Oh, Hey!

CHICAGO

We spent the weekend visiting our great friends in our old stompin' grounds. Bryan and Michelle let us sleep on their futon and let Ruby play with their 6-month old Elliot. Ruby might be in love with him. She's been talking about "Eyyiot" since we left. It's still funny to me that our friends have so many babies... pretty much whenever we get together there is another baby in the mix. Next time the new one will be mine. haha.

Ryan, Bryan, Aaron and all the dogs went for a run Saturday morning. This is one tradition that happens every time we visit.

Saturday was cold but sunny, so we decided to spend a couple of hours at Brookfield Zoo. Lucky for us, it was a free day... or "Freeze Day" as they called it. Aaron, Ashlee and their girls Hannah and Mara came along for the fun.

My favorite part was this huge polar bear sunning himself on the cliff.

Ruby liked the monkeys and the fish the best.

Saturday night we all went out for pizza in LaGrange. I've never been to a dinner where the kids outnumber the parents, but it went well and was a fun ending to our night. Awesome weekend with awesome friends!

Wind Tunnel

I do not recommend trying to fold laundry when there are a dozen professional-grade fans blowing vigorously in the same room.

On Flooding

Came home from playgroup this morning and heard the sound of a running faucet in the basement. When I went down there I discovered our first flood when my sock sunk into a completely sogged carpet at the bottom of the stairs.

Yep, the water heater release pipe was pouring water and in the matter of an hour or two 500 square feet of basement was soaked. Not more than an inch in most places, but enough to get to the carpet and some of the drywall.

While holding a bucket under the "faucet" immediately called Ryan's dad to see what I should do. he was telling me all about these levers that I should turn off and so on and so forth, and being the plumbing genius that I am, I couldn't locate the correct lever... so he came over to see what he could do to help.

He is brilliant and quickly got the water slowed to a serious drip while I called our landlord who called a plumber. After a few hours of soaking up the water and having 3 professionals and 2 semi-professionals in and out of the house it seems that we have the problem solved.

The water heater is fixed, the water-suckerupper, carpet-drying people are coming out any minute., Ruby just woke up from her afternoon nap and Ryan should be home from work soon. WHEW!

It's times like this that make me SO THANKFUL to be a renter instead of a home-owner... and so thankful that this happened today instead of a couple of days ago since we were out of town all weekend!

How was your afternoon?

The Week in Review

Christopher came over last weekend for some grilled BBQ and Buffalo wings. Yes, as you can see from the pictures Chris has become a full-fledged, college art student, beard-wearing dreg. I like it. I think if anyone can pull of the educated hipster mountain man look, it's him.

My favorite kind of snow is melting snow. We had temps in the 40's and even up to 50 this week! It has been really hard for me to not get my hopes up that Spring has arrived and I've survived another winter. It's difficult for me to accept that more cold, snowy Michigan weather is still on it's way. bla.

Ruby has been wearing 17 bracelets and 4 necklaces at all times. I don't know how this happened - but she seems to be quite a fancier lady than her mother.

The best part of the week was that Ryan planned a spontaneous date night last night and even arranged child care! I was totally surprised since we went out on Monday for Valentines Day. He took me to HopCat for dinner then to the Grand Rapids Griffins game after that. It was really fun to just hang out together, laughing, conversing and enjoying a hockey game (and enjoying watching the hockey fans) together.

I love my life.

20 Months Old

Today my baby is 20 months old! I can't believe how fast time is flying. My friend Mindy took some pictures a couple of weeks ago and I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you. To see the rest, click HERE to view the slideshow. You may have to enter password: ruby19

Here are some of the fun things Ruby has been doing lately.

• When we read her Children's Bible she says "Hi Jesus" whenever she sees a picture of any man in a robe... including Noah, Joseph, Goliath, etc.
• She calls her doll "Baby Dawn" which is hilarious because I call Ruby "Ruby Dawn" all the time.
• She knows how to ask for things... "more oranges" "JELLO! More Jello?" and "Paci, want it."
• The city took more than 4 weeks to pick up our dead Christmas Tree off the curb, so whenever Ruby looked out the window and saw it laying on it's side she got a very concerned look on her face and said, "Tree fall off?" over and over.
• At night on her way to bed she says "bye bye" to everything she can think of. "Bye bye chair." "Bye bye fan" Bye lights... bye stroller..." etc.
• Her favorite things to eat are hot dogs, any kind of fruit, go-gurt, avocados, toast, fruit snacks, quesadillas, animal crackers, lemonade and vitamins.
• She likes to be upside down, but says it with an extra syllable. "Up-a-side-down"
• She loves Dr. Suess books - especially "Hop on Pop" and "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish"
• When we ask her if she would like to take a nap, she always says "No... okay" and tilts her head to the side while she walks toward her room.
• Apparently her daddy's perfectionist/OCPD tendencies got passed down. If she sees a thread on her sock, she says "uh-oh" over and over and fixates on the problem until I cut off the thread. She also does this when she sees a scratch on the furniture or if she finds something like one of my hairs on the floor in the house. Needless to say, she keeps things clean, which is nice.
• She puts couples together. If we say, "Tracy and..." she'll answer "Aaron!". She can do this with John and Angela, Kyle and Sarah, Mama and Dadda, Papa and Grammie, and Nana and Papa.
• She knows she is going to have a baby sister, but I don't think she knows what that means. When anyone asks "Are you going to have a baby sister?" she says "YEAH!!" really enthusiastically.
• No matter what part of her body is hurt, she holds out her finger and asks you to "kiss it"
• One of her all-time favorite things (other than taking a bath) is being with other kids. When we go to church she says "see the kids?" on the way there. She loves her friends and wants to play with them every chance she gets. Some of her favorite friends are Hudson, Madelyn, Cash, Parker, Luke and Langley.

