2 weeks on the farm, a wedding and a new 'do for mummy

The last few weeks have been a little crazy. We house sat for mummy's boss for two weeks, moved back home for one night and then spent the night at Kingscliff after attending Uncle Jamie and Aunty Emma's wedding. We spent our first night at home last night, and we're sure Ruby had no idea where she was when we put her to bed.

We had a ball out on the "farm" for two weeks. Ruby loved sharing her meals with the dogs and the lorikeet. She would point to the horses and say "neigh" and drag us to the chook sheds to check for eggs every chance she got. Mummy and Ruby had a spa together everynight and we would have a swim in the pool nearly every day.

The highlight of the last week was the wedding. Uncle Jamie and Aunty Emma got married "finally" on the beach at Kingscliff. The weather was beautiful, the bride was gorgeous and even the groom scrubbed up all right! Poor Ruby missed her afternoon nap due to the timing of the wedding but was still really good throughout the ceremony and reception, playing in the sand (rolling in the sand), walking up and down the red carpet (during the ceremony), stealing the bowls during the lawn bowls game and dancing and twirling on the dance floor (through dinner). She made it until almost the end of the night before turning absolutely feral from exhaustion - like her father, who hadn't had much sleep in the days leading up to the wedding. Oh and mummy now has short hair, which she got cut off on a whim for the wedding. It looked really good on the day but could be a bit of a trail for mummy now she can't just tie it back in a pony on a bad hair day.

Ruby is also doing lots of things now that you wouldn't expect from her. She is picking up things really quickly and is just like a little person. She can point to her nose, mouth, head, ear and (wait for it) her bum. We aren't sure how she learnt that last one but she knows where it is and it is hilarious to watch her show people. She even spent one morning pulling tissues from the tissue box and walked around the house wiping her bum...so clever! She knows the hand actions for Intsy Winsy Spider, if you tell her to put two hands on something and hold it tightly she will do it, she will squeeze things when you tell her, she can do Round and Round the garden on your hand, and she loves talking on the phone - mummy's mobile in particular. Grandma Sheila apparently got a few calls from Ruby while we were away - god knows who else she has been calling, can't wait to see the next phone bill!

Helping mummy at work!

Enjoying the pool

Playing on the beach, during the wedding.

The wind swept Abbotts!

She won't believe us....

Thank god for the blog and documentary evidence otherwise I don't think Ruby will believe us when we tell her how extraordinary she is at growing teeth. Yep, she is definitely teething again and getting her last 4 teeth.

That's right at 13 and a half months Ruby is getting the 4 teeth you aren't suppose to get until you are 2 years old! We are back to not sleeping and screaming at intervals during the night. She is chewing on lots of things again and is constantly grabbing her ears or the side of her face. She has also been very irritable during the day. Fun!

Other than this Ruby is great. Daddy took her to see the child health nurse this week to confirm our teeth theory. While they were there Ruby got weighed and measured and has grown 3cm in a month, while only putting on about 400 grams. She is now off the chart with her height.

Ruby is also doing lots of things that are apparently all part of her development. She started walking backwards this week, she started blowing bubbles (which we have been doing at swimming lessons), she is into nearly every cupboard in the house and is climbing on everything.
Ruby seems to have settled into the new routine we have made for her as well. She is getting to see a lot more of her Daddy and gets to spend a whole day with him on her own on Wednesday. This weekend we are relocating and house sitting for mummy's boss. Ruby is going to love it, they have 2 horses, 4 dogs, a bird, a bunch of chooks and a pool. Mummy is going to love it as she won't have to leave to go to work, she will get to spend lots of quality time with Ruby and daddy.....and they have a spa bath!

How cute is the pony tail - they don't last long as Ruby pulls them straight out if we don't destract her enough. But the hair in her eyes is driving Mummy nuts, so we will be persisting with the pony.

Day time Daddy

Daddy has a new job, which he started this week. His title "machine operator", pretty cool hey! Basically, daddy is maintaining/operating the machines at a biscuit factory on the afternoon shift. So he gets to spend most of the day with his girls. Today is daddy's first time looking after Ruby while Mummy is at work. I'm sure that they will have a ball being naughty together while mummy isn't there to supervise.

