8 months

 So much is changing with Ruthann lately!  She can't walk, isn't crawling but she is entertaining us like crazy these days... here is some of the latest and greatest from this past week:

play time .... kiss attack, they happen regularly!

Here is R.A. just this morning, she was playing with a package that she got in the mail!

dive bomb, to the left, we never know when they are coming!

say CHEESE!

"oh mom"

Hooray for our family back home in Carolina... this little piggy came from Carolina yesterday!  Thank you Auntie Libby!

1) memecing sounds, uuuunah is her favorite 2) clapping her hands 3) dive bombing to her left side, this always comes out of nowhere 4) she has discovered her vocal cords 5) shaking her head nooooo crazy fast 6) change in taste buds, before she loved avocado, not anymore, which is good from a financial standpoint especially since she wants... bananas, steamed carrots and dried cranberries! This week we are going to try to remember not to maridade our salmon so she can join us in weekly wild alaskan salmon consumption!  

I LOVE sitting and watching her learn, explore, and absorb information from everything around her!  Go Ruthann!  Happy 8th month next week!  Stay tuned!

Winter has arrived!

Well the Routons have been ON THE GO these days with sunshine and snow as our fuel.  We've been patiently awaiting ALL winter for winter weather and boy are we glad it arrived!  The last few weeks the snow has been piling high!  Yesterday, Aaron took 6 MEHS boys up the hill snowboarding and they made a memory of a lifetime, last weekend we took Ruthann on her FIRST ever boat ride and overnighted at a cabin with some friends.  Aaron and I also took a nice long x-country ski!  Today after church this momma is blasting up a hill for some vitamin d and to meet her snow and fresh air quota.  So movement has been our middle name.  Here are some pics to prove it:

Before the snow came we got a few nice bike rides in with Ruthann with the nice bike trailer grandma and grandpa Routon got for us.  Ruthann didn't necessarily LOVE being in the trailer, but it might have been because it was 20 degrees outside.  Babies are tough! Notice all the folks in the background skating on the lake~

This is at our friend Annie's birthday party at a cabin at the end of the road, her baby girl, Livi, and baby Carolina had their first hang out time all together, not too much fun now, but in 5 years they are going to have a BLAST!

The dads!

I had been waiting for this day for months... the first x-country ski of the year, it was everything I had imagined.  Thanks grandpa Hughey and auntie Carol for making this possible!

Aaron taking a selfie

Here is Ruthann at the cabin we boated too.  This was our 2nd annual cabin trip and Ruthann's second year in attendance!

Ruthann LOVED being in the boat!  Loved it!

Aaron's birthday this year was a FLOP, Puffin disappeared on our run and Ruthann choked.  Thank goodness for a 1:30am bark outside our door, Puffin found her home!   

This is Ruthann's look these days, the protruding lower lip, it use to come out only occasionally but now it is her standard.

Here we find Lucas and Ruthann playing.  Thanks Lucas for being such a good friend to Ruthann!

The MEHS gang! 

 again on top of the hill...

and here is the aftermath!  They all survived and were in good spirits, ready for more next week ;)

jowls and smiles

For all the Ruthann fans out there this is not a sequence to be missed!!!!  Ruthann a.k.a. Squeaks, Squirrely or Squeakers is not stingy with her smiles these days.  And after a few days of sweet potato eating feasts, she isn't lacking in the cheek department either.  This series of photos was taken by her father one morning when I left for work.

half birthday

So I just had an epiphany that this blog used to focus on all of my Alaskan adventures and as of late it has turned into the banterings of a new smitten momma.  If the change has bothered you I apologize, my life outwardly is NOTHING like it was 6 1/2 years ago when I started this blog!  NOTHING besides the fact that I am a displaced southern girl LOVING and everyday appreciating living in the wilds of Alaska.  Inwardly though, deep down I am the same God fearing, fresh air breathing, daughter of 2 amazing full of life parents who in the last 6 months has undergone a major role shift, being a parent myself!

And boy am I LOVIN' it!  Every minute of it!

Yesterday we celebrated Ruthann's half birthday (today is the official day) by climbing and MOUNTAIN, her 2nd, and crashing a party to make the captive audience celebrate with us!  They weren't too in pained by having to celebrate, because it did involve delicious CAKE!  And Ruthann sure enjoyed the sensory play (Thank you Beth our earily childhood trained, a new mom herself and as of March 1, Ruthann's nanny!) for the vocabulary term for the event of Ruthann squishing birthday cake and frosting in her fingers.  Ruthann isn't eating solids yet, but she sure did dive bomb her cake!  It was a little odd just making 1/2 of a cake and according to my dear friend Emily Clark (formerly Buck), the 1/2 birthday cake tradition needs to come to a healthy end after her first true 1/2 birthday.  Apparently her husband's mom created a monster of a son who was raised on 1/2 birthday cakes and therefor she is the recipient of an entitled 1/2 birthday cake desiring husband, something no spouse should have to marry into.

So happy 1st and only half birthday dear sweet Ruthann!  Your dad and I couldn't imagine a more wonderful daughter or what we used to do with all our free-time (ah hum, climbing mnts constantly) before YOU!

Sharing our love of climbing mountains with our little squirrel baby!

Ruthann smiling for the camera!

Sensory play in action, I think we'll have to start giving her solids soon!

Working mom!

