A Year in Review

Of course it sounds cliche, but I truly can't believe that 2012 is really over!  This time last year, I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new year.  2011 wasn't that spectacular, but I knew that 2012 was going to be great.  It did not disappoint!

Here's a look at some of the highlights for the G family this past year:

January

We had a snowstorm + power outage that left us snowed in and (chilly!).  We found out that our girl had a 2-vessel cord, which was kind of a big deal, and started having a LOT of appointments at Maternal Fetal Medicine.  Knowing that we were having a girl, I got right to work making and buying cute stuff for her.

February

I entered the third trimester of my pregnancy.  I had to take the dreaded glucose test, and we got to take a peek at Ruby in 3D.  We found out about Ruby's potential IUGR, and I went on a crazy high-protein diet.  Also in my diet were raspberry Sprites from the Coke Freestyle machines.  Our "big" baby stuff came that month, too.  Crib, car seat, and monitor arrived.  I also parted with a whole bunch of money getting new brakes and tires for my car to make it super safe for our new girl!

March

In March, we found out that Ruby did, in fact, have IUGR.  Which meant I had a LOT of doctor's appointments.  It also meant that there was a good chance she'd be better out than in at some point, and our doctor set a goal that he hoped we'd make it to 37 weeks before she had to come out.  Crazy!!!  I worked on making some stuff for the nursery, and expanding baby girl's wardrobe.  We also took a whole bunch of baby care classes, and were pretty sure we had figured out what we were going to name our girl.

April

In April, the clock was ticking to babytime.  Our doc had warned us that there was a good chance Ruby would be born that month, so we tried to finish getting her room together.  I had bi-weekly non-stress tests, growth ultrasounds or biophysical profiles every week, plus regular midwife appointments.  We also took our Hypnobirthing class that month, so I was at the hospital A LOT.  An uncovered dump truck broke my windshield while I was driving on the freeway, but thanks to some super sleuthing on my part, I got the construction company to replace my windshield (at their cost) just days later.  I got tired of working, but hung in there, and my coworkers threw me a sweet shower.  Ruby had a major growth spurt right in the home stretch, so our MFM doc decided she could come on her own (yay!).  Mr. G turned 36.  I turned 30.  I spent that day helping our school host a conference, and secretly hoping that being on my feet all day would cause me to go into labor and share my birthday with my girl.  It didn't happen.

May

Less than a week after I turned 30, our sweet Ruby Josephine made her debut into our lives (after not believing my water had broken, then not going into labor, then having a superfast 5 hour one!).  At just three days old, she was back in the hospital with a severe case of jaundice, but receiving awesome care.  We spent the rest of the month at the pediatrician getting bili checks.  I celebrated my first Mother's Day, learned that Soothie pads are awesome, cloth diapers are a piece of cake, and that sleep is overrated.  We had an unusually warm, dry month, so we got to start taking walks in the neighborhood early.

June

In June, Mr. G got to celebrate his first Father's Day, and Ruby celebrated by giving me some smiles I could take pictures of for him.  We got better at getting out of the house, attending a birthday party, visiting my coworkers and the kids at school, and going to see our nurses that took care of us at MFM.  We also started going to the parent-baby class at the hospital, which was truly a sanity-saver!  

July

In July, Mr. G & I celebrated our 2nd anniversary (bolting down a dinner out as fast as possible before Ruby "turned into a pumpkin").  We made friends at baby class, and started meeting the mamas and babies out for picnics.  We took a stroller walk with Braidy almost every day.  Rubes was sleeping well in her crib, but didn't like naps.  Or tummy time for that matter.  We ended the month by being obsessed with the Olympics, and with me making the monumental decision to not return to work in the fall.

August

August was a busy month with more baby class, lots of playdates, and Kindermusik class.  Ruby got to go to the movie theater for the first time at the mommy-matinee, and we picnicked in the park.  Her night sleep continued to be awesome, so we quit swaddling!  We survived a long weekend with Daddy away, and got to be guest speakers on the parent panel at the breastfeeding class the hospital offers.

September

More nice weather, more walks, more picnics.  We set up the high chair, and Ruby was a big fan of sitting in the kitchen with us!  We were loving all the sleep we were getting (at night), putting her down and seeing her 12 hours later when she woke.  Mr. G played softball, so there were lots of days and nights that were all mommy & Ruby.  We kicked off football season with spirited outfits for the babe, started going to swimming class, and picked blueberries under the shadow of Mt. Si.

