Happy Valentine's Day 2013!

Well I have to admit I did WAY better with Valentine's last year but I also hadn't given birth the month before - so all in all - I think I'm doing sort of okay. :)  At least I've got some cute pictures to celebrate!  

When I woke Ross up this morning - he popped up (just like his dad does when he's woken up) on his feet and started chanting to me "Wessey's house! Wessey's house!"  I told him I would call his mom to see if he could play after breakfast and then Ross persisted to remind me all throughout getting dressed and eating his oatmeal and blueberries.  His little best friend Wesley then FINALLY for what seemed like light years away to Ross I'm sure came over and all was well again.  

We've adopted a fun little game Wesley and his parents came up with of posting letters on the walls and having Ross take a pointer stick to find and smack point at them when he finds it.  Since Wesley was over we were playing it for a little bit, but Ross got creative and found some tongs....and then thought it would be fun to pull OFF all the letters rather than just point at them.  Very inventive.

The Alphabet game.  Ross would pinch them off and Wes would flip them off - very fun.  Wes should get his game patented. :)

We had a Valentine lunch, watched the very beginning of Dumbo (that's the best part anyway with the animals, train, and songs - the rest of the movie is pretty sad...and I never realized that Dumbo and his mouse friend get drunk before figuring out he can fly at the end...hmmm), and then had a photo shoot at mom's request.  After exhausting the subjects during the shoot we've all settled in for a bit of a nap.  So here's some pics and I'm off for my afternoon nap!

Some Valentine quesadillas, apples, and party pooper peas that didn't join the heart theme.  We had to get some veggies in there...and I didn't have any that I could make into hearts.

Yum

It took some coaxing to get Ross to agree to a photo shoot...

A lot of coaxing...

We took a break from getting Ross to pose.  Here are my BEAUTIFUL flowers from my hot husband.  He did good - real good (and this is knowing how he feels about flowers too). :)

Ross is back...I had to take pictures of his trucks to get him to let me take some of him.

There's like a billion more of these. :)

And here are some good ones!  He's surrounded by friends - lots of friends.  I think he would sleep with all of them if we'd let him.  I love that face of his!

My little love bandit. :)

Loving some snuggle time. :)

Pink!

Her cutie Valentine outfit she wouldn't stay awake in.  I put her in it twice...each time she went right to sleep - little stinker pants. :)

Kisses!  Ruby is reminding Ross to be soft. :)

Ross wouldn't hold Ruby for me...so this is what I got...

He wanted to watch Dumbo...

She sure knows how to pose - even in her sleep!

And a cute heart baby bum to finish off the post.  LOVE baby girl tights!

 

One Month Old Ruby

To start off - I'd like to report that the house has not yet burned down like I was so convinced it would with grandmas leaving us to act like we know what we're doing raising two kids now.  I have learned a new level of tiredness, but have also learned how to tolerate it better too - go me! (Considering that the lack of sleep is my kryptonite and I become the Hulk when it gets messed with).  I am a serious schedule person when it comes to our kids so I have had to set up what we're doing throughout the whole day for me to feel like I can cope - it's worked fairly well and we've only had a few both-kids-crying episodes so far.  I just laugh while they're both crying since at least one of us has got to do it to keep the family together! ;)
Ruby has hit her one month mark!  I can't believe it!  She's becoming more of a baby every day.  She was so excited for her one month birthday she decided she was going to try to stay up until the exact time she was born a month ago...2:08AM.  She was quite diligent in her quest no matter what her mommy or daddy would try to do to get her to sleep.  Eventually she became quite frustrated with our efforts and let us know that.  2:08 was almost within her grasp, but mama pulled out the big guns at about 1:15 after daddy had gone in circles luring her to sleep with his awesome bouncing skills only for her to start squawking moments later once he'd put her down, and fed her leaving her to conk out at about 1:45.  Needless to say the next day mom and dad were zombies.  

