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Pictures of Ruby Here! December 25, 2008  
 
Ruby got her sled and her Little Snoopy pull toy. She liked sitting in the sled to watch Christmas movies
until she slid over on her side and couldn't get back up. For Christmas dinner, Melody and I had steaks and
potatoes while Ruby took a nap. For her dinner, Ruby got mushy vegetables...not very spectacular but she'll
do better next year. But I still think she is enjoying her first Christmas. There's lots of paper and boxes
for her to play with. I told her tomorrow I would take her outside and show her how to write her name in the
snow. Maybe we'll get a picture of that to post here.
December 13, 2008
For our trip back to Michigan for Thanksgiving, we packed the car to the brim with all of our stuff and hit the roadm Saturday morning. Ruby did really well in the car. By feeding her in her carseat, we managed to make the trip without really needing any extra stops. On the way out we spent a couple days at Melissa's visitng Ruby's cousins and letting her play on their huge living room floor. We got to Grandma & Grandpa Blakes on Tuesday and Ruby got to see even more aunts, uncles, cousins, and even second cousins. She also got a fever and didn't sleep well at all, which was worrisome (and tiresome) for me and Melody. We hoped it was from cutting a new tooth, but we weren't sure until one morning when Grandma found a new chomper coming in right next to her first two. And even though she wasn't feeling well she was still a really good girl and put of with getting passed around pretty well. She even took her first piano lessons from Grandpa Mike. We were also able to get some professional Christmas portraits taken, thanks to Ron & Micki who got all the grandkids together for a group photo, then let Ruby get some by herself. She was really well behaved through the whole thing. In fact, she was almost too good, getting so excited a few times and flapping her arms in the air just in time to block out her face in the photo. Still, she was smiling really big, showing lots of teeth and dimples. Since getting back home from Michigan, it seems like things have been busier than ever. Melody's friend Michelle came for a visit last weekend, and this weekend we have been trying to get the house in order for hosting Christmas for the Asfahl's next weekend. Well have a full house Friday night, then spend Saturday eating a huge dinner, lots of pies, cookies, and caramel corn. After the dust settles, the three of us will be planning on staying in and just enjoying being a family for our first Christmas together. October 31, 2008
October 27, 2008
Speaking of feasting, Ruby has been eating like a champ. Applesauce, peas, bananas in various forms, oatmeal, rice cereal, green beans, and strawberries. So far there doesn't seem to be anything she doesn't like. She must get that from her daddy. She still just has the two teeth on the bottom-front, though grandpa said he felt some more coming in while she was gnawing on his thumb. Her only form of locomotion so far is sliding backwards or spinning on her tummy. A couple times she has pushed up on hands and knees, but then when she tries to go forward she doesn't know to bring her knees along and ends up plopping on face. Earlier this month, the three of us went on a fall color tour of Minnesota and Wisconsin on our way to meet some friends for dinner. We were driving for about 7 or 8 hours total and Ruby did great the whole time. We got to practce feeding and changing her on the road, so we should know what to expect on the trip to Michigan. There are some pictures from our little family trip in the photo album, taken from Grand-dad's Bluff overlooking La Crosse, WI. October 3, 2008
Still no crawling, but she is getting close enough that we went out and stocked up on outlet covers and cabinet locks.
We've been thinking for a while now that she will start to take off, but she has been taking her time. She has been pushing
herself up onto her hands and knees in her crip, but no forward motion yet...other than when she pushes forward and falls on
her face. I'm sure one day we'll turn our backs for a second and she'll take off out into the street or something.
September 4, 2008
She's still not really mobile. She has started rolling to her stomach, then pushing up with her hands until she slides her whole body backwards, but she's not too hard to keep up with at that speed. Still, crawling is likely just around the corner and we still need to get the house ready for that. No more scissors on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, I guess. So if you play the stock market, it might be a good time to invest in any company that makes those plastic doo-dads that childproof doors and cupboards...just a little insider information for you. August 4, 2008
We've had lots of visitors lately and Ruby has been out to meet a lot of new people. Back in July, Grandma and Grandpa Blake were here with Ruby's cousins, Kelli and Emily. Then our friend Jill stayed over for a weekend with us on one of her rare times at home in the U.S. (she spends a lot of time in China nowadays). This past Saturday, Ruby went to her first Pig Roast that some friends of ours put on every year. She met lots of our friends that haven't seen her yet, and we all met some of our friends' new babies that will hopefully be Ruby's playmates soon. Then on Sunday, we all went down to Iowa for the Asfahl family reunion where Ruby got to meet lots of Melody's relatives that haven't seen her yet. She wowed everyone with her hair and her ability to fall asleep amid all the racket. Her "aunt" Lois even bought her a very nice baby blanket at the family auction.
