This is it...

Today is my last day at home, on maternity leave with Ruby. She turns 18 weeks tomorrow, so I know that I'm truly blessed to have had the extra time to stay at home and bond with her. Today is the day I will say that I have a perfect baby- nobody could possibly tell me different. Sure, we've had our challenges with the bottle, sleep, reflux, etc. but today, well today she is just perfect. I just put her down for her morning nap, and instead of 'working' towards getting her to sleep, I just enjoyed the moment. We rocked, cooed, smiled, she now touches my face with her hand, runs her hand through my hair, and just smiles and is happy. There is nothing more wonderful in this world than looking at your child looking at you, with pure happiness. I didn't rush her to sleep today, we took our time. She is perfection in my eyes. I am so blessed with Ruby, and am so excited to watch her grow. With Ginger, it was all new to us. We didn't know what to expect, and that was definitely fun. But with Ruby, we get to take our time and enjoy where we are at the moment, instead of wondering what's next, in front of us. Ruby is definitely our little gem, heaven on earth in my eyes.

Mission Accomplished: Swaddle

Sure does feel like I'm accomplishing a lot these days! We have finally (FINALLY) broken free from the need for a swaddle, and I am happy to report that Ruby has let it go without too much of a fuss. We have been in between for a few weeks now- her fighting the swaddle, but needing it to calm and fall asleep. We took the 'book smart' approach- one arm out for a few days, then both arms, then yesterday she spent the day at my folks house (who always are bewildered that children these days are swaddled past a few weeks of age). That means that there was no swaddle at all, and the girl did great. So we decided to just give it up completely and last night she only woke up once (at 2am, to nurse) and then slept nicely until 6:45am. Not bad! She takes a little more rocking to fall asleep, but all in all, I am SO happy that she no longer needs to be straight jacketed to fall asleep. One more vice we can get shed!

On another note, I went back to trying the playtex drop-ins (bottles we used for Ginger) despite having some success with the MAM bottles, and Ruby now loves them! Well, for Ruby, anyhow, which means she will latch and take 2-3 ounces without much of a fuss. Still working on getting her to take 5-6 ounces (which is the recommendation for her age) but she'll occasionally go to 4 oz if she's hungry enough. Our big word for Ruby continues to be: PROGRESS. She's not the easiest baby in the world, but she certainly is the most beautiful! :)

Mission Acomplished: Bottle

Who knew that there were so many babies who refuse bottles out in this world?!? It's very much an unspoken conversation with doctors (and especially lactation consultants!), but I have come to the realization that I will notify every new mom I meet to not hesistate in getting baby adjusted to a bottle sooner than the recommended 6-8 weeks old, especially if they are planning on returning to work.

Ruby really, really struggled with the bottle. And even at this point, while she will take it, she's not terribly happy about it, and it takes a ton of work to get her to take it. She needs to be getting sleepy, the breastmilk needs to be very warm, she needs to be swaddled, she can't be facing me directly, so she needs to either look over my shoulder, or away from me completely. I have to sing her twinkle twinkle over and over and over while she chugs the bottle. But she chugs it, finally.

This has impacted my enjoyment of the last month of maternity leave, I'll be honest. All I've wanted to do is snuggle, love on, and enjoy Ruby, but instead I've had to work on this mission, and it's really tough! But I will feel so much better going back to work knowing that she will take a bottle, I just felt awful about handing her over to someone and saying "FYI- she's not on a bottle yet".

So, I can proudly say Mission Accomplished with our little diva. Good thing she is so unbelievably adorable, because even though it's "work", when she flashes me her dimple smile after a feeding, or when she wakes from her nap, it makes it totally, totally worth it. :)

Month 3

Well, I can officially say with confidence that we have a little diva on our hands! Month 3 has been yet another month of learning for us, starting with Ruby's refusal to take a bottle. I have been BF since birth without issue, and most doctors and books recommend waiting until weeks 6-8 to introduce a bottle, so as to not cause what is called nipple confusion. Well, what has happened is bottle refusal as a result. I will never, EVER wait to introduce a bottle again- what a load of cr@p! It has been extremely wearing to not ever, ever be able to leave the house or her for more than 2 hours at a time. We have tried when she's sleepy, awake, my mom has tried, Paul has tried, my dad has tried, we have tried 7 different types of bottles. We have tried holding her nursing style, in her boppy, in her bouncer, and NOTHING. We have finally made it to her allowing about an ounce to be dripped into her mouth, but she is still not latching to the bottle and sucking.

