Christmas 2011

I'm a Christmas freak, love it and everything about it. Add a baby into the mix and my Christmas freak flag was flying higher than ever. So we loaded back into our very packed car (first time in my life I saw the awesomeness that is having a mini-van) and headed north.

First we had to pack up all our gifts! We had one particularly cute one...


Our first stop was in Waxahachie to spend the night with Andy's mom.

That evening we went over to the Mapes house for dinner and letting Ruby hang out with her only cousins- Daisy and Tessa.

Getting some love from Aunt Kari


Then we drove up to Tulsa to visit my family. It was three days of rest, fun, and eating. Totally worth the drive. And of course, Ruby got lots and lots of attention.

Molly got a little attention too, poor pooch has been on the back burner the past couple of months so she gets so excited when someone will play with her.


Uncle Brian is an old pro with babies now...

Christmas eve there was a very intense game of Monopoly. And when I say intense, I mean INTENSE. Lies were told, alliances were made, a wrestling match almost broke out at one point. It was awesome.


Christmas Day

My loot, I felt like such a hippie with my cloth diapers, reusable produce bags and sandwich bags.



One of the days my grandma came for a short visit, I swear babies know who the grandmas are, cause Ruby was smiling up a storm for her.


The McBrides and Jenkins visited one day. Always love seeing Sara and Drew but it was a real treat to get to introduce Ruby to Sara's family too. I definitely consider them all my extended family. It was doubly exciting because it was the first time I got celebrate with Sara since she found out she is having a little girl (aka: Ruby's future BFF) this spring. I'm ridiculously excited meeting Baby Girl McBride.



And it goes without saying that we ate and ate and then ate some more. I took a bunch of food pictures but thought I would just show one, the most simple meal we had but probably my favorite. Good ol Okie cooking- mac-n-cheese, cornbread, and pork and beans with chow chow on top. Mmmmmmmm....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

3 months

Our little girl is a quarter of a year old! Like I said last month, it's just amazing how quickly she is changing. It is just so much fun! Here are some 3 month Ruby facts:

She laughs! It is hands down the best sound I have ever heard. I'm addicted to hearing those throaty little giggles that we work so hard for.

She loves sitting up. There isn't much that makes her fussy but laying her flat down on her back if she isn't tired will do it. She wants to be propped up and surveying the area at all times. She can sit in her Bumbo for about 10 minutes before (I think) she gets tired (it's hard work holding up that ginormous brain if hers!).

She seems to be a really happy baby. Every morning when I go to get her out of her crib she is smiling ear to ear. She has a few times a day (about an hour after she wakes up and then around 5-6pm) that she can be a little fussy but other than those times she seems really content.

She does great with noise and being around lots of people. We've had lots of get togethers and parties with it being Christmas time and all and she does great. She is fine just sitting in your lap and taking it all in. The other day we had about 10 people over for dinner and we are a loud bunch and she slept in her swing just a few feet away from us the whole time.

She rolled over today! Who knew rolling over could be so exciting. I couldn't believe it so plopped her back over and she did it again. Show off.


Now on to the fun part....pictures of our girl....



This picture kills me- she is so grown up! Ugh, basically walking, I can't handle it. I think it's pretty amazing that she has the strength to stand up like that even if it is only for a few seconds.


She is getting use to being in a carrier, we just love it because we are slowly beginning to be able to get out and do fun stuff again (wow, that's sounds kind of terrible but hey I'm not ashamed to say I'm not getting my kicks changing diapers all day, getting out and doing stuff is really important too).


To say Andy is in love with her would be an understatement, this little girl already has daddy wrapped around her finger...





Her hair is still bright red and shows no sign of laying down any time soon.
I can't get enough of it.

2011: The year of having fun, just waiting for Ruby to join us!

January
New Year's day we took a little trip to Fredricksburg to explore and then hiked up Enchanted Rock. If I had only know I was pregnant at the time I could of blamed my complete lack of energy on that but Ruby was still hiding from us at that point.

A couple week later I took a pregnancy test, was too tired to stay awake to read the results and then an hour later Andy saw it, told me I was pregnant and I got mad at him for lying to me about something so serious....


