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! 

Weekly update: Catch us if you can!

To see our whole weight loss journey, click here.

Today Shane and I did something that I NEVER thought we'd be able to do...

WE RAN A 10K / 6.2 MILES!!!!

Shane and I participated in the Farm Bureau Holiday 5k and 10k put on by the Robertson County YMCA. It was the third race in a three-race bundle we purchased through the Y. We had originally planned on doing the 5k but decided at last minute to go for it and do the 10k. Our training plan had us doing a 6 mile run this weekend anyways so it really worked out. It was quite a drive to get there, but the course was really pretty, so that made it all worth it. 

Just two weeks ago I was struggling to run a 5k, but the marathon training has really helped. I'm not going to lie, when I have to run my next 3 mile training run on Tuesday, I'm probably still going to struggle a bit. I'm not a great runner by any means. It's just like that time I took a couple hot yoga classes...it's hard to motivate yourself to go, and it's really rough to make it through, but you feel magical after it's over. It helps to think back on past successes to help motivate yourself through the next run. I'll just have to remind myself that I've done it once and I should be able to do it again. 

I tried using an iPod Shuffle for music today instead of taking my phone. I normally stream Pandora and GPS track my run, but that's a lot of unnecessary data usage. The Shuffle worked out nicely, except I realized that most of the music in my library is way too slow for running. I'm going to have to do some major iTunes shopping before next time. 

Our finish times were amazing (for us). Shane finished in 1hr 3 min / 5th in his age group and I finished in 1 hr 12 min / 7th in my age group. The winner finished the run in 38 minutes which is just insane, but I'm also kinda jealous and hope that's us someday. It would be nice to at least place because they're always giving out goody bags that look fun. 

We're already super excited for our next run. There's a Santa themed run we're thinking of doing in December with some of our family and it looks pretty festive and fun. We're going to have to opt for a 5k for this next race, since we're not quite ready for a 1/2 marathon yet. Instead of distance, we'll get to work on our speed. 

I'm really excited to see where this marathon training takes us. It's not going to be easy, and we're probably going to have some setbacks. But we're going to try, and that's what counts. 

We're baaaack!

To see my whole weight loss journey, click here.

It has been an embarrassingly long time since my last weigh-in post, actually three whole months. I've gotten a bit too comfortable with my diet and treating WAY too much...we're talking occasional candy, cookies, breakfast from McDonald's once...it's a slippery slope, y'all. They say you can't outrun your diet, and they're right. Treats every now and then are okay, but not every single day, multiple times a day. Shane and I have been working out nearly every day, but if I don't get myself under control, I'm going to start giving in to soda cravings or worse! 

Me and Shane after an intense workout at the YMCA

The GOOD news is that even with all this food business, I'm pretty much maintaining my weight (currently sitting at 179, which is 47 pounds lost and 52.2% of my weight loss goal), and my body shape is changing! The weight lifting is working, hallelujah! I am looking better in my clothes, and I even bought a size 10, yes 10!!, pair of pants at Old Navy the other day. Okay so they are "boyfriend" cut pants so they're meant to be a little looser than regular pants, but I'm still calling that a big win. Considering I started out this year wearing a 14 but really needing a 16, I'd say I'm doing just fine. 

In other news, with the changing seasons, Shane and I have started to realize how scant our clothing choices are. Sure I have tank tops and shorts for days, but that doesn't help in 50 degree weather. A shopping trip was in order, where Shane made a big revelation: 

That he's lost a lot of weight! He even bought a couple of button-up flannels in size LARGE! It's the first time he's bought a size large since middle school, so this is a huge deal. I am so proud of him! We both stocked up on some winter essentials, and our YMCA is happy that we're bringing so many warm clothes for their winter clothing drive. I actually had to buy all new coats last year because mine wouldn't zip, and now this year, they looked like I was wearing trash bags. Shane looked like a kid wearing his dad's jackets in his. 

I'm also pretty pleased with myself for my progress from last Halloween to this Halloween. This time last year I was so resolved that I was fat and I was always going to be fat, and I'd probably get more fat and that seemed unavoidable. I even got rid of most of my "for when I'm skinny" clothes because I thought I'd never fit into them again. I WAS SO WRONG! I was acting like a blameless victim when I was the culprit. No one made me fat or shoved french fries down my throat, I was doing that to myself. This year I've worked hard to try and take control of my health, and in turn, my happiness. And instead of trying to hide my body in a shapeless Halloween costume, I went for a short dress with NO sleeves! And I personally think I looked pretty cute!

