I'm Baaaaaaaack!

Well, at least, I hope I am.

It's been almost three months since I've blogged.  Terrible.  And also?  I miss it!  I miss having this record of our lives!
Aside from life being busy, my computer cord disintegrated (literally, the wires completely broke apart), AND my phone was close to not working.  I have a new phone now (the difference in camera quality is amazing), and a borrowed cord.  So I'm hoping to have fewer excuses about my blog negligence.

In that span of time, we had Easter to celebrate, somebody had her second birthday, and toddler school ended for the year!  These are all things I want record of in the ol' blog, so don't hate me too much when there are several random posts (that I will back-date) catching me up.

Cross your fingers for good naps, and cooperative technology!

Happy New Year!!!

Hey!  It's 2014!  I hope you've all had a great time celebrating however you wanted to.  We stayed in, made a homemade "pizzie" as Ruby calls it, put our little lady to bed, put on The Walking Dead marathon and watched it in our pjs, then switched over to watch coverage of the fireworks at the Space Needle at midnight.  Honestly?  That was perfect.  Just our speed these days.

Even though blogging hasn't been a huge priority as of late (I would like to change that!), I couldn't let the new year go by without some kind of related post.  Last year I did a sort of year in review (omg, look how tiny Ruby was!!!).  I like that, but I decided to do something a little different this year and basically totally copy Erin's survey-style review.  Peppered with pics from the last year, of course.

Here goes...

2013 in Review

1.)  What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?
I had to think about this for a bit, 2013 was pretty tame!  For the first time in my adult-life I had no real, paying job.  Pretty massive un-paid job though.  Being a mom is no joke!  I also put myself out there for the first time, and started selling things I'd made.  That was pretty huge for me.  It's something I've always thought about doing, but the first time I'd tried.  And right at the end of the year here, I left Ruby with someone other than Mr. G.  Yeah.  That still hadn't happened (that's what happens when your baby doesn't take a bottle!).  It was high time, and of course, it went great.

2.)  Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made any?  I have lots of goals in mind for 2014, though...

3.)  Did anyone close to you have a child?
Yes!!!  My good friend Sara had two!  Twins, one boy, one girl.  I couldn't be happier for her!  Surprisingly, I don't think anyone else did, which is weird after the baby boom in 2012.  Lots more babies are coming in 2014 though - including my nephew, whom I can't wait to meet!

4.)  Did anyone close to you die?

Thankfully, no.

5.)  Where did you travel?

Um, to Target and back...?  We didn't travel further than about 30 miles from home this WHOLE YEAR!!!  That's actually not true, Mr. G did.  But Ruby and I were total homebodies in 2013!

6.) What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?

Our own house.  This has long been a "want" of ours, but now that we have Ruby it is top priority.  It will be hard.  We live in a very high cost of living area, and our must-haves are great (large size, yard, good school district, easy commute).  But our rental townhouse just does not work for us, and we spent the whole of the year complaining about it.

7.)  What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?

Wow.  I think this question believes I have a better memory than I actually do!  The holidays come to mind.  Easter was so lovely.  And the Fourth of July, and of course, this Christmas.  Ruby's first birthday is one I'll never forget.  And the day she started walking, because it seemed she was sooooooo behind in her gross motor skills.  And the day we met Sherry and John from YHL (pictured above) because that was just funny!  Taking Ruby to the fair and to baseball games.  2013 was pretty tame, but I do hope I remember those things.

8.)  What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Being Ruby's mom.  I know, that sounds kind of lame.  But not.  This year I really felt like I got into my mom groove.  It wasn't mere survival anymore, it became so much FUN.  I absolutely have room for improvement in this area (of course, I'm not perfect), but I've tried to dedicate myself to her, and be really intentional, yet relaxed.  I think it's working for us, because all three of us are really enjoying this time in Ruby's life.

9.)  What was your biggest failure?

