I scream, you scream

Jamey and a tendency stick to a routine unless deflected from it by me for one reason or another (Jamey, it's Saturday, don't go to work.) Since his mom moved in with us I've learned he comes by this trait very honestly.

One new routine he's adopted from his mother since she moved in is partaking of large amounts of vanilla ice cream every night. This 1000 calories or so must be ingested while exclaiming how absolutely delicious it is with every bite. (Jamey's mom does the exclaiming, Jamey just nods).

My polite refusals to join in are met with stunned "Are you sick?" questions. While I am, indeed, sick this week I will have to come up with a new excuse next week. Of course I could tell them the truth.

"Juju, Jamey I have something to tell you. Normal human beings cannot consume vast quantities of ice cream on a daily basis. You guys are freaks of nature and I sincerely hope Ruby inherited your ability to pour food into a leg for safekeeping where it will work its way into the air and disappear leaving you thin and healthy. If I were to partake with you, I would quickly find myself shopping for a new wardrobe and on cholesterol lowering meds."

Juju Time!

Jamey's mom moved in with us while she builds her house. I'm looking forward to lots of stories. While she is one of the sweetest people I know, she's highly entertaining. She's only been with us a bit, but I have story #1.

We don't have a landline so I left her my cell phone to use. She decided it was dirty and ran it under the faucet. I have a new cell phone now.

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.