Melody recently got a promotion at work. I'm very happy for that, both becuase I'm proud of Melody and because just a few more promotions for her and my plan to become a stay-at-home-daddy will be complete!! Moo-oooh-ah-ha-ha-ha!! In case you couldn't tell, I was also curling the ends of my pointy mustache as I typed that last bit. June 22, 2008
Ruby has started grabbing things and manipulating her toys. One of her favorite things to do now is pull down the bars of her play-gym on top of her. Then she sucks on them, which is her other favorite thing to do. Mostly she sucks on her knuckles, and boy does she go to town. I don't know really how do describe what it sounds like, but I always think of large pumps and small amounts of water. We don't know if she'll ever find her thumb, or if she did but decided she liked the whole back of her hand better. We figure teething will be right around the corner. Luckily, I have a good selection of high quality bourbon on hand. In other news, Ruby is looking forward to seeing Grandma Janet and Grandpa Mike in just a couple weeks! Ruby is now in her second full week of daycare. She seems to be doing quite well there. Melody has some withdrawal
symptoms during the week, which is to be expected, and she can't wait to pick Ruby up on the way home. I get the task
of dropping her off in the morning, which is tough, but thinking about it is harder than actually doing it. We feel
really good about the staff there, so when I see them with her I know she's in good hands. The daycare center is the next
entrance over from where I go into work, so it's easy for me to stop in and see her on my lunch breaks, too.
A week ago Sunday, Ruby got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Asfahl while they were in town for some shopping. She's
always happy to get visitors, and that day was no exception even though she had a bad cold. She'd started showing symptoms
on the Thursday before when we noticed she has a stuffy nose and some congestion. Then on Firday morning she had a slight
fever. The nurse at our pediatrician's office told us to keep an eye on it and if it got over 101 degrees to bring her in.
Then at about 10:00 that night, it got to 101.3, so we called the nurse hotline and they siad to have her checked out within
the hour. So we packed her up and took her on her first visit to the emergency room. They checked her over and took some
blood to do a blood count which indicated she had a viral infection but nothing to worry about. It was nice for piece
mind, but didn't help us because we still couldn't do anything to make her feel better. Still, Ruby was a sweetheart
through the whole thing. She only started to fuss when the technician pricked her heel to draw blood, and by then she
had been stretched out half-naked on the table for quite a while.
Of course, all of this started just two days after we took her to daycare for the first time (that was an ordeal for mom
& dad...Ruby did fine, as expected). We doubt that she picked it up from daycare so soon. More likely she got it from
one of the two get togethers we went to over Memorial Day weekend. Regardless of where it came from, she is getting better
now and we made it through her first cold pretty well. All in all, Ruby fussed and whined about her cold way less than
Melody or I do when we get sick.
Long time, no update. Earlier this month, Ruby completed her first interstate trip when we went down to Iowa, though
sadly it was for her great-grandpa's funeral, whom she never got the chance to meet. He was a very sweet and funny man,
and I'm sure he and Ruby would have gotten along great. Ruby was passed around to all sorts of people, and she was on her
best behavior. She slept most of the time, but when she was awake, just sat quietly and looked cute.
Last week, Ruby had her 2 month checkup at the doctor and it went well. She got five shots for all the immunizations she
needs. She handled that a little better than we did. They also weighed her and checked her over pretty good. Seems we
haven't broken her and we aren't starving her. She's gained 4 lbs and 3-1/2 inches since we left the hospital. She
already seems a lot bigger. She's starting to coo and smile. No laughs yet, but we're expecting one anytime now. We
keep whipping out the video camera to catch her new sounds, but then she usually shuts up and just loads her diaper, and
we've already got plenty of footage of that. When she cries we are starting to be able to tell a difference in the kind
of cry. Not that we have any better idea what the cries mean, but we can tell a difference. Kind of how you can tell
one person is speaking French and another person is speaking German, even though you have no idea what either one of
them is saying.
We also started getting ready to send her to daycare. We visited the place yesterday and dropped off some supplies
like diapers, a couple changes of clothes, and other things Ruby will need. Next week, we'll start dropping her off
part-time to get us all used to the process and so when we start for real we can keep the crying to a minimum...
for us, I mean. I'm sure Ruby will be fine with the whole thing.
