our week in iphone pics: may 13th - 19th

this week was brutal. work was, i don't even know what work was. it was out of control. we are under-staffed right now. my position is supposed to carry two cases. right now i have eight. so, that's been fun. but, we've hired a few people that are starting soon and that will be sure to help. and to make up for the less-than-wonderful work days, ruby, T, and i have had some fun-filled evenings and weekends. check us out...

1. ruby has been pretending her cymbal is a pacifier lately. it kills me. 2. practicing
her "gentle touch" skills with the cat. who, i'm certain, will be eternally grateful
that i've taken the time to teach her such things. 3. playing peek-a-book with mom,
signing "more". (well, her version of "more" anyway.) 4. putting my sunglasses
on in the backseat. 5. we seriously need another gate. we have one at the top of
the stairs, but this girl has learned to easily scale the boxes at the bottom of the stairs
that used to stop her from such experiencing such adventures. she is on the move.
6. and speaking of doing "big kid" stuff, here she is practicing her spoon skills.
no big deal, ma, no big deal.

1. wrestling with dad. 2. "i just don't know, mom." 3. checking out the trees.
4. puttin' down an ice cream cookie sandwich. 5. we found a mallard (!) in our yard.
and ruby almost ate it. okay, i'm kidding. but she was did chase it around the yard.
poor duck. 6. family trip to alterra, our local coffee shop.

1. ruby sorta loved her first brewers game. 2. T was pretty proud of his girl
sportin' our team's hat. 3. and speaking of hats, it's officially summer when
little baby bonnets come out. 4. hello little yogi-sleeping-babe. 5. more sleeping -
dad and ruby catching some z's. 6. on the way to work, ruby paged through one
of her favorite books while i recited it from memory from the front seat (the skills
that we develop as parents are crazy!. the best part, though, was when we finished
the book, i could see ruby signing "more". so i recited it again, of course. :)

1. this ruby-sized water bottle is ruby's new best friend. 2. the behavioral health
program that i work for has been creating an art installation with the help of the
youth in our program. the youth did all the painting and this weekend the final
piece was assembled. it looks so freaking awesome. i hope the youth will be proud
of themselves everytime they see it. 3. it has been HOT, so i got ruby this ridiculously
cute pool. and then ruby continued to freak the heck out in excitement. 4. this girl is
getting really good at standing on her own. this week, she's started getting up all by
herself. pretty impressive. 5. she's a goof. 6. this is the i'm-watching-sid-the-science-kid-
and-can't-be-bothered face.



1. ruby isn't doing anything particularly special in this picture, but her outfit
is just too cute and i had to document it. 2. then i tried to get ruby to smile in a
picture with me and she mean mugged instead. thanks, kid. 3. here is ruby stealing
a bite of T's cinnamon roll. (and he doesn't look all that happy about it!) .

linking up with amy at a good life blog.

our week in iphone pics: may 6th - 12th, 2012

holla! here we are at the end of another week. i've just finished the most scrumptious little ice cream sundae of vanilla ice cream, cherry pie filing, hot fudge, and graham cracker crumbs. seriously. i need to start working out. ... anyway! back to our week. it was a lovely week as the weather was a bit warmer than it has been as of late. we made the most of it by spending a little more time outside and we even got to grill. suh-weet. and now we're moving on to next week, which will kick off with mother's day. suh-weet squared. life is good. check it out...

1. on the way to work/daycare in the morning, ruby reads (and look at her all
snuggled up with her hungry caterpillar while she reads the book. so sweet.)
2. ruby has loved her little car for a long time and she's finally figured out how
to climb on it herself so she pretty much does it all the time now. 3. time
outside with mama before dad came home. 4. practicing walking with mama.
5. brunch. enough said. 6. ruby is also a fan of brunch. and also eating mama
and dad's food. 7. family drive along the lake. it was a cool, rainy, beautiful day.

1. again, with the reading. this time, though, in a tutu. 2. mama makes good
food (chicken/lime/avocado/corn salsa rice bowl). 3. ruby shoves good food
in her face. 4. when ruby's hair ends up like this after bath, it always reminds
me of jim carrey as "the grinch". can you see it? 5. sweet, sleepy snuggles.
6. ruby tries (unsuccessfully) to not look bored while she waits for me to take
her on a walk. 7. after walking, we needed a break and 'sid the science kid'
did the trick!

