Out With the Old, In With the New...

Just two and a half hours and it will be 2009...i must be getting old because time just seems to pass faster and faster. We were supposed to have friends over for dinner tonight, but had to cancel due to a sinus infection that I thought was going to turn into the flu. Thank goodness it didn't and the antibiotics are awesome! So instead of our original plans which we will reschedule, Daniel & I went out for an early dinner at our favorite restaurant (my mom had the beebs), I fed Ru and now I'm writing my last post of 2008 and then it's off to bed, before midnight...i know, I'm such an old lady, but I'm okay with that!

(a very low key new year's eve)













(daniel's dinner came with free sea shells...ick!)













This past year was quite an adventure, with daniel being hired on as a salaried employee for Air Coastal Charter, a move to a new home and all that entails...the passing of my grandpa, a new baby who came much earlier than expected, a new car for me, and finally daniel being downsized from salary to contract work, on Christmas eve no less. What kind of timing was that? At first we were so upset, and Daniel was worried about what we would do, but it didn't take long to realize the Lord has a plan for us, and Air Coastal is no longer a part of that plan.

If there's one thing my mom taught me at a very young age, it's that if we are faithful in our finances, ie. tithing, the Lord is faithful to us. I have given 10% of my income to the church as long as I can remember, and I have never been in want of work. This was a difficult adjustment for Daniel when we got married, after all, 10% is nothing to laugh at, but he soon realized the blessings that come when we are faithful to give to the church who in turn blesses those in need. Every time he turned around he was getting a new opportunity to earn money. At one point I think the boy had about five different jobs at one time.

Within two days of the bad news, Daniel has managed to pick up two new students, has the possible opportunity to fly contract on a plane that he needs to build time in, we were more than blessed with a generous check from both of my grandmas as Christmas gifts & finally, my expense check from work (which I dragged my feet on doing) was approved & issued in record time and will nearly cover our entire car insurance bill. Before this happened we had researched paying for health insurance on our own and were planning for me to leave my job to stay home with Ruby. There was a reason we dragged our feet on filling out the insurance forms... praise the Lord I wasn't hasty to quit! For once in my life procrastination was a blessing! :) Daniel flew contract today and learned that they will probably be moving the hanger to Temecula permanently (they used to be based at John Wayne). He was also told that they would probably be able to hire him back sooner than expected. Thanks, but no thanks...commute to Temecula, who needs that? The year Daniel spent at Air Coastal was an awesome opportunity, it allowed him to work on the side and make extra money which helped with the move &, it also allowed him to spend a lot of time with his new daughter, but, we both realize that God has something better in store for us. What, we don't know, but we're excited to find out. There are other examples of God at work in our lives, but i don't want to go on forever...the bottom line is, often times when we feel least in control, we are actually in the safest place and that's the best time to watch God at work in our lives. He is our provider, always, and why we ever doubt Him I don't know. So goodbye 2008 and hello 2009, I can't wait to see what's in store for us.

(last picture of Ru in 2008...
gotta love home made gifts!)

Inhalers, Monitors & Medicine Oh My!

(sad mommy in the ER)















What a week it has been! I was so looking forward to all the posts on Christmas firsts...pics with Santa, homemade stockings, family get togethers etc. etc. However God has a very strange sense of humor at times & much of this has had to take a back seat. Last monday, (shortly after I had the thought..." I can't believe Ruby is almost six months old and hasn't gotten sick once!") our little lady started to get the sniffles, which grew into a cough and a very wheezy girl. By wednesday it was bad enough to consider taking her to the doctor, but i decided against it with the reasoning that they wouldn't be able to do anything for a cold. Thursday morning came and Ru sounded awful, so Daniel decided to take her to the pediatrician. All the while she is in the best of spirits; smiling, laughing and just being her normal happy self. When the doctor saw her he told us she had bronchiolitis (inflammation of the bronchioles within the lungs), and that her lungs sounded pretty bad. He debated admitting her to the hospital, and decided against it only because "she was in such a good mood" and didn't "look" like a sick baby at all, she was even laughing at the him.