October

October was the month that sleep died.  Seriously, one night Ruby just up and stopped sleeping and she's never slept through the night since.  Separation anxiety was in full force and my girl had eyes only for her mama.  Which meant that I was tired!  We took our last picnic of the season all bundled up, and our daily stroller walks came to an end.  We searched out all things pumpkin, started loving the jumperoo and Bumbo, and indoor playdates with baby buddies.  I forced myself to find time to make Ruby her first Halloween costume, and she ended the month as the cutest little ghoul you've ever seen.

November

In November Ruby celebrated her half-birthday (which we had a hard time believing that time could move so fast!).  She also started eating food!  We were into politics, baking (we spent a lot of time in the kitchen), and hanging out with family.  Ruby also started to sit up all on her own, which made playtime a lot more fun!

December

December brought a whirlwind of holiday crafts, and a baby girl who was a lot more social and interested in playing.  It was all toys all the time around here.  We spent lots of time strolling through shopping malls (sometimes as indoor playdates), and I enjoyed "decorating the baby" with antlers, bows, and other holiday cuteness.  Ruby spent her time babbling, eating my face, blowing spit bubbles, and trying to mooch off of anything we were eating (especially cookies).  I was convinced the whole month that she'd get her two front (bottom) teeth, but they never came!  Finally, we celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three.

Looking back, the year seems so short, yet so long when I can see how much Ruby has grown!  I'm so thankful that 2012 brought our girl into our lives, and I can't wait to see what 2013 brings.  

Happy New Year!!!

Ruby's First Christmas

Even though she won't remember it, I wanted to make Ruby's first Christmas amazing, because, well, it was her first.  It was far from perfect, but it was still pretty darn awesome!

My girl got into the holiday spirit by helping with the presents.  This meant eating a lot of curling ribbon, and some wrapping paper.  Who knew that curling ribbon is like crack for babies?

It also meant testing out some cardboard boxes.  This one was a perfect fit!

Soon it was Christmas Eve.  A friend of my mother-in-law's gave Ruby this ridiculous Christmas elf outfit...  Which I have to admit, was actually really cute on her!  I dubbed her "Jingle-Toots" as her elf name.

She was a big fan of that snowflake ornament.  Whenever we were near a Christmas tree, she'd hone in on one particular ornament, and that would be the only thing she'd want.  She was obsessed with a glass ornament at my mom's house, and when my mom tried to hand her other ones, she'd push them away and go for the glass one.

By some sort of Christmas miracle, it also seems like she's thinking about maybe crawling?  She folds herself in half (like above) and tries to go, but ends up on her face.  

Elf shenanigans aside, Christmas Eve Day was actually pretty stressful.  I'd decided rather last minute, that I was going to hand make some gifts for my parents.  However, a super clingy baby and a husband that was rarely home, made it so that my to-do list was HUGE by Christmas Eve Day.  

Which unfortunately meant that she spent most of the day like this:

She's an angry elf.

But come bedtime, we snuggled her into her Christmas pajamas and sent her off to bed.  It took a while to get her to sleep.  Perhaps she was staying up for Santa?  I was up until 11:30 finishing up my list, and that was even with leaving a few of our parents' gifts to be wrapped in the morning, ugh.  At least I had 24 hours of A Christmas Story to keep me company.  I decided that they do that for all the parents out there who are up late at night playing Santa.

Christmas morning came, and we found our stockings stuffed, and presents from Santa under the tree.

Ruby checked out the unwrapped "big" Santa gift, then we got right to business opening our stockings.

Look at my big girl standing on her own!

She was pretty excited about it!

And, yes, she there was more curling ribbon to eat!

When stockings were done, we happily opened up the rest of our presents from family and Santa.  Ruby was a good girl, and got everything on her list.  Mr. G got a Seahawks jersey, and thanks to Mr. G working two jobs this month, and cashing out a ton of PTO at his old job, I also got severely spoiled!    I got some great "little" presents, and one "BIG" present...  Which is a topic for another post! ;)

One of the things that bit the dust in my Christmas Eve to-do list stress was the making of our traditional monkey bread Christmas breakfast.  So Mr. G made us some eggs, then we had to get our rears in gear!  Showers were taken, more presents wrapped, diapers changed, and the car loaded.  To grandmother's (and grandfather's) house we went!

During our haste to get ready, we saw a few snowflakes mixed in with the traditional rain, but over the mountain on the way to Mr. G's parents' house we had a real white Christmas.  

