Things Loved - Summer Time!

In my mama circle, I'm getting a reputation for being the baby gear expert.  Now, expert I surely am NOT, but I do spend a bunch of time researching and figuring out the way to go for baby gear purchases because I'm kind of a nut like that, and I spend even more time circumstantially figuring out what products are great (or not so great).

Some of that stuff is seasonal.  Honestly?  Back in the cold-weather months, I meant to do a things loved winter time post... But, you know, life.

Anyway, wanna see what's topping our charts for summer survival?  In WA, getting a "summer" can be hit or miss, but it seems like this year is a hit with many 80 degree days in a row.  Wahoo!

1.) Wardrobe Essentials.  Back when it was still chilly, I picked up a couple cute suits for Ruby in the Target clearance section, and at a consignment sale.  I also try to make her wear shades whenever possible, to protect her eyes.  Sometimes she keeps them on, sometimes she doesn't.  We have a pair from Janie and Jack, and they really seem to have the best fit (the 0-2 size).  And finally, you can't have summer without a sun hat.  Last year, we had a Carter's sun hat that I bought in February before Ruby was born for 97 cents.  It was the perfect hat.  Wide brim, and a strap to keep it on her head.  This year, Carter's was completely sold out before I even thought about buying a hat!  Nooooo!  So I've been on the hunt since.  We got this Baby Gap version last weekend.  I love the brim size, but it has no straps, so I think I'm going to have to sew my own.

2.) Swim Diaper.  If your baby/toddler is going in the water, they need a swim diaper.  Last year, when we took swimming lessons, we had two different brands.  We found that the iPlay swim diaper is hands down the best!  It is slightly absorbent, which means your kid is not going to pee on you when you carry him/her to the pool.  Kind of important.  Plus, they fit well, and wash well.  Last year we had a cute printed ruffle-butt one.  This year, I went with plain white, to go under her variety of suits.

3.) Sunscreen.  Maybe this should be number one?  Now that Ruby is old enough to wear it, sunscreen is a must.  It's quite a feat to slather up a toddler, but I don't want her getting burned!  I also don't want to load up her skin with chemicals, and I kind of cringe when I see Banana Boat baby sunscreen.  This Babyganics sunscreen is affordable, and scores a 2 on Skin Deep's website, so I feel comfortable rubbing it into her skin.

4.) Starbuck's Cold Cups (and straws).  We've had three of these cups for many years.  Mr. G always has one at work.  When I was pregnant, they became the only way I was sure to drink enough water throughout the day, and I had one in my classroom and car at all times!  We recently broke one, and I totally freaked out!  Mr. G had to tell me to calm down and go buy another.  Ha.  But seriously, staying hydrated is important at all times of the year, so I never leave the house without one of these bad boys.  I also bought a set of twelve plastic reusable straws (also from Starbuck's, but before they made the cold cups) about 6 years ago.  I can put these in the dishwasher, so sometimes, if I'm in a hurry, I just switch out the straw.  My students were always excited to see which color straw I had each day, and Ruby is pretty into them too!

5.) Step2 Waterwheel Water Table.  Ruby got this for her birthday and she plays with it nearly every single day!  Water play is so good for sensory development, plus it helps her keep cool.  I do have some gripes about this toy though.  The first being, that it doesn't have a drain.  Um... Why???  It actually has an area in the plastic that even looks like it was supposed to be a drain, but they changed their minds.  Dumb.  It also doesn't have a cover.  Which means tree-junk and bugs fall down into it, dirtying the water faster.  I already have to fill the thing up with buckets, because we don't have a yard and have to keep it on the balcony.  It would be nice if I could at least empty it without bailing it, or cover it up to keep the water clean longer.

Update: I contacted Step2 via their Facebook page about my two gripes.  They don't offer a cover for sale separately (boo), but they do offer a plug if you want to drill out the hole and retrofit it.  It will void the warranty, they warned me, but it might be worth doing.  I'll have to see if my dad has the proper drill bit.

6.) Booginhead Sippigrip.  Mamas aren't the only ones that need to stay hydrated!  Obviously, it's super important for the babes to, too.  Since getting the Sippigrip, I've been attaching Ruby's cup to her stroller when we go on long walks, and she's been drinking a ton of water that way!  We got ours free at the 4th of July parade, but I would absolutely spend money on this thing.

