Ruby Recap: Month 3

I am so behind on these. 

Let's just acknowledge that taking care of a baby full-time doesn't leave a lot of free time. I'm lucky to brush my teeth (almost) every day. 

I'm also a perfectionist, and spending 5+ hours to write the first draft of a blog post isn't something I have the luxury for. 

So here's my attempt to catch up, and also my attempt to relax a little over what I write. 

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Well it's official. Ruby is no longer a newborn. *sniff*

Look how much our infant has grown! 

An unofficial bathroom scale weigh-in puts her around 13 lbs. 6 oz...up almost 3 whole pounds since her month 2 checkup! 

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Here's a recap of Ruby's 3rd month: 

Shane had to go out of town overnight for work, so Ruby and I got to have some girl time. And we survived! 

I was really nervous to be on our own. Sure, I take care of her during work hours, and it's not like Shane can wake up and breastfeed her during the night, but it's really awesome to have him help out after he gets done working. I love taking care of her, but sometimes you just need a break to walk laps around the house or go to the bathroom without constantly worrying about a tiny human. 

Surprisingly, we did pretty well. Ruby seemed to be on her best behavior and even let me take a shower without having Shane watch her. 

Here we are, dressed all snuggly in our pajamas and ready for story time! 

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Ruby started to figure out TOYS this month :) She's figured out that she can put things in her mouth and chew. As if everything in our house wasn't already covered in dog slobber, I guess now it'll be covered in Ruby slobber too. 

It's so amazing to watch her learn and interact with the world around her. She doesn't just lay on her playmat anymore, she looks at and reaches for her toys. She even played herself to sleep one day!

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Ruby still loves bathtime! Shane's usually in charge, because I'm always afraid I'll drop her when she's wet and soapy and slippery. But that just leaves me free to take pictures! 

Look at her duck fuzz! Sometimes it looks red, sometimes it looks blonde. We're anxious to see what her hair looks like, but it might take a while. Neither Shane or I had much hair at all until we were a year old or more. 

Too cute!

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Speaking of ducks, check out Ruby in her first snowstorm! As you would expect, we spent more time bundling ourselves up than out in the snow. Ruby is pretty smart, but she's not quite advanced to snowman-building level yet. 

If you're wondering where you can get a stylish duck snowsuit like hers, you'll just have to travel back in time to the late 1980s. Almost exactly 28 years ago, my parents dressed baby ME in that snowsuit to bring me home from the hospital in a snowstorm.  

Ruby enjoyed the snow so much that she pitched a fit when we came back inside. 

*Sidenote: why did Carter's put an elephant on an outfit with bear ears on the hood? I mean it's cute, I picked it out. It's not like they could put giant elephant ears on there, but it seems odd to mix animals. Or is that just me? 

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Aunt Hannah has been collecting these cute things called tsum tsums since before Ruby was born. Each month the Disney store comes out with a set of characters from a different movie. We also may or may not have bought an Alice in Wonderland costume (in several sizes) back at Halloween. This photo opportunity has been in the works for a while. 

However, if you've ever had a baby, you'll know that time goes by fast and you don't always have time for baby fashion shows. If you look closely, you'll see that in the third picture, Ruby's onesie buttons weren't even snapped. Guess who was just a smidge too long for her dress? She posed for a while, but she really lets you know when she's just OVER IT.   

P.S. Let this serve as a warning to those parents out there who are looking at buying Halloween costumes from the Disney store. If you're looking at baby sizes, SIZE UP. Ruby has a couple that we bought on clearance, and they have consistently run small. 

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This month we did something scary. We drove for three-and-a-half hours in a VW Golf with two rambunctious dogs and a two-month-old baby. 

That's right! It was time for Ruby's first trip to Knoxville! Ruby got to meet a LOT of new family members. And we somehow managed to not pack our whole house! I still don't know how I, the queen of overpacking, took a trip with a baby without having to rent a U-Haul. 

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Ruby loves to go for rides with mom and dad! Shane and I have enjoyed learning all about babywearing, and if you can't tell, I have a serious addiction to buying different baby carriers. 