Look how excited she is!  She's even trying to hold up one finger! ;)

Love those baby blues. :)

Yeah - so I'm one month old - what of it?

We've found that Ruby likes to try to escape her swaddle just like her older brother (see her freed hand)

Love a good baby yawn :)

She's such a beauty!

To celebrate Ruby's one month oldness we had a little photo shoot.  She got to eat all her favorite foods - milk, milk, and more milk (though sometimes it wasn't to her taste and decided to spit it all over her mama).  We also went for a walk - all three of us by ourselves!  (I know - I'm brave).  Rubes decided it was nap time the entire walk which was fine with Ross so he could run around and play at the park for a while.  She also laughed and laughed and laughed (okay more like stared wide eyed and cooed with an occasional smile) with mom and dad while they watched Parks and Recreation that night. All in all - it was quite the celebration!  Ruby is very happy to be one month - no regrets and with lots of good goals for the future (like sleeping through the night!).  

Ross continues to be the most adorable boy of all time.  He sports some smokin' hot shoes all the time (courtesy of Bama Joanne who has outfitted his cute feet) that get rounds of compliments wherever we go, he has a fire truck and dump truck (courtesy of Bama Claudia who has outfitted each hand) that he carries with him wherever he goes and is happy to show it to anyone who will give him a chance.  He recently has become a bit more cuddly and snuggly with me when it's just the two of us which I totally love too.  

Ross has to continuously look at this picture.  Also - I had to take pictures of the fire truck and dump truck before he would let me take one of him.  This truck stays glued to one hand.

Ross's other hand's companion.

Here is the evidence that both hands are always filled with these.  Note - Ross didn't want to put his pants back on after a diaper change.  His legs are so dang cute I gave in. :)

This is a place you fill find Ross daily playing with his trucks. :)

Our walk in our super cool Phil and Ted Stroller.  Ruby is in the back.

Sneaky huh!

I love sleeping cozy babies. :)

So hooray for handling half a week of doing it on our own!  We may figure out this parenting thing just yet. :) 

Left to the Nest...

Well the day I hoped would never come has come!  We are about to be grandma-less...heaven help us!  These last four weeks have zipped by and these last two have especially gone fast.  We have thoroughly enjoyed having Grandma Claudia here with us and are so sad to see her go.  I need to figure out how to grow another pair of arms so I can juggle these two little rascals by myself during the day while Steve is out making the dough - or I should say getting his degree to make the dough. ;)

Steve and Grandma had the great idea to do some hand impression keepsakes - totally fun!

Ross was a champ spreading his cute little hand out.

Ruby took quite a few tries - this was the best we got.  She kept trying to claw the clay, making it look like a paw print!

Playing some cars together!

Feeding the ducks AND fish!

LOVE this picture. :)

I've decided this last week to loosely start the Baby Wise method with the Eat, Wake Time, Sleep cycle with Ruby.  I've made more of an effort to make sure she goes to sleep in her bed and is just drowsy looking when I put her in rather than in a full sleep.  The moment I started it - she's become a dream (knock on wood) - well mostly a bit more predictable.  In the last two weeks she's become much more pleasant when she's awake (until she gets tired) and she has finally started to sort out her night sleeping only waking me up once after the late night feeding before the early morning feeding that starts the day.  I've been spoiled with having my mom and Steve's mom come in that I can feed Rubes and then pass her to grandma while I crash in my bed a bit more.  I'm really REALLY going to miss that.  Thankfully this last week I've gotten Ross and Ruby somewhat sleeping about the same time so I can take a nap too hopefully.  
Claudia was SO amazing to finish Ruby's baby blessing dress for me and a few other odds and ends in sewing that have been nagging at me.  Ruby needs to pack on some more pounds to fit into her blessing dress, but it's gorgeous!  I'm so excited for her to wear it. 

The beautiful dress - that currently drowns Ruby. :) Hopefully she'll put on some more pounds.

