15 months

Our little cutie turned 15 months old on October 9th. We had a busy start to fall, so she got to experience lots of firsts! She was around this time last year, but she was itty bitty, so it feels like we are getting to introduce all the fall fun to her this year. See below for a few highlights about the month!

-We got to go to the beach over fall break with my folks, and I was surprised at how much she loved it! Ruby's siblings did NOT like the sand and brightness at this age, but she LOVED it!! We could  not believe how busy she stayed out there. She crawled around and explored the entire time-never fussed about sand all over her (like literally stuck to her face and all in her mouth). She crawled so much that her knees were red and she even had blisters/sores on top of her big toes!! One of her games was to crawl as fast as she could to the water, then we would have to grab her out of the waves before the totally overtook her. We would take her WAY up to the sand, and she would start the process all over again! She wore us out, and she just laughed and laughed!

-We also got to do lots of fall pumpkin patch, trunk or treat, Halloween type stuff this month, and it has been a blast! Like I said, it's all new to her so it is fun to watch her experience it. Let's just say she knows what candy is now and begs for it when she sees her siblings with some. Sheesh!

-She's gotten lots of teeth this month, poor baby! She's gone through phases of her shirt being soaked and drool just dripping from her mouth! When I lay her down to change her diaper, I can see the big swollen purple spots on her gums, and I can't imagine how that must hurt! It has effected her eating some.

-She is getting more and more mobile, but isn't walking. She stood up at the coffee table at the beach, at her music table, and at the playground slide which are not normal things for her to do. She's getting braver! Still funny to me how slow the girls have been at becoming mobile, but I'm trying to just enjoy it! She gets around just fine, though, and one day I looked up and she was sitting up on the hearth holding a little pumpkin in her hand like she was posing. And another time I was doing dishes and looked over to see her sitting on the lid checking it all out! They said they had her walking behind a shopping cart at school, too, and I saw her take like 2 steps doing this.

-She says a lot-said "here ya go" to Steven when handing him a hair tie. Says "go go!" when we get into or out of the car. Says eyes (sounds like ice) and nose and points to both-on both her and us. Also blinks her eyes to show us her eyes which is just adorable. She has learned how to yell "get out" from her crib. She learned this from Annie who yells "I wanna get up/out" when she's done with her nap. It is funny and cracks us up. She also says "bye bye!!" as soon as I walk in to nursery to pick her up at the end of the day. She says it over and over really loudly...just letting everyone know she's done there. :)

-She is so affectionate and when I carry her facing out in the ergo, she twists her neck around to look up at me and give me a kiss. She does it over and over. She still scrunches up her nose and says "muah!" when she kisses, too. Sweetie!

We love you sweet Ruby Jane! You are one awesome baby.

Another trick-We ask her, "How old is Ruby?" and she holds up one finger and we say, "One!" She's pretty proud of it!

We see her scrunchy nose face a lot!

Halloween 2017

Trunk or Treat #1-Go Vols
Trunk or Treat #2-Squid Henry, Gnome Ruby, Princess Annie
Halloween Night-Donuts!!
We had so much fun and now we have way too much candy at our house.

14 months!

Ruby turned 14 months on September 9th! She's changing everyday!! Below are a few notes about what she's been up to the past month.

-Going "rogue" in the bathtub...finally not sitting in a ring, but able to crawl around and she LOVES it! The bath is one of her favorite things for sure. We ask "do you want to splash?" and she makes her own noise for "splash" and swats her hands in the air like she's splashing water. She also stood to her feet to look into the bathtub this month which is rare! I guess she was willing to do the work for something she loves! She also stood up to her feet at her music table. Starting to get a little braver!

-She got to ride in a boat on the lake 2 different times this month and loved it. She just smiled and smiled as the breeze blowing in her face and sat so still. The giant life jacket around her didn't bother her a bit-she just totally relaxed in it and kind of fell over while riding. So funny!

-She also makes her own noise for "eat" and simultaneously signs "please" when she wants to eat a snack. She also puts her hand to her mouth for the eat sign. She loves to put her sippy in the cup holder part of her high chair tray. She never throws it down, but wants it in its proper place.

