Ruby's new tricks

Ruby is such a little Daddy's girl already. She can be crying and in so much pain from her teeth and then Daddy walks in the door and she's giggling. It's' adorable.

One of Ruby's new tricks is screaming. She has found her vocal chords and likes to use them. She screams when she's tired, when she wants to be picked up, when she's playing, and for no reason at all. I can't say this is my favorite thing she's done. I'm really hoping she'll stop being so proud of this new trick soon. We just try to whisper back to her, hoping she'll figure out that we don't talk so loudly. You probably think its funny, but its not. I'm afraid to take her out in public and afraid the mailman will think I'm beating her. But it will make for a good Halloween house.

She has also figured out how to kiss us on the lips now. It is the best! She'll kiss us and then pull away with her mouth wide open. This makes up for the teething and screaming combined.

update

make that two teeth in the back.

another tooth

It's hard to believe that a baby as calm and beautiful looking as her picture below could have been the same baby I had today. Ruby was MISERABLE. I could not put her down for a second and nothing seemed to make her happy - except kisses. Oh, and then when Daddy came home. She actually giggled for him. She was crying moments before. But I looked in her mouth and she's got another tooth coming in. This one is also on the bottom, but not in the middle! It's pretty far over to the side, a molar, maybe?? Is that possible? A bad day with Ruby is still better than a bad day teaching, that's for sure.

Yesterday was my birthday and John & Ruby made it special for me. John made or got all of my favorite foods for me and gave me some really thoughtful gifts. Ruby gave me a massage. The card said "because you carry me around all day, every day, I thought you deserved a break."

kisses

We have had a busy few days around here. We hosted a housewarming party on Saturday. We had about 30 people here and a lot of fun. There were several babies for Ruby to play with and watch. Ruby was incredible. She woke up about an hour before people arrived and ate. Usually she's up 2 hours before her next nap. Ruby took 2 very short cat naps during the party, but otherwise was awake a total of 5 hours. She also didn't eat until people left. She was just too excited by it all. She was a happy girl as long as she stayed with me or John.

On Sunday, John took us out to brunch at Gathering Together, the farm where we get our CSA. The food there is amazing. We stuffed ourselves like it was Thanksgiving as Ruby just watched patiently and practiced chewing. The food was overshadowed by the couple next to us that got engaged while we were there! It was so much fun to see that happen. They got to show off the ring to everyone right away.

But the latest of Ruby's tricks, might be my favorite...she's kissing us!!!! She's always loved getting kisses (even from her stuffed animals and dolls), but now she will turn her face to "kiss" our cheeks. She just leaves her mouth open on our cheek, but smiles afterwards. John and I are all slobbery now, but we love it.

Pumpkin Fest

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Originally uploaded by meg+john=ruby

Ruby gave me a hand while we picked out our pumpkins at the Pumpkin Festival. Gathering Together Farm hosts a pumpkin fest every year where you go on a hay ride, listen to bluegrass, have a homemade donut, and get to pick out a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch. GTF is also the farm where we get our weekly veggies from in our CSA that we share with some friends. The fest was so big last year that they had to start limiting the number of people attending by selling tickets. The weather so great for this time of year, meaning that it wasn't raining, and about 60 F. Ruby saw her first horses here and got to play in the hay; she had a blast.

Fall Fun

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Originally uploaded by meg+john=ruby

Brianne and Eddie were visiting this weekend. We drove down with them to Harrisburg, just south of us in the valley and went apple picking at a family orchard. The weather was beautiful, sunny and about 60 F. We picked a couple of pounds (40 cents/lb!) and came home to make some yummy apple dessert. Ruby had a great time checking out all the trees. Tree watching is high on her list of activities if you didn't know already. Brianne and Eddie had lots of fun with Ruby, and Ruby had lots of fun with them. She was so full of smiles and giggles whenever they held her. This morning when Ruby woke up and saw that Bri and Eddie were still here she was so excited. (Thanks for coming down B and E, we really enjoyed it and I know Ruby did too.) -John

doctor visit

We just got back from the doctor for Ruby's 4 month check-up. She had her shots, which are so hard on John & me. But, Ruby does okay with it. She is just over 4 months old and weighs 16 lb. & 3 oz. and is 25 1/2" long. She's huge! Check her out on the growth chart here.
The doctor said everything looks great and that Ruby is beautiful.

story time

Ruby had her first story time at the library today. We walked - yes, walked!- to the library all bundled up on our brisk fall morning. The library is a historic building with stairs and no ramps so we had to park the stroller on the bike rack and lock it up. Funny, huh? I got some weird looks, but what else was I going to do? The library has a fireplace and lots of little rooms. It's so cozy. There were 24 kids there. A pre-school class from a nearby church comes every week. It was hard for this former teacher to keep her mouth shut. Some of the kids were soooo loud!
Ruby was amazed by it all. The librarian was great, she had puppets and chose 3 interactive books to read. One of the books was about some monkeys making a birthday cake for their mom. They were trying to be quiet so they wouldn't wake her. When they mixed all the dry ingredients, one monkey said, "Don't sneeze!" and then Ruby sneezed. Everyone laughed, it was really cute. Then there was a little puppet show.
The whole thing lasted 30 minutes and Ruby just sat on my lap staring up at the stage. I can't believe she has such a long attention span. As soon as she was back in her stroller, she passed out. I'll have to take the camera next time to share a picture of her all cozy. She looked ready for snow. We did some more shopping downtown, then headed back home. It is so nice to be able to walk to fun little places. I hope we have some non-rainy days this winter so that we can take advantage of it.

Ruby in the Press 2

-John

4 months old!

We went to Ruby's little friend, MaryAnn's house yesterday to celebrate Ruby's birthday. We made chocolate-filled vanilla cupcakes. Yum! MaryAnn is 2 weeks older than Ruby and so cute. The girls are funny. They're just starting to reach out and pet each other, its really cute.
Ruby's first little tooth is beginning to poke out.
She & I went to "live and learn with your baby" class that the community college hosts. There were about 20 babies & moms there. Ruby was amazed. She laughed and smiled at all the big babies crawling, walking, making noises. She seemed to be taking notes. She especially liked one little boy in particular. MaryAnn is in the class too. We go once a week and then spend the rest of the evening trying to make up the feeding and nap she skips while there. There's too much to look at!
Keep the recipes coming - thanks to Christy & Bri for the ideas. I'll try them soon.
Sorry this is so scattered. Baking season has begun here and I'm writing this in between steps of some rolls I'm baking. (And of course, playing with and feeding Ruby).