Watch Ruthie Grow!

This story section is dedicated to up dates on Ruthie's personal progress .Area in Hot Pink is most current update.

***September 5,2006 Ruthie is 1 month old She is now holding her head up. She weighs 8 pounds and is 20 inches long.

***October 5,2006 Ruthie is 2 months old she weighs 10 pounds 14 ounces, and is 22 inches long. She can now Recognizes mommy and daddy and her brother and sisters, she greets us all with big smiles.

*** November 5,2006 Ruthie is now 3 months old and we have learned to give kisses! November 10, We slept through the night!!! November 14,we have discovered hugs! She is such a lovey baby. She has lots of hugs and kisses for her family. She is very selective about who she will love on though. If she doesn't know you very well don't bother asking for lovens.

***December 5,2006 Ruthie is 4 months old, She is 13.2 pounds and 24 ½ inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for length. She has a VERY bad case of big kid trapped in a little kids body syndrome. She is constantly trying to get up and go some where, If I am holding her she is trying to wiggle down out of my lap. She wants to be sitting up all the time, She is rolling over from tummy to back, and almost has mastered from back to tummy, just can't quite get the arm out of the way. She has started to play in her exersaucer. She really likes it, especially the mirror. She " Talks" to the baby all the time. She can spin all the way around in it. In the last 2 weeks it is like her personality has just blossomed.

***Jan 3,2007 Ruthie is 5 months old now.She Went to the doctor today for a little sinus congestion, Doctor said nothing major, gave her some decongestent. She weighes 15lbs 9 oz and is 26 inches long now. Ruthie really enjoyed Christmas she was so cute. She was a ball of excitement for the entire week of Christmas. She had so much fun opening her presents.She got SO MUCH stuff, I can't hardly find a place to put everything! Check out the pictures page for Christmas pics!

 ***February 9,2006 Ruthie is 6 months old now. She weights 16 lbs and is 26 inches long.she has mastered the art of rolling over from back to tummy now.She has also mastered sitting up. She is still working on re righting her self if she topples over.She is trying with all her might to figure out how to crawl, she is really trying to figured out how to get up on her knees. she can scoot on her belly some , but tends to go in circles more than any other direction.She is into giving kisses to anyone she can pin down now. She is very lovey! We have begun teaching her sign language. She isn't picking it up yet, but I don't doubt that she will figure it all out very quickly.She is very smart!

*** Feburary 26,2006 Ruthie is now rolling all over the place. She uses rolling as a form of transportation.She is trying to pull up in her crib now when she is sitting close to the rail. And the best news of all is she has learned to say" Mama"! Every time I leave her sight she calls out "Mama"!!!

*** February 28, 2006 We have our first tooth! Night before last was a really tough night, Ruthie didn't sleep much all night. She wouldn't sleep unless I was holding her. She was just cranky.I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I fugured she just wasn't feeling well. Well this morning, she was chewing on my finger and I felt something sharp I looked in her mouth and there on the bottom gum was the corner of a tooth peeking through! Now I know why she was so fussy the other night! Also in other impressive news Ruthie is starting to pick up sign laungage. As you may know teaching signing to young babies is the latest rage. It reduces frustration, improves IQs and increaces there ability to communicate, just to name a few of it's benefits. Well we have been teaching Ruthies basic signs such as More, Want, Milk ( Bottle), Eat, Hurt, Mama, Dada,Dressed, bath, No,and so on. This week she has started to sign Milk ( Bottle) when she wants her bottle! She also mimics the sign for Hurt, when we tell her No, Hurt !,when she pinches. She is so bright it is amazing!

***March 12,2007 Ruthie is now 7 months old. She weighs 17 pounds and is 27 1/2 inches long.She is getting more and more mobile everyday. She has not figured out how to crawl, just yet,but she sure is working hard on learning how. She scoots on her belly and manages to get arround very well. She has found the videos under the T.V. and loves nothing more than to make her way to them and drag them all out. She LOVES Elmo, she owns 4 of them and would bring home a new one every time we went to the store if she had her way.Her new tooth is all the way through now. As soon as it is tall enough to show up in a pic I will take one to show it off!