Ruby Dawn,

You are such a blessing, so fun to be around and you're going to be an incredible big sister! These have been 20 of the best months of our life. We're so thankful for your sparkly spirit and that we get to be your parents.

Love,

Mama and Daddy.

3 months to go... 91 days to be exact

In 91 days we'll be a family of 4!

The time is flying by and feeling baby girl swirl around inside of me makes me all the more excited to welcome her into the world. She is a little more than 2 lbs and is around 14.5 inches long from head to toe. Baby Center says she is as hefty as a head of cauliflower... which is a weird thing to compare her to.

I sleep on my side these days, and she stands on the bed and pushes her head against the top inside of my stomach. She is just as movey-aroundey as I remember Ruby being at 27 weeks, but this active little girl seems to be more swirly. She turns over and spins around in circles all the time. Ruby did more punching and kicking.

Ruby pats my tummy and says "mommy tummy" and looks at me like something might be wrong - she obviously is aware that it seems to be growing since she has more and more trouble sitting on my lap when I read her books.

I've been terrible about documenting my belly this time around, but my friend Mindy took this picture of Ruby and I about a week and a half ago - so you can kinda see that my belly is currently taking over our life.

Recap of the last few days

So here's what's been going on around here for the last few days...

1. We have a bit of an insulation problem which has created some huge icicles on our house. Check out these two giganto ones that Ryan found a few nights ago... while you're at it, check out his penguin flannel pants.
2. Ruby got some lovely Valentines Day necklaces from her Grammie Beeson. She wears them everyday and asks for them each morning when she wakes up. Here she is reading her book yesterday morning... and of course, sporting her v-day jewels.
3. This morning we went to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum with Ruby's friends Hudson and Madelyn (and my friends Mellisa and Emily). It was my 2nd time and Ruby's first time there - she absolutely loved it. She loves any time she gets to spend with her friends, and she loves being around other kids, so the Children's Museum was pretty much heaven on earth for her. One of her favorite parts of the morning was riding the elevator. Her other favorite part was playing with the HUGE lightbright.

Saturday Night Carousel Rides

Saturday night we took Ruby to ride the carousel at Rivertown Mall.

Let's just say she loved every minute of it. She was giggling the entire time and said "Bye Frog" after Ryan took her off at the end of the ride. Ryan's parents came along as well and we finished the evening with dinner at Red Robin.

It's like we're the parents of a toddler or something!

Aspen - Snowmass

Last week Ryan's dad took him skiing in Colorado for a week. It was a celebration of Ryan turning 30 and all the changes this year has in store for him as he finishes his year as Chief Resident and begins his 3-year Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship at Nationwide Children's Hospital. I am waaay too pregnant to downhill ski, so this was the perfect time for Ryan to take this trip with his dad.

It snowed non-stop the first day they were there, so they rented some powder skiis for the next day. They braved the -20 degree temps and had a great time hitting the slopes together.

Cousins

Ruby and her cousin Lydia love each other. Angela and I made this video mostly for the viewing pleasure of Uncle Aaron and Aunt Tracy... but if you'd like to watch it too, you're more than welcome.

Ruby will be 20 months old on the Feb 10th and Lydia will be 13 months old tomorrow.

Snowmygoodness!

Ruby and I are spending the week with my parents while Ryan and his dad ski at Snowmass in Colorado. They've been braving the -20 degree temps on the mountain and we have been braving what the local newscasters are calling "Snowmageddon 2011!

Last night we got another foot of snow, followed by wind that drifted it into 4 foot deep piles! Even the van can't make it out of this situation!

Ruby loved playing in the "paths" dad made with the snowblower.

She loves being outside and loves her Grammie and Papa.

SNOmageddon

Apparently the storm of impending doom is on it's way here... Ruby and Lydia have been thoroughly entertained watching Papa pushing the snowblower and gathering firewood this afternoon.

Thankful to be with family in a warm house with a fireplace!