summer

I think someone took the scotland that i knew and traded it with some other bizarro-scotland. maybe it is global warming... whatever the fluke, because i am sure it is a fluke, we are having some glorious weather! when i say glorious, i mean the following: high 50s to high 60s, little wind and gobs of sunshine. the weather has been so great that i have been wearing skirts, and ruby has been lathered with sunscreen on her bare arms and legs when we leave the house! i have a fear that someone will wake me from this amazing dream.....

we happen to have a great park near our house that has all the equipment that kids need to tire them out. ruby is a big fan of the swings, and she is getting used to the little slide there too. we try to go a few times a week, but it isn't a best kept secret, so the swings are usually full. this is also the last week of all the playgroups and music times that we go to. they close up shop for the summer, so we will have to meet up with our friends at the afore mentioned park for some outdoor fun. i hope this weather lasts!!!

10 months old

internet? what is that!? ever since Ruby started
crawling, i barely have time to sit in front of this contraption! one of the only things she really dislikes, besides gratch eating her toast, is sitting in front of the computer while mommy types. so if you don't hear from me, or i haven't posted in a while, you know why.
ruby is great. she is funny, smart, friendly and beautiful. we love her and can't say too many wonderful things about her no matter how early she wakes us up, or how many nappies we must change. we love watching her change and seeing her personality emerge. and we love the fact that she teaches us things, in the best buddha-like style.

9 months

i can not believe it! if only the 9 months of pregnancy went by as quickly! i guess expectation makes pregnancy seem so long. now when she is growing and changing you want to hold onto every second of every day, and you realize that life is such a fleeting thing. now when we go to classes, ruby is one of the bigger babies and the other younger babies seem so small and boring. i say to myself "was ruby ever like that? did she ever just lay there like a blob?" i guess it is good that i say this to myself, or i might get myself into trouble with the other mommies.....
although we have both been sick in the past few weeks (and i have been slammed with hayfever), we have been out enjoying the nicer spring-ish weather. ruby has started to go to playgroups and music classes. she enjoys watching the bigger kids (toddlers) play, and is really gentle with the smaller babies.
she is crawling and now has 4 teeth! she is getting better with finger foods, but still prefers her food pretty smooshy. gratch is still her favorite thing, and now he is constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure she isn't sneeking up on him. he grudgingly loves her too, the perfect older brother!

surprise trip!

we just returned home from a very quick surprise trip to Florida! we were only there about a week, enough time to thaw out, shop and see some family. we tried to keep it quiet because we knew that we would not have time to fit everyone in if they knew we were in town. don't worry, we will be back in the US in December for a proper visit!

Ruby enjoyed her first trip to the states. she could wear almost nothing and still be warm, she got carried around by lots of people who were dying to meet her, and she was adored by strangers all over the place. she loves to travel, and did really well on the very long plane rides (lucky for us). she can't wait to go back and see more friends and family in december.

ruby is now over 8 months old, about 19 pounds and beginning to crawl! gratch is getting worried, but he has been giving her his ball so that she is trained early on how to throw it to his exact specifications.

springless-ness

i looked back at last March's entries, and at about the same time last year I was complaining about winter weather at the end of March. I guess i should get used to the fact that 'spring break' here isn't the same as in Florida. Spring break used to mean the beginning of beach attire and tanning lotion, now it means wrestling the north wind over control of the stroller and lotion for chapped cheeks.
ruby is growing and finally getting into 6-9 months clothes. as the scots say she is "coming on well"! she has got this cute little baby belly, and rolls that we like to refer to as muscles. she is getting closer and closer to crawling so we have begun to baby-proof the house in preparation.

7 months

it is mother's day here in the UK, and Ruby is now 7 months! somehow ruby and gratch bought me some fancy chocolates for mommy's day and managed to get me a cute card too! what exceptional babies i have! mother nature is also celebrating the day, giving us sunshine and no wind, a combination that we rarely see this time of year. that means we are headed out for a nice long walk and some frisbee.
march is a month we have all been looking forward to here. for me it means the beginning of spring and time to work in the garden. my garden was neglected somewhat last summer and fall with ruby's arrival, but i am hoping to get it back in shape! for david, march means the start of fishing season! something he has been anxiously awaiting since last october, when last year's season ended. i have promised to take up fly fishing this year, we'll see how that goes. might end up with ruby, gratch and i being spectators and hecklers instead of actual fishers. that sounds more up my alley!

