Ruth enjoys books! I love her expression here, reading along with me.
She learned the difference between a nice, red, ripe tomato and a green one. Well... almost. She still picks some greens, but so many are ripe now that it's rarely an issue.
These two have honestly become the sweetest of friends. While during month 2 Ruth bit Carrie several times, that has not happened at all in month 3. It's as if they had to establish their "pecking order". And Ruth came out on top.
While Ruth still follows what Caroline does (here they are gathering sticks for a campfire), it's not uncommon to see Ruthie grab Carrie's hand and lead the way.
We enjoyed the last days of summer, eating as much ice cream as we could while the days are warm.
We picked countless flower bouquets.
She thinks she is a big girl and can ride the tire swing without me holding on to her. It makes me extremely nervous as she gets braver each day, wanting to go higher, and wave to passing Amish as she rides one-handed.
There were lovely moments with these sweeties playing nicely.
And moments like this where she is angry that I tell her the way she is sitting is unsafe.
She is afraid of loud noises but wants so much to do what the other girls are doing that she conquered her fear of the mower this month to go for a little ride with Trent and Caroline.
She loves bath time. Some evenings she throws huge fits if we say "no bath tonight".
These two are the sweetest snugglers.
She is often underfoot while I'm making dinner. Here she is eating an uncooked spaghetti noodle and finding it quite hilarious.
Daddy making salsa was too funny for these girls to watch.
We love living in a community where large families are pretty common. Our local grocery store has these double seater carts available for families like ours.
Ruthie's current favorite cereal (other than Honey Nut Cheerios) is Strawberry mini wheats.
Ruthie's hair has been growing rapidly. I have trimmed her bangs every month.
A friend of Anne's has a couple of goats, a mini donkey and mini pony. Ruth liked them until one of the goats was too playful and knocked her down. (Thanks Jen & Molly for the fun morning!)
We are working to catch Ruthie up on her vaccinations. This is a behind the scenes of waiting in a doctor's office with five kids.
We took Ruth to the family cabin in Wellsboro, PA. We haven't taken a trip since coming home from China so we weren't sure how things would go. We have learned that as long as her sisters are around she is quite content. We attempted to leave her in the nursery two times this month at church during the sermon. Leaving her with a stranger and no sisters does not go over well. She cries the entire 25 minutes of the sermon. I hate to leave her knowing she will cry, but I want her to build the trust that I will always come back for her. As you can imagine, this is a difficult thing for a little one who has gone through as much change in their short life as she has.
It's safe to say the cabin trip was a hit. We look forward to the next time we can go.
Our whole gang on the front porch of the cabin. I look forward to taking many more photos like this over the years.
We were all ready to go home after a fun weekend with Trent's family. I am very grateful to my in-laws and brother-in-law who took care of all five girls while Trent and I did a Finger Lakes, NY wine tour that Saturday with Trent's coworkers. Ruthie was well cared for. Anne is a tremendous help and fills in as a little mama quite well.
We started back to school which was another big adjustment for Ruthie. Gone were the lazy mornings of summer. Having my attention focused elsewhere and in a different way was a big challenge for Ruth, especially the first couple of days.
Learning to share is pretty high on Ruth's preschool agenda this year. Forced sharing is one thing, but we are hoping to see more spontaneous sharing. And we are! She picked a berry just today and gave it to Caroline instead of instantly popping it in her own mouth.
Ruthie "helped" me can peaches. Helped as in took bites of the peaches I peeled then put them in the container with the lemon water.
Ruthie has also been using the potty. Those of you who know me well know that none of my first four daughters were easy to potty train. It is the bane of my mothering. They (whoever "they" are) always say girls are easier to train. That has not been my experience. But then. Ruth. She's been a dream. She goes on her own, with no help to the little potty. She does insist on taking off all her clothes every time she uses the potty, but I'll put her clothes back on all day long without complaining. She isn't fully trained but is really wonderful. So clever.
Sometimes we don't know what she wants. Hence, the crying in this photo.
But it feels so good when we figure out what she wanted. Here she just wanted to stand next to Caroline for the photo for daddy's 35th birthday.
She enjoyed another hike. This time to the Susquehanna River.
Helped celebrate Maggie's 7th birthday.
Went to the Land of Little Horses in Gettysburg, Pa.
Ate pizza at Mema's house after church.
Tried out daddy's new hammock.
Picked raspberries that daddy planted.
Enjoyed a raging fire. Ruth has become much more affectionate this month. While she was certainly capable of giving hugs and kisses, she did not do so very freely. And who can blame her? I wouldn't want to kiss people I just met. The other evening we were watching a movie and she climbed up onto the bed, leaned over Caroline and gave her a kiss on the forehead. It was one of the gentlest gestures of sisterly love and brought a tear to my eye.
Ruth went to Hershey Medical Center this month to check in with their Hematology department about her blood condition. We didn't really learn anything new other than that her hemoglobin is 7.9. A healthy child has a HgB of 11-13. They are undecided whether they will give her a blood transfusion before her palate surgery on September 20 or not. As she is functioning very well at a 7.9 the anesthesiologist will make the decision at her pre-op. The doctor assured me that if they don't transfuse her before surgery that they will have blood available to her during surgery if she needs it.
The only thing that was really new for us is that her blood work showed that she has Hemoglobin H Disease, which is really just further defining her Alpha Thalassemia and won't really affect her day to day life. She will always be anemic but her iron studies showed she actually has excellent iron.
Ruthie is an amazing, strong, brilliant girl. I'm a better person for having her in my life. She is truly a gift from God. Happy 3 months home, our little deer.
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