Lots of Ruthie!

Ruthie has been growing and changing so much lately!  We've been having so much fun watching her develop new skills on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis.  As such, we've been taking tons of short videos of her.  I imagine many of these fall in the category of videos that only certain people will enjoy watching, but then again, if you're reading this blog, you're probably one of those people.

Here's some what Ruthie's been up to:

The Johnny Jump Up
Jerod tells us that this was his favorite thing to do when he was a little boy, so he was very excited for Ruthie to get big enough to use her Johnny Jump Up.  When we first got it out, she looked like this in it.

Now she's an old pro and LOVES to hop around in it.

Solid Foods

We've begun attempting solid foods, so far with fairly little success.  Here are the first two attempts.

Try #1:

And try #2:

Last night we tried bananas.  I mashed up a small piece of a banana and mixed it with some water so it was nice and easy for her to eat.  (I think some of the previous failed attempts might have been because the food was too solid, and not liquid enough.)  For the first time, she ate all of the food and was quite excited about it.  Unfortunately, immediately after devouring her banana, she broke out into bright red hives.  We called the nurse line and they gave us instructions on how to watch her for a more serious reaction.  In the end, everything turned out fine...except for the fact that she's allergic to BANANAS!  Who has ever heard of such a thing?  When we looked up information on this last night we learned that people with banana allergies are also likely to be allergic to avocados and latex.  And we learned that in the allergy world, avocados are considered a nut.  So...between the bananas, and my family's nut allergies, I think we will also be avoiding avocado, which is also supposed be a great first food.  

Ruthie Found Her Feet (and her shadow!)

Finding Ruthie on her back with her feet in the air and her hand stretching to reach her feet is a common sight these days.  She likes to try to eat them too.  A few weeks ago I was changing her diaper and she started chewing on her little elf hat.  I decided to put it on her and caught this cute picture of her.  Possible Christmas card picture?

And then last week while I was changing her diaper she discovered something else while playing with her feet.  

Two New Tricks in One Day!

Ruthie has recently been having some sleep issues.  We moved her out of our room and into her own crib at the beginning of December, which seems to have improved things greatly.  Then last week she had a terrible night of sleep.  We were worried that she was reverting back to the bad sleeping.  But then the next day she did two new things within about an hour's time.  We've heard that babies will often have a night of bad sleep before learning a new skill.  That seems to have been the case with her, thankfully.  Look at her new tricks!

(Sorry this one is on its side...I don't know how to rotate it.)

And here's a picture of her showing off her sitting skills in her crib.  Isn't she a little chunk?!

Bath Time (of course!)

I think Ruthie truly might be the happiest in the tub. I almost can't help but video tape her while she's in the water - she's always so talkative and CUTE!  

Look at the difference between her in the tub July and now in December.

It's actually kind of crazy...I barely recognize that baby from July.  Gosh, I can hardly stand how fast she is growing!  Good thing I love the little smiley,  roly-poly girl she's turning into!

And here are two bath videos: one pre sitting, and one post sitting.  

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

We bought Ruthie a ridiculous Christmas dress and hat because we think she has little elf ears.  Target sure knows how to prey on new parents who think their baby is the cutest ever...  I attempted to take a picture for a Christmas card.  Here's what I came up with.  What do you think?

So where's the Christmas card?  That's a good question.  Maybe we'll have to send out New Year's cards...

Opening Christmas Presents

We had our own little family Christmas earlier this week before we leave for Detroit to spend actual Christmas with Jerod's family.  Here are some pictures of Ruthie's first experience with Christmas presents.

Trying to open her first present.

Decided that eating the paper was pretty fun too.

Ruthie got some new books, and a crazy light up toy that plays music from 

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Dave.

Grandma and Grandpa also gave Ruthie some fun little balls that we think will be 

really fun when she can crawl.

Ruthie with all of her goods!

And here's a video of Ruthie and her new toy from Grandma and Grandpa.  She LOVES it!

***I would like to make a disclaimer that I am aware that I improperly identified the composer of Fur Elise as Mozart, when it is really Beethoven.  I really should know that, seeing as how I won 1st place at the Polk County Fair playing Fur Elise when I was 12 or so...how embarrassing!***

As you can see, it has been a busy month for us.  We have one day of work left tomorrow before we fly to MI to spend Christmas with our Lucius family.  I will try not to wait too long before the next post.  Until then, enjoy all of these pictures and videos!

Crinkle Paper

Ruthie spends a lot of time chewing on things these days.  It is a little easier for her to do this because she can sort of hold on to things now too...sort of.  One of Ruthie's favorite things to play with is her crinkle paper.  I'm not sure why, but it seems like lots of our videos end with Ruthie crying...oh well, enjoy!

Halloween

As you may know, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I was pretty excited for Ruthie to participate in her first Halloween.  Someone asked me just after Halloween why we didn't dress her up as a Baby Ruth candy bar.  DUH!  What were we thinking?!  Maybe that'll have to be her costume for next year.  But for this year, she was a chicken, and a pretty cute one at that!  Why is it so fun to dress little kids up as animals?

Here are some pictures of the farmer, his wife, and their little chicken!

