Happy Birthday Ruby!

On June 14th, we embarked on what must be surely in the top birthdays ever. I double dog dare you to fit in as much your next birthday.

Room service breakfast


A game of pool...


A quick ping pong match



Splashing at sea world



Face to face baby shamu time





And to top it all off, a cupcake at sunset.

All good things come to an end

All vacations have the sweetest beginnings, but all good things must come to an end. We had our first big family vacation to Orlando last week. My mom and dad joined us and we even got to visit with Ruby's great Granddad.

We found one simple truth, a one year old is not hard to entertain. Therefore, a big trip to Orlando and a sprinkler in the backyard are probaby equal. Regardless we had a good time.

Jamey entertained Ruby at the hotel pool and, strangely, fitness center while I went to my conference.


After my conference, we headed to Downtown Disney and the Rainforest Cafe.


Ruby highly enjoyed the fountains in Downtown Disney. She ran through them happily and clapped when we were finished to show her appreciation.







Next post... Ruby's birthday which includes more activities than you might guess.

Don't they kill cattle for this?

My house has been infected with Hand Foot and Mouth disease (which is really just a virus). Ruby brought it home from daycare where it has manifested itself as sores all over her mouth, feet, legs, hands, bottom...well everywhere. This was a good way for us to discover something very few people (and maybe parents?) know. Apparently, I either have a super immune system (doubtful) or I have had this as a child. I'll have to ask my mom. We also learned that jamey apparently never had this as a child. for him, there are no bumps, but a high fever headache muscle ache and nausea. I look forward to work days right now. It's the only time I get to rest!

MMMMMMMMMOOORRRRRRRDDDDDDDDUUUCKKKS

Recently, I let Ruby type into notepad for her first foray into the wonderful world of computers and the wonderful world of creative writing. Here was her input.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV????rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrXXXXXXX

First of all, I was highly impressed by her ability to move between upper and lowercase. Truly, this was not a skill I expected until at least 13 months. However, the more I looked at her first message, the more disturbed I was. Clearly this is all a cry for help. Jamey and I decided early on to limit TV exposure to well, none actually, for the first year or two. For the most part we've succeeded but we have exceptions for babysitters, nailcutting time, those sorts of things. It's actually been really easy becuase we rarely watch TV. Ruby is demanding to know why we have left TV out of her life.

The second request surely relates to us being slow in getting her antibiotic ear drops. What a fascinating line of communication. I decided to try it again.

jkjdfhsdkjgdj

Clearly, Ruby hates vowels. wll hve 2 wrk n tht.

May Updates

Not posting very often is a very bad thing. As time goes on, the pressure to produce a post worthy of the long wait grows and grows until J.K. Rowling would have a hard time. Sometimes there is nothing to do for it except accept that there will be a relatively boring update post. So here we go....

Jamey had a smashing birthday back on May 2nd.


I had a somewhat stressful birthday. Jamey gifted me with three beautiful koi fish for our pond. He gave them to me by drawing a picture of three cartoon fish on a card. When I went out to the pond, I saw one sad lonely pretty fish being attacked by about 5 unattractive goldfish. I proceeded to grab a skimmer and attempt to beat the mean fish off the new fish as I yelled at them. Jamey watched me for a bit, sighed and pointed out gently that you cannot train fish. About 15 minutes later I gave up and headed to work. Once I got home, all three new fish were present and swimming happily with their goldfish brethren. I came to the inescapable conclusion that I had trained the fish and am now ready for a National Geographic special, "The Fish Yeller"

For Mother's Day, I grabbed my mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, her mother and grandmother and a good friend and we all went to Sips and Strokes. We preceded to make a "Crackled cross" which was fun to do. I have no idea what I will do with my new found crackling ability, but I'm sure it will come in handy.

This Memorial Day weekend, we deemed it "Craft weekend" and got lots of home projects done. Highlights include freshly painted cabinets with overpriced adorable hardware from Anthropologie and a new ceiling fan for Ruby.



Ruby is terrorizing the dogs by mowing them over with a lawnmower shaped object that doesn't actually accomplish anything. How hard could it have possibly been to make it a sweeper? It's never too early to earn that allowance Ruby! Ruby also took her first steps May 17th at our big family birthday party.


When Ruby isn't walking she's climbing....absolutely anything she can climb.


Shew! That's alot of updates. Hopefully, this won't have to hold you over till next month.

The Fountain of Youth Exists at Target

For about 330 days a year, my bedtime routine is pretty simple. Brush teeth, go to bed. For the other thirty odd days usually near my birthday, I attempt to reinvent my routine in the hopes of finding a fountain of youth and establishing the new "with it" me that can think to long term results instead of the shortest critical path to sleep. Usually this burst involves overly expensive lotion and a commitment to do 50 sit ups a night or some other equally seemingly achievable, yet soon to be forgotten, exercise component.

I began my most recent attempt last few weeks or so. This time, I am convinced that exfoliation is the key to younger looking skin. I came to this conclusion from some sound bite interview where a supermodel noted that men look younger than women because they shave. What can I say? I like to grab random pointers and see where they take me. I purchased a skin "rejuvinator". Basically, this thing scrapes off the top layer of skin. Imagine a washcloth on a portable sander. While it sounds painful, it feels pretty good actually. In fact, although it only calls for doing it three times a week, I find myself feeling as if my face is not clean those other days of the week. It's reminiscent of when I switched to Aquafresh Extreme Clean. No other toothpaste works in my mind now. Will this routine last? Decidedly not. Already I find myself skipping everything but tooth brushing before jumping into bed. Forehead wrinkles vs sleep? I think we all know the winner.

Look at the animals! please?

Ruby and Allison undertook their first trip to the zoo recently. Karen, Jamey and I spent about half an hour getting everyone into the car and about an hour at the zoo. I wish I could say Ruby was fascinated by the animals. However, she had...um...issues. Issues like being interested in anything but the animals. Observe...


Mama: Look Ruby, a goat!
Ruby: There's some kids over there. Fascinating.


Mama: Look Ruby, a rat!
Ruby: Nice shoes lady.


Mama: Look Ruby, a gorilla!
Ruby: I'll show you a gorilla.


Ruby did, however, love the gift shop and chose a giraffe that she adores.

Checkout lady: How cute! She picked a giraffe. Did she see the giraffes today?
Mama: No.

As for Ruby's cousin... Allison was very interested...in a nap and maybe a snack and maybe one more nap. Still, I know this is the start of lots of fun trips to the zoo for the girls. Maybe one day they'll enjoy it more than we do.