75%

Ruby is nine months old now and it's as if she is blossoming into this little person.



Food. She just can't get enough! We have yet to see her turn something down. She is eating bite size pieces of fruit, veggies, pasta, haven't tried bread yet. She is having a little bit of yogurt with her morning breakfast--I thought she would love that, but, it seems that it's just ok in her opinion. We're just trying to finish up all of the food that I had made and froze for her. We provide all food for her at school. But as soon as we blow through that food supply(which should take us out another 4-6 weeks), I'm thinking she will be on school food, which bothers me, but, not sure we have time to keep up with supplying a variety of foods for her everyday.

With each child I've become better and more adventurous with food combinations. This time around I borrowed some combination ideas from Earth's B.est's website. They list all their ingredients for their foods. For breakfast, she normally has old fashioned oats that I have pulverized in the blender. I usually mix in a fruit, possibly cinnamon--depending on the fruit, and sometimes 2 oz of whole milk Stoney.field yogurt. For lunch and sometimes dinner, she will have one of the following combinations: butternut squash, chicken, corn, brown rice; sweet potatoes, chicken, apples; cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onions, brown rice; green beans, potatoes, chicken, garlic; spinach, tomatoes, beef, brown rice; or peas, carrots, brown rice;

She will also join us in eating our meal. I have a electric food mill that works slick to break down the food a little bit for her. I still pump at work, and breastfeed a couple of times a day and at night. So far, she hasn't tried her new teeth out on me!



Gross/Fine motor skills. She can get around! She loves to pull up. At this point she's perfecting her crawl and can easily make it around a room. As far as her fine motor skills, they are amazing. She definitely perfected those first before gross. She has been able to pick up small things for months.



Play. She loves to play. She likes books a lot, and insists on holding them herself. She likes to giggle, especially when tickled on her chest up by her neck and her thighs. She loves to play around with her brothers and has already figured out how to pull their hair. She will also get in squealing matches with them. It can get pretty loud!



She's outgrown the bumb0, but will still tolerate the Jump.a.roo,



Her hair is getting longer and fuller and occasionally we can see the start of some curls, but it still isn't enough to keep a barrette in.



Sleep. This girl likes to sleep in! On school days, we have to wake her up nearly every morning just before 7.



Gosh we love this little girl.

Points for style. . .

So the milestones are rollin' in! Ruby has had her second bottom front tooth pop through and has been officially crawling. Now, we define crawling as getting from point A to point B on all fours. For Ruby however it's kind of a funky crab walk. Dang cute, and she's really proud of herself!

I'll try for a better picture of the teeth. . .

In other news. . . MAYA and NOAH are HOME!!

stuff

What's been happening? A lot. Let's go back to the beginning of July.

Celebrated Erv's birthday
Watched fireworks. . .Cooper was a little freaked out
After we got home from the fireworks we discovered Cooper had a tiny deer tick which Mommy removed intact.
Project tick watch ensued for the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, we have seen no signs of Lyme's. Did you know that ticks have to be on your body for 36 hours before they start transmitting Lyme's?

Two days ago, just in time for her nine month birthday, Ruby got a tooth! Her bottom right. The boys were so excited.

Yesterday we were in to the doctor for all three to have well-checks. Ruby weighed in at 15lbs 14 ozs, 27 inches long. Cooper 34.5 lbs, 39 inches. Maxwell 45 lbs, 44 inches.

As Cooper was being measured the MA's eyes got huge as she watched the wall ruler continue to climb. Then we noticed why. Cooper was sneaking up on his tip toes!

Then came time for the eye exam. Cooper was doing great identifying the pictures. IN typical fashion, Max would call out the answers from behind him. Then it was Max's turn. He said to the MA(and please picture a matter of fact tone of voice), "I've got an idea! How about we do it a different way? You can point to the picture, and I will tell you what it is. (turning around) Backwards!" (not quite the point of an eye exam)

Last night. I'm upstairs with the kids getting them ready for bed. The boys were getting into their pj's when it became joke time. Keep in mind that most of Max's jokes make no sense and are usually only slightly amusing because they are so strange. He starts making up a joke that is really not very funny but I give him a courtesy chuckle. He was, as usual, taking a real joke and modifying it. I decided to tell him the real joke.

Knock Knock

Who's there

Cow go.

Cow go who?

No! Cow go Moo!

He responds, "You know MaMa, that wasn't even funny. It didn't even make me laugh." The truth hurts!

Pull-ups

For about a week, Cooper has been insisting on keeping his underwear on at night. He has been dry every night. He is not perfectly potty trained yet, but oh so close. I can't believe we won't use up the last of his diapers and pull-ups. . .

Ruby's pulling up! The little but mighty babe is pulling herself up on many things. Also, in a matter of days she went from trying to get to all fours and getting her feet and legs tangled up to now getting on all fours! She is right on track to begin crawling at 9 months like her older brothers did. She is chatting up a storm and has been eating little chunks of fruit. She has one heck of a pincer grip and can even pick up slippery bananas!

Max continues to want to make "recipes" and spend lots of time in the water.

I started my new job on Monday and am looking forward to being able to contribute. There is a great deal to learn, and I only really started learning job-related information today. I am now working in the Healthcare industry. The building I work in actually has a dedicated dairy barn (I mean lactation room) with two hospital grade pumps provided. Pretty sweet. Speaking of breastmilk, Cooper asked me if we could make cheese curds from my milk tonight. . . .!

In the wee hours. . .

Max called out to me at about 3:45 this morning.

Max: MaMa! MaMa!

Me: What Max?

Max: Come into my room!

Me: (hurried in thinking the trip was bathroom related) What do you need Max?

Max: Do you know that Winter is my favorite seasoning?

Me: Really?

Max: Yes, because then I can snowboard!

(picture taken from last year's snowboarding attempts)

What'll it be?

Max has been into "making recipes." It started when he and his classmates had some fun foods at snack time. Now he's all, "And some graham crackers and some grapes and some . . . "
It's hard sometimes to help guide him into making something edible.
This past weekend we were enjoying some lunch when he decided to combine: fresh kholrabi, cottage cheese, french dressing.