He sent her home with an inhaler and had us schedule a follow up appointment for saturday which we never made it to. Instead, Danny went to pick her up friday night from Grandmas and she sounded considerably worse. Long story short, (yeah right!) we took her to the ER, and they were concerned with her heavy wheezing and crackely lungs. They took chest x-rays, suctioned her nose with what looked like a pressurized turkey baster, catheterized her nose to suck the mucus out of her lungs and gave her multiple breathing treatments of albuterol. All the while my girl was all smiles with the exception of whenever they had anything shoved up her tiny little nose which is quite understandable! :( Again the hospital debated whether or not to admit her, because other than the snotty nose she had no outward symptoms, but, after the fifth breathing treatment with minimal results and a positive test result for RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus) they decided we needed to stay. RSV is really just a cold virus, but it hits infants much harder causing insane amounts of mucus which becomes dangerous when it gets in the lungs and it is also SUPER contagous! So, Ruby & I spent the night at Long Beach Memorial both friday and saturday night, rather than doing fun things like going to see the christmas lights, or baking cookies...you get the point!

(this is how she woke up in the hospital!)











After two days of having her oxygen levels monitored, several more breathing treatments and a couple doses of prednisolone as well as countless nose suctionings,
we are now home. With the new routine being, using the humidifier, propping up her mattress and suctioning her poor little nose several times an hour as well as continuing on the inhaler. As you might have guessed this has impacted our Christmas plans greatly as she is still very contagous as well as susceptable and we don't want to share her germs with any of her cousins although she has already managed to share with both mommy AND daddy who now have colds! ;) Many things that we wanted to do didn't get done, but there's always next year, and the important thing is I have a healthy baby who's on the mend. We're so grateful we caught this early, because it could have been much worse. I'm just happy to have my little muffin home on Christmas and to be able to spend the holiday as a family! Thank you to all those who left messages of well wishes and prayers & to those who didn't even know about all the goings on, well, it was one less thing to stress out about during this crazy time of year!

("what the heck is this glowing thing on my toe?")

















why it's an oxygen monitor for Ruby the red-toed baby!















Daddy & his Angel Bear

Happy Five Months...

one day late ? ;) Yesterday my roo-bear was five months old and I can't believe what a little lady she's turning in to. She no longer looks like a little baby, even Daniel noted the other day, "she's such a little person now". It's just crazy how fast time is passing, but I'm loving everday. I look forward to celebrating this Christmas season as a family and enjoying all those holiday firsts: pictures with Santa, choosing her first ornament, looking at all the Christmas lights when we take our evening walks, opening presents, visiting with family & friends, etc., etc. I already have all her presents picked out (which will go in her stocking...which has yet to be made...hmmm) and I can't wait to give them all to her. Just a few small things, as she is just a baby still, but purposefully and carefully chosen. I will be sure to post pictures of her stocking and all it's contents after Christmas.

It's been eleven years...

since i first fell in love with Daniel Harris Green. Eleven years ago today it was made official, and Daniel asked me to be his girlfriend. We had been dating for a couple months, but Suzanne Yoon convinced Daniel that he needed to "ask me out" proper, and so he did, in the parking lot after school as i stood on the door jam of my little toyota corolla. I was so excited as he was my very first (and last) boyfriend. It was less than a year after that, I knew I would marry him and after six LONG years, we were indeed married. ;) I can't remember life before "The Boy", (as my parents referred to him way back when) but the past eleven years sure has flown by. I love you mr. green and I'm thankful I found someone who not only puts up with my craziness, but loves me despite it!

way back when...




















on our "eleven year anniversary"
Celebrating at Picarelli's

Ruby Tuesday Relived...