While I have slipped up and allowed more treats into my life, I don't ever want to allow those sort of thoughts back into my life. As we're getting into the holiday season, the typical "dieter's nightmare", Shane and I are recommitting ourselves to our lifestyle change. We are starting a new weightlifting routine to kick up our game and I'm getting strict on my calories again, because it works and my progress so far is proof of that. 

I'm not going to focus on the weigh-in portion so much in future posts like I did in previous posts because now that we're weightlifting, the number on the scale won't really show our progress. I will continue to post training updates, progress pictures, things I find motivational, etc. 

And if you'd like to join me on my weight loss journey, which I would absolutely LOVE!,  add me on myfitnesspal! My username is lehorner6. 

Happy Earth Day, y'all!

Earth Day is a great opportunity to help delay our planet from becoming the trash filled one on Wall-E, but of course we don't have to keep our planet-saving activities limited to only one day! It's a good idea to take opportunities when you see them, like Shane and I did the other day. 

We went for a run over Easter weekend at my in-laws' neighborhood track, and boy oh boy, somebody got bit by the litterbug at the playground area. This was only the tip of the iceberg but we grabbed all we could carry with our bare hands, and every little bit helps. I even got really muddy (if you read this post then you already know that freaks me out) when the boggy mud sucked my shoe right off. Eew. Don't fear, I did survive. 

Every little bit really does help, so the next time you're out walking around and see trash laying around, do the world a favor and pick it up. Mother Earth will be very thankful :)

#27: Happy almost April Fools!

I don't normally pull April Fools pranks, and I've been lucky (knock on wood) that they don't normally get pulled on me. 

This year, get creative. Don't do those same old tired pranks that have been around forever. Seriously, I'm pretty sure I saw the "nail polish on soap" thing on an episode of Leave It To Beaver once, and even he thought it was corny. 

However, if someone would like to do this to my yard, I surely wouldn't mind...

It would save me from having to buy them all myself, I can never convince Shane to let me pick some up at the store. 

And if Shane did this to our fridge, you'd bet it'd stay that way. How cute would it be to have your butter and milk smile at you every day? 

Just be careful not to anthropomorphize (attribute human personality to) your food too much, or it might seem pretty grisly to take a scoop out of that applesauce jar.   

Being on a diet, this next prank might be more of a blessing in disguise. Do you know how many calories REAL brownies have?!

It seems that nutrition isn't exactly a concern on April Fools though. From what I can tell on Pinterest, it looks like these parents throw out all the rules on April 1st. Hope they're ready for all the tummy aches on April 2nd. Why not eat a whole lot of candy instead of fruit? It's not like there's cavities we need to be worrying about or anything. 

How about a grilled cheese made with pound cake and frosting? 

And sure, broccoli tastes much better when it's made from green apple tootsie rolls, frosting, and sprinkles. 

I guess they figure as long as you eat your meatloaf with mashed potato frosting cupcakes, it all balances out somehow. 

Anything involving air horns, party poppers, firecrackers, popping balloons, etc., is almost guaranteed to make a person pee their pants, so if you try one of those, you'd best be ready with a towel. 

I wanna do this at work just to spice up the decor a bit.

Let me just warn you though, if anyone EVER tries to pull the following pranks on me, I'll never speak to you again. These are just evil. 

Notice the source on that one? MrsFields.com. I have a feeling they're just trying to get us traumatized by store bought cookies and have to satisfy our cravings at the mall. And aren't you glad they offered the "safe alternative" of mayo over toothpaste? 

But why stop with just cookies? Why not ruin all desserts with a nice toothpaste frosting. Y'all people are sick if you think this is a good idea. 

Seriously, is nothing sacred? The only thing that would save me from these donuts is that I don't like cream or jelly donuts anyways. 

So Happy April Fools! Have fun with it! But really, if it involves mayo or toothpaste instead of frosting, you've crossed aline. 

