New Camera & talking

I swear Ruby can talk. For the past month or so, whenever one of the cats would walk by, she would stare at them and say "ka, ka." Well, today I was at a friend's house and her cat walked by and Ruby said "kiy" (think "kitty" with no "t" sound). And my friend asked if she said "kitty." So, I'm not the only one that hears it.

Also, Santa visited me early this year and brought me a new digital camera. Here are some of my first shots from it.

Christmas, packing, moving, etc.

So, we bought a house! The Hill family is moving to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This will be closer to where Jason works and we love the neighborhood. If all goes according to plan, we will close on January 2nd (yes, the day after we get back from vacation). That means we've been spending a good amount of time packing the house back up and really sorting through things. I can't believe how much "stuff" Ruby has already!

We also had to get our house ready for Christmas. This year it meant just putting up a tree. We didn't want to do too much since we will leave on Christmas Eve and really don't want to have too much clean up after we celebrate our family's Christmas this weekend.

We are very much looking forward to coming to Omaha and Des Moines for Christmas. It will be good to see everyone. Now that Ruby's so much more active, flying with her could be interesting.

Oh, Ruby had her six month appointment a couple of weeks ago. She weighed in at 17 pounds, 10 ounces and 27.25 inches long. She's getting so big! She's also eating three "meals" a day and has yet to find a food she doesn't like.

Enjoy the pictures.

Single Dad ...

Jason spent a few days "playing" single dad while I went to Minneapolis for Natalie's Memorial Gathering and to spend some time with my sister. I came back to a happy baby who didn't have any new bumps or bruises. Jason had her napping well and sleeping through the night by the time I got back into town. So, we know he's a good, capable father (not that I had any doubts).

Baby in the bouncer ...

I think Ruby missed me though -- she seemed very excited to have Mommy home. The only "problem" Jason had was that he didn't take any pictures on the regular camera (only cell phone pictures). So, we'll see how they show up on the blog.

Not sure when this photo is from.

We are looking forward to celebrating Ruby's first Christmas. It's so hard to believe that we're only a couple of weeks away from the holiday. Ruby really enjoys grabbing onto the Christmas tree, and the cats love to climb the tree. We will have to get some pictures of Ruby and the tree soon.

Family update -- no pictures

Hi everyone,

I talked to my sister Maggie today and asked her if I could post a link and share her story on this blog. On Thanksgiving morning, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Natalie Ellen Anderson. Natalie weighed in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces. But, things are not going well for them. Natalie is in critical condition in Minneapolis. We know the situation is not good, but Maggie and her husband Dan asked for any prayers and thoughts everyone can give them. So, please, keep my sister and her family in your thoughts and prayers. They are going through a very difficult time and will have a hard road ahead.

If you would like to see pictures of Natalie, or let Maggie & Dan know you are thinking of them, visit their caringbridge site: www.caringbridge.org/visit/natalieanderson

Thank you,

Jessica

Thanksgiving

Ruby enjoyed quality time with Grandma.

We tried peas for the first time ... she didn't really like them.

Jason did a good job carving our turkey.

On Thanksgiving morning, Ruby was ready for her breakfast.

The day before Thanksgiving, Ruby learned to spit her food all over the place.

Grammy Deb was with us to celebrate the week of Thanksgiving. We did some shopping (and Ruby got spoiled with clothes and a new toy that she loves) and got new family pictures taken. We had a lot of fun spending time with her.But, Thanksgiving was a very hard day for us.

My sister, Maggie, had her baby early Thanksgiving morning. Natalie Ellen Anderson is in critical condition at a children's hospital in Minneapolis. Please keep Maggie, Dan, and Natalie in your thoughts and prayers.

Back by popular demand....

As a famous cartoon character once said "Hey Hey Hey!!!". I don't want to name names - mainly because of the potential infringement and the like. The RIAA and MPAA are real sticklers - especially in tough economic times.

Piracy is no joke!

Ruby is rapidly approaching the 6 month checkpoint in life. I suppose that's saying a lot given that I'm one of her parents (Jason...not Jessica - Jessica is the good parent). As we gear up for turkeys with 12-18 drumsticks and John Madden worshiping Brett Favre at every turn, we're extremely thankful for the wonderful little fireball of a daughter that we have.

"I would marry Brett Favre".

It has been a pretty quiet two weeks since our last posting. Today was a sad day as we got to watch/listen to Michigan get creamed by Ohio State for the 5th year in a row. As College football season started I vowed to get Ruby to say "Go Blue" before the Wolverines were done playing for the year. About week four it became apparent that Ruby's growth curve wasn't steep enough to meet the level of play that was seen in Ann Arbor this year. By the time next August comes around we'll be singing Hail to the Victors together. My thanks to Miami of Ohio, Wisconsin, and those lovable Gophers from Minnesota for making this year tolerable (barely) and allowing first year coach Rich Rodriguez three wins, two in Big Ten play. I hear the local sports team (the Tennessee Volunteers) are looking for a coach - note to Rich: Knoxville is warmer than Ann Arbor all year.

