mini vacay

Ask and you shall receive... pictures! We made a quick 48 hour trip to Santa Barbara. Both drives were coordinated to start right at Ruby's bedtime in hopes that she would sleep the whole way... I'd say that only partially worked. BUT, we made it and we had a great time!

Our place...

(Ruby was obsessed with the garage door opening and closing... it's the small things in life...)

(Her waiting with anticipation for me to open it... for the 8th time that morning...)

FULL day of fun (I think Josh and I were more exhausted than Ruby...):

Pancakes by the beach...

Swinging by the beach...

ZOO!

Top of the clock tower... (side story: when I took Ruby to the Santa Cruz wharf, I told Josh that it freaked me out when Ruby got close to the fence thing that overlooked the ocean because, in my paranoid head, she could fall through the tiny slots. Josh thought I was being silly. At the top of the clock tower, the gate slots were even closer together than at the wharf and Josh was a nervous wreck... see, Josh?? See??)

Trolly Ride!

Bubbles at the turtle pond park!

We had a great time and unfortunately didn't document our time with our friend Jeff and Graham, our friends from Colorado (We missed you, Krista!). We ate good food, saw good friends and fun animals, and Ruby enjoyed being in the beautiful outdoors... so fun!

Next item to work on: taking pictures with ME in them! I promise, I do exist...

Nonna to the rescue...

Nonna sent some pics. Proof they were here...



... and that we had so much fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

and we're back... for now...

February is busy. Busy busy. I've only had 3-day work weeks the entire month and it will continue until March! Trips here and there. Visitors coming and going. It's been busy.

This weekend my parents were here and we had a great time! Good food, good company, good Nonna/Papa time. Josh and I were able to have a pre-Valentine's Day lunch date sans toddler and a lovely, much needed nap. It was my dad's birthday weekend so we were also able to eat cheesecake and celebrate him as well.

Did I take pictures? I'm not even going to answer that. Just know we had a good time. This weekend, we're off to Santa Barbara. We will (try) to take pictures...

baby Kayleigh

Our little family went down to meet a new little family - the Olsens. Joey and Lindsey are our dear friends and they just had a beautiful baby girl in late December. I was struck with the stomach flu a few weeks back and had to cancel my trip down to go meet the little one, but LUCKILY all 3 Dunlops were healthy enough to make the trip down this weekend.

Oh. My. Word. She's wonderful. So perfect. And such a cuddlebug. To say Ruby took to Kayleigh is an understatement. Ruby ADORED Kayleigh. "Baby? Baby?" She was always asking for her. And when she'd cry, Ruby would say "Uh oh" and give her hugs. What? Oh my word. Um. I may have teared up when that first happened.

Did I get any pictures of Joey and Lindsey? No. Did I get any pictures of Josh or myself? Of course not. Why do we even have a camera? BUT, I did capture these moments and I LOVE looking at them... so precious.

safety first...

As you may remember, Ruby got a Plasma Car for Christmas this year. She's really good at it. Like, too good. Josh and I will set up lawn chairs at the end of the driveway and just let her go to town up and down the driveway. We have a little downward slope heading towards the street and man - she picks up speed. So... we did what any safe (read: over protective) parent would do and got her a special hat to wear while riding (read: helmet). Nerdy? Perhaps. So funny and cute to see her riding around in it? YES.

my apologies...

Only 2 posts in January? Sad, sad month. We've been busy. And sick. Josh just got back nearly 2 weeks ago from Canada and that first weekend he was back, Ruby generously gave us all a stomach bug. The bug had both Josh and I very friendly/familiar with our one family toilet and Ruby going through outfit changes quite frequently due to... er... spillage? Yuck. Anyway. We are all better. And now we will hopefully pick up a camera so we can document just how big that Rubybird has gotten... promise to work on that!

Stay well!

TWENTY months!

Ruby is 20 months old. And it's like a switch flipped and she's all of a sudden this talking, imaginative, creative, self-sufficient little GIRL. Not a baby anymore. She's practicing new words all the time, having conversations in jibberish with me and all 3 of her babies, coloring while laying on her little belly, balancing on her cute little elbows, and having tea parties with Mr. Bunny and Daddy or Mommy quite frequently. She got a stroller for her babies at Christmas and that thing is worth its weight in gold. She could play with it for HOURS. Unloading the babies and random objects, reloading it, moving it from room to room always yelling "BYYYYYEEEEE!" before leaving the room. It's just the sweetest thing to watch her in her own world. Oh. And she's like the happiest thing ever. Just look at that face:










She's just the best thing. Ever.

Happy 2012!!

Wait... am I late? Oh, it's already the 6th? Sheesh. Well, the Dunlop family is alive and well... although in 2 separate countries. We were just in Canada last week for a belated Christmas and it was great! The weather was "seasonably warm"... which means a balmy 25 degree average. Yeah. Downright swimsuit weather. Needless to say we spent a lot of time inside which was great - because it was like a whole new playground for Ruby with grandparents and a dog even. She was in heaven. Ruby and I came home on Wednesday and Josh is staying up there until Tuesday with his separated shoulder... oh, have we not discussed that?

Josh separated his shoulder about 3 weeks ago playing rugby. He was in a sling for awhile and now doing physical therapy. We're hoping to avoid surgery because the recovery time is about 3 months of immobility - like not even lifting up that daddy's girl of his. He's going in for an MRI next week to make sure nothing more is torn than the main ligament that was annihilated when he separated his shoulder initially... wish him luck!

That daddy's girl is sad her daddy is gone. Every day she's asked me about 14 times "Dada? Daddy?" She's going to be SO EXCITED come Tuesday. Come home soon, Daddy!

Update (hopefully) tomorrow on 20 month old Ruby!

merry merry!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday! We had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas... Christmas Eve was took a stroll in San Jose's Christmas in the Park - they decorate hundreds of trees, have Christmas music playing, and other fun moving (kinda creepy) elves and trains and little stations set up that Ruby was mesmerized by! At 9AM, we had the park to ourselves. Afterwards we needed to warm up so pastries and coffee were in order. Ruby was a huge fan. Obvi.

Christmas day was a tradition in the making... it was our first Christmas with our own little family so we needed to start out with a bang. Homemade cinnamon rolls? Of course. They were SO good. And SO bad for you. Good thing Christmas only comes around once a year! Ruby got some pretty sweet gifts from aunties and uncles and Nonna and Papa but I think the favorite of the day is her new baby doll stroller. She pushes that thing everywhere. That, and her Plasma Car (demonstration below...).

Experiencing Christmas through Ruby's eyes is a joy in itself - the lights, the music, the food... everything is exciting again. And I think it'll just get better from here!