Update - Very Random and Hodge Podge! :)

Well, here it goes: You are forewarned!

Being home with Ruby during the day has been such an amazing blessing. I have lost track of how many times Mike has said: "Eating at home is so much better than eating out." or "This is so much better." or something of that nature. It truly is such an incredible difference. Our house stays clean and organized. Dinner is on the table every night. Ruby stays on a consistent schedule, and I am able to spend some very good time with her.

Ruby had her 12-month well-check, and everything is looking good overall. She has relapsed back into her acid reflux, so she's back on her Prevacid. Other than that, however, she's doing great! She's 27 1/4 inches tall, and she weighs 17.5 lbs. She surprised me and showed off for Dr. Miller by pointing to a chicken on the painting and saying, "Kiken! Ba Ba!" (Chicken! Bak bak!) and then pointing to the dog and saying, "Dah! Oo oo!" (Dog! Woof woof!) She hasn't repeated it since, so I truly believe it was just an amazing cooincidence, but it was pretty funny! She is starting to learn LOTS of words and signs, though! It's one of the great benefits of Mommy having more time to teach her and drill her!! This is her current list of words and/or signs:

1. Dada
2. Mama
3. Uncle Kyle (Unka Kah kah kah kah kah)
4. More - sign
5. Eat/Hungry - sign
6. Bottle (baba)
7. Milk - sign
8. Moo moo
9. Baa baa
10. Night-night
11. Bye-Bye (and waves)
12. Hi (and waves)
13. No no

She is starting to really move into the toddler phase. She's not walking, but she sure has a personality and an opinion. She's crawling all over the place, and trying to pull up on everything that stays still for even just a second. (This has resulted in quite a few tumbles! Poor Mommy may need a pacemaker by the time this kid walks!) She has learned how to throw fits and cry on purpose to try to manipulate Mike and me. It isn't working, but she sure gives it a try! She's cutting some new teeth. I can't tell which ones yet, but I know all the signs. She is also dealing with her peanut allergy very well.

Here are some recent pictures of Miss Ruby!

She got some new kicks! Check 'em out!

Being home has also allowed us to get together with friends to play!!
(And Mommy has been able to get some accountability and wisdom!!) This
past Wednesday, Alex (Amy's son), Luke, and Helene (Jessica's children)
came to play. Ruby had an absolute blast. She kept crawling right
over and getting in the middle of all the action. Rumor has it that
Luke and Helene might start coming to play more often while their mommy
runs some errands! Yay!! (As you can tell by this photo, Alex adores
Luke. It's very cute to witness!)

Ruby had spaghetti for Leap Day dinner. She definitely needed a bath afterwards!

Then she was all pretty again! (We took pictures *just* like these almost exactly one year ago. We'll have to do a comparison here soon.)

Mike took this really good picture of Miss Ruby right before bed:

Then, she gave mommy and daddy kisses, and she went off to bed! (We love her so much!)

Okay, I was going to write more, but I'm sure you all are sick of me for tonight. I'll write more tomorrow, I promise! For now, just let me ask for prayers. Tomorrow is going to be a really rough day for me. Thankfully, Mike and Ruby are heading to Indy, so I can have some time to myself. Just pray me through, faithful ones. I appreciate it!