(2 days old)

What's old is new again...this post is actually my last blog post on myspace before i switched over to my Vintage Ruby Lemon blog. The reason I am reposting is because i plan to eventually have my blog turned into a book as a gift to give Ruby when she is older. I thought that was such a cool idea, something we can all look back on and remember a time when things were so different...i get teary just thinking about it, it is amazing how quickly time passes! Anyway, withouth further adieu, here goes! (originally posted on August 2, 2008)


okay, so in three days my baby girl will four weeks old, so I figure I should get my butt in gear & fill everyone in on the details! On tuesday, July 8th, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning in shock as my water broke! Being as that my due date wasn't for another six and a half weeks, I couldn't believe it; I was totally in denial...I called my mom first & then my doctor who told me I needed to go to the hospital immediately (after she made sure I hadn't just confused my water breaking with an accident!- I think I know the difference!) I asked if I could take a shower first to which she said no, I then asked if they might be able to just put me on bed rest at home instead of making me spend the rest of my pregnancy in the hospital, to which she gave me a more emphatic & definite no! All I have to say is she's lucky I shaved my legs right before I went to bed the night before, or I would have been forced to rebel against the no shower demand! anyway, after I threw the sheets in the wash & cleaned up the bed, (I was not going to let that sit!) I grabbed my blankey & my "what to expect when your expecting" book, I just kept looking around the house trying to figure out what to take as I had nothing packed or ready, when finally daniel made me leave the house & go to the hospital, but not before I gave broccoli a hundred kisses.

(11 days old)


we were at the hospital by 6am & they had me checked in by 6:30. I was already dilated to 3 centimeters with no contractions which led them to believe I was going to have my baby before the day was over, & I was going to have a speedy delivery... yeah right! long s tory short I started pushing around eleven & ruby didn't arrive until 8:06 pm. Thanks to the epidural, labor wasn't really that bad, but I was freakin exhausted & wanted nothing more than to take a nap! They did let me take a break somewhere near the halfway point & I powered up with another dose of my epidural, thank you Jesus for drugs!

When ruby finally decided to arrive at 8:07pm, daniel & I each got to hold her for a brief minute before they whisked her off to the nicu (neonatal intensive care unit). I had been warned she may need to stay as long as five or six weeks due to her being so premature, but we were blessed and she only had to stay six days. The only reason she had to stay that long was so they could make sure she was able to coordinate her breathing & eating skills, as often times premature babies have pulmonary problems due to immature lungs. We couldn't believe how quickly they released her, in fact we were almost hoping they would keep her a bit longer as we had NOTHING ready for our baby girl! Her room was a mess, her furniture hadn't arrived; the crib was not put together, and so on & so on! That monday consisted of us rushing around, me to get her coming home outfit, washing all her clothes & blankeys, running to target to buy diapers etc., and daniel installing her car seat & putting together her swing, all while the direct TV. guy was here installing our cable!

We picked ruby up around 6:30 pm & brought her home to a disaster of a house, not ideal for an ocd control freak like myself. I'm pretty sure God is trying to teach me I am definitely NOT in control! Since then she has been the best baby! All she does is sleep, sleep, sleep! She would probably sleep thru the night if I let her, but because she is so small, I have to wake her up & make her eat, and I do mean MAKE her eat, she is a lazy little potato! And so I have done my motherly duty by posting the particulars on my little lulu lemons entrance into this world, although I'm sure you stopped reading about half way thru my ramblings…but I had to get it all down on paper before I forgot any of the details on the most exciting day of my life! Thank you to everyone for the well wishes, the presents, and the meals! We have been so blessed by all of our friends and family & we are so grateful for your kindness and our beautiful healthy baby girl!