Ugh.  Keeping my house clean.  I am so BAD at this, and it honestly makes me crazy!!!  I love a clean house, but I hate to clean it, and I can never get into a good groove.  One of my hopes for the new year is to purge SO MUCH STUFF that we have and never use, so that even in our small home, we have only things we need or love and everything has a place.  I have to do it.  It is making me nuts.

10.)  Did you suffer illness or injury?

No!  We were thankfully really healthy and safe for the whole year.  Well, except for what I'm pretty sure was a broken toe...

11.)  What was the best thing you bought?

Hmm...  That's a toughie!  We didn't make any major purchases this year.  I think I'll go with Ruby's new car seat.  We still are madly in love with it.

12.)  Whose behavior merited celebration?

Big shocker, but I'm going to say RUBY!  Seriously, though, we pinch ourselves every day.  As far as toddlers go, she is tops!  She constantly impresses me when we put her in out-of-the-norm situations.  She just rolls with it and is her charming self.  I can think of only one time she has had a tantrum.  After being such a fussy infant, this is such a breath of fresh air!  I was always terrified of toddlerhood, but she has been such a joy this year.  I'm guessing that since I'm putting it all out there, I'm probably jinxing myself and her terrible twos will be terrible, but really.  She is amazing.

13.)  Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Hmm...  Without getting too political, I'll just say that my fellow Americans who put their faith/beliefs above the rights of others.  Sometimes Facebook has been a little much to take.  I don't understand why other people think they have the right to say who someone can and cannot love.  Makes no sense to me.  

It also makes me both appalled and depressed when I see parents putting their children in harms way via carseat misuse, or forward-facing before age 2.  I see it every single day in blogs, instagram, and facebook.  I know that some people just don't know better (but the information is so readily available!!!), but what really gets me is the parents that DO know, and choose to put their child's life at risk anyway.

14.)  Where did most of your money go?

The normal stuff.  Rent.  Food (man, our kid eats a LOT!).  My car payment.  We can't wait to not have that payment anymore.  Barf.

15.)  What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Um...  Nothing?  Ha!  I guess I'll say, getting to spend the year at home with my girl.  It's a privilege and I don't take a single day for granted.

16.)  What song will always remind you of 2013?

Macklemore - Can't Hold Us.  Daft Punk - Get Lucky.  Oh, and Blurred Lines, of course.  OH, and What Does the Fox Say.  Ruby won't let us forget that one.  Nor will she let us forget Phillip Phillips' Gone Gone Gone.

17.)  Compared to this time last year, are you: a.)happier or sadder?  b.)thinner or fatter?  c.)richer or poorer?

a.) Happier.  Like I mentioned above, 2012 felt like survival-mode.  This year, I've really been able to enjoy my new role in life.  b.) Sadly, I'm going to go with fatter?  I don't know.  I lost weight when Ruby was born, but I think it slowly has been creeping back.  Stuff just doesn't fit right, though I'm the same size?  I don't know.  c.) Richer.  Mr. G got two new jobs in 2013, each one better paying than the last.  The one he has now has WAY better benefits, too, so we're saving $700/mo in insurance alone.

18.)  What do you wish you'd done more of?

Besides clean my house?  Exercise.  Major fail on this one, this past year.  To go along with that?  Eat healthy food.  I have some weird sensory issues with food, and pregnancy definitely made that worse - and it never went away!  I need to get my butt in gear on this one.  Not just for my sake, but for Ruby's.  I'm obsessive about feeding her healthy foods, but she's going to realize that I am not setting a very good example with my own.

19.)  What do you wish you'd done less of?  

Probably mindlessly playing around on my phone.  I try to not do it with Ruby around, but I could get better about this.  Actually, I already feel I'm improving.  My time during naptime has been a lot more productive lately, and I like it!

20.)  How did you spend Christmas?

I think I summed it up pretty well here.  Basically, we kicked back at home with all our family, and it was awesome!

21.)  Did you fall in love in 2013?

