25 months

This week has been pretty busy again. We've had something going on pretty much every day, and Andy's been super busy getting ready for Winter Freeze this coming weekend. But it's also been a nice week. Ruby turned 25 months old yesterday, so we took the monthly photo. She loves laying down on her blanket and smiling for me.

I took Ruby to the dermatologist yesterday to check out her skin rash on her arms and face that she's had for a really long time. It's called Karatosis Pilaris or something like that, and it's pretty common. There's not much we can do about it at this point, and she will probably grow out of it by adulthood. We're just supposed to put lotion on it for now. It doesn't seem to bother her at all.

Ruby's latest favorite phrases are, "I no like that," and "I no want to." It's pretty funny sometimes when I say for example, "Ruby, we're going to Keizer," and she says, "I no like Keizer." Hah.

 Reading the potty book with Aunt Becca. Ruby likes to quote it and say, "Tinkle, tinkle, toot! I did it!"

 Cutting a potato in her kitchen.

 Weighing her milk.

 Coloring on the mossy sidewalk with Daddy.

 Play time with Daddy.

 We went out for dessert the other night. Ruby liked the lemon raspberry cheesecake better than the chocolate ganache cake.

 Waking up from a nap.

 Mmm. Water. She's really good at drinking from cups. Except she usually spills or dumps it out if you don't watch her.

 Andy walked around the corner and found her like this. :)

 She fits right under my 29 week belly.

 Trying on Daddy's t-shirt. Just a little big.

 Helping Daddy fix the shower faucet.

 Cuddling with Snowy Bear.

 She started putting ice in the shaker and wanted to shake it. Hah.

 Climber.

 25 month photo shoot.

 I just love her pretty gray eyes.

 She loves feeding the chickens a snack.

 Reading Corduroy to Snowy Bear.

 Reading with Daddy and Snowy Bear.

 Reading a cook book with Mommy. <3 She uses my belly for an arm rest when we read.

 Trying to cut her own toenails. She didn't really get it.

Reading her owl book.

29 weeks

11 weeks to go now! Wow, I'm starting to feel really big. I'm going to be really huge in a month or two. Some of my maternity shirts are getting too short to fit over the bump. I wonder if this baby is going to be bigger than Ruby, or if my stomach is just already stretched out. We will see.

Baby Heartbeat is about 2 1/2 pounds now and can see and is getting some body fat. I can't wait to kiss those little toes and fingers. And chubby cheeks. :)

We went to the midwife this week. I'm measuring right on track. Carol gave me a bunch of things to try for my hip pain, varicose veins, and dry skin. It's nice to see a midwife who can help with that kind of thing. The baby has it's head down, but it's not engaged in my pelvis. It has time to get down there though. I think it still has a lot of room to move around in there. It's heartbeat was 145 I think, which is right around what Ruby's was at this stage. We both still think it's a boy. Now we just need to decide on names.

Changes this week: Clothes not fitting, but otherwise not much. I'm sleeping better, which is awesome.

Cravings this week: Chocolate still. And milk, as usual.

Link to Ruby's 29 week post

Busy busy busy

We had a super busy week. From putting on a friend's baby shower to a big Valentine's Day party to a crazy catch up Sunday, this week was chaotic. But I think most things are finally done. Whew. Our busyness probably won't reflect in my pictures because I didn't snap them at busy moments. :) It was a good week, but I know we're both exhausted and tired of doing everything. Hopefully this weekend will slow down a little bit as Andy gears toward Winter Freeze next weekend.

Ruby's doing well. Her cough is totally gone, and her ears are much better. There's still a little fluid in one of them, but at least it's better than it was. I'm glad she didn't have to do antibiotics. I'm going to try to stay away from those as much as possible and let her body heal itself. She's getting to be such a big girl. I can't wait to see her become a big sister in just a few short months. She definitely knows how to push our buttons though. It seems like every day at about 4pm she has a naughty phase (right when I'm trying to make dinner). It's hard, but I know consistently reinforcing boundaries is a good thing. She'll get it eventually.

The picture above is from a down moment we had watching the Olympics. She likes to hold the controller.

 Coloring with no pants!

 She likes helping run the Tiki Hut. We like to go to youth group sometimes on Thursdays and Sundays just to visit.

 Putting heart stickers on the back window on Valentine's Day.

 Our cute little Valentine.

 Daddy got her this flower for Valentine's Day. So cute.

 She loves getting her purse on and her stroller and "going to work" or "going to Grandma's house."

 The flowers Andy got me for Valentine's Day. Absolutely gorgeous.

 We ate lunch and dinner at church on Sunday, and Andy was there the whole entire day. It was a little crazy.

 On Monday Grandma Patty came and got Ruby for the day. Andy and I had a lovely time going out to brunch and getting some things done around our house. Then we went up to get her for dinner. She likes reading the menu.

 I helped watch kids on Tuesday for women's  small groups. Ruby wanted to give the dolly two drinks.

 Silly girl.

