A glimpse of Ruth for Halloween

Since Ruth loves to make fish sounds, we have decided that she should be a fish for Halloween. And we found this great costume (with the tags still on it!!!!) at a second hand store.

And I am getting to post so many pictures because the computer system that Brian has installed is super fast!

Ruth in her big girl clothes

Ruth in her room wearing her big girl (2T) polo shirt. She loves playing with puzzles and thinks it is funny when Daddy jumps.

Ruth the Artist

On this day, August 13, I was doing something very quickly and left Ruth to her own devices only feet away from me. When I looked down, this is what I saw: Ruth and her stage make-up artist rendition of Ruth as Cat.

These two pictures are from August 4th. I thought Ruth looked so cute in her hair bow. You can see she agrees with me. The next picture is after lunch. Apparently it was a fruit day. I think by the looks of it maybe blueberries.

More Savannah and Tybee Island Pictures

Pictures From Savannah, Finally

No particular order.

Ballet is not for the lighthearted

As I write this, my sweet child is napping away. She had a great morning with Mrs. Leigh Ann and is now probably dreaming about the entire can of chicken noodle soup that she ate. Yes, an entire can.

I had my Friday morning Dance Pedagogy (teaching students how to be teachers) class at KSU and decided to stay and take the company ballet class. Let me just say that it kicked my fat, out of shape, pregnant butt. But this class would have been hard even in my best days of dance. The class was fast paced and the barre was a killer (we repeated everything and then did the other side and then got to stop). But I did the hour long barre and two exercises in center. When we started plies (the first exercises, bending the knees), I wanted to cry because it felt good to be around dancers and chat and hear the beautiful music. But by fondu (slow, melting of the legs and extending them and then repeating it on tip toe), I wanted to cry because my fat, out of shape, pregnant body couldn't control the melting quality and my legs refused to go about 65 degrees and I had to stop and rest because I was so tired. And let's not even talk about how the pelvis wasn't under my center. The sweet college kids told me that I looked great. Of course, many of these same kids are students of mine so you can't take too many compliments too seriously. At least I moved a little.

And now my legs, back (lower and upper) and butt are exhausted and beginning to rebel in pain. I wonder if I will be able to walk tomorrow?

It doesn't help that Ruth is still waking up in the night. We have given up on the one nap a day. When she only gets one nap (like yesterday) she wakes up often in the night. Brian and I were up with her between 2:30 and 3:30 am and we didn't go back to sleep ourselves until after 5am and then up again at 6am to start the day. I guess Ruth is just keeping us in shape for the new baby.

Cute

Ruth is very advanced verbally. Now, I have a friend who has twins who are were jumping with feet off the ground at 15 months (this usually doesn't happen until 2 years old). I have another friend whose daughter is making motor sounds when she plays with toys. Ruth does not do these things. Ruth talks.

If you saw Ruth out of the house you wouldn't hear her say many words. But at the house it is crazy how many things she says and how clear they are. We had some friends over for dinner the other night and they could understand every thing Ruth said (or rather demanded that we do).

This is what happened this morning. I put a shirt on Ruth that she doesn't usually wear very often because it is big. Ruth looked at the flowers on the bottom and said, "cute". She then proceed to say "mirror" which means "listen, you personal taxi of mine, take me to the mirror - Now!" I asked her if she wanted to look in the mirror to see how cute she looked. She answered by saying yes. So I carted her little, vain butt to the bathroom mirror so she could see the baby in the mirror. But this time, rather than just smiling at the baby, she pronounced, "I cute."

You have got to be kidding. This little girl who is not even 18 months old is already touting how cute she is. We have ruined her and we did it in just a little over a year. But Brian pointed out that it was good that she used the word "I" and that it must mean she knows that the baby in the mirror is her. I am not to sure. This same kid also says hi to her paci, her milk, and other strange things and said "bye -bye" to the light on the stairway as we were leaving this morning.

Go figure.

Accident

Brian has been trying to teach Ruth to put her hand up to her mouth when she says "uh oh". Last night at dinner Ruth dropped something on the floor and looked at us like she was in trouble (because, hey, let's face it, usually she is). But it was clearly an accident so I said to her, "It's okay. It was an accident." A few minutes later Brian had given Ruth a big piece of chicken to gnaw on and she purposefully threw the chicken on the floor. Immediately, she put her hand to her mouth and said "Ax-ca-dent!" We couldn't help but laugh.

