Ruby got her first dip in the Pacific Ocean (just her feet) this week when we took a road trip to Seaside, Oregon. It was a lovely trip, and she slept angelically in the car almost the whole way there and the whole way back. Our hotel was a 5-10 minute walk along the beachfront promenade to the main drag. We enjoyed having to take a little walk before every meal / outing. Ruby travelled in either the Baby Bjorn or our Premaxx sling, even during meals (we had no stroller with us).

Seaside is kind of a hoky town, as evidenced by the many shops-of-crap (from dolphin art to “antiques” to t-shirts with stupid jokes) and the four or five nearly identical surf-and-turf-style restaurants. We wandered around anyway, then went to Cannon Beach to spend an afternoon.

Ruby gained two new skills while we were there. First, she became more chattery and we enjoyed several nonsense conversations with her. She seems to say “ah-goo” when she’s happy. Click here to watch a few short clips of her vocalizing.

Also, one of our circus friends told us about a circus trick that only young babies can do, so we gave it a try. Check it out!

On the downside, Steve and I think Ruby has begun teething. Others (notably our parents) are dubious because it’s pretty early, but the signs seem obvious to us. Once a day or so, she’ll start yelling/crying like she’s in pain (not a regular fussy cry; and she rarely cries in any case). She’ll really bite down on any fingers put into her mouth, and she’s drooling what seems like an entire ocean’s worth. The first episode happened in Seaside on Tuesday night, and Steve ran off to Safeway to buy some baby Tylenol, which helped. We’re just waiting and watching for now, since babies can teethe for a while before teeth are actually visible.

You can see more photos from our trip in this folder of Ruby’s album.

Here's a little preview of our trip to Seaside, Oregon (we're still there)…

(Click for a bigger version)

Ruby’s been having a lot of fun lately…

She’s gotten over her apprehension of baths and now splashes around in the water, having a grand old time. Click here to watch a short movie of her in the bath. (The movies in this entry will open in Windows Media Player.)

In one developmental milestone, Ruby has jumped a month ahead: she can stand for over a minute at a time. We’re helping her balance, of course, but her legs are strong enough to hold her up as long as she wants. She enjoys standing and likes to do it a lot: click here to see.

We’re still waiting for Ruby to develop the use of her hands, though. To this end, I’ve been trying to put toys in front of her more often so she gets the idea. She still hasn’t gotten very far, but likes to watch the toys swinging as she hits them accidentally: click here.

Last night, Ruby took a big step and moved into a crib in her own room. (Previously, she’d been sleeping in a smaller co-sleeper near our bedroom.) The night went without a hitch and she slept about eight and a half hours. It seems that the air conditioner in her room (the attic can get VERY hot) makes soothing white noise that helped her fall asleep. Here’s a picture of her crib, and here’s a picture of her napping in it today.

P.S. The antibiotic eyedrops are helping her goopy eye, which is looking better already.

Actually, she's got pink eye. Kate noticed a little goop in her eye this morning, and she got progressively goopier through the day. We took her to the doctor this evening and now she's on antibiotic eye drops in her left eye.

Here's a picture from just before we put eyedrops in. All that goop on her eyelid is coming out of her.

We also had the doctor check out her eczema and he counseled the same as everybody else: moisturizer, using less soap, and hydrocortisone cream if it gets really bad.

Also, Ruby weighs just about 12 pounds.

The Social Security Administration finally released the numbers on baby names for 2005. Nationally, from 2004 to 2005, the name Ruby went up from #158 (2098 babies; 0.1046% of total) to #132 (2421 babies; 0.1215% of total). In Washington state, Ruby went from #64 (88 babies) in 2004 to #76 (76 babies) in 2005. That means that in this state, the name is becoming a little LESS popular, even though it's gaining nationally. (Unfortunately, percentage of total babies wasn't available by state.)

Here's a screen shot from the Baby Name Wizard's NameVoyager, a fun toy showing the popularity of names over time:

(The lighter pink segments are names like Rubi, Rubie, and Rubye). As you can see, Ruby was far more popular between 1900 and 1920 than it has ever been since. At its peak in 1911, it was the 22th most popular girl name (3364 babies and 0.7630% of total). Its current rebound is relatively small, which I remind myself when I start worrying about our Ruby encountering other Rubys a lot.