Rocky Top needs a new coach...

I digress. You're here to find out more about Ruby. She weighed in at 17 pounds 7.5 ounces at the doctor today. We took her in because she's not sleeping as well as she used to and as concerned parents do, we sought medical advice. Healthy as a horse. Sheesh. On Tuesday this week Ruby got to see her first bit of snow. Now it was only flurries and the snowflake that landed on her head melted before the shutter on the digital camera could capture it, but it was snowing.

Really, I swear it's snowing in this photo

The dueling banjos in the bottom of her mouth are visible (if you can get her tongue out of the way). Still sharp as piranha teeth, but I think she's getting used to them. She's starting to use the teething toys and water filled rings, but drools like she has a faucet in her mouth. I'm considering purchasing a raincoat for use indoors. Ruby's working on pulling herself up from a sitting position and Jessica and I are working with her on standing.

Watch out people I'm almost mobile!

As you all prepare to embark on the marathon of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and other goodies, know that we're thankful that you tune into the blog and that you're all such a huge part of Ruby's life. We can't wait to see you all at Christmas time - well those of you in the Iowa and Nebraska area at least.

Happy Thanksgiving to all - and to all a good night!!! (Wait.....that's not right!?!?! as Jessica hits me over the head with the keyboard once more....)

Sweet Potato pie

Not quite pie, but we tried sweet potatoes tonight. Here's part 1 of 3 of our video installment tonight (not all food related).

Flying baby (part uno)

Here's some fun video of Ruby from tonight, more to follow - we can only put one video in each post.

flying baby (part deux)

Here's Ruby having more fun tonight.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth....

If you didn't know the origin of the post title, look it up on Wikipedia - or alternatively here's a link .

Your poster, Jason here, as Jessica has given me free reign tonight to post. buwhahaha.

Okay. On to news about Ruby -why you're all here. This weekend her first tooth started to pop through her lower gum. Exciting times! She's been somewhat unhappy about the event, but is coping quite well with plenty of Tylenol. It's sort of like Sasquatch in that we can't get a clear photo of it yet, but I'm sure as time goes on we'll trace down the tricky bugger. It also appears that teeth travel in packs as we're seeing the imminent arrival of a few more on the lower side of the mouth. Who knew teeth traveled in packs? Dr. Suess never said that.

Sunday Ruby also had another "first" event - she sat in a highchair in a restaurant. It was also the first time we'd tried to sit her in one, so it looks like as parents we're batting 100%. WooHoo! (We've included a photo of this historic occasion.)

Ruby sits in a highchair!

Thanks to Jessica for giving me the opportunity to post. I'm sure this will be the last for quite some time. I'd like to thank my sponsors, Deuhs Brother's Industries (read Dan's blog here), and the Hooked on the NFL 2008 Office Pool, without their support I wouldn't have gotten this far. But wait there's more! If you call now, you'll get double your order for the exact same price!......(Jessica yanks the keyboard out of my hands and throws me out of the office)......

Another video posting ...

Here is another video of Ruby playing on the floor.

Video posting

Here is a video of Ruby playing with a teething ring. I'll post another video in the next blog ... it only lets me do one video per posting.

An uneventful week

Thankfully we have had a fairly uneventful week in the Hill household. Ruby is on the mend (and I'm crossing my fingers that we don't get sick again any time soon). We have been out of all of our activities for the week, so nothing too exciting to share. Ruby and I did meet with a realtor and start looking at some houses, so that was fun. I'm also working on uploading some pictures to flickr, since I haven't done that in quite a while. But, here are some pictures that I thought everyone would enjoy. They're not great because they are from a disposable camera, but oh well ...

Ruby "visiting" the hospital. She wasn't happy.

Ruby reading her book.

First Trip to the Emergency Room!

So, Ruby wasn't acting like herself yesterday. She was really fussy and generally a cranky baby. Around 4 in the afternoon, she started hysterical screaming ... and it lasted off an on for about 7 hours! And, when she would cry, she had a really nasty wheeze when she breathed in.

We called the nurses line at the Children's Hospital and they told us to bring her into the emergency room. The doctor there thought that maybe she still had a stomach bug, but didn't want to rule out something else. He told us to go home and see if it would go away on its own, but if she was worse in the morning, to take her to the doctor.

So this morning she woke up -- coughing and sneezing and generally gross sounding. We took her to the doctor and told her what had been going on. Ruby started coughing in the room and the doctor took one look at her and said -- "That's a Croup cough!"