If it's not one kid it's another

Monday morning Ruth woke us up at 2:30am and kept us up until after 4am. Last night Grayson woke me up kicking me at 4am, and I did not go back to sleep.

Brian has disconnected the desk top and I have yet to learn the new space age way to upload photos to the new wireless device. I promise, photos coming soon.

What a Week

It has been several days since I have updated the blog. Since then, my dad has been in the hospital pretty much the entire time with a kind of tick fever. And apparently he is being pretty mean, partly due to the drugs they are giving him. Brian and I had a much needed date and we had guests in for the weekend.

Late Friday night my friend from graduate school, Erika, and her family came in for a great visit. She has a four year old little boy, who Ruth just loved, and a little girl one month younger than Ruth. The girls had opposing nap schedules and really only got to play together a little on Saturday but shared a most amusing bath time. Her husband Matt and Brian enjoyed playing guitar hero on Saturday night after her son Ashur let them play something besides car races.

It is always nice to catch up with someone who "knew you when" and Erika always has such great insight and it is fun to talk to someone about ballet that has "lived to tell about it". Brian is great at listening and giving advice, but I don't know if he has ever done a successful pirouette. And Erika has.

I have some great photos that I will try to upload soon. Stay tuned.

No teaching ballet for me

Well, I taught last night at the church and it was tough. The girls were nice but it was so hard for me to teach since I have been off and am so much bigger than I was with Ruth.

But today I talked with the director and I will not be teaching there anymore. I am sad that I won't be teaching ballet at all this year but it is better to have a full break than have a bad experience. I am not saying the church would have been a bad experience but teaching when you don't feel good all the time isn't the most fun. I am going to continue at KSU since it is a lecture class.

Ruth and I went to a free music class a the library this morning and she really seemed to enjoy herself. Yet again Ruth wakes up when I am updating the blog.

Friday in Savannah

I will see how much I get to write before Ruth wakes up from her morning nap. I just sweep the kitchen and need to rest.

On Friday, Brian went to the career fair to interview pharmacy students. Ruth and I took the shuttle to a little mom and pop restaurant for breakfast. We decided to walk the 7 or so blocks back to the hotel. We stopped at Forysth Park and took pictures of the fountain. Ruth does not like to pose for pictures but did enjoy saying hi to the many, many dogs we saw. Apparently, everyone who lives in Savannah feels it is important to have a dog and to walk it before the heat gets too thick.

After our photo shoot, Ruth took a nap. When she woke up we had just enough time to play in the pool before checking out of the hotel at noon. We walked a few blocks to a tea room for lunch. You would think a tea room open for lunch in Savannah would have sweet tea. No, they didn't. They had unsweet tea and would bring you this syrup to sweetened it yourself at the table. We all know that if you sweeten tea after it has cooled it never tastes the same. Also, if I am in Savannah I expect some of the best sweet tea that I don't have to make myself. The food was nothing special either.

I pushed Ruth in the stroller through "antique" shops in the historic district. Most of the shops were not true antiques. It was very, very hot and I finally told Ruth that we would go back and wait for Daddy in the hotel lobby. We had an hour to wait but thankfully at that very moment he contacted me to let me know he was on the way back to the hotel. Yeah!

We left Savannah and went to Tybee Island, Ruth slept on the way and Brian and I pulled over for a snack. We checked into our room, ordered pizza and took a walk on the beach. We were really staying on the river side of the island and not the ocean. This was fine. The water was dirty but the small waves were great to swim in on Saturday morning. I was able to lay down in the water holding myself up by my arms and feel weightless without being hit by waves.

But that is Saturday's story that I will relay later.

