Ruby flies

This picture was taken in Duck, NC. We went there this past weekend to celebrate Great-Grampy's 70th birthday party. A similar picture was taken of her brother and cousin Ralphie.

Ruby did not actually get to play on the beach, because she eats everything in sight. I did not want my girl eating seagull feathers, seashells, or sand. She did at one point get to go swimming in a pool, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Ruby speaks and stands up

Ruby is talking with a purpose. Her first recognizable word is "Dut" which means "Stand up." Some of you may think I'm crazy, but here at home we know it is reproducible, only happens when she stands up or if she hears us say "Stand up," and sounds distinct from the rest of her babytalk.

Also, on video we asked her to say "Mamamama" and she said, "Babababa" with lips rolling outward. (Do you know what I mean by "lips rolling outward"? I couldn't figure on another way to put that.)

Also, we caught her standing up for the first time! This is different from the times we have let go of her hands after making sure she is upright. Those times, it was more akin to standing up an action figure. Today she used her hands to get to an almost upright position, then let go and stood up the rest of the way. She remained standing for several seconds before plopping back down. We caught this on video too!

Maryland wins NCAA women's basketball title

I wasn't even following any part of the tournament. We happened to be at my Kuya's house, and he had been flipping back and forth to the championship game. I guess he wasn't watching it straight through because Duke had a pretty good lead by the half. I caught the game when Foley was at the foul line for Duke, 18.8 seconds left in regulation. Foley got both her shots in and Duke was up by three. We all know what happened from there:

[Edited 4/9/06: Picture removed. Ted and I talked about copyright issues, and I felt like it would be better not to keep the picture up, even though I'm using it in much the same way that I would in a scrapbook.]

Toliver. Overtime. The Terps take it.

Why in the world would I blog about this? Because I watched, what, maybe 15 minutes of the game? And in those 15 minutes, I heard a million comments about how everything would be so different if it were a man's game: "18.8 seconds goes by quickly in a girl's game," "If this were a man's game, that would have been a dunk instead of a layup," etc. I talked to Ted about this later on that evening.

I don't know how to play basketball, or any sport really. If Ruby is going to learn how to do these things, Ted is going to have to teach her. And if she hears from her dad that girls can't play, she is going to believe him. I am not saying that there isn't some truth to their comments. Toliver is 5'7" and I would not be surprised if she couldn't dunk. I just want Ruby to be comfortable saying, "I want to try that too." No matter how much I assure her that she should go ahead and try, I think I have no credibility since I am a drama club-math team-all around nerdy type without any skills, like nunchuck skills.

Life is gentle

These past few weeks have been really sweet and relaxing. I guess it's the calm before the storm. I am doing my emergency medicine rotation, but it is only 16 8-hour shifts over 4 weeks. That's 32 hours a week at most, practically nothing.

At 7 this morning, Ruby was calling from her crib. The poor girl was freezing cold, her whole little body was chilled. Usually we dress her up warm for the night, but these past few weeks the temperature has been all over the place and we've had to make lots of adjustments, and we got it wrong last night. So I brought her to the big bed, and I curled up around her so that her hands and feet would get warm against my belly. It must have taken her 20 minutes to warm up. A little while later, Theo came into the room self-wrapped in his blue fleece blanket. Dad helped him get on the bed, and then Ruby and Theo were laughing and smiling at each other. So then I started thinking about everything else that made life good, and here is some of my list:

1.) I will start getting paid in June, and then we'll finally be able to breathe a little.
2.) Yesterday Ruby ate two jars of baby food in the evening. Theo ate an entire peanut butter and jelly sandwich on his own, as well as a good sized piece of my tuna melt. Also, when Dad or I eat a spinach salad, he steals spinach leaves off of the plate. The kids are growing and eat anything I put in front of them, and I am very happy to have a steadily increasing food bill.
3.) The weather is getting warmer and soon the kids will have tans.
4.) Theo can put together 24 piece puzzles without any assistance. He can put together 60 piece puzzles with just a little bit of help.
5.) Ruby has a noise that means, "Can we play?"
6.) I recently bought a new pair of jeans at Old Navy for $7.
7.) Ted and I play a pretty darn good game of Scrabble.
8.) I recently hemmed those ridiculously long curtains that we got from IKEA several months ago, and now they look wonderful. I used the iron-on hemming tape that came with the curtains, but I had to put stitches on the edges because they were double thick and the heat of the iron couldn't penetrate through to the hemming tape. I used the same knots that I learned during my surgery elective and while aesthetically inappropriate, they're sturdy knots, so it was a good job.
9.) Theo knows how to sing Rainbow Connection. He also can sing "Make Me a Servant" while I accompany him on guitar. Read that last sentence again, imagine my happiness.
10.) Ted and I will be married five years in June and we are having a great time.

I guess my point is, on mornings like these, I think that I've already made it, and everything else is icing on the cake.

And now, a random picture: