31 Years & 10 Months

Thursday, December 20, 2012

December 4th marked both Bob's 31st birthday and Rubie turned 10 months old. We celebrated Bob's birthday with a family dinner. We made chicken parmesan, pasta, corn, and garlic bread. For dessert we had Oreo cookie balls and ice cream. We also watched the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional. We surprised Bob with new shoes. We hope he felt loved and appreciated, because we think he's an awesome husband and dad!



 

 

Rubie is crawling all over the house and pulling herself up to her feet. So she has had a lot more crashes and tears lately. And Mom has had to keep an extra eye on her as she can now get into everything. She was fully weaned by 9 months. She eats well. Bananas are her favorite but she really prefers adult food. Rubie now takes a morning and an afternoon nap and sleeps very well at night. Because Rubie was developmentally slower at 7 months, we had an early well child check. She weighs 19 lbs. 6 oz. (40th %), measures 27 inches tall (12th %), and has a head circumference of 18 inches (82nd %). She seems disproportionate but she looks normal. Rubie likes Peek-a-Boo, Pat-a-Cake, and If you’re Happy and You Know It (click your tongue). She loves bath time. Rubie has five teeth. Rubie's hair has really grown back in, too. She's ticklish under her arms, and we love to make her giggle. It's hard to believe that in under two months Rubie will already be 1 year old. How fast it has gone! We love Rubie Lu! 





8 Months

Here are the highlights of Rubie at 8 months: Rubie was rolling every where she needed to get, sitting with support, she learned to scream/screech to get our attention, Addie made her laugh the most, I started to wean her from breastfeeding, Rubie still had an unpredictable nap schedule and would cat nap in the evenings, and she developed stranger danger - Rubie is not the friendliest little girl and defiantly not fond of strangers or men in hats. We were happy that Rubie started to roll and sit better. Her physical development was a little slow but she started to catch up by 8 months.  

 

Halloween 2012

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Happy Halloween, Partner! We had a great Halloween. Addie dressed as a cowgirl and Rubie made Addie official as her darling cow. We made the most of the holiday by trick or treating three separate times - the Lovell downtown trick or treat, my parents' ward trick or treat, and the traditional door to door trick or treating on Halloween night. It was good to give Addie some extra practice trick or treating because at first she was shy, (so unlike her) but by Halloween night she said "trick or treat" very well. Rubie wasn't such a fan of the door to door trick or treating. She has stranger anxiety and got fussy and tired after an hour of "fun".   

 

Addie 3 & Rubie 9 Months

Yehaw!

 Hold on Tight!

Harper 8 Months & Rubie 9 Months

Ahhh... So Cute!

As tradition we also carved pumpkins or more correctly Bob carved pumpkins. I did help clean out one of the pumpkins. Addie selected the witch and Bob the creepy alien. I think the pumpkins turned out awesome. Even one of our little trick or treaters said, "You're a good pumpkin carver!". We had a very Happy Halloween!

Master Carver

Addie Turns 3

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Addie's 3rd birthday was AWESOME!!! We celebrated Addie's birthday Yo Gabba Gabba style this past Saturday night and had a razzle dazzle of a time. As part of our family traditions, childhood birthday parties are a big deal, and we wanted to go all out. We were joined by our families, Skyping with the Weber's. Our festivities included: dinner - Addie's favorites (mac 'n cheese, popcorn chicken, and green beans), annual homemade birthday movie, our family's version of the Yo Gabba Gabba show, gifts, and singing with cake and ice cream. We again "surprised" Addie with the final set up of her party. She seemed thrilled and had a great time. It was fun to get together with our family, and I'm so glad we were able to put on the party for Addie and share the celebration with all our family.

 

Some of the special, homemade touches we added to the party were: the character gift bags, Muno cups, bottle labels, and gift tags. Lindi made the tissue balls and the paper stars. We added ribbon and stars to the banner as well. Bob and I used pastry bags for the first time in our lives to try and frost the cupcakes which was nothing short of hilarious.    