No Sleep at this house

Ruth has been waking up and crying every few minutes since 3am. We put her down a little late, almost 9pm. She woke up the first time at midnight but went back to sleep soon after I went in to give her a paci. Then she woke up at 3am. Brian went to help her. Ten minutes later or so I went in when she started crying again. Then I went in again 30 or so minutes later and just got her out of bed to hold her. She sat straight up inmy arms and pointed to the big bed in her room and said "there". I just brought her to bed with us. Brian went downstairs (after having Ruth sleep part of the night with us each night in Savannah, he wasn't in favor of doing this at home and went downstairs to work on the computer since he was wide awake). After close to an hour of Ruth still not sleeping, I put her back in bed and we have been suffering her crying every 10 minutes or so. It is hard. I know she just wants to be held and I really want to go in and hold her and snuggle. But if I do that, then every night will be this same thing and before you know it Brian and I will be sleeping with Ruth instead of each other.

During that hour that Ruth and I were in bed together, it was nice. A couple of times she crawled up on me, as much as she can with my belly that looks like I am seven months pregnant, and snuggle into me and start to drift off to sleep. I would have let her too. I was enjoying her soft, warm, little body, but Ihave heartburn so bad and have had it for hours. I don't know if the heartburn is tearing my insides apart or if Grayso is pressing up against my ribs but I have some pretty bad pain right where my ribs start to separate. I don't think it is Grayson because he shouldn't be big enough yet.

How will I make it to December?

Back to Work

I have been forgetting to tell you that I am starting work on Tuesday at a new studio, of sorts. My non-compete contract expired on July 17 and I really have been more focused on being pregnant, a mom and a wife (unfortunately, in that order) and am now just getting around to posting about the new job.

I was offered a job at another studio in the county in the spring but decided to turn it down. I am really burned out on the studio experience and wanted something new. I had contacted a church with a dance ministry in early April and it worked out that they offered me a job. I will be teaching three classes for them on Tuesday nights. They have over 620 students, most of them little kids, of course. I am teaching 12 year olds and up. Their focus is to honor God with dance. Yes, I will be teaching ballet technique. But unlike studios where the purpose is to make money, the dance ministry's purpose is to spread the word of God. I am really looking forward to the experience. I truly enjoyed working for a Christian based studio three years ago and hope to rekindle my love of teaching and ballet in this setting. I did take a pay cut but am more than happy to do it for a better working environment. I have had very little income this summer, and we have done just fine. I will be teaching at KSU in the fall as well. This "studio" job is really for me to get out of the house and be me and to rediscover my love of ballet.

Let's just hope that I am not disappointed. Then I might have to start my own grocery shopping business!!!

Savannah is no Charleston

We just got back from Savannah and Tybee Island. As the title says, Savannah, which is often touted as a larger Charleston, is no Charleston. Not indeed.

On Thursday we drove down to Savannah. Ruth was quite fussy on the drive down taking only a 30minute nap in the car. But, once we got there she was okay. We checked into a hotel called "The Mansion" across from the park wit the big fountain that is always in pictures associated with Savannah. The park was undergoing quite a bit of construction so the view wasn't the best. We then suffered, and I do mean suffered, the heat and took a horse and buggy tour ride. We did this in Charleston as well. The tour guide in Charleston was awesome and the amount of history we learned in Charleston and the amount of Charleston we got to see far exceed the quality of the tour ride in Savannah. Savannah's many green spaces or squares were nice. (In one of them the Forest Gump park bench scenes were filmed). But the houses in Savannah do not look near as rich or repaired as Charleston. And we also had some Yankees on the tour ride who asked some very stupid questions. For example: the tour guide told us that Savannah has burned three times. The Yankee lady wanted to know how the houses burned if they were brick. First, these were not the original houses. Second, we have all seen brick houses that have burned. And third, didn't she think that maybe the fires spread by the rooftops and then consumed the interior of the house? It was hot and we were in no humor to listen to such questions.

After our ride, Ruth went to sleep in the room. When she woke up it was time for Brian to go to dinner with his team and Ruth and I had a big girl date together. The hotel drove us down to River Street. I had in mind a nice dinner. I should have stayed in the historic district and paid extra to eat at a little restaurant by a park. That would have been more the experience I was after. But Ruth and I went down to the very tourist and very busy River Street. We did get to watch huge cargo ships as they came up the Savannah River. She liked that. We had a greasy dinner in a loud restaurant and listened to some street musicians. We then walked home, yes, by street light, over 3/4 of a mile. When I called for a ride I was told it would be 20 - 25 minutes. I decided I would walk and met them. And it was fine most of the way. But I did start to get nervous the closer we got to the hotel and the fewer people that were out on the street. I was in heeled sandals and a skirt. Ruth was in the stroller. I had called the hotel and told them I was walking. About four blocks away the bell boy met us and escorted us the rest of the way there. How nice.

