12 months

Oh sweet Ruby, I can't believe that you have been a part of our family for a whole year. We love you so much and can't imagine life with out you.

Ruby loves to play Pat-a-Cake and claps all of the time. She has started playing Peek-a-boo and loves to try and cover her own eyes. Occasionally you will hear her trying to say boo. Her favorite song is If You're Happy and You Know It. She also is really into books lately. She will sit and look at the pages, squealing in delight. In the mornings, she likes to watch Mickey Mouse with Olivia. And by watch I mean, occasionally glance at the TV and scream in delight.

She loves stuffed animals and baby dolls. For her birthday Olivia picked out a pink Kitty Cat at the Pharmacy gift shop and Ruby loves it. She hugs it tight up close to her face, it is so cute. She also is still on a baby kick. She got a baby of her own so Olivia doesn't have her dolls being stolen all of the time. Olivia loves to push Ruby around in her baby stroller, and Ruby loves it just as much. {I remember when Ruby was a newborn and I would see Olivia pushing the stroller around with her bitty baby in it and I'd panic thinking it was Ruby.}

She is getting stronger and stronger everyday. She will walk when we hold her hands, but it has to be both hands. If I drop one hand she instantly falls down. She isn't standing on her own yet, but I am sure it will come soon. I think she is perfectly content to keep crawling. She is so fast and can get anywhere she wants pretty quick.

Over the last month, I have dropped a nursing feeding each week. A couple days before her birthday she was completely weaned from nursing and is now drinking whole milk from a bottle or sippy cup. Because of how small Ruby has been, I decided to go for the bottle so I could see how much milk she was drinking each day. {With Olivia when she went to a sippy cup I remember that she didn't drink too much and I didn't want to worry more about little Ruby.} She has been drinking 3- 5oz bottles a day. If she is thirsty and in the carseat, she will down the whole bottle during a 10 minute car ride. But normally she'll drink a couple ounces here and there throughout the day.

Ruby generally goes down 2 hours after waking up for her morning nap. It usually lasts around an hour. And then I put her down around 1:30 and she will sleep anywhere from 1-2 hours. When she wakes up from her afternoon nap (she naps in our room in the pack n play) and we walk past the girls room, she points and talks in her little baby language. I assume that she is telling me that she wants Olivia to come out and play. It makes me so happy to see how much they love each other. I can't wait for Ruby's vocabulary to develop so they can talk with each other. Ruby goes to bed around 7:45-8:15 depending on the night. I try to put Ruby to bed 20-30 minutes before Olivia since they are now both sleeping in the same room.

Her favorite foods are currently: macaroni and cheese, yogurt, beans, oranges, french toast, sausage, applesauce, and any treats. She loves ice cream and her favorite thing is to share some with Bob. She got her first taste of chocolate milk and loved it.

Ruby loves all animals. She loves to go downstairs and chase Grandma and Grandpa's dog Bogey. She gets so excited when she sees animals in real life and in pictures.

Because Olivia is in and out of the bathroom all day long, the door is open and little Ruby takes advantage. She loves to unroll all of the toilet paper or put her hands in the water and splash away. Other favorites are pulling all of the dishes and utensils out of the dishwasher. And chasing me while I sweep. I now can only sweep when she is in the high chair or napping.

11 months

At 11 months:

Ruby is finally sleeping through the night. Hallelujah! She goes to bed around 8 - 8:30 and then wakes up anywhere from 6:00 - 8:00. Once she wakes up, she is hungry. Sometimes I can feed her and put her back down, and other times she is awake and ready to go for the day. She will wake up vocationally during the night, but she is getting better at self soothing and putting herself back to sleep. She does wake up very easily. She still sleeps in our room. I would love to put her in the crib in Olivia's room. But I am sure they will just play all night and never sleep. Olivia is such a good sleeper, I don't want to lose that.

