Playing, playing!

Ira LOVES to "play" with Ruby. I am sure he cannot wait until she's big enough to really "play" back with him.

Here are a couple of sweet pictures of the two of them:

Dr Ira checking out Ruby's earsThe crib is an awesome little newborn crib that my dad made for me when I was born. So far all of the grandkids except Kolbe have slept in it. It is REALLY nice to roll throughout the house during the day (it has wheels and easily fits through doorways)

Ira is constantly asking for bunk beds for he and Ruby. He was pretty thrilled when he figured out he can get under her crib and have a "bunk bed" there. (No she doesn't sleep in there, hence all the toys)

Consignment Finds

So I am WAY behind on blogging... what can I say, life's been a LITTLE busy lately!

Last Thursday, my mother-in-law went with me to one of my favorite consignment sales, called "Mulberry Bush." I think it is one of the largest, and nicest sales in the area. It did not disappoint this year either! There was more stuff there than I'd ever seen at a sale! My mother-in-law and several other first-timers that I saw there went so far as to call it "overwhelming." I just thought it was AWESOME!

I had great luck for both kiddos, which was really exciting, because usually the little boy clothes are few and far between by the time they get to Ira's age (would you be able to sell many of your 3 year old little boy's clothes?... I didn't think so...)

Here's the run-down of what I got:
For Ira:
8 pairs of shorts
1 pair of jeans
1 jacket
8 shirts
1 pair of shoes
3 Veggie Tales Videos

For Ruby:
3 pairs of pants
3 rompers
11 outfits
8 onesies

The best part is, they're all really nice clothes in really nice brands... GAP, Children's Place, OshKosh, Old Navy... I can't imagine outfitting my children without consignment sales... they'd probably just go au' natural if it weren't for these sales. I cringe when I have to pay retail price for clothes or shoes, it's INSANE how much that stuff costs!

Here are pictures of my haul:

Hair - The long and short of it...

So this post will be all about hair...

Just for kicks, I thought I'd pull out an old picture, from right after I delivered Ira. My hair was short.
After I had Ira, I decided to grow my hair out. (I don't know why, but I always pictured my hair being long when we had our second child - strange, I know, but whatever...) Nearly 4 years later, here is me, with my long hair, and our second child.
Ira, who just seems to be SO much bigger than he was 2 weeks ago has sprouted a mustache!
And Ruby must have dyed her hair dark in-utero, because every time I wash her hair, it seems to get a little lighter.
Have a great Tuesday!!

Child of God

Well, life with two is every bit as amazing as I dreamed it would be. Ruby is a very good, very easy baby. She nurses really well (a stark contrast to Ira when he was a baby!) and seems to have just fit right in to our little family. She sleeps about 2-3 hours at a time at night and throughout the day. I don't even really notice the "lack of sleep" (I really think I'm getting more than I was at the end of my pregnancy when I couldn't sleep and then woke up for hours at a time during the night - thank you pregnancy insomnia!)

Ira is "adjusting" really well to being a big brother. I put adjusting in quotes because it doesn't really seem like there's been a whole lot for him to "adjust" to. He wakes up every morning and asks where his sissy is, and is a huge help with bringing me things here and there when my hands are tied up. He's even asked me, "mom is there anything I can get for you?" Not that we haven't had our rough moments occasionally, but for the most part, he seems like he was born to be a big brother.

We had Ruby baptized last night after 5:30 Mass. It was a beautiful thing to welcome our little miracle into the church!And now, enough with the commentary and onto the pictures!

Blogger is being stupid, so this picture is out of sequence. Our family with Ruby's amazing godparents, Matt & Jolene.

Again, out of sequence - at the party at our house afterward.

Again with the out of sequence...Ruby's Baptism cake that I made. It is going to be so much fun to have a girl and be able to do "girly" things!

During the Baptism ceremony

This is pretty much what I do all day - stare at my little miracle.

Ruby is officially a Catholic now!

With our dear priest, Fr. Andy

The FOUR of us with Fr. Andy

Let the Sun shine in!

Today, Ruby's Godparents came over to meet her and to introduce us to their new blessing, Vincent, who was born the day before little Miss Ruby! Ruby's godparents also experienced multiple miscarriages before getting pregnant with little Vincent, so we were pretty excited to introduce our little miracles! Both kiddos have a touch of jaundice, so when God blessed us with some sunshine, we took full advantage of it! We are so excited for these two blessings to get to grow up together!

New reason to post!

Our littlest one is finally here!

Ruby Katharine arrived on
Friday, March 5th at 3:51 PM
She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz.
and measured 19.25 in. long

Thanks to the Bradley Method, we were able to have a natural childbirth, which was the most incredible and empowering experience. I am so grateful to my husband, my wonderful coach- a natural birth would have been impossible without his help.

We are all recovering well and are adjusting quite nicely to being a family of four. Sometime, I will post the full details of labor/delivery, but for now, I'm going to keep posts short so that I can spend time loving on our beautiful baby (and our precious son, too!) Here's a few pictures to tide you over until next time...