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. :)

she's 10 - scratch that - 10 1/2 months!!!!!

well, i'm a bit behind on posting ruby's 10 month pictures. as you can see the we've been busy - busy keeping after this crazy crawling chica! she is on the move for reals. it all happened pretty quickly. ruby seems to tackle all milestones the same way. meaning that she doesn't do a darn thing until she has figured out exactly what she's going to do in her head first. and then when she takes the first move, she pretty much does it like she's been doing it for years. it's pretty awesome to see her figure stuff out and try something new. so, now she is crawling. fast. and pulling herself up on to everything. once she gets up, she starts moving around the furniture and all of her toys. she's cruising right along. she loves a bike that my co-workers bought her. we have it set up so that it's more like a rocker right now than a bike. she loves it. she gets on that thing and rocks it like crazy. and she may or may not have fallen off. more than once. and fake-cried after like she was terrified of the thing. it's pretty hilarious to see. i imagine that ruby will be walking within a month or so.

let's see, what else is new? ah yes, here are her specs: i suspect she's approaching 20 lbs and she's is wearing sizes 9 months - 12 months clothes. she's still in size 3 diapers. she (we) are still nursing! she's been getting a little bit of formula on some days, depending on how often i'm able to pump at work. i'm still pumping 3 (!) times a day at work and counting the days (ahem, 22!) until i can drop the work pumps. she usually nurses when she wakes up in the morning (early, around 6) and then has three 4 ounce bottles at daycare. then she nurses sometime around dinner and before she goes to bed. she's been eating pretty much everything we eat now, too, which is fun. she still loves pretty much everything she tries which makes me happy. ruby's pediatrician wants her to start on cow's milk a few weeks prior to her one year appointment so towards the end of march, we'll start offering her whole milk and see how it goes. *sigh* new milestones left and right.

ruby has started practicing some new words, too. she still says "mama" the most, but has added "bye" and sometimes tries to say "dad" which usually comes out as "da". it's pretty adorable. i can really tell that she's starting to understand more and more what we're saying to her. i can tell her to crawl to me in the kitchen or living room and she will. it's such a blast to interact with her and to watch her play games with T. they wrestle each other and this giant teddy bear she has and she ca-racks up! she considers herself quite the comedian. she will grab any small object and toss it acrosss the room, then break out into giggles, then crawl over to it and do it all over again. she totally rocks and is more fun every day.

ruby still loves to read. she was given a baby, baby grand piano for christmas from her sun grandparents and she often crawls over to pound on the keys. she has started dancing when the music starts up on any of her toys and she claps her hands. her laugh is infectious. her smile is huge and until very recently, just a gummy one. that's right, boys and girls, ruby has her first tooth! we had seen the beginnings of it, red and swollen just under her gums. (and certainly noticed how it was disrupting her sleep!) and then today, i finally felt it peeking through. gah! like i said, *milestones* (!!!) and i have to admit, i am a little terrified that it's only her first one and there's a whole slew of them to follow. so, i'm preparing for more teething-induced craziness and interrupted sleep.

well, i better finish this is up. until i post next, i'll be working on my next big project: ruby's first birthday party!! only hint is: rainbow theme party. hecks yeah, people, it's gonna be so dope!

and now, some sweet ruby-love...

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.

wordless-ish wednesday: christmas edition

merry christmas from ruby harper

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. :)

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."



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!