Just more in love with my little family.

22.)  What was your favorite TV program?

That's a hard pick?  NCIS has, and always will be my fave.  This year though, we started watching Homeland, which is awesome.  The Walking Dead continues to be a favorite.  We also got really into The Killing, and I'm looking forward to it's return.  I also started watching Modern Family this year, and find it really funny.  

23.)  Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate at this time last year?

I don't think I hate anybody.  I did lose a friendship this year, after being let down by that friend many, many times.  I'm sad about that, but I don't hate that person.

24.)  What was the best book you read?

Oh, wow...  Did I read a book this year?  That's horrible!  But, did I?  I think it was 2013 when I read Ender's Game for the first time (after being told for years by a friend of mine that I'd like it) and it turns out, he was right.  I loved it.

25.)  What was your greatest musical discovery?

I don't think I made one?  I did realize that I (like everyone else) super love Macklemore, though.  Bonus that he's from Seattle!

26.)  What did you want and get?

Um...  Oh!  A new sewing machine!!!  That was my birthday/Mother's Day gift in the spring, and it has been everything I had hoped for.  I am still so impressed that my husband knew to go to an actual sewing machine dealer, and that he picked out such a perfect machine (Janome DC2013) on his own!

27.)  What did you want and not get?

A house.  I'm ok with that, because we'll get one when we get one, but man, do I want to move!  We did go to look at a couple, and found a great one, but it was just too much of a stretch for us financially at the time.

28.)  What was your favorite film of the year?

Do you know, I did not see ONE new movie this year?  Not one!  My list of must-sees is so, so long.

29.)  What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

We had a low-key day.  I opened my sewing machine.  I took Ruby to Home Depot to get parts for her birthday present.  And then we went to Outback for dinner.  It was chill, and I liked it.  Can you tell I like to relax?  Ha!  Oh, and I turned the big 3-1.

30.)  What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I'm not sure?  I guess more time with Mr. G?  We haven't really been making our relationship a huge priority.  We should probably get on that. ;)

31.)  How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?

Frumpy?  Honestly, it's been seriously BAD.  Another of my goals for 2014 is to remedy this, starting with purging my closet.

32.)  What kept you sane?  

Um, coffee?  But more seriously, probably other mom-friends.  It's nice to be able to have the support of people who are at the same place in life as you.  Ruby graduated from our parent-baby class back in May, but I've continued friendships with some of those moms I've known since she was born, and made new ones at her toddler group as well.

33.)  Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Um...  What?  I guess President Obama.  I respect that guy a great deal.

34.)  What political issue stirred you the most?

Probably same-sex marriage.  I'm pretty proud to live in a more progressive place, that doesn't put limits on love.

35.)  Who did you miss?

My Ohio friends.  I miss them every year.  I've got to get back!!!

36.)  Who was the best new person you met?

Good question!  I don't feel like I met a lot of new people this year!  There is a mom I met volunteering whom I really like, and another few from toddler group that I look forward to getting to know even better.  I also fell into a group of very crafty mamas over on instagram.  Collectively they've inspired me to sell my handmade items, and even helped me along the way.  Plus, they've added a lot of personality to Ruby's wardrobe. ;)

37.)  Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

Nobody is perfect, including myself.  I love, LOVE social media.  Don't get me wrong about that at all.  But it's such a small window into someone's life, and usually, they are trying to paint it perfect.  To show the good stuff.  I am definitely guilty of this, and also guilty of getting down on myself when my life is not "blog-worthy" (newsflash, that's all the time!).  But I am getting much better at realizing that the truly important stuff is not picture perfect.  It's just to be there for my daughter/family.  I'm learning to know my limits, and let the little stuff go that's not important.  If I run out of time, or my "2014" shaped pancake turns out ridiculous-looking, or I only have time for one instagram flash sale in a month, or we only put up half the Christmas decorations and never make it to the reindeer farm, that is OK.  Time with my girl is the most important, and she doesn't care if it's "perfect". 

