Baby Pigtails

How excited am I that Ruby finally has enough hair for pigtails? Sure they are teeny but how cute is this????

Mama Obsessed

Ask me why my house is a mess. Well, it's like this. I inherited my mom (and grandma's) old sewing machine a few months ago. It's a 1940's Singer and it's so cute and easy to use and suddenly I am compelled to make things with it.

Last Friday night I stayed up until 1 am making these two hats for Ruby. I got really OCD and literally couldn't stop until I was done. So here they are and guess what? Even if I had spent those hours cleaning and doing laundry, I'd be doing them again today anyway. At least now Ruby's head will stay toasty warm in a most stylish way. See how I justify?

Party Girl

Ruby is now 12.5 months old. It's funny counting a person's age in months but you really have to at this age. They develop so quickly that each month they are completely different than the one before. Much like we counted her age in weeks for a time, now it's months. I can't remember how that transition happened but I suspect that transitioning to the age in years will happen much the same way. I think it'll be a lot easier keeping track of years than months, that's for sure.

Ruby has started standing on her own. Just briefly and she usually looks delighted while doing it. The first time happened last week. Christine and I were on the floor with her when she suddenly went from a crouch to standing, her arms up in the air like she'd just done a back flip off the balance beam and a huge grin on her face. She did this for several seconds and then plopped back down on her bum and resumed playing. I was so shocked I could hardly react and then I couldn't stop laughing. It was almost like she was showing off.

Last weekend, we attended Marcos' birthday party - a baseball theme, our favorite! Ruby loved playing with Blix, Otto and Marcos and discovered that Otto, too, likes to toss a ball around. Here are some pics from that party. Good for me, I actually remembered to take out my camera!

Today we went over to Hank's house and had a little baby party (forgot my camera!). It is so much fun to get together with all of these mamas and let the kids play and compare notes. This is a good looking group of babies that I know! And I can't say enough about having a network of mama friends that I genuinely like! Now....if we can figure out a time when we can get away for a happy hour, I think we will all feel better! :-)

Baby's First Caucus

Woot! Woot! Well, it was actually the whole family's first caucus so it was a major event!

Birthday Celebrations

Ruby had two little celebratory events for her birthday. The first was on her actual birthday with just Auntie Monica and her nanny, Magy, and her kids. We were also joined by Marcos who we were watching that evening. We had tacos and then cupcakes. Ruby was not too sure about the singing part but she lurved the cupcake quite a bit. I had to work that night so hadn't done much to prepare but when I got home, Magy had put up some cute 1st birthday decorations so it was really festive and fun! Plus, Ruby got a balloon and well, that was sooo exciting for her. She spent much time, pulling the balloon down, hand-over-hand, until she could grab it. After the cake, it was warp-speed baby -- she was wired!

Here's some cake eating:

Then, on Saturday, aunties Danielle and Kathy came over and we had some cake of my own making. Ruby was a tad more subdued this time around but enjoyed the cake and ice cream and got really excited when she saw the cake, which was funny.

Then, on Sunday, we went and celebrated Sweet Hank's birthday, which is only 4 days after Ruby's. We danced the hula, admired the balloons and marveled at how fast these little buzzards hit the one year mark. We were also stoked to see Sir Ryder who, at 5 months, weighs the same as Ruby. He's a heavy weight for sure!

The celebrating isn't over yet as we've got Marcos next week and Jack's in 2 more weeks. Wowee! We'd better rest up!

Dancing With the Stars

Marcos and Ruby have a dance party.....

Baby Stats

Ruby had her one year check up yesterday and here are the stats:

• Weight: 17lbs 15oz (7th percentile)
• Length: 27.5 in (15th percentile)
• Head: 17 in (5th percentile)

Oh yes, our baby is muy pequeña! But she's got little fat rolls and is hitting all her marks so ain't nothing to worry about! We figure we are getting our money's worth out of the car seat and all of her clothes.

In addition to being weighed and measured, she also got 4 (!) shots, poor monkey. After a lunch of delicious sushi (she had edamame and tempura sweet potato), we got a tiny little itty bitty nap and then....the fussiness began. We gave her tylenol, but the fussiness evolved into an ear piercing scream with no signs of abating. The cats demanded to be let outside. She was so worked up and we could just tell she didn't feel well. After exhausting all of my ideas, I called my friend Nicole who sagely prescribed motrin and a bath. We bow to your parenting expertise Nicole! This worked like a charm. Once she got in the bath she calmed right down and started splashing around. Soon, there were smiles and coos and after the bath, she crashed out until 5:30 this morning. Phew!