***March 26,2007 Ruthie is now 7 1/2 months old. She is sarting to crawl, she does a sort of inch worm crawl. She gets on her hands and knees, moves her hands forward, lays down on her belly and pulls her knees up under her, then back up on all fours. Every once in a while she will actually crawl on all fours. I think she will figure it out before much longer. She can now get her self back into a seated postion from lying down. She is trying to pull up on absolutley everything. She pulled up on Daddy the other day and stood up straight and let go. She stood there for about 10 seconds before she lost her balance. Last night she was standing in front of the ottaman, and turned around grabbed Daddy and walked about a foot and a half holding on to him .She is working on cutting her second tooth a nd has started "counting" She will hold up her hands and touch each finger while she jabbers, when she gets to the last finger she will clap her hands and say Yea! She puts the same influctuation in her voice as she "counts" as we do when we count with her. She raises her voice an octive at the end of each"word".She is truly an amazing little girl.

***April 4,2007 Ruthie is now 8 months old, she weights about 17 1/4 pounds and is now 28 inches long. She is growing like a weed! She is crawling every where. She still does the inch worm crawl more than she really crawls.If she is on the hard floor then she will really crawl, I guess she gets better traction with bare feet and knees on the hardwood, than on the carpet.She is pulling up on everything now and starting to cruise the house holding on to the furniture. We have began the process of baby proofing the house and making it "Ruthie" safe. Ruthie started " School" last week. I went back to work full time. (Tori is getting married in 13 months got a wedding to pay for.) I Don't plan to continue to work full time for long, once the wedding is over I will go back to part time , but for now I need the full time pay. Any way, she is doing well, she likes her teacher, her name is Ms. Angie she is a very sweet lady.She is the oldest in her class, so she feels pretty big. She is always excited when I drop her off. I am working in the same center teaching the Pre-K so I can check in on her any time I want, that helps me a bit. I will say I 'm not really enjoying being away from her though even if it is just one door down!

*** April 26,2007 Ruthie is 8 and 1/2 months old I finally got a picture of her first tooth!

It only took two months for me to catch it on film.Ruthie is crawling every where now, no more inch worm for this girl! I have quit my job, I only lasted one month, but that is all it took for me to discover I was not ready for her to be in daycare! Ruthie got sick as soon as we started Daycare, she wound up with RSV and developed a mild case of Pneumonia. I took off two days when she first got sick then on the third day I called in and told them I quit. She will never darken the doors of another Day Care! I am going to be starting baby sitting at home in a week. I can keep 2 kids at home and make the same for Tori's wedding as I could working full time, and my baby won't be getting sick all the time.She is getting better now, THANK GOD!

***May 17,2007 Ruthie is now 9 1/2 months old and Legally ours. The adoption finalized Today!!! Praise God! She is doing amazing, Crawling every where, getting into everything, jabbering up a storm. She is finaly well.She did develop some tummy woes from all the antibiotics she was on, but she is over coming that. I am baby sitting a little one at home now, she isn't real sure what to think of the competition for my attention during the day. The baby I keep is younger than Ruthie, she really wants to play with her but doesn't know what to do with her.

*** June 5,2007 Ruthie is 10 months old now She is now trying to walk. She will walk holding onto one finger. She trys to take steps alone, but hasn't quite mastered it yet, once she moves the behind foot she looses her balance. She can now say, Hi,Bye Bye, MaMa, BaBa, Bite, and Ball. She jabbers all the time,not always sure what she is saying but she sure knows! She has become quite the little clothes horse. She LOVES new clothes, and gets very excited when we enter the childrens clothing section of any store. She has her definite likes and dislikes. If she likes it she will grab it and squeal and hug it if she doesn't she growls and throws it down. She has developed a passion for stuffed animals.The softer the better. She weights almost 18 pounds and is 28 1/4 inches long . Her growth has slowed down now, she is very tall and petite.She is in the 57 th percentile for highth, so she is taller than average. People often comment on how little she is then we tell them her age and they say oh, I thought she was alot older than that! She is very animated, and acts older than her 10 months. She is eating more table food now, she LOVES ritz crackers and McDonalds, apple pies, green beans are still a favorite as are mashed potatoes, but she is now also eating things like english peas, pine apple is a favorite as is sphaghetti.And a huge favorite is pintos and cheese from taco Bell!***July 4,2007 Ruthie is now 11 months old she weighs 18 pounds and is 28 1/4 inches long. Ruthie is walking now, Over the last month she has gotten where she walks more and more, she has now gotten where when she falls down instead of finishing her journey by crawling she gets up and continues walking.She is talking more and more she now says Dada, and will put words togther and say Bye Bye Dada Dada. She also says yeah when you ask her if she wants something.If she doesn't want it she will shake her head no .She trys to copy words we say to her more and more. If you tell her to repeat something she trys really hard to say what you said. She is such a big kid She has gotten where she won't eat any baby food except rice cereal.She is eating more table food now. She has developed a passion for all pasta. Lo mien is a HUGE favorite as is sphagetti .She still loves her taco bell. ( She is definitely my child! Her favorite foods are chinese and mexican )She is still battling the ear infections we saw a specialist and have decided it is time for tubes. So July 16 she is getting tubes in her ears.I hope this fixes things! She has had an ear infection pretty much constantly sense March. Well Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th.For Ruthies first 4th we are going to see the fire works.

