Ruby {1 Month}

I think that might've been the fastest month of my life. It feels like I was just in the hospital last week. I know everyone says it, but I really can't remember not having Ruby in our lives.

For the last week or so she has had a tiny bit of baby acne. Definitely less than Olivia, but it is there and noticeable.

Most of the month she was on a 1 AM - 1 PM schedule. She wouldn't go to sleep until 1, and most nights Bob would stay up and rock her while watching TV. When sleeping she favors turning her head to the left. So when she naps, I try to always lay her down on the right side.

This last week she has been going to bed earlier and sleeping for longer periods. She slept for 6 hours straight earlier this week. Last night in celebration of turning one month she went to bed at 8, and slept until midnight. I fed her and then she slept until 4, ate again and woke up at 8. It was the best night ever. I'm not crossing my fingers but it would be great if it happened again.

She is loved by all, but her Great Grandma Hales is up at the top of the list. When we go down to visit in the afternoons Grandma can't help but love on her. It is so sweet.

In her first 2 weeks of life she pooped on the bed and the couch. And peed basically everywhere. As soon as her diaper was off, she decided to go. She also has a problem with being regular. She will go a couple days without pooping, and then we have a couple days of lots of poop. {And then we repeat.}

I feel like she is super noisy and makes a lot of grunting noises when she goes to bed. I don't remember Olivia doing that, but when I read about her at 1 month it said she grunted at night.

She spits up probably 75% of the time after being fed. And she also burps after feedings.

Her newborn clothes are getting a little snug, but most 0-3 month clothes are still huge. I bought two zipper sleepers from gap that had built in mittens. I basically rotate those two with a couple others. I am all about zipper sleepers, I hate snaps. And mittens are always falling off, so these two outfits have been the best. Another reason pajamas are our best friend is because she hates when I put shirts/onesies over her head.

She doesn't love the bath. She has cried the whole time every time except for once.

We have seen quite a few smiles, but they weren't real smiles until today. She was giving me quite a few and it was so fun to see a cute little smile on her face.

2 years

Olivia went to the doctor for her 2 year appointment. She cried the entire time we put her on the scale - which was the easiest part of her appointment. After the appointment she would walk around the house telling me she went to the doctor. She then would open and close her eyes and open her mouth wide to show me what she had to do during her check up. She also got her flu shot while we were there. She watched the nurse jab the shot into her leg and she let out a good cry until the sucker came out.

Weight: 20 pounds, 15 ounces - 6%
Length: 32.25 inches - 9%



We have been having her say the prayers for our meals a lot of the time. Her prayers are so sweet. She is great at saying Heavenly Father, and then you hear some mumbling and then bless the (insert whatever foods we are eating, and she lists them all) and then she is just getting the hang of closing her prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

She absolutely loves her new sister Ruby. When she wakes up in the morning she always wants to come into our bedroom and peak into the bassinet. Some of her phrases that she says are, "Ruby's wakin up!" "Ruby's poopin!" "I need to give Ruby kiss" "Wake up Ruby" and "I hold Ruby." Olivia is still working on learning what soft is. She gets so excited when she is around her that she clenches on really tight. She also loves to point out her eyes, nose, and mouth and usually pokes her in the eye in the process. The other day I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Olivia had hopped up on our bed and was working her way into the bassinet with sleeping Ruby.

In preparation for 2 kids, I bought a bunch of art supplies to do with Olivia. Each day we rotate through them over and over. She loves the water colors and if I'd let her she would paint on 20 different pieces of paper. We take a turn with the dry erase markers and white board, then we got back to the high chair for play dough. She uses the special markers that only work on the special paper. But I am not a lover of markers since she can't put the lids on and I am always searching for lids. And then we use the dry erase board with dry erase colored pencils.

She has been drinking a lot of milk lately. (And by that I mean 2 sippy cups and not her normal 1.) She loves chicken nuggets, rice, pasta, sweet potatoes, cooked carrots & broccoli, pancakes, sausage, yogurt, toast, and all sweets.

When I do her hair she sits in the sink brushes her teeth. If I need a few more minutes, I break her off a piece of floss and she "flosses her teeth." She loves to take baths but doesn't like to wash her hair. She would play in the bath all day- being pruney doesn't bother her. She loves lotion and when I put it on her after baths she always needs a few extra pumps on her hands to lather on.

With daylight savings, Olivia's schedule didn't change too much. We try to put her to bed between 8 and 8:30 and she wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30. I've noticed if I put her down for her nap at 1:30 that she will usually nap until 4. But if I put her down earlier or later, it's usually much shorter.

This month she got to spend a week with Grandma Sue. The week after Ruby was born, Grandma Sue came and picked Olivia up each morning and came back that afternoon. They had a great time baking cookies, going to the pumpkin farm, eating and playing at McDonalds, painting, and jumping on the trampoline. Every morning Olivia would tell me she wanted to go to Sue's house. We were all sad when Grandma Sue had to go back to work.

Olivia is mostly wearing 18-24 month clothes. I have bought her some 2T shirts but they are still a bit big. She wears size 3 diapers and tells us all of the time when she has to poop. We will keep doing the potty talk and hopefully start potty training again in January.

She loves songs and after hearing them a few times she usually will pick up on the chorus and you will hear her singing them around the house. She is always picking up on new songs, especially in nursery. I love hearing her sing real songs, and her made up ones.

*And this is my last monthly update on Olivia. I am sure I will still do updates. They just won't be monthly or with Winnie the Pooh. We will put him away and bring him back next year for her 3rd birthday.

Halloween 2014

We started out Halloween morning with our traditional pumpkin pancakes. This year I added chocolate chip faces. We also enjoyed peach yogurt and apples. I got Olivia ready for the day and then my Mom picked her up. My mom has been taking Olivia this week during the day so I can catch up on sleep and adjust to having a newborn. Today they frosted sugar cookies, played outside, and had lunch.

While they were playing I ran to WalMart to grab a bag for Olivia. Total Mom fail, and when I got there, it was slim pickings in the Halloween section. Since there were no bags, I decided I'd just get a gift bag and when I wondered over I saw the Minnie Mouse bag. Olivia came back at 1:30 and napped until 4:00. When she woke up she was so excited to see the Minnie Mouse bag, I felt like I redeemed myself. We got ready and Olivia was a little sad that Mom was a cat and she wasn't. To make her feel better I put some "Minnie Mouse Makeup" on her.

We stopped at Dad's work on our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Dad had to work until 7, but we were excited to Trick or Treat at the Pharmacy. Allison, one of the tech's that works with Dad took a few pictures for us.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Blaine were using their new cotton candy machine when we got there. My mom volunteered to stay and watch Ruby and Grandpa decided to come with us and we trick or treated a few houses in their neighborhood. My old YW leader and her husband give out a dozen krispy kreme donuts to each trick or treater. We went down that culdasac and there was the longest line. We decided to skip the donuts. We didn't have to go to too many houses because everyone loved Olivia and gave her 2 or 3 pieces of candy.

Brent, Andrea, and Jensen had made their way to our parents house and Olivia and I went out with them. We went to a few more houses. We saw there wasn't a line at the donut house so we went and were able to visit with Carrie for a few minutes and both Olivia and Jensen came away with a box of donuts.

Back at my parents house we had pizza and cotton candy. Olivia's favorites were the blue and pink. My parents stood on the front porch whipping up the cotton candy and talking with the trick or treaters. Bob came over when he got off of work. We had a great Halloween!