone i thought it would.  it really has taken about 6 months for me to feel settled into my role as a mom.  breastfeeding is no problem anymore.  i'm confident in knowing what ruby needs or wants at any given time and i don't question the decisions we make for her nearly as much as i used to.  i'm sure it helps that after 4 months, ruby became more interactive and in many ways, just easier to take care of.  and she is growing by leaps and bounds; doing something new every day and i never imagined that i could spend the day just watching someone and be absolutely content and thoroughly entertained.

here's a rundown of ruby right now:
  • she rolls onto her back from her tummy quickly and easily
  • she tries to sit up from laying on her back ("tries" is the operative word here)
  • she is almost growing out of her size 2 diapers
  • she is starting solid foods next weekend after her 6 month appt
  • she is grabbing at absolutely everything and putting it in her mouth
  • her bedtime is 7 pm and she still wakes up 2 or 3 times a night (sometimes more - whoops!). she gets up each day around 6 or 6:30 am
  • she sits up on her own for short periods of time
  • she loves to swing at the park
  • she no longer views her car seat as a torture device and spends most of her time in it talking to herself
  • she spins arounnd on her tummy, to grab at things on the floor
  • she loves to take baths & splash the water everywhere
  • she really likes to be with her cousins. she smiles and laughs at them and looks very content to be sitting between them, just watching tv or "talking". and she loves their hugs.
  • she recently started sitting in the shopping cart seat when we go to the store
  • today she got her first high chair and she absolutely loves sitting at the table 
  • she smiles at strangers and then will bury her head in my shoulder like a little flirt.
  • and she is hands down one of the most fun and funniest kids i've ever met
and lastly, i went a little crazy with pictures today. lucky you. :)

look mom, i can grab these toys all by myself!

see, i told you - she loves her new seat!

getting seriously good at sitting up on her own

this pic doesn't show much except for that she's got a cute little booty! and that she pushes her self all the way up with her arms now. go on with 'yo bad self, rubinski! 

and her monthly pic - growing girl :)