Month: October 2014

Happy Halloween! I will surely post some photos after tonight’s trick or treat outing. Could it be that this will be our fourth Halloween as parents?! The first year doesn’t really count since he was only nearly three months, but I remember our first year celebrating as a mini astronaut,

then our 2-year-old Alvin

and last year’s super reader, Super Why!

This year will be extra cute with the addition of little Ruby. Jay is coming home early and we are heading out for the festivities around 4:30. Even Jay and I are dressing up a bit for once 😉 Can’t wait!

Little Ruby girl is 9 months. We had her well visit today and here are her stats:

Weight – 15lbs, 6oz (9%)
Height – 27in (30%)
Head circumference – 17.7in (79%)

Ruby is doing great. She is still a little peanut, yet eating like a champ. Her pediatrician said she is guiding herself with what she needs and between eating solids and nursing and one bottle per day from my pump session each night, I’m happy to report zero supplementing of any kind (formula or donor milk). I was worried she should be drinking more milk, but she is always satisfied and happy, so I assume she is getting what she needs. So, there you go.

Ruby understands many things we say. For instance, she can clap on command and wave bye bye. She is babbling words and at times I’m pretty certain she is saying “dada”. She can transfer objects from one hand to the other, can crawl/scoot around the apartment, pulls herself up to standing a little bit and has graduated to the big bathtub and loves splashing around. We have passed on a ton of baby stuff, which is truly a milestone because it’s gone forever.

I’m already becoming nostalgic for this sweet baby. She is soft and cozy and snuggly and delicious and I don’t want her to get any bigger. My last little baby and I want to cherish all of it during this fleeting time.

Ruby is eating well and continues to try lots of new foods. Her naps are awesome and she is still sleeping better at night. She is typically down by 6:30-6:45, and then may nurse around 4 or 5am, and get up for the day around 7am. Sometimes earlier if she doesn’t wake during the night, and sometimes she wakes earlier during the night but I’m trying not to nurse her then so she can have a longer stretch. Jay will rock her back to sleep, if necessary.

Love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet Ruby Tuesday is growing leaps and bounds! She is an eating machine, as I previously posted. Yesterday morning for breakfast she had probably 1/2 a sweet potato, 1 strawberry, some egg yolk and some whole wheat bread. This morning, she had two strawberries, 1/4 avocado, some egg yolk and a pickle.

I think it’s been about a month since Ruby condensed her naps from three to two. Within the past month since Theo’s school began, and our new schedule emerged, we are finally on a good nap schedule for Ruby. Because Theo’s pre-k is a PM spot, it actually sets up perfect nap times for Rubes. Ruby typically wakes up between 6:30 – 7:30am, and then goes down about 9am each morning for her first nap. She wakes around 10:30 (sometimes a little earlier, sometimes later). This gives Theo and I a chance to spend some quality one-on-one home time. We are both really enjoying this time. Once Ruby is up, we head out so that we can have an hour at the playground before Theo’s school begins at 12:15pm. I rush back home to feed Ruby lunch and get her down for her nap by 1:15pm, at the latest. I have to get her up about 2:20pm to get back to Theo’s school for the 2:40pm pick-up time. This way she at least gets a one hour nap. On Tuesday and Thursdays they are with the babysitter, which allows me time to work on home studies. I’m usually in the vicinity so I’ve been picking Theo up from school so that Juliana can stay home while Ruby naps, and I again get to have a little one-on-one time with Theo. It would be nice if Theo had longer school days. Both for him and me, but honestly this schedule works, even though I have to run back and forth. I’m sure it will suck once the weather gets crappy. Having a car should help.

Also the past couple weeks has allowed us to get some longer nighttime sleeping from Ruby. I kind of felt at the end of my rope being up so many times each night. I hate to admit letting her cry a little bit, but honestly it has saved us. There have only been a few nights where she has cried a bit off and on at her first wake up of the night (usually after about 3 hours since her 6:30/45pm bedtime). Otherwise she may wake briefly once and stir and fuss for a minute and immediately go right back down. Honestly I feel lucky she made it that easy. I would’ve never survived full fledged cry it out, but now she is sleeping pretty much from 6:30/7pm – 6:30 – 7:30am. She wakes up happy and adorable.

The girl is eating like a machine these days. All of the sudden she became a bonafide eater. It’s no longer here give her this to try, it’s like the girl needs three meals a day. She will eat just about anything you give her. She loves it and clenches it all in her little fists to get ready for her next bite.