When we got there, we discovered that Ruby perfectly matched Grandma's Christmas tree!

She also decided that her Uncle Kevin was motivating enough for her to want to try to crawl for real to him.  She couldn't quite figure it out, but she tried really hard!

After opening many more presents, we packed up the car again, drove back over the mountain to home to drop the dog off (she doesn't get along with my mom's dog), then over to my mother's house for Christmas part 3.  If that sounds like a lot of driving, it was.  I didn't look at the milage, but we spent at least 3 hours in the car on Christmas day.  Not doing that again next year!

At my mom's we had a turkey Christmas dinner.  Ruby got to eat her famous sweet potato casserole (sweet potatoes, apples, and pears baked together), hang out with her uncle, "auntie" (my brother's girlfriend), and other grandparents (my dad and stepmom).

And of course, open more presents.  Pretty much all of them under grandma's tree were for her.

After all of that (and a little bit of Elf watching), it was time to take our tuckered out little lady home.  I have to say, she did remarkably well for all of that traveling, excitement, stimulation, being held by tons of people, and staying up past her bedtime.  First Christmas a success?  I think so!  I can't wait until next year (at our own house)!

Week in iPhone Pictures

Whoops, I did it again.  Here's two weeks, since apparently I can't keep up!

December 16-22

Sunday:  Goofing around on the bed, as usual.  A Pinterest project - Ruby's first Christmas ornament.  Silly girl, after a bath.  Monday:  First snow of the season.  Playing blindfolded?  Chubby cheeks.  Tuesday:  As done as our tree was going to get.  My goober girl.  A ghost (we dig playing under blanket forts)!

Wednesday:  Silly toast-face girl.  Target shopping!  Having a lot of fun with the curling ribbon.  I got my first hair cut since August 9, 2011 (seriously).  Thursday:  Almond bark for our party at baby class. A festive group of babies.  Friday:  All prettied up in front of the Christmas tree.  Just a few of our Amazon boxes arrived...  Saturday:  Look what else Amazon delivered! ;)

December 23-29

Sunday:  Cuteness in a car seat.  Sitting in the "big girl" chair at breakfast!  A pretty wrapped white elephant gift to take to mom's night out.  Monday:  Jingle-Toots, the elf.  Making some sugar cookies.  Tuesday:  Opening her first Christmas stocking.  A little bit of white Christmas, heading over Tiger Mountain.  Trying to open presents early at Grandma C's house.  Checking out the tree at Grandma S's house.

Wednesday:  Good morning!  I guess she got hungry in the car?  Thursday:  Trying out some Cheerios.    A black bean goatee at our lunch playdate.  Friday:  Velcro-baby.  Some TJ's shopping.*  New shoes.  Saturday:  "Helping" with the laundry.  A finished nursery project!

*My mom works at a different TJ's store.  I'd texted her that picture, and she showed it around at work. Her manager told her to print it out, so that they could put it on their customer wall(?) because she is one cute customer!

Merry Christmas!

I hope your day is as happy as Ruby is when she's eating plastic!

Santa Baby

On Saturday, we finally took Ruby to see the big guy.  Yep, Santa.

I've pretty much been awaiting this moment since last Christmas.  And I won't lie, I was hoping for a crying picture, too.

After having a REALLY hard time finding a Christmas dress for her that I liked, in her size (have I mentioned toddlers have much better options for just about everything?  I'm pretty picky with my Ruby-style, but she's still rockin' the 6mo sizes), we had to try to find a time to actually take her.  I didn't want to do evenings or weekends -hello, no long lines with a baby!- but Mr. G just started a new job, so his schedule is kind of whack.

Which means we went on a Saturday.  To one of the busiest malls around here.

Waiting in the Santa line.

Actually?  It wasn't that bad.  We were only there about 40min, and Miss R lasted about half that time in her stroller even!  Mr. G also spent most of that time in the Starbucks line.  Yeah.  The Starbucks line at the mall is almost worse than the Santa line...

While waiting, we saw Santa's reindeer flying:

And these two goofed around (actually, she spent a lot of time trying to drink his caramel macchiato):

Then, finally, it was time to see the big guy.  We hit the jackpot with Santas - he totally looked legit.  We were certain Ruby would cry.  By this point, she wanted to be held only by me and was starting to get hungry.  At the very least, we figured she'd pull his beard, but no.