***June 16,2007 Ruthie had her surgery today,(Tubes in her ears) she is doing well. A little cranky,but that is to be expected.I just hope this takes care of all the ear infections!In other news I am going back to work. I know I said I wasn't ready to work and I guess I truly am not ready, how ever my bank account says ready or not I must work. I have gotten a job putting my teachers assistants license to good use. I will be working as the T.A. in a Pre K program . The class is part of the lottery funded Pre-K, so it is a public Pre-K,but it is located in a private daycare. As part of my contract package I will recieve free child care so that is nice! Ruthie will be two doors down from me. She is excited, on the day I went for the interview she had a melt down because she couldn't stay and play.I am making a decent salary, I work school hours , school calender,so that is great. I will have summers, and all holidays off.It is a really good school I worked at this school as the Pre-K T.A. when Sarah was little, so I know it is a good school. I start August 1, school starts back August 6th. But teachers have to report a week early.

***August 7,2006 Ruthie is 1 year old! I can hardly beleive my little baby is already 1! She had a very nice birthday party. She painted her face with birthday cake as one would expect. She got lots of pretty presents, and we took lots of really cute pictures check them out in the pictures section. Ruthie has started " school" She really seems to like the day care where she is going. I am liking my job as T.A. It is nice to be back teachinig in a real school enviroment!

***August 25,2007, Ruthie went for her one year check up Thursday. She now is 18 lbs 11oz, 29 1/4 inches long. She is very healthy. The doctor said she is developmentaly above target. She has a vocabulary of about a dozen words or more. She can say :Mama, Daddy, Bottle, Josh, Dog ,Cat , Kitty Kitty, Mine!,Hey, Bye Bye, That,( Which she uses to tell you what she wants or to ask what something is)Night Night, Uh-Huh ( Yes) She also says No, in the same way but puts the different fluctuation on it so you know it is No, I just am not sure how to spell the oppisite of Uh-Huh,But you all know what sound I am talking about because we all say it. Right? She will also put together the sound of "Want" With Bobble ( Bottle) Mama, Daddy, Bye bye, Night Night, She doesn't put the "W" on the want But she makes it clear she is saying "want" What ever comes after it. She also Jabbers in conversation mode alot, She knows what she is telling you about. She is really enjoying " School" She loves to do the " Bear Hunt Song"She tries to do the hand motions. She is very much a " Big Kid"! She also is real big on telling you animal sounds. If you ask how does the Cow go she say. OOO-OOO If you ask how does the dog go she says Uff Uff.She is eating all table food now and loves pasta more than anything. She is on whole milk now, and REALLY loves her milk! We have not started to wean off the bottle yet. She really bawlks at that idea. She has cut her third tooth and number four will be breaking through any day now.