The picture on the left is Ruby and me at Opry Mills mall, where we met up with a bunch of other babywearing mamas to walk laps. The middle picture is at our very first Babywearing International meeting, which was so fun! And the picture on the right is me and Ruby at the grocery store. Babywearing is awesome because it lets Ruby get all snuggled up (and she usually takes a nap) while we get chores done :) 

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It's amazing to see how much this little lady grows and changes every day, and we're so thankful to be her parents. 

Until next time, enjoy this classy lady in her diaper and socks :) 

Ruby Recap: Month 2

Is it just me or is this baby not the sweetest thing you've ever seen? 

If you like that photo, just check out month 1 vs. month 2. 

HOW DID SHE GET SO BIG SO FAST?! 

I really can't believe how much she's grown already. 

Here are her stats (and an adorable photo) from her two month checkup yesterday...

Birth: 7 lbs & 12 oz  -  20 & 3/4 inches long

2 month checkup: 10 lbs & 10 oz  -  24 & 1/2 inches long

The doctor said she's growing right on track! She had to get her first round of shots, which was rough on all of us, but she did well and is feeling much better today after sleeping most of the day yesterday. 

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I'm a few days late posting this Ruby Recap, but I have a good excuse! Wednesday, January 6th was both Ruby's 2 month and my 28th birthday! We had a fun day celebrating together watching Redbox DVDs and eating dinner consisting of chocolate chip pancakes and a chocolate cake made by my wonderful husband Shane :) 

Speaking of my amazing husband, look how sweet he is! He added a Ruby Alex & Ani bracelet to my collection along with a lotus spoon ring. I didn't even drop hints or anything! 

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So let's get to it! Here is a recap of Ruby: Month 2!

Ruby's first... trip to Rainforest Cafe! My Aunt Sandy and Uncle Mike drove down to Nashville to visit Ruby one afternoon, so we went to browse at Opry Mills Mall and eat at their favorite restaurant :) 

At the Rainforest Cafe, as the name would imply, the whole inside of the restaurant is a fake rainforest with trees and vines and fake animals everywhere. Every few minutes the elephants will turn their heads, the monkeys will swing on the ceiling, etc. And sometimes, the lights go down and there's a "rainstorm" with thunder and lightning and all the animals start making TONS of noise. Monkeys screeching, lions roaring, you get the picture. 

Ruby did GREAT! I wore her in her carrier the whole time and she slept through everything! She made one tiny peep the whole time. 

And yes, I did put something over her head as to not drop lettuce from my sandwich on her ;) 

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Ruby's first... Christmas! If I ever get around to it, I'll be writing a separate post about this, because there are just too many cute pictures and costume changes. As you can see from the one below, the Mrs. Claus outfit was NOT her favorite, at least not on Christmas morning. With the crazy weather, it was around 75 degrees and she just got too hot with all that velvet and fur trim. 

As I mentioned in my Santa's Little Helper post, we had to make the tough choice to not go to Knoxville for Christmas this year. Thankfully both sets of our parents and my sister were able to come spend parts of the holiday with us. We had lots of fun celebrating and opening Ruby's Christmas presents and making pretend like she was actually interested in opening the presents too. 

It turned out to be a good decision to stay here, as a lot of our family members back in Knoxville spent the holidays really sick, which is no fun. I did end up with a week-long cold, but Ruby only had the sniffles for a few days, which is good. 

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Ruby's first... trip to the zoo! It was pushing 80 degrees here the weekend after Christmas, so we and the parents all loaded up and went to the Nashville Zoo.

We decided to push her around in her stroller rather than wear her in a carrier so she could see the sights, but with Ruby being a tiny baby, she slept most of the way through the exhibits. Here she is sleeping in front of the giraffes, kangaroos, meerkats, and flamingos. Isn't our little sleeping roaming gnome baby cute in her coordinating zoo animals outfit?

