Rollin'...Rollin'...Rollin' on the Blanket

Ruth has a new trick: she rolls over from her back to her tummy but only on her left side. Once there, she kicks her legs up in the air and holds her head up. But after a few minutes, she starts to cry, and I have to roll her back on her back. As soon as I turn my back, she has rolled over again. This will continue several times until she finally starts crying as soon as she is on her tummy.

She has also begun big chuckles out loud in her sleep!!! I wonder what she is dreaming....could she be telling Daddy that he is rank?

Ruth is definitely in the fun stage. Her acid seems to be under control. She is eating well and stops when she is full. Although she can roll over, she cannot crawl so she is basically where I leave her. And she is smiling and talking a lot. It is so fun to play with her. She is taking naps between each feeding which allows me to get things done around the house. She has slept in her crib every night this week doing as well as she did in our room. Tonight, I am moving back into my bedroom and leaving her in the nursery by herself. I wonder if I will make it the entire night....
(Natalie)

I Could Have Slept All Night...I Could Have Dreamed All Night..

For several nights, Ruth has been sleeping until 5am or later. Last week she had three nights of sleeping until 7am. Then we took her on her first big trip to visit family in Virginia and she reverted to sleeping only until 4am and then 3:30am and last night, back home, until 3am. Tonight is her first night in her big crib in the nursery. She has been sleeping in a travel crib in our room. I am chickening out and sleeping in the nursery tonight as well on the guest bed. She has grown so much that she can palm the sides of her travel crib and nearly stretches the entire length head to toe.

Ruth was a great traveler suffering being passed from one relative to another and taking it all in stride. She provided her new family with lots of smiles and Chewbac-type conversation. She also has taken to laughing out loud and does so when one of her parents does something silly (check back soon for the clothes shopping story).

The six hour trip to Brian's family in Virginia took us seven and a half yesterday and when we got back we put Ruth in her pack and play in the living room while we finished unloading the car. She was so glad to be home and back to her tropical friend on her mobile but so tired that she could barely talk to them instead only softly moaning to them. Brian and I were pretty tired too. Who knew that traveling with an infant could be so exhausting and that the amount of stuff you must pack triples.

Wish us luck tonight in the crib....

Look What I Can Doo!

According to daddy there are two things that I have learned to do just like an adult. The first one is yawn, which daddy seems to be thrilled with because everytime I do it he smiles and goes on and on about it. Hey Daddy! Take a picture if it looks so good! And the second is pooh. I don't know what 'rank' means but daddy says I am it. If I miss a day all mommy and daddy can talk about it how I haven't gone potty. I don't understand why either because I am growing like a weed and have a ton of new tricks ( I think I control the ceiling fan with my mind). I just realized recently that I have done a good job when they take off my socks before changing my diaper. So just to make things fun...I kick my legs like mad once the dirty diaper is opened. It is great to see mommy and daddy struggle with changing me and staying clean themselves (they think I am watching the mobile...suckers!). I try to see if I can get pooh somewhere on me that they can't see just so they will sniff me the rest of the day and say "Did you pooh?". I wonder if that is why daddy stopped chewing his finger nails?

Cheaters Never Win

Sorry Mommy! The masses have spoken and while I was really pulling for 'Topless Wonder' it looks like my new nickname is 'Ruth-less'. I appreciate that you voted for Ruthie-Rue multiple times to make it a tight race but cheaters never win. And please do not put your Barack Obama bumper sticker on my stroller or car seat. I don't want anyone thinking I might be associated with that cheater either.
Love
Ruth.

An Anniversary to Remember

Brian created this blog saying that he thought I would enjoy posting updates about Ruth. However, he is the one who does most of the updates, as you can tell. I think it is interesting that a full time retail pharmacist has more time to post than a stay at home mom. Of course, this week I am teaching at summer camp one half of the day.

Today is our second wedding anniversary. I did buy us a cake, of which I ate a piece at 11pm. Brian got home at his normal time around 9:45pm but since I was asleep with the baby, he didn't wake me up until time to give Ruth her medicine. Our days are full of waiting for the elusive dirty diaper and feeding her and talking about how those things are going. One new addition to our lives is the new Wii Ruth and I bought Brian for Father's Day. I must say that I am currently the bowling and boxing champion of the house. Ruth still rules the roost. Brian lives here.

The Good with GERD

As you all know Ruth has been diagnosed with Acid Reflux (or GERD) and I am sure that you have heard all the negative press about acid reflux in children. To be fair there are some up sides to a baby with acid reflux:

1) Heightened Startle Reflex. I must say that I really enjoyed her startle reflex. I will admit that it severely impeded her ability to take naps but I found it hilarious that her arms would shoot up in the air at the slightest noise. It looked like she was getting robbed in an old spaghetti western. We started telling people she was praising the lord. It has gone away as she has gotten older and the medicine has started working, but if it were still going on I would think those would be her first words since I would say it every time it happened (ask Natalie if you don't believe me).