Poor little Ruby has had an upset tummy this last week. Mummy was thanking the heavens for mattress protectors after Ruby woke in the middle of the night and threw up in her cot. We thought it was something she had eaten but she just hasn't been right since. She has gone back to waking every couple of hours and screaming blue murder when she does wake up. We've been checking for the onslaught of more teeth but haven't seen anything. Hopefully, this will pass again soon.

Apart from having an upset tummy and restless nights Ruby has been really happy and playful during the day. She has taken to snorting now when she screws her nose up, which makes her the cutest little piggy this side of Oz. Ruby is also getting very cheeky with Rusty the cat. Mummy will let her carry his food into his bowl, which she will happily and eagerly do, with Rusty following all the way. Until we get there and she will run away with the tin of food, then come back show Rusty that she stills has the tin, smile and run away again. Rusty and mummy wait and wait and wait but she never gets close enough to where we are waiting for mummy to grab her or the food. It usually ends in all 3 of us playing a game of chase around the house.

New video's have been posted to Ruby's album this week, a cute one of her dancing and another of her on the move (as usual) in the garden.

"Sure mum, no worries"

It's crazy how much Ruby is understanding now. Mummy and daddy aren't even sure when it started happening, but you can say things to Ruby now and she acknowledges you and then does what it is you have said.

She started sitting down when told to a few weeks ago. Now Ruby lies down when you tell her to. You can even say, "ok, time to get dressed" and she will walk into her room and head for the dresser to look for what clothes she would like to wear that day. She knows that the CD's go in the stereo and tries to put them in when she wants some music on. She will pat her head when you ask 'where does you hat go', you can say 'time for dinner/brekky/lunch, go and get your bib on' and she will head to her room to go and get one. She knows that giving kisses mean it's time to go and will give both her grandma's a big kiss, grab her bag and walk to the door waving and saying bye bye, when mummy arrives home from work.

Yesterday, mummy was getting Ruby ready for the first footy game of the season and had the football out and kicking it around the house. Mummy then rolled it to Ruby and told her to 'kick it' which she proceeded to do - with the biggest smile on her face.

All of this is just blowing us away at the moment and the more she does the more we look at each other in astonishment. Yep, we are going to have to stop swearing or start spelling.

Aside from all this Ruby has started pulling the funniest faces. Her happy face now consists of her nose being scrunched up and all her teeth showing. She does this one a bit, especially when she is happy with herself or knows she is being sneaky and has something she isn't suppose to. We have been trying to get a photo of Ruby doing this but she makes it difficult as majority of the time she is on the move and doesn't stop long enough for the photo to look any good. This is the best we have so far...

Head Banging Ruby

Ruby loves to dance. She started dancing before she started walking with just her legs bouncing up and down. She then proceeded to the hand wave or spirit fingers at the same time as the leg bouncing and this week Ruby has added head banging to the mix. We are going to try really really hard to get a video of this as it is hilarious to watch.

We are back up and running again now with the computer and have a fair amount of Ruby to catch up on. She has started back at swimming lessons and music classes and is loving both of them. We've been and had her 12 month check up with the child health nurse, she weighed in a very healthy 10.45kg and is 79cm in height. We were also told that she is developing really well and don't need to bother coming in for the 18 month check.

For those that are checking out Ruby's photo album you will notice that there are a few photos recently of her in just a nappy. That's cause it is so bloody hot! Ruby has heaps of clothes please don't think we are too poor to dress her.

Ruby's last tooth is through and she now has 16 teeth. Just the two year molars to go....piece of cake!

Ruby has also spoilt mummy and daddy recently with lots of sleeping at night. We've had some great nights where she has only woken once or twice or slept for 9 - 10 hours straight. She has also just recently started to put herself to sleep in her cot, at night. Few! No more rocking, singing or sucking on mummy.

Mummy has been and had her Tarot read today and some lovely things were said about her family. Apparently, Ruby is gifted and has been put here for a reason (not just to torment Daddy). She told mummy that she could see Ruby in the public eye when she is older. If that's the case we may have to remove the naked baby photos from the internet!