Growing up

Now that Ruby is over 5 months old, all of her newborn qualities have faded away, and she is officially a Regular Baby. We have retired her co-sleeper and snuggle nest, as she is now sleeping exclusively in her crib. We have also retired the My Brest Friend pillow because she no longer fits on top. All these things have gone into deep storage awaiting the next baby.

As Ruby approaches the 6 month mark, we are preparing for several new milestones, the most important of which is introducing solids. We have begun to gather all of the necessary gear such as booster seats, high chairs, baby spoons, baby bowls, baby food recipe books, an immersion blender for making baby food, baby food storage containers, and heavy-duty bibs.

Ruby also seems to be getting ready to pop out teeth. Although she has been putting everything into her mouth for a while now, she has recently been really chomping down on things and will often use her fingers to pull at her lower gums. I am trying to get her plenty of good chew toys so that she will not feel the need to chew on me.

As many say, having a baby really accentuates the passage of time because they change so quickly. Just as we've gotten used to diapers, breastfeeding, and tummy time, it's time for solids, teething, and child-proofing!

Rock and roll

Last night I finally taught Ruby how to roll over. Since she is almost 5 months old now, she was a little behind the ball in terms of this developmental milestone. I could tell that she had the capability of doing it, but she lacked the motivation, as she is usually so content in whatever state she happens to be in. I had read somewhere that you can teach your baby how to roll by putting them on a blanket and lifting the blanket to help them roll over. I did this a few times, and then Ruby started to do it on her own! She will only roll front to back and has no interest in rolling back to front, as she prefers to be on her back.

Here she goes:

Moo! Happy Halloween!

For her first Halloween, Ruby was a little cow because she was born in the year of the cow. The first Halloween is the best because babies don't know what's going on, so the parents can dress them up as ridiculously as they like.

Ruby's playgroup had an early Halloween party where all the babies debuted their costumes. The cuteness was overwhelming. We did a photo session in the beginning with all the babies propped up on the couch. Everyone was pretty chill.



A few more babies showed up, so we tried to do another photo session at the end of the playgroup. This one did not go so well, inciting a chain reaction of melt-downs. I had to capture the moment on video. The most hilarious part is how Ruby, the caterpillar, and the fireman become more and more squished together, forming a haven of calm in the midst of the melt-downs. The first time I watched the video, I laughed until I cried.