Dear Sweet Little Miss Ruby Jane,

You are a delight. Six months ago you came to us on a very stormy night. The lightning was incredible. You're dad and I sat and watched it as long as I could stand. Your labor was very short. 3 hours start to finish. Ouch. That's kind of how you are. You decide what you want and you go for it... with intensity.

You're a beautiful little thing. You're stunning in fact. You're eyes are big and blue, and your cheeks are oh so yummy. You love getting kisses and snuggles. And you're pretty great at giving them too.

You are strong. Girl, you have incredible strength! I've received several distinct impressions of this from the time you were just a little embryo. Strong and silent. You watch and learn.

You don't give your sweet little smiles away for nothing. So when we get them it thrills us. You love your brother so much. You watch him and if you could you'd run around with him all day long. He can make you laugh better than anyone else. He's pretty awesome, you've got a great role model.

You LOVE water. Love. You turn into a little fish when you get in the water, a thrashy, splashy, happy little fish.

And you love food! You're new excitement in life. You want to eat and drink whatever we're eating or drinking. And you like to feed yourself. Independent.

You are a darling child. We love you so very much. You are the perfect complement to our family. Happiest six months!


Love,
Mommy

Solomon Skis

"Sometimes we're naughty"

I totally lost it with Sol this morning only because I was stressed and he was being difficult. We were in a hurry and I snapped at him. I immediately had one of those out of body experiences where I was watching myself be this grouchy mean mom and felt terrible.

And then Sol says "I"m sorry mommy," and then immediately tells himself "It's okay." Then I told him I was really sorry and that I would try to be nicer. He said "Its okay mommy, some times we're naughty." Gosh. He's so quick to forgive. I love that little guy. We're not perfect. We do our best. And lucky for us we have such amazing little treasures that love us no matter what.


(Marci, if you read this post and think it sounds familiar, I decided to post this little story after leaving the comment on your blog. Thanks for being so inspiring.)

1.11.11

11 Things I Love about Dave cause it's his birthday.

1. He has a very sexy voice.
2. He's funny.
3. He thinks I'm funny.
4. He kills all spiders and other intruders for me.
5. He figures out computer and gadget stuff so I don't have to.
6. He takes care of our family, goes to work every day without complaint, and provides a very nice life for us.
7. He's an awesome dad. Builds forts, plays hide and seek, read's stories.
8. He has cute feet.
9. He's up for anything, he loves to play.
10. He's creative and artistic.
11. He is compassionate towards people I would typically judge or ignore.

Okay, now I'm on a roll...

12. He knows a lot about a lot of stuff and likes to tell me about it.
13. He was the first boy to tell me he 'loked' me.
14. We have the same sense of humor.
15. He likes to dance and he's got a great butt for it.
16. He doesn't tickle me much because I get violent, but he doesn't get violent when I tickle him.
17. He is a true yellow, he lives for fun.
18. He helps me to remember to have fun.
19. He's by best friend in the whole world.



11 Things I love about myself cause it's my birthday. (my sis helped me with these)

1. I'm left handed.
2. My elbows are double jointed.
3. I have 3 birthmarks.
4. I teach piano to cute little kids.
5. My favorite cd when I was 11 was Queen.
6. I'm pretty awesome...
7. I wore denim shirts in jr. high to 'dress up.'
8. I had triangle hair with large purple glasses in 3rd and 4th grade.
9. Stake dance limbo champ.
10. I can talk with a lisp pretty well.
11. My birthday is 1.11.11

Never convenient

I wrote this about a week ago but didn't get it posted:

Last week Dave took me to an Instacare for a wicked sinus infection where I saw Dr. Abujabi (something like that). He was the most upbeat, chipper, positive doc I think I've ever seen. It probably would have been annoying but I felt miserable so I kind of liked it. I mentioned to Dr. Sunshine that being this sick was not 'convenient' while I had two small children. He stopped, looked at me, with a smile on his face, and said in so many words:

"It's never convenient. Nothing is ever convenient. When you have children nothing is convenient. Most days are hard, most days are bad. But you have each other and you have food on your table and so you have everything. You see people who have everything, big house, lots of things, and they're not happy because nothing is convenient. They never have everything they need. It's never convenient, but you have everything."

We both really needed to hear that. I keep thinking about him, I feel like he was an angel sent from God. I kind of wanted to ask him to be my therapist. Anyway, I thought I'd share...

Life has been inconvenient lately, we have all been in survival mode and so those less important things have fallen by the wayside. In some ways it has been nice to only focus on the basics.

Basically...

We had a great Christmas with my family in Wyoming. Sol and cousin Madelyn were inseparable little buddies. They play so well together, we love watching them. Ruby was kissed till her fat little cheeks were raw. She particularly took a liking to her Grandpa and at times preferred him over anyone else, even mom. I can relate, I was always a Daddy's girl. We had a great improve Nativity pageant complete with the three 'wise guys.' We enjoyed good food and great company. Once we got home we enjoyed trading gifts and partying with Dave's fam. So illness' aside we were reminded this Christmas how many gifts we've been given. Family. Friends. Children. Love. And of course the gift of our Savior. We have it all.

The Fam sans Monroe.

Monroe.
The Holy couple on the Holy Donkey. Joseph got to ride.
Our sheep.

The Nativity.

Surprise visit from Santa!

Upon seeing Santa, Sol immediately went to the tree, grabbed a present and started to open. I guess Santa=presents.

Christmas Morning! Ruby's haul.

Sol's haul.

I got Dave a very expensive little cable for his car. I knew he'd know exactly what it was so I wrapped it in what I call "The Love Bomb". I basically duct tapped all kinds of random junk to the outside of the box using nearly an entire roll of duct tape. I then wrapped the love bomb in several strands of broken Christmas lights.
It was awesome.

Sol got a train table! G&G know how to spoil.

SweetPea.
Ruby has decided she LOVEs to eat! She actually grabs the spoon and pulls it into her mouth all herself. She gets angry if you don't let her help or if you don't reload the spoon quick enough.

Grandpa's Girl.

Grandma Cook with the girls, Sarah and Ruby.

4 Months Old

A few things we've learned about our Ruby:
- She loves people and hates to be left alone
- She's a happy girl who loves to watch her big brother, especially when he's eating.
- She gets so excited to see her dad at the end of each day. She wiggles and squirms with excitement.
- She gets a little angry at toys, they just don't cooperate like she'd like.
- She's not of huge fan of long car rides.
- She has her daddy's resonate voice. Lets hope she's a singer!
- Her cheeks are to die for.
- In the middle of her two yummy sweet cheeks is a tiny little chin. Its so adorable.
- She's the perfect addition to our little family!

Having a rough day?

This will make you feel better...