She sat down on his lap and just stared, deer in the headlights.  Then the flash started going off.  I never use a flash, so on the rare occasion she encounters one, she gets this WTF look on her face and is all annoyed afterward.  So that's what we were dealing with.  The "elves" were trying to make her smile, and were like, "Oooh, she's a serious baby."  But they finally got her to crack one.  Sort of.

She looks like a complete and total goober, and not much like herself.  I'm holding out hope for a crying picture next year.

Ruby's dress is from Baby Gap, tights from Target, shoes from Old Navy (a long time ago), and headband from Etsy seller Cocolicious Couture.

Week in iPhone Pictures

Whoops!  I'm behind.  Again.  Ah, well, story of my life! =)

November 25-December 1

Sunday:  Looking very 50's.  Monday:  Yum, blankie.  Oh, you know, just eating toes.  Ebay came through with vintage Nutcracker ornaments - to replace ones my mom bought me as a child, but were since lost.  Tuesday:  Some adorable shoes (that were sadly still too big).  Crashed in the Beco in the Nordstrom shoe department.  Trying to eat a box (this happens a lot).  Wednesday:  Playing with her "beep beeps" in mommy's lap.  "Do I have something on my face?"

Thursday:  Patiently waiting for mommy to get blood drawn.  Trains are delicious.  Finally pieced the front of her stocking - ready for the embroiderer!  Friday:  Skipped swimming to take naps.  Having fun playing with toes...  Until she's totally done.  Going crazy with Sophie.  Saturday:  Toes are big around here.  Shopping for daddy's new work wardrobe.  

December 2-8

Sunday:  Eating Rudolph.  Dressed up for a coffee date.  It's really hard to eat apples without any teeth. Monday:  Went shopping with grandma - ended up with antlers.  New nursery rug!  Glittering ornaments after bedtime.  Tuesday:  New Christmas jammies!  Jumperoo fun.  "Heeeeeeyyyyyy!"

Wednesday:  Love those baby blues!  More fun with antlers.  Not really enjoying daddy-time...  Thursday:  Glares in the elevator.  Doggie kisses.  Friday:  The sequin bow arrived!  We picked up her stocking front from the embroiderer.  Saturday:  My walking buddy.  Mint & chocolate chip cookies in the works.

December 9-15

Sunday:  Yep, they're still funny.  The perfect Christmas tree.  Monday:  Making mischief.  Finally finished stocking.  Sweet potato face.  Attempting to crawl?  Tuesday:  A crying day.  "Weird, there's a paci in my mouth..."  Playing with her buddy.

Wednesday:  Riding the dog...  Post-epic pukefest in the kitchen (no point in going up to get a real outfit right before bathtime, lol).  Thursday:  Festive baby!  Starting her early with the Starbucks cups.  Toy sharing extravaganza!  Friday:  The only pic I took that day - I was too busy holding her tight, after the news of the Connecticut school shooting.  Saturday:  This dog puts up with a lot.  Waiting in line to see Santa!  Santa's reindeer flying through the mall.

Phew!  All caught up!

O, Christmas Tree

Last weekend, we finally made it out to purchase Ruby's first Christmas tree.  The past few years we have gotten real trees, but we'd always procrastinate and end up going to the Home Depot a few miles away, late one December evening after work.

But not this year.  This year, we were going to go do it right, and chop down our tree.  Would you believe Mr. G had never cut down a Christmas tree?  Crazy, right?  Well, he'd never had a real tree before me either.  I can barely believe it.  Did they even have fake trees 30+ years ago?

Anyway, we still hadn't gone by last weekend, and I felt like a bad mommy for not having a tree yet (even though I know she doesn't care, I want her first Christmas to be magical).  This meant we had to go then.  It also meant that we had to go in the pouring rain.

They were obviously thrilled to be having their picture taken.

We trekked out into the trees...

Looking for one that was juuuuust right.  This one didn't pass the test...

But this one did!  This was the one!

So daddy got to work chopping it down.

Ruby helped, by being adorable.

Then we dragged it out of the field (only to learn later that they had tree wagons, boo).

The tree farmers put it into a funny shaker to get any loose needles off.

Then we strapped it to the car before heading home.  Please excuse the doofy look on my face.

Santa was also present at the tree farm, but sadly, we did not get to go see him.  He was on lunch, and we didn't feel like standing around with a cold, wet, baby.  Actually, she was pretty warm and dry, but we were soaked because the sky really opened up right when we were tying the tree to the car.

And here she is:

Yes, I chopped the top off with the picture.  Mr. G hadn't put the topper on yet (and actually hasn't still, he needs to get on that)!