Steve and I went out on a nice date to my favorite restaurant The Cheesecake Factory for an early Valentine's date since Claudia leaves tomorrow.  It was, of course, delicious.  Avocado eggrolls and the chicken bellagio dish NEVER fail to completely satisfy me.  We were quite happy - Happy Valentine's to us!
Ruby had her one month check-up (a few days early) and is a whopping 10lbs!  She's 22 1/2 inches as well.  The doc told me she's 75 percentile for her weight (following her brother's footsteps), 90 percentile for her head (also following her brother's footsteps), and 98 percentile for her height!  So it's not just her fingers and toes that are long!  We've got a tall one on our hands!  She's already growing out of some of her newborn clothes (boo!) mostly because she's too long!  I noticed today that her long sleeved onesies are too short in the arms now when she stretches them out.

Cutie girl. ;)

So snuggly!

 A bit wide-eyed. :)  VERY observant though.

Claudia and I think she's probably going to keep blue eyes - they're a pretty deep blue already.

Ruby has gotten a few other nicknames as of late - Steve likes Rubik's Cube and I love to call her Ruby Jubilee.  I constantly have to sing "Wake up little Ruby, Wake up!" (To the song "Wake up, little Suzy, Wake up") to keep her awake enough to eat.  She doesn't listen to me very often - though she is eating more consistently.  She's getting more alert when she's looking around and a couple days ago she was looking at me and smiled while I was talking to her.  THERE'S the validation I've been looking for!  She's started cooing a bit and I'm betting she'll be exploring her voice soon.  I wonder if she'll be like Ross  in her vocal performances. :)  She's becoming more and more like a baby and leaving the newborn phase (I won't lie - I like the baby phase a bit more than the uncomfortable newborn one.)
Ross has become more and more of a character.  He loves being silly and dancing around for you if you're watching him and then he's very dedicated to involving you as well.  He's a GREAT sharer (even if you kindly say no-thank-you, you will be shared with).  He LOVES to be helpful still and enjoys doing housework.  His haircut this time around went better than last time since he actually did get distracted for a little while in the midst of his protests while we had him watch Stuart Little 2 ( a new favorite movie of his ).  His favorite shows include and ARE limited to: Cars, Mater's Tall Tales (Mater-McQueen), Stuart Little 2 (Mouse), Dumbo (Jumbo), Curious George (George), and Thomas and Friends (Thomas Choo-Choo).  He loves to go on walks with Grandma Claudia (Bama), help with laundry, empty the dishwasher, vacuum, and play "Ashes Ashes" while you fall down on your back and shout "Feet up!" while putting your feet up in the air (thanks to Grammy Joanne).  Ross loves to snuggle more since Ruby joined the fam (wahoo!) and will tell us when he's tired now.  

Doing some serious vacuuming! 

A moment he was distracted for me to be able to cut his hair.

Some more freaking out - nice muscle Steve. :)

Trying to recoup from mom's traumatizing cutting.

He survived - just barely though!

Ross wanting some camera action. ;)

Hanging out with Grams. :)

Our poser.

And performer

Oh how I love this face!!

Waking up. :)

Playing the "Hugs" game - Ross runs from the door at full speed into you.  Takes little to no effort on our part and wears him out nicely. :)

Cute Boys

Steve has been loving his internship and has been utilizing his Spanish speaking a ton with it.  He has to dress up a bit more for work and looks quite sharp actually.  These last couple days he's gone to help interview candidates for the school's PT program.  We've reminisced back when he was one of those.  Now we're all grown up graduate students with two kids!  Crazy.
Anyway - there's the update.  I'm sure I'll be having a very different week this week, but I get to look forward to my best friend, Maren, coming next week to recoup!  Wahoo for things to look forward to! :)  

Another Dose of Grandma :)

