Ruby's ONE!

My baby girl is ONE! Goodness, this year has flown and so much has changed for our little family! I can honestly say, that Paul and I have enjoyed every minute of this year with our precious babe. Ruby is such a joy and we simply cannot kiss her and hug her enough!

We had a little party for her on Saturday with our immediate families. She has been such a momma's girl lately and I was worried she'd be pretty shy with so many people in her house. But I was wrong! She was the life of the party! She showed off all of her tricks and enjoyed showing people how old she is now! The many gifts she received was just one more reminder of how spoiled and utterly blessed we are! Ruby did just what I expected when it came to her cake. She picked at it for the first little bit and when she realized we weren't going to take it away, she dug in and got very messy! As far as I could tell, she thoroughly enjoyed her birthday!

At her one year doctor appt. she weighed 23 pounds, 14.5 ounces which put her in the 90th percentile. Her height shot up from the 69th percentile (from her 9mo. appt.) to the 90th percentile! Her head circumference is still around the 25th percentile. She still has 7 teeth. She practically runs behind her walker, especially when being chased, but still isn't interested in taking any steps on her own. We have caught her letting go of furniture, toys, etc. lately but she will only stand on her own for a couple seconds before sitting down and crawling to her next destination. A couple weeks ago she climbed the entire set of stairs from our basement to the upstairs on her first try. She is fast, funny, and friendly! She waves to every stranger around lately, and makes some of the funniest faces! Her latest tricks are showing us she's ONE, tapping her legs, finding her ears, signing "more," and blowing kisses! She has taken on many nicknames in her first year of life (Rubes, Ruby Doobie, Rubes-Scadoobs, Root-Scooten' Doobie, to name a few!) and I'm sure there will be many more to come!

Ruby,

We love you forever and for always! We can't believe God gave you to us and we are excited to see what this next year brings for you. XOXO

~Mommy and Daddy

Hadley

A couple weeks ago, my cousin Karla, had surgery and we had the pleasure of watching her 4 year old, Hadley for a couple days! Ruby had fun having a playmate and we had a wonderful time having a 4 year old around! It was also my birthday while she was with us, and I'm pretty sure I had the best birthday a 29 year old could ask for, because we took Hadley to The Butterfly House and to a "bouncy house place!" We all had tons of fun and the little girls were quite worn out by the end of the day! Heck, who am I kidding? We were ALL worn out by the end of the day! ;)

11 Months

Where is the time going? 11 months...really?! Ruby now has 6 teeth. She is walking behind a walker but really has no interest in standing on her own, let alone taking any steps. She has started "being shy" when she meets new people or sees someone in her house that she hasn't seen for awhile. She will bury her head in my shoulder. For the past few days she has refused to eat almost everything. She basically lives on yogurt melts, cheerios, and corn puffs. Silly girl. She still gets three bottles a day but has started to really get the hang of her sippy cup too. Ruby loves to play "chase," do "360s" with her daddy, and play "peek-a-boo." For the past month, Ruby has also been "growling like a bear." Not really sure how this started but it is one of her favorite tricks and of course makes us laugh every time she does it! She probably should have been a bear for Halloween! ;)

Getting the hang of walking...

...but sometimes this happens!

Peek...

...a-boo!

What happens when you fight your normal nap time! :)

Kinnick, Uncle Kenny and Aunt Carrie's dog, came for a visit! For the most part these two were oblivious of each other! They both just did their own thing! Although they both felt trapped by the baby gate!

We made a trip to Iowa City for Sydney's 3rd birthday party. Although I didn't get any pics of the birthday girl, here is Ruby enjoying a ride at Sydney's "Pig Birthday Party."

Watching the Hawkeyes with Uncle Kenny.

Snuggles for Daddy :)

Ladybug

My little ladybug has three teeth poking through and a nasty cold right now but she didn't let that ruin her first Halloween! Daddy took Ruby to a few houses with a bunch of the neighbor kids. Then we just relaxed out front with a fire and handed out candy! Ruby was just as content watching the kiddos come to our house!

Grandma made Ruby her very own "Ruby" pumpkin!

Hattie's "Angry Bird", my OWL, Grandpa Bill's antlers, Grandma LaDonn's ghost :)

Ten Months

Ruby seems to be learning new tricks everyday! Some of her favorites as of late are doing "touchdown" and "pig nose." She says "mama" whenever I ask her to and she gives lots of kisses...sometimes without us asking! She is standing up on everything but she still seems too shaky to take any steps too soon! Her top two teeth are starting to poke through which have caused some interesting nights... but I can't complain about a little extra snuggle time in the middle of the night! :)

We got to take a trip to the Butterfly House for the first time.

Stef and Sydney came for another visit!

Ruby seems to have a sweet tooth... just like mommy and daddy! She LOVES ice cream!

"Pig Nose"

Nine Months

Our sweet Ruby girl turned 9 months on Saturday! It was a great day as the Hawks had an awesome come-back to beat Pittsburgh! Although Ruby's shirt is hard to see, she's sporting a pink-sequined Hawkeye onesie. The pictures below seem to portray her attitude throughout the game!

Ruby still only has two teeth. She is crawling all over the place - she likes to follow me around! She is starting to pull up on some things. She loves her bath, rough-housing with her daddy, and being held by mommy!

Ugh...the Hawks are losing...

Yay! The Hawks finally scored!

Oh boy, this game is making me nervous!

Woo hoo! The Hawkeyes WIN!!!!!

And just a few other pictures as of late...

Jon, Stef, and Sydney were able to spend the night at our house on their way to Fargo, ND.

...and Happy Birthday to Papa Gary!

Road trip to Iowa City

This past weekend we traveled to Iowa City to stay with Jon, Stef, and Sydney for a few nights. We had a great time with them just hanging out and relaxing. One of the nights we were able to meet up with our good friends Scott, Nicole, and their little girl Lauren as well as our friends Evan and Jen. Although life in Sioux Falls is treating us well, we sure do miss these people!

For the past couple of years the Van Heukelom boys have given each other ridiculous gifts when it comes to birthdays and Christmas... thus the Vikings "beard heads" above. Luckily, the girls weren't even phased by their dads' goofiness.

Ruby absolutely LOVED being around Sydney! She tried very hard to keep up with her all weekend long! It was a very hard task for her though! :)

Sydney likes her hair "wild" but we talked her into wearing one of Ruby's flowers for just a couple of pictures. These two sure do take some cute pictures!

Eight Months

Ruby's two teeth!

If this look tells us anything about the future, we may be in trouble!

Ruby and Grandma LaDonn

Being silly with Grandpa Bill

Ruby and Papa Gary

Getting stronger!

Snoozin' with Grandma Ruth

First trip to Falls Park

Ruby's arm stuck in her hairchair!

Swimming on the deck!

Ruby is getting quite the personality! She has several funny faces that are quite difficult to capture on camera but make us laugh everyday! She can't quite get her tummy off the ground to fully crawl but she can get wherever she wants by scooting or doing some form of the army crawl. Ruby loves when daddy throws her in the air. She loves peek-a-boo and being sung to sleep. She raises her hands when she wants to be held and has started to give kisses...the very slobbery kind.