The Davis Family

Baby boy will be here before we know it and we’ve been trying to make time to clean out the old office so we can start painting. We finally got out the rollers this past Sunday.

However, trying to paint with a toddler around is hazardous. While I was busy taping sections of the wall with my back to Ruby, Andy left the room to go find her some shoes. In the space of two seconds, she found the hammer and started whacking the wall with it. She apologized, but then laughed and said, ” I was smashing it!”

Ruby was really determined to help paint her brother’s room though — to the point that while using a little paint roller, she developed a blister, kept going until the skin came off, and then continued to try to help even though she was crying because her finger really hurt. Sweet girl. Turns out, she’s not a bad painter!

We worked on coat two of the blue last night. Ruby wanted to help again, but in her head, it clearly didn’t make sense that we were painting more blue on top of something that was already blue, especially when there was still khaki wall showing elsewhere. She was tasked with working on a second coat of blue inside the closet, but all of a sudden decided she was going to paint on the khaki wall instead. No big deal because we still have to paint that section, but so funny to me that regardless of what we told her, she just couldn’t get on board with the plan because it just didn’t make sense to her! At least she thinks independently.

Ruby has changed so much over the summer. She’s definitely a little girl now. We’re potty trained (Yipee!) and getting dressed and undressed on our own.

She also just started at preschool. She is loving it so far. I think it’ll be a really good thing for her, especially when the baby is here. I’d imagine there is only so much at home time with a baby that Ruby can stand!

Her independence is ever growing and I’m so proud of all her accomplishments. She’ll always be my favorite girl!

When we first told Ruby we were having a baby, she said she only wanted a sister. For months she stuck to telling us she only wanted a sister. She would even scream “I only want a sister!!!!,” if we asked about a brother.

I couldn’t figure out why she was so stuck on a sister and she couldn’t really tell me either. Then one day, she told me she didn’t want a brother because a brother would have straight hair like daddy and because boy babies are “old” babies. Funny reasons that I guess only a 2 year old would come up with.

But something changed and all of a sudden she was convinced she wanted a brother. Since we found out we’re expecting a boy, Ruby has been completely happy with the idea of a brother. She is really excited.

She did one night tell me she still wanted twins — Just like Dora, one boy and one girl baby. When I told her that we were very lucky to have one healthy baby boy on the way she responded by saying, “well, I’d be luckier if we were having twins.” Didn’t even realize she knew the word luckier, and little does she realize that if we were having twins, mama and dada would have a LOT less time to spend with her!

She asks me often what she can do to help with her baby, or tells me what she’ll do to help when the baby comes. Of course, she doesn’t fully understand the impact of a newborn in our house, but she thinks being a big sister will be great.

A few nights ago as I was putting her to bed, Ruby asked if Christmas was coming soon. Since we’ve just recently celebrated her birthday, I figured she was already thinking of the next opportunity for presents. When I asked if she was asking about Christmas because she wanted more presents, she said, “No, mama. It’s because my brother is coming at Christmas and I’m excited.”

What a sweet sister she will be.

The poor blog is a little lacking in recent posts … again. So much is going on and it’s hard to keep up. I guess I haven’t tried at all, but I should try!

We are having another baby — a boy! The best thing about the blog was the fact that it allowed people not in Atlanta to keep up with all the changes with Ruby when she was a baby. It would be really nice to allow family to keep up with our boy the same way. So I need to rededicate myself to this blog.

We didn’t get chance to have an Easter egg hunt at Nana and Grandad’s house this year. Easter Sunday, Nana and Grandad were already in Mexico, and Nana decided we could take a few eggs down there for the kids to hunt.

A couple of days after the egg hunt as Nana was packing her bag to return home, she came across some bunny ear headbands she had brought for the girls. Ruby was so excited to get those bunny ears and for the last few days of our trip, was Ruby bunny. Some of my favorite photos from the trip are of “Ruby Bunny.”

Ruby has a unicorn pillow pet. It was a Christmas gift from Uncle Jon. It’s fast become a favorite, Ruby’s Uni. She likes to put Uni on a leash to take her for long walks.

