I have a toddler

About a month ago, when Ruby and I took a quick trip to Maryland, I decided to rent a car seat with our car rental. When I arrived to pick up the car the attendant asked if I would be needing an infant or toddler car seat. I had to stop and think for minute, but eventually figured it was a "toddler seat" I was looking for. At the time I remember thinking, "how could anyone call my little baby a toddler." Now only a month or two later there is no denying it. As crazy as it sounds to me---I have a toddler.

Ruby's been walking since the beginning of January, but I just now realized how much her mode of transportation has truly transformed my baby into a bona fide toddler. Here are a few random things about toddler Ruby.

She loves, loves, loves SHOES. If she see them she must put them on----and one pair is never enough. She likes to switch back in forth between her two pairs of shoes and any one else's she may come across.

I love how distressed she looks at the fact that the shoes she has found are not yet on her feet.


Ahhh...that's better.




Shoes are her favorite, but she is also a big fan of all accessories and when she finds them she insists that we put them on her or wear them ourselves. Hats, coats, jewelry and now purses are her new must haves.

Ruby is rarely without a coat, sweater or jacket. She has a few and changes them frequently throughout the day. (Note to Tracey & Whitney: Am I raising BYU's "coat girl" of 2029??)


Jewelry is another obsession of my girl. Anything can be a bracelet--even the hood to my camera lens.


She wears my hat better than I do.


Baby dolls? No. Purses? Yes. I'm not sure what this says about my girl, but it sure is cute for now. Anything that has a loop is a purse and suitable for carrying things around the house. This is probably my favorite thing right now.



Always pushing the edge of fashion, Ruby has also taken to rummaging through her brother's drawers looking for the perfect piece for her new outfit. I guess the boy's church socks are kinda like leg warmers. I don't know what that face is all about.


Reed gave her a hand with this one. She loved it--so did he.




Ready for a swim?


It's not ALL about clothes and accessories for Ruby these days. As a toddler she now also finds great joy in her ability to help herself in the pantry. I'm all about her becoming more self sufficent, but I don't think 'self sufficent' is where we are at yet.




Yep---there is no denying it, we've got a toddler---and from the looks of things we are in for a little bit of trouble and a whole lot of fun.

Dinner is served

We are going on 3 weeks now of having our family split between two states. Sam is at work in Maryland all week and comes homes on the weekend. It has been a challenge, but to be honest it hasn't been as hard as I anticipated---until this week. I don't know if it was just unfortunate timing or just that the whole situation is starting to wear on me, but between 2 trips to the IRS office, 4 hours hanging out in a car wash lobby (painful, but worth it), a sick baby girl that doesn't feel good but doesn't' know what she wants (not a good start for reducing our trips to the Dr.) and an out of service dishwasher, this was a rougher week.

The rough week was in full swing by Thursday and after a trying afternoon dealing with a sick baby and boys that were not being as obedient as they should be, I was frustrated. Reed must have noticed my frustration because as I was sitting on the couch with a feverish and sleeping Ruby he came to me crying saying that he was sorry for making a bad decision. I wasn't even sure what he was referring to specifically, but I went along with it as he tearfully asked if he could do something to make it better. I was a little surprised at Reed's response because even though I'd like it to be, this is not his normal reaction. He told me that he wanted to make dinner for me and wanted to serve it to me on the couch so I could just rest and not do anything at all.

I wasn't sure what to think of this thoughtful behavior, but I was thrilled none the less. I don't know if this makes me a good mom or a bad mom, but I told him that that would be great and that I would love it if he would take care of dinner.

He and Max got straight to work bustling around the kitchen. It was so sweet to see the two of them working so well together. Within about 30 minutes dinner was served---literally. My two little servers delivered my food to me on the couch without me having to do a thing.


Our menu for the night consisted of of fish sticks, steak fries and frozen vegetables. I was actually quite impressed that they pulled it off. I even let them use the oven (I could see them from the couch so they weren't completely unsupervised) and nothing got burned (food or people).



They boys were so pleased with their work. And although I usually have a no-fish stick policy for myself, I wouldn't dream of disappointing such a thoughtful gesture. Together, Ruby and I ate them all and they actually weren't half bad.

It was a pretty great moment for Reed. I was very proud of him and consider it a huge stride in the right direction. Who knew fish sticks would be the highlight of my week?

Now if I could just get him to wash the dishes too...

Ruby's Ears

The past 12 months or so of Ruby's life have been filled with more than her share of trips to the doctor. In fact a couple days ago I was going through some medical records and counted that she had had SEVENTEEN sick visits to the doctor in the past year. Those seventeen visits were in addition to the several "well visits" during her first year. I knew it felt like we were always going to the doctor, but now I realize we really were going all the time.

The vast majority of these visits were due to ear infections. Ruby inherited many wonderful things from Sam (let's just say those aren't my lips), but a tendency for ear infections was not one of them. After her 9th or 10th round of infection and antibiotics we decided it was time for tubes. I was a little nervous for the surgery, but mostly just excited for my little girl to get off the infection/antibiotics merry go round.

The hardest part was leaving her with the nurses, but she did great and within 20 minutes the procedure was done and they were bringing me back to wait with her while the anesthesia wore off. They told me it might be an hour before she woke up, but I guess not even drugs can keep my cat napper down. Within 10 minutes she was awake and ready to go.



I was hopeful that her surgery was going to be the happy ending to this past year of Dr. visits, but unfortunately she has already had two ear infections in the past month since getting the tubes. There is no doubt the tubes do help some. I just hope that " helps some" turns into "helps a lot" and that this next year we keep the number of doctor appointments to single digits.