4 Months Home/5 Months A Family

Today it is four months since we stepped off a plane on a chilly night with our sweet, sleepy little girl. Four months of love, fun, joy and silliness. We have watched her grow from a shy baby girl into a very independent and confident little girl in such a short time! It's been an amazing experience. Words do not describe it. Pictures don't do it justice. Cause it's not just the grand moments or accomplishments. It's the simple, sweet smiles and everyday moments that warm our hearts. The random hugs and kisses. The happiness emanating from her face and joy she finds in the simplest or silliest things. I am learning to cherish every day, thanking God for every minute, remembering what is important in life, and taking time to slow down. We are a family close to 5 months now (on the 13th) and 4 months home. Seems like it's been so much longer, really. We have our routine down and are getting into a nice groove finally. It doesn't seem like we just met each other such a short time ago. It feels as though we have known her for a lifetime.

Things I want to always remember: The way she plays with her hair or mine when she gets sleepy. Sometimes even just for comfort when I am holding her she will cling on to my pony tail. The way she loves to brush my hair, too, which is so sweet. And when she is really tired, how she twirls her hair around her finger. How she came over to me today to feed me one of her oranges with her play spoon and carefully had her other hand under the spoon as I sometimes do to avoid spills. I love how she still likes to feed us and shares her things with us and others. I love how she thinks a bee says "beeeeeeeee" instead of buzz and I never want to forget all the silly faces and adorable things she says and does. She loves the swifter and a damp paper towel just makes her day so she can "clean" something. She loves to empty the dishwasher. I let her take out the plates and hand them to me though at first I feared she would drop something and break it. But no! She is so serious and takes great pride in doing her tasks! (I also grab them rather quickly!) She is climbing/jumping/hanging off of everything now and has little black and blue marks cropping up all over the place not to mention bumping her head a few times! (Getting good use out of the boo-boo duck we keep in the freezer!) Makes me nervous, but all part of growing up, I guess. She is exploring her new world and having fun with her new-found jumping and climbing skills!

And a few words from Daddy....he loves how she laughs! He thinks she has the greatest laugh! (He should know as he really gets her going and it's ADORABLE!!!) When they play ball he pretends that it knocks him over when she throws the ball to him. She finds this HILARIOUS! He also loves her little tippy-toe walk. We sware she will be a ballerina some day! But Daddy's favorite cute Ruby thing: her bed time ritual. Daddy kisses Ruby, then she will point to Mommy to get one, then to her forehead, then to her cheek, then to the other, sometimes her nose, then to Bear, then to Penguin (both her sleeping buddies), then back to Mommy (and to my forehead, cheek, etc.) then back to her forehead for a few more! It's so cute and we both get a kick out of it. When she's had enough she will take the bottle out of her mouth, say night-night and I love you to Daddy and then wave him bye-bye! Then I sing a few lullabies and put her in crib and out she goes! We also love seeing her expressions when she watches Baby Einstein and Dora now. She will talk to the TV and interact and if someone is in trouble she has deep concern. She will say NO to the bad guy or say UH-OH! and then she will say "YAY!" when they find who they were looking for or reach their destination. It's really cute and amazing how she understands what they are saying. She will answer Blue! or Yes! or whatever they are asking on the show. How we love watching her grow and learn and discover. And wow, this is still just the beginning!