Friday, September 30, 2011

1 month old

I can't believe Ruby has already been in our home for 1 month! Time is moving so quickly - too quickly in my opinion. Ruby has been such a joy. She is such a cuddly, sweet girl, & we all love her so much.


- enjoys tummy time
- loves to sleep on her side & to spread her little body out
- starting to smile more & more
- laughed for the first time today
- doesn't cross her eyes nearly as much as when she was born
- loves to be held . . . a lot
- her arms, thighs, & chins are filling out more & more each day

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Will Time

After my mom & Susan left us & before Dennis & Gail came to take their place, Scott & I decided we needed to take Will out to do something fun & solely for him (& not the baby). Before the day got too hot, we drove to a neighborhood park we hadn't been to before & let Will run around & play with the other kids there. Scott & I took shifts with him while the other sat with Ruby in the shade.





Will had such a great time climbing up & down the playground & after some encouragement, he finally braved a couple of the slides. He also made friends with two little girls &, while they ran past him to one of the slides while laughing & screaming, he'd raise his hands in the air like claws & growl, "cookie monsterrrrr." He got so into it, his arms shook whenever he'd turn into the monster. It was so fun watching him with his new friends & seeing all of their excitement. It was great to have a morning dedicated to our sweet guy. I'm so nervous he'll feel like he's been passed over with Ruby joining the family. We're trying really hard to show him how much we love him.This is definitely a transition, but it's been a fun one.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

1st week with a second child

In the hospital - a few hours old:
When Will came to meet Ruby, the first thing he said was, "Oh wow!" He then got super excited & started pointing out the fact that she had a nose, eyes, lips, ears . . . . let's just say he was impressed by his baby sister.



1 day old:
My sister, Susan, flew out from Utah to spend the first week of Ruby's life helping my mom with cooking & cleaning while I started my recovery. Dennis & Gail were also able to come up for the first couple days to help out with Will & meet their granddaughter.

Susan - - - Gail

2 days old:
My dad stopped by on his way home from Oregon to meet Ruby & have a mini birthday celebration (Ruby was due on his birthday, but decided to come a day early). Will was excited to help him blow out the birthday candles.


3 days old:
Ruby had her first doctor appointment & weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz.





6 days old:
 Rich, Spencer, Chase, Kailee & my cousin Kyle came to visit Ruby on their way home from a Labor Day weekend boating trip.



Will loved "playing" Super Smash Brothers with his cousins while they were here.


Our first week with 2 children was a success, & we loved having so much family around!

Friday, September 9, 2011

welcome to our beautiful baby girl

Last Monday, I had my 40 week appointment to see how my pregnancy was progressing. My doctor told me it wouldn't be long before the baby came, defnitely before the week was up. I was 80% effaced & dilated to a 2.5. To speed things up, he recommended walking & eating tomato & garlic pizza. Well, after my appointment, I was pretty uncomfortable & kept pacing around, hoping that would help labor start. Around 5:30 (6 hours after my doctor appointment), my mom & I got Will in the car to go get some pizza at BJ's Brewery for dinner. Once in the car, my contractions started. They got more & more painful, so I started timing them - about every 4 or 5 minutes apart. I wasn't sure if they were legitimate contractions or not, so we kept driving to dinner, got inside, & ordered our food (of course, I was in enough pain & having contractions every 3 minutes by now, so when the waitress asked me what I wanted, I couldn't talk & kept firmly tapping the menu to let her know. She didn't get the hint, so I finally had to tell her "BJ's Favorite" through gritted teeth & a hard contraction.). Before our dinner even came, I told my mom I had to get to the hospital. The waitress ran behind us with our boxed-up pizza. I couldn't wait to tell my doctor that just getting in the car on my way to get pizza, my labor had started. I didn't even have to take a single bite of it for the garlic & tomato to kick in.

We got to the hospital where I was hooked up & monitored to determine whether or not my labor was genuine. Turns out it was. My mom & Will sat in the room with me (actually, Will climbed around the different machines & kept saying, "Oh wow!" whenever he saw something interesting), & then Scott showed up. I was so grateful to have him walk in the room (looking all fancy in his firefighter uniform), & felt instantly better having him there with me. By this point, I was 80% effaced & dilated to a 4. The nurses took me to my labor & delivery room, & within the next hour or two, I had my epidural (thank goodness for numbing medicine!). After another couple hours, the midwife came in & broke my "bag of water" (does that phrase sound funny to anyone else?), hoping to speed up the process. She predicted the baby would be here in 4 hours. I thought differently, but kept my mouth shut. At this point, my contactions got so bad that even though I had an epidural, I got really nauseous & was shaking horribly (again, so grateful I couldn't feel the contractions very well). Two hours after my water was broken, the midwife checked me & said it was time to start pushing. Within four contractions, our little girl was safely delivered to us.

our new addition

My entire pregnancy, Scott & I could not come up with a name for a little girl. We had a long list of potentials, but nothing stuck. At one point, we even decided on the name Camilla Jane, but after hearing people refer to my baby girl as "Camilla" or "Millie," I just couldn't take it. It just didn't sound right to me. The week prior to our baby girl's birth, Scott & I finally narrowed our list of names down to 5, & these were the names Scott listed on the whiteboard in the labor & delivery room.



As soon as the baby was born & the nurses handed her to me, I instantly felt like she was a Ruby. This thought was confirmed even more to both Scott & me when everyone in the room kept commenting on her beautiful rosy lips (they referred to them as little rosebuds) & her  healthy red skin. She was our beautiful little Ruby. While the nurses cleaned her up, weighed her & performed their tests, I looked at Scott & said, "She's not an Emma or a Clara." He went to the whiteboard & crossed those names off. I looked at her again & said she wasn't a Lucy - he crossed it off. It was down to Grace & Ruby. As soon as we were left alone for the first time after she was born, we both immediately decided on Ruby. After such a long time, it felt good to finally have a name for our sweet girl.

Ruby Jane
born at 2:20 AM on Tuesday, August 30
8 lb 2 oz, 20 1/2 in