-She tickles her own belly when she can get to it and makes the "tickle, tickle, tickle" sound while she does it. She does a lot of pointing these days and will point to what she wants and emphatically lean to tell us what it is she would like. She also sometimes points while we are holding her as if she is saying which way she wants us to take her.

-She loves dogs and cats! She gets so excited and starts to babble with excitement in her own little language when we see one out and about. She doesn't get nearly that excited about our own Maggie, though! There was a frog in the skimmer the other day and she had such mixed feeling about it. She was scared to death and didn't want Steven to put her down, yet she kind of wanted to touch it, but then she would pull back and cry right after she leaned in to take a closer look. She was fully conflicted and I was laughing so hard watching her that I cried!

-She got another tooth this month (started last month, but it is officially in now) on the bottom right, and I think it caused her some pain. She had times of being upset for no reason, so I think this must have been why.

-She says "rue-bee!" for her name now and it is so cute! We got a video of it so we can remember it forever! Some other words she says are baby, diaper (bye-puh), weee!, uh-oh, splash (her own version of it), eat, ball (bah), shoe (oosh), bubba, repeats 3, cracker (crah-kah), papa, dadda, daddy (dah-deee!! She says this way more than mamma!).

There's lots more, but I better stop. We love you sweet Rubes.

13 Months!

August 9th marked 13 months for Mrs. Ruby Jane. Below are a few note about her past month!

-She's finally crawling! She figured out how to get up on her knees just a few days before turning 13 months old. She's slowly figuring out that she can explore cabinets, open/close drawers, etc. now. I am having to move the dog bowls and scoot her away from outlets...fun, fun! This also means she can open drawers and has gotten her fingers caught already. She is still pretty slow, but she can go from room to room. When we go in to check what she is doing, she jumps in surprise and acts like she's been caught. If she has something in her hand, she throws it down so she's not caught with evidence. We get a kick out of it!

-She's getting so busy with her hands and is developing more and more skills. I love watching her "dump and refill". I remember specifically Henry dumping for months, but rarely refilling! And when he finally did I was so happy! But Ruby does one and the other comes with it. I watched her pull a bunch of clothes out of her wagon, then directly after put them all back in. She didn't know I was watching, so when she was done I said, "good job!" and she gave me the biggest grin! She was so proud of her work. She got to the dog treat canister and dumped them ALL out onto the floor. She said, "uh oh!" and she and I worked together to put them all back in. She was a helper with clean up! She tries and tries to put lids on. We have a tupperware that holds all the little farm animals, and one day I watched her for like 10 minutes work to get it on!

-We left the kids for a week, and when we returned Ruby acted like she could care less! She did great without us, and I tried not to let it hurt my feelings!:) She also looked huge-like a sumo baby! Maybe that's because she's been eating like a hoss!

 -She is so, so loving. She give the best kisses and they are very intense and methodical. Once she gets started be ready for LOTS! She scrunches her face up and leans in, kisses you, and says "mmmaah".

-She is easy to put to sleep and hums along with us as we sing her goodnight songs. Sweetie! She is always happy to lay down and snuggles right into her bed. She usually sleeps on her belly with legs tucked and booty up in the air! Occasionally she ends up on her side with her arms up over her head all sprawled out. Steven and I always like going into her room to see how she has fallen asleep. She still sucks on her tongue and her bottom lip kind of goes in while she does it. She gets very still and pacified and often also plays with her hair at the same time. It is uniquely Ruby! She does this a lot in the car. She will be super quiet, and we check on her to see one arm up with hand in hair and that little mouth just a-going! The other 2 kids know these signs, too, and will report, "Ruby is about to sleep! She's sucking her tongue!" or Henry will say, "She's go that arm up! We know you are going to be asleep soon!"

-She is very hungry in the morning and eats a whole thing of greek yogurt then cries til I get her something else. Usually she also eats a bowl of cheerios and milk and then I wean her off of being fed by giving her graham crackers to self-feed. This month she's gobbled up blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, chicken/rice, fiesta just to name a few. She tried peanut butter on 7/26 with no reaction-phew! After she takes a drink from her cup she says, "ahhh!" and will do it over and over. I love having a baby who eats, because it's so stressful when they don't! She's great with her eating signs and is a pro at all done, more, drink.

