1884 Days

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, RUBY ESTELLE!

Two years ago today, Ruby joined our family. Jon and I agree that she still looks and seems like a baby and not a toddler. 

She has barely gained any weight over the past year. She is tall and skinny at 21 pounds,**** . She fits mostly in 24 month clothing. 

She's a semi-picky eater. She is still nursing throughout the day and drinks a lot of water (and eats a lot of ice). I think spaghetti is probably her favorite meal as she always eats her entire bowl and usually asks for seconds. She enjoys Jon's smoked pork ribs, steak, and occasionally chicken. She's not big on vegetables, but happily ate some zucchini the other day. She loves bananas, but most other fruit she only likes for the juice (she will chew it up to get the juice out and then spit out the actual fruit). She does have quite a sweet tooth and loves cookies, ice cream, and anything chocolate!

Spaghetti!

She has had a MAJOR language explosion over the past two months. It's adorable. Once we started taking her prized binky away during the day, she started to babble more and eventually her babbles turned into words. She went from saying "dada", "mhmm", and "cheese" to saying the following words clearly and in the right context:

Mama

No

Yes

Yay

Cookie

Mine

Hi

Bye

Cold

Hot

Water

Ice

Me too

More

Shoes

Walk

Down

Why

Bird

Hold

Door

Towel

Bubble

Car

Pool

Phone

Pig

Help

Stuck

She also repeats just about everything she hears us or her sisters say so I think sentences will be coming soon! It's been a little bit different having a little one who isn't talking in sentences at two, but it's just one of those things that makes Ru, Ru. 

Another HUGE and unique accomplishment is her ability to put herself to sleep. Arianna and Lucy had to be either nursed or rocked to sleep from birth until around 2.5 years old. About three months ago, I started laying her down in our bed with a special toy for nap time and leaving the room. It was hard for me because she fussed at first and it's always been my natural instinct to tend to my crying babies. Since she was only fussing though (versus the full blown sad, scared screaming that Ari and Lucy both did), I let her be and before five minutes even passed, she was quiet. It took a couple of weeks to get into a solid routine, but at this point she almost always goes down between 11-12 and sleeps for 2-3 hours. Her bedtime is around 8-9pm and she's very good about getting herself to sleep them too. So excited to finally have a child who can self soothe as this gives me a little bit of time to spend with just Lucy or time to myself on the days that Lu is in school. 

She is FULL of personality. She is bubbly and sweet, but with a stormy temper. She absolutely fits right into the "baby of the family" role; wanting to do everything that her sisters are doing and also demanding that they always give her her way. 

December:

January:

February:

March:
Cutting four molars at a time :(


April:
Shoe shopping


Easter


Eyes


May:
Someone thinks she's ready to go to school


18 months


June:

1747 Days

JUNE RECAP

Kicking off June with a picnic! Love that we can actually eat outside in June up in Prescott without sweltering.


New carseats!


Bush Family fish



Eat clean


Fancy


Movie star


LOVE this Nejesa Handwoven!


Seriously, LOVE.


Toddler worthy!


Birthday party!






Happy birthday, Gwen!


My favorite wrap, ever

1738 Days

MOMMYCON!

On June 20th, the girls, myself, and my mom all flew out to Colorado for a family vacation! Friday was a comedy of errors starting with us not remembering to bring Ruby's birth certificate with us to the airport to prove that she was under two year old and able to fly as a lap child. The lady behind the counter absolutely would not budge and insisted on some sort of proof of age in order to allow her as a lap child. I went to grab my phone so that I could call Jon (and really, at this point, I was mostly calling to scream and cry because I knew that there was no way that he would have access to the birth certificate) and realized that it wasn't in my bag or my pocket.

TOTAL PANIC.

My phone is also known as the extension of my hand and I feel completely lost without it. I knew that I had to have either left it on the shuttle that took us from the parking garage to the airport or back in my car (which was parked at an extended parking facility not even at the airport). I got ahold of Jon who, but a true miracle of God, did have Ruby's birth certificate on him! He had taken it with him because he needed copies for something at work. Crisis #1 averted!

While he was faxing that over, I got on the phone with the shuttle service and had them contact the driver to check for my phone. He searched the area where I had been sitting. No phone. My car was the only other place it could have been so I left my mom with the older girls while I caught a shuttle back to my car. Thankfully, I found my phone on the driver's seat. Crisis #2 averted! Ruby and I made it back to the airport and to the terminal just in time for boarding.

Part of the plan was for me to attend Mommycon in (what I thought was) Denver, CO. The event was literally called "Denver Mommycon" so imagine my surprise when I looked up the hotel address and discovered that it was actually in Winter Park, CO- FOUR HOURS OUT OF DENVER.

After some discussion, it was decided that it would be easier on everybody for me to rent a car and drive Ruby and myself up there rather than having somebody make two 8 hour roundtrips to drive us to and from. My parents took the girls to grab some lunch while I went over to the car dealer. Only one dealer had any cars available and they required a credit card which I do not have. The would accept a debit card only with a $200 hold. After the hold plus the rental feel and insurance, I was about $5 short in my checking account to cover the whole thing. Jon offered to give them a credit card over the phone, but they couldn't take it. In the end, my dad had to rent the car and about two hours later, I was on the road. What a mess of a day! Ruby and I made it to Winter Park around 5pm and went to dinner with our friends. We went to bed early since Mommycon was the next day and we were signed up for the 6am VIP event.

After everything that happened in the process of trying to get up there, the actual event was a ton of fun. Meeting friends and spending the day with them was a blast and I will definitely be trying to attend another Mommycon in 2015!


Grabbing Starbucks because it is wayyyyyy to early!


Tried to take a photo of Ru, got a photo of Dannielle and Emmerich instead lol.


Babywearing nap


Cabriolet selfies!


Wheee!


CO is gorgeous. Maybe someday.....


The resort was so quaint. Would be fun to vacation here.


Jessica Martin Weber, aka The Leaky B@@b!




A snack


Second nap of the day!


Seminar with Jessica and her husband, Jeremy.


Dinner and margaritas!

1717 Days

MAY RECAP

May selfie


Chickens!




Mother's Day BFF Firefly necklaces!


Kiddo thinks she's ready to go to school


18 months


Dress up


Biggest and littlest


After a movie night


Jon's birthday


Another movie night. Ruby joined in this time!


Ari made her into Super Lucy


End of the school year haircuts!