Rain

There's one thing that Bobby and I were utterly unprepared for when we moved to south Texas. No rain. I've lived in Ohio pretty much my whole life, plus West Virginia for a couple years after we got married, and we never had to worry about rain. Everything flourished and was green and lovely pretty much all year round. If anything we got sick of rain and wished it would stop.

Since moving to Texas that has all changed. Granted, we're in the middle of a major drought that is destroying the livelihoods of many farmers and ranchers, so I really don't have much room to complain. But man, I do miss rain. It's rained twice, twice!, since we moved here. Once in June for an hour in the morning and once the other day for ten minutes in the afternoon.

Churches near and far are asking their congregations to pray for rain. When the clouds parted and it rained a few days ago, in my heart I said a prayer that went something like this: "Oh, Heavenly Father, thanks so much for the rain. Oh, thank you, thank you! Please keep it coming!" And when the rain stopped just minutes later, I thought, "Well, it's better than nothing."

I've never imagined living in a place where I would have to pray for rain. I've never imagined loving rain more than I do right now.

Sorry, Great Grandma!

I've been a total blog slacker lately...I begged forgiveness a few weeks ago, but I can't quite kick it. Ruby and I were facetiming her grandma and grandpa and great grandma, when Great Grandma asked, "When are you going to put more pictures of Ruby on the blog? I keep looking but I never see any." And I knew it was time. Laziness must get put aside when Great Grandma asks for something. And may I mention how awesome this woman is? I had so much fun as a kid going to visit Grandma and Grandpa and always loved spending time with her. But I could ramble on for a very long time about that. What Great Grandma really wants to see is a picture of Ruby!

Ruby has been enamored with her belly button for a while now. She loves it, sucks her thumb and has her belly button in the other hand. Sleeps touching her belly button. She also has a strong desire to see other people's belly buttons, which can get a little awkward at times. But, she will proudly show off hers to anyone who asks.

Pigtails

Ruby's hair has been getting long. So I decided to try putting her hair in pigtails. She looked so cute! And like such a little girl...I can't believe how big she's getting! It's hard to imagine she's almost one and a half.

Another use for the music table

Ruby has loved her music table. But for the last month or two she hasn't played with it as much. She'll push a couple buttons every once in a while, but usually she just ignores it. Until the other day when she found out that it has another use. She decided it would be great fun to start climbing on it. I have no idea how she got the notion to do it. But I looked over and she was sitting on it.



And then later that day she was standing on it to try and get stuff of our desk. I just about freaked out imagining falling baby, wails and head injuries. But nothing can stop this girl, because now she tries to get on anything she can. I just have to cross my fingers and look away.

Can you take my picture?

Ruby used to love getting her picture taken. Back when she was 9 months old she would smile and pose and be a huge cheese ball. The last few months she gave all that up and it's been a struggle to get her to smile and stay still long enough to take a decent picture. So I was very surprised the other day when I was in the kitchen and she brought me the camera and smiled. I asked her if she wanted me to take her picture and she nodded. So here it is:

Laundry Basket

One of Ruby's favorite things to play with is the laundry basket. I don't know why. She loves to just hang out in it. She'll grab a pillow from the sofa, dump it in, then climb in herself and chill. Sometimes she'll read sometimes she'll just talk to herself. She's seriously entertained herself there for 10 or 15 minutes. Not that I'm complaining. Anything that can keep her occupied for that long is fabulous. I just don't get it. Maybe you have to be 16 months old.


But Ruby's favorite part about the laundry basket? Going for rides in it. She loves it when Bobby or I will push her around in it. And she asks for more and more and more. She could seriously do it all day long. But Bobby and I can only last for one go...we're getting old or something.