Friday, March 27, 2009

determined

Natalie LOVES to play outside. All day she begs to go out which is still kind of a challenge when it's cooler because Ruby can't go out. So Natalie goes in the shoe and hat cupboard and attempts to get herself ready to go outside. It's so cute what she puts on and how she wears it. So here are some of the pictures of taken of the multiple times she has gotten ready.

Notice that she doesn't have pants on - that's because she takes her pants off a couple of times a day and throws them in the trash!

beds and bangs

Natalie and Ruby have shared a room this whole week and it went much better than I thought it would! Ruby crashes at about 8 or 9 every night and that's also when Natalie goes to bed (or whenever it gets dark which isn't our choice). Ruby wakes up to eat once (sometimes twice) a night but it doesn't seem to bother Natalie if she starts to fuss. Natalie talks in her sleep sometimes so I just got some scrambled questions a few times when I went in for Ruby. We have 2 cribs in their room. Eventually, Natalie's will turn into a daybed but we really don't think she's ready - she's not big on sleeping as it is so I think her naps would become nonexistant.

Also this week, I cut some bangs for Natalie! I think they're really cute. I've been meaning to do it for a while but just didn't make work of it. But last weekend, an old lady called her a boy (even though she had a purple shirt and pink shoes) so I cut them. I must admit, she does look more girly now.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Pictures...



Ruby takes baths with Natalie now


Long and Random

So this post is more for my benefit than yours and you'll probably find it boring because it's just random tidbits about my life. And it's long but happy reading if you choose to read it!

We started Ruby on rice cereal this weekend and she loves it. You never would have thought that this was the first time eating off a spoon. She opened her mouth whenever the spoon got close and if I'd move it to the side, her head would follow! She understood that she had to swallow it and hardly even made a mess. She's such a good eater!! Even when I held her for the first time after she was born, right away she wanted to eat!! Ruby is just changing so fast. She's started to teethe already too. I don't know when her first teeth will actually come in but her cheeks are rosy a lot, she chomps on her fingers constantly, throws fits that sound like she's in pain, and is quite the drooler. She's so anxious to sit up, as well, and I don't think it'll be long before she can on her own. I laid Ruby in her crib yesterday for a nap and I usually lay her down awake, so she was all smiles when I laid her down but I didn't hear another peep out of her. (Was that a run-on sentence?!) When I went in to get her out later, she had scooted herself from the end of the crib that I laid her on to the other side! Sometimes I'll lay her on a blanket, walk away and come back and she's rolled a couple times to a new spot. It's fun to see her develop a personality.

And then there's Natalie. She just gets to be more and more fun everyday! When she talks, she can say 3-4 words in a row which she's done since she was probably one but now we can understand what she's saying. Many of her phrases start with "I want...." Occasionally when she wakes up, I'll hear her ask herself a question like "Where dada?" And she'll answer herself with "At work"! Right now Natalie's favorite people are: Ross, Anna, and Briella (her cousins) and Aunt Katie. She talks about them almost as much as she talks about Elmo. She's in love with Elmo and would watch his movie all day if I let her! I've really been trying to stress to her that she's a 'big girl' and whenever I call her a 'big girl', she starts to snort like a pig! She's so loving, too. She loves to kiss right now - I'm sure it's just a stage which is probably a good thing! When she's at my level, she'll grab my head and swing hers towards mine and just look at me funny or try to kiss me. She seems to understand that people (or Americans anyway) have these 14inch bubbles of personal space that they don't like people to get in. So she loves to just put her face so close to yours and then just laugh! Yesterday, she was doing that to a little girl in nursery and the girl was getting scared! She is soo helpful and seems to be very conscientious about being clean. She picks her toys up, she'll shut a cupboard door if she sees one open, I'll change Ruby's diaper and as soon as it's off and rolled up, she'll take it to the trash without me even asking, and as soon as she's off her chair when dinner's done, she gets a towel and wipes her hands off! Jordan and I were proud of her yesterday: we buckled her up to go home (from grandpa and grandma's) and she was throwing a fit because she wanted to play outside. So I said that if she wanted to play outside when we got home she couldn't cry... and she stopped (and fell asleep)! She's not perfect though and I don't want to make her sound like an angel. She sure knows how to throw a fit. She also needs to work on sharing her toys. And Natalie whines whenever she asks for something (which gets annoying!) so we're trying to work on that, too!

