October-Mostly "Treats"

Where did we leave off last time? Oh, right, Rob’s mom’s wedding reception! Sue and Steve were married in Florida in March, but had a wedding reception/celebration on Lake Union and Lake Washington (on 9.20.08; okay, so that was technically September, but it was still a treat!). We got to meet more of Steve’s family, including his three sons. There was yummy food and crazy dancing until late into the night, and then we got to enjoy a room at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

One major “trick” of October was that Crystal’s grandpa (aka Papa) had heart valve replacement surgery. Thankfully the surgery went very well and he’s been recovering smoothly and quickly. We are so thankful for that and also that we get to see him (and Nana) pretty often, even though they live on the other side of the mountains.

We joined the brand-spankin’-new YMCA next door (literally) and took Ruby for her first swim ever in the pool there. She didn’t cry too much, but they’re still working on the pool temperature, so it was a little cool for her taste. Since then, we’ve taken her swimming in our little condo pool, which is much warmer (in the water and the air). She loved it! She swam and kicked and splashed while on her belly and her back. She especially liked it when Daddy played peek-a-boo with her by disappearing under the water. She laughed and laughed at that.

Ruby was a pirate for her first Halloween, so all together we were a pirate family. I’m sure we intimidated so many people (ha!)! We also did a pumpkin photo shoot and carved jack-o’-lanterns with Crystal’s family. 

On the other side of the family, we went to Schuh Farms to check out the pumpkins, donkeys, chickens, and pigs. Ruby’s cousin Jaxon met us there (along with his mommy Emily), and the Farms even put out a special sign greeting Sue and Steve. We felt so welcome!! (No, the sign wasn’t really for us… we think!) Afterwards the cousins got a little playtime together. Check out this super cute pic of the three of them (Jaxon, Torance, and Ruby)!

Well, those were our major October festivities. As for Ruby’s development, she’s been laughing more and more, discovered that her bottom lip is fun to suck on, and loves to read her books (especially the ones she can hold by herself!). She doesn’t like her naps, but still enjoys sleeping through the night (usually!). And after just a few practice tries (at yoga class with Mommy), she decided she can sit up now! Some days she’s better at it than others, but she definitely can when she wants to! It’s just hard to catch on camera, especially with just one pair of hands to assist her and take pictures at the same time!! 

If November is anything like October, we’ll have to do at least two blog posts to capture all of the events!

Itsy Bitsy Ruby...

Another month has come and gone, amazingly enough! Miss Ruby is now 4 months old. She had her doctor's appointment last Tuesday (9/16), and weighed in at 10 pounds, 8.5 oz (5th percentile, again) and 24 inches long (50th percentile, again). To us she seems so old and much bigger, but really she's a dainty little girl! She started laughing about a month ago, and even started squealing last week. It is so dang cute!

Some cute poses of Miss Ruby, the first on August 17 (3 months), and the second on September 17 (4 months):

Ruby has found her feet/toes and absolutely LOVES them. So, she of course has to do gymnastic stretches whenever possible. Don't you wish we all stayed this flexible?? Crazy.

And some of the highlights of the Griffins' busy month...

August 22-24 ~ Ruby's first dog show! This is our favorite show, the Boston Terrier Specialty weekend at Marymoor Park in Redmond. Ruby got to meet all of our dog show friends, but unfortunately we had to leave early to get to Rob's ten-year high school reunion!

Labor Day Weekend ~ Crystal's Grandma and Grandpa Kelso celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (actual anniversary: 8/23), so we got to hang out with family in Kennewick and Walla Walla for the weekend. Here's the happy couple and Ruby with her great-grandparents and her grandma.

Skylar's first day of school ~ Ruby and her Uncle Skylar did some (Wii) yoga together before Skylar headed off to his first day of Kindergarten. Gotta keep in shape, physically and mentally!

September 6 ~ Our baby birthing class had its reunion party so we could meet all the new babies. Here are the babies that were able to attend (from left to right): Tom, Tarran, Carter, Ruby, Josie-short for Josephine, Theo-short for Theodore. What sweeties! (And, ironically, the two oldest are the two smallest! Carter was very premie, and, well, we all know that Ruby is dainty!)

September 9 & 13 ~ Our great community group from church is going through the bitter-sweet experience of replicating. We are just too big! Half of us are moving to a new home, in Lynnwood. The Griffin family is staying at the current location, just 5 minutes from our house. Before the "split," though, we had one last photo shoot of (most of) the CG babies, as well as a fun kickball game. Just imagine how big our CG would have been without replicating and after the 4 pregnant ladies give birth (2 boys, 1 girl, and 1 unknown as of today, due at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009). From left to right, the current babes are: Grant, Asha, Ezra, James, Chloe and Brynn, and Ruby. Charlie is absent because his family has decided to move to a Lake City CG to be more missionally minded, Carter was in Idaho for the week, and I guess Caleb (Ezra's big brother) was too old at 4 years to be in the "baby" shot! :) We have made some great friends through this CG, and we have all promised to keep in touch and get together even after our "split."

Ruby's Bumbo seat (9/15): Ruby is finally big enough to stay up in her Bumbo seat! Although she has been able to hold her head up for quite a while, every time I would try to put her in the Bumbo seat this past month, she would slip right out of it! She didn't have enough weight to keep herself up! But, now that she's a big, grown-up, 4-month-old, she can do it.