All of this is causing me a great deal of anxiety, as I must return to work in less than 4 weeks. I am working with her every single day with taking a bottle, but I must tell you that this little diva is wearing me thin with her insistence on nursing from ME and ME only!

Week 12 was particularly difficult for us as well, but since having scavenged the internet for answers, I've learned that a 12 week growth spurt is typical. She has been the 3 C's- clingy, crying, and cranky! Yes, I told you this girl is a DIVA!
We are back to waking up 2-3 times a night, and only sleeping again by nursing- that is similar to Ginger and once I'm back to work, we'll need to nip that down to just 1. But we'll get there.

I suppose I should have started out this blog with all of the fantastic, wonderful things that Ruby is learning and demonstrating. Both because she will probably read this one day (ha!), and because I don't want anyone to think that I'm not L-O-V-I-N-G this girl with ALL of my heart!

She is incredibly vocal, just like Ginger. She will chit-chat with you at any time- lots of coo's, oooh's and aaaah's. Giggles and laughter abound from her. So she is extremely playful and fun to tickle and kiss, that's for sure! Yesterday, at 13 weeks and 1 day, she rolled over from her back to her tummy! It was amazing to watch- she almost seemed too little to have mastered that skill already! She is a crib incher- meaning that by the time she is done with a nap/sleeping overnight, she has moved from the bottom of the crib to the top of the crib. Already? I swear this is all going at lightening speed!

We are still addicted to the swaddle, which I am trying to wean her from but both her and I give up too easily. She falls asleep so nicely all swaddled up, but she fights it so much now that I almost think she would sleep better without it. But she won't actually FALL to sleep without it. So this month we'll need to work on it, one arm, then both arms, then legs, etc. Which will mean a few sleepless nights for me, if it goes the way it did with Ginger!

All in all, it has been an amazing experience to go to a family of 4. It is not for the weary, I am actually in shock that so many others do it (and even more, like 3, 4, or 5 kids!) because it is a HANDFUL with 2! But we are enjoying every minute of it. Sleepy-eyed and all :)

The Magic of Disney

What an amazing time we had on our family's first visit (together) to Disneyland! Our nanny works PT at Disneyland on weekends, and had provided us with tickets to cover myself, Paul, and my mom and dad (thanks Maureen!). So, the tickets were burning a hole in my pocket for months, but I wanted to wait until I thought Ginger was really ready to take in and create a memory of her first visit to Disneyland.

We all packed up and left the house at a decent time, ready to get there when it opened. However, silly me, I forgot the tickets of all things, and we had to turn around and come back to get them! Luckily, we had only made it about 15 minutes out by the time I remembered, but it did cause the morning to kick off a bit later than expected :)

We arrived and entered Disneyland to be greeted by Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, and Snow White. It was amazing!! I was nursing Ruby on a park bench with my mom and watched Ginger interact with Pluto and Goofy from afar. Then once we were done we all walked over to see Mickey, and took a few family photos with him. Of course, Ruby was already starting to doze off so she missed out on the first few family pics.

We walked the entire park, practically, and rode several rides! Here's the rundown: Peter Pan, Carousel, Dumbo, Teacups (2x), Small World, Space Mountain (sans children), Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean, Disney Railroad.

Ginger's favorite ride was the teacups, with a close 2nd going to Dumbo. She had a permenant smile on her face the entire day, with the exception of a few moments waiting in line, prior to lunch where she was getting a bit tired. But as soon as we had some fuel in us (mac-n-cheese for her, pizza for me, pastrami burger for Dad, and of course, mommy's milk for Ruby :) we were back in action.

We were so, so, so, so grateful to have my mom and dad join us! Two extra sets of hands were helpful, especially with Ruby since she decided that she no longer enjoyed riding in the bjorn. Funny enough, I took her out 2 days later to an outlet mall and she loved being in the bjorn. Go figure!

We made it to 6:45pm, and honestly, it was more the adults that were "done" than Ginger. She was still skipping, running, and raring to go on more rides. She did SO well on our trip, that we're thinking about returning in a little bit to explore California Adventure. Maybe once Ruby takes a bottle, which is a whole other story!

Sweet girls...

Baby Ruby is 10 weeks old today! Amazing how time truly flies...we have the happiest baby ever these days. She grins, coo's, smiles, even laughs. She's a talker just like Ginger was! She even looks like Ginger in so many ways. Here is Ginger with her new twinkle toes shoes that she picked out herself, and then a few of Ruby playing with her toys and visiting with Auntie Julie!