February
Andy and Ryan made stadium seating for couches for our Super Bowl party. We had over 30 people in our little house and it was awesome.

In what was suppose to be a simple window replacement somehow became the entire back of my house being ripped off and replaced. Oh to be married to an over achiever.


March
Amazing trip to NYC with my two best friends from high school! Loads of fun.


April
Camping at Pedernales Falls with two of my favorite friends, John and Kim


May
Camping at Inks Lake with our church group


June
Celebrated five year anniversary!

Sold our beloved truck that we loved so much and helped us with so many house projects over the years. Knew it was the right choice though, with the money we sold it for we bought a 4 door car, new tires for it, and all our cloth diapers. Uh yeah, responsibility oozes out of us we have so much of it ;)

July
Both tempted fate and scared beach go-ers by going to Port Aransas with friends while 37 weeks pregnant.

Drove up to OKC for my first baby shower. It was at my best friend's Sara's house and it was just perfect.


August
Austin baby shower! Everything was beautiful and I felt so loved.


Two weeks before my due date we decide we need new carpet, somehow that turns into Andy busting out our entry way tile and us getting hardwood floors. I was pretty sure Ruby would be coming home to cement floors.


September
We became a family.


October
Celebrated Halloween- learned that crying could in fact be cute..


Novemeber
Took our first trip with Miss Ruby and drove up to Tulsa (only took us 12 hours) for Thanksgiving she got lots of loving on.


December
Experienced more Christmas spirit and pure joy than we ever had before because of our sweet angel.

Two Months

This post is about 3 weeks late but hey better late than never right?

Our sweet Ruby is now 2 whole months old! Last month I was a little bit sad at fast this is all going, and I know I will still miss those teeny tiny newborn cuddles, however she is turning into a little person and it's just so cool to get to know her. It makes me so excited to see her grow up.

Here are some Ruby facts:

She loves to be swaddled but when she decides it's time to get up she can bust out of that swaddle like it's nothing. There have been many mornings that I've gone in and her swaddle is not only undone but she has kicked it completely off of her.

She is pretty consistent with her schedule. Right now we are doing on demand feedings (she calls the shots) and she definitely has a clear pattern of what she likes. It is nice though because I almost always know what is wrong or what she wants if she starts crying.

She is a sleeper! She is going a solid six hours at least every night and then usually like four more after that. During the day she takes a couple of 2-3 hour naps. I am SO very thankful for what a good sleeper she is, it really makes such a difference that I can get some good sleep at night and a little bit of downtime during the day to get stuff done.

She loves to get out of the house. Especially stores where she is just chilling out in her car seat and can just look around. Her eyes are usually just really big and you can tell she is just trying to take it all in. She always takes really good long naps after we go out too.

She loves music. She has a couple of musical toys that she just lights up when they are playing. Also I sing to her a lot and she seems to really like that too. Sometimes she will even coo along with me, this is pretty much my favorite thing in the entire world.

She is smiling! Since she was born I've been talking about how much I wanted to see her smile and now she is. I'm kind of obsessed with seeing that sweet gummy smile. I just can't get enough of it. I spent a good part of the morning trying to get a good picture of it, every time I would put the camera down she would smile really big, it was a game to her. Tricky girl.

Her hair shows no sign of falling out or changing color, it is still beautifully red and refuses to go anything but stick straight up. I just love it.

Thanksgiving 2011

We made the journey up to Tulsa for Thanksgiving. We weren't really sure how the drive was going to be but it was great. I mean, it did take us 12 hours what normally takes 8 but we made it there! It was so nice to just lay around and be with family and introduce Ruby to some of my favorite people. And of course my parents were excited since they hadn't seen her since she was 1 week old.

She got lots and lots of loving from Grandma and PawPaw!



Got to meet her uber cool Uncle Brian for the first time.


It was a good trip and despite the long drive I'm already looking forward to making it again!

From creepy to cute

What do you do when your husband decides to make himself look like a serial killer a week before you take your holiday pictures? Why photoshop a new head on him of course!

Ewwww



Awwwww


And yes, his head may be a little too large for his body but it is still better than the moustache and bald head! Yea photoshop!