books, books, books

We had a nice visit from Ruby's grandparents Papa and Nan Lynn yesterday.  They brought Ruby some new Christmas themed books which have replaced her current favorites and gives Mama and Dada a welcome break from the insanity of reading the same books every day, over and over.
Thank you for these and all the other books you've given to Ruby!   

Nan Lynn reading Ruby a magazine while Papa tells Ryan a story. 

She loves books.  I'd say that without exaggeration, Ruby spends between two and three hours each day reading books.  After breakfast, she usually gravitates to one of her stacks of books.  She'll either hunker down alone or bring them to Ryan or I to read to her.  During the day when I hear a strange silence in the house, I quite often find her rummaging through her books.  And then of course there's bed time.  The story time ritual has become everyone's favourite time of the day.

Recently, she's taken a liking to magazines.  This morning, she sifted through a Parenthood magazine for about 30 minutes.  She's been reading that particular issue since it arrived about two weeks ago and there's only one page missing!  She's oddly careful with the thin pages and often brings the magazine over saying "up, up", which means she wants me to pick her up and read it to her. 

I hope she continues this trend of reading.  I'm happy that she's starting off on this path so young.  I'd like to find (or make) time to read more myself.

If only I didn't have this annoying need for sleep.....

history, math and connections

An old friend from high school and her daughter came by for a visit the other day.  High school graduation was 20 years ago in 1991.  I actually met Heidi in grade 7 which was 1985, so we've been friends for 26 years. 

Willow and Ruby saying "Cheese"

Guess what?  She's one of the very few people from my past that I am still connected to. (Ok let's pretend that Facebook doesn't exist.  I'm talking about real friends here.  People you would actually invite into your home for some tea or a glass of wine.)  We only see one another from time to time.... about every 2-3 years, but when we do things just pick right up where they left off.  There's no strangeness or awkwardness at all which is nice or we probably wouldn't torture ourselves with the visits and I would lose that connection from my past. 

It was ten years ago in 2001 that I was living in Whistler and making a life-altering decision about whether to come "home" or stay out West.  One of biggest strikes against the West was lack of connections.  (It certainly wasn't the lifestyle, mountain lakes or climate).

Heidi, Ruby and Willow

After ten whole years of being back "home" I still have a few connections out West but it seems that year after year they tend to slip away, one by one.  It's challenging to keep friendships up over the miles.... people get married.... have kids..... and sometimes life makes being friends with certain people more complicated than it should be.   My strongest connection is with Christine and her husband Dave.  Christine and I met at BCIT in 1998, became fast friends and actually became best friends after I moved back East!  Funny hey?  It took a lot of effort - hours of long distance phone calls, trips from coast to coast, and it was well worth it.  She's amazing. 

And now, I'm thrilled to announce that finally, after 10 years of searching for a best girlfriend on the East Coast, the universe sent me Aimee.  She's my soul sister and guess what?  She's from the West Coast!  Ha! 

do these pants make me look fat?

OK... so Ruby is almost 14 months old and 23 pounds.  She wears clothing size 12 - 18 months.  Almost every pair of pants she has are too tight in the waist!  I've had to cut the elastic in 4 pairs of pants... so far!

look at this belly!!!  (that's milk drippings).

I'm just kidding.
I know she's not fat. 
It's actually the cutest little belly in the whole wide world. 
It's soft and smells good too.
I love it.


(but she's going on a diet starting Monday!)
No, just kidding.  Seriously.

just another day at the office

Ruby and I went to visit Ryan at the office yesterday. 

We've been twice before when she was much younger - before she was walking and not nearly as charming as she is now, (although she's always been quite charming).  It was amazing to watch the faces of every person who walked by her.  Of course she was a magnet to all the women, but grown men (and some corporate big wigs) were making googly eyes at her trying to make her smile.  Even people that didn't know us stopped to say hello.   I would say that seeing Ruby yesterday lifted the spirits of about 50 people.  Imagine what could happen if they let babies wander around offices on a daily basis?  Mental health would improve, stress would be way down, productivity might be too but that's ok because management would be more understanding and happier in general, and the cleaning staff could rightfully ask for a raise due to the increased work load.  Everybody wins.  Bring your kids to work! 

