For Drew's dad, Kenneth, as he is having quadruple bypass surgery as I type this. He lives in another town, with Drew's sister, and brother and wife. Drew is on his way there now.
*Update, thank you for all your prayers and well wishes. Kenneth is in the ICU recovering from the bypass surgery . Yesterday, the doctors discovered two blood clots in his leg, and subsequently had to have another surgery to remove those. He is now stable and is slowly coming of various medications, and on the hopeful road of recovery.
We have been keeping very busy at our house lately, with lots of fun things and events. Most notably my mom had a "hystericalectomy" (hey Paige!) , my great friends Olivia and Gina both had babies, and now we are getting ready for Ruby's baptism this weekend! While the hysterectomy is no fun at all, it has been great to have some time with my mom sitting still. Which for those of you who know her, know that sitting still isn't her usual M.O. Also, Sadie Parker and I have been sewing some "together." Since I have been sewing a few things for Rubes lately, I think that Parker was feeling a little left out. Every time I had pulled out my machine recently she would always ask if I was making something for her. Which I wasn't, so I decided that I needed to do that, to not feel left out. No matter that she has more clothes than I do. But none-the-less, I started sewing.
This is Parky Larky "helping" me
We made two of these pillows together, for the basement.
Here are the girls in their new outfits. Polk-a-dots for everyone.
I used this pattern from Oliver and S. I love this company, I just wish the patterns weren't so expensive.
I hung the dress up in her room last night while she was sleeping so that she could see it when she woke up this morning. And to my delight, she was so excited and couldn't wait to put it on.
So here we are at 5 months. It has truly gone so fast!
Drew and I were talking last night about how if Ruby truly is, and we think that she is, our last child, that there is something sad about that. To have a finiteness to our family thinking. It makes us appreciate more and pay much closer attention to some of the "lasts." Like, this is the last time we will see a particular outfit worn by our children, and the last of the diapers, and the last of the nursing, and this is the last time we will see a child roll over for the first time. I know we are not "done" with these things, it just brings a different awareness to our minds, and to our children.
How does one ever know that they are "done" with children? I think its different for each family. I do know that Drew and I feel that our children, to us, are a case for a house full of children. We love them so, and they have been remarkable infant and toddlers. No, its not peachy all the time. But the good is much more prevalent than the "bad."
Just check back with me in about 8 years when puberty is in full swing. Oye- to-the-Vey!
Here are some stats on Ruby, aka.... rubes, ruby ruberson, ruby-hoobie, and hoobers.
Still sleeping though the night! PTL!
Started eating rice cereal.
She has discovered her piggies/toes.
She doesn't care much for rolling over, but she can do it.
Loves to grin, but still a hard sell on the laugh.
Started reaching for people a little bit.
She absolutely LOVES Sadie Parker.
Still loves her paci.
She is very quiet and focused when we sing to her.
And loves to be held, and doesn't like to be put down very much.
Oh, and she loves to smile with her mouth wide open, I hope its a sign of things to come, of enjoying life fully.
Ruby is now ready to eat, yes, pro-biotic organic baby cereal, fortified with pumped milk. I know, I am a little bit of a food freak. I secretly wish I was more of a food freak than I already am. Maybe its all in my head?
First bites, and no she did not feed herself. I just couldn't work the camera with my left hand and feed her with my right, and get a good picture at the same time.
One satisfied customer. When I had finished feeding Rubes for the first time, and walked away, she started crying. And this little chick doesn't cry much.
I guess it never gets old to have a party at your parents house, while they are out of town. My grandparents went North for a few weeks, so my aunts decided to have a mini-family reunion, and my g.parents were so great to unknowingly host everyone. It was great to see everyone that was there, and of course we solved all the worlds problems, reviewed a few books, created a new business for Knoxville that was going to make us all rich beyond our wildest dreams, told recent and past stories about ourselves and other family members. But mostly we laughed a lot, well, at least at the table where I sat, that was true. Here are a few pictures from the time spent together.
Drew and the catch of the day.
Sadie Parker and 1/2 of margarita.
I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but my cousin Mark was just married to Rhea. And every time I mentioned their names, Mark and Rhea, Sadie Parker thought I was saying "margarita" so that is how she refers to them as a pair, and I think it has stuck. (And yes, my three and a half year old does know what a margarita is. This is also the same child who wanted to have a poker party for her two year old birthday. We just figure we are going to have a VERY happy son-in-law one day. What guy doesn't love a liquor drinking-poker playing-wife. Two words... fun times will be had)
And more beloved cousins. Mary Elise, Annie, and Jacob.
They have been in town for a little over a month, and it has been great to see them. Of course there wasn't enough time spent with them, but is there ever enough? Sadie Parker was just beside herself to know that she has an even bigger family than what she knows on a daily basis. It takes her a little while to warm up at times, but she hasn't stopped talking about "the time when my cousins came to play with me"
Thanks to our friend Heather, (Hi Heather!) we have matching hair bows! Sadie Parker and myself couldn't be happier about it. It looks like Ruby is going to like them as well. She is all smiles without having any idea about the matching bows.
note: yes, I do realize that Rubes doesn't have nearly enough hair to wear a bow yet, but we just wanted to practice the fine art of "Zen and the Matching Hair Bow's."