So there you have it.  My look back on 2013.  Honestly?  It was a pretty good year.  I have high hopes for 2014.  There's a lot I want to accomplish, but I think I can, and I'm looking forward to it.

Um... MONTH in iPhone Pictures

Oops.  Catching up!

July 14-20

Sunday:  She wanted to look out the window at the cars (it was just our car, lol).  "Driving" Uncle Tony's car.  Monday:  Swingin' at the park.  Intrigued by tennis.  Tuesday:  Volunteering usually = playing at the hospital.  Her new kicks had arrived when we got home!  Wednesday:  Ruby picked up the remote like a phone and said, "Hi!!!  Dada!"  Mooching Grandma's snacks at Starbucks.  We saw these deer on our walk, and they were totally cool with us standing around watching them!

Thursday:  Stuffing her face with peanut buttered banana pancakes.  Discovering bark chips at a playdate at the toddler park.  Friday:  With nothing else to do, we decided to have picnic #3 for the week.  Followed by some swinging.  Saturday:  Trying hard to make progress on the rainbow quilt during naptime.  That hat kills me.  What she thinks of ice cream (what the heck?!?).  Soaking herself in the water table.  Bunny ears are not just for Easter.

July 21-27

Sunday:  Hydrating on a long walk.  Very blurry, but a picture of her first steps!  Monday:  Having a good time with Grandma's toothbrush at Target.  Snack on the deck (I was trying to trick her into eating yogurt by getting one of those squeezy pouches that was a yogurt combo).  Mad because I made her sit on her bottom in the tub.  Mr. G texted to see if the wee one was asleep.  This was the response he got. Tuesday:  But once asleep, she sleeps so cute!  She really is a toddler now, isn't she?  Cooling off in the "pool" while we sun some diaps.

Wednesday:  A random, inexplicable fever.  We HAD to go to the grocery store, and the poor bug just wasn't feelin' it.  Thursday:  All better, and excited to eat peaches out of her container.  Goofing off.  I turned the camera around on the phone, which she thought was hilarious.  Hugging her puppy, awww. Friday:  Blueberry finger!  Looking for airplanes in a dry pool, lol.  Saturday:  I guess I only took this one pic, but I was pretty excited that her plate matched her OSU cup!

July 28-August 3

Sunday:  Smarty pants tries to buckle her own chest clip.  She looks like a real proper lady in that hat.  Monday:  Suspiciously eyeballing people out the window at our last lunch date with Uncle Tony before he got a new job.  Mommy is a jungle gym.  Sleepy buns!  Tuesday:  Getting ready to stroll to lunch at the hospital.  Reading Go, Dog. Go! for the 1000th time (that day).  Wednesday:  Oh, the cheese.  So happy in her big girl car seat, while waiting for Daddy to get our traditional anniversary Blizzards.

Thursday:  I've got to figure out how to lock cabinets in our rental...  Ruby and her buddy went to Kid's Cove at the mall.  She was not too sure about the behavior of the big kids there.  But the games were fun!  Friday:  I think she'll love this quilt, if I ever get it done.  Finished the last block!  Hmmm... decisions, decisions.  We had a sudden cool weather day, so I decided to try this vest on her - and she went crazy.  Saturday:  The top is finished!

August 4-10

Sunday:  Sewing blitz.  I was so busy, I forgot to take a picture of my child - until she was curled up in bed with me at night.  Monday:  Breakfast at the counter, so the tray could get a wash.  Another great well-baby check up!  We decided to make cookies after her 4(!) shots.  She decided to help herself to the chocolate chips.  Tuesday:  Sippy sharing.  The hair, the shirt, I die.  Wednesday:  It's done!  Taking a walk with my big girl.

