Ruby on the Boot

As the Baby Turns

We had an appointment at the hospital on Thursday to talk about doing a "version" which is where they manually punch you in the stomach and push the baby around so that it's facing the right way. I know. I sounds awesome. I have an aversion to a version. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do that because it was possible I could have had to have the baby that very day if things didn't go well. But then the alternative was having the baby via scheduled c-section, which I wasn't all that hip to either. Plus it was Christmas Eve and who wants to think about such things on the day before Christmas? Not me! At any rate, we showed up and it was as though all signs pointed to no that day. The doctor didn't know we were scheduled, none of my records were there and the ultrasound people had gone home for the day. All we could determine was that the little lady was lying horizontally across the uterus. So, we made an appointment to return on Monday.

Well, today my entourage (Dustin and Kathy bff/doula) and I show up nice and early and they send us off to ultrasound where they discover that...she has FLIPPED herself! Hooray!! Looks like all of the cajoling, chiropracting and acupuncturing has worked! She had her head down and backwards just like she is supposed to be. So, no need for that nasty-sounding version thing nor for scheduling a c-section. PHEW! We decided that she just needed one last look around to make sure she grabbed her purse and the iron was off before she heads out the door. They still did a complete u/s and determined she looks great and is about 7 lbs....for whatever that's worth since it seems they are usually off by several ounces with these predictions. We'll see.... br>
So now..we wait...

Rubyisms

Christmas is just around the corner and Ruby is really getting into it. It's so fun! We had a fun and delicious dinner with our friends Matt, Danette and Hank (mmm...Indian!) and then went and looked at Christmas lights. Ruby loved singing Jingle Bells and pointing out "Frosting the Snowman." Ruby's got a few other little sayings that she's been throwing about lately. A while back we were driving home and I said that we were going home to have some dinner and she said, "Let's go straight to the eat!" We've investigated but have no idea where she picked this up but we love it!

Last week, Kathy asked Ruby how she spells her name. Ruby replied, "YMCA!"

Her new favorite word (by her own admission) is "buttocks" which she got from Joel, who's 4. I try not to laugh and encourage it..but it's funny so I am not successful. Especially when, last week, my doctor said hi to her and she replied in a faux British accent, "Hallo Buttocks!" I figure if that's the worst word she says, we're doing ok!

Ruby also likes to play the "Don't you kiss me!" game where we tell her not to kiss us and she runs at us saying, "I'm going to kiss you!" It doesn't sound all that fun written down but it sure is fun in practice!

In baby news -- I'll find out tomorrow if Baby Miller has flipped herself over yet or not. I've had two acupuncture treatments and today, I went to a chiropractor who adjusted my hips. I've never been to a chiropractor before and she was much more woo-woo than the acupuncturist but I figured, why not give it a shot? We'll see how this goes...stay tuned.

Breech of Contract

So, we had our 37 week appointment today and it seems this baby, though in the correct position 2 weeks ago, has flopped herself around and is now in a breech position. Oblique breech to be exact. We had a quick ultrasound to determine where her head is and lo and behold, it's pointing to my left side. Hmmm...this is not where you are supposed to be little baby!! This is not what we agreed upon!



Evidently, there are many techniques to try to get the baby to assume the proper position...some include different ways of sitting, acupuncture, manually pushing her around, and sitting over a flashlight (not even kidding). These are just the few that my doctor mentioned...I haven't had the courage or the patience to google this to see what other things to try but I am guessing that I will find a plethora of information about this.



Because I live in Seattle, I was able to get an acupuncture appointment this very afternoon. I have never had acupuncture before. I am fascinated by it and I know many people who have used it and had great success with it and, get this, my insurance covers it so, I figured, what the hell? Turns out, it's quite lovely. As lovely as having pins stuck in your feet and ears can be anyway. Actually, just getting to sit quietly for 20 minutes in a dark room with soft music playing would have been worth it regardless! Plus it is just woo-woo enough for me to enjoy but not so much that it makes me crazy. Perfect balance!