Month 2

I guess being a mother of a toddler and newborn means there is literally no time for blogging! This month has been challenging to start with, but finished with smiles, laughter, and (finally!) some well earned sleep! Weeks 4-7 were particularlly challenging for Ruby, as she was still dealing with being one gassy little girl! I am lucky/unlucky enough to have the problem of overproduction of milk and letdown, which means Ruby has to really work to keep up with my flow, and, well, that caused gas, projectile vomits, multiple baths, etc. It was tough keeping up! But around week 7, she finally was able to keep up with me, and now we have turned the page and have one terrifically HAPPY little girl! LOTS of smiles (and the most perfect dimples- don't know where they came from but they are gorgeous!), coo's, snuggles, and let me tell you, this girl has turned into a great sleeper! Starting at 7 weeks, she began sleeping from around 8pm-3am, nursed then fell back to sleep until 7am. Once in a long while we will have a night where I'll need to wake twice, but most nights it's just once. That is pretty incredible to me- Ginger was nursing 2-3 times a night well into her 5th and 6th month until she started on solid foods. I am taking each night as it comes, and not taking ANY sleep for granted in case anything changes. But for now, we feel blessed!

Ginger turned 2 during Ruby's 2nd month, and let me tell you- I am in L-O-V-E with that girl more and more every single day (is that possible?) She is vivacious, percocious, inquisitive, a bit dramatic (Paul and I joke that she takes after the other on that one), articulate, and sensitive. She has come to the realization that Ruby is here to stay and is much more go-with-the-flow with her now. She loves to run into Ruby's room when she wakes up, saying "Hi Ruby! Good morning!" and she also loves to make funny faces at her to try and make her laugh. It's pretty comical to watch.

We are adjusting to our new house that we moved into a few weeks ago. That was quite a stressor but we've made it through, now looking at boxes all over our house. We've unpacked about 50-60% of our stuff, so now it's just onto the final boxes, hanging pictures, and decor stuff. But we'll get there.

So, that's month 2 in a nutshell. I feel incredibly blessed by Ruby every day. She has these beautiful eyes that can pierce through your stare at her, like she's looking into your soul or something. I love her spirit, she is also inquisitive already and I can tell she will follow in her big sis' footsteps in that regard. More to come, but this tired mom is signing off and hoping I make it back here before month 3 comes to a close! LOL

Month 1

Holy cow, we have a 1 month old people. That went FAST. Things have been up and down day by day, with great moments, and those that have been challenging. Ruby is a gassy girl, let me tell you! Week 3 was a tough one, and once I finally decided to give up all dairy products, faithfully use Mylicon and gripe water, and burp her religiously, I think we have things under control. I miss milk. And cheese. And ice cream. But you do what you do for your kids, and at least this is helping me get back to my preprego weight! 15 lbs to go (although I still want to lose another 30, as I was at my peak weight when I got pregnant with Ruby!)

Ruby is starting to enjoy the few moments of being awake in this world, despite a few weeks where all she wanted to do was nurse, sleep, cry, or poop. She is now going to 15-45 minute stretches of looking around, following things with her eyes, and just beginning to make cooing sounds. It's here, finally, the time where we finally start to get back after giving, giving, giving. Phew!

I am exhausted. Paul is exhausted. But we can't complain, we have a beatiful healthy baby girl who is growing and (re)teaching us things every day.

A few days ago, Ruby's cousin baby Jake was born under extremely challenging circumstances. He is a little fighter, but it has provided a terrible scare for our entire family and makes Paul and I feel even more alert about how easy we really have had it. My poor brother and sister-in-law are having to learn a lot of tough lessons, on their first child, and all we can do is help to support them and love them. I just wish they could have had a more normal first child delivery experience. But as long as Jake remains healthy, that is all we can hope for. Find the sunshine instead of the darkness.

So, we are marching along. Ginger continues to make progress in the big sister category, although she is still a bit of a bull in a china shop. Every day she wakes up, she asks for her baby sister. When she comes home from daycare, she immediately asks for her baby sister. She wants to sit next to us while I'm nursing. She wants to snuggle her while we give her tummy time. She wants to help swaddle her. She SCREAMS "MOMMY, MOMMY!!" when Ruby wakes up, crying. Luckily Ginger hasn't been bothered from her overnight sleep- that girl sleeps like a log.

So, there you have it. G4, over and out :)

The first two weeks....

The first two weeks have been pretty amazing, I must say! Funny the things that you forget, though, about having a newborn in your house. Although I have to say that between each baby being different, as well as our circumstances, it's really hard to determine if life is just different, or if we truly have forgotten some of the best and most challenging moments of having a newborn.

