Ruby's 1st Year

I've been putting off writing this post because I know it's going to take some reflection, which takes time, which is something I don't have a lot of to devote to blogging.  I also think it's kind of funny that this will be scheduled to post on Ira's birthday.  It's just how we roll I guess, about a month behind!

Ruby is one and I really can't believe it.  This precious miracle that we prayed for for so very long is not only here, but she's been with us an entire year!  It's gone by very quickly.  I think it must go that way the more kids you have or something.  A friend shared a quote one time that rings so very true, "The days are long, but the years are short."

Dear precious baby girl:

We waited and prayed for you for so very long.  You have fulfilled more dreams and renewed more hope than you will probably ever know.  I will always think of you as our little miracle.  Your birth was hard and beautiful and everything that I wanted for a natural childbirth.  We were all immediately in love when you were born.  Ira, well, I don't think it's possible for him to love you more.  And you, well, you're absolutely in love with him too.  You've been saying his name since you were about 5 months old and still yell it with fervor whenever you don't see him.

When you got here, we realized early on that you weren't going to be one of those "easy, laid-back" babies.  You hated your carseat, you only wanted mommy all the time, and you thought 3 am was a pretty good bedtime.  And although that made your early months very challenging, it was hard to get too upset about it because we'd prayed for you for so long.  Things got a little better once you  hit 3 months though.  I got really sick the weekend of Uncle Drew's wedding and Daddy had to do everything for you - except nursing of course.  You seemed to discover after that that people other than mommy could take care of you.  That definitely made life a little easier.

You started crawling right around 6 months - couldn't stand not being able to follow your brother everywhere.  And shortly after that you started pulling up.  Your physical prowess never ceases to amaze me!  You started standing on your own pretty early too.  And right around your first birthday you started walking.  You love to carry around this little basketball we have and throw it and chase it before picking it back up and throwing it again.  You love to swing and slide and go outside and crawl around in the dirt and grass too.  Oh and you LOVE to dance.  Whenever you hear anything that remotely resembles music you start bouncing and "dancing."  I think you've even gotten both feet off of the ground a couple of times in your jumpin' dancin' fits.

 It amazes Daddy and I how determined and "opinionated" you are.  You are a girl who knows what you want and you go about getting it as best you can.  Very early on you started crawling over to the bookshelf and pulling off books to "read" to yourself.  Recently, you've started getting books and carrying them over to us and plopping down in our laps so we can read them to you.  It makes me smile everytime!  We've also seen you rifle through the toy box for your favorite toy at that particular moment (your musical clock, your basketball, or the ketchup bottle have all been steady favorites.)

 

 Girl, you've got some lungs too!  Your crying (from very early on) was enough to send Ira running for the gun muffler to cover his ears.  There's no doubt about it when you're upset, you let us know.  We started teaching you signs when you were about 6 months old to help with your communication frustrations.  You can sign "eat," (fingers in your mouth) "drink," (index finger in your mouth) "more," (fingers tap together) "all-done," (pulling at your bib) "milk," (squeezing your right hand (usually) like you're milking a cow) and "carrot." (right hand palm with fingers spread comes up under left hand.)  You also know quite a few words.  Right now, you say "dada," "Ira," "bah-bah" (bye-bye) "bah" (ball) "h-eh-h-eh" (doggy or outside) "kch" (when you start to get into trash) "dee-ooo" (thank you), "Anna" (referring to your cousin or other babies that you see), "hah" (hi), "bah bah beh beh" (sing-songy "by by baby," and "la la" (what you do when you sing.)  Oh my goodness, I almost forgot about you saying "Uh-oh" every time that ANYTHING falls or gets dropped.   It's so fun to hear you try new words (or see you trying to figure them out.)  Recently, you've discovered "screaming."  And not one to be told what to do, you shush yourself when you finish screaming!

 

 Don't get the wrong impression from this letter though.  You are an easy baby in a lot of ways too, and when I think of your first year, the good memories FAR outweigh the bad. You play very well by yourself.  You're very flexible as far as napping and mealtimes go.  You nurse well - have from the beginning.  And you eat well too.  You haven't always been able to eat everything (you would get terrible diaper rashes - like to the point of them bleeding with some of the new foods we introduced) but you've eaten and loved pretty much everything we've given you.  You love to be silly and make us all laugh, and do a pretty good job between blowing raspberries and shaking your head, plopping down on your bottom, or just belly-laughing for no reason.  And although we had a bumpy start with the sleeping thing, you are one of the easiest babies to put down for naps and bedtime!