I won't lie - I planned my life well convincing my mom to come for two weeks and my mother-in-law to come for two weeks after that.  I feel like I'm healing nicely and getting enough naps in to make up for the miserable midnight hours and I have time to plot how the heck I'm going to manage two children by myself during the days while Steve finishes school...I still have another week to come up with something so don't ask me what I'm going to do right now - because I have no idea!
Claudia has been amazing.  It's so nice to have another pair of hands to hold a baby, change a diaper, play with Ross, make a meal, and let me nap.  On top of all that I have also manipulated  convinced her to finish my unfinished (as in I cut out the pattern and material) baby blessing dress for Ruby.  She has it practically all finished and it's only been two days of her working on it!  That would pretty much be like 3 weeks of hard work for me and my lazy simple sewing skills.  Wahoo for awesome grandmas who save the day!  
We've enjoyed some amazing sunshine the last couple days (we forget what that's like here in Oregon) and we've stayed outside as much as we can getting some happy rays in.  
Ruby continues to fatten up weighing in at 9lbs now only being 3 weeks old!  Ross had a little check up and weighs 28 1/2lbs.  He better watch out - at the rate Ruby is gaining she's going to catch up quick!  The goal Claudia and I have had for her stay is get Ruby to really love the binky and also get some better sleeping patterns in at night.  So far it's about every other night she's sleeping well.  I found out she was a bit tongue tied and had to have under her tongue clipped a little to help with nursing (mama's been having some issues with that lately).  She took it like a champ though and hasn't let that hinder her need to nurse.  

This is one of Ruby's favorite positions to be held - and bounced - you get a nice arm workout that way. :)

Cute PJs from her Great Auntie Renee - look at those toes!

Yes - I do kiss that all the time. :)

Claudia has also shooed Steve and I out to go on a bunch of dates while she's here (we're so spoiled!).  We've found a cute new little diner called the Cruise in Diner - a 50's style burger place out in the middle of no where - everyone seemed to know each other there and it was pretty busy.  Delish!  We also did a repeat of seeing the Hobbit at the posh movie theater - Cinetopia.  We saw it in the movie parlor and quite liked it - it was cozy in the chairs and we shared some mud pie ice cream - yum!  
Other than that - Ross keeps entertaining everyone with his dances, marching around, and playing with toys.  I just want to eat his cute cheeks up everytime I see his face.  He's started a random trend of pulling his socks off his feet before going to sleep at night.  I always have to go in there and put them back on again.  He loves the peanut butter and jelly song (though we say honey since he had a peanut butter and honey sandwich when we introduced the song to him).  He'll sing "peanuuuuuuuut!!!  Butterrrrrrrrr!  Honeyyyyyyyyy!) Totally cute.  He can now count to 14 fluently - but prefers to count every other number with you if you want him to do it for you.  He knows his colors - purple, blue, green (most of the time), red, orange, yellow, pink, and white.  He does better when you ask him to show you where the color is though rather than ask him what the color is.  He knows the letter a,b,c,f,i,j,k,l,o,r,t, and z.  The other letters - it depends on his mood.  He could probably tell you every kind of truck that exists in the world (and - no - he's not going to be a trucker when he grows up...maybe he could be a mechanical engineer though). :)  He is a fabulous brother to Ruby and still brings the binky to the rescue for her, puts blankets on her, and tries to share his toys with her.  He also loves giving her kisses.  I never dreamed he would be so sweet right off the bat.  I LOVE that boy!  
Here is his "Happy Day!" energy for you to enjoy. :)
 

Ruby LOVES to be snuggled and has gotten much better at enjoying laying down and looking around observing everyone for longer stretches.  She's filling out her newborn clothes more and smiles like crazy in her sleep - totally cute.  I feel like I catch her comprehending her surroundings more in her eyes and sometimes I swear she's looking back at me.  Her lower lip trembles when she cries at times and she doesn't mind tummy time so much - especially if she has a binky in her mouth.  She and Grandma Claudia are best buds and love to have some snuggling time together.  
We are definitely getting adjusted and I look forward to Ruby getting more sleep at night in the future. :) Hooray for another week of the fabulous family of four!