And she's off!

Ruby is officially walking! She's still wobbly but she's getting pretty good. She still prefers to hold your hand but can get pretty far on her own. We've already replaced our coffee table with a leather ottoman and are noticing how many sharp corners are everywhere! Yikes! No major boo boos yet though. Ruby LOVES Barney and will sit and watch it for about 10 mins at a time now, she gets so excited when he comes on the TV! The past week and a half have been pretty crazy. Ruby got pretty sick a couple days before Gamma got here and stayed sick until we got to Charlotte for El's wedding (which was beautiful!!) Ruby had a great time playing with Gamma and Auntie J-A and was so happy to see Auntie El, Auntie Em, Uncle Steve and Grampa in Charlotte. Between Ruby feeling sick and being overwhelmed by being in a new place and seeing lots of new faces, our Charlotte trip was a little bit of a nightmare. The only way she would nap was on me and she woke up in the mornings between 4 and 5 am. All three of us were exhausted by the end of the weekend but we all got back on track with a lazy Sunday. Auntie El and Uncle B's wedding was so nice and the bride looked amazing. Everything went off without a hitch and we all had a fun time - congrats you guys, we love you! Mommy's back to work this week after taking a week off, this morning came much too quickly! Love to everyone!

Learning, learning!

Ruby is learning at a really fast pace now, it seems like every day she's doing something new. Her newest word is "hat", I've never practiced it with her but the other day at the store she picked out a stuffed animal that had a hat on and she tugged at the hat and said "hat" clear as day! What a smarty-pants! She can also show you where her feet, teeth, eyes, nose and hair are. She is so close to walking on her own, she likes to walk holding on to our hand with just one of her hands. She likes having a hand free so she can point at things. She's talking a lot and using hand gestures which is pretty darn cute. Ruby's friend Maddie came over one night last week for a play date and they had lots of fun. We're so excited to see Gamma on Saturday and then Auntie J-A on Tuesday!!!

"Truck!"

Ruby now says "truck" clear as day. She points to Daddy's Hess Trucks and says it. It's so cute, she mimics Daddy - if Daddy takes one of the airplanes and flies it around in the air and makes an airplane noise, a few minutes later, she's doing the same thing. She's turning into such a little person and we love it! She also started doing something funny this weekend, she likes to sit on things (books, toys, etc...) and then spin herself around. Check out the video. Ruby is so close to walking, she only needs us to hold one of her hands when she's cruising around now - what a big girl! Maybe walking has triggered her obsession with shoes, she LOVES them and is constantly trying to put on shoes that are around the house. Mommy is officially working from home on Wednesdays so we're very greatful for that. It breaks up the week and makes it easier for Mommy transitioning back to work. Miss Priscilla will still come over but at least Mommy can feed Ruby breakfast and lunch and take a few breaks to play. Mommy's thankful for a great boss!

Much needed long weekend!

Hi Everyone! We hope you all had a great long weekend. Mommy survived her 1st week at work (barely) and had such a nice time spending 3 whole days with Rubes and Daddy. We had great weather, we went to the park, went to the Love the Lake Festival and took in a neighborhood seafood boil hosted by Beth & Tommy. Lots of fun! Mommy was sad this morning leaving Ruby but a big hug and tight squeeze from her little sweetie made things easier (well, OK, not really but at least it made her smile through the tears!). Hopefully it will get easier as the weeks go by. Ruby is growing so fast and now loves to RUN when you're holding on to her hands instead of walk. Her favorite activity now is climbing the stairs, she could do it all day! Love to everyone.