 

  So although this first year hasn't always been easy, I wouldn't want it any other way.  You've helped me grow as a mother, you've made your brother a sibling (and a doting, loving one at that), and your daddy adores you.  I can't even imagine our family without you.  Heck, I can hardly remember what life was like before you.  It just seems like you've always been a part of our family.  God knew just the kind of kid we needed when he sent you to us.  I feel so blessed to get to watch you become the little girl (and eventually the woman) that God wants you to be.   I am so blessed to be your mommy.  Happy first year little one!

Love, Mommy

Fun with hats

Before we finished the basement, our dress-up clothes were in an old dresser.  It was hard to open and the clothes didn't really fit in there all that well, so they didn't end up getting played with much at all.  That made me kind of sad, because when we were little, oh my goodness, we played with dress-up clothes all... the... time.  I wonder where those ever ended up?  Well, regardless, when we finished the basement, I was anxious for a solution that took up less space than the dresser and made the clothes more accessible.  I've always thought these rope-handled tubs are fun, so I thought we'd give one of them a shot for the dress-up clothes. 

We got one in red (one of my favorite colors) and it works GREAT!  Ira loves playing with all the clothes.  Even Ruby has fun getting hats and clothes out to play with.  (And I have a lot of hats - I was totally into them as a teenager/college student.)

Here are a few of our favorites!

Another recipe every lady should know

Okay, the last post by this title was a good recipe, but this one, well, it's outstanding!  I can't take any credit for the recipe - I got it from here.  But I did want to share it with, well the whole world if possible. 

My love for Oreos is not something new.  When I was pregnant with Ira, I ate them all...the...time.  Like, a half of a package in one sitting type of addiction.  For Valentine's Day that year, Andy went to Sam's Club and bought me a box of Oreos with 10 sleeves of Oreo goodness.  It was gone in well, maybe a few days .  I think I shared a couple (cookies not sleeves) with Andy.  (sheepish.)  

And call me snobbish, but I can't really stand all the different knock-off Oreos out there.  They are NOTHING like the real thing.  Just totally a different cookie altogether.  So I was more than curious when I saw this recipe.  After all, I'm an Oreo snob.  Well, let me just say, I didn't believe it possible, but these Oreos are better than the real thing.  They are even realer than the real thing.  They are perhaps the best dessert cookie of all time.  But maybe that's just me...

Homemade Oreos

Cookies:
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. plus 2 T.  (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature unsalted butter
1 large egg

Filling:
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 c. vegetable shortening
2 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
2 t. vanilla extract (recipe suggests clear extract, I just used my brown imitation vanilla stuff)
*Optional - gel dye

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven.  Preheat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.  While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter and then the egg.  Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.  (Initially, I thought I had to have missed a liquid ingredient because it looked SO dry, but eventually, I promise, it will come together, be patient!)

 
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter (a cookie scoop works REALLY well for this - mine is a Tablespoon scoop, so sometimes I use it and divide them in half, sometimes I just make them Tablespoon size - (but whatever you do, the more precise and consistent your cookies are, the easier they will be to sandwich together) and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart.  With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. (Or you can just leave them rounded, then when you switch the pans in the oven at 4-5 minutes, just use a cup to flatten them out - it seemed to work better for me that way.)  Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking.  Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.  Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.  (Optional: blend in a bit of gel dye until you reach your desired color.)

5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a half inch round tip (or quart storage bag with a 1/2 inch piece snipped off the corner) pipe blobs of cream into the center of one cookie (you can be fairly generous - I wasn't the first time and ended up with quite a bit of cream left.)  Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream.  Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie.  Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.  (Or just eat as you go, and no one ever has to know you made them at all!) 

Yield: Makes about 21 sandwiched cookies when using the Tablespoon scoop, or 30-40 when using a teaspoon-sized scoop.

This would also work GREAT for pie crusts (just make the cookie dough) or making mini Oreos (like the ones on the right in the above picture (they were about 1/2 t. sized)

Getaway

Ira before Kdg. screening

The end of February was a first for me, I went to an out-of-town wedding.  Can you believe I've never done that before?  Well, I haven't. 

Andy's cousin got married in Kansas City and Andy was a groomsman.  We left on Friday after Ira's Kindergarten screening (went well, by the way) and got back right around bedtime on Sunday.  The kids did great traveling; and the rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, and dance were a BLAST!