1. my heart melted when i got my mother's day present made by ruby at
daycare. look at that little foot. 2. so happy to see dad at the end of the day!
3. this is ruby's newest face. she puts it on anytime she sees something new.
so, basically, it's on all. the. time. 4. this isn't the best shot, but this is ruby
dancing in her carseat. in this picture, she's clapping her hands. every time
'party rock anthem' comes on, she starts grooving. (it might have something
to do with her mama singing along, loudly, but who knows.) 5. i will be the
first to admit that it doesn't take much for ruby to impress me. but with that
said - check out her hold on that crayon. her fine motor skills are legit!
6. shades! heading out to a farmer's market. 7. what better way to end the
week than with a trader joe's chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich?

*linking up with amy over at a good life blog.



our week in iphone pics: april 30 - may 5, 2012

well, another week is in the books. and it was a pretty good one. full of our favorite things - family time, food, snuggles and tickle-attacks, reading, and even a special event tossed in. check it out!



1. ruby wasn't quite ready to start the week so back to bed she headed.  2.
snuggles with ruby's cat-bestie, peyton. 3. attempting to snuggle said cat.
3. after-bath-snuggles (the best kind, in my opinion) .4. tambourine-playing
fool. 5. new trick: stacking blocks. and getting quite good at it, i must say.

1. two thumbs (er, fingers) up for standing on her own! 2. keeping our pearly
whites pearly. 3. tickle-time with dad. 4. little birdie eats cheese. 5. sid the science
kid. have you seen this show? it's on pbs. it is seriously awesome. 6. that's a tomato,
ruby, not an apple. but don't let me get in the way of you enjoying the heck outta it.
7. reading books before bed with dad.

1. we went to a 5K walk with our friends. this little guy, xander, is about six months 
younger than ruby and full of smiles. ruby was a little slower to warm up, but
2. soon enough she was eating fruity cherrios and singing songs. 3. playing in the
grass, waiting for dad to get home. 4. tossing a ball around with mom. 5. check out
my new car air freshener from bath and body! love it! (and shout out to my friend, anna,
for giving me the heads up on them! you saved my stinkin' car.) 6. and what would
any day (or hour, rather) be if ruby wasn't reading a book?

fun week{end}ly pics v. 3

last week flew by (hence the lack of posts) but last weekend was a really great time! here's a recap in iPhone pics...

ruby & i started saturday morning off with a photo shoot. after i gave her a faux-hawk. and surprsingly, she was lovin' it. lately when i whip out the camera, she drops the smile pronto and i end up stealing pictures of her when she least expects it. :)

we headed down to "summer solstice", a local block party each year on, yup, you guessed it - the summer solstice. my friend, lisa, came with us and it ended up being a really great day. here was ruby, chillin' out in the stroller. (notice the big-toe-thumbs-up. ha!)

the fascination with her fingers continues. it is ridiculous how cute it think it is. she doesn't have to do much to impress me. :)

lisa & i enjoying the block party, a blue moon, and fabulous company. :)



ruby showed her dad a little love on father's day

fun weekly pics v. 2

i'm a bit behind on fun pics from last week, but here we go...
 

sunday (june 4th): we had breakfast at alterra & then
headed down to IL for baby eli's baby shower.



okay, so i staged this pic, but it's just too cute.
napping on the way down to IL.



 

monday: well, mondays are so much better
now that this beautiful face is a part of our lives.

 

tuesday: bathtime with dad (auntie rhonda says ruby looks
like a little boxer here. ha ha)

thursday: ruby has been loving her activity mat so much lately.
she is a happy camper when she's hanging out on it,
swatting at her toys, smiling, and talking to them.

she especially loves this elephant. :)



saturday: ruby & i headed to whole foods, where i bought groceries
to make greek shrimp pasta (delish!). our friends, albert & tara, were
in town from atlanta and brought their new-ish baby,  nate, to visit. nate
is adorable. which is good, given that he just may be ruby's future husband. :)
anyway, as you can see here, ruby was a huge help making dinner. yeah,
her new found love for her fingers pretty much trump everything else.

*sigh* she's getting so big and strong! she sat up like this
for most of her tummy time this week.