7.) Baby Splash Pool.  I really wanted to get Ruby a pool, but wasn't sure how this would work with our lack of yard.  I decided any pool would have to be inflatable, and when my friend found this baby one at Target (for under $6!) that was only about 30" across, I knew it'd be perfect.  And it is!  It's the perfect size for both baby and deck (ha), and it does have a drain, so I just open it up right by our gutter and it empties itself.  Since it's so small, it will work great as a ball pit indoors when the weather turns, too.  I can't find the one we have on Target's website, but it's the Banzai My First Splash Pool.  Here's what it looks like in action:

8.) Fubbles.  Ruby got one of these wacky tubes of bubbles for her birthday.  They're the best bubbles ever!  The wand is huge (long), so it can make really big bubbles just by waving your arm around in the air.  If you choose to blow the bubbles, it makes about a million little ones in one go.  We've almost used ours up thanks to Ruby's constant requests for "bubbas!", and I plan on buying more.

9.) Green Toys Dump Truck.  Good old dumpy.  Gotta have some outdoor toys, right?  We play with this inside too, but it makes a great outside toy.  Ruby loves to push it around while making motor noises.  She's big into vehicles right now!  I love that it's made of recycled materials, and is pink and purple.  All of her boy friends dig it too!

Some things that are not on my list, but I'd love to try are some sort of shade tent/canopy/umbrella (we really needed this at the spray park - any suggestions for a good one?) and toddler popsicle molds.  How awesome are those?  Are there any summer baby must-haves I left off my list?  Do tell!

Week in iPhone Pictures

July 7-13

Sunday:  Spent a little time working on one of my friend's baby quilts.  Ruby prefers the water table toys on dry land.  Monday:  Hydrating at the park with grandma.  She thought she was so funny that she went inside without me.  Tuesday:  "Helping" me with a measuring spoon.  Sometimes we find her sprawled out in weird locations/positions.  Wednesday:  Airplane gazing.  After waiting at home ALL day for the FedEx guy that never came, we went to Target, where I bought Rubes her first pool.  And decided to play with the Nextfit (glad we got the Foonf).

Thursday:  "You guys, there are airplanes up there!!!"  Two little goat-watchers.  Why yes, she is feeding the dog peas out of her bib pocket.  Friday:  We went to a breastfeeding older babies class (it was interesting, and chaotic with a lot of toddlers).  I guess she was really excited that we were number 27?  "Hey mom, there are bubbles up here!".  Saturday:  Excited about her Costco "treat" (Go Go Squeeze).  Trying out the pool for the first time - it's a hit!  Trying to mooch some Rainier cherries.

Champagne Taste...

When I was pregnant with Ruby, I knew that (for at least a little while) I wouldn't be working.  So we wouldn't have my income.  That super freaked me out, and it made me want to do two things: 1.) buy all the things, and 2.) find all the deals.

For "buy all the things" that really meant that I just wanted to have everything we'd ever possibly need before she was here, so that I didn't have to spend money after she was born.  Was I successful?  Eh, sort of.  We had everything we "needed".  Of course, I found other things I wanted, but that's a different story...

Next came "find all the deals".  You guys, I am cheap.  Spending money actually hurts me.  But I like new (or new to me) stuff.  And it turns out, I like nice stuff.  Quality stuff.  I am cheap, but I don't like cheap stuff.  I know.  Problem.

BUT

There are SO many deals to be had!  People often comment on Ruby's style (she is way more fashionable than I) and gear, and want to know where I got it.  I'm happy to share that I almost never ever pay full price for anything.  Remember, spending money hurts me!

Today I hit a jackpot deal, and I figured I ought to share my tricks with you all.

First, my deal.  How freaking CUTE are these?!?

See Kai Run "Cathy" in peach

See Kai Run Smaller "Leilani" in purple

Yes, they just got added to Ruby's closet.  We have LOVED her 2 pairs of SKR Smaller mary janes, and sadly, she's outgrowing them.  Knowing this, I've been on the hunt for good See Kai Run deals.  They were on Zulily a couple of days ago, but honestly?  Zulily does NOT top my list of good "deal" sites.  The shipping is expensive, it takes forEVER, and they deals aren't that great.  Plus, I have to pay tax, because they're a Seattle company.  Boo.