Nursing...is going extremely well! I have been blessed again with a daughter who latches easily, and was a natural at nursing. I know so many friends who have experienced challenges with nursing and I feel so, so, so lucky that we haven't encountered any problems. Well, other than the fact that I produce enough milk for 3 kids, it seems, so poor Ruby has to take some breaths in between nursing otherwise the girl spits up everything she just ate cause mama's 'letdown' is fierce! But if that's the worst of my problems, I'll take it :)

Sleep....well, all things considered, I feel blessed. Ruby sleeps (for the most part) 2-3 hours, then nurses, then usually goes back to sleep fairly easily. There have been a few rough nights where she wants to nurse for what seems like 1-2 hours straight (yes, straight!) and other moments where she will nurse and then be wide awake and not want to return to sleep as easily. But for the most part, I'm up 3-4 times a night, and we're sleeping from 11pm-9ish am. So I consider that a B+ (and I know if she was on formula, she'd sleep even longer but this is the trade-off with breastfeeding).

We gave Ruby her first bath once her cord stump fell off (and yes, I saved it, much to my mother's displeasure! She calls it 'a scab'. Ha!), and just like Ginger, she didn't enjoy bathtime! Let's just say she didn't chill in her baby bath with a smile on her face :) Ginger grew to love her baths fairly quickly, which I'm hoping will be the case with Ruby. However, once she was in her jammies and was able to cuddle she was in heaven.

Ginger just LOVES her baby sister. She is very proud to tell others about 'baby Ruby', and is always very eager to let me know when she is crying, fussing, etc. Ginger usually shrieks and says "mama, baby Ruby, baby Ruby!" as if I don't notice that she's crying. It's pretty cute. She is VERY hands on, so we have to be watchful that she doesn't go overboard. The other day she took a blanket, thinking she was going to wipe some spit-up off of her lip, and practically smothered the poor girl in blanket! She does struggle a little bit with not getting 100% of the attention, usually by either having a little melt-down, or using her 'outside voice' when i ask her to speak softly. She continues to go to daycare 3-4 days a week, mostly for her benefit in terms of keeping her in routine and on schedule, but also to allow me to experience a similar bonding experience with Ruby that I had with Ginger. And it's working out fantastic, as I'm able to pick her up early from daycare but also have time to nap when Ruby naps, etc.

Ruby has had 2 rather difficult photoshoots at this point, and I've determined that she may have a strong-willed personality if her temperment at the shoots reflects her future. Both times, she was peaceful, nursed, and sleeping until she was placed in front of the camera. Then she woke, expressed her displeasure when posed, got the hiccups, wanted to cluster nurse, yep- she did it all. After the first session our photographer offered to reshoot the following week, which was sweet but after round 2 of the same behavior I think it's safe to say that we'll wait before taking her in for another studio session! Once we get into our new house, our friend Kymberli will be coming over for another photoshoot- hopefully when Ruby is in her own element she'll be more agreeable!

Speaking of which- yes, I said "new house"! We are so excited to be in escrow on a new house just a few miles away that can easily be considered our dream come true. It offers 4 bedrooms, plus a bonus playroom, family room, formal living room, dining room, breakfast nook, and jacuzzi tub in my master! (That was a must for me, as our current house has only one teeny tiny bathtub that I never, ever fit into) The house also has a pool (with diving board!), is on 1/2 acre, has 8 different fruit trees, an amazing rosh bush garden, and a full sized basketball court that will serve as the future pad for a 3-4 car garage at the back of the property for Paul. PLUS, and most most most importantly, the house is in a great neighborhood, which offers a fantastic elementary school for Ginger and Ruby to attend. We knew if we stayed in our current home, we would have been forced to place the girls into private school as the elementary school has mediocre (at best) test scores so this really is a dream for me. We close escrow on 1/7/2011 and hope to move into the new house sometime the following week. So exciting!

Overall, there are some crazy challenging moments where Paul and I have looked at one another with the "what did we get ourselves into" look, but otherwise baby Ruby has integrated pretty well into our little unit! I just cannot WAIT to continue watching Ruby grow up and start to recognize Ginger, play with her, immulate her, etc. But I'm learning to take each day at a time and enjoy these moments, and not try to rush past any phase in order to get to the next one. Especially now, having seen how Ginger's baby days just RUSHED past us, it seems, I'm really trying to honor Ruby by just enjoying the moments. It's been wonderful!

Meet Ruby Olivia...