A Visit with the Groths and Ruthie's 1 month appointment

On Monday, Cara brought Madelyn, Caroline, and Silas to visit. All of the kids held Ruthie and according to Cara they are all in love with her now! I mean really, who wouldn't fall in love with that kid! Here are some pics from the day:

Caroline was so excited! Look at that smile!


Madelyn enjoyed holding Ruthie too and Ruthie loves her!
Here is the whole group!
Silas even got in on the action and was very gentle when holding Ruthie.

Thanks Groths for coming to hang out with us and bringing me something to eat. Y'all are awesome and I can't wait to hang out again. (Jason, I am bringing her over to hang out with you!)

Today, we went to the dr. for Ruthie's one month appointment. I can't believe the last month is gone! Anyway, Ruthie is in the 10th percentile in length and weight. She is 20 inches long and 6 lbs 12 oz. That is only 7 oz more than when she was born and only 2 oz more than 8 days ago. She also has some blood in her diaper still and there is a little cut on her bottom and she is straining to go potty. Therefore, I am cutting out dairy in hopes that maybe that will help with the straining, blood, and hopefully she will gain more weight. The dr. is not worried and so we aren't either! She is still a fairly happy baby and as you can see below she is still very alert some of the time when she isn't sleeping.
(Sorry, I can't get the pic turned around)
So back to the dr. we go next Tuesday and we are praying for some weight gain and hopefully Miss Ruthie can eventually move into her 0-3 month clothes instead of just her newborn clothing.
Any suggestions on recipes that done require dairy? Cara?

Also, shout out to the amazing husband who is also giving up dairy in order for it to be easier for me and for those of you who know us well, you know how much we love our cheese and ice cream and how hard that transition is going to be! We appreciate any prayers you can lift up for all 3 of us! Thanks in advance!

Ruthie is one month old!

First, an update on Ruthie's diaper issues. She has not had nearly as much blood. Probably once out of every 4 diapers may have a little blood so that is great. Also, the dr. said she does not have a bacterial or viral infection as far as they can tell with the preliminary reading of the stool sample and we will know more by Tuesday when we go for Ruthie's one month appointment.

Now onto the reason for this posting- Ruthie is a whole month old! I took pics which I plan to do each month and then add some special memories from the month that I will want to remember later. So here we go with Month 1!

The dress I put her in is one I wore when I was little. Also, here is Cinderella who will hopefully make an appearance each month (if not more often-I'm really hoping she will love Cinderella like her momma).
















I put her in her swing and this is what she did with her hands! adorable!

You love to swing.
You love music- we have been listening to Louis Armstrong and Michael Buble.
You still do not like taking baths, I would say you hate them with the way you scream when we put you in the water.
Momma sings "You are My Sunshine" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to you and Daddy sings "The Rainbow Connection" along with many other songs from The Muppet Movie and hymns.
You love to snuggle up on daddy's chest and curl up in a little ball.
You love to eat!
You have been sleeping most nights for 4 to 5 hours between feedings and Momma and Daddy are very very very happy about that. Keep up the good work!
Maggie doesn't know what to think of you just yet. She likes to sniff and lick you sometimes, but ignores you mostly. She will eventually love you when you start dropping food for her to eat.
Momma likes to dress you in girly dresses, bows, flower, and headbands.
You love to be held and rocked.
You weighed 6 lbs and 10 oz last time we went to the doctor on February 14th. That is a whole 5 oz more than your birth weight. yay!
You cry sometimes, but not too much. Really only when you are so tired you can't fall to sleep and when we try to bathe you.
You have met all of you grandparents and your uncle, but have yet to meet your aunts. This weekend we are going to meet the Stout extended family, in April we will meet the Greene extended family, hopefully sometime by the summer though you will finally get to meet your aunts (all of them are so very excited about you being here, and all want to be your favorite aunt! Good luck with that one!)
Momma and Daddy love you so much and so much more than we could have ever even imagined! You are our sweet little Ruthie Roo!

