Waking Ruby Up

As I've mentioned, one of Bobby's favorite things to do is wake up his little girl. She's just so cute when she wakes up. So here's a demonstration of the cuteness:

Sleeping peacefully...


Sleep smiles...we love these!


She opens her eyes...


She gets unbundled and then stretches and stretches and stretches. We love to watch this; as soon as the swaddle comes off her little arms fly up and she arches her back and pops out her little chest and stretches for at least a minute.

Her Cuteness

Mornings with Daddy

Bobby doesn't often get to see Ruby in the morning; he's usually left for school by the time she gets up. But there's rare mornings when clinic is a little later and then he gets to see his girl. His favorite thing to do is wake Ruby up. This morning I got up at 7 and started to get things ready for when the bug woke up. Bobby came out of the kitchen and promptly said, "I get to wake her up, you're not allowed to." It made me smile. A few minutes later we were in the kitchen and we heard her squeak and Bobby quickly made a beeline for her room and said, "I'm getting her!" So this morning was all about Ruby and her Daddy. After snuggles, I nursed her, and then Daddy got to change her and get her ready for the day.

Smiling for Daddy:



Getting into some cute duds:

Trying to catch a smile...

Since Ruby's started regularly smiling over the last week I've been trying to get it on camera. And I've finally succeeded! Can I tell you how beautiful Ruby's smiles are? There's little ones where she's just happy about life and then there's these bigger ones that melt my heart:

Tummy Time and Talking

Ruby's been pretty good at her tummy time. She'll last for about 5 minutes before she starts complaining about it and she's getting really good at holding her head up for 10 seconds or so. I'm glad I don't have to fight with her too much on it. This morning she was so cute and talkative so I had to grab the camera to show everyone what was going on...especially Daddy, because I tell him the stories of what Ruby was doing while he was at school and he misses seeing her being so cute!



And she was talking up a storm this morning!

Ruby these days...

Ruby is getting cuter and cuter every day. Well, of course as her mother I am required to say such things and may be slightly biased, but she really is! She's more alert and awake now and enjoys a few minutes of play time before she takes yet another nap. And she gave me a real voluntary smile last night. I was laying on the couch holding her while she sat on my belly and I was talking to her and she just started smiling and smiling. So beautiful! And, as another developmental update, she's talking even more and gave me her first squeal today while I was changing her diaper.

Ruby is so cute when she wakes up, she stretches and stretches! She must take after her mom, because I love a good stretch when I wake up!


This morning I took a quick nap with Ruby on the couch before I fed her. And she looked oh so cute sleeping there before I woke her, I just had to take a picture.



Ruby's hair is straight when it dries, but when it's wet it's curly and fun.


I'm still exhausted but it seems like Ruby's settling into a routine of going to bed around 9 and waking up twice during the night. That's on a good day, and let's be honest, not all days are good days. But I'm managing. Bobby asked me to do something the other day and I gave him the "are-you-kidding-me-with-the-requests-I'm-too-exhausted-to-think" look. And then I explained to him why I give him such looks: I get Ruby up at 7:30 to feed her, then I play with her for a few minutes and put her down for a nap. Then I get ready for the day. Then I wake her up and feed her and play with her for a few minutes and put her down for a nap. Then, if I'm lucky I get a nap. Then I wake Ruby up and feed her and play with her for a few minutes and put her down for a nap. Then I try to get something together for dinner...In a nutshell, even though I'm home pretty much all day long I don't really have that much "me" time and between having a helpless infant attached to me for half the time and trying to maintain my sanity the other half, it doesn't leave that much free time.

But anyway, I love the little munchkin and I love seeing her grow and explore and that makes everything else just fine.

Gurgle and Goo

Ruby started "talking" today. She only did it once while I was talking to her while changing her diaper this morning. She was looking at me wide eyed and starting cooing and gurgling at me. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever heard. Naturally, I started making a fool out of myself trying to get her to do it again, but she wouldn't have any of it. She doesn't perform under pressure.

One Month Checkup

Ruby had her one month doctor's visit today. She weighs 8 pounds 4 ounces (25th percentile) and is 21 inches long (50th percentile), so she's our long skinny girl. Dr. Li said she looks great, unfortunately she had to get her Hep B shot, so now she's a little cranky. She also has a case of baby acne...hopefully that means she'll only have to deal with that now and not in high school :)

First Sunday

I took Ruby to church for the first time today. I was just a little nervous. I was imagining a total meltdown, crying the whole time and me running out early with Ruby screaming her head off. Needless to say that didn't happen, Ruby was an angel. She made it until after sacrament and then needed to eat and then she slept for the rest of church. It was great! Now, hopefully she'll be just as good next week. Am I jinxing myself by saying that?

Just for Daddy...

Bobby has military this weekend, and unfortunately it's taken him all the way to Charleston, so he left last night and won't be home until Sunday afternoon. He was feeling pretty bad about leaving his girls for the first time, and I have to admit, I was feeling pretty bad about it too. Since Ruby's been born, it's so nice having our family together on the weekends and I really miss having him around. So here's a picture for Daddy of what Ruby and I have been up to this morning.

She was such a good girl last night. She went to bed around 9:15 and woke up at 1 and 5. No fussing at all, just eating and going back to sleep right away. I loved it. Then I got her up at 7:30 and she had breakfast, changed out of her jammies and we played for a few minutes:


Ruby has such a good daddy.


This is how she feels when he's gone:

4 Weeks

Incredibly we've survived being parents for 4 whole weeks! Whew, that's crazy! Looking back it seems to have gone so fast, but being in the midst of it, it feels like we've been doing this forever and it's never going to end. Lack of sleep does loopy things to my brain and I forget what a good solid 8 hours feels like.

Ruby's been an awesome napper during the day. She's also started going down for her naps awake and falling asleep by herself, which I'm so grateful for. The first couple weeks falling asleep was so hard for her, but now she's doing great....during the day. Nighttime is a whole other story. She'll usually wake up twice and fall right back asleep after she eats, but she's hit or miss for going to bed in the evening. Last night she was up until midnight. Our little 4 or 5 day stint a week or so back of her only waking up once seems to have vanished just like my 8 hour nights. Oh well...I told Bobby the other day, I can't wait for a couple months from now when she really is doing better sleeping and I can get at least 5 or 6 hours in at a time. Wow, how my life has changed! Before Ruby if I had a bad night's sleep it meant I only got 7 hours, now I'd be grateful if I got 5!

She's such a blessing in our lives and it's amazing to see her growing and getting bigger. She's got her one month exam next week. I can't wait to see how much she weighs and how much she's grown. Our gorgeous little girl has us wrapped around every little wriggly little finger of hers. Well, I'm glad she can function on a couple hours of sleep at a time, but I will be so grateful when she decides that a stretch of 5 would be lovely.

Spring

I love spring, especially the flowering trees this time of year. Along the street on the way to our house is the biggest magnolia tree I've ever seen. Last year it didn't have a good bloom, but this year it's spectacular:

General Conference

We had a great conference weekend. It's always nice to hear the leaders of our church give counsel and to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. That said, we were slightly more distracted this time than previous years, mainly because we have a cute little munchkin to keep us occupied. She was particularly fun during the last session...she had fallen asleep and was a big ball of goo and so much fun to play with.

Grandma Berry

Bobby's mom has been with us for the last week and has really been enjoying being a new grandma! She has constantly cuddled, sang and schmoopy talked to our little girl, and Ruby has been loving it.



And we've all been loving Ruby's funny crazy arms that flail everywhere and end up in the funniest positions. "Geez mom! Another picture?!"