Fantastic 4

Well, here we are folks. We made it 6 weeks! Sleep is still hit or miss but we are enjoying lots of family time. Here are a few pics of our fabulous foursome hanging out around the house.

 We're pretty fond of our newest family member. All of that cuteness in one tiny package... she's hard to resist.

 Ruby has adjusted wonderfully to her new role of big sister. She loves to hold and cuddle Quinn and always wants to know "What Quinn doin'?"

She's delicious.

Daddy's girls

Big sister

Our little family = LOTS of love

She's here!!!

Hip hip hooray! Our newest family member arrived on Friday, September 14th at 1:03 pm. Weighing in at just 6lbs 8oz, she's a wee peanut compared to big sister Ruby (about 9lbs at birth).

Quinn Alexandra Ingram McVeigh is her name and yes- that's a mouthful! Her second middle name (Ingram) will probably only make appearances on official documents- but I like her having a piece of my family in her name :)

Big sister Ruby has adjusted quite well to having sister "Quit" around... It's Toby (the dog) we're concerned about. In the week since Quinn has been home he has consumed half a dozen gourmet donuts (good taste!), the crotch out of two pairs of my friend's underwear (not so much), and he's tricked us into feeding him the same meal twice (sleep deprivation works to his advantage). Hopefully he'll realize that Quinn is yet another source of food for him (in about 6 months when she starts throwing baby food across the room) and start behaving.

A week of "firsts"

 It's been an exciting week in the McVeigh household! Ruby went to her first day (morning) of "school." She'll be going two mornings a week and it's so cool to think of her being so independent and making her own buddies. Given that her parents liked school so much (it's quite a handy way to delay real life!) we hope Ruby loves school too.

Here she is right before heading off to school. Hip hip hooray!

 The other first involved Ruby visiting the hair salon! We weren't looking for anything drastic but we wanted to avoid the ratty "mullet-esque" style that was emerging, so we opted for a lil' trim. Ruby wasn't shy about it at all. She just marched right in, sidled up to the race car, and sat patiently while she got her hair cut.

What a pro!

First blow-dry :)

 The final first of the week involved Ruby "launching" herself out of her crib during a temper tantrum. (no pics of this one!). Luckily she was aok but we're hoping she promptly forgets how she did that because we are NOT ready for a newborn AND the "big-girl-bed-transition" at the same time.

 After such a busy week of firsts, we decided it was time to get out on a date night, so here we are after having enjoyed a lovely romantic dinner and a stop at the ice cream parlor. I must say I felt like quite the cliche walking/waddling into the ice-cream parlor at 9pm for a double scoop...but I wasn't about to let that stop me!

This time around

Wowza. So I'm not sure how it happened ...but we're about 7 or 8 weeks away from bringing another baby into the world!!! The telltale signs are here: my belly is getting gigantic, I deserve to have a nameplate on one of the bathroom stalls at work, and I'm worried that I may be starting to waddle... just a wee bit. Gah! It's funny what strangers will ask and say to you when they see a pregnant belly. Somehow they take it as a sign that we're buds and can ask me anything. "Got a name yet?" says the homeless guy on the street? "Is it a girl?" he asks. I've decided to have a little fun with some of the questions I get and I'm all ears for additional sarcastic responses and replies if you have any ideas. While interviewing a candidate at work the other day, he looked at my belly and said "Well.. you have kids right? How many do you have?" Just for fun, I looked back at him with a straight face and said "Seven." It was great to see his jaw drop. When a woman asked me this morning when i was due.. I looked down at my belly in a confused way and said- "Oh yeah- I guess that IS a baby!!!" (hardy har har). Since my plan is to work up until baby arrives, I am just hoping and praying that my water does not break while I'm in the middle of a meeting or something. I know, I know, it's not like the movies. Niagara Falls will not suddenly appear between my legs. But still.. I could live without that embarrassing experience and subsequent cleanup of bio-hazard waste. mmmm

Even though this is the second time around the block for Scott and I (with regard to all things baby...) sometimes I slow down and think about it for a minute and marvel at how different this time really is. With our first baby being diagnosed with CDH, just the thought of having another baby with the same issues was purty darn frightening. We sorta felt we'd dodged a bullet the first time and figured it'd be impossible to have the same luck again. I was followed fairly closely early on during this pregnancy. They did a few extra ultrasounds and kept an eye out for anything that looked fishy. Each time we went they focused on the lungs and abdomen and diaphragm. We held our breath and they said things looked pretty good. After enough ultrasounds we finally took the doc's word for it and let ourselves exhale. From everything we could see and infer, we had a HEALTHY and very boring baby. It was/is pretty awesome.