-She loves to play the game where she hands me something, I say thank you, then give it back. She could do this for hours! She also adores peek-a-boo! She loves to drive with the windows down and the breeze blowing in her face. She squeals and shakes her head back and forth. Pure delight (like Annie!). She helps when I'm putting her in her car seat and she has something in her hand-she moves it to the other hand for me without a fit. Same with changing her clothes and putting her arms thru the sleeve. She also puts her leg out and points her foot to help me get her pants on after a diaper change. These little things amaze me. Some kids just fight, sprawl out, or squirm to turn over and get away, but not her! It is a sweet little bonding time when we do these types of things together. She also tries to put on things like necklaces, hats, shorts, undies when she finds them lying around. How does she know what goes where? Somehow she is taking it ALL in! She also puts toy phones or anything shaped like a phone up to her ear to talk (although mostly she wants to look at the phone when she talks like it's facetime). I do know where she got this!:)

-Ruby says "hi" everytime she waves now. Sometimes she says it over and over. She also says "quack" when we ask what the duck says, but sometimes she gets duck and dog mixed up so she will pant instead. Haha!:)  She repeats "buzz buzz". She says "dada" way more than she says mama. She starting to repeat her own name. The second sound in her name is esp easy for a baby to repeat I think.

Not the best backdrop, but you get to see what her messy shared room looks like this way!

Thank you for being such a sweet baby, Miss Ruby Jane! You are dearly loved!

Ruby is ONE!

Our Ruby girl turned 1 on July 9, 2017. It is HARD to believe her first year is over!! It has truly flown by-even more so than her siblings' first years did-but I guess that's what happens with a 3rd kid! While it makes me sad that it is over, I will dwell on the happy, sweet part of it and choose to look forward to her upcoming year. There is no going back!
Ruby is truly the easiest baby. She is laid back, sweet, and easy going. She has a lovable personality and is adored by the whole family! All my worries and fears of having a 3rd child have been eased by the reality of what a delightful child she is! I am so thankful God put her in our lives. As has been the case with our other additions, God knew far more what we needed than we knew ourselves. I am happy to say I was wrong and that He knows best! Thank you, God, for giving us our sweet little(st) girl!
Below are a few pics and some notes about her past month. We had a fun party for her, too, that I will post about as soon as I'm able!

 -She had her 12 month checkup on 7/17 and did great! Doc was not concerned that she isn't crawling and was able to confirm her leg strength as she was fitting about being there! She got 3 shots and was a trooper. She is 30.5 inches (90%) and weighs 21 pounds and 1 ounce (75%). Grandma actually took her while we were on our trip. :)

-Ruby is still not technically crawling, but she moves around in circle with hands on ground, and she started army crawling a little this month. She grabbed onto the carpet in her room and pulled herself to a sticker she wanted on the ground. She goes from sitting to lying down on the floor and vice versa. She finally figured out she can sit up in her pack-n-play aka crib (7/4) so sometimes we have to go lay her down when she is trying to go to sleep! We realized that since she was born in the middle of summer, she hadn't really been exposed to the grass or ground until kind of late. She does NOT want to be set down in the grass or to stand up and put her feet in grass, dirt, mulch, etc. She will pull her legs up when we try to set her down and just dangle above the dreaded grass! We will continue exposing her, and I know she will get the hang of it, but we get a kick out of it for sure. And who knows what she will do about the sand at the beach when we go in October! She does not mind her feet on concrete, though. She moves her walker all around on the driveway. She also pulled up to her knees on me and the chair and the fireplace around 7/5.

-On 7/3 I nursed her for the last time. She had been down to one morning feeding for several days since I gave her a sippy of milk on 6/26, anyway, so it was time. It kind of happened organically rather than intentionally, so I didn't really have the "I'm doing this for the last time" realization until afterward, which was probably best. She hasn't looked back and is a great eater, but it is bitter sweet for me since she is our last baby. I'm thankful I've been able to nurse each kiddo for the first year of their lives, so I will just focus on that!:) Plus I needed to get her fully weaned because Steven and I left the kids for a week just after her first birthday! She eats like a champ-blueberries like they are candy!! She had scrambled eggs on 6/22 with no reaction-whoohoo! She's also loved raspberries and downed some sausage balls and spaghetti!! We are amazed! She got a new straw sippy and was so proud. You could tell because she would drink from it, then look up and give the biggest smile! We would try to take it from her, and she would protest and want to keep holding it even when she wasn't drinking from it. She has used other sippies prior, but the straw one was new, and she was a fan! While it is probably too early to tell, when she eats she definitely favors her left hand. It will be interesting if she ends up as a lefty like her brother.

