her name is ruby

Ruby Tuesday (born on a Thursday) went to the clinic yesterday for her pre-school immunization shot.  I didn't even mention it to her until about 3 days ago because, to be honest,  it could have gone either way.  But, this little lady surprised me.  From the first mention of it, to going there, waiting in the waiting room, walking to the office, to getting the needle, she was a real trooper.  I am completely impressed with my little girl right now.  Three hours post needle her arm really started to hurt and she got drowsy, as the nurse said she may.  However, some Advil and a warm mom by her side all night and she was back to her sweet self by morning.  

As Ruby and I sat in there in the waiting room, a couple of tiny babies came in and I was tossed back in time to when Ruby was little.  We used to sing her this silly song…. "her name is Ruby, doodley-doo, …… ".  It was silly but we all loved it.  Once upon a time, long, long ago… in a land far, far away……. I was planning my very first girl's night out.  The thought of my going out for 2 hours and leaving Ryan home alone with Ruby to fend for himself was a bit stressful for both of us at the time (if things were only so simple now - oh the naivety of it all makes me laugh out loud!!!).  Anyway, we had this genius idea to make a video of me singing that song, just in case things went ape shit.  I think it's on our old computer so (luckily for me) I can't share it now… but man, that was funny. 

After bravely taking on the needle, the nurse gave Ruby her choice of stickers.  She picked a Strawberry Shortcake one and placed it on her hand.  The nurse then asked if she would like one for her best friend.  Ruby shyly responded 'yes' and the nurse grabbed a second sticker, exactly like the first one.  It was at this moment when my heart skipped a beat and I felt a tiny rush of joy that reminded me of why we had our kids so close together, (because I sometimes think we were totally and utterly in sane.)  When the nurse tried to give Ruby the second Strawberry Shortcake sticker for her best friend, Ruby said, "Leo's not a girl, he's a boy."  

Here's my little Ruby now, 43.5 pounds and 4 years + 4 months old.  

Downtown in awe of the skating rink at City Hall.

Loving her kitty cat towel.  

Eating snow.  Her favourite food. 

Thawing out at the cafe after a sliding trip at Centennial Park.

Making play dough cupcakes, pre immunization. 

Lovely cupcake.  

After the needle, sticker on hand.  

Silly, sweet Ruby, before the arm started to hurt.  

You're growing up so fast Ruby.  We love you to pieces and are so proud of you.  

-MOM.  oxox

a lot of work

Most of the decorations are packed up and put away for another year.  By midday tomorrow you won't be able to tell anything out of the ordinary even happened around here.  Christmas will be, once again… a distant memory (that took up a lot of energy!!)


!@#$%^&*()_  …… fast forward 30 hours…. to now.  

……………….. What was I thinking?  

The tree has nothing on it but still takes up 1/6th of our living room.  The mantle is strewn with cards… some upright, some not so much.  The stockings are still hung but with not much care at this point.

Our tree this year was one of my favourites of all time.  Due to an unforeseen event at the tree farm, this tree was chosen in record time.   Apparently, Ruby's in the "I'm 4 and I can throw really big fits" phase so we literally chose the second tree we laid eyes on.  We were in the car driving to the place longer than we were there, looking, cutting and hooking the tree up to the van.  It was actually funny.  Poor Ruby.

…………………fast forward 3 hours…….

OK.  It's done.  The tree is out.  The rest lingering around will have to wait.  Until exactly when I cannot confirm at this juncture.

So… Christmas was pretty awesome.  Leo sort of understands about Santa but watching him walk about in a daze on Christmas morning was proof enough that he's just not quite getting it 100%.  As per usual, everybody got spoiled.  I feel that we need to start teaching our kids some life lessons.  I'm not exactly sure how I'll get them involved, but I want to make a difference in someone else's Christmas by volunteering, donating toys and or doing whatever I can to help the less fortunate.

The weather this year was pretty awesome too.  No snow.  I used to think Christmas would be better with snow but I've seen the light.  Snow just sucks.  I'll take none over some any day.

Oh my gosh….. Ryan and I had 5 full days off parenting duty over the break.   At this point, it seems a distant memory but it was amazing while it lasted.  The kids stayed in Sackville and we enjoyed going to bed when we were tired and sleeping unit WAY after the sun came up.  We had civilized conversations and meals when we wanted to.  We went to the gym randomly and didn't do any chores. We went out for dinner to celebrate our 6th anniversary and woke up (a little groggy) after hitting two New Years parties and ran the inaugural Grant's Resolution Run the following day.  Ah.  Just thinking about all the freedom makes me giddy.

Ruby loves her dress up shoes and Leo seems to like his dinky cars the best.  I think the moral of the story is that the simple things, the little things, are what make the strongest impressions.  For this coming year, I'm going to make an effort to make the little things count.

P.S.  It's quite possible that play dough grime currently resides on every surface of my home.

Christmas is a lot for work.
(but it's so worth it).

Until next year… Ho, Ho, HO!
oxox