Did I mention that Annie is in love with Ruthie? Most times Ruth will sit in her playroom and read to herself, like this:

But sometimes, without me coaxing, Ruth will sit next to her and read books. Annie smiles so much to have her near. I love it.

I taped a little of her reading to Ann. Watch Annie’s hand every once in awhile. Tee hee. Ignore my voice.

In other news, Ruthie nurses her baby dolls.

And Annie is still staying sweet.

Annie had the sniffles last night and we spent the night on the couch together. She hasn’t slept on my chest since she was a few weeks old and I loved having her so near.

Some conversations with Ruthie:

Me: Ruth, your baby doll fell down! (The doll was face down in the middle of the room)

Ruth: Uh oh….

Me: Waah Waah, I hear her crying! You should pick her up!

Ruth: (With a wave of her hand) Eh. She’s okay.

Me: Waah Waah, She’s still crying!

Ruth: Mom. She’s okay.

Apparently she’s learned that loving reaction from me?

—————–

Ruth: Where did Daddy goes? (She uses goes instead of go. I’ll be sad when she says it correctly)

Me: He’s workin’.

Ruth: Daddy’s workin’ hard.

Me: Does Mommy work?

Ruth: No.

Me: I just made us breakfast, is that workin’?

Ruth: No.

Whatever.

—————–

We had a playdate yesterday and for the past few weeks, we’ve been casually prepping her for it (and really for any interaction with friends.) She’ll randomly yell, MINE! when holding a toy, even if no ones around. So we repeat over and over, “Don’t say mine, Ruthie. That means you won’t share! Sharing is nice, sharing makes people happy!” Over and over whenever she yells No or Mine we repeat it.

After the playdate, I tucked Ruthie into bed for her nap and told her how proud I was of her sharing her toys with her friends. As I was leaving the room, she whispered, “I didn’t say No. I didn’t say Mine.”

So I had to run back and give her a thousand more kisses. She is becoming more and more loving each day.

I hope it sticks.

How times have changed from my It’s All About Me birthdays. Now, I’ve got two little girlfriends that photobomb all my pics and crash my party. It’s fine, I like them.

It was rainy on my birthday.  We woke up early and decided to go out for breakfast…. in our pjs. Yes, we are that family and it was wonderful. We piled back into the car and drove to a little fruit farm nearby and bought 3 half bushels of apples. I wanted to make applesauce and fruit roll-ups, and was worried we didn’t buy enough. It’s a month later and we still have apples.

I read somewhere to ask for their “seconds”, or apples that are not as pretty that they keep in the back. We got our half bushels for almost 50% off!

Here’s one box (of three).

After six trays of fruit roll-ups and a full crockpot of applesauce later…
We still had this many apples left in just the one box. Yeah, I was naive.

But now our freezer is full of applesauce and I know Annie will appreciate it once she starts eating solids.

When we got back from the fruit farm, I was exhausted. Annie still feeds about every 2-3 hours during the night and it’s a miracle from God if they both nap at the same time during the day, so I’m pretty much a walking zombie still. And Carrie without sleep is a murderous walking zombie. So when Ruthie yelled NO for the billionth time because I walked into the room that she happened to be sharing with daddy, I growled, “Don’t say No to me, that’s mean!” and swatted her bottom. It wasn’t hard, but it was enough that she stood there with her finger to her nose and stared at the ground. My heart broke. Ryan never intervenes which I appreciate because it gives me the chance to come full circle with an apology without daddy saving the day. After I sat on the couch for a few minutes fighting back sleepy tears, I walked over to her, knelt down, and apologized. I told her that it makes me sad when she yells No when I walk into the room. She looked at me and yelled, “Be happy!” and gave me a hug with her little hand patting my back.

And off we went again like normal.

She probably said No a bunch more times but it didn’t sting as much.

Shortly after, we went outside to play in the rain. I sat under the carport and watched.

See? We’re okay.
Ryan and Ruth had gone to the store the night before to pick up my birthday cake: a big slice of watermelon… my favorite fruit on the planet. Ryan asked Ruthie how old I was turning and she said 2! So they bought a 2 candle for me.
Ruth ate most of it.
Besides laundry, Ryan gave me another gift. Laying on a blanket by myself. reading a book until Annie cries. That was the best 20 minutes in a long time.