Things have kind of slowed down around here. We're getting into a routine and we all seem to be adjusting well.
Ruby had a spell where she just wanted to cry no matter what we did for her, sometimes for an hour or more. That
was no fun for anybody. Her spells seemed to come at night, so sleep was hard to come by for a while. She also
had a few fits during the day while Melody was home alone with her, and that was pretty tough. Ruby has ended up
spending a lot of time in her swing. It doesn't always calm her down, but when it works it gives us a chance to
get things done that we need to do when there's no one to hand her off to.
On more fun topics, we've started moving her into her crib, starting with a few naps durin they day, then last
night trying to get her to spend the whole night in there. She did pretty well, sleeping for a good two hour
stretch, then another just over three hours. This past week the weather was really nice so we got her out in her
stroller for some walks around the neighborhood. Melody also walked her around the yard in a baby sling while I
was doing some yardwork. She even got to meet one of our neighbors for the first time. Then for the whole next day,
her head smelled like outdoors. All that hair sticking up works great for catching smells.
I've been a little lax on updating this page, but we keep the pictures pretty well up do date so keep checking
those even if there's nothing new here.
It was another weekend full of visitors for Ruby. Gramma Janet and Grampa Mike made the trip this time, and
they bootlegged a few Big John's sandwiches and a couple cases of Vernors all the way from Flint. We all had
a really good time. Ruby really liked napping on Mike. We took her on her first trip to Buffalo Wild Wings
and even though the place was roaring, she slept the whole time.She also went through her first bout of diaper
rash this weekend. Desitin took care of it in a couple days, but it was probably as painful for me and momma
to have to clean that red, irritated skin as it was for Ruby. I guess that means we're really her parents.
Probably won't be the first time we say, "This is gonna hurt us more than it hurts you."
After Gramma and Grampa left, our friend Sally came by our house and took a bunch of very nice photographs
for us. She has her own photography business and is going put together a CD for us. Some of the
samples look very nice and we can't wait
to see the rest of them.
Then even later, some more friends stopped by to see Ruby. Today was a very busy day for her. Hopefully,
that means she'll be tried and sleep well all night long. Wouldn't that be nice...
Ruby got to meet Grampa Ron, Gramma Micki, Aunt Jessica, and her cousin Jules last weekend. She behaved pretty
well while they were here. We took her out to eat for the first time and she pretty much slept all through lunch.
Gramma and Grampa spoiled her pretty good, buying her all kinds of toys that she can't even play with yet. Jessica
gave her a very nice basket filled with clothes, books, and some other very useful things (Thanks for the Mylicon!!).
Today, Gramma Janet and Grampa Mike are on their way from Michigan to visit her for the first time. We plan on
using Gramma's discount at Babies R' Us to get a crib mattress and a couple other things while they're here. We
might also only let them visit her in the middle of the night when she is most likely to be awake...and screaming.
She has been pretty good with sleeping, but lately she hasn't wanted to stay down very long between 2 and 6 am. Maybe
we need to start keeping her awake more during the day to help her adjust her schedule to one that is more friendly
to Mommy and Daddy.
Be sure to check out the photo albums. I've got some video ready to go. The files take a long time do download,
so I'm also going to put them on YouTube, at least temporarily. The first link is there, with more to follow.
My how time flies. She's almost two weeks old already! At her last doctor appointment, she had gained
four ounces to get up to 7lbs 10oz, and was right where the doctor wanted her to be. Melody and I were
very relieved. It's amazing how important counting wet and poopy diapers and gaining 4 little ounces became
to us in between weighings. Now that her eating seems to be on track we are able to relax and enjoy her more
without worrying so much.
It's been incredible to finally be able to see her, hold her, and hear her after 9 long months in Melody's
tummy. The strangest thing is that is seems like she's always been here. Maybe that's becuase we already
can't remember what life was like without her. Melody is doing a fantastic job with late night feedings. I
do what little I can to help, but after giving Ruby a quick diaper change I hand her off to momma and I get
to go back to bed! I'm even getting more sleep than I used to!
We're trying to get lots of pictures so our long-distance relatives can feel more like they are seeing
her everyday activities. But we think everything she does is so cute, it's hard to know when to put down
the camera so all the shots don't look the same. We've got some video, and I'll try to get that posted this
weekend, but no promises.
Ruby is a week old today! She's been doing well, eating when she should and doing plenty of the other
things babies do. She's even been sleeping well between feedings, so Melody and I can actually get some
sleep, too. We've given her a couple baths and we've learned that she has daddy's hair that fuzzes out when
it dries. We have a doctor appointment tomorrow to make sure she is getting back up to her birth weight.