What NOT to buy: A guide to last-minute Christmas shopping

We're almost to the home stretch, just a few days until Christmas and not many shopping hours left. I know a lot of people have probably procrastinated and still have a few last-minute gifts to pick up (Shane and I finished our list this morning) and this guide will help you see what NOT to buy for Christmas this year, unless you're a VERY strong believer in "It's the thought that counts!" You could buy pretty much anything else at the store and be good to go. The only people I would suggest buying these for are people you really hate but are still obligated to buy a gift for...then it would be hilarious. 

Walmart put out an interesting display of cookware this year, featuring a now-disgraced chef and a "Limited Time Only" sticker. This I wouldn't buy for the principle of it. And no, I'm not talking about the recent scandal with the Queen of Butter and the n-word, because that dead horse has been beaten enough and cookware is cookware, y'all. Heck, I have a set of this myself. The sole reason why I wouldn't buy this is because IT'S STILL FULL PRICE.  I know I'm not the only one who scoured the clearance section after the news broke just waiting for those super marked down items to roll through. Walmart obviously had a bunch of stock left just sitting around, waiting, until the story cooled enough to put this back out. 

Pre-packaged gift sets are hit or miss anyways, but this one is definitely a miss. First it comes with an odd number of jar mugs, which I'm guessing they did three because only putting two would look too dinky but putting four would cost too much. Next, what's with the off-brand koolaid? Do they even sell this knockoff brand in the grocery aisles? If you are crazy and just think this is the most adorable idea ever, please please just walk two aisles over to the holiday section, grab some of those mason jar cups with lids and straws and buy REAL KOOLAID. Everyone will thank you. 

These skirts and capris look awful enough before I tell you I found them in the HOSIERY section of Macy's with the leggings and jeggings. I wish everyone reading this could reach out and touch their computer screen and feel the texture of these, because it was just awful. We're talking the stretchiest, softest, thinnest material ever, which translates to looking terrible on anyone and everyone who would ever put these on. I mean if you're buying a seafoam green "denim-look" pencil skirt pair of skeggings (the word I just made up for skirt-leggings), you probably don't have the best fashion sense anyways, but still. 

This Macy's disaster was found on the rack right next to that lovely skirt. There are two types of socks in this picture. One is an acceptable gift. The other should die in a fiery explosion. Can you guess which is which? If you guessed the LEFT is the acceptable gift, you should probably just get everyone gift cards this year. What person over the age of four wears ruffled socks? And those ribbons would be a serious tripping hazard. Plus they're just awful. 

Miley and her twerking have made a huge splash this year but not even she would look good in these sweatpants at Spencer's, nor does their photo model. I don't even remember when sweatpants with words on the butt became popular but it has to have been nearly ten years ago now. Look how  high up the message is printed. Is that so in case you get embarrassed you're wearing lime green "twerk queen" pants you can conveniently cover it with your t-shirt? The model even has VPLs (visible panty lines), so just do yourself and humanity a favor and don't buy them. 

Shane and I are huge fans of board games but I wouldn't even waste my money on this, unless it was as a gag gift. I may be biased because I think the show is super boring anyways but the fact that Walmart has already added this to the clearance section suggests I'm not alone. What's next? A "Pawn Stars" game where someone tries to sell you a $20,000 painting and you haggle down to $20? Or how about a "Toddlers and Tiaras" game where you have to make tough choices like "Should I make my mortgage/water/gas bill payment this month or pay for 1/8th of Little Susie Mae's glitz dress?" 

For those who LOVE the Christmas Shoes song, do I have a movie for you! Perfect for anyone who loves to feel weepy and sad around the holidays for absolutely no reason. If you look really closely, you'll see at the bottom the caption says "The Christmas Shoes finds humor in an emotional story." I don't know what could possibly be funny about a kid buying shoes for his dying mother unless Rob Lowe brings a little Chris from Parks and Rec into the movie and says "literally" about a hundred times. 

Last on this year's guide is anything you wrap like this. Just wrap a bow around that big guy's neck and be done with it, no sense in wasting $2.50 on a not quite big enough plastic bag. If your kid is too stupid to figure out there's a teddy bear in that bag, then they need to be getting some books for Christmas. 

See my 2012 and 2011 guides to awful gifts for more ideas on what NOT to buy this holiday season :)