the big 35

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

This is the new 35 year old me...happy, still super fun, more confident than ever, a loving mother and wife, and most of all - an amazing women (if i do say so myself).

What an awesome life (both wonderful & challenging) these years have been. I am so blessed on this day to have my health, my friends, and my family. I am strengthened everyday by the love of the people in my life. Knowing that we have all crossed paths in this spec of time is so awe inspiring. How special every single interaction is! I don't take any of it for granted. My promise to myself & those in my life is that I will try to be the best person I can be - fulfilling my true potential so that I can be an inspiration to my daughter.

I have loved being in my 30's. I'm not sure how I feel about being officially middle-aged but I think it fits pretty good. Shit, I've lived more life in these 35 years than some people live in an entire lifetime. So Happy Birthday to me!

she's officially a toddler

She is officially ONE year old!

Ruby turned one yesterday and we let her eat cake...She devoured ever last bite - it was hilarious! Surprisingly enough she went right to bed afterwards and had a perfect night sleep. Aaaahhhh, chocolate ecstasy!

Ruby's new birthday shoes...we found an awesome pair of baby/toddler shoes that have the best of leather soft soles & rubber insets. These Rile Roos are her first (of I'm sure to be many) pair of Ruby Slippers. They go perfectly with the beautiful hand loomed dress from Guatemala that Ruby's Tia Holly brought back from her recent visit. I decided that Ruby needs other colors in her life besides pink. After all, she's not a baby anymore (she told me to say that - wink wink).

happy birthday ruby!!

Happy Birthday Ruby!!

Our little girl turns one year old today. I feel like I have known her forever. I look back and realize how incomplete my life was before she graced us with her presence. This last year I have learned so much about myself. I have learned patience and compassion for a child who doesn't speak my language and for a husband who sometimes feels like an outsider to the bond Ruby and I have and for myself because I have overcome so much physically and emotionally and still have the ability to make my daughter laugh. She is the greatest gift I have ever gotten. She is the greatest teacher I will ever have.

This time last year I was getting ready for surgery to have her extracted from my womb. I had a scheduled c-section exactly 40 weeks from the day we conceived her. A good friend of mine reminded me that if we had been in a third world country that Ruby and I both may have died during childbirth because she was not only breach but very large. Without modern medicine it is quite possible that I may not have been able to pass her. So how insanely grateful I am that we have those luxuries here in America. I am no less a mother because my vagina wasn't engaged during childbirth. I have known many women who have had c-sections and I always felt sorry for them - somehow they had missed out on a rite of passage. I realize now how silly that is. Being a mother at all, be it by vagina, surgery, or adoption is truly the greatest rite of passage. I hope for Ruby that she will one day know this feeling of being a mother and having this incommunicable love for another being.

Okay so now for her stats...

• Unassisted steps taken - 0
• Seconds standing unassisted - 1
• Drawers/Cabinets opened & emptied on a daily basis - 7
• Daily naps - 2
• Average daily hours of sleep - 12-14
• Words - ba ba (bye bye), ki ka (kitty cat), maow (meow), ma ma ma ma ma (mommy), pa (daddy), ga (all gone)
• Sign language - milk, bath, eat, change diaper, nap, all gone, hello/good-bye
• Body parts she knows & can point to - toes, belly button, ears, tongue
• Teeth - 7
• Favorite book to read alone - The Cat in the Hat
• Favorite book to read to her - My Pretty Kitten (at least that was her favorite yesterday)
• Favorite Lovey - Rattone the Rat
• Favorite Pastimes - Chasing the cat & playing in the bathroom
• Favorite Food - Bananas

I think that pretty much solidifies what a totally normal and exceptional child she is. I am honored that she chose me to be her mom. I love you Ruby. You are my shining star!

teenager in training

Wow, I see the future. She really is a mini version of me. Already into my jewelry and on the phone all the time. She poses for the camera with crazy awareness - like she's posing for the paparazzi. She knows the power of her smile - all full of new teeth.

Her nursing strike, diarrhea, crappy mood phase from last week is over - thank god! She has been so much fun these past few days.

We went to our 4th first birthday party on Saturday night and she partied hardy with all her friends. We took a plate of food home for daddy and on the way back Ruby got hungry. The only thing on the plate that was edible for her was a corn dog (albeit a turkey corn dog). I handed it to her thinking she would play with it but before my eyes the kid starting noshing away. She ate that whole corn dog! This girl is no longer a baby, that's all I have to say.

What a year this has been...tomorrow is her birthday.