So, now we wait and hope and send messages to the baby to get her head going SOUTH! Breech babies are auto-C-Section babies in these parts so we want to avoid that if at all possible. Fingers crossed!

Cookies and Crafts

Well, despite not getting to do near as much baking as I normally like this year, we have squeezed in a few little things here and there. We have managed to find a couple of recipes that are ideal for 2-3 year olds.

Today, we made butter mints from a recipe that I found on-line..somewhere. Anyway, it's an easy recipe and easy to do with kids of this age. Plus it's like play-doh so it keeps them busy! However, it does make more than pictured here. Seems Ruby takes after her mum and likes to make sure the dough isn't poisoned and has the right flavor and samples it throughout the process. Hmmmm...

Butter Mints

1/2 stick butter (room temp)

1 lb powdered sugar (4 c)

Ice water

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

food coloring

1. Cut butter into sugar with two knives, pastry blender or your fingers.
2. Add tbl of ice water, pinch of salt and the peppermint extract.
3. Press mixture into a ball. Add water a tsp at a time if it seems to crumbly
4. When it's in a nice ball, knead it for 3-4 minutes until it's smooth and satiny. Then divide into parts and add food coloring.
5. Roll into 1/2 inch balls and flatten slightly (or make whatever shapes you want).
6. Set uncovered at room temp for 3-4 hours and then keep covered in a cool place to ripen for 2 days. Will keep at room temp for 2 weeks or in the fridge for a month.

In between, we made a Christmas tree project. Ruby did ok with this one but she is currently obsessed with scissors so after she made this creation, she cut it up. Oh well!

The other recipe we made together last week, courtesy of my friend Shannon, was a perfectly easy little recipe to do and had lots of little things Ruby could help with...though again, there was a LOT of sampling!

Easy Peasy Cookies

1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough

Mini Reese's peanut butter cups and/or Hershey's kisses

1. Cut slices of cookie dough and cut in half. Roll into balls and press into mini muffin tin
2. Bake at 350 and immediately upon taking them out of oven, press unwrapped chocolate into cookie.
3. Let cool and remove from tin. Tip: use the mini liners -- it'll be a lot easier that way. I'm also thinking it'd be fun to dye the cookie dough for holiday colors....

Ruby doing the unwrapping (and sampling)

With the finished product!

Maybe I'll get to do some real baking this year..but probably not so this will suffice. Either way, we had FUN!

Santa!

Though nowhere near as entertaining as last year's photo, visiting Santa was an event this year. We went with Monica, Steve and Ari and though Ruby did not want to sit on his lap, she did manage to tell him she wanted slippers which was more than I ever said to Santa. Here we all are trying to convince Santa we are nice. I hope he bought it!

Grandma Visits

We had a wonderful visit from Grandma Genie last week. Ruby's last visit where she gets Grandma ALL to herself -- ha ha! She took full advantage and had grandma reading to her at every turn. Grandma made Ruby some super cute monkey (moan-key as Ruby says it) and brought her the book "Olivia Forms a Band" which Ruby LOVED and insists upon reading nightly now. We also decorated our Christmas tree. Ruby loves the idea of having a tree in our house and was a great little decorator. Well, she did put all of the ornaments in one spot. Every time I would ask her, "Where do you want to put this one?" she would reply, "Down LOW." So we kept our decorating on the downlow this year, as they say. We also took the opportunity to talk about Santa and our imminent visit with him. When we asked what she would say to Santa she said, "Please?" She does know what to say! However, when I ask if she would tell him she was naughty or nice, she invariably says 'naughty' so there you have it. I told her she'd only get a lump of coal and she said, "Ok!" Yeah.. I think we might be missing something but that's ok. Our other highlight during Grandma's visit was visiting our friends Tammy and John and their new little baby boy. Ruby was very interested in feeding him and trying to give him toys. Then, while John was changing him, he peed and some got on Ruby's foot. For the rest of the weekend, the answer to "What did you do this weekend?" was, "Elliott peed on my foot." I assured her that this was a less common occurence with sisters than with brothers. Anyway, we were sorry to see Grandma leave but we know we'll see her again in a short while!