(me & ru at 2 weeks)


(one of my favorite pics)

Happy Four Months...

one day late! Yesterday you turned four months old and i can't believe how big you've gotten! Tomorrow you go for your four month checkup and i wouldn't be surprised if they tell me to ease up on the bottles! Okay, maybe not...but for such a tiny little preemie, you wasted no time catching up. It took you a little longer to get there, but you are now rolling over from your tummy to your back, cooing, smiling up a storm and laughing (at really random things :) ). You are decidedly a morning person, smiling from the second you wake up, which you clearly did NOT get from your momma! You love staring at cieling fans, both on and off...sucking on your fists (just can't find that thumb!), and you are starting to take an interest in your big brother broccoli, who is quite fond of licking up any leftovers you might expell. You look like your daddy, with the exception of your button nose...your hair is reddish blonde (what little you have) and your eyes have turned from slate gray to a deep blue. I am so blessed to be your mommy and i am so thankful for such a healthy, beautiful baby girl!!! i love you mean it!

Ruby Visits Mickey's House!

Today my little lou is three months old and approximately twelve pounds....what a chunker! Yesterday in honor of her three month birthday, danny and i decided to take miss ruby to Disneyland to celebrate before our passes expired. We figured we would let her be the youngest in the family to experience the magic kingdom. :) It will probably be a couple years before we renew our passes and take her back as she really isn't big enuf to fully enjoy all that Mr. Disney has to offer! Be that as it may, we dedided to make the most of our visit and stopped by City Hall and picked up a free button to commemorate Ruby's first visit. She's wearing it in the picture, but doing her best to hide it.

We also managed a picture with Halloween Minnie and decided to go on one ride....drumroll please.....and the winner is....."The Haunted Mansion"!!!! That's right the very first ride my babydoll went on was one of my two favorite rides, (the other being Space Mountain, which really wasn't an option yet) the haunted mansion. I especially love it right now since it's decorated for Halloween/Christmas, a la "The Nightmare Before Christmas", right up my alley! She actually loved it since they have all the high contrast colors lit up under the black light...i've never seen her eyes open quite so wide. ;)

Ruby & Minnie

Enjoying Haunted Mansion

After that we headed over to the MadHatter to purchase her first set of ears, but decided against it as her little chunker head is apparently not quite chunky enuf to warrant a hat. You would think Disney would have marketed infant ears by this point in time being as that they will sell ANYthing that makes money, but alas the ingenious idea has apparently not yet come to them!

After that we made our way home and stopped for some yummy Mexican food, and of course my perfect baby slept thru dinner and all the way home. It was a fun day despite the heat, and i'm pretty sure Ruby had the time of her life!

Before I sign off, i should probably explain the title of this post. When i was little, every time i heard someone say Mickey Mouse, I thought they were saying Mickey's House, and so i adressed him as such! I could probably do a whole post on phrases kids hear and either mishear or misunderstand. In fact I actually have a kids book on the very subject....hmmm, better save that one for later!


My Chunky Monkey

Where to Start...

(she's keepin an eye on you...okay, maybe two eyes)

Okay, so i was so excited to start this blog & the more i read other peoples blogs, the more ideas i had. in fact i'm pretty sure i had about a hundred and one ideas, but now that i'm on here, i'm not sure where to start! i guess it's a safe bet to say this blog was created primarily to track my little ruby lemon, so those of my friends and family who aren't so local, and even those who are; can watch her grow up via photos and stories. it's always fun to be able to look back and see how much things have changed and see how far we've come, and often times pictures are a fun way of doing that... even as i write this, i know that in a year, i'll have a hard time remembering all the funny faces my daughter is making at the age of two months and the cute little things she does. Of course in a year she'll be making different funny faces and doing new cute things, but i know i'll enjoy looking back on this blog and seeing how she has matured and grown from a precious little baby into a beautiful little girl. now don't get me wrong, i'll also be posting my other favorite past time ( the first of course being my girl) which is of course my constant search for priceless treasure...most often found by means of the long beach antique flea market. i love to show off my finds! i'm sure this will be a fun experience, and i look forward to getting used to this ( i just figured out the space for cryin out loud). i would appreciate any advice and or suggestions you might have to make my blog a wee bit cuter, and a little more me!