It wasn’t the most exciting or the most sexy or the most romantic. It was hazy and sleep-deprived, but smiley and full of kisses and hugs. It was mine and I’ll take it.

Arrived in KC after 11pm Wed night.

Spent day in Topeka on Thursday.

Stayed Thursday night in KC and left for Wichita after dinner.

What. the. heck.

As soon as we arrived at Jama and Dad-Dad’s house, I started getting the bedroom set up for Little Orphan Annie. Or Annie Get Your Gun. Or Annie Annie Oxen Free. Pick a nickname, I use them all. After I was done, I walked down the hall and caught sight of these two, yakking it up in the bathroom how girls do.
We thought for sure that elmo potty seat would excite Ruthie enough to jump on the Potty Training Train.

You down with PTT, yeah you know me!

Nope, not even Naughty by Nature could get this girl to commit. I’m determined to not worry about it. Several friends and relatives have all agreed that when they’re ready they’re ready and if you go to soon, it could cause an even lengthier process. Elmo did come home with us, though, and it hangs proudly in the bathroom, taunting me everytime the door is shut.

The next morning Ruth made herself at home in all of Jama’s things.
And took a walk with her Dad-dad to the mailbox.
I could almost gaurantee what those two were talking about. Either Revelations or Politics. Ruth has some strong stances on both.

Before heading to Ryan’s grandparent’s house, Julie and I made a quick trip to a local antique store. Last year, over the Thanksgiving holiday, I snuck out to do a little thrifting. At this one particular shop I noticed a Sampler hanging in a booth. You know, like these:

But at the bottom, it said: From Margaret to Annie. Margaret is Ruth’s middle name, and even though baby #2 was no where in near, I already knew I wanted to name our next daughter after my mom. And because Ryan is convinced my womb will not carry a boy due to my fanatical Women’s Studies days in college, I was certain our next child would be a girl and that I needed that sampler to round out their room.

So we got there only to find out that the booth with all the samplers had moved.

Ugh.

We picked up lunch while we were out and came back to eat. Afterwards, we headed to the grandparents’ house.

Check out this basement.
I literally cannot stop myself from looking at every little item in their basement. She’s kept everything. No samplers though, darn.

Annie got some snuggle time.
Ruthie tried out Ryan’s old toy.
I’m surrounded by these two twinkies.
Then Ruth got into her great-grandma’s earrings and wore them the rest of the day.
This girl won’t let me within arm’s reach with a barrette, but a clip-on earring? Sure, why not.

She also made it onto the growth chart.
You’d think by my stance in that photo that I knew how to take pictures. You’re wrong.
Then we got the grand Tour d’Nicknacks.
It was nice out so we hit up the backyard.

Leitta scurried away almost immediately to the side of the house and brought out their wheelbarrow for Ruth to ride in. She could’ve sat in it the rest of the day.
Annie was there too, I think.

No yeah, there she is, hanging out in the kitchen.

Tell me we’re not look a-likes. Everyone says Ryan. I disagree. Here’s me and my dad’s mom:
We said goodbye and made our way home for dinner.

These two, again.
And then I was all, Donchyou look at MY man, girl!  And she was all, nuh-uh, donchyou get in my face.

I remember in college sticking my nose into many strangers’ conversations in the bathroom. Most of them surrounded a girl’s boyfriend cheating on her and them wanting to beat the girl up. I would, very emphatically with my finger in the air, urge her to beat the boyfriend up instead.

The record would screech, they’d all turn and stare at me, and I’d smile sweetly and put on my too-dark lipstick while thinking that I’m just saving the world one girl at a time.

Then I’d slip on the way out or something. It never ended gracefully.

Anyway, before we took off for home, there was one last project that needed to be done around the house. And it involved a chainsaw [insert males beating their chests here].
The girls hung out in the cheering section.
We whooped and hollered as the tree came down and Ruthie yelled “Good job!” over and over to her men. It was a nice send off.

I think I may have blocked out the ride home. Wait, no I didn’t. About 30 minutes from home, we heard Annie making little noises. I know those noises. They’re poop noises. She hadn’t gone poop in two days noises.

We stopped in a random strip mall and surveyed the damage. All the way up to her arms was this disaster. I held my breath and went in while Ryan and Ruthie tucked into a cute little pizzeria that we’d never seen before. Ending the long poopy drive with pizza and a cold beer was exactly what we needed.

An observation at the end of the trip: we need a bigger car.

We drove up to KC later at night, like around 7:30, and that may have been the best scenario ever. We would’nt have if Ryan hadn’t had to work late. The girls conked out for most of the trip, stopping once to feed and change diapers. They soon perked up, though, when we arrived to Grandma and Papa. We sat around talking for a little bit, then right to bed. Ruthie slept in the big girl bed for the first time. It was exciting.

The next morning we lounged around in the living room, my favorite part of visiting mom and dad. Drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, and chit-chatting.
Dad is recovering from knee replacement surgery. It hurts.
After a big breakfast, we went back to the living room and lounged around some more. We hardly go down to the basement anymore, which is fine. I’ve noticed that because we don’t have a tv, if there’s too much background noise for too long of a time I get a headache, so I pretty much hole up in that living room (with a headache after watching a marathon of  HGTV).

So after breakfast, they wanted to give Ruthie a little gift.
and she gave thanks:
Before we left for Topeka to visit our friends, we made our rounds with her new shopping cart.
Annie watched her future toys in action.

My sister popped over to say Hi and to give me a bag of clothes. My mom laughed when she saw the pairs of heels in it and asked incredulously, Is that for you?

Thanks.

My aunts and uncles also came over for a quick visit too. Aunt Mary and Uncle Donald were leaving the next day to drive to Florida. My cousin was bringing home her new baby girl from Ethiopia and they were headed out to visit their new granddaughter.
Uncle Donald showed off his new Chiefs jersey that he bought for $25. No one is sure what player’s name is the back, perhaps it’s a random criminal and not even a player, but the price was right and that’s all that matters.
Petesch Girls:

…and then my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue came over. For some reason, Ruthie has taken a long time to warm up to Jim… to the point that she closed her eyes for the first ten minutes of their visit.
She eventually came around to Aunt Sue and colored with her. We teased her for continuing to color even after Ruth had run off and she said that, being the daughter of an artist (who’s pieces are wanted by the city to display) she wasn’t never allowed to color because they thought it’d stifle her creativity. She was only given blank pieces of paper to draw on.
Meanwhile, Annie hung out with Jim just fine.
Mom broke out the finger paints.
They each painted their whole hand and placed it down.
Then hung it to dry. There it is, on the left.
That’s a framer.

But the big event of the visit was getting Ruthie’s first hair cut.

First, though, this is my husband. With his hair combed like a two year old. I love it.
So like any makeover, let’s have a before shot of Ruth.
She’d declined a nap before going and my mom and I feared for the worst. We were too busy chatting in the front seat to notice what we thought was going to be an impending disaster:
she fell asleep. This is recipe for crankiness.

But guess what.

She was perfect.

Lisa suggested this hair place because it’s geared towards kids and my gosh anyhow (sidenote: my dad said “my gosh anyhow” to something and he officially sounded like an old grandpa.)

Back to Ruth, she followed the lady’s instructions to look down without any hesitation.
and even let her style it with a ponytail.
I can see her eyes now!!
It sill looks a little dorky, but I don’t care. It makes me laugh.
…and your grandma will stop hounding me Ruth, so it was well worth it.

Later that afternoon we sang happy birthday to her with cake and ice cream. Nothing big, just how I like it.
She really was happy.
And here begins the series of twin photos with grandma. What the heck is going on with these two:
Hi Dad.
Ruthie played with your cane while you were sleeping.
It was too fast!

…and just because I want to, here’s a video of Ruthie singing. She sang this in front of our church last Sunday, but had pants on thank goodness.

Mom says it’s Jesus meets Elvis. 🙂