Done been baptized

The good news is that Ruth was finally baptized at almost exactly 4 months of age.  She was clearly happy to put her pagan days behind her, evidenced by the huge, delighted smiles she shone up at the Deacon during the entire ceremony. Luckily, the bad weather paused long enough for some friends and family to come over and celebrate with us, and it ended up being a great day!

The bad news, especially for anyone who just spent the day breathing in the air of our house, is that by 9am this morning four members of this family had vomited up the entire contents of the past party.  Ruth is also sick, but she seems to have more a cold.  So...um, everyone?  I'm sorry.  I hope you don't get sick! 

I'll post pictures sometime tomorrow as I'm sure I'll be logging plenty of sitting time as I hold poor stuffy little Baby Ruth.  At least it's a holy cold!

Good morning!

Ruth kept me up more than usual last night, but it is impossible to feel grouchy when this is what you wake up to:

Even over-achievers need a break

Beth was struggling with her homework this evening.  After wrestling with a particularly difficult question, she read her answer to me to see if I thought it was okay.  Unfortunately, I thought it needed more work.  She looked over her paper reluctantly, then shook her head and put her homework away.

"I think it's acceptable to turn in lousy homework once in a while," she said.

That is a direct quote.

I'm Enchanted, Too by Katie

   Hey,  This is Katie. Don't get to excited, I'm not going to talk (or lecture)  about school, any place we went, or anything I would have you tell myself in order to get the full story. No, I am going to follow the recent flow of the posts, "Ruth is adorable and life is great (besides toes about to fall off and all the germs being spread around this place)". Being Ruth's sister, I view her differently. I don't think, "I need to get her another bottle- she looks hungry," or, "I need someone to take her in order to get dinner made". I just talk to her and wait for her to smile. I never need to wait long. Here, proof:

"Hey, Ruth!"

                                                                              

"Baby girl, look over here"

                                                                                  

"Oh, I know you hear me!"

"There we go!" (sorry, I don't know how to rotate the picture)

Meanwhile, Lucy is loving her ballerina outfit (she won't stop wearing it)

                                                                                    

I just had to include this picture!

 Merry Christmas! I had a very good Christmas. I was stuffed at the end of both days, and had a great time. On Christmas day I got a digital camera (all of the pictures in this post are by me) and so I took a LOT of pictures. Here are some:


                                                                                                 
                                                                                          

The best picture I got of my cousin, Gianna (aarg! the picture's blurry!)

My cousin, Gabe*, taking it easy.

Beth making a funny face with her watch.

Does Abbie look...mad? Or is it just me?

Clairebear never took her hat off.

   *On Abbie's birthday I got a special "bye, Katie!" as he went out of the door. Sooooo cute!                                                                          

Claire happened to be exceptionally cute this Christmas!

Our very own Christmas elf!

A perfect hat for Claire-bear

Slice of life (literally)

The video a few posts back of Ruth was actually just the tail end of a video I took of Lucy, who is still apt to get into who knows what kind of mischief any time my back is turned.

I had just run upstairs to grab a load of laundry, and Lucy wanted some juice.  This is how she went about getting it herself:

A baby's toe and its tale of woe

Do you know what a hair tourniquet is? It's when a hair wraps around something, like say a baby's toe, and cuts off circulation. 


Last week we had the opportunity to learn all about it first hand.  It happened in the morning, when Ruth suddenly went from happy gurgles to frantic crying and I realized that the fourth toe on her right foot was bright red and looked like a berry about to pop.  Luckily Chris hadn't left for work yet, so he could stay and try to calm her four hysterical sisters while I barreled out the door with baby Ruth.  It was also lucky that we have a wonderful pediatrician who did not bat an eye when I showed up at his office, in my pajamas and sobbing, half an hour before they opened.  He spent the next 45 minutes trying to save Ruth's toe and although he thought he probably got all of the hair, her toe still looked so horrible that he sent us to the ER to have it checked out.


We spent all day in the ER, but in the end it turns out that Dr. Israel had in fact already saved the day.  Poor Ruth's toe still looked so very bad that I don't regret the needless day in the ER, because it took the assurances of four (five if you include our pediatrician) doctors to convince me that her toe would be okay.

Ruth's toe 12 hours after the hair was removed.

 

Even now, over a week later, her toe still looks like there is something wrapped around it.  There is a slight improvement every day, though, so I'm finally breathing a little easier. 