Well, it only took me the entire weekend to get this post up, and now there's even more to write about (such as Rob's mom's wedding reception), but that will have to wait for another day. Until then!

Three months old and more...

The past two weeks or so have been a mixed bag for the Griffin family. On the positive side, we celebrated 5 years of marriage on August 9th! :) We got to get away for a few nights at Salish Lodge (at Snoqualmie Falls)... nice, very nice. That was a surprise from Rob, and he even arranged for a few fun extras while we were there: Our good friend Lindsay came to our room and watched Ruby so we could get hot stone massages at the spa... wow! Those were a-maze-ing!! And then Dustin and Holly (Crystal's brother and sister-in-law) came and babysat so we could go out to dinner. It was a wonderful surprise getaway. 

And now that Ruby is 3 months old (yikes!!!), she loves to "march" (flail her arms and legs sort of in rhythm and make crazy eyes and faces to match), coo up a storm (on the verge of laughing sometimes!), play with her hands and toes, and blow even more bubbles. However, because of all the fun she is having (and maybe combined with the heat? and who knows what else...), she hasn't been napping during the day for the past two weeks or so. It is very draining on Mommy!! She still sleeps at night, but instead of napping during the day, she likes to cry and cry. We've resorted back to the swing to get by some of the time. Also, she doesn't seem to smile as often as she used to. Maybe she is just enjoying her new skills too much, or maybe it's the lack of sleep making her less social... but we miss it. :(

Here are a few photos of Ruby since our last post.

Sporting her red, white, and blue in honor of the Olympics! Go USA!! Go Phelps!! (We measured Daddy's "wingspan" to compare it to Phelps', and Rob has 2 inches on him--Rob's is 6'9"! Maybe Ruby will be the next "superfish"... or the next all-around gold gymnast...) And, yes, those ARE cowgirl boots! :)

Ruby's "crazy eyes":

Snuggling with Asha at Miss Mallory's house.

Going for her regular walks with Mommy while Daddy's busy playing tennis. Thanks, Grandma Sue, for the cute (and functional!) sunhat!!

Sleepy time (at night, of course!). We love our sweet little Ruby June!

10 weeks, smiles, and rolls!

Our little baby girl is now over 10 weeks old! Wow! Summer has been fun and busy so far, and is likely to continue that way. We've been to the drive-in twice now, and have seen Wall-E, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, and then the first half of Wall-E again. We were too tired to stay for the whole thing! It was a surprisingly cute movie, though. We really enjoyed it. Ruby likes the drive-in, too. She gets to sleep and eat, so she's content! :)

Ruby had her two-month check-up on Monday, July 14. She was 8 pounds, 10.5 ounces--not even 9 pounds yet!! That places her at the 5th percentile for weight. The doctor says she is very healthy, though, so nothing to worry about. She was 22.5 inches long (50th percentile) and at the 25th percentile for head circumference. The doctors and nurses all think she is so cute! She also got her first round of vaccinations, which she did not appreciate, and neither did Mommy!!

And the BIG NEWS for this week: Ruby can roll over now! She can roll from her tummy to back, and did it for the first time on July 11th--before she was even 2 months old! Wow!! :) She likes to roll over more and more. Just today she rolled over four times in a row, and for the first time she rolled over to her right (usually she prefers rolling to her left). We've been trying to catch this feat on video, to no avail. 

Ruby continues to bless us with her precious smile. She has a really cute smile right now. It's like a shy, bashful, flirty smile. She smiles really big, but then tilts her head toward her raised shoulder, like, "Don't look at me... Oh, okay." It is the cutest thing! :)

Hmmm... what else.... she is still sleeping through the night for the most part. Recently she's been sleeping for 9 hours at night. Woo-hoo! Sometimes she sleeps more like 6, 7, or 8 hours, though. Still good! :) She usually isn't a very good napper. But I prefer it this way over the alternative!!

Well, that's it for now. Until next time...

Sleeping like a rock.

Ruby at her first Drive-in, we saw Hulk and Wall-E.

                                             

8 weeks old!

So, it has been a very busy few weeks.  We have been traveling to families, restaurants, weddings, Leavenworth, beaches, and I am sure there are many more.  We went to greenlake and were going to walk around a little bit, but ended up walking around the whole lake.  That is a lot of walking for crystal, seeing as we haven't done much more than walking around the house or grocery store!  

Crystal's brother Dustin got married to Holly last Saturday!  It was a beautiful wedding and a very fun reception.  Ruby did OK, she started to get fussy halfway thru the ceremony and so Crystal had to take her to the back.  After the wedding, the Wood family had a family camp at their property in Maple Valley.  Horseshoes, slip-n-slide, bocce ball, and BBQ!  We had a great time.

For the 4th of July, we went to my Mom's beach house for a BBQ and a firework show.  It was really fun and great food!  We then decided to go to Leavenworth for a mini-golf tournament my friends were having.  We stayed later than we thought and didn't want to have to fight the Sunday traffic home over the pass, so we stayed at one of our Trendwest properties.  It was beautiful, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, and an amazing view of the cascades!  We then woke up and walked thru the town and down to the river.

I will post more pictures of our fun times soon!  I have to upload them first.  Hope you all have had a great July and are enjoying this summer weather!

Greenlake outing

Long day of sleeping and playing, sometimes you just need to unwind.

Dustin and Holly's wedding!

Smiling more and more each day!

Her first lightning storm.