Happy New Year!

Ruby has been very busy in the last few months. In addition to a trip to Wyoming for Christmas, she's also been busy learning .

She is talking a lot and has started putting together some short sentences. She's also beginning to learn her alphabet and numbers.

She really likes her stuffed animals, playing with her kitchen set, singing and dancing.

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

The Christmas Dance

Welcome to Ruby's Kitchen

Ruby Tames the Savage Beast

Business As Usual

Happy New Year Everyone!

Ruby's October

Just like Mommy, Ruby really likes October.

This month she enjoyed taking a trip to Gillette, playing in the snow, dressing up as Hello Kitty, handing out candy on Halloween night as well as just having some fun in general. Let's go to the photographs...

Keepin' it real on the porch.

Juice at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Tea with Bear at Grandma and Grandpa's

Playing in the snow

Hello Kitty enjoys a cookie

Handing out candy to all the boys and ghouls

Relaxing with a nice bubble bath

New Camera!!

Well, Mommy got her christmas present (very) early. A new camera. Ruby is getting faster and more mobile by the minute and the old point and shoot wasn't cutting it. And because this kid is so stinking cute we figured we'd better capture these memories...and images before they pass us up. I am taking a few lessons from our awesome photographer Andrea Moore in the not too distant future but until then a little experimentation is in order. This is what we've gotten with the new camera so far...

Enjoying the amazing Colorado fall we are having this year.

Swinging- Ruby calls this "Whee!" It took a while for us to figure out what she was talking about.

Our anniversary was on the 4th, so we decided to take Ruby on a trip down memory lane. We had lunch at the Platte Bar and Grill, where we had our pre-wedding rehearsal dinner. Then we were off to Hudson Gardens where we said our "I do's" - sadly with all of the things one must remember to bring for a one year we forgot to charge the battery to the new camera so we didn't get many photos.

Pumpkin Patch- Ruby kept calling the pumpkins "balls" which I guess they are, kind of.

The Hudson Gardens is well, you guessed it, a garden, it has a lot of really pretty and unique flowers and foliage and is in general, beautiful. We chose it as our wedding location partly because we knew we could get a lot of good wedding photos here. One of the cool things it has is a miniature train track, it is amazing and has waterfalls, a town, and two trains. This was the first time we noticed something a little disturbing on the tracks.

Why? Some prankters getting a laugh? A cautionary tale? We may never now.

Ruby brought her new best friend, "Bear" (Clever name, huh? Ruby named him so I guess it's a pretty good one for a one year old)

There are more photos that I will download later this week, this blog just took a little longer this time so more to come in the very near future!

We have been so neglectful of Ruby's blog, so big updates happening now with a promise to try to be better about updating you all on her wheelings and dealings.

The biggest news is Ruby is that she is now walking. She seemed to be wanting to take her time with it but once she got going she hasn't stopped! She refuses to be carried anywhere which is making those once easy trips to the store a little tricky. She rarely falls and LOVES shoes, just like her mommy. She is walking pretty well in shoes too. Here is a video of her walking (and falling) and carrying her cup, which is her favorite thing about walking, now she can carry things!

Ruby Walking from Adam Badertscher on Vimeo.

Ruby is learning so many new things, she can say a lot of words now including; dog, bear, cat, more, tiger ("tie"), and our favorite, "happy" Any time she sees one of her favorite books, "Happy Birthday, Little Pookie" she exclaims "Happy!". Here she is to show you.

Ruby says "happy" from Adam Badertscher on Vimeo.

Ruby also has just gotten her first potty chair. We bought it to introduce her to it as she can say "potty" and seems to be interested in the toilet, although mostly to pull all of the toilet paper off the roll and try to put her hands in the water (yuck I know). We picked out the potty and put it in her bathroom, she was even more interested in it than we anticipated. She sat on it, opened and closed the top, and said "potty" over and over. Yesterday she decided to climb right in...

But tonight I thought I'd put her on it while I ran her bathwater and success! I'm sure it was a fluke thing but I guess that's how these things start so we are going to roll with it and see how she does, we don't want it to be stressful but she seems to enjoy sitting there and was really proud of herself after mom about hugged her to death with elation (Could we really be toward the end of diapers?!!) and daddy clapped and told her what a big girl she she is.