Apparently, Ruby never read the medical books. She has a backward-presenting croup (she started with the wheeze and then developed the cough and nose issues). AND she has a stomach bug! We're homebound again for about a week, which is really going to suck. But, she got weighed again this morning ... we're up to 16 pounds, 7 ounces.

I'll put up some pictures from our first hospital visit later. Now, I think we all need a nap.

Feeling better

I'm finally starting to feel better!

Well, Ruby started feeling better this week, which is a very good thing. But, for most of the week she wasn't nearly as happy as she normally is. And, because she was sick, we had to miss the Oak Ridge Halloween party. At least we have a couple more Halloween outings planned.

Ruby's showing off her Drake Law School sweatshirt ... and her Elvis smile!

Jason and I decided to take advantage of her sleepiness and explore the Oak Ridge area a little more. We are really starting to learn our way around and decide which areas we may want to end up living in.

This book is awesome ... and it tastes great too!

I have also fallen in love with Boooks-A-Million. I can spend way too much time and way too much money in that store. I decided to get Ruby a book that she can play with and chew on with absolutely no consequences. The cardboard books are great, but they get soggy after awhile. The cloth books are awesome!

Sick Baby ...

No pictures in today's post ... we're having fun fighting our first virus. Ruby woke up in the middle of the night last night, completely inconsolable. And when she got up this morning, she started throwing up. Poor baby. We took her to the doctor and he said she probably has a stomach virus that she could have picked up just about anywhere. So, he gave her a shot of zofran and a prescription for some zofran for later. Then he gave us some pedialite to try.

Luckily she hasn't thrown up since that shot of zofran at the office, but she's still a tired, sick little baby. I can tell she doesn't feel well -- she's just not being herself.

But, in good news, she's definitely growing. She weighed in at 15 pounds 14 ounces! (The doctor said she probably weighed more than that before she got sick). And, she grew to 26 and a half inches long! It's crazy how fast they grow.

I'm sure Ruby will be better soon, but for the next few days, we're grounded to the house, just in case she's contagious.

Boo at the Zoo!

This pumpkin talked and moved ... Ruby loved him!

This evening Jason and I took Ruby to "Trick or Treat" at Knoxville's Boo at the Zoo. I'm sure a lot of zoos host similar events where kids can walk through the park, collecting candy and goodies as they go. We definitely had a blast.

Photo opp with daddy!

Ruby was dressed as a ladybug, courtesy of Grandma Anderson. The only problem was some people thought she was a strawberry. But, everyone agreed she was adorable. The zoo had about 15 different treat stations and we brought home candy and toys and some snack foods. I liked that it wasn't all about sugary treats. (But, I did love that Krispy Kreme was there handing out donuts!)

Waiting to get into the zoo ...

We saw a lot of different costumes and Ruby got her picture taken with a lot of different characters. Our digital camera ran out of batteries though, so we bought a disposable film camera. I will have to update with those pictures after we get the film developed.

Sitting on mommy's stomach, showing off my costume ...

We still have a number of Halloween activities this year ... the City of Oak Ridge has a festival, our apartment community has a festival, and of course the actual day of Halloween! So Ruby (or her parents ...) will be getting a lot of treats this year.

Pumpkin Patch!

Daddy! I want this one!

Today we took Ruby to pick out her own pumpkin at Oakes Farm, a pumpkin patch about 45 minutes away. Oakes Farm has a huge pumpkin patch, hayride, corn maze, lots of kid activities, and a haunted corn maze. We did the hayride to the pumpkin patch, picked out a few pumpkins, and wandered through the corn maze.

Getting lost in the corn ...

It was a little windy and chilly, so we had to leave when Ruby got cold. But, we had a lot of fun. I need to find her some sort of winter coat with mittens ... she loves being outside and slept the whole way home.

Look! I can sit!

I think tomorrow night we are going to take her to "Boo at the Zoo" and let her dress up in her ladybug costume her grandma bought her.

Grandpa Got Carded!

Overlooking the Tennessee River.

It was a very eventful and beautiful day today here. We got up this morning (after another full night's sleep!) and picked Grandma and Grandpa up from their hotel to go to the Ijams Nature Center. The nature center is a 160-acre park with a lot of trails to hike. We started out on the paved paths and ended up getting a pretty good workout trekking through the forest. I think Jason got the best workout because he had a 15 pound weight (Ruby) strapped to the front of him. The views were gorgeous and it was a great day to visit the park.

She was a tired baby by the end of the hike!

Then we went out to lunch where Grandpa went back to the days of his youth and got "carded" when he ordered a beer. We finished out the day at the Mast General Store in downtown Knoxville. The general store sells a lot of the candy we and our parents remember as kids (think: zots, moon pies, sugar daddies, etc.)

