compost pile

Our hometeacher knew that we were wanting to put down some new compost in the front flower beds, so he brought his trailer over one day full of it. Jerry, of course, had to play in it if we were ever outside.

He is really a great big brother. Anytime we ask him if he wants to hold Ruby, he immediately climbs up and sits himself in the corner of the couch where we told him he needed to sit in order to hold Ruby. Eventually he gets sick of it and he tries to crawl out from underneath her. It's pretty funny.

The last few months

Kristen and I can't believe how fast time has gone by since Ruby was born! She is growing like a weed, and is a very happy little gal. We blessed her at the beginning of April and were lucky enough to be able to use the same dress that Kristen was blessed in when she was a baby. It was made by one of Kristen's Aunts.



We're still trying to get used to the whole "headband for girls" thing, but they never stay on, so as far as I'm concerned we should just trash 'em. Kristen still tries to get her to were one, but only about once a week. You would think that since she only wears one rarely, we would have 3 or 4, but I swear Kristen makes a new one every other day. She enjoys it, so I don't give her too hard a time about it.



The weather has been warm so on the rare occasion that it's not pouring rain, we go outside to play in the back yard. We got Jerry this little slide combo about a month ago, and he has really enjoyed it.



We also try to eat outside anytime it's nice. Jerry enjoying a nice piece of angel food cake last week.



Jerry has recently started throwing these INSANE temper tantrums. Kristen and I think that it is because we can't understand his words and what he wants all the time,so he gets frustrated. I'm sure as his speech gets better, the tantrums will go away. (Let's hope)



Jerry still is really kind to Ruby and loves to show her any kind of affection that he can, whether it is hugging, or kissing, or biting, or licking, or slapping. Ruby is a champ and just takes it without crying. the only time that I can remember when Jerry made her cry is when he head butted her in the face (not on purpose of course).

Worms

Jerry is so so so ready for warm weather. As you can tell from his expression, he is sick and tired of hanging out inside with his horse.



Since it has warmed up Jarom and Jerry were recently clearing our garden of weeds and grass. Jerry was doing a good job of helping by putting the weeds in the wheelbarrow. He was actively going back and forth having a fun time. After doing this for a while Jarom noticed that Jerry had stopped helping. When Jarom turned around Jerry was holding something in front of his face with his mouth open. (After watching "Monsters Inside Me" we are both a little freaked out about letting Jerry play outside. This is because Jerry puts everything in his mouth, and you never know what scary parasite he may pick up.I don't recomend this show for over protective parents, you may never let your child outside) Jarom rushed over to him to stop him from eating what was in his hand Jarom got there just in time to stop him from putting a worm in his mouth.

Bath Time

As you can see from the first picture Ruby hated getting her spit bath. But once we were able to put her in the water she enjoyed it.

Jerry fresh out of the tub, getting cleaned up from dinner and getting ready for bed.

Food!

What's better than one cup of milk? TWO cups of milk!!



Jerry has always been a pretty small kid. He has always been right under the 50th percentile in height and 3rd percentile for weight. He eats, he just doesn't eat a lot, unless he really enjoys it.We had some friends over for dinner this week, to keep him happy while we talked, we gave him a piece of dessert. Needless to say he enjoyed it. He ate all of it, licked the plate clean and somehow managed to get it all over himself.

Little Ruby is now 7 weeks old, and Jerry turned 19 months last week. It is crazy to me that Jerry is no longer my baby and that I have a newborn again. Jerry and Ruby have been so different as newborns. Jerry was ALWAYS awake, and I mean ALWAYS. All of the pictures we have of him, he is wide eyed, there are very few pictures of him while he is sleeping. Ruby on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Rarely can we find her alert enough to take a picture during the day, until a couple of weeks ago.

My mom was here the first 2 weeks, and we were very sad to see her go, especially Jerry. My mom watched Jerry while we were stuck in the hospital, and they spent some good quality time together. Jerry loved playing with her, and liked to play rough at times. She would crawl on the floor and he would climb on her. At one point he pantsed her and bit her bum(she still had her underwear on). He also enjoyed pinching and scratching her,my mom left with many scratch marks on her face and arms. Despite her battle scars I think my mom enjoyed being here, I know we enjoyed having her and appreciate all of the help.


Jerry has done a lot better with Ruby than what I expected. He has been able to sleep through her crying in the middle of the night, thanks to a noise machine. Our house is very small so I thought he would be waking up all of the time. He has also been relatively gentle with her, he is always loving on her and giving her hugs and kisses. Thankfully for the most part Ruby does not seem to mind being mauled by Jerry. When we first brought Ruby home, Jerry seemed very concerned when she cried. He would first check on her then he would come and get us if we did not respond quickly enough. He has since learned that some crying is normal and zones it out, but on a few occasions he has covered his ears.

Ruby Claire Hansen

So baby Ruby was born on Jan 22, at 5:32 pm weighing in at 8lbs 9.5 oz, and was 19.5 inches long. We initially named her Ruby Abigail Hansen, but Kristen decided that she wasn't too keen on the middle name, hence the switch to Claire. Here are some pictures of the new baby girl.


As you can see, she has very red skin so her name fits her. The doctor says that means that she will most likely be fair skinned, so we will now have two transparent children instead of just one.



We were wondering how Jerry would react and so far,he has really been kind to her. He loves to give her kisses.


The most exciting thing about Ruby's name is that there are endless possibilities for nick names. So far, we have Rubik's cube, Ruby Tuesday, Rubydoobydoo, Mcruber, Mcrube (for those of you who love the Mcrib). I am sure we will come up with more.