bath time beauties

ruby has really been loving bath time lately - she loves to splash and splash and splash! usually i end up more soaked than she does. we put ruby and luci in the bath tub together for the 1st time and they both had a blast. we made sure that luci understood that she had to be extra careful and had my mom supervising as i snapped some quick photos. i'm not sure we'll be bathing them together regularly just yet, but i'm looking forward to when we can, so we cut down on the time needed for bedtime routine.

Six Months Old!

Here are some photos I snapped of Ruby today wearing an adorable Tarheels onesie given to us by the awesome Helms family - Katie, Charlie & Arlo

Tonight the Heels trampled the Blue Devils - 88 to 70!!!

And these are six facts about Ruby as she turns six months old today (and boy has it gone fast!):

1. She has her 1st tooth! We just noticed it today.
2. Jack is her new best friend - she's always looking for him and then smiling and laughing when she sees him. This is good for him - he needs the ego boost.
3. Her sleep has dramatically improved this past month - she now consistently sleeps from 8pm until 6 or 7am. Or at least I think she does - we no longer use the monitor and I've stopped doing night feedings. It's amazing how much better I feel now that I am sleeping more.
4. She's become much more mobile lately - when we put her down in her crib at night, we almost always find her at the opposite end in the morning.
5. She is capable of emitting the most ear-splitting high-pitched shrieks - she usually does this when she's tired and ready to nap/go to bed -it's nice to have this warning system, but the noise is unbelievable.
6. Her eyes are still a beautiful blue grey - and as her hair is starting to grow back in, it has a reddish tint to it.

sisters

i love watching the relationship between luci and ruby develop. they are starting to play together in very basic ways. the other day luci was building towers of blocks and then telling ruby to destroy them. ruby would (unintentionally) oblige and luci would laugh hysterically and then rebuild her tower. they did this for about 20 minutes. luci still loves to give ruby hugs and kisses, but sometimes claims that ruby is ruining her artwork, pulling her hair or taking her toy - pretty crafty activities for an almost 6 month old.

Poet's Walk Second Time Around

after having such an enjoyable experience at Ayr Mount the first time around, we decided to go back for a family stroll one sunny day in Feb. it's such a beautiful place. and the Poet's walk is the perfect walk for Luci - a 1 mile jaunt meandering along a river and through a rolling field with lots of interesting and gorgeous things to look at. i know we'll come back again in the Spring.

neighborhood walk

proof that it actually did get cold this winter - at least once. and at least cold enough to warrant putting Ruby in the full body bear suit - yay! we took a walk around Woodcroft on a very windy day in February. On weekends when our neighbor Allison is around, Luci and her are pretty much inseparable. As Allison says "Luci's 3 and I'm 7, but we are still good friends". I think both enjoy the role reversal the friendship allows them - Allison is a little sister, but with Luci, she gets to be the big sister and Luci (mostly) enjoys being the little sister every now and then.
Can you spot the hawk in the last photo? I was afraid to get any closer.

valentine's girls

it's been almost a month since i've been able to update this blog. lots of Internet access issues with my laptop computer. but i've wised up and decided to use work resources to catch up :) the girls had a lovely valentine's day. luci made cards for each of her classmates - i was so proud of her for writing all of their names - she is doing so well with her letters. but i was really surprised that instead of receiving just cards in return, many kids (or i should say parents) gave out candy and other treats as well- since when does this happen for valentine's day? we STILL have halloween candy in our house. ruby looked super cute in her 'heart' outfit from Aunt Maggie and Just Jonas. it's proving really difficult to get good photos of both girls, even with the new camera!, due to Luci's tendency to close her eyes.

5 months old!

At the grand ole age of 5 months, Ruby:

• can sit up really well
• has tried rice cereal and mashed up banana and loved both
• thinks her sister Luci is the funniest person alive
• makes all kinds of interesting noises including a very high pitched scream that apparently means she's happy
  
• is losing all of her hair (this is around the same age that Luci became a temporary baldie) - i'm excited to see what color it will be when it grows back in
• typically gets up twice during the night to eat - trying to get it down to just once for sanity's sake
• discovered her feet and has been loving them
• continues to melt our hearts with her sweet smiles