Oh, is it weird that I wanted to take a picture of her pee in it? Don't worry, I didn't. This child will probably be embarrassed enough as it is.

Happy Birthday Ruby!

Can't believe it has already been a year. Here's a look back at Ruby's year:

Ruby's 1st Year Slideshow from Adam Badertscher on Vimeo.

May Photos

This month, Ruby has been keeping herself busy by riding her mommy-powered car around, rocking out, working on standing, trying to cut some teeth (still none poking through yet, but they're close), growing some hair (its hard to see in the pics because its light, but its there), crawling all over the place and eating lots of new things. She's also learning a lot and developing a funny little sense of humor. Here's a video and some photos of Ruby doing things.

A Quick Joyride.

Ruby's Ride from Adam Badertscher on Vimeo.

At her first concert (The Railbenders for the record.)

Working on standing up.

Egg on her face...and everywhere else.

Tie-dye time.

With Mommy

With Daddy

Relaxing, Disc Golf, Easter and Beyond...

Ruby relaxes whilst watching Ratatouille

More disc golf shots

Easter

Opening Easter Basket

With Hello Kitty

Easter Dress

Molly Attack!

At the Park

Why does Daddy dress me like a pro-wrestler?

April 2011 - Crawling and Whatnot

Ruby has become mobile, after weeks of almosts and kind-ofs, she just officially started crawling on her hands and knees yesterday.

She's also taken a more active role in her feedings, although sometimes her attempts at helping turn out like this...

She also went out for her first disc golf outing a few weeks ago, lets just say that her long game could use some work.

Lastly, have you ever wondered what it would look like from the eyes of one of Ruby's toys? Wonder no more, here, Ruby has gotten a hold of our Flip video camera while it was recording.

A few more pictures...

Oh, spring...We are so excited for your arrival. So much more to do with a baby outside! We have decided to fix up the back yard to get it "babyproofed" ie- actually have some softer grass to play in and a safe patio/deck. Its hard to believe by summer time Ruby will be toddling around. I (Amanda) am excited to get her a little pool, she loves to splash in the water at swim lessons and I'm sure she is just going to love the summer time. (Who doesn't?)

Well, not a lot new to report, Ruby is babbling a lot more, still not wanting to say "mama" yet, but I think she's getting close. "Dada" is much easier, but I'm not sure she knows that she's saying it quite yet. She's not much of a talker in general, she seems to look around and take it all in, hard to believe given that her parents never shut up. Crawling is also just within reach, she seems to be able so scoot backwards pretty easily but gets frustrated when she realizes that she is headed in the opposite direction than intended, then she just screams for some help. As you can see in the pictures sitting up is no problem, she hasn't even had an accident toppling over in quite a while. As you can also see in the pictures the hair is taking its sweet time coming in, she also doesn't have any teeth yet, and doesn't seem to be teething (which I heard is not a lot of fun). Daddy had so much fun with the Lomo setting on his phone camera that Mommy had to give it a try as well, especially to show off Ruby's awesome Johnny Cash onesie that Brittany got for her, so excited that it fits now!

We are having a lot of fun watching Ruby explore her surroundings, trying to crawl, and babbling. But the most exciting thing is to watch her start to grasp a new concept, its amazing to see how much babies learn in such a short amount of time. These videos are about 2 days in to deciding that we would teach her how to wave. As you can see she's mostly waving to herself, but she's definitely getting it.

Ruby Waving 01 from Adam Badertscher on Vimeo.

Ruby Waving 02 from Adam Badertscher on Vimeo.

Ruby Lomo Camera #1

Daddy just got a new phone, so he's playing with all the new apps he can download. He downloaded one that can simulate lomo-style photography (just like everybody else in the 21st century has been doing for years.)

Here's some highlights from Ruby's evening:

Playing on the floor

Playing with Mr. Telephone

Playing in her activity center

Eating some dinner

Washing it down with some water

Getting ready for a bath

Playing with Mr. Telephone some more

Hanging out with Mommy,

who only gets to see Ruby for a half hour on Tuesays :(