She was down a bit at the hospital and hadn't gained any by this past Thursday. We're hoping that since she
hasn't had any trouble filling diapers that it means she's been getting enough to eat.
I've added some more pictures for those that have been checking for them. They should also be a little
easier to navigate. Click the link at the top to get to the list of our photo albums and follow the links
for Ruby's pictures.
We're home! We got back from the hospital around 11 this morning. So far, things
are going well. Ruby is eating, pooping, and peeing just like she's supposed to.
It's so easy to please people when you're young. We're all trying to figure out a schedule.
Melody and I are tag-teaming so the other can sleep, eat, make phone calls, send e-mails, or
update the web-page. We'll see how tonight goes.
Good thing we finished getting all that stuff yesterday.
Ruby June Linn --> Click Here <--
to see all the pics so far. More to come as I get time...so don't hold your breath.
Well, I think we have just about everything we need. We've taken all the classes, read a
bunch of books, bought tons and tons of stuff, and we've even packed up our bags for the hospital.
All we are missing now is the baby. But she should be here anytime now. The official due date
is March 17th, but the due date they determined at the ultra sound was March 6th, so we are officailly
within our due date window. Everyone has been great, sending us gifts and congratulations, and
everyone seems to be anxiously awaiting the news of her arrival. Visits are already planned with
all the grandparents (the baby's grandparents, that is). We've told everyone just about everything
we know, except for her name (that's a secret!). I still need to be better with the cameras so I get
lots of pictures and videos.
So just stay posted here. The hospital has wireless Internet access so I can post updates and send
e-mails right away. In the meantime, feel free to write or call us. And click on the photos here to get
directed to more photos and albums.
We had an appraiser stop by yesterday to tell the bank how much our house is now worth for when
we refinance our mortgage. Hopefully, he thinks it's worth a lot. We also had all the final
inspections done and I'm happy to say we passed with flying colors. To celebrate, I bought some
speakers to go with the home theater receiver we've had sitting in a box for months while it was
waiting for its new home. I hooked them up last night but couldn't play with them too much since
Melody was sleeping. And last week, Melody bought us a couch, coffee table, and end table for the
downstairs family room that look very nice. It's starting to feel like a real living room down there. We also took another baby class, this one about breastfeeding. I was basically there for support.
Next week we have a newborn care class where they will hopefully teach us everything we need to know
about our new baby in a few short hours...but maybe that's a little over-optimistic. We made our first baby purchase tonight! We picked up a Pack N' Play and it became the first
piece of furniture in the newly painted baby's room. We were supposed to buy a travel system
stroller as well, but someone forgot his wallet. Luckily, the gift cards we had were enough to
cover the playpen, so at least the trip wasn't a total waste. We get to go back tomorrow for
the stroller. As you can see, the room is painted yellow. Not quite as pale as we hoped, but we're still
happy with it. It'll probably look even better once we get some more stuff in there to break up
the walls of solid color. Still, I'm convinced those little color cards you get at the paint
store are a complete waste of time. The color never looks anything like it does on the card,
in the can, or even when it's on the wall and still wet. The best you can do is slap it on and
hope it comes out somewhere in the same color family that you were shooting for. The plan for tomorrow is to clean up the house which has become a total disaster area with
us focusing on finishing the lower level and getting the baby's room ready. There's clutter all
over from moving stuff around, and a thick coating of dust from me sawing and sanding downstairs
along with general neglect of household cleaning - there wasn't much point in tring to keep things
clean while I was still working downstairs. I also need to get the garage cleaned out so Melody
can start parking in there again. Some husband and father I've been, making my pregnant wife park
outside in the cold and snow. We have carpet! And doorknobs! Will wonders never cease? The carpet installers came yesterday
morning and had everything done by 2:30pm. The carpet is a berber so it's not the coziest but it
should stand up to abuse and it's way better than concrete. After they left, I put the doors back
on the hinges and installed the doorknobs. Makes it feel like an actual living space down there now.
There is still some detail trim to nail under the shelf and then I have to go around filling in
all the nail holes with wood putty before we can move in, but I hope to get that done by tomorrow.