2) Zegerid Tastes Good. Zegerid is the medicine that the doctor has put her on for her reflux. It comes as granules that we mix with water and then try to shoot down her throat. She is surprisingly crafty about spitting it out. She actually holds it in the back of her throat instead of swallowing it. She will even cry through her nose so that it doesn't interfere with her not-so-peaceful resistance. Sure, that part of it is traumatizing for us as parents but the Zegerid has a nice peachy-salty flavor (it has sodium bicarbonate in it which makes it salty). That means that after you give her the medicine when you give her a kiss her cheeks taste all peachy. She tastes like a little fruit pie (mmmmmm.....fruit pies).

3) Weight Control. Sure this sounds bad but I am sure none of you wished for a morbidly obese child. In this Obesity Epidemic America we live in having a child who doesn't want to eat insures there will be no over eating. Yes she has quite bit of chub on her legs but if you look at the rest of her she is svelte. I am going to be putting extra locks on the door when she hits adolescence. I am already preparing to install GPS in her car so I can monitor her movements on "dates".





4) A Constant Opportunity for Interaction. When you have a baby that won't nap then you have ample time to play with them. That is great when you just can't get enough of your babies attention but it can be hard physically. For example, Ruth likes rattles. So now my forearms look like Popeye's from shaking Rupert so much. If only she liked working out....

5) I never have to worry about oversleeping for anything anymore. There is really nothing more to add to that.



Acid Reflux can really be strenuous on new parents when you aren't sure what your child needs of how to provide it. It is hard enough for parents of a "normal" baby but we have persevered. This is just my way of looking at the positives that go along with a non-terminal illness. Since we have had Ruth on medication she has eaten better, slept better, and has been all around more supportive of us as new parents.

The Best Re-Make Song

To not let Brian have all the fun, I will post. The best song I have made up is "I'm Liam the Lamb I am, Liam the Lamb I am I am" to the tune of Henry the 8th I am by Herman's Hermit. British rock at its best.

I also can't believe that people are not voting for Ruthie Rue. It is the only nickname that she actually is called from the list.

Ruth did reach another milestone: she held onto Rupert, her teddy bear, for over five minutes today. It made its way from the downstairs to the upstairs today in her hand. Very impressive, I think, that it did not fall on the way. She has also started reaching for my face when I hold her close. I would enjoy this more if her nails were not sharp knives that could cut cans. We have to file them just about every day for her not to cut one of us or herself. In fact, picture day was postponed one week because of a nasty scratch she gave herself in the night.

Name That Tune

Natalie and I have begun playing a little game called 'Name That Tune' which actually stemmed from a previous game called 'Make Up a Tune'. We have discovered that music really does soothe the savage beast (you parents know what I am talking about). So we began making up words to the songs that we know. In fact, most of our conversations about the daily routines of life are somehow intertwined amongst show tunes (Natalie) and classic rock (Me). But then when we realize that the other person has no idea what song we are altering we stop and ask 'Don't you know that song?' Just for the record, it's hard to recognize any song by lyrics you don't normally hear with the tune. For example:



"Tonight there's gonna be a diaper check

In this one baby house

tonight there's gonna be diaper check

And were gonna check it out"



I really like the original Thin Lizzy version of Jailbreak. You probably recognize it from the Budweiser commercial where the dalmations all run away together....that's the one. Tough to recognize when you mention diapers isn't it? I am working on a good song about bathtime that is based on Stranglehold by Ted Nugent. What says bathtime better than a long-haired, deer hunting, gun-toting, redneck? I say nothing!

Stop! Hey, what's that sound?

Ruth has started making new noises recently. At first she would make the typical cooing noises that would indicate she was happy. Clearly different from the sounds that she would make that would indicate unhappiness. We had read about this in all the 'manuals' so we expected this to continue for awhile. What the manuals didn't say is that Ruth would begin to make a vastly different sound around 3 months of age that would be both entertaining and yet unsettling. Now she makes a sort of screaming noise which I can only compare to what I think a cat and a pterodactyl would make if they were fighting. It is a long high-pitched squeal like an amplified creaky hinge. When you are playing with her everything is great because you know that sound is a good sound. In the dark however, that's a different story. I assume that her drawn out squeal means more than one word. As if she is speaking an entire sentence in one breath like a poorly dubbed kung-fu movie. I just wait for the subtitles and cringe a little inside. -Brian (like there was any question)

First Pictures

We went to Target to have Ruth's 3-month pictures taken, even though she wasn't quite 3 months at the time. The only time that Target has available was 4:00 which would have been right at feeding time for The Evil Genius. We were prepared for 30-minutes of pain with a costume change but she was a doll while we were there. She seemed to really enjoy being the center of attention (go figure). I filmed it so I could compile a little mocu-mentary after it was over, but the footage looks like I am having a seizure because I am shaking a toy sometimes and the camera most of the time. She was a little fussy at the costume change but we got some great nudies of her since she seems to enjoy being naked. Although, she was expecting to be paid more for the topless pictures I think. After it was over we fed her in the seasonal area of the store (our secret's out now) while they arranged the pictures. She went to sleep on my shoulder and pretty much slept through the rest of the occasion. It was great. I would like to post the pictures from their website here so you can see them. Needless to say, we went with the basics when we ordered. No fairy talking for my daughter! I put my foot down.

If you would like to see all of the other images you can at:

https://www.thesmilestation.com/home.asp?AC=LTTT0787100177TAR

Customer Name: Natalie Berry
Enjoy!