The end of the trail ...

Ruby begged her Grandpa to buy her the "Dick & Jane" cardboard book set, so she is enjoying eating those right now ...

Happy baby and daddy!

Tomorrow, we head to Sevierville/Pigeon Forge. I think we are going to drop the boys at the NASCAR Theme Park and Grandma Kimmy and I are going to take Ruby to the outlet mall and really teach her how to shop!

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

Happy with my grandparents!

Grandma Kimmy and Grandpa Arnold drove all the way from Iowa to visit with us! We are having a lot of fun hanging out with them, and are taking the opportunity to do some sight seeing/touristy stuff here in Knoxville.

Hi Grandpa!

On Sunday we took the Secret City Train Excursion ... it's a train ride through the former K-25 plant (think Manhattan Project). When we were on the train, Ruby convinced her grandpa that she had to have a new teddy bear. And then today (Monday) we went to the American Museum of Science and Energy. Arnold & Kim also had the opportunity to visit Jason at work and see the supercomputing stuff.

Hi Grandma!

Ruby really seems to enjoy having her grandparents around. She no longer cries when she looks at them, and they are getting a lot of smiles out of her! I think we are going to the Ijams Nature Center and the James White Fort tomorrow. Then on Wednesday we are going to try to make it out to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. It should be a lot of fun.

Sitting & Reading

I love my mommy!

We've hit another new milestone in the Hill household. Ruby can sit! When I set her down, she can stay in the sitting position for 10 seconds or so before she slowly slides over or falls onto her face. It's really cute to see, and I will have to post a picture of it, but I haven't gotten a picture yet because I need to be ready to "catch" her if she falls.

Look Look! I got a new book!

In other news, Ruby got her second book from the Dolly Parton book club. I can't remember if I've written about this before, but Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library and kids in Tennessee (and some other places) can get a free book every month from birth to age 5. It's a really neat program -- Ruby's first book was "The Little Engine That Could" and this month she got a book called "Look Look." She really enjoys chewing on the new book ...

And, my books tastes yummy!

And, Jason has learned that he shouldn't let Ruby ride around on his shoulders. He tried it before bath time tonight ... and she spit up all over his head! I thought it was hilarious -- he was less than amused. :)

Cereal! (And another video!)

And just so you know, the noises Ruby makes in this video are her happy noises!

Well, we decided to try giving Ruby some rice cereal, and it has been very entertaining. We give her a little bit in the morning and a little bit before bed time. Ruby wasn't too keen on the first attempt, and more of it ended up on her outfit than in her mouth (the pictures don't do it justice). But, tonight, she ate almost her whole bowl and got very little on her clothing.

What is that???

But, rice cereal seems to be a two spoon endeavor. Ruby gets one spoon to play with and we get one spoon to feed her with! She wants to feed herself (or play), but at four months old she understandably doesn't have the coordination ... and she doesn't get the concept of "spoon in mouth."

Hmmm ... interesting ...

In fun news, Jason put Ruby to bed tonight. We wanted to see if she would fall asleep after taking a bottle of milk as opposed to nursing. And she did! So tonight, Jason got to rock her in the chair and I got to read the bedtime story. She's been down for over an hour now, but we'll see if she gets up any time soon.

Jason was supposed to be getting her ready for the day ...

Four Month Appointment

All smiles with Great Grandma!

Well, we made it back from Omaha in one piece. Ruby continues to be an excellent flyer ... she slept through every flight, which was wonderful. And she made friends with the people working security in Omaha. We had a fun trip to Omaha and got to visit with grandparents, great grandparents and Aunt Maggie & Uncle Dan. But, today, Ruby had to go in for her four month checkup ... and shots.

Ruby and her Great Grandparents.

She did really well with the shots. She screamed and then looked at me like "hey, that hurt!" But, she didn't really cry afterward and was "talking" to the receptionist on the way out the door. She's sleeping now, I can only imagine it takes a lot out of her. She will get more shots (and the flu vaccine) at her six month appointment.

Ruby was very excited when Grandma let her have some vanilla ice cream!

As for measurements, she continues to grow. She is 15 pounds, 3 ounces (78th percentile) and 25.75 inches long (91st percentile). We talked to the doctor and are probably going to try some cereal this month. He said she definitely weighs enough and is growing well enough that it can't hurt to give it a try. We are also going to put her on some vitamin drops so that she gets more vitamin D in her diet.

Ruby snuggled on the couch with Grandma Anderson.

So, the doctor said everything was great. She checks out as a happy, healthy baby and he will see her again in 2 months.

Ruby hanging out with Grandpa Anderson.