So, let me introduce you to my good friend, MyHabit.  Maybe my husband would like to call it, "my BAD habit", but actually, that site has saved us so much money!  Remember how I like "nice" things?  Champagne taste and all, but we have a beer budget.  Both of those pairs of shoes above retail for about $40 each.  I paid $40.52 (which included 10% tax, because, again, I live in WA) total for BOTH.  The leather boots were only $15!

For full disclosure, if you click that link above and follow it, I do get a kickback.  Which I'd love and totally use, but I won't at all be offended if you just google MyHabit and sign up yourself.  Yes, you have to sign up.  But guess what?  MyHabit is an Amazon deal site.  So it's connected to your Amazon account, which means once you sign in, you can buy with one click.  So easy.  Oh, and shipping is always free!  Oh, and it's super super fast (like, 2 days, no joke)!  I can't sing the praises of this deal site enough (and no, they did not ask me to or compensate me in any way, I just love love it).

Ruby's first pair of See Kai Run shoes came from MyHabit (also for $15).  I've also bought an adorable dress from her there, an Aden & Anais swaddle blanket, other stuff that I can't remember right now, and my biggest steal of all was my diaper bag (Baby Kaed Shanti, in silver).  That was during a flash sale.  It cost me $27.  Original price: $140.  I know.

My other faves are (none of these links are affilates):

*Mamabargains.  I've bought many things here, the best being my Beco Butterfly II for just $60.  But also an amber teething necklace (that Ruby wears 100% of the time), a Woombie, green sprouts sippy cups, and iPlay bibs.  Their shipping is kinda slow and not free, but they do have good deals.

*EcoBabyBuys.  I'm kind of a hippie, and this site helps me out.  I bought an awesome Monkey Foot Designs wetbag for a steal on here, and also wool dryer balls.  I'm keeping an eye out, because the dryer balls are totally awesome and I want more.

*Amazon.  Yep, we all know and love Amazon.  I check my other sites first because sometimes they're cheaper, but Amazon has pretty much everything, often at a good deal.  We have Prime, too, which makes shipping free and fast.  My favorite thing about Amazon is their flash sales.  I find them hard to catch (because I don't try that hard), but Ruby is currently napping in an Aden & Anais muslin sleepsack that has been my absolute favorite baby product for the summer so far.  And I got it for just $10 (instead of the ridiculous $45 msrp).

*Cotton Babies.  This is not a deal site.  However, if you are a cloth diaper fan (like we are!), you know that BumGenius diaps are awesome.  They're not that cheap, though.  However, Cotton Babies often offers "seconds" sales.  This means that the diapers are new, but they're "second" quality.  Which sounds bad, right?  Um, it's not.  Their standards for first quality must be crazy high, because I bought 6 BumGenius Elemental seconds, and 3 of them I couldn't find a single blemish.  Two had tiny dirt smudges that washed out immediately, and the third has a 1mm red thread that got caught in one of the inner seams.  These are my favorite diapers, and they were a steal at "seconds" prices!  The only bummer?  They have a store in WA (that is much too far for me to actually drive to, so I have to order online), which means, again, I have to pay that dang 10% sales tax.  Boo.

I also frequent consignment shops, and the big mom to mom consignment sales.  I find the big sales to have better deals, and better stuff usually.  At least half of Ruby's wardrobe is from there.  In our neck of the woods, they have one in March and October every year.  Perfect to get the next season's clothes.

I also troll the Target clearance section.  They do baby markdowns on Mondays.  If you look in the top right corner of the clearance sticker, it will have a number.  I like that number to be "70" because that means it's 70% off!  Lots of pieces in R's closet have cost me only $1.50 thanks to Target clearance.  If I'm lucky, I find things even cheaper than 70% off, but know that if the price ends in a 4, it's not going to go any lower.

So there you have it.  How I appeal to my champagne taste for baby/toddler stuff on a beer budget.  There are many other "deal" sites out there, but I've never found anything I needed off of them, or that they were a super great deal.  I'm picky, I don't just buy things because they are cheap, but I do make sure to stalk out the very best deal before I buy anything.  Like those adorable shoes above, my patience totally paid off with those ones!

