At My Feet

Throughout our day at home Ruby follows me around like a little puppy. If I leave the room she's never far behind, whimpering & crawling her very fastest after me. She likes me within plain site of her & as I try like mad to accomplish my "list" she's often firmly attached to my leg looking up at me with those big blue eyes. She loves to be held. She loves to sit in my lap. She loves to give me hugs & kiss after kiss. But what she loves most is my undivided attention for about 90% of the day. Sometimes that can be so frustrating when there are so many things that I need to get done. And sometimes I just want to have a moment where no one is touching me & have a little personal space. But then I remember that this stage is temporary & there will come a time when I won't be her world anymore but instead a much smaller part of it. And I'll have a place on the sidelines instead of right in the middle of the chaos. And man, I think I'm going to really miss that. So I'm trying my very hardest to embrace this time & enjoy it for what it is, because aside from the challenges, it really is a beautiful time of life. Tonight as Ruby sat in her highchair talking happily to herself I looked over & saw her take bite after bite of the Pad Thai I made. My picky, picky baby was eating Thai food & it felt like such a victory because I have been working so hard to get her to eat well. And I could look at her & proudly think to myself, "I did that." And maybe that's something that doesn't really make sense except to me, but in a small way it made me feel like what I've been doing has been worth it. And tonight I feel especially grateful that she loves me enough to want to be attached to me all day long. Because really, that's pretty awesome. And if I had to choose someone to hang on my leg 24/7 it'd be Ruby. Hands down, every time.

Ruby Lately

Ruby's personality is emerging more & more & I'm really loving this one-year-old stage. It's fun to see her sense of humor & see her develop opinions & preferences. Speaking of opinions & preferences, she seems to have a lot of those. We're working on transitioning to whole milk instead of formula & while I was so ready to stop formula cold turkey Ruby had other plans. I swear if she even tasted a hint of milk in her bottle she would start gagging, coughing & dry heaving in the most dramatic way. That girl is so picky. And I am so persistent so we're meeting somewhere in the middle & we're making progress slowly but surely. I wanted to make a note of a few of the things that she's doing lately that I'm loving because I have the worst memory & know I will forget.

 

Shoes are Ruby's latest obsession. She crawls around with them everywhere & even carried one in her hand during our entire trip to the grocery store today. She tries to put them on her feet but don't you dare try to help her. Apparently the struggle is half the fun.

I'm loving how she sits like this all the time. The crawling stage is seriously the cutest thing. She did take her first steps a little while ago but refuses to do it again. And if I've learned anything by now about this baby it's that she will do it on her time-table so I'm just letting her be until she's good & ready.

And she is in love with her stuffed animals. I carry Ruby & her stuffed bear everywhere we go now & she loves to give him kisses. Speaking of kisses, this baby of mine gives the best kisses around. She kisses me all day long & they're even closed mouth. Just when I think I can't love that baby any more she crawls over out of the blue & plants one on me. That girl is heaven on earth.



Another iPhone Update

I can't seem to catch up with all the things that need to be done lately so I'll just unload some of the pictures from my phone for now...

I make a mean green smoothie. You know it's good when Ruby says, "Mmmm" after every sip.

 

A night at the museum & yes, those are Ruby's pajamas. Oh, the things I swore I'd never do when I had kids.

 

Climbing the stairs. All.day.long.

 

Wow.

 

Morning walks now that it's finally cooling off.



A Good Laugh

I believe I have come up with a solution for world peace & it's so simple I'm shocked no one else has thought of it before. Baby laughter. You just can't be angry when you hear it & it's so contagious. I think I might be on to something here...



A Hike

Tyler & I took Ruby for her first hike & she loved it. She was so happy to be outside & didn't stop smiling & laughing until the very end when it started to get pretty warm out. I forgot my camera but at least had my phone to get a few pictures along the way. I think this was one of the few times I actually enjoyed hiking & it was only because we had Ruby with us. Seeing her love something so much & watching her experience something for the first time makes me look at things in an entirely different way. I love how really simple things make her so happy & it reminds me that the greatest happiness is often found in simplicity.

 

 

 

 

 

 



What 30 minutes at our house looks like...

Life is fast paced these days with Ruby going nonstop all day long. I find that each new stage takes some time to adjust to but this one is my favorite so far. I think whatever stage Ruby is in will probably be my favorite, though. Except for the teenage years. I'm quite certain those will not be my favorite.

Climbing the stairs. (Tyler was ducking down for the picture)

 

Where did her bow go & why does she have an envelope in her mouth?

 

More climbing & stuck

 

Grandpa coming by for his regular visit

 

Now Uncle Daniel's here, back to the stairs. (That girl is spoiled rotten)

 

And back to the piano with Grandpa.

 

You can't give a baby too much attention, right? Right??



Birthday Party

We celebrated Ruby's birthday last Sunday by having our families over for dinner & a little celebration. Ruby was in absolute heaven with all eyes on her & all of her cousins to play with. It is the greatest thing to watch my nieces & nephews love my baby so much. For years those kids kept my baby hunger at bay & I loved having them for sleepovers when our house was feeling a little empty. And as they all crowded around Ruby & opened her presents for her I thought how Ruby is one lucky girl. There is no shortage of love in that girl's life & our first year with her has been nothing short of wonderful. She danced, she laughed, she played, she ate cake, & she received far too many presents. I would say it was a successful first birthday.