(Click for larger image)

We took Ruby to her first Mariners game on Friday night, to celebrate my dad’s birthday. (True to form, the M’s lost.) Ruby was a hit among the fans around us, and was happy and alert through a lot of the game. I fed her in the “family restroom”, which was basically a single-room restroom that had a chair and a changing table. I was glad it was there, even if it was still a grody stadium bathroom. Sadly, I left our changing pad in there. I’m hoping to get it back from Lost and Found.

Since Ruby was born, Steve and I have both had the same waking dream many times… We’ll wake up halfway, and in a half-asleep state will start anxiously pawing through the blankets looking for Ruby (who is actually sleeping happily in her co-sleeper). Somehow, though, both of our new-parent brains keep getting fooled by blanket piles.

Ruby’s newest trick is standing up. She’ll hold her own weight on her legs for several minutes if you hold her armpits and help her balance. Not only that, but she loves it. She’ll smile and chatter as she wiggles her hips back and forth.

Breastfeeding has finally become easy and routine (thank goodness). Ruby has gotten much more efficient, too, so feedings rarely take longer than 20 minutes total now. (She took 45-60 minutes as a newborn, and about 30 minutes for several weeks after that.)

This week, we acquired a bunch of new furniture, which was exciting. We got a new custom bookcase, a crib, an Adirondack loveseat for the porch, and a set of kids’ Adirondack furniture. All but the bookcase were great deals, too. Getting the crib spurred me to finally finish setting up our top floor, so we now have a guest room and Ruby’s nursery. That was a great thing to accomplish. Next job: organize the basement, which now contains much of the crap from upstairs.

We had some store credit to a kids’ boutique, so we got to do a little shopping for fancy outfits for Ruby. Many of her clothes are hand-me-downs, which we LOVE, but it’s nice to have a few cute outfits too. I’ll try to get some pictures up eventually.

Today is Ruby's 2-month birthday. To celebrate, she's going to get stuck with four needles (immunizations) followed by a party with six of her friends (we happen to be hosting our parents' group tonight).

Ruby has really had a mental growth spurt in the last week and has become a social being! She smiles a lot now, and not just at her parents. She actively looks around, and at things. She moves more intentionally, and is showing the beginnings of putting her hands where she wants them. All of this makes her much more cute and fun to hang out with.

Ruby, luckily, has very devoted grandparents who love to spend time with her. That means that Steve and I have time to get things done now and again. We're trying to get our house organized (the upstairs rooms moved down to the basement and her nursery set up upstairs) before I go back to work at the end of May.

Steve made a mobile for Ruby out of a coat hanger, some dental floss, and blue tack; hanging from it are pictures of people in our family. I've always heard that babies love faces, but this is definitive proof. Ruby stares, fascinated, at the mobile. She jerks her arms and legs in excitement and chatters. She watches someone's face circle past, and then turns to watch the next person. We can leave her in her co-sleeper, happily watching the mobile, for 15-20 minutes at least. It's so stimulating that if we do that at night, then move the mobile away, she often drops immediately to sleep.

Except for last night, Ruby has continued her run of restful nights, which makes for happy parents. She seems to be developing her communication skills by leaps and bounds, and will wake up most days with a new sound to try. She now often “chatters” – making varied nonsense noises, probably in an attempt to tell us something we don't understand.

One thing I have learned to understand, though, is what she says when she's hungry. We noticed it at first because it sounds like she's saying “I'm gay!” and that made us chuckle. Because it was a distinctive sound, I noticed when she made it, and realized it's only when she's due for a meal. Now, when she says it, I hear “hun-GRY!”

Ruby is also becoming more smiley. It's still not as common as it'll get (only about 4-6 a day), but we catch more and more. Each one is a reward, even if she's smiling at the ceiling rather than us.

Today we are having probably the best day yet as parents. First, Ruby's good sleeping continued with a new record stretch: eight hours!

We woke up well-rested, and while playing with Ruby after she was fed, we had that breakthrough moment where we smiled at her, and she smiled back. It happened several times in a row. After grinning at her like fools for a while, I grabbed the camera and tried (with minimal success) to capture it.

On top of that, as I write this, Steve is giving Ruby her very first bottle (of pumped breastmilk), which she's gulping away at. We were relieved when she didn't seem to mind the difference between skin and plastic, or be picky about the type of nipple. This opens up a lot for me… now I can leave the house for more than two hours at a time. My nipples can finish healing (one bottle feeding a day gives more time to heal). Steve is happy and looking forward to adding his own feedings to the schedule.

I found the nutrition facts for human milk on a website called FitDay. Of course, the composition of my milk changes as Ruby grows, so I assume this is some kind of average: