Thursday Outings

We've been going on lots of outings on Thursdays. This week a big group of us met in West Seattle at Capers. There were 13 of us - that's a lot of babies! The folks at Capers are super nice and accommodating to our group. Plus they make a delicious sandwich! It was great to hang out with the moms and get to know some new people. After lunch, a couple of us went for a little walk and then ended up at Sugar Rush where we had delicious cupcakes. Mmmm...I love a cupcake!! I took a picture of Ruby there in her Woobee bib and cute kitty hat from Janis. Meow!! I start work in 8 days....I am really going to miss our Thursday outings. And our Monday outings..and our Tuesday outings. Dang. Well, I hope that we can have some get togethers on Fridays still! Ruby is chewing on her hand a lot now and some awesome head control. It's still a little wobbly to be sure but she can be propped up pretty good. On Monday, while she was having her tummy time, she rolled over 3 times in a row! I haven't been able to replicate it since but still...that's a new skill! She's also gotten really chatty and she'll sit and smile and coo at you and you can hardly tear yourself away. Well, she's fussing now and I am hungry so perhaps I'll see if I can calm her down and make something to eat.....

Kittycat

Thanks to Auntie Nicole for the awesome kitty blanket.! Hooray for kitties!!

Gardening Buddy

What a Week!

Here's a pic of RubyTwoShoes in an outfit to do her grandaddy proud. They are a little big yet but I had to see how she looked in them. She just needs a little tiny engineer hat and she's ready to ride the rails.

This week we packed a lot in. Storytime on Monday and then Dustin took Tuesday off so we had a fun little day tooling around all together. Wednesday was our second to last day going to First Weeks. She'll be 12 weeks this week and then she graduates to Next Months for the 3-6 month crowd. Amazing. I cannot believe it's been 3 months already!

We have found a daycare that seems like it will be pretty good. After debating forever if we should go close to home or close to work, we settled on one that's in the middle of the two. She seems really nice, we liked the kids and her assistant and both Dustin and I had a good feeling about it. Plus she was one of the ones that works best with our work schedules. So, this is a relief. I guess. I don't know. It's going to be hard no matter what I think.

On Thursday, my friend Sarah and her baby, Cecilia, Ruby and I went to the Tulip Festival. Amazing it was. It was like a big carpet of tulips and the pictures don't do it justice. We had a really fun day overall. We hit La Conner for lunch and ate at a "Spanish" restaurant though to be fair, the only thing really Spanish about it was the paella (which was really really good) but it was a cute little place, reasonably priced and good service. After that, needing to feed the babes, we went around the corner to the most adorable little bakery with the most delicious cookies. The woman there was super nice and she had all of these vintage cookbooks and tea cups. It was really a place made for me. I kept thinking about the murder mysteries I like to read and how she'd be a perfect character in one of them. Baking cookies and solving mysteries..just like a Joanne Fluke book. After marveling at the tulips, we stopped off for an ice cream cone the size of my head and then we headed home. At 6 on the dot, Ruby woke from a sound sleep and began screaming. Screaming. So we pulled over in Shoreline and I pulled her from her seat and snuggled her for a bit. She calmed down but it was really the saddest little girl I'd seen. I think she had too much stimuli and then woke up in the car and she'd had enough! Poor munchkin. Thankfully, we got home after that fairly easily. But it really was a fun day!

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful mainly because I started getting sick Friday night. Mostly just a sore throat and headache which meant I cancelled all Saturday plans of going to Tacoma but it was nice to just sit on the couch and relax. Today is gorgeous and thanks to Dustin, I got to sleep in this morning so I think I am going to take Ruby outside and we can all work in the yard together. She's got to learn to weed sometime! Ha ha!

Reunion!

So, today we went to the reunion for our childbirth class. It was a great group and it was totally fun to see all of the babies and hear how everyone's birth went. In comparison, I think I had it pretty easy! Anyway, here's a picture of the babies - starting at Ruby and going clockwise they are: Ruby, Samuel, Lucy, Marcos, Conner and Naomi. Funnily enough, even though she was the oldest baby, Ruby was almost the smallest, beat out by the 6 week old. Anyway, Ruby was a champ, smiling and cooing away the whole time. She even showed off her puking skillz. Yah! You might also recognize Marcos (in the white striped shirt) with whom she shared a couch a couple of weeks ago. Ruby is starting to outgrow some of her 0-3 month clothes and she no longer curls her legs up in that oh so cute froggy way...sigh....my little girl is growing up! I took a photo of her in her oh so sweet dress that Auntie Marie sent. Precious, no? Meanwhile, I am still researching childcare for my little munchkin and it's discouraging to say the least. I keep hoping that the perfect situation will just crop up, where I'll feel confident that she'll be well taken care of. I knew it'd be hard...but jeez! I still have a little over a month to find someone but it is getting down to crunch time and it's totally stressing me out. I keep dreaming that all of my teeth are falling out.......not a good sign! Think good thoughts that we'll figure it out! Well, we'll keep you updated on the further adventures!

