Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Are you getting a check?



photo by LollyKnit

With tax refund checks & stimulus checks on their way, there is a lot of talk about what we should do with the money coming in. This is our plan so far (in case you care):
10% to college fun for Ruby
10% to our iras
10% to charity
10% to plane tickets to FL, or should I say half a seat to FL
10% to house repair budget
10% to car maintenance & savings for next car
10% to the principal on our mortgage
10% to the principal on our school loan
20% to living expenses/misc.

There was also talk of buying a whole lot of wine with all of it.
But I came across this today and have some more ideas. John & I wanted to get a couple chickens, but didn't think we could afford it, so maybe we can take that out of our living expenses fund. What do you think, John? We also want to get a bike seat for Ruby and they are ridiculous expensive. What are your plans?

11 months old!


Ruby is 11 months old today! I can hardly believe it. She is constantly amazing us now - to the point that we're speechless. This video was shot about a month ago. She had just woken up and nursed. I was in the kitchen making our breakfast & she was reading books to herself. I heard her giggling & grabbed the camera. She was finding animals she liked in her farm book & laughing at them. Now she is really communicating with us. We can ask her, "Where is the dog?" and she will find a picture of a dog & point to it. Same with cat, mama, dada, baby and now many of her toys too. She can tell you where her belly, feet, and head/hair are too! She has said mama & dada, but its still pretty rare.
Her favorite book to read lately is The Backward Day by Ruth Krauss. We checked it out at the library and Ruby laughs at it as we read it. Somehow, she knows its funny. I'm really loving Ruth Krauss' books lately too. I don't think we own any, so I keep going to the library searching for them.
Ruby is also on the verge of taking her first step. She cruises around the furniture and can stand by herself for quite a while. She's just working up the confidence. Yesterday in her crib she stood up, let go of the side with her arms out for balance & would make herself wobble until she fell which she thought was really funny. Then she'd do it over again.
I think our favorite Ruby development is her wanting to cuddle so much more. John says that she has figured out that it feels good and searches it out. She'll sometimes just crawl up to us for a hug or snuggle. We LOVE this. I swear I can feel my heart expand every time she does it. I cannot get enough of her hugs and kisses.
After my mom knew I was pregnant, she said many times to me, "I'm so excited for you." I remember thinking, "parenthood must be better than I can imagine if she's more excited for me than for herself to become a grandmother." Now I know why she said that. John & I are so grateful to be Ruby's parents. She is so much more fun and wonderful than I dreamed possible.

Friday, April 25, 2008

spring fever



Check out this site from domino mag. You can see rooms painted in different colors & they tell you the name of the paint. This is perfect for me. John & I have been talking about what colors to paint our 3 rooms that need it all winter. We had things picked out and then just realized (we're a little slow on the decorating thoughts) that we can see every room of the house from the living room, so they should all probably look good together. At least we figured that out now! I'm thinking this blue, I mean, Faint Flicker, might be the perfect color for our bedroom.
Link found via How About Orange.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Augustus Gloop


Have you seen Charlie & the Chocolate Factory? John & I have a running joke that Ruby is like Augustus Gloop. Before I took this picture, she was eating food off her hand and tried to eat her hand too. In my head I heard Augustus' mother from the movie saying, "Augustus, stop eating yourself." And he says, "But, I taste so good!"
For lunch today, Ruby had:
cottage cheese
apple, raisin, apricot sauce
bread
yogurt
rice
sweet potatoes

Half an hour later, she nursed.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Food gifts


I like to receive gifts of food for special occasions. Megan makes me wonderful birthday treats every year. They are totally part of any gifts she might make/buy for me. I had some leftover birthday money (thanks mom and dad) so I bought a pig. Not a real pig mind you, but a party pig filled with beer. Not just any beer, oh no, but made in Corvallis (15 min.), not available in bottles, and the smell and taste of it equates with freshness. Mmmmmmmm. So good. The 2.5 gals should last a while. What a treat!

Megan has been baking again. In our quest to save money and, at the same time increase our standard of living, Megan makes new treats for us weekly. Sometimes savory, sometimes sweet, this time Lemon Poppy Seed Cake from Once Upon a Tart.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

happy earth day

It's another rainy day here - we didn't get outside to celebrate, which just seems wrong. I should have wrapped us all up in our rain gear for a walk at least. But I did that yesterday and it poured on us and my hands were freezing by the end of our walk. I was really hoping it wouldn't rain, so I didn't bring appropriate gloves in protest. I couldn't really muster up enough energy to do it again today.

The craft show deadline to apply was on Sunday and now we're going through applicants & furiously sending emails back & forth to decide who will be accepted, preparing press releases & posters. Its fun but hard to do with only a couple spare moments here and there while Ruby busies herself briefly and I run to the computer.


I'm reading and loving The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule, whose blog I've been reading for quite a long time & I love. This is a wonderful, practical book that is really inspiring. I wish I could go peek into their home & see it all in action.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

craziness


This was last weekend. It got to 75 and was so sunny. Here she is sharing her toys with her little buddy, Lexi. Ruby ended up hanging out in her diaper. This morning, it was snowing!
We went to the doctor earlier this week for a check-up. At Ruby's 9 month check-up, it seemed that Ruby lost weight, so the doctor wanted to see us again before her 12 month check-up. We went in and Ruby was weighed. She is gaining weight, but very slowly. No one is concerned though. She has grown a lot in length and is very busy right now and she still has some chub rolls on her. The doctor said, "I think she's fine. Her skin looks good and healthy and she has a good forearm." What? We have no idea what that is supposed to mean, except that maybe her forearm is still a little chubby and it would be skinny if it was time to worry??

