A Happy Visit

Let me start by saying the guy on the right is NOT my hubby, it's my brother. Not that I wouldn't marry a guy like my brother I suppose, but if you have seen other pictures of my hubby you might have been confused by the transformation. Look closer and it's obvious we are related, I think the only genetic difference between me and my brother is that Y chromosome of his. ;)

Anyway, the point of my post was to say how much I enjoyed the recent visit by my aunt and uncle from Kansas. No one from KS ever seems to get up to visit us, which is surprising since OR is a great place to visit. (tourism is our number one industry, or at least it was when I was in high school. Maybe not now with gas prices keeping everyone at home!) They did come out 10 years ago when Brian and I got married. They came out this time to deliver the grandfather clock I inherited from my grandparents, and I convinced them to stay an extra day by scheduling Ru's baptism for Sunday.

If you're still studying the pic for genetic links, Sharon is my dad's sister, so she's the one I'm related too. Sadly a big genetic difference between her and her brother (my dad) is that Brodhagen metabolism. I think she ate just as much if not more than me when we went out, and I'm breastfeeding. Totally not fair.

While it would be easy to hate her for that reason alone, the truth is she is a truely wonderful person, as is her hubby Keith. Brian and I really enjoyed having them! I do hope they will visit again in another 10 years (sooner would be better!) Sharon was great with Ru, (hehe, and Keith was great with Sammy the dog) and we had many great conversations between the four of us. I was sad to see them go, and hope they have a safe and uneventful drive home. (and if you're reading this aunt Sharon, you did NOT need to leave the gas money! But I won't be sending it back... ;)

hugs,
Jenny

The after-bath hat

Sleepy Ru loves daddy

Since Brian has been home on his sabbatical, Ru has found a much better alternative to the crib. She's found Daddy is willing to hold her pretty much 24/7 as long as she is quiet and snuggly. (mama however, is as ruthless as ever (no pun intended) and still sticks her in the crib to sleep) Obviously, Ru is spending as much time as possible with her daddy. :) This arrangement works out good for Daddy as well, as he then has the perfect excuse to sit and watch videos on the computer all day. Mommy likes it too, because then I can actually get stuff done around the house. Not that Daddy doesn't when it's his turn, I just enjoy being productive, and for him it's just chores.

I also really like this arrangement because I know the days are counting down til Brian has to go back to work. I love seeing him play and snuggle with his daughter, he's a really great daddy. And I'm really happy to see them bonding and enjoying each other. I do love my little family!

Happy 2nd b-day Ru!

Second month that is. ;) She is working on being able to hold up her head, but she is still a bit of a bobble-head. She looks at things quite well now, and holds eye contact. She is also learning to control her arms a bit, but she has a long way to go before she is ready to be playing with toys. But she's trying.

Bathtime beauty

Daddy expressed hesitation when I asked if he wanted to give Ru her bath, or if I should do it. He obviously was still a bit nervous about bathing our squirmy little daughter. So I did it...and warned him he'd better watch careful as he was doing it next time.

Actually, the next time I just made him get everything ready. Then this time I got everything ready and made him wash her.

Next time he gets to do it all by himself, from start to finish. Then I'll be willing to take back over most of the time again.

Anyhoo, the nice thing about Brian doing the scrubbing is I can man the camera. :)

The white thing she's kinda holding is a bunny bath mit. We put some sort of washcloth on her chest when we bathe her to help keep her warm.

I gave up on putting her actually in the water just yet. She just poops in it. This hammock thing on the bathtub works great! We like this bathtub as it should keep us out of trouble until she's ready to be sitting in the real bathtub. Heck, it might work for us until she's ready to shower...

She doesn't love bathtime by any stretch of the imagination, but Ru doesn't really mind it to much, either. She still tends to get pretty cold, despite us steaming up the bathroom with a hot shower first, then leaving the heat lamps on and the door closed, etc. So we make sure to snuggle her really well afterwards to get her warmed back up. I love how fluffly her fine little hair gets when it's clean, and you gotta love that clean baby smell!

Oh, btw, we do NOT like the body wash in the purple bottles you can see in the picture. They are supposed to help baby go to sleep, but they are WAY too perfumey for my nose. I used it to wash my hands once and decided it would be a bad idea to actually rub it all over my baby, esp as I'm guessing she has seasonal allergies, too. So she might be allergic to smelly stuff as well.

She's so cute! I'm gonna go snuggle her now. :)

Superstar!

I should have put this outfit on her sooner, it's totally cute and she's already just about outgrown it!

Our latest accomplishments and a new buddy!

This week Ru has been getting so much better at looking around! It's great fun because now she looks at us and maintains eye contact. It's so much easier to feel a connection with her. She's turning into a little person already!

We also have a new buddy, my scrapping friend Amy (her blog link is in the right hand sidebar) had her baby, too! The fun part--he was born on my birthday! I'm looking forward to the time when they are old enough we can have play dates. Hmm....maybe Amy and I will have playdates, too. She can bring him on over and watch the two of them while I scrap for an hour, then we'll swap duties... This could work out really well! :)