wordless-ish wednesday: fine motor skills? check.

i admit this is a little silly post. today, you get no super-cute-ruby post. instead, you get super-growing-ruby-skills post. i felt like this needed to be documented somewhere. this girl lately loves to draw. on anything. paper, the cat, her leg, you name it. i thought this little masterpiece was pretty darn good for our 15 month old lady. (and i was glad i didn't find it on the couch. i've seen her heading that direction with pen in hand more than once. can't say i blamer her - it IS a glorious blank slate. still waiting on the first "i made the wall beautiful with my art, mom" situation. i'm sure i'll post that, too, because, well, you know - me.)

wordless-ish wednesday: houston, we have a problem.

and the solution: we need another gate.

thirteen month little chica

well, here we are. 13 months and then some. ya know, when ruby turned a year it was such a milestone. i thought it would feel bigger, though, honestly. i thought i would cry at her birthday. i thought i'd choke up singing her "happy birthday" with our friends and families. but none of that happen. on her actual birthday, i was, just... happy. i was reflective and grateful for the year we've had together as a family. i was content.

but.

i'm finding the weeks and month(s) after ruby's first year are actually more emotional for me. there is no missing ruby's personality at this age and the developmental milestones that she's reaching now are almost always specifically related to her becoming more independent. i know, i know, you're thinking i need to relax, take a breath, and stop freaking out. i know that she's not about to jump in the car and drive off to the mall to hang out with her friends. but some days, it is so clear just how quickly time goes by. and every time ruby learns to do something new on her own, something that she used to need me to do for her, i have to admit that a tiny part of me is a little sad.

sigh.

(and ya know, as an aside, i love when i'm blogging and that happens - something comes out that i haven't actually said out loud. and maybe i didn't even know it, but that i actually needed to say it.)

so, now that i've gotten that out, let's talk about what totally rocks. and that is 13-month-old-rubinski. she is crazy. like, straight-up. she's loud and, as of late, kinda all attitude all the time. she is clearly testing out limits. it's like she hit the year mark and all the sudden ruby has decided she owns this house and all those in it. (and let's be honest, she's probably not that far off.) and actually, it's pretty hilarious. loud and hilarious. she actually yelled at terence this morning. of course, you can't understand much of what she's saying, but trust me, if you were in our house this morning, you'd have known that she was not thinking of something nice while she screeched in his direction.

ya know, as i re-read this, it doesn't sound like 13 months rocks at all. but seriously, ruby acting more like a little person, for the most part, is so much fun! when she tries out hollering at me about something she's mad about and i tell her to pretty much chill out, she totally knows what i'm saying and often times will start laughing as though to say "aww man, that mama. she called my bluff again." i have a good time with her. truth be told, it's probably b/c i see a lot of myself in her. from the stories that my older sisters and my mom's told of me when i was little, it sounds like ruby may be following in her mother's spunky little footprints. and yeah, i'm pretty much a proud mama.

so, verbally, ruby's really growing. she says "mama", "dad", "bye-bye", "ball", "uh-oh", and "whoa" (i'm serious with that last one. it's usually "oh, whoa!" i'm trying to teach her "yeah, baby" too.) oh, and - this is so freaking exciting! - this week, she started signing "more" when she wanted more to eat. i've been signing "more", "eat", and "all done" since she was 6 months and it's pretty sweet to see her starting to pick it up. of course, i just think she's a genius. ha.

she's still not walking, just cruising along furniture and standing up for short periods of time on her own. but this morning, i had put her on the couch to put her shoes on and she flipped on her stomach and slid off the couch, feet first, to get on the floor. T pointed out that she'd done it a couple times before and i was surprised. i actually think it's a small miracle. she's pretty darn good at climbing up on to things, but it's the falling-to-her-death-or-seriously-painful-end part that worries me. now hopefully we can transfer this new found skill of hers to the stairs.

ruby still loves her usual loves - singing, reading, anything involving music. and lately, she's also been loving throwing balls. she totally geeks out everytime she throws one. so it seems she has some athletic ability. loves to read? can throw a ball? this kid has some serious skills. :)

alright, on to some ruby-love in photos...

hey there, not-so-little girl!



these are my feet. aren't they cool?

so this is a little blurry, but this! this is her oh-no-you-didn't face.
i think it's hilarious. which isn't the effect i think she's going for, but ah well.

lovin' up on her purple horsey.

little nerd in the house!

since she was about 3 months old, ruby has loved books in every way; being read to, turning the pages, pointing at the pictures and words, chewing on the covers and babbling along as I read to her. books are her go-to activity, for sure. see exhibit A below. :)

our little reader

tonight, after i got ruby changed and ready for bed, she was crawling around her room getting into everything she could find. i said to her "ruby, want to read some books?" and this is what she did...

she crawled across the room, stood up, grabbed a book, sat down, and started to "read". it is so incredible to see her begin to understand more and more of what we're saying to her. and as an aside, i couldn't be any happier that ruby loves books so much. :)

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 :)




our growing girl

it's been a minute since i've posted. the days have been flying by. ruby is changing so much every day and we try to soak up every minute we have with her. between that, trying to sleep, and spending about a half hour washing ruby's bottles each night, time is running low. at any rate, life is wonderful these days. more than ever before, ruby is becoming more and more like a little girl and much less like a baby. now, you better believe she's still sleeping like a baby. that has become my focus lately since she doesn't seem to be a natural sleeper. that doesn't bother me much. in fact, i really don't mind getting up at night with her, even 3 or 4 times. what i really want for her is to be able to learn how to put herself to sleep. i am not willing to just let her "cry it out" so i've been reading the "no cry sleep solution" book. i absolutely love it's approach. it's not a quick fix solution, but instead focuses on gradual changes. i've heard that sleep regression and just needing to learn how to put themselves to sleep is a common developmental change for most babies so i'm not sweating it too much. it's just a phase, like everything else.

and speaking of development, on a much more fun topic - ruby is really starting to make good use of her hands. it's the sweetest thing. she's the sweetest thing. she's constantly chewing on her fingers, using them to grab at toys or pretty much anything in her reach and then immediately shove it in her mouth. and i don't have a picture of it (because i took video, of course!), but every so often, she will fall asleep while chewing on her fingers and kinda talking to herself. it is hilarious! here's some ruby-love and examples of her new skills. i think my personal favorite is the second from the left on top - i mean, she is seriously showing that toy who's boss! although, i can't deny that the bottom right isn't pretty awesome, too.
*sigh* we are in love.

*wordless-ish wednesday*

i like the idea of wordless-ish wednesdays that i've seen on other blogs - posting a pic (or a few) with a caption. so...enjoy my first wordless-ish wednesday post!

i feel like i'm constantly saying "ruby is getting so big" these days. as you can see, on the left, she's not too in to lying on her back anymore. if you put her on her back, she'll start to lift her head up towards you, as if to say "help me out, would ya?" and she rolled over again today. when she's in tummy time now, she keeps her head up for most of the time and just looks around at the room, the mirror, and me, then rests it on one of her chubby cheeks for a bit before she does it all over again. she's starting to suck her fingers at night to get herself to fall asleep, too. it's amazing and wonderful to see her learning, but also a little sad as i put away her newborn clothes and get ready to move her into her own room in her own crib. wow. yeah, i'm a little freaked out about it, but mostly i'm just over-the-moon proud of our little girl.