Do you guys MyHabit?  Do you feel physical pain when spending money, but love to shop/have new things?  What's your favorite way to score a deal?  Do you get a rush when you score a good one?  I know I do, I'm going to be riding my shoe-deal high for a while...

Calendar Girl - Fourteen Months

Yep.  This has been another month of totally awesome with my girl.  But lets back up a bit.  This post is (as usual) a little late, and this time, I'm blaming the kid.

The only thing NOT awesome this month, has been a little bit of sleep regression.  I'm not sure what it is.  I think maybe it started with teeth?  But every few nights or so, Ruby just will. not. go. to. sleep.

I put her down, and she screams her head off.  Not like, mad screaming.  Like, heartbreakingly sad screaming and crying.  It happened last night when I was trying to do this post.  So I had to go get her, and she was sweated through her shirt already, she was so upset.  Sometimes, she just wants to be held and will nod off.  Other times (like last night), nothing makes her happy.  So I end up sitting in my bed with her while she cries off and on for 2 hours, before passing out from exhaustion.  

What the heck, kid?  The rest of the time, she sleeps just fine!  I'm thinking this is something we just have to ride out...  Ugh.

But back to the awesome.  Since this girl has decided gross motor skills were on her to-do list, she has been going full steam ahead!  Yes, she is standing, not holding onto anything in that pic above!  She can pull herself up on practically nothing.  She loves to use my legs, if they are laying on the ground, to pull herself up to a stand, then she either dances or claps for herself.  Love it!  She crawls SUPER fast now, has figured out cruising, and the biggest game changer?  She climbs stairs.

She love, love, LOVES to climb the stairs!  She will climb up to the top, sit down, and turn to look at us with the biggest poo-eating grin on her face.  And lately?  Lately, she climb up the stairs from our living room to our kitchen, book it down the hall, and either go into the kitchen, or climb up to the landing for our stairs that lead up to the second floor, and wait for us to find her.  Then when we come after her, she totally cracks up!  She's playing hide and seek already!  The only bummer is, she doesn't know how to safely get down the stairs, so we pretty much are constantly running around after her.  We have a LOT of stairs in our house!!!

Such a goof.

Since she can get pretty much anywhere she wants, she sometimes gets into stuff she shouldn't.  If we say, "Ruby Jo..." with a warning tone, she will stop what she's doing and shake her head no.  She totally knows she is up to no good!

Also, with her new mobility, has come the typical resurgence of separation anxiety.  Maybe that has to do with the sleep stuff, too?  I left her with Mr. G to go to a doctor appointment that ended up taking forever (because they were all in a meeting, I had to wait around in a gown for an hour!).  Ruby had a really hard time with that.  And in the afternoons, she gets super clingy.  Luckily, I was prepared for this, as a wise person once told me that once they can move away from their mamas, that freedom gets scary.  Luckily, I get to spend the majority of my time with my girl, so it's not too problematic.

She was in LOVE with the bark chips!

To go along with that, however, she has also become super snuggly and a great hugger!  She seriously just wants to love on us all the time.  Big hugs for mommy and daddy, but she also tries to hug on Braidy every chance she gets.  And anything that is soft, too, like her stuffed animals and baby doll.  They get tons of hugs.  And my personal favorite?  She hugs her cloth diapers!  It is the cutest!  She will also take any piece of fabric (no matter how small), spread it out on the floor, and lay her head down on it like she's sleeping.  This kid is a hoot.

In addition to loving on her diapers, she also now says the word "diaper".  Well, usually she screams it, when she sees me come in with an armload of diaper laundry.  She yells, "Diaper!  Diaper!" and crawls as fast as she can to try to get them.  Sometimes it comes out, "biaper", which is even cuter, IMO.

She was really working on her "b" words this month, as she's also saying "bubble" ("bubba"), and "blue" (blueberry), and "bye-bye".  In fact, in the morning, when she knows Mr. G is leaving, she tells him bye-bye, waves, then pushes him away!  Ha!  She said, "go" last month, but now when Braidy gets reprimanded, Ruby always yells "go!" and points.  Hilarious.  