First Easter

It was Ruby's first Easter so she's in one of her finest outfits that her Auntie Amy bought her and enjoying her first chocolate bunny that her mom will happily eat all the while wondering why her pre-pregnancy pants just won't fit yet. Ruby did not get to hunt for anything nor did she get any candy -- that's for next year. What she did do is make the rounds of all the Easter guests, charming them with her smile and leaving little pukey surprises on their shirts for them to discover later. Funny bunny!

This week we went to the lapsit storytime at the central library. This storytime is for babies only and she got to see her friends Hank and Blix. We had a lot of fun learning some songs and reading books from Betsy the Librarian. Ruby seemed to enjoy it and has broken out into a huge grin when I start singing the Dancing Fingers song ever since.

We were going to go to Spanish playgroup this week too but Ruby dear has come down with a little bit of a cold. Just a stuffy nose but it was no fun for her snuffling all night so we decided to take it easy. Unfortunately, this means that mom is going a little stir crazy but we should be out and about tomorrow or the next day.

Ruby is getting so big! Look how she can hold her head up! She gets pretty tired after a few minutes holding that big melon on her little tiny neck but she's got a lot more control and loves to look around. She really likes the "Funny Faces" board book so we've been reading that one a lot. It has a mirror in the back and she looooves to look at that.

Well, she's done with the mobile now so it's snuggle time! More to come.....

Mother of Inventions Part II

Well, what do you know? My friend Heidi alerted me to the fact that one of my wish list items DOES indeed exist! Apparently, others have had the idea of a car seat with wheels. Ok, then....here's my other wish list item that was brought up when we were out on a stroll and one of the babes decided he was hungry and there wasn't a bench to be had (props to Misha and Wanda for this one - whoever invents it needs to pay off their houses with the millions): A stroller that when you turn it over, has a seat that you can use for nursing. Anyone out there ready to get started on this project??? Update: It appears that I am indeed a genius but only if I went back in time. My pregnant lady suspenders have already been invented! Thanks Brandy! Well I say -- all you pregnant ladies out there can benefit from my friends discovering that these things are already invented. YaH!

Ruby's Got Game

Ruby is changing so much every moment. I know I keep saying that but it keeps being true! She is holding her head up more and more and I can tell she sees a lot more now. Yesterday Dustin noted that she had started noticing her hands. I saw her waving her hands about and her eyes tracking each movement and then...she popped her fist in her mouth. Yay! She is starting to really enjoy books and was all agog when Dustin was reading her "Hop on Pop" a gift from Marilyn. Of course, she is smitten with her daddy so it's no surprise :-)

Yesterday we met up with some of our baby friends at Capers in West Seattle. Aside from having a yummy tuna fish sandwich, we had some great conversation sharing experiences and oohing and aahhing over each other's babies. All in all it was 6 moms and babies with all of our gear -- people kept coming over saying "We heard there was a gaggle of babies over here!" After our leisurely lunch, we took a picture of all the under 10 week olds. Turns out it was Ruby and her 4 boyfriends. Go girl! From left to right it's Marcos, Liam, Hank, Ruby and Blix. How cute is that? And no one barfed on the $3000 couch!

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Punk Rock Girl

I just couldn't resist!

Boise Babes

So this last weekend, Ruby took her first airplane ride when we went to Boise. My friend of 27 years, Amy, had her baby Jack exactly 3 weeks after Ruby. Couldn't have planned it better if we tried! So, it was time to meet Jack and have Ruby meet her Auntie Amy, Uncle Bruce, cousin Maria and Grandma Grace. It was so much fun to sit and compare experiences and just gawk at the babies. We took tons of pictures, including this one, where they both just look amazed. Jack is an extremely cute little guy (or should I say big guy?) with a strong personality and head full of hair and I was smitten right away. Seeing the babies together was just too cool. I hope they will become good friends! Ruby got to meet a lot of other people while in Boise - Jinny, Jeannie and Marilyn. It occurred to me as I was thinking about all of the women I know that Jack and Ruby are incredibly lucky babies. There is such a wealth of really awesome, intelligent, funny and strong women in their lives already between Grandmas and aunties-- they can't help but draw on that postive energy and love. I know, "goo" but it's true!!! Ruby also got to see Grandma Genie again and charmed the pants of Grandpa Dave which was really sweet. She had her head licked by more than one dog and barfed on Amy's brand new couch. The airplane ride was totally fine both ways -- she slept and ate the whole time. Of course, everyone on the plane just thought she was the cutest :-) It was just an amazing trip in so many ways...