6 months

surely it can't be! half a year since i gave birth? no way!
so, i have been thinking about my life and the past year and how it has all changed and what a crazy and wonderful ride it has been to get to where we are now. there is so much that i have learned in this past year, things that people or books tried to prepare me for, but nothing beats the real-life experience. much of the advice was given by those that love me, but as usual with life, you need to live it to make your own mistakes and to learn it all yourself. so i decided to bore you all with what i have learned in the past year about being a first time mom, if you aren't interested, then stop reading this blog now.....

ok, for all you other people who want a laugh or some actual insight into what my life is like now, here it goes:
What I have learned:
1) get 50 different opinions on everything. Because, there are atleast 50 ways to do things, and it is better to be informed than to guess. You can decide which is best for YOU and YOUR baby after you hear them all, and once you decide no one can tell you that you have no clue what you are doing. Read books about childbirth and being a parent, listen to friends, listen to your mom, listen to your midwife or doctor, go on message boards and then chose what you want to do. parenthood is not a good time to just wing it. when people tell you something that you 100% don't agree with, file it away in your brain so you remember why you chose to do what you are doing. and always remember, most of the people are just trying to be helpful even if you think they are clueless.
2) nothing can prepare you for giving birth, and your birthplan is worth about as much as the paper it is written on. sure there are people who will tell you to have your baby at home, or you MUST go to a hospital, or that modern day delivery is comparable to being raped, but then refer to my first point and say "thanks for your opinion". I had a birthplan that I swore I would stick to, and now when we read over it we laugh at how naive we were! Ultimately you will do what you must do to have a healthy baby in your arms at the end of it all.
3) Be flexible... and i am not talking yoga (although that helps too). Put your baby first and do what is right for them, not what you decided that you would do before you were a parent. Live your life on 'baby time' as much as possible, and take cues from your baby as to what you should be doing from day to day, because it changes daily if not more.
4) Breastfeeding is a bitch, but totally worth it. some people had it easier than i did, but for me it was a huge struggle and i almost gave up. it hurt, ruby had a horrible latch, but it got better. i was told "if it hurts, you aren't doing it right"... total crap. it took me 6 weeks to get it down pat, and i know some people took more -or less- time. most people i know supplement with bottles, and you are not a failure if you have to resort to that. no one should make you feel guilty for not breastfeeding. just try, don't give in, supplement with formula if you must. importantly, breastfeeding is not all about nutrition, it is also about bonding with your child.
5) your body will change. most of us didn't look like Heidi Klum before we got pregnant, and we won't look like her afterwards either. you might get stretchmarks, a linea negra, spider veins, or sag. me, my stomach will never be in a bikini again no matter how much i try to get it there. my body shape has changed slightly since being pregnant, and i am ok with that. i refuse to crash diet to lose weight, because now i have a baby to feed, and a baby to influence with my nutritional choices. i want my daughter to have a healthy relationship with food and eat right. i need to model healthy eating and i don't want her to learn to hate her body.
6) don't buy all the crap they tell you that you must have. there is so much stuff out there that is useless (like wipe warmers), and things that WE personally found impractical (onesies). keep the receipts and tags for everything, because you will want to take things back once you get to know your baby. i knew that i needed to wash the baby clothes before Ruby wore them, but i wish that i washed less of them because we now have clean clothes that were never worn and can't be returned! can't wait for the next nearly-new sale! there are also things that we didn't get that i wish we had, and i am keeping a list for the next baby.
7) it isn't as scarey as you might think. once we got the pregnancy test results, i think we were both nervous about being parents and the level of comitment that entailed. well, mother nature gives you 9 months to get ready for it, and then once you have the baby in your arms, it is all worth it. it is a cliche, but being a parent is the best thing in the world. when i think of Ruby as a teenager, a wave of nausea overtakes me, but i have years of learning before i have to tackle that obstacle. and being a parent is about learning, daily. and loving.... there can never be too many cuddles, too many kisses, too many "i am proud of you"s, too many "i love you"s.... but that is just my opinion, one of about 50 that you should consider.