Ruby Turns One!

One year ago today, this beautiful little gem joined our family.  My heart was bursting with joy to finally meet her.  And the joy has only grown since then.

Ruby Rose Miller

July 29, 2014

11:15 PM

9 lb. 7 oz. 20 in.

one month

 Her first smile was at five weeks.  I was singing to her, probably some tune from the Taffetas, when she started contorting her mouth and squinting one eye.  Finally it settled into a smile, and she hasn't stopped smiling since.

two months

 At four months she rolled over for the first time.  I missed it, because I was apologizing to Theo for being impatient with him. When I noticed Ruby was not how I left her, I flipped her back over.  She was so mad about it, she rolled again!

three months

 When she was four and a half months, Corbin was letting her chew on his finger.  With surprise in his voice, he said, "teeth?!"  Her first two came on the bottom, and I was a little sad to see the gummy smile go.  But a toothy grin is pretty darn cute, too.

four months

 She had her first taste of rice cereal on January 10, and she loved it.  She is such a fabulous eater, willing to try new things and acting very passionate about the foods she likes.

five months

 Her poor cheeks kept getting hives and looking so uncomfortable, that after a few months of wondering, we had her tested and realized she is allergic to eggs and dairy.  The complete transformation of her skin (and diapers) is well worth the inconvenience of cutting those foods out.  But even through the difficult months, she was a happy girl.

six months

 She was more or less able to crawl for a month or more before deciding to use it as a mode of transportation.  Around nine months, she was crawling all around the town.  I appreciate her willingness to stay close by, and her ability to play and entertain herself.

seven months

 Her first steps were between Mommy and Daddy on July 19, but she still needs to build up a bit more confidence and balance to become a walker.  She stands by herself really well, and has taken a few tentative steps once in a while.  But I know before long, she will be running around, trying to keep up with Theo.  No small task.

eight months

 When Teri came to visit in October, our sweet nine week old baby began sleeping through the night.  We moved her from the bassinet to the crib in Theo's room, and they did wonderfully. But Teri's magic wore off at about five months, because she began waking up once or twice a night.  Despite my fear of the Universe hearing me and jinxing us, I'll say it.  Ruby has been sleeping through the night for the past week (the longest stretch in six months), and it's glorious.

nine months

 Ruby can say words.  Actual words that I understand.  In order of when she first said them: Mama and Dada (now she says Daddy), uh-oh, more, bye, bath, hi, birdie, doggie. 

I have tried teaching her a few baby signs, but she prefers to just say the word instead.  Cut out that pesky middle man.

ten months

 Ruby is such a sweet baby.  She is so amicable, so happy to be around other people.  She is social, without being insistent that she be with others. 

eleven months (don't be fooled, same outfit as before, one month older and wiser)

 

 

twelve months!

 Ruby absolutely loves her daddy.  She talks about him most often (although I've noticed she calls Theo daddy too.)  She lights up and laughs whenever Corbin walks into the room or comes home from school.

 She loves her best buddy, Theo.  They are such good friends.  He is a wonderful big brother.  He loves to roll around with her, comfort her when she cries, and gives her food and toys when she needs a pick me up. I just know the older she gets, the better friends they will become.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we met with a bunch of friends at the park and shared some Crazy Cake.  It was Ruby's first taste of a treat, and she enjoyed every bite!

 I love my baby girl more than I could have ever dreamed.  I'm so glad she decided to join our family.  I hope I can be the kind of mommy this sweet little spirit deserves, and I'm excited to see how she grows in many more birthdays to come!

The Old Testament: marathon complete

On February 27, 2015 I finished reading the Old Testament.  I began this journey about two years ago (taking breaks to study other materials intermittently), and it has been an uphill battle all the way.  In my copy, the Old Testament is 1184 pages long, and I read the last 526 pages in about 60 days.  I wrote this post, followed by this one.  The frustrations I posed in those posts aren't gone, but I have learned some things about the Bible, and about myself and my faith, as I've read.

When I got to Psalms, I was excited to enjoy the beautiful poetic language and faithful sentiments of the book.  But 150 chapters of roughly the same thing got tedious.  Proverbs follows directly after, and I jived way better with the life lessons that Solomon spells out.  After thinking about why I was able to enjoy one more than the other, I came to the conclusion that it was the culture of our church.  As Latter-day Saints, we are heavily focused on becoming more Christ-like, which means we constantly look for the lessons that life and God can teach us to change from our natural man selves into the Christ-centered person that He wants us to be.  I'm glad this is the case, but I feel like we don't do enough pure and simple praise to God, which is what Psalms is all about.  He is amazing, not because of what He does or can do for us, but because of what He is- an incredible, perfect Being.  I'm glad Psalms gave me a chance to ponder that.

And then a few books later came Isaiah.  It's sort of a running gag that Isaiah is difficult to read and understand.  "A missionary was walking down the street, when a shady man sticks a gun in his chest and says, 'give me your wallet.' When the missionary doesn't move fast enough, the man shoots him and runs.  The missionary gets up unharmed, and pulls the pocket Bible from his jacket.  The bullet had hit the book.  The missionary opens it up to see where the bullet stopped.  'Ah-ha, Isaiah,' he said.  'Nothing gets through Isaiah.'"

It's a terrible joke terribly told, but I couldn't resist.  Despite the stigma, I loved Isaiah.  The footnotes are amazing, and the chapter headings were invaluable. I'm excited to dive back into that book and really study it instead of speed read. 

Daniel is probably my favorite book.  There are several well known stories in that book, and no one does anything too crazy.  I was surprised at how many times unexpected things happened in the Old Testament.  Good guys doing bad things, people getting punished for things I didn't think were sins, people getting blessed even though they were jerks,

When I began this project of reading the Old Testament, I wanted to figure out what was so great about it, and why so many people across the world take such stock in it.  I have said that I believe in the Bible, but I felt hypocritical saying it, because I had never read it through completely.  Yes, I believed the truthfulness of the passages that people would quote on Sunday, or the applicable one's I would find in topical studies, but how could I say I believed in the Bible if I'd never experienced it as a whole? 

Now I can honestly say I have read the whole thing.  But as I read, the thought kept popping into my mind, "these stories are crazy!  How can I have a testimony in what is happening in this story?"But now that I've reached the end, and I can look at it as a whole, it's easier for me to swallow.  The stories in the Old Testament were from a time so different from now, and meant for a people so long ago, that I don't feel bad shrugging off a lot of the stuff I think is weird.  And for the hundreds of pages of prophesy telling of destruction of peoples and cities that have already happened, I try to glean the message behind it:  keep the commandments.

Reading the Bible has made me so much more thankful for other revelation handed down from God.  If I have a question and can't find my answer in the Bible, I have the Book of Mormon to look to, plus modern revelation from our current prophets.   And it's exciting to know that God will bless me with my own revelation to questions I have, and influence me with the Holy Ghost.

So the conclusion I draw from reading the Old Testament is: I believe it is of God.  I don't think there was a time that I read it and thought, God had no part in this.  There were definitely times where I thought, I don't understand how God has a part in this, but I always tried to puzzle it out.  And as a whole, I know the Bible has been so important to Christianity, and has been a building block in so much good in the world.  I would feel so lost if all I had was the Bible,and people's interpretations of it, but I'm glad that it's a part of my arsenal of scriptures.