Finished!

I am finished with Ruthie's new room, which she has been sleeping in now for over a week. She has done great with the transition and I am really pleased with how the room came out. Now all we need is another baby to put in the nursery!

Our Memorial Day

After a slow, quiet morning at home (see previous post), our family headed to La Mirada to swim in David and Gina's neighborhood pool with the rest of the fam. They are moving to Texas the middle of next month, so it was sort of our farewell to the pool, which our family has enjoyed a lot over the years.

Ruthie LOVES the pool. She thinks she can swim and frequently tries to "swim" out of our arms into the pool on her own. But we love her precocious and adventuresome spirit, even if it does cause her grandmother quite a bit of worry.

Speaking of grandmother, here is Ruthie and my mom swimming together. They had so much fun!

Which then freed Ian and me up to do some swimming together, which was lovely. When you are 9 months pregnant, there's not too much better than the weightless feeling of swimming. Especially when your husband is doing all the work. =)

And here is Ruthie, at my parents' house after swimming, where we had delicious brisket and amazing desserts.

How I wish everyday was a holiday! But soon, very soon, this baby will come and Ian will be home all summer and that will be wonderful.

Hope you had a great Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Just enjoying a slow, quiet morning before we go swimming with cousins and head to Grandma and Grandpa's for a BBQ. Hope you are enjoying your day!

My Husband, the Weirdo

It is not uncommon for me to find, after our nightly ritual of tidying, Ruthie's toys set up in various scenes. The giraffe and horse might be trying to make a break for it from the toy chest, the dog and Minnie doll might be sitting on the carpet holding hands, etc.

Today, I found this during Ruthie's afternoon nap. Ian is such an odd duck. Maybe that's why I love him so.

And Closer

With two weeks and five days to go, we are really making progress on Ruthie's new room. We are going to start napping her in her new pad this Monday. Hopefully by then it will be all the way ready. But we are getting closer, as you can see.

Ian painted and re-hung the door, I organized and painted the frame collage for the wall, and we got all the furniture set where we want it. It is finally starting to feel like a kid's room!

All we have left is hanging the photo collage and the quilt!

Ruthie Does Tricks

Every parent thinks their kid is the cutest and the smartest. I am no exception, nor do I feel the need to pretend to be. Here is Ruthie, doing her tricks. Naturally, she can do others beside these. But you get the idea.

Aquarium Family

I can't remember if I've mentioned here yet that we recently became Aquarium of the Pacific members. It's awesome. It's very affordable, super close to our house (we can ride our bikes there on the river path or take the metro - or a combo of the two, which we did last time) or drive and be there in about 5 minutes. And best of all, Ruthie loves it.

She shares her time about 50/50 between watching all the other kids and looking at the fish. And because it's small and contained, she gets to run around freely, unlike at Disneyland, where we have to keep an eagle eye on her (don't worry, we do still watch her - it's just that she can't get that far away from us). ANYWAY, here she is, enjoying one of the tanks. I love how the Aquarium puts many of the tanks low, so little kids can get right up to them.

And here is Ruthie and Daddy, walking toward the shark tank. Isn't that too cute? We've been working on holding hands with Ruthie, so that she'll walk with us when Noodle gets here. Usually, she pulls her hand out so she can go where she wants (big surprise), but she is doing better. Proof is in the picture!

Getting Closer

We are getting closer to being ready to move Ruthie out of the nursery and into her new room. Ian's dad helped us install a door (a very important item in a toddler's room) a few weekends ago. It turned out great. Now we just have to paint it. =) Hopefully that happens before the baby comes, but no huge loss if not. It's strange to have the shutter doors off that room, but it actually makes it feel more like a room and less like a den, so that's good.

Also, we moved the queen bed out of the room and moved in the hand-me-down dresser, chair and crib (can I just say that it's amazing having a big family?) into the room. We got the dresser from my parents, the crib from David and Gina, the chair from Sarah and Eric, and Mary and Mike gave us another changing pad. So awesome! (For the record, Peter and Sheila offered us their bassinet, but we already have a Moses basket.)

I am really hoping to work this weekend on painting and arranging the photo frame collage for Ruthie's wall, as well as figuring out how I'm going to hang the quilt Ian's grandmother made for Ruthie. What a treasure, to have a quilt hand made by your Great Grandmother! Some day, Ruthie will really appreciate that. =)

I'll be back with more photos as we make more progress. The countdown is on - 3 1/2 weeks to go!