I'm learning, slowly but surely, that we will never have enough kids to qualify us as experts:  life is too full of surprises and it's best to keep on your toes!  (ha ha ha!)

Ruth's mood was not affected by all the trauma

Merry Christmas!

All is merry and bright.....more or less

This was Ruth yesterday.  I dare anyone to NOT have a magical Christmas around this baby and her sweet face!

Merry Christmas one and all!  Poor Ruth is running a fever today so I'll write more some other time.

See what I mean?

This baby is just adorable!

Love letter to Ruth

Here, in no particular order, are some things that I love about this gorgeous baby:

*The way she crinkles her nose when she smiles.
*Her long, dark eyelashes that literally sweep over her cheeks when she closes them.
*The way Ruth laughs in her sleep, almost every day.  It is the most adorable thing I have ever seen, the sight of her sleeping little face breaking into a huge gummy smile, and then hearing the gurgle of an absolutely delighted laugh.  She isn't laughing yet while awake, which makes these sleep-giggles all the more precious.  It makes me happy to know that her dreams are good ones.
*The way, when she is fussy, Ruth immediately calms down when she hears my voice.  The girls find this amazing, which has reminded me that it is amazing.  Beth said to me recently, "I like the way that babies and their Mommies are just best friends!"
*When I go into Ruth's room in the middle of the night, she immediately stops crying and will give me a huge smile.  It doesn't matter how much she was fussing before, it's instantly forgotten in her happiness at seeing me.  If everyone could let go of their own unhappiness so quickly, the world would be a much better place.
*I love the feel of her warm little head on my shoulder.  There is something so sweet and touching about the way an infant leans on you with such complete abandon.
*The way Ruth loves her family.  She is fascinated by watching everyone interact, and the girls will often be holding her and talking to each other when they realize that Ruth is looking up at them as they talk and smiling wildly.
*The sweet way Ruth is crazy about her Daddy.  He was the first to get big smiles from her, and nothing elicits her interest like the sound of Chris' voice coming into a room.  She's already trying to push her stomach out in an attempt to follow him as he moves around.
*The way she crinkles her nose when she smiles.  Have I already said this?  It needed to be said again!

This baby is just so sweet, and calming, and fun.  We are so blessed to have her with us, I can't believe our luck!

Lucy, dominating

Lucy:  Boo, can you get me a drink?
Beth:  Say the magic word!
Lucy: You will get me a drink.

Lucy at Mass

Lucy to Chris after the Consecration:  There it is!  Look!  The creepy bread that has Jesus in it!

Ruth smiles for Abbie

It must be pretty neat to come into the world so surrounded by adoring sisters.  Ruth certainly seems to think so.

Halloween part III

More from Halloween

They're creepy and they're kooky

Mysterious and spooky

They're altogether ooky

The Addams Family

Da da da da (click click)!

*Accompanied by their 'pet', an extremely stubborn and go-along-with-the-crowd-resistant Hello Kitty.

How I manage to make dinner

These are the moments I live for lately: onions sauteing on the stove, good music in the background, surrounded by the girls playing peacefully.

And now for something completely different

Here is Claire doing her "Irish accent."
It makes me smile.

Whoever coined the phrase...

..."Sleeping like a baby" was a blithering idiot who obviously never spent any time around an actual baby.

What any parent of a newborn knows (and what I somehow manage to forget right before getting pregnant, every single time) is this: babies don't sleep.

Babies don't sleep. Ever. Unless, of course, you count the times when they sleep through feedings, and the times when they sleep snugly in your arms. Sleep, though, in the way most humans view it - consisting of even breathing, solitude, and unconsciousness for more than 15 minutes at a time - yeah, newborns don't do that

Luckily for me, Lucy has been sleeping through the night for a while now so I did not blunder into this "No Sleep for You!" thing pre-exhausted. Unluckily for me, the recovery from my c-section has been a little trickier this time and I have not been able to nurse the baby in bed, nor hold her while I lay down. These two things mean: I'm in pretty good spirits, but I am tired as all get out.

Chris took Ruth when he came home from work today, so that I could get a few hours of sleep before my next all-night-infomercial marathon (have you seen the YUDU? That thing looks awesome!) And you know what? I did not sleep like a baby.
I slept much, much better.

Ruth sucks her thumb

None of our other babies have done this, but it is pretty adorable.