It's amazing what you can do with all the extra time and energy when you don't have to go to 3 doctor's appointments per week and when you're not constantly worried about whether you'll be bringing a baby home or not. Let's just say this past month or two (post-barfing, pre-baby) has been grrrrrrreat. With nothing concrete (like CDH) to fill the "black hole of worry" we've come up with a few random things to fill it. We worry about how we'll handle the first few weeks of new baby-hood on our own. No nurses and monitors and help? Whatever will we do? How will we manage with two? What if Ruby wants to return her? What if she has colic or some other unforeseen medical problem? What if I'm tempting fate just by writing this blog post?? What if.. what if...

Luckily, there are a lot of things to look forward to this time around as well. This time, I get to have my very own doctor deliver our baby (no strangers- yay!). This time, I get to deliver at a hospital a few miles from home instead of the other side of the country (yay!). This time, we get to bring our baby home to our happy little house and nestle in with a cuddly, sleepy, little newborn.(yay!)

The experience that I am most looking forward to though... is the one I really missed having with Ruby. Once I sneeze and "pop" the baby out (ha! here's hoping) I absolutely, positively cannot wait to grab that little bundle of cuteness, hug her close to my chest, stroke her fuzzy head, and kiss her chubby cheeks.

Then I know everything will be okay.

Ruby and "the guys"

Playdoh time with Ernie

The problem with having two parents that are psychologists (oh- who am i kidding when i use problem as a singular noun!) is that we are probably more aware than we need to be of various signs and symptoms of poor adjustment and developmental issues and we're trained to be on the lookout for them. I say this jokingly because -of course- our daughter is 100% perfect... (duh!) but one of the things we've joked about is her lack of attachment to stuffed animals or "loveys" and what that may mean. She's never had a "blankie" and she's had little interest in dolls. In fact, when she pushes her little toy stroller around, she always makes a point of tossing the baby-doll out of the stroller onto the floor before she starts pushing it. No freeloaders tolerated around here! Not exactly what you'd call a doting dolly-mama.

What a difference a few months make. Ruby now has not just one but THREE new BFFs! They are known affectionately as Ernie, Elmo, and "Coo-coo." You see, the upside of having an Auntie who works for a huge toy company is that you return home from visits stocked up with the latest Sesame Street characters. The downside is that Ruby gets attached to ALL of them and you spend your days bringing "the guys" everywhere you go and hoping against hope that none of them ever get lost. Ruby often requests that "the guys" accompany her on stroller rides and trips to brunch or the park. They are now constant companions during naps and bedtime.

I have been taking advantage of the spell that these characters have cast over Ruby by using them for peer pressure. When she has a tantrum over not wanting to brush her teeth, for example, I smile sweetly and say "let's brush Ernie's teeth... wow! he's really good at that! good boy Ernie!" We proceed to brush Elmo and Coo-Coo's (Cookie Monster) teeth and by the time we're done, she can't help but oblige in order to keep up with the cool kids. Ahhh... Genius!! right?

Well...this strategy of promoting peer pressure may work fabulously for the next little while... but I'm thinking somewhere before Ruby turns 15 or 16 I'll have to find another strategy or this could end really badly!

"I wanna walk NOW!"

Ruby has been talking a LOT lately and likes to impress us with her full sentences. She is also very polite and often uses the words PLEASE and THANK-YOU spontaneously. The only problem we've encountered is her recent love for the word NOW. She likes to end most of her sentences with that word, in fact. When her sweet "please" is followed by an impatient and insistent "NOW!" it's sort of like two sides of a math equation canceling each other out. :)

Here's a shot of Ruby with some of her Canadian cousins. Love those guys!

Ruby with the bride, Auntie Courty. So pretty!!!

More updates to come soon and I'll try to get a pic of  "the guys" up here too.
Cheers!
Adie

***NEWSFLASH! Superhero turns TWO!***

Ruby's 2nd Birthday Party- Little Shop of Stories

Story time!

cousins

Bring on the cake!

It's a team effort

Not so tentative about the cake this year are we now? :)

Dancing with our new noisemakers

My favorite dance partner (no need for heels)

The pictures say it best- we had a great time celebrating TWO wonderful years of having miss Ruby Roo in this world. We invited some of her lil' friends to join us for crafts, cupcakes, and story-time at a local book store and Ruby seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit.

My goal this year was to make things a little easier on Scott and I (i.e., not having 60 guests, not serving brunch for an army, and not trashing our house) so the local kids' bookstore seemed perfect! When the kids arrived, began tossing goldfish crackers all over the floor and proceeded to stomp on them, I was convinced that it was worth every penny. yay for not having to clean up!