In addition to her new words, she also makes some sounds.  "Rowr rowr rowr" is what doggies say, and she says it whenever she sees or hears a dog.  She also says "buck buck buck" for chicken, "gobble gobble" for turkey, and "kack kack" for duck.  Oh, and any vehicle says "brrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmm!".

She gets lots of chances to see vehicles now that she is in her big girl car seat.  She can see out the windows, and will happily tell me when she sees cars coming.  Oh, and she definitely notices if someone is walking a dog on the sidewalk, too!  She rarely ever cries in the car anymore (thank goodness!), and every time we get in, she tries to buckle her chest clip.  It's pretty cute to watch her concentrating so hard on that buckle.

"Mom!  I see a doggie!!!"

In true toddler fashion, she definitely has opinions about things, and moreso about food now.  Her favorites are cheese and blueberries.  When she gets tired of what she's eating, she immediately throws it on the floor, and she's not a fan of eating any food off of a spoon right now (and will shake her head no if you offer).  She used to not love cow's milk, but now every morning I pour her a glass to drink while I make breakfast and she chugs the whole thing down in one go!

She's still a pretty voracious eater, and has definitely been doing some growing.  She's now mostly in 18 month clothing (though Carter's 12mo clothes are still a perfect fit), and sadly, she's outgrowing our beloved See Kai Run shoes.  I've been scouting out a good deal for some in bigger sizes, but until then we're (impatiently) awaiting the arrival of her first pair of Saltwater Sandals to last us the rest of the summer.  We even discovered yesterday, that with all her growing, she's surpassed both of her little boy friends - a surprising development!

This month, Ruby popped THREE (!) new teeth, bringing her total count up to seven.  This was all in the course of 10 days, and two of them were on back to back days (!!!).  So there's been a lot of finger-chewing, and even some drool.  She now has four on the bottom, and three on the top.  The last top front one has been thisclose forever, but it just doesn't want to come through.  Ruby's handled it like a champ for the most part, though as I mentioned, nights have been rough, and she sometimes points to the Advil or teething tablets.

To answer your question, yes, I think the amber necklace helps.

At 14 months, Little Miss Ruby J loves being outside, playing with balls, bubbles, and her water table.  She likes taking strolls around the neighborhood, and gets excited whenever we're near the park (where these photos were taken), as she loves the swings.  She has figured out how to take my hand to get me to do something she wants.  Like open a plastic Easter egg, "scrub scrub" on her tummy, read a book, or (my fave) caress her face.  She deftly pushes the home button on my phone so that she can see her picture on the lock screen.  She brings me my shoes and tries to put them on my feet.  She also points out her shoes whenever we meet someone, and knows whose shoes belong to whom in the house (she'll grab Mr. G's and say, "dada, dada", or bring them to him too).  She is overall just oozing personality, awesomeness, and smarts.

A friend of mine, whose son just turned 18(!), said to me the other day, "The older he got, the harder it was to leave him.  At first, I knew he was so tiny and needed me.  But then, as he got older, he just became so fun to hang out with!  He could do things!  We could go places together!  It was so much fun."

Seriously, how does she know how to "drive" already???

I totally get it.  I am surprised that I kind of love having a toddler right now.  She is just so. much. fun.  I am so thankful to spend my days with this girl!!!

Week in iPhone Pictures

June 30 - July 6

Sunday:  Cuddles with Auntie Ting at Sunday breakfast.  We can now pull up on the dog...  First ever whale-spout!!!  Monday:  Trying on her 12mo swimsuit to make sure it still fits (since it's never been worn!).  Ruby Lou Who.  Planning out some quilts for my friend expecting twins.  Tuesday:  Stair climbing is her favorite activity, game over.  We went to the spray park, and it was completely terrifying.  Making huge messes are her 2nd favorite activity.

Wednesday:  A new favorite napping position - booty in the air.  Getting soaked out at the water table.  Thursday:  I thought this sidewalk chalked misspelling was so cute (Mr. G didn't, because he thought an adult wrote it, not a child, in which case, I see his point).  Parade watching.  Celebrating her own independence by making a mess.  Friday:  One little monkey, jumping on the bed.  So tired, she fell asleep eating her dinner (and I don't blame her, I was so tired I was taking a nap when this happened; Mr. G took this pic with his phone).  Saturday:  Sippigrips = best invention ever.  Hangin' out with her big concrete turtle friend.