***October 4,2007 Ruthie is 14 months old ( Well as of tomorrow ) She is getting so big.She has hit the 20 pound mark. So now her car seat faces forward. She likes that! She is about 30 inches long now I would say.She has gotten to be a really good eater. She is down to three bottles a day, one first thing in the morn one right after school and a bed time bottle. She takes a cup the rest of the day, but she just isn't ready to give up those last three. Her vocabulary is really growing, she can name most of her colors now, Her favorite to say is purple.She has started to say her numbers when she counts. She will try to repeat just about every thing you say to her. She now is very good at signing Drink, More and all done.She talks alot these days, Can't say I always understand, but she sure seems to know what she is saying.She doesn't have much to say when she is at school or church, but home you can't keep her quiet. She really likes going to school and is really learning alot.( That is where she learned her colors!)She has been having some respitory issues sense fall has arrived. The doctor said if this doesn't clear up soon he is sendin her for allergy testing, for the mean time she has to take three breathing treatments a day. Right now the congestion seems to be in the nose, but as with how it tends to go it starts in the nose then moves to weazing , so the doctor said as long as her nose is running he wants to leave her on breathing treatments. She goes back Monday we will see what he has to say, I have a feeling he will be sending us for allergy testing come Monday.Her tooth count is now up to 6, 4 on top 2 on bottom. Well I have started college so that is whats new in My life, Ruthies big sister Melody is getting married November 3rd, so Ruthie gets to be the flower girl.

***November 10, Well we are now 15 months old! Ruthie is growing like a weed! She is such a big kid. She weighs about 20.5 pounds now I think and she is 31 onches tall.She is still enjoying daycare. She has learned so much there. The other day she brought me a toy car and told me it was a Jeep. They had been learning about "Things that Go" in daycare that week.She is using lots of sign language these days.She signs "good" when she likes something,and signs "eat "all the time lord this child can eat!She had the allergy test done, she doesn't have any allergies to things like mold, cats or dogs,but most likely does have pollen allergies, as her nose runs clear the min she steps out side.She was the flowergirl in Melody's wedding, she looked so pretty, she did walk down the isle, but wouldn't cooperate much for pics.I posted the few that she did take on the pics page.Ruthies learning more and more words,she now says "Sarah","jacket"&"gone". She has so many words now that it is hard to think of them all!She will now "meow" when she sees the kitty,she still barks when she sees the doggy. She is a very smart cookie.She loves to dance, she has really gotten into dancing to music now.

***December 13,2007 Ruthie is now 16 months old, and she is a BIG sister!She is very proud of her baby brother.She has really gotten into playing pretend lately, she loves to play with her toy kitchen and her baby. She is a very big helper with Nathan, she loves to feed him.She has finally completely well, and is off the breathing treatments.Of course she is no longer in daycare as I am staying home with Nathan now.So maybe she can stay well! Her vocabulary is really grown, she now speaks in small sentences,she will say things like "Take this Off" and the other day at church she informed us"That man looks like Ho-Ho"She is quite the little mess !

*** Ruthie is now 17 months old, She is doing very well growing like crazy.The ordeal with Nathan has been VERY hard on her. Tori is taking care of her. (I don't know what I would do with out Tori)She gets to come to the hospital and see him each night, she can't come in the room , but she can look from the door.She Really loves her baby brother and doesn't really undestand why she can't hold him. God I will be so glad to get home to Her ! and have Nathan home with us!She is finaly off the bottle, that was not near as hard as I though it would be, she made the transition to cup with out any real problem.We bought her a potty just before Nathan was admitted to the hospital,She has started showing an interest in using it.I don't know that she has the physical control yet, but I figure we can "practice" if she is interested. I have quite my job as a TA, I decided I just couldn't be away from Nathan being so little. It was hard enough with Ruthie! She kept getting colds, and I just wasn't happy with that aspect of the situation. I am back baby sitting at home. I think that is where I will stay for a LONG LONG LONG time.After this stent in ICU with nathan, I will be on such guard about what my kids are exposed to they will be lucky if I let them attend public school I am thinking about just making a plastic bubble to keep them in!

***March 15,2008 Ruthie is 19 months old, She went for her check up today, she weighs 21 pounds which puts her in the 6th percentile for weight, and is 31 3/4 inches tall which puts her in the 79 percentile for height.She is getting smarter everyday, such a big helper.She loves to throw things away, and help clean up.She is talking up a storm.The Dr says she is doing great.She really loves her baby brother.She still likes to hold him trouble is he is about as big as she is these days!We took her to see the easter bunny today, she wasn't to sure about him, she refused to have anything to do with him. Oh well,Maybe next year.Ruthie is sleeping in a big girl bed now in her own room.We have begun to introduce the idea of potty training, she is interested in going potty, and will tell me T-T, but unfortunately is is always after the fact, but she will get the idea. We had to introduce time out, as the terrrible twos have arrived, she is doing very good with it, most of the time she doesn't even have to go to time out, you just ask her if she needs a time out and she stops doing what ever it is that she shouldn't be doing.She is still very precosious. Acts much older than her 19 months. She is too smart for her on good sometimes.

