Dear Ruthie at 12 weeks old

Ruthie, you are such an amazing baby. I love you more than words can say. On Sunday (September 27), you rolled for the first time! I saw that it was about to happen, so I pulled out the video camera and Daddy was able to catch it on tape. I love delighting in all of your "firsts" and seeing how you grow. (When you watch the video one day you will definitely see how excited I was. :) )

Mimi and Nana were two of our visitors recently (at different times) and it's fun to see how much they both love you. I know Nana is excited to have her girl! Mimi loves to tell you stories and nursery rhymes and you definitely warmed up to her quickly. I hope they are both an important part of your life as you grow.

Your Daddy and I are blessed to have you in our lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRXvgOiQfA

Ruth's first laugh and some random things

Ruthie,

Part of the reason we do this is so we don't forget all the "firsts" that are as important to us as they are to you. Yesterday was the first time you laughed. You were just really happy when you woke up and wanted to play. We hope you keep it up (being happy in the morning, that is).

This weekend was also special because it was our first time to have a foster child in our home. We had an eight month old boy named Trey stay with us, and both of you were great about sharing our family's love and your toys. We are really proud of you and hope you continue to grow up to be so loving and caring.

Finally, I will put up a few pictures just to keep up. They don't really relate to the post above, but still...

We haven't had any rain this summer; so our garden has done nothing... except produce one single, really huge zucchini.

Sam on the first day of pre-school with his Handy Manny backpack.

This past weekend we went to Granpa and Nana's house where you got to drive Uncle Hey's loader.

Ruthie's favorite part of the day is bath time. Ahhh.

Two cute kids.

"Ms. Snowball" Fan Club

Alright Kiddos, I will probably not be as good about doing this regularly as your mom is, but here goes (This is your dad in case that isn't clear). Sam, you are about to start "pre-school school" next week, and today your new teacher called and left you a voicemail on your phone. We are pretty sure her name is Ms. Stovall, but you have already christened her "Ms. Snowball," and you are very excited. Somehow you taught yourself how to rewind and reply the message, and I think you have listened to it about 100 times so far. Every time, you holler at us across the house that you are listening to Ms. Snowball. I hope you always stay this excited about school (although I don't really recommend staying in school for as long as Daddy has). You are a cool kid.

Ruthie, you aren't quite as animated as Sam yet, but I'll share a school-related story about you too (You are going to find that school is a running theme in this family so get used to it). You are only 8 weeks old, but you have probably spent more than half of your nights so far reading with me after Mom and Sam go to sleep. This is my year of graduate school to take a test on a bunch of books, and you and I have cranked through about 40 of them together in the past two months. You are mostly sleeping through the nights now, and so I am back on my own again, but if you ever find that you know random facts about Central America and the Cold War this will explain it. And as a parenting tip to you when you have your own kids: If they can't fall to sleep, just read a few pages of sociology books to them (not history books obviously, those are too exciting).

I love you both,

Daddy