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Ruby's first... New Year! Ruby got all dolled up in a onesie with attached gold glitter tutu and gold Mary Jane shoes. She looked a little naked though with just the onesie so I hunted out the black velvet headband from one of her other outfits. It was her first time wearing a headband and she only made it about five minutes before it slipped down over her eyes, then the screaming began. Oh well, it was cute while it lasted. 

By midnight, we were in bed, me nursing Ruby and Shane reading his Kindle. Sure, we weren't out downtown with the thousands drinking and partying until the sun came up, but I think we had an even better party here :) 

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Ruby loves... smiling! She's figured it out now and spends a lot of time showing us her cute little gummy smile. She gets especially perky and smiley first thing in the morning. She and I spend about 10 minutes every morning making our biggest smiles at each other. It's a great way to start the day! 

Ruby loves... her bathtub!  

When newborns still have their umbilical stump, they can't be fully submerged in water and have to have sponge baths instead. Those she absolutely HATED and she would scream the whole time. 

Her belly button made it's debut around the end of the 3rd week, and since then, she's enjoyed taking baths in her big girl bathtub. 

Baths aren't an everyday occurrence at our house - considering we spot clean messy areas and baths really dry out her skin - more like a once a week sort of thing. She really enjoys having her little butt sitting in the warm water, and sometimes doesn't even mind us spraying her off with the kitchen sink sprayer. 

Thankfully she's yet to poop in the water, but I know it's just a matter of time. 

Ruby loves... relaxing on the couch! And her daddy! 

For a few weeks, Ruby would cry any time we sat her down, she always wanted to be held. Now she's been crying to let us know she wants down. It's really funny to watch because she'll be pitching a fit until we lay her on the couch cushion, then she immediately goes quiet. 

Of course we never leave her unattended and we always pay attention to her while she's on her own, but she really loves hanging out there. Sometimes she'll even take a quick nap. The dogs have been getting in on the nap action too. Check out how sweet Charlie and Sheldon are! I especially love how Ruby and Sheldon are practically holding hands / paws in that one picture. We're hoping that Ruby and the doggies will be best friends as she grows up a little more. 

Ruby loves... playing with her toys! 

When she's awake and more alert, I've been putting her squishy rattle blocks at her arm's length in her line of sight. After numerous failed attempts to get her interested in toys, she actually figured out how to bat the block around the other day! She even knocked it close to her face and started licking it, too cute! We think she's learned that from the dogs. 

Of course that's one of those things where they stop doing it as soon as you pull out the camera, but I did manage to get a cute sneeze and yawn on film! 

Ruby loves... her pacifier! Sorta. 

When you're breastfeeding, it's recommended to wait to introduce a pacifier to make sure that feeding is well-established. The first time we gave her one was around week 5 or 6. We were in the car and she started crying, so I gave her the pacifier to help soothe her crying. 

We occasionally try to give her one, but she doesn't really take it. I think she's only used one three times for about 10 minutes each time. Here she is when she figured out how to use her hand to keep the pacifier from falling out. 

Normally when we try to give her one, she'll move the nipple over to the side of her mouth and kinda gnaw on it. Early sign of teething? And possibly something else learned from the dogs?

Ruby loves... flipping around in her cradle! 

She sleeps in our room for easy access and turns out she does some funny stuff in her sleep. 

Normally she'll just scoot a little closer to the head or foot of the mattress, but twice now she's flipped sideways. If she does it one more time I'm going to have to rearrange our furniture and move the big girl crib into our room, because her arms and legs stretch out the bars on both sides in the cradle when she does this! 

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You had to be there! 

Ruby has to wear mittens in bed because her circulatory system is still developing and her hands turn into little icicles without them. The mittens make her little flapping arms even cuter, and we like to call her things like "Mittens McGhee" or "Little Miss Mittens" or "Minnie / Mickey Mouse hands" when she's got them on. The plain white mittens are our favorites because they really do make her look like a Disney cartoon character! 

Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night to a sucking sound...it's Ruby sucking on her little mitten hand and trying her best to fit her whole mitten fist in her mouth. 

This morning, her pajamas inspired Shane to nickname her the "terrycloth bandit." 

She has been making more sounds, her favorite is a "gah" sound. The other day Shane was tickling her and every time he'd stop, she'd make a silly face and that sound. Of course we had to do it over and over again :) 

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We love this little baby more and more each day and can't believe it's already been two months since she made her grand entrance! Some things, like breastfeeding and sleeping at night, are getting easier, while others, like her being more alert and wanting to be held a lot, sometimes make things tricky. No matter what, I keep reminding myself that she will only be little once and am doing my best to cherish every moment, good or bad, while they last. 

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To finish off the post, here's a (rather blurry) picture of Ruby in her latest tiny teenager outfit. 

It's a good thing she didn't know we were headed to the doctor or that she'd be getting shots while she was there, or she'd have made an even bigger fuss. 

Santa's littlest (and cutest!) helper

Hey everyone! We're only 11 days away from Ruby's first Christmas and Shane and I couldn't be more excited. 

This Christmas is going to be a little different than usual, and not just because we have another stocking to hang up. For the first year in either of our lives, we won't be spending Christmas in Knoxville with our families. Both sets of parents and my sister are planning on visiting us around Christmas, but we won't be making the rounds of Christmas parties or seeing any of our extended family.

It was a really hard but necessary choice for us to stay in Nashville this year. Ruby will be just twelve days shy of two months old, which means she won't be vaccinated yet. It sounds like tempting fate to have her in close contact with so many people at the height of cold and flu season. We're just not ready to test the limits of her little immune system yet and would rather not spend Christmas Day in the ER for a fever. It also doesn't sound like much fun to cram her, our two dogs, and our luggage plus Christmas presents into our VW Golf for a three-and-a-half hour car ride. Considering she screamed her head off on the way home from the grocery store right down the road, I don't think she's ready for long trips yet. 

In spite of the change of location this year, we're determined to have an awesome Christmas. It would be impossible not to, with such a little cutie pie to celebrate with! Check out our fun Christmas activity from last night, a photo shoot with our little elf baby in front of the Christmas tree! 

Disclaimer: I am in no way a professional photographer and was using a camera borrowed from my sister. In case you notice the lighting looks a little funny, it's because I waited until nighttime to take pictures (silly me) and was depending on lamps for assistance. 

I know all people think their baby is the cutest, but c'mon...she's adorable! 

I'm still amazed we were able to get this shot. This took a lot of patience and Shane dangling a dog treat over my head. They'd each take turns trying to come get the treat from him, so it's a Christmas miracle that both dogs were still and looking at the camera at the same time. 

If you look carefully in the background, the large white oval on the tree is her footprint ornament. Directly under it is a Santa head ornament with my fingerprint on it from my first Christmas. Didn't plan that but it's a nice coincidence :) 

Elf feetsies! The booties are from Target.

  

Ruby with her reindeer ornament from Little Sapling Toys, it's personalized with "Baby's First Christmas 2015" engraved on the back. 

She's getting a few of their adorable toys in her stocking but shhh, it's a surprise! 

We'd already bought her plenty of gifts but I couldn't help myself when I was shopping for the other kids in the family a few days ago...so the new presents got tagged from Santa to cover my tracks ;) 

Eventually even the best models get tired and ready for some milk. This was the one good shot I was able to get of her adorable Rudolph onesie from Hello Half Pint which we bought at an arts festival this summer. She had so many cute tie dye onesies and shirts for little ones, it was hard to pick our favorite! I'm sure we'll be visiting her booth the next time she's in town. 

To our friends and family in Knoxville...we hope you have a wonderful celebration this year, and hopefully we'll get to video chat you. We look forward to visiting you all at the next big holiday celebration when the weather and new parent stress levels are more amenable :) in the meantime, if anyone's ever in the Nashville area, be sure to stop by! 

Ruby Recap: Month 1

In case you missed Ruby's birth story, you can read it here. 


"Move it, peas! You're in my shot!" 

  

Yes, she did actually whack the peas out of her way. 

It's hard to believe that our little girl is one month old already! It's not been an easy month, but it's been the best month of our lives. Here are some of our favorite moments from the past month. 