While Andy was out taking pictures with the bride & groom/ wedding party, his folks and the kids and I went to Crown Center and Union Station.  Ira was pretty excited to get to see a real live train station and we got some awesome chocolate at the Chocolate Factory at Crown Center.  Of course, I didn't remember to take any pictures while we were out and about, but I do have a few from the weekend. 

Ruby, Andy and I at the Reception (Ira was there too,  he was just too busy schmoozing with everyone else to stop for a picture!)

The best picture we could get of the 4 of us.  (Notice Ira's eyes, I'll talk about them in a future post.)

Andy's parents (love them!)

This is how Ruby crawls whenever she has a dress/long shirt on!

Ira showing off the new moves Dayna (left) taught him.  He and Dayna became best buddies at the dance!

Bill & Marilyn with Ira at Fritz's at Crown Center.  (Again, notice Ira's eyes)

 All in all, it was a great weekend, but we were DEFINITELY ready to get home by the time it was over!

My Valentine

So I know this post is like 6 weeks late, but hey, I'm catching up!

It's funny, when you're dating, Valentine's Day is such a big stinkin' deal.  Dinner, flowers, trinkets, what have you.  When we got married, Valentine's Day became much more laid back.  Quite honestly, I'm relieved.  The whole Valentine's Day thing just stresses me out a bit.  I mean, shouldn't we be showing each other (and our children) as best we can every day how much we love each other?  Not that a special day dedicated to love each year is a bad thing, it's just that, like just about every holiday nowadays, it has become SO commercial.  The commercials on TV leading up to Valentine's Day make me SICK.  As if most of the general population can actually afford to give their significant others jewelry "starting at $99."  Even if they could?  Is that truly the best way to show EVERY woman that they are loved?  And what I really love is that all these commercials are aimed at 1) making women think they need these things to be happy/feel loved, 2) making men feel like slackers if they do anything less.  And 3) where in the heck are all the commercials touting stuff for men for V-day?  Oh wait, it's not about the men?  Apparently Valentine's Day is not about BOTH people, just about the woman.  Am I making any sense?

For Valentine's Day, things were pretty low key around our house.  I made a pie (fail) for the family.  Andy left me post-it note love notes throughout the house.  Ira made valentines with the new construction paper we got him.  Ruby had crazy, "I wore pigtails the day before" hair...  And yet, it was one of the best Valentine's Days yet.  Not because of what we did in particular that day, but because of the things that we do to show each other our love every day.

Andy and I did "go out" for Valentine's Day the next weekend to our Natural Family Planning Office's "Night of Romance."  It is an event they put on each year around Valentine's Day.  We had tried to go last year, but it sold out.  This year, we got our reservations in early, along with 199 other couples.  It was held at the gym of a local parish.  They had everything decked out like Mardi Gras.  We got to get all dolled up (how often does that happen anymore?)  And we had a wonderful evening out meeting new friends, eating a delicious meal, hearing an awesome speaker and an awesome couple that sang about the TRUE meaning of love and marriage.  It was amazing to spend time around so many other Catholic, NFP-practicing, nursing, kid-raising, "trying to do the best they can" couples.  It was a romantic evening in the most "non-worldly" way!  We hope to make it an annual tradition!

Another hairy post

Ruby's hair (just like the rest of her) is just growing and growing. 

It gets really curly if we just "phff" it with our fingers after we spray it with water and comb it.

She also had her first ponytail the other day!

Okay, that last one makes her look really grown up!  Maybe I'll stay away from the single ponytails for awhile!  She has the rest of her life to wear them!  For now we'll rock the curly/barrette or piggy-tail look!

 Here's to good hair days!

Nice day to play

One nice day in mid-February when all of us were over at Mom & Dad's house, we took all the kiddos (5 at the time) out to play and enjoy the fresh air.  I took my camera out and snapped dozens of shots, but thought I'd share some of my favorites with you!

Gemma on the "clasma" (plasma) car

Ruby - "hmm, can I eat this?"

Getting all 3 "babies" in one shot is NOT an easy task!

Anna and Ira playing with bubbles!

Betcha didn't know it took that much concentration to dip a bubble wand!

Ruby giving someone a look!

Did anyone else have and love a Flying Turtle as a kid?

Gemma blowing bubbles

One of the more "artistic" shots of the day

My beautiful sister with her daughter

Can't wait until Spring has not only officially but really truly sprung so that we can enjoy LOTS MORE of these days!