 Playing with her fruit/veggies from Aunt Cindy. She's getting so big!

 We went on a coffee date after we saw the midwife yesterday.

 Ruby loves her steamers. Even though it's just hot milk.

 She was actually helpful yesterday and stirred the pot pie filling for me. What a big girl.

 She does this when she's hungry. :)

 Laying on the couch with Mommy this morning.

 And then she took a few selfies.

 <3

Reading new books we got from the library.

28 weeks

I'm now officially in the third trimester! Woo! Less than three months to go (hopefully). Baby Heartbeat is about the size of an eggplant now and is about 2 1/4 pounds. I'm feeling him/her move a lot now, which is so fun. It was moving in the night the other night, and I had a dream that I could see it's hands and face poking out on my skin and it was trying to hold Andy's finger. Also, last night Andy and I both dreamt that I was a pirate. Hmmm...

We really can't wait to meet this little one! I think Ruby's going to be a great big sister. She's really helpful most of the time. We're still working on names, but hopefully we'll make some decisions soon. I just keep wondering what this one will look like, what it's personality will be like, how much like Ruby it will be, etc.

My belly's really getting big and my maternity clothes are starting to get a little small. I've had a crazy couple of days these last few, and by the evenings, my feet are hurting and have been a tiny bit swollen. Sleeping has been no fun, I usually wake up several times a night to use the bathroom or just because I'm uncomfortable. And I've been staying up too late watching the Olympics, so that doesn't help either. At least I still have my nap times! Thank you Ruby.

Changes this week: Swollen feet, huge belly - I can't believe I've got three more months to grow.

Cravings this week: I think dark chocolate is just my favorite.

Link to Ruby's 28 week post

Snow days and pneumonia scare

As I said on my Sunday post, we got about 10 inches of snow over Thursday and Friday. That made driving interesting, so we mostly just stayed at home. Lots of things were cancelled anyway. We played in the snow a few times and I tried to be creative with things to do inside. Ruby watched her first full movie. Well, kind of. She played a lot during it.

 Here she's organizing coins from my purse into boxes. Then she said, "I need a dollar."

 She mostly took off her jammies, but didn't want to take off her boots so the feet stayed on. :)

 And then she wore her boots most of the day.

 Knee deep in the snow on Friday. It was super powdery, so we couldn't really throw snowballs or build a snow man.

 Cutie pie.

 Watching Toy Story with Woody. This was the beginning of the movie.

And then she went and played a lot, and this was at the very end. She just wanted to cuddle with Mommy. :) 

 Super deep snow (for this area)!

Her cute little pony tail. 

 Reading stories.

 Making Valentine's. She loves the glue sticks.

 We ventured out on Saturday to see the baby chicks at Wilco and get some groceries at Safeway.

 Then on Saturday night we went to the Butenschoen's house and slipped and slid all the way there. When we got there, Andy decided to put the chains on so we could get home over the hill. Thank goodness he did or we wouldn't have made it home. Ruby liked to play with their toys while the Bute kids all ran around while Andy jumped out at them.

 She likes to drink the milk out of her bowl when she's done with her cereal.

 The chickens hated the snow, but finally decided to venture out on Sunday. Then they went right back in their coop.

 Church was cancelled because of all the ice. So Andy told Ruby the parable of the farmer with the different soil with Legos. It was pretty cute.

 Silly Ruby.

 We decided to make ravioli from scratch (challenged to a competition by Tony). It turned out amazing.

 So delicious.

 Beautiful view from the church parking lot.

 Reading a story with Daddy.

 And napping with Daddy.

 Kind of...

 Again, silly Ruby.

 I took Ruby to see Dr. Guesly on Tuesday for her 2-year appointment, and he was worried about her chest congestion. And she also had a little ear infection. So we got sent to get her a chest x-ray to see if it was walking pneumonia.

 Waiting for the x-ray.

 She got strapped in, but she did really really good. I couldn't be in there with her because I'm pregnant, but she did fine by herself. She didn't cry or fuss at all.

 It was still hard to watch.

 She got all kinds of goodies... a sticker, a bracelet, a slinky, bouncy balls, and a slap bracelet.

 The x-ray came back fine, so we decided not to do antibiotics unless she develops a fever. I want her to be able to fight off infections by herself, especially since she doesn't seem to be in too much pain. So we did a breathing treatment to open up her lungs a little bit. She did really good with that too.

 An hour and a half later we finally made it home. We ate lunch quick, and she sacked out until 4:00 when I had to wake her up. So cute. She seems to be feeling better every day, and her cough has definitely gotten better. I got some homeopathic remedies today, so we're trying those too. I have to take her back in after 10 days to check her ear, and when she's all better, we have to go back to get her Hep A and B shots which we postponed.

 She loves these jammies. And she's having so much fun building Legos.

 She carries her little table and chairs all over the house.

 We saw a worm crawling across our driveway, and she wanted to stop and look at it. She said, "Ruby bend down low."

Making more valentine's. She loves doing crafts.