Valentine's Day and Ruthie is now 4 whole weeks old!

Want to see more pictures of Ruthie Roo? I knew you did! So for your viewing enjoyment, I have loaded some more!
Ruthie loves her Mommy!

Ruthie loves her Taggie blanket that Aunt Amy, Uncle Matt, and Eben gave her
Ruthie hanging out on the boppy again looking all cute!
The adorable burp cloths that Amy, Matt, and Eben gave Ruthie that match her quilt from Aunt Susan and Uncle Bob
This past fall I was a part of a women's bible study on Monday nights. This semester I have class so I can't attend, but I did go to one last event with the girls and our husbands. Also, 2 of the ladies just had little girls, one in Oct and one in Nov (I believe). Anyway, we had a great Valentine's dinner and enjoyed each others company. It was nice to have a dinner and have someone cook for us, but not have to find a sitter so we could go out.
Also, we went for our first family walk. Maggie decided about half way through our walk that she had enough walking for the day so we put her in the bottom of the stroller and continued on our walk. ha
Here is our little Valentine with her Valentine present and tutu on. What do you think? She is the cutest valentine ever! Ok, I am biased, but she is cute isn't she?
Thanks to Nana Kathy's friend for the tutu
Here is Daddy with his tiniest Valentine!
Here is Ruthie in her cute little boots
Ruthie resting
Matt bought me a hair delight by Kristin's Kreations ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/kristinmclendon ) for Valentine's day along with some rain boots that are on their way here. Pictures to come...

I gave Matt a book of comics for Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's day was not the most exciting. Ruthie had some blood in her diaper on Sunday and it continued for the rest of the day so Monday (Valentine's) morning I took her to the doctor. We love our pediatrician and he put us right at ease. She is fine and the bleeding has almost stopped. Most likely she has a tear inside and it is causing her to bleed a little each time she has a bowel movement. He is doing a test on her poop, but is not worried. More on that when we know more. She is good though and not in any pain or have a fever so no worries here with the parents now.
As for the rest of the day, Matt worked, we had Tastebud's pizza for dinner, and I went to class that evening. I guess that is the life of a parent. Don't worry, when I got home we spent some time together talking after Ruthie went to bed! Not too much though b/c we need our sleep! ha

What did everyone else do for Valentine's day?

An Update on Ruthie's sleeping

The last 2 nights have been wonderful! Ruthie has slept much better. She slept about 3.5 to 4 hours straight between feedings! Momma and Daddy feel so much better and well rested and Ruthie is in a much better mood all day! Thanks for the advice and prayers!

Ruthie over the last week

Momma and Ruthie hanging out

Daddy and Ruthie

Ruthie biting Momma

Ruthie and Maggie

Ruthie is upset. She has been fussy that last few days...

Momma got a haircut

I don't think Ruthie likes being in the sling

The Polsons came to visit and Amy was a huge help by holding Ruthie while Matt and I ate the delicious dinner that she and Mark made us.

Ruthie being content. Look at that cute little smirk!

We now have a baby that is very fussy and wants to cry when no one is holding her and sometimes when we are holding her. She is too young to cry it out. Any experienced parents out there with some advice? She has been feed and changed and seems very tired. Go! Give us some advice but be nice!

Ruthie is 3 weeks old!

I can't believe it! Ruthie is 3 weeks old.
Classes started yesterday. I had to leave Ruthie for 3 hours to go to class and those were 3 very long hours! It was the longest I have left Ruthie since she was born.
Momma and Daddy are tired, but so in love with this little girl.
Ruthie loves to swing, loves for us to sing to her, and loves rides in the car.
She doesn't like a bottle (even though she has to take one sometimes), a pacifier, or being in a room alone.
For now that is all.
Time for Momma to feed Ruthie and then Momma is going to get herself a hair cut this afternoon! Hooray!