 

we made a pathetic attempt moving ruby to her own room on saturday night. that didn't go over so well. lol. ruby, who usually goes to sleep pretty quickly, woke up crying every 10 minutes or so until we caved and said "you win". :) so back to the basinnet in our room she went. in all fairness, we never really used her room for anything so she wasn't familiar with it at all. so, we're going to spend more time in it and try again in a few weeks. but this did give me an excuse to finally make her room an actual nursery, with her changing table, pictures, and toys. (see above) i love her room. but also am not one bit upset that she's still in our room. :)

sunday: when the brewer's are playing, sundays have become our day to represent for our team. :)

and ruby has gotten in on the action, too. love it.



and just because - sleeping ruby. is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby? no, i don't think so, either.



fun weekly pics!



on the road! we traveled to MN to stay with my sister, wendy, and her family for memorial day weekend. most of my siblings were there and so was my mom.



memorial day weekend bonfire with my siblings and good music = my personal heaven

my nieces nori & hannah dressed my niece maren up in what they called an "asian wizard princess". i couldn't have described it more accurately myself.

it was *fantastic* to see my brother dale and his family. i was psyched for them to all meet ruby. my sister-in-law, candi, was lovin' the baby time with ruby. dale's a great dad. they are a really fun family and we were grateful to get to spend time with them.

maren absolutely *loves* ruby. she is constantly around her, observing her and commenting on her behaviors. "she's crying, mommy. she's happy! it's baby ruby." i just love it. i am so looking forward to ruby getting a bit older so that they can play together. maren kept giving ruby very loving, excited hugs. in this picture she had just elbowed ruby in the face during one such hug. ruby didn't seem to mind at all. :) she loves cousin-love.

after a long drive home, ruby was spent. i had to snap this pic b/c she looked so angelic and heavy in thought, as well. really, this is just her i-just-slept-for-hours-in-the-car-and-don't-know-where-i-am face. either way, i love it. beautiful girl. and considering we kept her in the car seat (which she considers a torture device) for a good five hours, i think she did a fantastic job on the ride home.

ruby has really begun discovering that she's an actual person - beginning with her fingers. i, of course, think this it is the most adorable thing ever. as an added bonus, it's like having built-in toys. we were stuck in line at the store and she was more than happy to sit and chew on her fingers.

ruby usually wakes up around 5 or 6 am and if left alone in her crib, will slowly wake herself up. but, if i scoop her out and snuggle her in bed next to T & i, she will usually sleep another hour or so. it is the sweetest thing to wake up to this scrunched up, chubby-cheeked girl. definitely starts my morning out on a happy note. :)

we bought ruby her first pair of jeans last week and i have to say, she freakin' rocked them. even if she does look not the slightest bit entertained to have her picture taken - AGAIN. :)

more of ruby discovering that she exists. :) she cracks me up when she sees herself in the mirror and just stares at the reflection. or when her hand passes in front of her face and she stops and stares at it. it's almost like you can see by the look on her face exactly what she's thinking - "holy moly. i think that's mine!" she's getting bigger so quick. she's definitely leaving that newborn baby stage.

 
ruby has been seriously hamming it up! her smiles are much more frequent now, especially when she sees someone she knows. these were just a couple i caught on camera this week. (don't you just love the hoodie? and the little birdie? too cute.)

this is definitely my favorite picture of the week (definitely worth the double-post this week!) it just melts my heart. i love watching ruby's eyes light up when she sees that her dad is home or when he sits down to give her a bath. i have a feeling she will be a little 'daddy's girl'. and yeah, i'm ok with that.

ruby and i spent saturday morning with one of my besties, sarah. we spent some time down by the lakefront, then picked up a 6 pack of a new glarus brew, and chilled out at our place. sarah and i worked together at the UWM Children's Center so i can count on her to not mind screaming children at all. which was a good thing b/c ruby was in rare form (until sarah left, at which point she took a 2 1/2 hour nap. go figure.)

we've discovered ruby is pretty entertained by the tv. yup, i am a terrible mom. i let my 3 month old watch tv. it's pretty hilarious. she watches it like she totally knows what's going on. and notice the sitting up position. yeah, we're 3 months now so we don't like to lean back on mama's knees anymore or (gasp!) lay on our back. no, we sit up. and we watch tv. goofy girl.