In no particular order

I have once again failed the motherhood test. I have forgotten my camera and have to resort to stealing pictures from others. This set is from my mom and hopefully Steve will figure out his mom's camera to get her pictures. We have had a busy summer with visits from all of Ruthie's cousins. The Texas Brubakers came out to spend a few weeks. The next couple of pictures are from Shelby's birthday.

Ruthie loved Tommy. I am not so sure he was quite as impressed with her.

Maloree and McKenna were so helpful with Ruthie. The break to sit and talk with adults was nice. Oh, the little things.

My cousin Alysa stopped by with her two beautiful child on the way to their new home in Kansas City. And of course it is always fun to see Emma, Max, Tonya, and Charlie.

The South Carolina Brubakers also came by for a visit.

Lots of love from Shelby!
Grandma Paula couldn't resist the matching dresses. Sorry, Jimmy.
Ruthie has loved the swimming pool this summer. She is absolutely fearless in the water. I know it is a cliche, but she is growing faster than we would like. She moves to the toddler room at daycare next Monday. This means a bigger playground, more structured days, and no more crib. She was more than ready to go though because her three girlfriends had moved up the few week prior. She is chattering more, signing more, and practicing her animal sounds. Sorry Katie, we don't have our mutliplication tables down quite yet.

Welcome Baby Benett

Yay! Baby Benett joined the Brubaker family on Thursday and none too soon for Mommy and Daddy. Shelby has been affectionate and loving with her baby brother...so far!

Since it has been a little while since we posted, some of these picture are a little old. I have no shame in blaming my one year old daughter for the lack of pictures though. Every time I pull out the camera, she wants to play with it. Besides, this working mama has a hard time keeping up in general. Above is another picture of Shelby, this time with her boyfriend Joaquin who insisted on calling Shelby Shelbow just to get under her skin. To answer the age old question, yes men are born like that. We got to go to the zoo with Gabe, Eme, and Joaquin when they were in town. We miss them!

Ruthie's hair is getting long and starting to curl. Yipee! We have even been able to do pigtails lately. She loves them. Whenever she sees a rubberband laying around she tries to put in her hair. She is interested in hair 'pretties', purses, and electronics. Not so much babies. I think her daddy is in trouble.

Here is a picture from father's day at my parent's new house in Parker. Shelby and Ruthie had fun wrestling with Pop. Steve has been giddy all week because Ruthie bought him a new driver for Father's day. We also celebrated our 6th anniversary on Father's day. Yikes!

Happy Birthday, Ruthie!

Well, I can't believe that my baby is 1 year old. It seems like just yesterday I was wondering if this baby was ever going to join us.



I think that Ruthie many have had little too much cake!



Here Ruthie is with her new friend Cooper. Cooper is my sister-in-law Amy's brother's son. Did you follow that? Cooper was born a few weeks after Ruthie.



My little brainiac found my Sudoko book and pen. Is it scary that she knows that they go together? The other day she found the pen and went straight to the Sudoko book that was in another part of room. I guess I was a little embarrassed that she imitates what she sees, but when I thought about it I wasn't sure if there is anything that I do that I would be proud if she imitated. Sad.



We had a busy month with Ruthie's birthday. The months are flying by. Ruthie had her one year doctor's appointment. She is still a big kid, a little more than 25 lbs and a little longer than 31 inches which puts her in the 95th and 97th percentiles. Not to mention her noggin which is off the charts. I wish I could blame that on Steve, but that would be flat out dishonest.

First Hair Cut

We got Ruthie's haircut for the first time this past weekend. Prior to, she constantly had hair in her eyes and those cute little clips didn't quite work considering anything she can get her hands on ends up in her mouth. Besides, if she wants those cute side swept bangs, we better start training them now. This is the before picture of a little girl not quite sure she wants this version of fun.

Action shot. We decide to try the kiddie salon for the first cut, hence the car chair.

Grandma Ginny and Great Grandma Francie came all the way across town to witness the two minutes of fun. Luckily they stayed for cookies at the mall later. Ruthie got the works at the salon including the pony, bow, and a little glitter spray for good measure.