Thursday:  Sharing snacks with the dog, after being stood up for our playdate (grrrr).  Friday:  Making stacks at Starbucks!  Don't let that face fool you - she was thrilled to get a doggie sticker for being buckled into her cart at Target.  The finished quilt, right before we packed it up and took it to the fairgrounds.  Waiting in line to enter our crafts at the fair - she was way over it, it was dinner time, and we were 30 miles from home, but she hung in there like a champ!  Saturday:  Big Seattle day, first stop was the aquarium.  The starfish were pretty, but overall, it was hugely disappointing.  But then we went to the Mariner's game to see Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into the hall of fame (he's the little black dot in the middle there).  Go, Junior!!!

Phew!

Hi.

It's been a while, yes?

As always, I'm full of excuses.  Here are a few.

Ruby's having some sort of sleep regression.  As in, she won't go to sleep anymore.  Well, not without gut-wrenching, snot rolling down her face, huge alligator tears.  Which we don't do in this house.  But what that translates to is basically her wriggling around in bed with me for a couple of hours every night until she passes out from exhaustion around 10ish.  Since my only free time is dependent upon her being asleep, well, I don't have free time anymore.  I went to a toddler class taught by my former baby class instructor last night and talked about this a lot.  I'm still unsure what I want to do.

Isn't she the cutest, though?

I am trying my damndest to finish Ruby's rainbow quilt (which I started over 2 years ago) so that I can enter it in the fair.  The entry is a week from today.  I still have a good amount of work left to do in that short week.  It's possible, but it's going to take some cooperation from my family, and I'm just not sure I'm going to get that cooperation (which is a whole other story).  I will be really disappointed if I don't finish in time.

Ok, so I guess those are my only two excuses, but they're huge ones.

In other news, oh yeah btw, Ruby is WALKING.  She took her first steps two weeks ago.  While it's still not her preferred method of transportation (and she can't yet stand up without something to pull up on, so that hinders things), she's letting go and walking more and more on her own.  It is insane to me that less than three months ago we were getting her evaluated for gross motor delay, and now she has gone from nothing, to pulling up, crawling, sitting up, cruising, climbing stairs, and walking all in that short time.  Unreal.

Unrelated, I got a random email from a marketing gal at See Kai Run (makers of Ruby's favorite shoes), saying she'd found the blog, and could they post a picture of her wearing the shoes on their Facebook page?  I was surprised they'd found my little ol' blog, but said sure!  So you can peep my little lady out over there if you like.  And if you're visiting my blog because of her picture on the SKR page, welcome!  And thanks for visiting!  I promise I try to post more regularly. ;)

And in other thanks news, if you were the person who ordered something off of MyHabit after clicking my referral link that I had in my deal-finding post, you are AWESOME, and THANK YOU.  That credit will definitely be put to good use!

And, hey!  Want to know how to make me think you all are super duper SUPER awesome?  You can click this link and vote for Ruby in the Pediped casting call contest.  You all know that baby girl LOVES shoes.  This gig would be perfect for her, no?  You can vote once per day, so just head on over there daily (through 8/9) and give her a little vote.   Thanks!

Ok, this tired mama needs to drag her buns downstairs and try to sew without waking up the little monster sweet angel.  Sigh.  Seriously though, this quilt is going to be awesome like nothing you've ever seen.  If I finish it.

Independence Day

I hope everyone out there in the internet had a wonderful Fourth!  Ours ended up being quite pleasant indeed!

It's hard for me to believe that this was just one year ago:

Ruby spent most of her first Fourth being a crank-pot, but this year was much different!  We started off the morning by sleeping in (yes!), then chowing down on some red velvet pancakes with whipped cream and blueberries.  Turns out, my kid is weird and doesn't really like whipped cream (the dog, on the other hand, comes running whenever she hears the sound of it)!

After breakfast, we donned our red, white, and blue, and headed into town for the parade and Heritage Day festivities.  There were a ton of people there, but we miraculously found both a good parking spot, and a good place to watch the parade.

Waiting for the parade to start.

Here they come!

"Where are they going?"

