A massage for Rimsky in the dead of night

Last night I opened my eyes after nursing Ruby and saw her massaging Rimsky. Rimsky was purring and loving it. I was afraid that Ruby would get really excited and wake up, so I looked at her to check. She was fast asleep. I guess sometimes she waves her arms and massages cats in her sleep.

First kinda dirty day

So after 6 months of a rather spotless existence, Ruby is finally getting dirty. And loving every bit of it. She got to sit on the sidewalk today and chew a variety of sticks with neighbor baby friend Oliver. Then she got to pull hair out of a variety of cats and dogs and put it in her mouth. Then we went over to Oliver's house and she slithered around on the floor and tasted all his toys.

When she came home, despite my constant wiping, her white onesie was gray and hairy, and her chin had sand on it, and her fingers and toes were full of lint, dog hair, and sand.

I've gotta let go a little. I like to think I'm being pretty easy going about the dirtiness, but the truth is, I really like clean Ruby. I mean, really really like clean Ruby. I can't even abide the boogers or a little snot. I've been wiping her nose religiously, and if she could, she'd strangle me.

She's almost there

Oy

So the last couple days, Ruby has been throwing what looks eerily close to tantrums. I don't know what happened, but she's awfully close to crawling and is always wanting to do things she can't. I know, the story of a baby's life. But it's driving her (and me) nuts! The back arching, the screaming, the hitting of the back of her head, more screaming...

Yesterday was particularly rough. She was rocking on all fours and her heavy little anchor head fell and hit the floor. She cut her lip on her sharp little top teeth and there was blood everywhere. She was fine after a little crying, but I was not. I was staring in shock at her sleeve turning all red, her mouth and fingers all covered in blood... why so much blood??? I was still freaking out while Ruby had moved on to happily chewing her new flap of skin.

Groan. She's up after sleeping a measly half hour.

It really helps that she's so cute, and she's mine.

Sleep sleep sleep

So I have the sniffles again. I've been pretty healthy since I had Ruby, but when the sleep deprivation builds up, a cold seems to be inevitable. And considering that I haven't had an unbroken night's sleep in 6 months, I guess a couple mild colds are nothing. Of course, what really sucks is that it's almost impossible not to pass it on to Ruby. Oh well.

Camping was great except the mosquitoes. They were nuclear grade and out to kill. We couldn't stop talking about them and in a day the scales tipped from really annoying to unbearable. My fellow campers even had 100% Deet on them, and it didn't help. Fortunately, they seemed to be unable to get through Ruby's thick layer of fat and so she didn't get bit as much as the adults. We stayed both nights, but pretty much fled the campsite on Monday morning. We all had visions of swarms of mosquitoes following our cars out of the park.

We went on to Milwaukee and Chicago, and we visited the Aquarium. It was a great trip and Ruby couldn't have been better, but I never got enough sleep. To catch up, I slept for 12 hours last night (thanks to jonner), and I could easily do it again.