Meet Baby #2- Before She is Born!!

Thanks to the 4-D technology we have already seen what our sweet little girl looks like!!! And, we are smitten with her already!!

See for yourself:
In Color:



In black and white:

Gasparilla Kid's Parade!!

Saturday we had SO much fun at the Gasparilla Kids Parade!! We went early to get a good seat (and we really did get a good seat!) We brought food and blankets and had so much fun before it started!! We can't wait to do it again next year- but we want to do it bigger and better!! We have already made our plans for our new and improved plan for enjoying the kids parade!! :)

Here are some cute pics from our day!

Week 30!!

Can you believe that we're already 30 weeks preggo w/ baby #2!! Only about 9 more weeks (we'll be having a c-section about a week early) to go!! BOY, do we have A LOT of work to do. What is it about baby #2 that makes you procrastinate until the last minute? Anyway, we're doing well... we have another sono this wed- to check her size- but other than that she is kicking up a bigger storm!

Here's what baby center says about week 30:
Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

Conversations with a Cutie!

Enjoy!

Ruthie is 18 months old!!

A Year and 1/2- Can you believe it? I can't. It seams just like yesterday we were in the hospital gasing with amazement at our new little girl... and here she is one and 1/2 years old. CRAZY!!! Someone told me when I was lamenting her first birthday that it "just gets better" and I couldn't understand what they meant. BUT, it is totally true. Sadly, the days of just holding her and cuddling her are gone. She wants to be down, and go "side" (outside) and she wants to "pay" (play)- but she also says, "I wa wa wu nigh-nigh" (I love you, Night-Night) on her own as we are putting her to bed.

Sorry- had to take a quick break to rescue my cell phone from her hot little hands... before she called China or texted Aunt Holly a message that looked like this: al;sdkfoaweirnaalsdkf :)

Anyway, just wanted to document how our love just continues to grow for this sweet little girl who is now officially a toddler-not my little baby anymore. One day I woke up and she was a toddler- hair had grown, face had changed, independence had emerged (she says "no" while pushing my hand away as I try to help her...)

Here's some things she's accomplished this past month:

* She took TWO steps!! She's been really working on the walking thing. She goes to Physical Therapy twice a week to work on her muscles (the reason why she's got a gross motor delay) and our PT is a GOD SEND!!!

* She is eating on her own w/ a spoon or fork... which is sometimes very comical. Especially when she gets more on her tray than in her mouth. But, when it's all said and done, she does VERY well!!

* Counts- Sometimes is just with sound like uh, uh, uh, uh- but most of the time she says "three, four" in the correct order and place! She's been doing this a while, but I forgot to post this last month. She learned this (I think) when we were putting in her ear drops (for her infection) I counted them as they dropped in. Since then, we've been counting up a storm... everything we can think of to count and she LOVES it!

* driving her car/bike all around the house!!

* She continues to talk up a storm and add new words. Her favorite activity is to list all the people she knows and to ask what they are doing for example:

"a-ma" (grandma) "nigh-nigh" (night-night), "Bis-see" (biscuit- my mom's dog) "nigh-nigh" and so on... here are some of her favorite people:

"a-ma" : Grandma
"Bis-see" : Biscuit
"u-ma" : Uncle Matt
"Sa-chel" : Aunt Rachel
"Sa-sie" : Sadie (Matt and Rachel's dog)
"a-mauri" : Aunt Mardi
"u-ja": Uncle Jack
"Bay" : Bailey
"ook" : Luke
"pa-pa" : Paw-Paw
"aw-we" : Aunt Holly
"Eh" : Ed (friends from Church)
"Na-Na" : Donna (Ed's wife)
"Bull" : Bill (friend from church- she hasn't quite figured out how to say his wife's name- Stephanie)
"mama-see" : Mama D (Our pastor's wife and our friend)
"Pop-B" : Papa B (Our pastor and our friend)
" Te-Te Tar-ra" : Tia Tara
"Ky-lie" : Kylie (Tara's daughter and Ruthie's friend)
"Aye" : Aiden (Tara's Son and Ruthie's friend)

As you can see that's a long list... Just think how long it takes to go through it!! We do that SEVERAL times a day!

* New words:
"sis borrer" : It's better
"Bis-tick" : Lipstick (chap stick)
"Ah-choo" : sound of a sneeze
"Choo-Choo": sound of a train
"air pane or air main" : Air Plane
"see" : sing (she love to sing and has started singing on her own - which I'm desprately trying to get on video...- but often asks "mommy see" when she wants us to sing.
"Aum" : M & M (which she's addicted to... we only give her one every once an a while but she KNOWS where we stash them and anytime that location catches her eye she asks for an "Aum"
"whor is she" : Where is she? (said when she's playing peek a boo or hiding behind a blanket or the curtains
"tree-sa" : Teresa
"ming ming" : Ming Ming (Wonder Pets)
"A-Me" : Amen (a much closer rendition than last month!)
"bise" : Bite or Bike
"side" : outside


Here's a video of her reading- something she loves to do. She love for you to read to her- but she also loves to read to herself!! It's SO cute!

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Reading with "Bull" (Bill) - A major accomplishment... she LOVES to get Bill's attention and then hides her face as she turns immediately shy with him. It's so cute. But recently by the time Bible Study is over with, she has warmed up to him and is ready to play!



Reading to her Baby in her room! So cute!


Playing "side" (outside) with her bike...

Christmas 2008

Ok- I've SO been procrastinating... I even joined Face book in an effort to feel "updated" but have yet to post on the blog about Christmas... almost a MONTH ago!! :) So- I'll spare you every little detail- and hope that the pics tell the story!! :)

Ruthie's favorite pre-Christmas toy- Reindeer antlers!! She loved to wear them on her eyes-like sunglasses- and then crawl all around the house. Amazingly enough- she never bumped into any furniture!! :) It was really cute!!



Our family after Christmas Eve candle light service. One of my favorite traditions!! After the service we went to Carrabbas to eat- it was YUMMY!!!



Santa's gifts Christmas morning!! She loved her play food and tea set!! (I loved her cute Christmas PJ's!!)


After seeing what Santa brought, opening stockings, and eating homemade cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs for breakfast- we ripped into the presents under the tree! This magna-doodle was a gift from Mommy and Daddy!



She loves to draw!


And this stroller was is so much fun!! Her baby loves to go for walks and eat in this stroller. Ruthie is such a good little mommy!


After a wonderful morning at home, we went to Grandma and Paw-Paw's house for dinner (around 3 pm). She thought the musical decorations were so much FUN!! I don't have many pictures of this part of our day- I must have been pooped by then!! :) But, my mom was with us as was Tony's sister Mardi and her family! We had a lot of fun and eat wonderful yummy food- again!


The next day Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel (Sa-chel as Ruthie says) came from Orlando to have "Christmas" again! On Sat. morning we eat monkey bread (do you see a theme with our Christmas... eat-eat-eat!) and opened presents!!



Ruthie playing peek-a-boo with Uncle Matt while the girls were helping to get dinner on the table!!


We forgot to get a full family pic before Matt and Rachel went back to Orlando- so here is half the family- next to the Christmas tree!! :)

Back to Christmas- Progressive Dinner

Just when everyone's put away their Christmas decorations, taken down the tree, and moved on to the New Year... I'm bringing ya' all back like an old 1980's song... to Christmas!!

Our Couple's Bible study that meets at our house got together for Christmas for a progressive dinner. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! We invited a few "invaders" to join us and we all had a blast. What's a progressive dinner? you ask... it is where each course of the meal is eaten at someone else's house. So... it's about 4 - 5 hours of eating, talking, oohing, and ahhing over each other's beautifully decorated homes!!

We started off at Bill and Stephanie's house for appetizers... yummo!


Then we progressed to Ed and Donna's for Soup and Salad (it was supposed to be OR but she did both... and two of each... I'm telling you- you have to work up to being able to eat this much. But, I was eating for 2 so it was easy!!)




Next we came to our house for the main course- lasagna and garlic bread. Each place setting had a Christmas themed hat to wear... don't they look cute?













And finally we ended up at Josh and Kristy's for dessert. If you thought you were going to pop before... after her Chocolate turtle cheesecake you knew you would pop!!


We had so much fun and ended up starting a new tradition. We all can't wait until next year!! :)