Ruthie got to try out Grandpa Rich's new hog.

We have had a busy past few weeks. Steve turned 30 on April 2nd, much to his disapointment. He was consoled by the fact that we went to Vegas to celebrate, just the two of us. It is the first trip since our honeymoon that we did just the two of us where we weren't going to visit someone else. We had a great time, but missed Ruthie of course. I am not quite sure she missed us since she got to spend some quality time with Gramma Paula and Pop. She is 'cruising' all over and thinking hard about walking on her own. She is doing more and more toddler foods and less baby foods and has moved to the big kids room at school. I know it is a cliche, but she is growing up too fast. Soon she will be rolling her eyes at me and telling me how lame I am, if they use the word lame then. Do they even use it now? I am old. By the way, new kids on the block are going on tour. I guess I can't be that old, right?

10 months!

Can I get a half-caf skinny latte?
Baby Ruthie cuddling with Grandpa Rich
Ella and Ruthie chilling before pref party



Here are the latest pictures of Ruthie. We started swim lessons in February. Ruthie absolutely loved the water. She is even having more fun in the bathtub. So I decided this weekend that my life has definitely changed in the last 10 months. Just a few subtle things I noticed. The other day Ruthie had a goopy eye, so instead of actually finding a tissue, I wiped it with my sleeve. Another instance was at work when we were talking about 'user-friendly' one person picked the United website, one picked a computer store, I picked babies r us. Don't get me wrong, not all the changes are bad. I have also noticed that by the time I get home from picking up Ruthie after work I am always in a good mood because I know I have a few good hours of playtime even if I have a bathroom to clean afterwards.

Big Weekend

Well, Ruthie had a big weekend. Not only did she pull herself on a chest on Saturday, but on Sunday she started crawling like she had been doing it for weeks



Here is an action shot!



Ruthie's Gene Simmon's imitation



I took this shot tonight. She was pretty excited about her teething biscuit. She is pretty excited about food in general. We spent the day at home because Ruthie was battling a case of pink eye. "Two drops in each eye, three times a day" Yeah, I wish putting eye drops in an infant was that easy. It was all a little ironic since we just watched Knocked Up a few nights before.

Holiday Update

Ok, so I didn't get this all in the right order, but we will go with it for now.

Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Pat got Ruthie her cool new bike/rocker. She loved it immediately. I think that is a happy face!
Brubaker grandkids with Great Grandma Brubaker.
Grandma Paula can't resiste the matching dresses for the little girls.

Aunt Peggy with Ruthie and the boys.
Susie and Ruthie
Uncle Ricky and Aunt Amber at Christmas.
The Girls at Rich and Marilyn's
Christmas morning and Santa brought Ruthie a kitchen. Hopefully she can teach mom and dad how to use one.

Sorry for the delay on updating the blog. It has been a busy holiday season and it had a few bitter sweet moments. In early December, I received word that one of my favorite Professors had passed away. Dr. David Young was truly an inspiration. David became a quadriplegic in his early 20s, yet never let his handicap prevent him from completing any dream. He was one of the funniest people I have ever met. Then in mid-December, we also got word that my cousin Shane had passed away. He too was handicapped and he was a such a positive influence in so many people's lives. Ruthie and I traveled to Nebraska for his funeral. All of my cousins came into town for the funeral. It was so nice to see my mom's family again. I wish it had been under different circumstances.

The flow of family started within hours of us getting back to Denver. Ruthie had such a great time at all her Christmas parties. She didn't really get the whole unwrapping thing, but she definitely enjoyed the noisy toys. She also loves being around all the kids and loves all the attention she gets from her grandmas and grandpas.

Our gigantor baby seems to get bigger everyday. She definitely is understanding her surroundings more. We have been able to expand what she can eat more and more. She even got her first tooth when we were in Nebraska and she got a second one since then.

We hope that your holiday season was filled with fun, family, and friends. We have been blessed in so many ways that we can't adequately express our gratitude.