Visiting Oregon

It has been a while sing I've updated our blog - my apologies to all!  So what have we been up to in the last two months?  One big event was that Ruthie and I traveled to Oregon to visit her Howe family.  I was nervous about flying alone with her, but she did great!  As luck would have it, we sat next to businessmen type travelers on almost everyone of our flights.  I was hoping we'd be next to other young moms or cute grandmas, but nope, we were next to lots of men who were really not very interested in ooing and ahing over a cute baby.  Ruthie was pretty funny about it though.  She would smile at them and if they didn't smile back, she'd stare them down and get really loud (and cute) until they acknowledged her.  It was a little bit embarrassing, but also pretty funny!

Ruthie got to spend lots of time playing with Grandpa Dave and cuddling with Grandma Kathy. 

We gave Ruthie a bath in Grandma and Grandpa's sink.  Turns out Ruthie loves baths anywhere, not just in her whale tub!

Not surprisingly, we've come to learn that Ruthie really loves music.  Whenever we sing to her she watches us carefully, usually with a huge smile.  One of my main childhood memories is listening to my dad play guitar and sing to me.  It was so fun for me to watch Ruthie listening to Grandpa sing one of my favorite songs to her.

We also spent two days in Corvallis visiting Joel, Dana, Annikka, and Eila.  It is so fun to have three little girls in our family now!  I love to imagine how these three are going to play together as they grow older.  

Aunt Dana showed Ruthie Annikka's crazy birthday card.  Ruthie was enthralled!

And Ruthie got some more cuddling in, this time with Uncle Joel and Aunt Dana.

It was a great trip and we can't wait to see everyone again when we go back to Oregon in March!

Blowing Raspberries!

Ruthie has a new talent.  While she may look unhappy, I don't think she was, as she did this for about 30 minutes straight this afternoon.  I think she was just working very hard.

What a difference a year makes

It was almost a year ago exactly that we found out we were going to have a baby.

I remember last October so vividly.   I remember finding out that we were going to have a baby after months of wanting so badly to be pregnant.  I swore to myself that I wasn't going to tell Jerod until I got home from work that day, because of course you can't share this kind of news over the phone.  That plan lasted for about 4 minutes until I called him at work to tell him the news, and then proceeded to call my entire family as well within a half hour to tell them the news.  Who was I kidding?

Six days after we learned we were going to be parents I went on a vacation with Mom to Savannah, GA.  

It was a trip filled with mixed emotions and experiences.  While I was SO excited to be pregnant, we were also nervous if the pregnancy was going to be a healthy one because of some early bleeding.  And while I was so happy to be on a vacation with just my mom and me (the last time we did this I was 14 and we went to Disney World), I was experiencing my first days of morning sickness.  I remember how it felt to be so happy that I was pregnant, but not exactly feeling connected to the idea that there was really a little life forming inside of me.  What a strange thing!  There was so much wondering and imagining.  I really had no idea what was ahead of me.

And here we are, a whole year later, with the most beautiful baby I have ever seen...and she's ours!

Looking at Ruthie, it is so hard to imagine that a year ago she was just a few cells growing inside of me. She was INSIDE of me...that's so crazy!  And now we get to spend every day looking at this adorable face.

It is so fun to reflect upon where we were a year ago.  It is without a doubt the biggest change I've ever experienced in one year.  I am overwhelmed by the amount of gratitude and happiness this little girl has brought into our lives.  We love you, Ruthie!

Three Months

Ruthie turned three months old last Thursday.  I truly cannot believe she has been in our lives for three months.  I now know what people mean when they say that everything goes so quickly with children.  I also know what they mean when they say that it is hard to remember how little your children used to be.  I already cannot remember our little 7lbs. 7oz. Ruthie.  The good news is that she continues to become more and more interactive and fun.  We are loving every minute with her!

Things Ruthie is doing now:

1. Chewing on her fingers as often as she can.

2. Getting stronger and better at tummy time.  She can even roll from her front to her back!

3. Spitting up like a champion!  I swear she could win a contest.

4. For the first time she woke up from a nap and didn't cry, she just talked to the owls on her quilt and her mobile!

5. Smiling a TON!

6. She loves playing with Daddy!

7.  She's beginning to hate the car seat a little less.

Other things in Ruthie's life:  She has started letting out one little laugh at a time.  I cannot wait for this to turn into a real giggling.  She still only gets up once a night - we feel very lucky about that.  She's been in daycare for almost a month and doing really well, although she's had a perpetual stuffy nose for about two weeks.  We hope this is not a sign of what life with a baby in daycare is like.  It seems like she is also very close to being able to grab things, but that hasn't happened yet.  I think that's about it  

Ruthie's First Camping Trip

Last weekend we went camping with some good friends at Glendalough State Park in Battle Lake, MN.  It was so much fun and Ruthie did a great job!  She really loves being outside and looking at "her trees," as daddy likes to say.  We slept in a cabin, rather than a tent, which made for an easier first camping trip with a 10-week old baby.  And as luck would have it, Glendalough has tons of rolling prairie land, so we really got to be Lucius House on the Prairie.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.  

One of the cabins (little houses on the prairie).

Making hobo dinners.

Yummy!

Reuben couldn't keep himself away from the dirt!

Alison snuggling with Ruthie.

Outdoors baby!

Mommy and Ruthie.

Our first family camping trip.

Baby long-johns for camping!

Daddy and Ruthie.

All the little boys.

And all the big boys too.

Ruthie getting her diaper changed by the fire.

Dads and babes.

Rachel and Natalia.

Ruthie and Jedd.

We went on a great hike with the Terfas.

Pretty Layla with her flower.

And finally...Lucius House on the Prairie!