-She's so loving and is always giving hugs!! We say, "awe!" and lean in, and she does the same. Then she does it over and over and over! She also blows us kisses. She makes the "mah!" sound when she does it and often her hand goes to her cheek or even her ear rather than from her mouth to blow the kiss, and we get the biggest kick out of it. She does it with such oompff and puts her whole body into it!:) She also puts her hand to her mouth over and over again while yelling-sort of like the Indian yell sound. She's pretty proud of it. She's a great imitator and will copy whatever we do-opening her mouth, nodding yes or no, clicking her tongue, etc. We call her a little monkey when she gets in this mode!

-I took her to baby story time while H as at VBS and she was funny checking everything out. I don't think I'd taken her before. I honestly don't think I've ever sat down and read her a book (poor 3rd child!!!). She gets plenty of exposure, though, and will probably be the most well rounded of all 3. It was fun to give her a little extra attn like that, though, and practice signs with her and do baby activities, too.

-We took her to her first Kiddie Carnival and she was all smiles riding the cars. She was totally obsessed with the water bottle Steven gave her there. It wasn't the drink itself, but the crunchy bottle. That's all we could figure anyway. Steven tried to take it away and she threw the biggest fit!! When she "fits" it is memorable because it is so rare. We know it must be something she feels passionately about, because she is normally so very chill!

It's hard to believe how big you are, sweet Ruby. You are such a delightful girl, and you are loved! We are so thankful to have had this past year with you and look forward to the next!!

Annie's 3rd bday party

Annie loves Minnie Mouse and both the big kids love watching Minnie's Bow-tique, so I had been talking to Annie for a while about having a Minnie Mouse themed party. She liked the idea, then would also bring up princess and Frozen, but I always steered her back to my Minnie Mouse idea!:) She was so happy with her party. I think 3 is really when they start to understand and fully enjoy their bday celebrations. I always say I'm going to pare down their parties right after we've had one, but then I forget and get all caught up in planning them when the next one rolls around! It's a good excuse to clean the house and get things in order while also having friends over that we wouldn't necessarily normally have. And let's face it, it's one of the only times that all the family comes together at the same time. I think it's neat that the kids get to experience that for their bday. They will look back and see they were loved and celebrated year after year, so to me it's worth the hassle, and I usually really enjoy doing it. Below are some pics of the Annie's celebration! They are not in the exact order I'd like, but they'll do. :)

This is also suppose to look like a Minnie Mouse head:)

Best buddy from school Connor

And other super friend Ezra!

Mom is doing great after surgery less than a month ago. She's a trooper.

Baby friends Elijah and Ruby!

Friends Blakelyn and Heather

Our wonderful babysitter stopped by to gift Annie with this Frozen doll

I have to brag on Steven. I baked the cake in the pan, but then had a hundred other things that came up and it got way late. Then I tried to follow the instructions on how to outline and star tip the sucker, and let's face it, following directions is not my strong point. In comes Steven who took over and decorated the whole thing! He did perfect of course, and Annie was so happy with it on the morning of her party!

Annie was so happy all of her party but broke down when I served the cake. We realized she had her heart set on a pink cupcake and I had cut her a piece of the actual cake. Heaven forbid!!

She perked right up once she licked the pink icing off that coveted cupcake!!

Opening gifts! She got some great stuff!

Henry having fun with pin the bow on Minnie

Cousins and my mom and Marie came from TN

Ottander friends came too!!

This was prior to friends arriving. Henry and Annie were thrilled that there was lemonade at the party and begged for at taste before everyone got there! AND with paper straws! They kept coming back and asking for more.

Grandpa and Peggy

She was so excited to have candles and bday song sung to her!

I love how kids flock to the cake area:)

Thankfully Grandma was on baby duty the whole time, because mama was kinda busy!

OUR BIG 3 YEAR OLD!!

She conked out for nap right after the party in her new Hello Kitty sleeping bag and both of her Minnie Mouse stuffed animals. Big day for a little girl!