I will write of our Friday and weekend adventures later. So glad to be home.

Up close with Ruth

Another horsey video..up close

Ride a Little Horsey

This metal horse has been riden by my sisters (including me) and all my nieces and nephews. And now by Ruth.

Hot, Hot, Hot

We have been so fortunate to have good weather this summer during the month of July. Even when we were in Arkansas the weather was mild. However, this week the weather has decided to rear its summer head and today will be the second day we have had over 90 degrees in weeks. And today we are not going to have any air conditioning.

We are having our vents cleaned today. And this company won't be here until 10am. When I expressed my concern over how hot the house would be, the lady on the other end didn't seem to care. Apparently, although they schedule these appointments, they don't schedule at the customer's convenience. I guess they figure the cable company can get away with it so they can too. Ruth and I will have to be here today while this event is happening. Ruth is going to be upset. She hates the vacuum cleaner so imagine how upset she will be with men in our house and the vents covered up like the scene in ET when the house is engulfed in plastic. Further, how much fun is it going to be to be pregnant in all this heat. I don't know how the ladies before AC did it. I am hoping to put water in the blow up pool we have but it is supposed to rain today, but stay hot at the same time.

Ruth has added some new words to her repertory. The first is wonderful: help. She will say "help, help" when she needs help. This is great. I now know she needs help and is willing to accept it. The second is "read". She will bring me a book and say "read" but she usually doesn't stay around for me to finish the book. She used to sit still for books but now is usually off running to get something else after a few pages. The last word I will share with you is "dang". Yes, she learned this from me. She will say dang when something goes wrong. Very funny. However, she will also say dang and giggle and giggle and bait me to say it too. We just look at each other and laugh and say dang to each other for minutes. Brian doesn't think this is as half as funny as Ruth and I do.

Tomorrow we are going to Savannah for the weekend. Brian has a career fair for Target that he has to do and we are going with him. The first night we are staying at this very nice hotel across the street from the famous park. Ruth and I, if Ruth is willing, of course, are going to have a photo shoot Thursday night. Brian will be at his dinner. I would love to get some shots of Ruth playing in the park, but since Ruth is very attached to me and even more so when she sees a camera, I doubt it will occur.

On Friday afternoon we are switching hotels and staying on Tybee Island. We have a one bedroom rental at a "yacht club" for cheaper than a hotel room. It is right on the ocean!! I am very excited. We will beach in the morning and kiddie pool in the afternoon after Ruth's nap.

The vent cleaning people are here. Let's hope Ruth gets her nap out this morning and let's hope this doesn't take 5 -6 hours like they projected!!!

Stories About Ruth to Pass the Time

I woke up at 5am when Brian got out of bed to head to the gym. I feel sick this morning so to get my mind off of it, I am updating the blog, hoping Ruth will sleep until 6:30 am.

Last Wednesday when we (Ruth and I) were in the grocery store, once she finished her cookie she decided that she wanted to walk and push the cart instead of ride in the car in front of the cart. She did pretty well only derailing from the path at the butter where she decided every brand needed to be moved over one place to the right. Then, when we were in the frozen food isle with freezers on both sides of us, Ruth decided that she would show me how she could run and ran down the isle shouting "running!" pumping her arms just like a track star. It as pretty funny but hard to catch her.

Since we have returned from Arkansas, Ruth has pretty much become my kid. Before our trip, when Brian would come home from "wurk" she would cry until he picked her up and then be attached to him all night. Now, she is more balanced even wanting me some of the time.

Let me give you an example of one of our recent conversations. Yesterday as I fixed her lunch Ruth peeped around the corner and began this interaction:
"Hi, mommy!"
"Hi, Ruth."
"Hi, mommy!"
"Hi, Ruth."
"Hi, momeeeeeee!"
"Hi, Ruthieeeeeeee."

This continued about 6 - 8 more times.

Well, Ruth has now cried and is awake. She is sitting very calmly next to me but who knows how long that will last.