Thursday, April 17, 2008

craft exchange



Remember the monster party we were invited to? We missed it. Ruby had a cold & we didn't want to infect all the other little babies. Yesterday Ruby & I went to wish the little monster a belated happy birthday. We gave him this little kitty that he immediately snuggled with, which made me so happy. Then, he gave Ruby a stuffed monster that his mama made for ALL of the babies invited to the party! I love this craft scene out here. Although, I must admit, its a bit intimidating. I feel like a slacker sometimes. But I seem to be staying quite busy. I'm working on making a bunch of stuff to sell at the craft show , knitting a hat for Ruby, and attempting to sew some window worms to maybe stop some of these drafts coming through our windows. I know, a little late on the window worms, but hopefully they'll be ready for next winter. Maybe they'll help with summer heat too?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

happy arbor day


This weekend, our city held an arbor day celebration and gave out free trees. We've been talking for months about getting a tree for our yard to replace the dead dogwood we had to cut down. So, we walked downtown this weekend and put our name in the drawing for the trees. We got to choose between a maple and this lovely akebono cherry tree (no cherry fruit though, sadly). All of the trees around our house are maples, so we went with the flowering cherry. Who can resist these pretty little blossoms? Then we had to walk back home carrying this 5' seedling. Well, John carried it while I pushed the stroller. We thought the trees would be much, much smaller. Its planted now and untied - not like in the picture. I took the picture during our warm, sunny weekend, but now the clouds & rain are back so I haven't been out to take another one.

Monday, April 14, 2008

bookworms


It was John's turn for the cold this weekend. Lucky for him, Ruby enjoyed snuggling up and reading to him for quite a while. I wish I had videotaped her reading, she was so serious and used such expression. This book she's holding onto so tightly is a great one we checked out at the library, How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird. It's a beautiful book, so inspiring.

Friday, April 11, 2008

weird


We finally hit 70 degrees today! It was so nice outside. We went for a long walk, opened the windows & set up the hammock. I got in first and John handed Ruby to me, who immediately started screaming. She went back to John, we tried again in a few minutes - same thing. She was so scared of the hammock, she was shaking in our arms if we got close to it. I don't know how she's related to me - I could live in that thing.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

lil' monkey



A month ago Ruby was scooting and not crawling. Now she is crawling everywhere, constantly pulling herself up to stand on whatever unstable object she can find and then grabbing on to our fingers to walk around the house. She is so excited about her new freedom and mobility. I'm excited for her, but man, my back is killing me. Last week wasn't so bad because there were three other people who could take turns with her, but now its just me all day.
Ruby also has a new face that I can't seem to capture on the camera - mostly because I have no hands free to use a camera. But this face has lots of attitude. She uses it mostly on strangers that get too close or talk to her, but I get it a lot too. She will give it to me when I tell her no or just because she feels like it. It would be really funny if didn't have "If she's like this now, what will happen when she's 13?" thoughts going through our heads.

We found a great venue for our craft show. Its going to be at Midtown Marketplace on May 17th from 6-9pm. This place has a nice restaurant, a wine bar (that will be having wine tastings going on at the same time) and a cafe & coffee bar. The last two won't be open in the evening though. It's got great atmosphere and we're really excited about it. So I'm busy trying to organize lots of stuff for that and also trying to make a bunch of products to sell. The website for the show is: MeetYourMaker.wordpress.com Spread the word! Amy (my partner in all this) is the one who made Ruby's milk shirt she's wearing in the pictures above. She sells kids' stuff & grown-up stuff.

Monday, April 07, 2008

garden surprises


The people we bought the house from told me that they hoped a gardener had lived in the house before them, but didn't see any evidence of it. So I didn't have any hopes of spring flowers, but we found these tulips tucked away on the side of the house. I cut 20 of them and now theres a few more popping up in random places.

Today I took Ruby to the eye doctor. I learned about a national program called InfantSee that provides free eye exams to babies under the age of 1. Ruby's eyes look good so far.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Ruby Love




This is our favorite granddaughter! We had an awesome visit with Ruby, Megan, and John on Ruby's 10 month birthday. Ruby is the smartest 10 month old we know! It will be hard to say goodbye in the morning.
She has made us laugh and giggle at so many of her expressions and actions. She continually is "training" us. She absolutely giggles with glee when she goes for a walk and finally sees "her" ducks.
She cannot get enough of her books..she reads and reads and always wants more. She turns the pages for us and can even reorient a book if it is given to her upside down.
Can you tell we love her? She has made everything worthwhile in a very short time.
One of her favorite things is to come out of the bath and get dried off and then get wrapped in a Lion or Bunny hooded towel...she looks at herself in the mirror and just giggles and wrinkles her face...
This seemed like a good, long visit until the time is approaching to leave. Tomorrow, it will seem like it went by way too fast.
Thanks to John and Megan for a wonderful visit, for sharing their beautiful daughter and for being the best parents possible to our little Ruby.