 

At three years old, Addie is a bundle of happy energy. She is very social and wants to be friends with everyone. Addie talks very well. Potty training has been a challenge, but I think we may finally be making some progress as Addie is now just starting to recognize the urge. She loves nursery and I'm hoping that she likes Primary just as much. Addie is a great big sister and is interacting with Rubie more and more. She loves to sing, read books, help make cookies (really just to eat the dough), and color. We are always amazed by her memory and her understanding level. Addie is a night owl but still takes a good afternoon nap. Addie knows her alphabet, recognizes each letter and each sound. She knows her shapes, colors, and numbers to 20. Addie is starting to grasp the concept of time - days of the week and each day being separate with new events. 

 

We love our Addie and feel blessed to be her parents. We look forward to all her future birthdays and being together to celebrate with her.     



 

The Birthday Girl

"CHEESE"

Surprise!

 The Gifts

 



Center of the Party

Addie's Favorite Snacks

Party Favors

 



Cupcakes

Beverages

Banner

Party People

 



Josie 6 Mo, Rubie 8 Mo & Harper 7 Mo

The Birthday Girl & the Babies

The Invite

Bottle Lables

Tags

Addie's First Hair Cut

Friday, October 5, 2012

On Monday, September 24th, 2012, Addie had her first official hair cut. At four months old, Addie went completely bald, and I feared that her hair would be very slow in coming back. But at about 18 months, Addie's hair started to look and grow longer. During the last few months, the ends really started to look straggly and thin. Addie had about six inches cut off, so her hair is now all one length. Addie was nervous when she got in the chair and wanted me to hold her hand. I could see that tears were very close to the surface. I was hoping that she would keep it together. After the first few cuts, she realized it didn't hurt and she did really well. Addie even managed to hold still. The cut looks great, making her hair seem thicker. Addie seemed to enjoy the experience. I think it made her feel like a big girl. 

 

Before

After

Addie Dressed to Cheer for her Dad and the Bulldogs

Our Yard



A couple of weeks ago we were surprised to look out our front window and see the "Thanks for Keeping Lovell Beautiful" sign in our yard. It was a nice surprise for us. Notice it took us all summer long to get our yard looking good. We have worked on our yard, making changes since we purchased our house just over a year ago. This summer Bob with the help of my Dad, Richard, Duane, and JC put in a fence. Bob did a fantastic job! We also added or enlarged four perennial flower beds, trimmed trees, and other lawn maintenance chores. We, of course, have plans to keep improving our yard - can't wait till next May! We enjoy caring for our house and yard. It's great to have a place our girls can play. We will miss our lawn during the winter but will be glad for the break from the continual maintenance. A funny story - when they came to pick up the sign at the end of the week, Addie became very upset. She cried asking why they were taking her sign and saying she wanted it back. It was sad but yet so funny.  

 

 

7 Months

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

My poor second child has fallen victim to the common problem of not getting as many pictures taken of her, and I have been horrible about keeping a record of her growth and development (shame on me). By about 5 1/2 months, we saw an improvement in Rubie's fussiness (yay, thank goodness!). Because Rubie was born 6 weeks early, she is still behind developmentally about 4 weeks or so. It's expected that by 12 months Rubie will be "caught up" developmentally. 

At 7 months, Rubie: 

*loves her toes

*gives us awesome smiles

*giggles when her Daddy plays the sneezing game  

*has rolled over only 3 times from her tummy to her back

*has her two bottom front teeth

*started eating solids about 2 weeks ago - oatmeal cereal with sweet potatoes and applesauce

*reaches for her toys and anything else she can get her hands on

*loves her big sister, Addie

*likes tub time

*loves being outside

*favorite song is "Rock-a-Bye Rubie"

*naps with her binkie and her Quackers

*prefers to stand (while holding our hands)

 

At Rubie's well child check up she weighed 16 lb 14 oz (31.4%), measured 26 inches (37.3%), and had a head circumference of 44 cm (77.5%). Her head measurement was a big surprise because due to the way her head was squished in my uterus she has had a very small head since birth. Hopefully she's just having a growth spurt and catching up? Rubie is still taking Zantac which is helpful. Everything else checked out fine - she's a healthy, happy baby.

 

We love our baby Rubie and are so glad that she is part of our family!