Black Pine

The Skinners were all packed up to leave for Tyler, Texas and my parents decided to steal the kids away for one last harra. Ruby and I joined them at the Albion Black Pine Zoo. It was Ruby's first trip to any zoo and also her first trip in her new stroller. It swallowed her up because she is so small.

We enjoyed every minute with the Skinners. The Chimp was our first stop and he pressed up against the window to see us right away. The boys stayed at the chimp's exhibit for about three minutes and after that they were always ten steps ahead of the rest of us.

That was the ugliest llama I have ever seen. They're not the most attractive animal to begin with, but this one really won the ugly award.

Stroller time. Ethan and Lydia kept a close eye on Ruby. We couldn't help but notice the size difference between Lydia and Ruby. It's hard to believe that Ruby will be that big in just a short year.

Lydia wasn't as content as Ruby with her stroller ride. She wanted to get out and join the boys. It was a fun last day with the Skinner cousins.

Growing Girl

Ruby is now one month old. She is no longer a newborn. She has graduated to the infant stage. We have been working on her motor skills and being able to follow us with her eyes. We can't believe how strong she has become. She holds her head up very well and is costantly kicking. How tiring. Check out her hair. She occasionally has the mohawk thing going on.

Ruby becomes more and more alert each day. She still seems small compared to other babies, but she has definately grown considerably within the past month.

Ruby is a smiling fool lately. It's so fun and rewarding to see her sweet little smile. Of course when she smiles at Mom she also opens her mouth up real wide. Wonder why.

Pickle Party

Corrie sent out invitations to everyone, inviting them to the pickle party at Nanna's. Unfortunately, she was really tired and it took her a while to warm up to the idea of working hard to can pickles.

Everybody lent a hand. There were SOooooo many cucumbers from the garden that needed to be canned.

Sam and Morgan and Rich washed jars and filled them.

Kali was the relish guru. She had a lot of fun with the food processor and made some very interesting combinations. We pickled squash, green beans, carrots and some onions. We just thought we would try everything. Seventy-nine quarts of pickled vegetables later we called a day and went home to shower off the dill.

Grandma Low worked hard and then took a baby break. She and Ruby took a long nap together. They were good buddies during her trip.

Our Little Gem

On Friday, July 17th, I had been having irregular contractions. We visited our midwife at around 5 pm and decided we were just ready to get things moving so we went upstairs to the OB and checked in. I had to have an antibiotic in my system so Ruby would be safe from Group B Strep stuff. Two hours, seven needle pokes and five bruises later I finally had my IV started. Family came shortly after to offer support and walk with us.

It was a slow process. Contractions didn't come regularly until around 2 am, long after family members had left. Sam and I tried to sleep as much as we could because we knew what would be coming.

They filled the tub and I stayed in that pretty much all day until it was time to push. I LOVE the tub!!! I highly recommend it. Poor Sam was not aloud to leave my side for anything all day. He got up once to go get a book and I begged him to come back. He held my hand through hours and hours of active labor. Meanwhile, family lingered outside our delivery room door waiting for the big arrival. I was so out of it, but apparently a few family members tried to sneak in a couple times. Sam did his job and shewed them out. I pushed for about three or four hours total. The midwife said she could see a head full of hair and silly me thought that meant that I had only two more pushes and she would be out. I was dead WRONG. About twenty pushes later she was out. Stephanie, our amazing midwife, told me to open my eyes and look at Sam because his face was all lit up when he saw the baby coming. All I could think was WHATEVER. I just wanted to get it all over with. I wish now I had looked, but at the time it just wasn't my top priority. Sorry, honey.

Finally, at 3:56 pm, our little gem, Ruby Ann, was born. She looked so beautiful when Sam put her in my arms. She had such a little round face and big eyes. Sam had caught her and then he cut the cord. He was a great coach and a great husband throughout the whole thing.

About an hour after her birth our room was filled to capacity with family members who had been listening at the door for hours. Ruby had all of her cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents there to see meet her. We love our little gem!