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!

Happy 4th!

We started off the day with red velvet pancakes and blueberries, then took our little American beauty into town for a parade and food truck lunch!

Hope your Fourth is as lovely as ours is shaping up to be!

Week in iPhone Pictures

Hmm...  So I wrote this post days ago, and forgot to publish!  How's that for bad blogger? ;)

June 23-29

Sunday:  We drove out into the country to go to a couple of open houses (we loved the area, but were disappointed in the homes).  Ruby can reach the bubbles on this table, and will go get them and bring them to you - especially if it's raining out...  Monday:  My mom and niece came over so we could have "cousin lunchies".  This girl pulls up on anything anywhere.  Baby matches the car seat on our quick run to Target (Oshkosh makes a lovely "snowberry" colored onesie!).  Ruby pulled out all of the Magic Bullet cups, then put one of her magnet letters in each one - creative!  Tuesday:  I decided to see if the Pinterest trick of growing green onions works (spoiler: it does, they're a good 6" tall already!).  Playing with the toys on 4-Blue.  A really rough night led to a small one cuddled up with me in bed.

Wednesday:  Ruby gets into our drawers and plays dress-up.  Cheesin' in her big girl seat!  SO excited to find a pair of jams with BEARS on them in our boxes of hand-me-downs!  Thursday:  Waiting on a very late friend led to silliness in the car.  Somebody fell asleep on our walk (Also note, left legwarmer pulled down.  She always pulls just the left one down.  Always.).  Friday:  She was supposed to be napping, but instead was playing with her doggie, saying, "Rowr rowr rowr."  Um, someone can deftly climb the stairs now.  Crap.  Saturday:  We went to a good friend's baby shower, and of course, I didn't take pics.  Cheesing it up while I was making dinner.  After bath, she crawled away naked and got her family photo book.  Mr. G went to Vegas for the weekend to play in the World Series of Poker, and she kept finding his picture and saying "Dada" over and over while he was gone.

Random...

I'm a bad blogger.  Maybe it's just not in me?  I love having the posts I do make to be able to look back on (and I have when I've wanted to remember things, several times), but I often wonder if I didn't do my weekly iPhone pic round ups, if the blog would just fade away...

*Mr. G went out of town two weekends in a row.  Ugh.

*I'm really bad about picking up my real camera.  I wish that would stop!

*Ruby cut three teeth in 10 days, but two of them were back to back.  This has led to much clinginess, and some sleepless nights.

Just found this pic on my phone.  The last ride in the Keyfit.

*We still have no plans for the 4th at this point.  I really want to take Ruby to a parade, but I also don't want to fight tons of traffic, pay for parking, etc.  Which really limits my options around here in such a densely populated area.

*I also really want to take R to a spray park.  This one looks cool, no?

I wonder if she'd have fun, even though she isn't walking yet.  Hmm...

*Speaking of spray parks, summer finally came to Washington.  It's been around 90 degrees, which means it's also been about that hot inside my house.  Most homes here do not have a/c, because we usually don't need it.  But, man.  My sweat is sweating.  I'm parked in front of a fan, but fans really dry my contacts out.  I just can't win.

*I also seem to have no shorts that fit.  Ew.

*Over the weekend, I went to a baby shower for my good friend Sara.  She's having twins, a boy and a girl, at the end of the summer.  I am SO excited for her!  For her gift, I wanted to include handmade things, because she loves handmade, and also some favorites from when Ruby was little.  So I got a little basket that had a note from Ruby that said, "Dear Auntie Sara,  Here are some of my favorite things from when I was new..."  Then each thing was wrapped, with a clue, like, "...for wearing" "...for playing" "...for a change".  It was adorable, and I took not one single picture of it.  So sad.

*Also in there, was this Violet and Moss onesie:

How freaking cute is that?  I got it at the Kate Quinn warehouse sale for $5.  I want it bad for Ruby, but I am not willing to pay $38 to order it in her size!

*Ruby can climb stairs now.  Game over.

*She also now gives amazing hugs.

*Oops, and now she's awake!  Gotta run!