So here is the update to those out there that are on the fence about whether they should go back to work or not:

It's actually not all bad.  In fact for this working momma, it has been pretty good.  Some things that you will need to make it successful are:

1) a supportive husband!  Thankfully for me, Aaron was in charge of both breakfast and dinner (by the way he did an AMAZING job, and I ate like a queen).  I did the menu planning (I LOVE menu planning) and he made it happen (he even hosted 5 folks for dinner last night, way to go Aaron!  I was amazed by this non chef who has in the last 2 weeks turned gourmet);

2) child care that you feel good about!  The 1000 times a day that I thought about little Ruthann and knew she was in good hands, made all the difference;

3) a rewarding job, one that you really ENJOY going to;

4) a positive attitude;

5) and you have to be able to give yourself massive amounts of grace!  No, you aren't going to be able to be a momma, a full-time worker bee, run a 3:15 marathon, make visits and/or treats your friends everyday and hang out with high schoolers outside of school every week.  That is completely unrealistic!  So although, these are things I've been able to do in the past I've have to make some compromises with myself.

And although I was only able to go out for a run 2 times this week, I think next week I'll do better.  I have lowered my exercise goals to 3/4 runs a week, not much from someone who is used to hitting the trails everyday, but realistic.  And I am probably only going to log about 10 miles a week, again down from around 20 pre-baby!

So maybe I'll have a different opinion in a month, but it has been a nice start.  My time with Ruthann is sweeter than it has ever been.  My time with Aaron is more valued.  

Doable, check!  Maybe even enjoyable!  What a rich life I lead.

Aaron, the deer slayer, killed this buck last Saturday, 2nd of the season... hooray for free-range meat!

yum, yum, yum, every now and then we still have pizza night.  Here is our greek pizza.

Ruthann hasn't been able to go swimming at the pool recently, so we had to try on her newest swimsuit in the tub.  Ruthann typically takes one bath a day, she LOVES the water. 

Terrible quality photo, my apologies, but totally hysterical, here is Ruthann fighting the swaddle, she is a great escape artist and resists sleep anytime we have visitors at the house, equally as social as her folks.  

We sent this picture to my cousin Anne this past week.  We LOVE being in Sitka, but we always are missing our great families back home. 

My favorite time of the day is wake up time with Ruthann, she is in her sweetest just after a nap.

Ruthann had more bottle time that ever before this week.  She LOVED holding the bottle!  One day her dad said she started shaking, almost looked like she was convulsing with excitement when he brought out her mid-morning snack.

This is my favorite Ruthann face these days, she puckers out her bottle lip and just hangs out looking as if she has jowls. The guy holding her is looking pretty good too! 

Change for this momma's 2014! Here we go...

Tomorrow this momma is going back to work.  It has been an amazing past 5 1/2 months with little Squeaks growing and developing like a weed.

I am going into this full-time work thing with an open mind.  Aaron and I are probably the most fugal folks we know, so if and when Aaron goes on full salary with Young Life, we could do the one salary thing for a while if we chose to.  However, for now at least Squeaks is going to be in good hands.   Plus, I have the best job I've ever had, so perhaps working full-time will be the way we go!?

Gratefully we have top notch childcare!  Tomorrow she is going to spend the morning with her dad (who works more swing shift hours and weekends) and cared for by a dear friend and mother of 2 (TWINS, YIKES!) in the pm.  Jan. and Feb. different friends have volunteered to care for Ruthann in the afternoon, praise God and in March we have something more regular: a friend who just gave birth a week ago today will be her childcare provider.  We are grateful, because not only is she a close friend, but she also has a degree in early childhood and is a baby expert, hallelujah!

I am not so naive not to know this transition is going to be difficult.  Some big changes are going to have to happen.  For one, Ruthann's laissez faire lifestyle is going to have to be a little more regimented and sleep patterns are going to have to fall into a routine here soon, or life could be difficult!  I also know that caffeine and I will probably be stronger connected that ever before.

So praise God for 5+ wonderful months to bond with cutie-pat-tootie, an incredibly supportive husband and a great job to go to.  There is so much to be thankful for.  Here's to a great 2014!

But it sure isn't going to be easy leaving this sweet face:
(these are two photos taken earlier this morning)

Month 5

Wow!  I have a 5 month old!  Here is the latest:

Ruthann is 16 pounds and nearly 25 inches long.  She has tiny squishy feet a big round belly.  She loves to snuggle and will sit content in my arms for long extended periods during the day, often times all swaddled up.  She eats approximately 12 times a day!   She sleeps about 12 hours a night and naps 2 or 3 times a day.  When not snuggling her feet kick continuously.  One of her favorite day time activities is trail running with her mom and dad.  She looks all around and watches the trees zip by, often times singing and blowing bubbles as she goes.  Anytime she is upset we go outside and her crying stops immediately.  Sometimes she just hangs out on the front porch in her carseat just as happy as can be.  She also has really started to take a liking to all of her toys.  She also adores grabbing and chewing on everything, especially my hair and glasses with ice water.  She loves to stand up and sing "oooohhhh oooohhhhh."  She lights up when people pay her special attention, and if you get her at the right time she will squeal with delight.  She is a happy baby and typically only cries if she is suppose to be sleeping but would rather be playing or hanging out socializing.  She knows no stranger and makes friends easily.  Happy 5 month Birthday dear sweet Ruthann!  It is so much fun watching you grow and develop!