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Ruby's first... Thanksgiving! Her due date was supposed to be three days after Turkey Day, so our plans changed a bit from what we'd expected. Instead of me sitting around hugely pregnant and uncomfortable, I got to enjoy the holiday with a sweet little baby! Shane's parents, my parents, and my sister Hannah all came to celebrate with us. Shane is so awesome, he did ALL the cooking without any help from me! It was really nice to be able to relax instead of stress. Thanks Shane!

Everyone made it into these photos except Ruby...she's in her rocking chair on the floor next to me. 

We learned the importance of having a backup holiday outfit. Ruby started out the day wearing an outfit with cute little turkeys printed on it..and then she peed on it...twice. Good thing we'd bought this onesie as a backup just in case! 

As it turns out, adult size turkey hats make really good baby turkey costumes! Look at my silly little turkeys :) 

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Ruby's first... visit to see Santa! Like crazy people, we took her to the mall at 2 weeks old to get her first Santa picture made. I figured it would be better to take her early before it got too cold outside and the lines got too long. We still had to wait over an hour! 

This picture is adorable and hilarious. Just check out Ruby up close. I got worried about Ruby getting big kid germs from sitting on Santa's lap after so many other kids, so I decided to hold her. I should've looked at us in a mirror before they snapped the picture. I promise she's not slumped over, it's just her outfit was a little large and bunched up right around her head. It does make her look like her shoulders are about to her ears though!   

Ruby and I also had our first public breastfeeding experience that day. Of all places, I wouldn't have imagined trying it at a Bass Pro Shop in a busy outlet mall, but when a baby's gotta eat, she's gotta eat! I was able to keep myself covered without having to cover Ruby. I felt a lot more comfortable with it than I would've thought. And thankfully I didn't even get any weird looks from others! I honestly don't know how many people really even noticed I was feeding her. 

Breastfeeding is NOT an easy thing to learn how to do, and looking at this photo makes me really proud of myself. At this point, I was still having a lot of trouble getting her to latch on. I had just gone to a breastfeeding support group two days before, and thanks to the techniques I learned there, this was also one of the first times I was able to get her to latch properly. 

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Ruby loves... planking! You know, like the social media trend from a few years ago? Our little goofball loves to relax by sticking her arms and legs out stiff as a board. 

Ruby loves... her play gym! She isn't really big enough to play with toys and she can only see about 12 inches in front of her face, but she DID seem pretty interested in the hanging rattle after her hand accidentally whacked it. 

Ruby loves... her big brothers! Charlie and Sheldon alternate between ignoring Ruby and being completely entranced by her. They get really concerned when she starts to cry. If we don't get to her quick enough they'll start barking as if to say, "the baby's broken, fix her!" 

The first few days we had her home, Sheldon (on the right) would NOT let Charlie near Ruby at all! If Charlie got close, Sheldon would growl and snap at him like some sort of vicious wild animal. I had to catch and hold Sheldon so Charlie could get some Ruby snuggle time. 

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 You had to be there... 

Ruby was wearing a 0-3 month size gown and it was way too big on her and at one point the neck hole was halfway down her chest. Shane took a look at her and said, "Ruby, I can see your cleavage! You need a cami secret!"

She sleeps in a cradle in our room. One night I had a hard time getting her to go to sleep; anytime I'd put her down, she'd start crying again. I finally got her down and she seemed okay, so I crept back to my bed as quietly as possible. I laid down, pulled up the covers...and farted. Really loudly. Ruby immediately woke up and started crying. 

You'll never believe it, but the other day, Ruby and Shane sneezed at the EXACT SAME TIME. Seriously. It was the weirdest thing. And today, Ruby sneezed a second after I did. I think she's got some sort of psychic / sympathetic sneeze thing going on. 

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Happy one month, Ruby! 

P.S. How cute is she in that fleece vest and those jeggings? She doesn't wear "outfits" very much, we typically have her in gowns or pajamas, but when she does...she's way more stylish than I am!