*** Aug 6,2008  Ruthie is now 2 Ok it has been a while sense I worked on this page, Life has been crazy, I had one daughter get married, one have her first child, my son joined the army, Summer came and went, We've been pretty busy all in all.So now to update Ruthies progress, She turned 2 yesterday, It is hard to believe she is two! She had a princess party Saturday, she had lots of fun. She has gotten very grown up in the last few months, she talks like crazy,And is quite the diva. She is still potty training, and is doing fairly well.She is very much Tori's bestest bud.She LOVES Tori. She also LOVES her baby brother. She and Nathan are quite the pair. She is 23.4 pounds now and 35 inches tall . She is a T2 and wears a wopping size 7 shoe.She is an absolute Barney Fanatic. We have a DVR, so record all the episodes that come each day, she currently has like 33 different episodes of Barney.She loves to sing and dance, she will use anything she can as a microphone and gets on the fire place  the " Stage " and performs.She is still very advanced for her age, I often forget she is 2 she acts so much older. She is truly my princess my little Diva.

***Jan 5,2009 Ruthie is now almost 2 1/2 she is 25 pounds she is about 36 1/2 inches tall she is quite the big kid. She had a really good Christmas and wasloads of fun. She really enjoyed the whole Santa thing.She is still The Wiggles biggest fan. we took her to see them in concert back in November, she had SOOO much fun. She is getting smarter by the min it seems. She acts like she about 3 or so. She LOVES makeup and getting all dolled up. She is still very  much a Diva princess.

*** April 7,2009 Ruthie is now 2 1/2  She weights about 27 pounds not sure exactly how tall she is ,guess I need to measure her!She is potty training consistently now. She wears big girl undies all day and most days she does very well. She is still very much a diva. She has really gotten into earrings as of late. Everyday she has me change her earrings to match her outfit. She still loves shoes and is forever telling me she "Needs" new shoes, never mind she has more shoes than she knows what to do with, she is always in "need" of a new pair. She recently got her 3rd set of tubes in her ears. She had a bad reaction to the medicine that was suppose to calm her down before surgery. She kind of went off the charts instead really freaked out was halucinating like crazy!. No more verset for that girl! Fortunatley she doesn't remember any of it thanks to them putting her under to do the tubes.She is growing and getting so very smart. She talks all the time about starting school.  She is all the time saying "She can't wait til she turns four so she can go to Sarahs school."She is very much my little princess.She  has really gotten into playing pretend lately too.So that is what is new in Ruthies world.

*** July 28,2009 Well in one week Ruthie will be 3. I can't believe it !She is getting so big. She is busy these days planning her birthday party. We are having a Caillou party. She is getting to be such a big kids these days. so independent,and way to smart for her own good.She has a Dr. Kit and is very much into playing Dr. She takes my tempature and checks my ears and throat at least once a day. I some how always end up needing a shot it seems lol. She Goes next month for her 3 year checck up I will update again after her party and her check up.

***Sept 21,2009 Well Ruthie turned 3 last month she is about 29 pounds now and was 3 feet 1 inch tall at her check up. She is becoming quite the big girl lately. She still loves to play Dr. She gets my stethiscope and otiscope out and looks in my ears ,nose and mouth and listens to my heart and lungs.She also uses her Dr kit alot. i think Santa is gonna bring her a Dr outfit for Christmas. She is such the little care taker, wouldn't be surprised at all if she grows up to go into medicine. She is still very advanced for her age. She acts more like a 4 year old than a 3 year old.She knows all her colors and can count to 10 nd say her ABC's.She carries on conversations like a much older child. She is still very much the diva. She insist on wearing lip stick everyday.She is always wanting her nails polished.She is a total princess.She is very healthy.Seems to be prone to seasonal allergies a tad but nothing serious. She LOVES to dance. I am planning on putting her in dance classes when she turns 4.Her and Nathan are true partners in crime. They crack me up at the things they come up with. I have a feeling they will keep me on my toes lol.