Today at nap time, Ruby just didn’t want to settle. She was talking to herself and playing with the animals in her bed. I went in multiple times to remind her it was sleepy time and she kept telling me she was going to sleep. But as soon as I got back downstairs, I’d hear her babbling again over the monitor.

After a long time when it became evident she wasn’t going to go to sleep and when it got too late for her to fall asleep, I went to get her out of bed. I was surprised to find Uni in her bed. The stuffed animal had been beside her crib on the bookshelf. When I asked how Uni ended up in her bed, Ruby told me she reached, and reached and reached and then it worked!

When I asked her why no nap today, Ruby told me, “I don’t know. I think it’s because Uni was talking too much.”

Ha-ha. You tell me — think this Uni does much talking, because I’m not convinced!

We recently got back from a family trip to Mexico. My dad and Nana generously rented a house near Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and invited everyone to come stay for a week. The house was gorgeous and in a quite exclusive resort/neighborhood called La Palmillas.

Ruby had a lovely time hanging out with her Nana and Grandad and all her cousins. She got plenty of time in the pool and also went to the beach for the first time. She wasn’t a huge fan of the ocean — her introduction was to be knocked over by the first big wave that made it’s way up the beach — but she liked looking for shells and walking around on the beach.

She has always been quite comfortable in the pool, but this trip she took it to a whole new level. We bought Ruby some water wings wondering if they would help her be more self-sufficient in the pool. After the first day, she was paddling herself around the pool without a problem. She loved it!

Later in the week, she decided just to go for it — jumped into the pool by herself with no water wings or anything! She was supposed to be sitting on the top step with her feet in the water waiting for her daddy to get his swim trunks and sunblock on, but I guess at some point, she decided she was tired of waiting and was going to push off the step all by herself. Of course she can’t swim and she just started to sink like a rock. Andy and Auntie Callie practically knocked each other over to jump in the pool and rescue her. Callie got there first and when she pulled Ruby out of the water, surprisingly, Ruby didn’t cough hardly at all. Just a small cough, and then a look of “what’s everyone freaking out about?” She wasn’t phased at all. I’m not even sure that she understood the seriousness of what had happened. But on the bright side, at least she wasn’t traumatized and immediately wanted to get back into the water.

Clearly, some serious swimming lessons are needed before we spend any time at the neighborhood pool this summer!

Just a few more things I finished sewing for Ruby this week.

Two little jersey dresses and two pairs of pants made from 2 super-sized T-shirts I bought on clearance at Target!

This was Ruby telling the puppy buttons on her skirt (that she picked out at the fabric store) to smile for the photo.

And Ruby smiling and looking at the camera. Rare event at the moment. She likes having her picture taken, but doesn’t want to look at the camera ever.

Ruby was wearing her tiara last week when she told me she needed to lay down on her pillow for a minute to take a princess nap. So cute!

Andy came down while Ruby was eating lunch yesterday. He kept asking her if she was the Ruby monkey. She kept telling him no, sort of ignoring him like he was being ridiculous. He kept on, asking her if she was a hippo, a giraffe — I can’t even remember what else. Ruby acted completely uninterested in his little game and eventually he headed back upstairs to work. As soon as he was out of ear shot, Ruby looked and me and said, “Mama, I think I’m definitely a flamingo.”

Ruby’s passport arrived for our trip to Mexico at the end of April. Thank goodness. Now we just need to worry about mine. As it stands right now, I have just over 3.5 weeks before we leave and no idea if my passport will come on time. I’m nervous.

Anyway, when Ruby woke up from her nap, I took the passport in to show it to her. She was really excited, and I thought, genuinely understood the concept of a passport — that it was a document you needed for traveling. In the new US passports, there is an image of an eagle on the page adjacent to your photograph. Ruby sat and admired her photo for a while and then turned to talking about the eagle. She told me the eagle had never had a passport before either, but now he could go to Mexico. “He’s going to wear a swimsuit for the first time, mama,” Ruby said. Then she started flipping through the rest of the booklet looking at the other images in there. When I asked her what she was looking at, she told me she was just flipping through the pages looking for recipes. So, clearly, she doesn’t understand exactly what a passport is for, but she knows she’s going to Mexico with Nana and Grandad!