The parade was mostly dressed up kids and dogs.  Which was actually pretty awesome.  =)  The town mayor rolled by, and some local businesses handed out coupons and things.  My favorite part of the parade was the swag from Booginhead, whose headquarters are located in our town.  They were handing out Sippigrips!  I've been meaning to buy one of those forever now (we had, and loved the Pacigrip), so I was super excited to try that puppy right out.  It held onto Ruby's red and blue sippy like a champ.  Love it!

Sammy the Salmon

Also in the parade, was Sammy the Salmon.  Our town has a big salmon spawning creek and fish hatchery, so salmon are a big deal (we have a huge "Salmon Days" festival in the fall).  Sammy made Mr. G and I both have the urge to do the Salmon Dance...

Additionally, the parade was a veritable rainstorm of candy.  Seriously, the kids on the sidelines made out like bandits.  We even let Ruby have her first taste.  Yes, me, the mom who tries to buy only organic and avoids processed foods for my girl, let her have a bright neon blue raspberry Dum-Dum.

She liked it, of course, and sucked on it for a good while while watching the parade.  Then handed it off to Mr. G and was done with it.  Barely any was gone.  I was secretly happy, but hey, it was a holiday, gotta let the kid live a little, right?

So many doggies, Ruby was in heaven!

Mr. G has decided Ruby will be getting one of these for her next birthday...

She did a great job waving her grand ol' flag.  Ok, so maybe she wanted to wave it in her daddy's face...

He showed her how it was done.

And soon, the parade was over.  I could tell Ruby was pretty tired (we skipped nap, since the parade started at 11), but she was hanging in there.  We wanted to check out what was going on in the park before we left.

"I need my nap, Mommy."

It was kind of nuts, tons of people in a little park.  I didn't take pics of this, but there were booths, free pony rides (the line was insane!), and supposedly a slug race (?) and pie eating contest.  We didn't see either of those, but we did stop by a food truck to grab some pulled pork sliders and smoked potato salad for lunch.  While we ate, Ruby kicked her feet in time to the music of a local band.  She was still pretty tired, so after that, we headed back home for her nap.

After nap, the sun was out!  This is HUGE for us Washingtonians.  There's a standing joke around here that summer starts on July 5th.  I had more rained-out 4ths growing up than not.  So a warm, sunny, Fourth of July?  Amazing.  Ruby's had two in a row.  She better not get used to it!

I cleaned up the water table (whose idea was it to not provide a cover for these things?), and the little one went to town with her ducks.

She also requested that I blow bubbles for her, and I was happy to oblige.  The girlie had so much fun splashing, that she eventually soaked herself, so we traded romper for swim suit.

And of course, once properly attired, left the water table completely to go make a mess in her tent.

Why, yes, she did steal the dog's toy...

The rest of the evening was spent eating BBQ chicken and corn on the cob.  Lets just say, Ruby is a huge fan of BBQ sauce... (translation, it ended up all in her hair).  We also took a walk around our oddly quiet neighborhood, before washing the aforementioned sauce, and attempting to put the wee one to bed.

I say attempting, because, well, she didn't exactly go to bed.  Between cutting a lot of teeth and some really killer separation anxiety, Ruby's had some nights here and there where even the mention of "ninights" makes her completely lose it.  So she spent a couple of teary hours with me in my bed, before finally passing out for the night.  Which meant I didn't get to see any fireworks (sad).  They're illegal here, but certain 'hoods are allowed to do them over the lakes, which you can usually see out our window.  Of course, we had some law-breaking neighbors, but luckily, thanks to being curled up next to me, Ruby didn't seem to mind them at all.  She slept like a baby until 7:30am.  Oh, and she didn't mind that I appeased myself by watching the Walking Dead marathon, either!

All in all, not too shabby a 4th at all.  We're already looking forward to next year.  We'll definitely be doing the hometown parade again, and Ruby should be old enough to see the rocket's red glare!