Welcoming Baby Ruth

Ruth Caroline was born on December 26, 2012 at 5:18 a.m.  :)

8 pounds, 6 ounces. 21 inches long.

It was a great, fast birth, and hopefully I'll be sharing the story soon!

But for now, perhaps you'd like to know how she got her name?  

Ruth is my mother's middle name.  Mom always commented on how she had never met a Ruth she didn't like (and, incidentally, never met a Ginny she did like!).  I was sold on the name in college when a few of my friends did a semester-long study on the book of Ruth in the Bible.  She was so courageous, and so full of faith!  I want my daughters to be just like her.  I want to be just like her.  

That was before I knew that God would give me a husband, or a baby, or two daughters, in fact!  Isn't He kind?

Ruth is of Hebrew origin and means "friend."  While we certainly didn't have another baby exclusively to be Gemma's friend, I do hope that they will be life-long friends!  I looked back for fun at the post where we talked about Gemma's name . . . and here it is!

Caroline, on the other hand, means "man" . . . but we chose it for its beauty and its associations.  ;)  It was supposed to be John's mother's name, which was mistakenly shortened to Carol.  She, in turn, was named after her two grandmothers, so Ruthie is named after her great great grandmother!  They were going to pronounce it like Carolyn, but we prefer the long "i" sound.  

Everyone wants to know how Gemma feels about the new baby, and I always tell everyone that "we're still working on being gentle!"  Having a new baby in the house has done nothing but intensify our darling toddler's mommy play, which is awfully sweet!  She loves baby "Roof!" but it's all still quite new . . . and she certainly missed Mommy and Daddy when we were at the hospital for two days.

It's hard to believe that our wee one is a month old already!

Garden-Bed Christmas Tree, Number 3

It's ok if you laugh . . . I don't know of any other suburban family who habitually cut their Christmas tree from their garden bed!  We also have no idea how two fast-growing pines were growing in this garden bed to begin with, but they have been very convenient!  Here's John cutting our first Christmas tree in 2009.  In 2010 we didn't put up a tree because Gemma had just been born and then we left town for New York.  Last year, we cut the second tree, and I thought that it would be our last free tree . . . but branches from the 2009 tree grew back quite splendidly, and so the tradition continues!

Sizing it up . . . 

Hmm, this little piece?

Daddy's little helper . . . 

The tree, and its conqueror!  

(and I think there's a smudge on our camera lens!)

(Yes, definitely a smudge . . . )

As it turns out, it's our tallest tree yet!  It works wonderfully with our very high ceilings in the living room!

Thanks to our families, we have many pretty and special ornaments now.  

Six of our nest wedding favors made it home with us, so I stuck them in the tree.  They need candy or something . . . hmm.

With family coming to us this year, it does feel a bit more like Christmas and less like we're just pretending.  :)

The Party

On Gemma's actual birthday, we had some friends over for lunch and a playdate.  Four little girls 2 and under, with peanut-butter-and-honey sandwiches shaped like snowflakes and Christmas trees, and carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting . . . yes, it was fun!  That night, we also let her open her gifts from Mommy and Daddy and the Grandmas and Grandpas.  But this past Friday we put up the balloons, family and more friends came, and we had the actual party!

Gemma opened a new baby, a bathtime book and an ABC puzzle, and loves them all!  We took a picture of the decorations the next morning when the lighting was better.

Aren't they lovely?  I made the garland back in April for a bridal shower outside, and it just happened to be the perfect length for the wall and four windows in the dining room!  My inspiration came from the path less traveled . . . once again . . . and, anyway, you can buy similar ones from her etsy shop!  

It was such a fun time that I could hardly sleep at night!  (Usually I'm a very hard sleeper, too!)  Thanks so much to our family and friends for coming to celebrate with us!

It was an evening of mixed emotions, too, as we had just heard the sad news of the shooting in Connecticut that day.  Yet another shooting.  This time at an elementary school.  We are especially thankful to have had our darling Gemma Grace for two years, and grieve with all the families up north.  I've found comfort in the words of Psalm 27:13-14.

"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I wouldsee the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD ; Be strong and let your heart take courage ; Yes, wait for the LORD."

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

supper this week

Maybe this will be my last week of meal plans for a while?  That would be nice!  I think . . .

We finally had a birthday dinner for Gemma on Friday night, and hopefully I'll be able to share some photos soon!  We had ham, so now we have leftover ham for sandwiches, for frying up with breakfast, etc.  Hence Monday and Tuesday's themes . . .

Monday:  Chicken Cordon Bleu with brown rice
Tuesday:  Lentil Soup (with the ham bone)
Wednesday:  {Thai}
Thursday:  pizza (hmm, maybe I should pick up some pineapple and make Hawaiian pizza!)
Friday:  Roast chicken breast, baked potatoes
Saturday:  Black bean quesadillas
Sunday:  TBD
Monday (Christmas eve!):  Shrimp Scampi over rice

Dolly's Diaper Bag

It's finished, and ready for Christmas!

Most of the ideas came from this blog post, found via pinterest (of course!).  I loved the little aqua doll diaper bag, and then discovered upon further reading that it wasn't homemade at all, but a purchased scrap book caddy!  So, I rushed out to Michael's and found the exact same one, for about $4.  I also bought the little "magic" bottles for $2 (is it tacky to talk about money so much?).  

For the dolly diapers, I only had to buy velcro!  The pattern and directions are from this blog.  I just changed  the directions slightly to add a strip of the loop end all the way across the fronts, to make them more adjustable.  I cut up an old t-shirt for all the white, and used fabric scraps for the three colorful diapers!

It also has a changing pad and wipes case!  Yay for scraps, once again!  I begged the fleece scraps off my mother, after eyeing $7 fleece remnants at Joann Fabrics.  I already had scrap terry cloth for the changing pad, which I also just made up as I went along, adding a the heart and ribbon loop to make it more detailed.

Aren't they sweet?  These two little items were the quickest and most fun to make, I think!  They aren't perfect, though, so don't look too closely!

And, finally, with some leftover organic cotton I knitted up a blankie for Gemma's baby.  The little book is from the $1 section at Michael's, and I added the title to it . . . so she can "write" in her baby's book while I try to work on her sister's baby book!

I am just so excited!  These little sewing projects have been the most fun things to sew ever, I think!  The next project . . . is for a special little boy!

Are you making any Christmas surprises?