Two Too Soon...

I realize I am a few weeks behind with this post, but that's actually a good thing. You see, I tend to be an all or nothing sort of person...Ruby turned two three weeks ago and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. How is any of this related you ask? Well, I tend to live life in absolutes, time lines, etc...meaning, in my mind this post should have been done on Ru's actual birthday or not at all. Sounds silly I know, but that's how my twisted brain works. Normally I would have stayed up late to complete this on time, no matter the circumstances or how stressed out it made me or what else fell to the wayside as a result. I am trying to be better about really enjoying my time at home with my girl and not being so concerned with crossing things off my self imposed to-do list in a timely manner (ie. posting on my blog). I also entend to do a seperate post on the birthday party, but I'm waiting on the amazing photos taken by my sister. That being said, here is a glimpse of my favorite girl at age two!

Ruby Lou,
I can't believe how fast the last two years have flown by! You are such a funny little person now. I still call you "the baby" though I swore I would never be one of those parents, but now I understand. You will always be my baby no matter how big you get and let me tell you, you aren't exactly small considering you're only two years old! You are 36 inches tall and weigh 29 1/2 pounds. You're off the charts in height and your daddy is a little worried you are going to be uber tall, but I know you will be perfect. You still love momma to rock you before bed, but you have a very hard time getting comfortable due to all those long limbs.

Enjoying your pink doughnut and getting a birthday high five...

You are definitely a girly girl. You love pink, it is your favorite color and every morning when i ask "what should you wear today?" I get the same answer, "PINK!" You love accessories of any kind, hats, watches, necklaces and your favorite, "Sunnies". Whenever I put you in a dress or a skirt you yell "dance!" and proceed to do so. You love to have your nails painted and list everyone you know and the color of their toes. I have a feeling you are going to have a shoe collection that will rival Imelda Marcos when you are older...I have never met a two year old who is so excited to wear new shoes as you are, it literally puts a pep in your step! Just this morning I got a new pair of chucks from your closet and the first thing you said was "fit?" (I always tell you when we're trying something on to see if it fits). You also LOVE to wear other peoples shoes...momma's, daddy's, onnie's, you don't discriminate, but heels are your favorites, hands down!

Pink Jams Daddy brought you from Thailand, Tierra momma got you at the Target $1 bin... : )

You love to have books read to you, but you also love to "read" to yourself. I love walking in on you surrounded by a pile of books just jabbering away. You have also started pretending and it's so funny to here you play with your doll house. It usually sounds something like this..." jibber jabber, jibber jabber, mommy, daddy, no no no!" You know all your colors and you love to count to ten in English and Spanish. You learn new words every day and I just can't get over it. Pretty soon your vocabulary will be better than mine!

Cute things you say:
"Hold you"- Pick me up.
"Self"- I want to do it myself.
"Pooter"-This is what you say when daddy's not home and you want to Skype.
"No not"- This is what you say mischievously every time I tell you I love you!
"Peasant"-This is what you call your doll stroller, even though you know the word for stroller, because it was your birthday present.

You pushin' your "peasant" with your new baby tucked inside...

i heart etsy...

I recently purchased this on Etsy... isn't she lovely? Meet Jolie, she will be Ru's new bff come july 8; her birthday of course. I adore the colors and Ru will love her sleepy time look since her favorite thing in the world is to put all her babies nie-nie with her gee (blankey). I had already planned to get her this since she LOVES babies and she LOVES pushing things around, and now she will have a sweet little beebs of her own to put in her buggy! I love handmade and I love ordering things online, so Etsy is the perfect place to shop. I seem to find myself there more and more these days, especially when I'm hunting for an extra special, unique gift. Besides finding something that's one of a kind, it's just so fun having packages awaiting you on your doorstep. I only hope that once they arrive I can wait two months to give Ru her goodies. I have a bad habit of letting her see/play with her presents before she's sposed to have them! Do you have a favorite place to order gifts online...of course, that can include gifts for yourself as well!