Our neighborhood is fabulous. There are several reasons for this, and I could go on and on about it. But I wont. I will only tell you about the 4th of July festivities that take place every year. This year was the 45th annual 4th of July celebration. I was a co-chair person this year, and it was great! I loved all that it involved. I just wish that I could have had a little more down time with my family and friends, but I still had a great time.
The beginning of the parade.
Some of our closest friends that we were celebrating the day with.
It all starts with an adult party on the 3rd. then a sunrise service with a flag raising, and breakfast, a prediction race, kids softball game, and then an adult softball game. Next is the childrens parade, which starts all the big festivities. They all decorate a wagon or a bike, and ride through the neighborhood, while the adults cheer them on. Here is Ruby in her 4th flair waiting for the parade to start.
It sometimes take Sadie Parker a minute to warm up to whatever the current event is, but once she is warmed, it takes two seconds for her to turn it all the way to HOT, and she doesn't "cool down" very quickly.
Waiting for her named to be called to go through the balloon arch.
The parade ends up at a big field in the middle of the neighborhood, where we have a huge bbq meal, pony rides, family olympics, childrens talent show, group picture of the kids, and a bluegrass band. It is SO MUCH FUN! This is my friend Hudson, he and I have so much fun together. We had a secret conversation about how he is going to stay at our house, while is parents move to Memphis.
My mom came, and it was so great having here there with us.
Craig and Eli came as well.
Fun in the field.
Drew was excited about the family olympics. This is the three-legged-race. An brand new concept for SP. She just wanted to watch the first time, and then she was all about it.
She is really funny explaining what exactly it was that happened. "there was this thing, called...... I don't know... but you tied our legs together then we tried to go fast, but the thing made it not so fast... then we got to the other side, and WE DID IT!"
This was the race where the parent had to hold all of that family's children and run. Thankfully Ruby had gone inside at this point.
Oh yes, this is the wheelbarrow race. And yes, it was really funny.
This was the egg toss, I had Drew explain to SP that she might get dirty with this one. Thankfully she didn't, and there weren't any freak outs.
This was one of my FAVORITE moments of the whole day the talent show.I had been talking this up with SP the whole week, and we had been practicing "Jesus love the little children" her song choice. She was so excited to sing in the microphone. She wanted to go first, but got a little stage fright, so we waited a minute, then she rocked it out......but she pulled a last minute switch-er-o.
I know this is a long post, but we had such a great time, and I love some of these pictures. I was so happy that my family was enjoying themselves so much. It made my heart incredibly full. We are already talking about the next 4th of July, and all the fun it will bring.
Here is the swimming lesson crew. They have been taking lessons twice a week for about five weeks or so. It is definately helping. Last year SP was beyond fearless in the water. She would jump off the diving board by herself (with swimmies) and jump off the hot tub into the water as well. This year things are a little tamer. She doesn't even want to be in the water by herself. Which I can understand, but it is a major regression. We spend most of our time playing with the princess tea set that we got last summer. She is a great "cook" for only working at the "pool snack shop." On a regular basis she makes roast beef, potatoes, and broccoli. Which is funny because we don't eat roast beef at all. I am not even sure she knows what it looks like.
bikini girls
During the lessons, the parents sit on the porch away from the kids so that the teachers can have their full attention, but the kids all know that we are there watching them. So occasionally they will say "look mommy" or "I don't want to swim momma!" One day I had to go in the house to check on Ruby, and apparently it was one of the moments that I should have been watching instead. SP yells out "Momma, I did it!" and was so excited, but she didn't know I had gone in the house. So my friend Grace, Annelise's mother, yells out "Good job honey!" It was funny because, SP had no clue that I was gone. So it made the mothers wonder what good is it for us to be on the porch if they know we are there. But it also showed how great of a friend and mother Grace is that she would love on my kid enough to respond for me. And for Sadie Parker to be none the wiser.
Here we are on the last day of school. (yes, I know its been at least 6 weeks) These are Sadie Parkers teachers this past year. Miss Bonnie, below, has been Sadie Parker's teacher since we started pre-school. Next year is the first year that we will not have Miss. Bonnie as her teacher. That makes us so sad. We don't know what school is like without her as our teacher. We love her, and she genuinely takes such great care of Sadie Parker, just for who she is. She is the most patient and kind person, the absolute perfect creative teacher. She is definitely fulfilling her lifes calling.
This is Miss. Brenda, she is a hoot. We really like her as well, she just took some getting used to. Only Because we had Miss. Bonnie all this time. But man does she love those kids. She hugs and kisses Sadie Parker good bye after every class. As a parent you definitely want those in charge of your child to like/love them, but to kiss them bye.... depending on the day its ether hart-warming, or odd. She thinks Sadie Parker is hilarious. Mostly because she can carry on a pretty adult conversation with her. They pretend that SP is the barista, and takes her order. However the funniest thing about Miss. Brenda is that she loves clothes, so much so, if there is an outfit on a kid that she likes, she checks the tags to see where it is from. Don't really know what to make of that, but oh well. Like I said, we really like her, and she loves all the kids.
On another note. I know I have some blogging to make up for. So stay tuned.
I'm a wife, a mother, and among many other things, I am striving to be fully who God created me to be. His, and forgiven. This is a glimpse into the small and big in our life as a family of four + a dog, and sometimes the imaginary brother of my eldest daughter. We have plenty of crazy to go around, stick around and it might just rub off.