Then we'll have little to do things like putting shelves in the closets and installing some light
fixtrues, but those won't take long and won't keep us from moving in, which we'll be doing this
weekend so we can start preparing the baby's room upstairs. CL We managed to get out and register for baby stuff this past weekend
(Target and Babies R' Us
if you're curious). What an adventure that was. We had lots of lists about what items we would
need, but no information on what brands, sizes, and quantities to get. So we just wandered around
the stores with confused looks on our faces and zapped some of everything that was on the list
and figured that anyone buying something from the registry would know we had no idea what we were
doing and fill in the blanks for us. By the way, did you know they have newborn diapers that will hold up to 10 lbs? That's about
as much as the baby itself weighs! I imagine you only have to change those once a week at the most.
And they now have thermometers that just wipe across a kid's forehead so there's no need for the more
"invasive" type of temperture probes...I don't think that's fair. In other baby news, we were supposed to have our last birthing class yesterday, but it was
cancelled due to blizzard conditions, so we'll jsut have to wait a week to see how everything is
supposed to turn out. The cancellation was good news for me because it gave me more time to get the lower level ready
for carpet, which comes tomorrow! So I spent the evening installing some detail trim on the half-wall
shelving that goes around the outside walls, finishing up some trim around the windows and closets,
hanging the freshly finished doors back on the hinges, and moving some stuff out into the garage to
make room for the carpet guys to work. I then tried out a Swiffer duster on the walls and found out
that it worked pretty well, but also found out that the dust was covering up some wipe-marks on the
wall from where I cleaned up after an unforunate staining accident. Incidentally, a nearlly full
quart can of stain makes an impressive splatter on the wall, floor, and the door you are working
on when the can slips out of your hand. Anyway, tonight we'll move the rest of the stuff out of the basement and sweep up the floor.
Then I may work on more trim and maybe repainting the wall...oh joy. CL We spent the weekend in Madison with Melody's family and had a good time playing games, swimming,
and visiting with everyone. The trip back wasn't so much fun once we got into Minnesota with blowing
snow causing whiteout conditions. But luckily we made it back safely. We had our third birthing class last night. Only one more to go. We've watched some interesting
videos, practiced breathing, and Melody tried several positions to help her be more comfortable
before and during the birth. I've learned that when the time comes she will take care of the birth
and I am supposed to take care of everything else. It's a lot to ask of me, but I think I can pull it off.
Work continues on the lower level. We ordered carpet that should be installed next week. The shelves
on the half-wall around the basement are stained and I've started working on the doors. Once they're
ready, I'm going to try and polyurethane everything at once. I still need to buy closet doors and finish
those. Once they're installed, all that will be left is putting in the light fixtures and we'll be all
set to move in down there. I CANNOT WAIT!!! CL We had our first birthing class this week. I don't know if Melody learned much, and all the dad's
seemed to get out of it was to do whatever the moms needed....and I've known that for a long time!
They showed the moms some positions to help them be comfortable and I got to basically be
furniture. That's fine with me since that's a job I can handle! They also went over a list of
things we should bring along to the hospital when the big day comes, so that could be useful. We
still have three more classes, so maybe we'll get to some more advanced material by then. The carpet guy is coming tomorrow to take measurements of the basement so we can get an estimate.
Only one room left to install baseboard and I should get that done by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
Then I can start staining the shelves. If all goes well, we should be able to start moving stuff down
there by the end of the month. I'll still have the doors to finish, as well as some of the detail
pieces for the shelves, but that stuff won't keep us from being able to use it. CL In baby news, Melody is continuing to grow a nice little tummy. The baby seems to be moving
all the time, enough that we've been able to see her. Last night, I was even able to hear her
heartbeat with my ear on Melody's stomach. That was cool! We have another visit with the doctor
tomorrow, after which we'll take our first baby class. We're hoping to get the basement done
soon so we can get to work painting the baby's room and stocking up on baby gear. Speaking of the basement: work continues...slowly. Lately I've been working on finishing the trim
pieces. Trying to keep the fumes away from Melody and the baby, I've been doing everything out in
the garage. I've gone through about 6 tanks of propane using the little heater dad got for me last
year to warm the garage up to a suitable temperature for applying the finish to the trim. Still, the
fumes seem to seep into the house so our heating bill will probably be pretty high this month from
keeping windows open. Over the holidays, I stained all of the door and window casings, door jambs, and baseboards and
got the doors and trim installed. This past weekend, I cut and fit the plywood to make caps for
the half-wall that goes around most of the basement and started installing the baseboard. The
baseboard is all that's holding up getting carpet installed, but since I need to stain the shelves
we want to wait until that's done so I don't accidentally ruin brand new carpet. The list is slowly
shrinking, but there still seems like a lot to do:
Wish me luck...CL Archives - 2007 |
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