Also, in case you were wondering, my bridesmaid dress fit and I probably should have gone a size smaller yet. Yay!

Saturday, I turned 23. I had such a good birthday. The last 2 years I've been pregnant on my birthday. It's hard to believe that I'm only 23 and I have 2 kids! I wouldn't have it any other way though! God has blessed me with such a wonderful husband and girls, a great family and the best friends. There is so much for me to be thankful for.... but I won't go into detail because this post has gotten long enough already!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Ruby at 4 months

My little Ruby Lou is 4 months already :( She is so fun and changing constantly! Her favorite things include her johnny jumper, eating, peek-a-boo, and anything that will talk to her. She is so full of smiles and giggles. She also loves just talking to herself and seeing how loud she can yell, and she can get pretty loud! She's also at the stage where she can reach for and grab stuff so when your face is close enough to hers, she tries to pull you close and eat you! And then when she does that, I start laughing and she starts giggling, too! So cute! Ruby just had her check-up... she weighed in at 16 lbs 7.5 oz (95th percentile) and 24.5 inches (75th percentile). She got a few shots but did awesome and everything looks good with her. No one ever told me how much faster time goes with the second child. I could seriously get really down-in-the-dumps about this. I can tell that letting go of the kiddos is going to be a real struggle for me. I can't believe I'm even typing this.... I have kids?! Aren't I only 18? That's how old I feel anyway! (Actually, I turn 23 next week, fyi). I'm so in love with Ruby and I wish I could just stop time once in a while to really enjoy everything about her.


Dad Barkel calls Ruby a 'butterball' and I think that's the perfect description of her!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Running

So it's been 6 weeks since I've started running. I've got 9 more weeks until I'd like to be up to 3 miles and I pretty sure I'm going to do it. I can run 1.75 miles comfortably right now and 2 miles on a good day! And I'm happy about that! I had some struggles getting up to 1.5 miles but I adjusted my speed and was good to go again.

So far, I've lost 5 pounds and 1 inch off my waist and 1.5 inches off the biggest part of my thigh!!! I've been weighing myself all along but I just measured myself again for the first time.

Jordan and I are going to run the Fifth-Third Riverbank 5K together. I am so excited for it! So the other night, Jordan said, "guess I better start training for it." So he gets on the treadmill and runs 2 miles just like that! And he probably lost 5 pounds while doing it!

Ahh, Natalie just dumped all the pringles onto the couch and I started eating them and now I want more!! I know, pringles for breakfast.... She's been a very picky eater since being sick so I've been giving into her cravings!!

Anyways, my bridesmaid dress just came in and I'll be picking it up on Saturday. I'm hoping it fits (since I ordered a size smaller!)

Flu Shot, coming right up!

Jordan and I have decided that we are all going to be getting the flu shot each winter from now on! Last week, Natalie got the flu and so did me and Jordan. On Saturday, Natalie and I were both sick together so we laid in bed most of the day while Jordan took care of us and kept Ruby away. He was such a good nurse! But then, he ended up getting it on Sunday. It was so aweful with Natalie having it because she couldn't give us enough notice to get her to the toilet. I think I got thrown up on at least 5 times and a couple times for Jordan, too. And that's probably how we got it. I think Natalie initially must have gotten the bug from the nursery but who knows. And right when we'd think that she was over it (like she'd go 30 hours without throwing up) she'd throw up again!! Jordan and I didn't know what to do at one point, she just kept going over and over and in between would cry out "All Done?" She was crying...I was crying.... I felt so bad for my little Nay-Nay :( But Thank God that Ruby didn't get it, we kept her in quarentine. But we are finally all healthy again and after cleaning and sanitizing over and over, it prompted me to get an early start on spring cleaning.


Natalie and me in bed....all day on Saturday. I wish I'd gotten a picture of nurse Jordan. He had a bandana around his mouth and gloves on whenever he came in to bring us something. He was so cute!!