Ruby!

I know that all my friends and family are getting tired of me talking about how adorable Ruby is right now, but I figured since it's my blog I could indulge myself a bit more. So...she is sooooo cute! I love this age! She's turned into a little chatterbox and has a HUGE vocabulary--every day she'll say a new word that I had no idea she knew.

This summer our schedules are a bit different than during the school year, so Aaron's been taking Kai and Pla Shee to a day camp near his work while I take Ruby to her baby sitter in Arlington 3 days a week. It has been so much fun to get to spend one-on-one time with my little girl! She loves to go with the flow and is the perfect little mini-me! Here are a few pics of my best girl being her cute self this summer. See what I mean??!!! Cuteness overload!!

Warm Winter

I LOVE that it is the beginning of February and we can be outside enjoying 70 degree weather.  This is a little different than the first week of February last year when we had that awful ice and snow storm!  I took Kai and Ruby to the park yesterday after school and snapped a few pics.

Aaron and I decided that the caption for this one should be Ruby saying to Kai, 

"Oh, big brother, how I envy your luxurious locks of hair"!

Kai discovered a new way to ride on the stroller rather than having to walk like a chump:

But most of the time he has to exert his independence.  

"No, mama!  I do it!" is his mantra, and he repeats it about 200 times each day.

We brought bread to feed to the ducks and geese, but Kai decided he needed a snack instead.  Silly boy!

Mondays are the new Friday

It just so happens that Aaron's day off is on Monday, and today I stayed home too because Ruby had her 2 month check-up this afternoon.  It was so nice to hang out in our pajamas all morning, especially since a huge cold front blew in yesterday and brought a lot of nasty weather.  Here's my Roo at 10 weeks old this morning:

She was 10.8 pounds, so she's doubled in size since she was a week old.  Kai had better look out...we have wagers on when she'll surpass the little guy on the scale.  It shouldn't be too long, at this rate!

This is Kai hanging out in his pj's this morning and cooking up an apple for brunch.  He's just recently gotten into a lot of pretend play, so we do lots of "cooking" on the kitchen set that Pu Lue built, which now sits in Ruby's room.

This picture of the kitchen set was taken before we painted the walls and rearranged the furniture, but you get the idea.  Kai gladly hopped in Ruby's crib this morning to show off her cute hand-painted walls, courtesy of Gigi (Ann-Marie Barker).  Ann-Marie is a really talented artist, and you can check out some of her recent work on her website.

Big Brother Kai

Kai created this whole set-up for Ruby to "watch tv" (it's really just a music box) with him.  What a sweet big brother!

I'm thankful for: Ruby

Okay, it's Ruby's turn...

Honestly, even when I was a little girl, I always had this nagging suspicion that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant when I grew up.  I have no idea why, but I always just felt that way.  Maybe I was just a pessimistic child?  So, anyway, when I grew up and we began trying to start our family the traditional way and nothing was happening, I wasn't totally shocked.  We tried for a couple of years, and when we still weren't pregnant, we started our adoption journey.  We knew we wanted to have children--how we got there didn't matter much in the end.  So, you can imagine our surprise when we found out we were pregnant with Ruby a year and a half after welcoming Kai and Pla Shee into our family.  Three kids in 2 years--yikes!
Throughout the 9 months that I was pregnant with Ruby, I reminded myself to enjoy the experience of being pregnant, because it was something that I thought I wouldn't ever experience.  And I can honestly say I did enjoy it.  I felt great for the most part, and despite a blood pressure issue that required more frequent visits to our midwife and a partnering physician, everything went smoothly.
The birth experience was absolutely amazing, and I am so glad that I had the privilege of being able to experience giving birth in the way that I did.  I wrote a little bit about what it was like here.  Ruby is six weeks old now, and is finally out of her preemie clothes and into newborn size.  Today I'm specifically thankful for the fact that she slept all through the night last night--from 11 pm to 6:15 am!  It is amazing what a full night's sleep can do for my attitude.  She is a sweetheart, and I am enjoying getting to know her and figuring out all of her little quirks.  She's already changed so much in  the six weeks that I've known her, and I'm trying to soak in all of her each day.  One of the great things about my job (which I'll write about in another post this month) is that I can bring Ruby to work with me.  It's great, because I don't go stir crazy sitting at home, but I still get to spend a lot of quality time with my little munchkin each day.  Here are a few pics of "Roo" from the past six weeks.

Introducing...Ruby Nell Mitschke

The newest member of our family officially arrived on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 12:00 noon.  Ruby weighed in at 6 lbs and was 18.5 inches long, and was a full month early.  We're glad she decided to go ahead and join the outside world, and we think she's a keeper.  Kai and Pla Shee are absolutely in love with their new baby sister.
Despite having had some complications with my blood pressure during the pregnancy (hence, Ruby's early arrival), the birth itself was amazing and a really wonderful experience.  We are so glad that we chose the Birth and Women's Center for our birth, and are proud to report that Ruby was born without the assistance of any pain medication and labor lasted only 3 hours.  It was an incredible experience and we are honored to welcome little Miss Ruby into our family!