She likes to eat food. I feel like I feed her all day. I only nurse her when she wakes up, around 1 right before naps and then once before bed. And in-between all of those times I am cutting up food into small pieces, she eats, we clean up the messes she makes and then a few minutes later (it feels like) I am doing it all again. For breakfast she eats french toast, eggs, pancakes, or cereal pieces with some fruit. For lunch and dinner she eats bread, cheese, beans, cooked veggies, yogurt, and pasta. Usually I will cut up whatever we are eating, but sometimes it's just not her thing so she'll eat what I mentioned.

Her best friend is Olivia, although it might be a one sided relationship. Olivia loves Ruby, but she can only handle so much of the hair pulling and toy stealing. They are both so excited to see each other in the mornings and after naps.

When I lay her down in the bath to wash her hair, she kicks like crazy. She loves being in the bath and always has a smile on her face. Now that she is drinking from a sippy cup, she does try and drink the bath water using the cups and toys in the bath.

She is obsessed with one of Olivia's baby dolls. It's this super small baby wearing a purple and floral outfit that she got for Easter when she was a baby. Ruby crawls all over looking for the baby and when she holds it she shakes with excitement. And she loves all of the princess dolls that Olivia is playing with.

Ruby loves to clap. If she hears, "If your happy and you know it" she instantly starts clapping and will have the biggest grin on her face. She lifts her hand to wave but doesn't move her hand too much.  She doesn't talk to much, just lots of gibberish. She still has her bottom 2 teeth and it doesn't look like she'll be getting any others anytime soon. But we know that can change in an instant.

Ruby {10 Months}

Ruby girl is growing too fast and learning so many new things. This was such a fun month. Her main nickname is Roo Roo. She is a mamas girl and wants to be by my side or held all day. She also likes her Dad which makes is nice at the end of the day.

She crawls everywhere and is fast. I love when she sees me while crawling and she gets a huge grin and crawls as fast as she can to get to me. Along with crawling comes finding anything and everything on the floor and trying to eat it. I have been trying to be better about sweeping after each meal and vacuuming daily.

She finally figured out pulling herself up, and grabs on to the couches, entertainment center, chairs, Olivia's bed, and anything else close to her height. She stands really well, and then when she gets tired she cries until someone helps her sit down.

Usually Ruby will wake up before Olivia and when Olivia comes out of her room, Ruby's face lights up. She loves being with Olivia. They play well together for the most part. I usually find them sitting next to each other playing with the princess castle.

After Ruby's 9 month appointment I decided to dive into sleep training. I had been worried about stopping night time feedings because she has been so small. The doctor told me that she would make up for the calories lost during the day - and that I should go right ahead and wean her at night. We got the pack n play from my parents house and took down the bassinet. Olivia sleeps so well, I didn't want her to be waking up from Ruby sleeping in her crib and crying all night. The first couple nights were rough and she cried for 2 hours with me giving her her pinky about every 10 minutes. The next night was only an hour and a half. And then after that she did pretty well. She still wakes up and cries a couple times a night but its for less than a minute and she puts herself back to sleep. I run in the mornings at 6, so sometimes I will feed her right before I leave if she is stirring.

When she goes down for naps, she likes to be laid on her side and with her blanket over her face. She usually naps in the morning about 1.5-2 hours after waking up. This nap only lasts 30 minutes - an hour. Then she goes down at 1 and I'm lucky if it lasts an hour, sometimes a little longer. It's so crazy how different your children can be. Olivia napped 2, two hour naps everyday and was super consistent.

Ruby has been pounding the food lately. Her favorite foods are grapes, watermelon, peas, and corn. She loves peas the most, and I wonder if they are just the perfect size for her to grab. I've been mixing up smoothies with avocado and yogurt to try and put on some ounces. She gets constipated easily so I don't give her a ton of dairy.

She loves to clap and has just figured out how to clap with her hands open. In the past she has clapped but it was always with close fists. She also waves. She says dada, and has started saying mama, but only when she is crying in her crib and really wants me. Ha!