Eating solids is going so well, she barely needs to supplement with our donor milk anymore. Did I ever mention the donor milk? We’ve been getting breast milk from this lovely woman on the upper west side for about 2 months now. It’s been so great. I’ve also connected an adoptive father with donor milk for their little guy. Ruby probably only drinks an extra couple ounces twice a day now, nurses before meals and before naps and bedtime. I am also able to pump about 4 ounces before I go to bed now that she is pretty much sleeping through the night so she has a bottle of my breast milk the next day when I’m on the run (or with the sitter) instead of the donor milk.

She’s had two baths with Theo in the big bath recently, and absolutely loved it.

We spent a lovely day in New Jersey to usher in the new season. We visited our cousins Douglas and Irene in Morristown, and Cori and the boys met us there, too. We had lunch at their house and spent some time before driving to the nearby Riamede Farm for apple and pumpkin picking.

The morning had been a rainy mess, but the weather forecast had it clearing up by mid-afternoon and they were absolutely right. By the time we drove to the farm, it was a gorgeous fall day. We couldn’t have planned it better. The bummer was that since the morning had rained a bunch, there were no hayrides and no refreshments. No donuts?!? Theo had been dead set on his first hayride and he was really upset, initially. We managed to temper the situation with the promise of a ride around in a wagon and he was okay. His quivering lower lip and sniffles and requests for me to “just do it, Mama” were about to break my heart. He pulled the wagon a short bit until he realized how hard it was, and then Daddy just pulled him in it.

Theo was thrilled to picked out our very own pumpkin, and to help cut it off the vine.

And to pick out a big one for carving from the field of pumpkins already off the vine.

The fantastic news of it all is that literally right around the corner was an awesome place called Stony Hill Farms with donuts, hayrides, corn mazes and other kid-friendly things to see and climb on. We wound up there on our way back to Douglas and Irene’s and all was right in the world.

Blurry, but lovely little snapshot of Daddy and Theo, and Cori and Sam, on the hayride.

We wound up staying back at their place for awhile afterwards so we could feed Ruby and Theo before the drive back. Theo wound up playing in the neighbor’s yard for nearly an hour on their trampoline with two little boys around his age. It was a little glimpse into what our life would be like living out of the city. He had SO MUCH FUN. We all did.

And Ruby tried an apple cider donut at the farm! Lucky girl.

Theo never would’ve gotten a donut at such a young age. That second kid 🙂

Theo began karate classes a few weeks ago and he absolutely loves it. We go twice a week, and will continue through May as long as he continues to enjoy the class. There is only one other kid in the class right now so it feels very intimate and he’s not too distracted. He is showing a lot of focus and dedication. The sensei is awesome and he is called out as soon as he doesn’t listen, or show good focus, so I see this as a tremendous opportunity for growth for him.

In the past six months it has become quite apparent that this kid needs a lot of structured activities. Since school is only 2 1/2 hours per day, it is crucial for us to have additional activities for him to be active, stimulated and challenged. He has karate on Mondays and Wednesdays, and soccer on Saturdays. After the fall session of soccer, Jay is planning to take him for ice skating lessons instead in Prospect Park, in preparation for (perhaps?) a future in ice hockey. We’ll see.

Theo can play independently on his own for short periods of time, but if we’re home, he often needs direction into an activity with one-on-one attention so it’s been tough with me juggling Ruby and making food and other household tasks. These activities keep us occupied, and keep him active and engaged. He bounces off the walls at home at times. I guess this is what it’s like to have a 4 year old boy? Not to enforce gender norms, but I’m pretty sure this kid has some innate traits that are unavoidable!

Here are some karate videos:

Theo has been slowly requesting shorter and shorter hair. Over the weekend he requested a buzz cut, like Daddy.

It began on Saturday night, and wasn’t finished until Sunday morning. We started the haircut against our better judgement, since it was bedtime. He was too tired part of the way through and lost his patience. We were a little nervous he wouldn’t let Jay finish in the morning and his hair was insane looking. Honestly he looked like a Hare Krishna. He let Jay finish in the morning and we took an afternoon trip to Brooklyn Bridge Park to meet some friends for probably what was the last truly beautiful day of the season.

No matter his hairstyle, this kiddo’s eyes sparkle and his spirit shines.