Funny story of the party: I lit Ruby's birthday candles and placed them at a safe distance from her so that she/we could blow them out and make a wish. When we huffed and puffed, the candles sputtered and then... RELIT! hmm.. that's weird i thought. So we tried once more... huffed and puffed, and blew them out. Snap, crackle, they RELIT! now I knew something was up. I looked around accusingly at the adults in the room and asked who was playing a trick on us. Surely someone had switched our candles out for these trick ones. Nobody fessed up. "Come on!" I said, "Who switched the candles out?!! Very funny!!" Well, it turns out the joke was on me, because sitting on the table next to the cupcakes was the box which I had purchased and it read *clear as day* RELIGHTING CANDLES. So let's recap: Mommy Brain:1, Mommy: 0. Hmmph :(

The only downside of all of the partying is that Ruby ended up with what I'll affectionately call the "baby/toddler hangover."
Definition: The barfing, fever, interrupted sleep, and general sluggishness that results from partying too hard, eating too much cake, and consorting with multiple germy (but lovable) friends and cousins.



mmm. Who says toddlers aren't good at sharing? They just choose to share the icky stuff (germs) instead of the good stuff (toys, food). Smart kids. Poor Ruby is paying for her partying ways today with some sort of lovely bug but she'll be on the mend soon.

As Ruby's official "birth" day wrapped up and I cuddled her to sleep, I let mind wander back to where our super-baby was last year and the year before that. I make it a rule not to be a drama queen on a daily basis or dwell too much on her early days... but every now and then, I let myself indulge a bit. I mean, let's face it, our baby is freaking AMAZING! She came into this world fighting some frightening odds and she didn't even skip a beat. Every day she gave us hope and good news. Every day she kicked some CDH butt. I have NEVER ever heard of a better and more successful outcome than Ruby's and I am one proud Mama to be able to call this lil' superhero my baby.

Ruby, Every day you remind us how fun and wonderful this world is and how lucky we all are to be in it. Watching you grow up is the best present of all!
xo
Mom and Dad 

I'm ready to glow

I know it's old news to most of you but I figured I should dedicate at least one post to the exciting news that RUBY WILL BE A BIG SISTER! yup. Indeed. I'm Preggers again.

By Preggers, I mean to say- YES, I have spent a miserable 5 months barfing and feeling like pond scum. (yet another good excuse for not blogging!!) Bless all of those lovely ladies who feel wonderful during pregnancy and claim to "glow" (and by "bless" I mean...@#$!) but I'm just not a very happy preggy person. Sometimes after heaving my guts out, I've been known to mutter "I'm ready to GLOW doggamit!"

(sorry- no good bump photos yet... promise to post some soon!)

Well, here I am at 24 weeks and I'm the closest I'm gonna get to glowing. I can actually eat real food now (not just cupcakes and ice cream- it's not all it's cracked up to be) and the barfing only happens every few days in the morning. I know, it's not exactly blissful yet but I can get through the day without needing to ensure that I have a large ziploc or trash receptacle within arms reach at all times! How wonderful.

I had some great barf stories from my pregnancy with Ruby (e.g., crawling on my hands and knees up the aisle in first class and failing to make it to the airplane restroom before "decorating" the carpet; managing to drive through a fast food takeout lane and order a milkshake while barfing simultaneously). This time, I don't have any super memorable barf stories. Poor Ruby usually came running when she heard the retching and asked in a concerned way "'Kay? Kay?" very cute. I did have a few mornings of laying under my desk at my work cube, hoping nobody would walk by while I tried to regain my composure... And I did fertilize the garden once or twice on the way to my car... But no really amusing stories.

We have been telling Ruby about her baby sister (yep- it's a girl!!) but she's not very interested in the news right now. I know she is going to be over the moon when her very own baby arrives home to play with though.

The due date for the newest McVeigh is September 20th so stay tuned! In the meantime I am going to enjoy these next few weeks.. .the little window of time during which I feel pretty good AND can still see my feet!! The belly is expanding at a rapid pace so I know it won't last for long.


Grow baby grow!

Family Photos

Here are the photos I promised! Thank you to Marti at picturemommy.com who took some great shots. We tried  to get these done for months, hoping to send out a Happy New Year's card or Valentine's Card since we never got around to Christmas cards. Alas, it was either raining every weekend we tried to take pics or Ruby was sick. By the time got around to it we gave up on cards. We'll make it happen next year!

 Our lil' bean is growing up fast and has an awesome and goofy personality. She LOVES dancing, ice cream, and brushing her teeth.

 We have reason to believe she is going to grow up to be a magazine editor (hopefully not reminiscent of Devil Wears Prada!!) because Ruby is OBSESSED with magazines. Any publication with shiny pages that enters our home is quickly absconded and she spends hours poring over the pages with great intensity. She tends to refer to the male models as "Dada" and the beautiful ladies as "Mama" which makes Scott and I feel pretty good :)

Ruby has also become a "lady who lunches." She is a regular at one or two lunch/brunch spots around town and visits them at least weekly to check up on her friends. Her typical order includes scrambled eggs, pancakes (or "Peh-pehs"), and ...of course, pickles.