23 weeks: Ruby does a chore and Reid rolls over

 We've had a pretty quiet week. On Saturday night Andy and I went to our church staff/elder dinner and comedy show, and the kids stayed home with Del and Patty. I stopped by to nurse Reid in between those things, and it worked out really well! First evening out without the baby. I think it's usually harder on Mama than the baby anyway, and I did okay.

We had some really hard news this week. My Uncle David has an inoperable brain tumor and is really not doing well. We are all really sad, and we have been praying a lot. My cousins all set up a schedule so we can be praying 24 hours. My shift is in the middle of the night, 1-2am, and Andy's is from 8-9am. It's been really good to have that dedicated, mostly uninterrupted time to pray. I've been feeling connected to the Lord and to my family too. We are praying for healing, but trusting that the Lord knows best. I hate cancer. We are heading down to visit Uncle David and family tomorrow.

These guys love playing games. This is the farthest they've ever gotten in this one before Ruby gets distracted. ;)

 She rolled the play dough and cut this snow man out all by herself!

 Ruby has started doing some chores for real. She did great at putting away the silverware and got them all in the right spots.

 A squirrel got run over in our driveway. :( Ruby kept looking out the window at it and saying, "I think he's sleeping." or "I think he's eating food." We tried explaining that it died and wouldn't come back alive.

 Then Andy dug a hole and Ruby helped him bury it. She likes to go visit the squirrel grave now. It's not so easy to explain death to a 2 1/2-year-old.

 Eating some dinner after dinner. She got her chair and wanted to sit at the coffee table while we watched Go Giants (who just won the pennant and are headed to the World Series again!!).

 He's out.

 On Monday we went up to Portland to do some returns and a little shopping. Ruby had fun in the Apple Store. Then a few days later, we went to the post office, and a Chinese restaurant called the Red Apple is next door to it. She said, "Look Mom, it's the Apple Store."

 She had lots of fun playing with Dr. Beverly Crusher.

 This guy loves Mickey. He's already getting so good at sitting in his high chair. He's constantly trying to sit up when he's laying down too. I can't believe he's so big already.

 Our pretty girl.

 So happy.

 She was reading the Sesame Street Treasury books. I love those books.

 French braid.

 She put applesauce on her quesadilla. It reminded me of my Dad who always puts applesauce on his bread.

 Watching Go Giants together.

 I let her watch Chip and Dale on the computer sometimes, and she always sits really funny. Kind of like me when I was a kid.

 Playing together. Ruby said, "We're both sharing." And I said, "No, Reid is sharing, you're just playing with his giraffe." :)

 These guys are too cute.

I adore them. Ruby always says, "Hi buddy," and talks to him like I do.

22 weeks: Reid turns 5 months, Ruby's sickness

 Ruby had a nice fever for three days starting on Thursday last week. It was so sad. She felt the worst on Thursday night and Friday, and she had a terribly stuffy nose. One of those nights she couldn't breathe out of her nose at all, and I think she woke up crying about 8 times and had a hard time getting back to sleep. Needless to say we were both exhausted the next day. She's doing much better now though, and only has a little bit of a stuffy nose and a little cough. We did take her to the doctor on Friday to make sure she was breathing okay, because of her hospitalization in April. She was just breathing fast because of her fever and ended up being okay. Thank the Lord none of the rest of us have gotten it. I guess there's a stomach bug going around too. I hate all of this sickness kids pick up.

Ruby has really been advancing in her language development. She says the funniest things and is learning a lot about language. She's really good at knowing who are boys and who are girls, and rarely gets it wrong. She's been a little demanding lately though, and likes to point her finger at us and tell us what to do. I started reading Boundaries with Kids, so hopefully that will give us some tips on how to deal with that and set proper boundaries for her.

 Ruby folded these wash cloths all by herself.

 He's starting to sit up and loves it! Except after this I put him on the floor in the living room, and he fell over and cried. Poor guy.

 Sick day on Saturday. Andy and the kids watched a movie while I made 20 crock pot freezer meals. Sometimes I think I'm crazy.

 Minnie Mouse wanted to eat lunch. And I guess her hands were cold too. ;)

 Watching the Giants beat the Nationals!

 She loves all of her bath toys. That tattoo on her arm stayed on for about a week. I finally scrubbed it off in her bath last night.

 She lined up all of these shapes.

 We stayed home from church on Sunday so we wouldn't spread Ruby's illness, so we wore our babies and made pumpkin scones.

 Then Ruby wanted to peel her play carrot.

On another note, we came home from our vacation and found evidence of a mouse in our kitchen! So gross. I went through three different kinds of traps, tried drowning it in a bucket, tweaked the traps... this mouse was too smart and would lick the peanut butter off of the traps. So I finally tried a different bucket trap with a paper bag taped to the top and an x cut in it, then I dangled a spoon with peanut butter over the x. It worked! Andy took the mouse over to the church and let it go in the big field out back. I'm so glad it's not in our kitchen anymore. That night we cleaned and scrubbed a lot.

 Enjoying tea and scones.

 Then Ruby tried to peel her scone.

 We were getting pretty tired of being at home by Sunday, so I filled up the sink and Ruby played with her toys for a while.

 This is what Ruby got out for breakfast on Monday.

 Working on the computer. She went and got the mouse from the other computer.

 Naked tummy time after his bath. What cute baby bunses.

 Ruby went with me to get some tomatoes from my garden. These were her shoes of choice.

 Helping me make the pizza.

 This guy is so happy. He really lights up when he sees me too. :)

 He makes all kinds of cute faces.

 Wearing his cute brown shirt that I got in New York when I was pregnant with Ruby.

 Ruby has been taking orders from us and writing them down on her note pad. Playing restaurant I guess. I'm not sure if she noticed a server do it at a restaurant or if she got the idea from her Max and Ruby book.

 So cute.

 She has been pretty tired all week trying to recover. I was making lunch on Tuesday and I went to find her, and she was laying down with her guys in our bed.

 Lipstick...

 Andy and I got to go out on a very nice date on Tuesday night. Ruby went to the Reece's house and we took Reid with us. It was lovely! He really liked the candle at dessert.

 And his reflection in the mirror table.

 Trying out his high chair! He's not quite strong enough to sit in it a long time, so we just do it for a little while. It's nice to have him be part of the family at meals.

 And this big boy turned 5 months yesterday! He's such a joy.

 Ruby got in on the action too, with her mouth full of a scone.

 Reid still wakes up 2-3 times a night. I've been swaddling him since birth pretty much because he wakes himself up more when he's not swaddled. But he busts out of his swaddle every single night lately. I even bought two new swaddle blankets, but he can get out of those too. So last night I tried no swaddle and he slept okay. I think that once he gets used to it he'll be fine without it. He's about to roll over from his back to his tummy anyway, and I think you're supposed to stop swaddling when they do that.

 We got out the Chevron cars again today. They've been in the utility room for a few months. Ruby played with them all day and loved it! I need to do more toy rotation. They are so much more fun when they've been away for a while.

And then we met our friends at the park for a picnic lunch. I think poor Reid is getting another tooth in. He was pretty fussy all day, and he bit me several times while nursing. He bit in the middle of the night when I was half asleep last night, and I shrieked a little bit, and that made him cry! He did it this morning a few times too, and I would say "ouch!" really loud every time and not let him nurse then. I think he figured it out, because this afternoon he would cautiously mouth around and then start sucking. Poor little guy. Teeth hurt.

 We went on a walk to the library. This is our fun stroller configuration.

My two sweeties. She loves holding him.