Here's what Miss Ruby and I have been up to today so far:

Tugging on me after breakfast.

Playing on her chair. 

Crawling under the activity centre. 

She's never crawled under that thing before and I tried to get her to do it again without any luck.

She's napping now and I'm going to do the same.  My chores can wait.  We're on a three night stretch for no wake-ups.  Well, Ruby sleeps through but I don't.  I'm still waking up a few times every night and struggle to get back to sleep.  I really hate it.   Oh well....

new tricks!

We taught Ruby a new trick today!

It was pretty cold and windy outside so for the most part we played inside. 
To pass time, Ryan and I started handing Ruby things to give to one another.   I would hand her a toy or another object and say "go give this to Dada" and she would smile, take it and go give it to Dada!  Ryan did the same for "Mama".  The look on her face when she handed us the toy or whatever was absolutely priceless.  Definitely the highlight of my day.  

I know this photo is blurry, but it's the best one I had that showed how happy she was today!

the not-so-endless days of fall 2011

Summer has always been my favorite season of the year.  I love the long days, the sunny, warm weather, the beach, the heat, the hiking, camping, bon fires, ice cream, tank tops, sandals, no socks, parties, bbq's, icy cold beverages on patios.......  Have I made my point?  I love summer.  Fall has always been a close second however and I dare say that it's inching its way up on summer as we endure the humid, sticky heat waves without air conditioning.

This fall in particular has been lovely.  Shorter days of course, but warm and colourful!  We haven't had to wear snow pants since Halloween (yay!) and Ruby's really enjoying the great outdoors.  She stepped in dog poop the other day, but I was the only one who seemed to mind. 

Playing on the stairs. 

Playing in the leaves.

Cheese. 

It was 18 degrees and sunny yesterday so we ventured across the river for a visit with the Jorgensen gang.   The kids played outside for almost 2 hours!!   Aimee and I sat with watchful eyes and occasionally had to go retrieve one of the kids before they escaped too far down the cul de sac, (or toppled over).  

Kate and Ruby.

The huge cul de sac. 

Ruby was on a mission and walked head down for about an hour!

You would think that all this fresh air and exercise would make for restful, wake free nights.... but our dear Ruby has other plans.  She's always had challenges with regards to sleeping at night and hasn't exactly been a champion napper either.  (currently, her typical nap is 1 and a half hours - per day!!!)  As far as night time sleep goes, she just started sleeping through the night at (approximately) 12 months!  The first few months of life with a newborn are crazy.... up every two hours, which is normal, then it gets better (for most people).  To put it in perspective, between the ages of 8 and 12 months she was still waking up at least once every night and usually twice.  Recently, we had an amazing six nights in a row where she slept through until morning.... but it didn't last.  The next few nights were awful.  She's unpredictable, that's for sure.  Cute, but very unpredictable.  And I guess she just doesn't like to sleep much.   So, the days aren't endless but the nights sometimes feel like they are.

halloween snow

Much to my dismay, we woke up on Halloween Day to the remnants of our first winter storm.  Ice, slush, frost, many, many leaves and branches strewn about..... and a little bit of snow!  I was excited to take Ruby outside to play in the snow for the first time but the excitement grew thin after 15 minutes of wrestling with snowpants, coats, mitts and hats.  It was quite an ordeal and we were both tuckered out but the fresh, brisk morning air made it worthwhile.  (I can't believe I have to do this every day... all winter long). 

Ruby seemed indifferent about the snow and a little annoyed that it was sticking to her mitts.  She was rather bothered after a few minutes so I had to brush it off.  Hopefully next time we'll have more snow.... the fluffy, unsticky kind.


Taking her out while it's snowing is next on my list of fun winter activities.  I wonder if she'll need snowpants then? 



Later on that day came the kitty-cat costume!  In true Ruby style, she pulled the hood off immediately and the zipper in front came next.  I managed to get a couple shots but she was pretty adamant about not wearing the costume for long.  She kept it on for Grandma and Grampy's visit... then we trekked next door to visit our neighbors who adore Ruby.   Who wouldn't adore this little cutie?

Eeoww!  

Heading next door sans snowpants.