Happy Belated Birthday Ruby!

"Happy 1st Birthday to ME!!!"

Ruby celebrating turning 1 :)

I am so incredibly late in posting this but I can't NOT do it. Ruby turned a year old on December 13th. Where did the year go? We had her party on Sunday the 12th. It was us, my parents, my sisters, nieces and nephew, and our good friend Ms. Jackie with her little man Henry. We were decorated for Christmas but we had a ladybug theme. I made Ladybug cupcakes for the party and we just had some of Ruby's favorite snacks to eat...goldfish crackers, pretzels, and cookies.

Ruby and Henry really hit it off! Playing a game of catch.

"I'm not eating that Nana...You eat it"

This was after I had to take her out of her high chair because she started screaming at her cupcake and didn't want it...AT ALL!

Ladybug cupcakes

Waiting to open presents...

We had a great time and just can't believe my last baby isn't a baby anymore!

Ruby had her 1 year checkup on her actual birthday.

She weighed in at 17 pounds 2 ounces (3rd percentile)

She measured 28 1/2 inches (25th percentile)

and her head circumference was in the 60th percentile.

I just figure she going to be a tiny genius when she grows up!

As of today (February 4th) at the ripe old age of 13 (almost 14) months Ruby can...

~ say "Mama", "Daddy", "Hi", "Bye-Bye", "Baby", "bath", "Nana", "Papa", "Tai (our cat)", and "Mimi"

~she almost says "Max" and does more than her share of jabbering :)

~she likes to pretend she has a "bad cough" - Nana taught her that one :)

~ She just started crawling within the past month (she had been dragging her body across the floor) and is pulling up to her feet on everything now. Doesn't act like she wants to walk yet though which is new for us because the other three walked on or before their first birthday.

~ Ruby LOVES to open the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet and pull all the papers out and fling them round the office.

~ Ruby has figured out how to play Peek-a-boo! She puts her little hands over her eyes and when I say, "Where's Ruby" she will pull her hands away and say "Boo".

~she has 5 teeth now. She's had the two on the bottom since about 11 months and the top front teeth (as well as one next to the front teeth) broke through a few days ago.

~Ruby loves to eat goldfish crackers (Nana always has those on hand!), pretzels, Ritz crackers, she is very good at eating triscuits...I think the rough texture feels good on her gums :) I'm watching hr like a hawk when she eats one though. She had her last bottle on Monday, December 20th. She is enjoying organic whole milk out of her sippy cups. She also enjoys throwing said cups on the floor when she is done with them!

~ Ruby is in her last box of size 4 diapers...moving on up to 5's now :)

~ She is still wearing a lot of 12 month sized clothes but the 12-18 month size is fitting better now.

~ She is still rear facing in the car because she hasn't hit the 20lb. mark yet.

~She went through a spurt (this past month) where she wouldn't go to sleep on her own at night and I would have to hold her and rock her until she fell asleep. Normally I wouldn't do that (and didn't with the other two girls...we learned our lesson with Max) but I thought about it one night and figured that this is my last baby. I will not have this again and I am going to savor every moment. She went through the phase for about 2-3 weeks and the past couple of nights has put herself to sleep again.

Ruby is such a joy and although she was a complete surprise, I couldn't imagine my life or our family without her. Looking forward to what her second year brings...