I'm A Big Girl Now...

Sing it with me now. Tonight I made lasagna. I know what you're thinking, "no big deal". But at my house it kinda is. If I had to put a number on it, I would guess I have cooked maybe six meals in the last year (assuming you don't count pigs in a blanket as a meal, cuz in my world I totally do {and that would double my stats}). Now that's not to say I can't cook, I just generally choose not to. And, to be fair, I really don't have that much cooking knowledge outside of my three or four "regular" dishes. Needless to say, it's time to expand my horizons. Part of the deal when I quit my job to stay home with the Ru was that I would be cooking on a regular basis, and tonight was my very first home cooked meal; veggie lasagna.

So sad...looks like someone was stood up!

Aren't these placemats cute? Never had the chance to use them! ; )

I think I did pretty well, but I found the recipe to be a bit bland and think next time I will try the "carniverous" version. Despite my reservations, Ruby Lou had two helpings and even answered "YES" when I asked her if it was good, and again when I asked if she liked it. A small feat considering she usually responds with a firm "NO!" even when she actually likes something. My only regret is that when the mister got home he had a pounding headache and we did not get to enjoy my first creation together as a family. Instead Ruby and I ate our din-din and then went for a little wagon ride around the new neighborhood while daddy got some rest. I'm going to go ahead and assume Daniel also liked it though, since he had both a pre and post softball game helping. All in all, my first endeavor was a success. I got my feet wet and now I just need to start finding some good recipes. So, do you have any favorite recipes you would like to share? More specifically a good meat lasagna recipe?

This is what she thought of the lasagna...

Post dinner wagon ride...

My dog needs Jesus...

or at least Ruby seems to think so. I'm judging this by how much she loves to carefully place her rosary on poor Broccoli along with her mini flashlight (which i'm quite sure is a metaphor...you know, he needs to step out of the darkness and into the light) She puts them on, takes them off and then repeats...and repeats...and repeats. As you can see our poor little dog is quite the good sport, hanging around to humor his girl despite his instinct to run and hide on our bed. Depite her "Buggy"(that's what she calls him) stocking tendencies, he really does love her. And just in case you were wondering, no I'm not Catholic, but i really love Catholic stuff, thus the rosary...which we also have in electric blue by the way, should you ever need to borrow a classy, plastic rosary! ; )

half a dozen...

It's been six years since we said "I d0"... and happily ever after began.

I was lucky to have found him and he was kind enough to have kept me!

happy anniversary roos!

Fluff n' Fold

So this is how I found my daughter yesterday morning after church, after I followed her whining voice saying "Daa-Dee? Daa-Dee?" into our "laundry room" (and i use that term loosely).

now I know what you're thinking...

number one: terrible parent!...
number two: you stopped to get the camera?!?

After I told Ruby that this was in fact NOT funny and "NO,NO!", I instantly turned to face Daniel, trying to hide my smile as we both in unison said, "Get the camera"! Him with an ever so slight tone of mockery, but what can I say, he knows me!

I get it though.
Lesson learned.
Never, EVER, leave the dryer open...
But I could not miss this adorable photo-op!

Besides that, she's a girl after my own heart.

I vividly recall a particularly bored afternoon

when I myself decided to see if I could fit in our dryer...

I was in high school at the time.

And yes, I fit.

Like I said, I was bored...and YES, I was a dork! I admit it.

Happy?

Our Rockin New Year's Eve...

okay, so maybe i'm not the biggest party animal...in fact daniel often accuses me of being an "old soul" and tells people i've been a little old lady since i was in my teens. Doesn't bother me a bit... i've totally come to terms with it! So, while daddy went out and celebrated with the boys, ruby and i stayed home and played photo booth. She loves looking at the pictures in the camera display and giving them kisses. Tonight she even took a few pictures of her own. So here is our "rockin new year's eve" at home... which suited me just fine!