So what was big in 2012...

• February 2: An innocent trip to the park on an unseasonably warm day turned into Ruby falling into a pond from a bridge and me jumping in after her. I broke my ankle and was out of commission for about 3 months but without a doubt I would do it again a thousand times. Thankfully my ankle has healed really well. I only have a day every once in a while that it gets a little sore from being on my feet all day and the doctor said it wasn't the type of injury that you'd feel on a rainy or cold day.  Ruby doesn't seem to have any memory of the event which doesn't surprise me considering she was up on the bridge naked, wrapped in a strangers coat laughing and pointing at the ducks mere seconds after coming out of the water. 
• Because of the broken ankle I suddenly had lots of time on my hands. I started making more art than I'd made since graduating in May of '10. Being at home I started making some mixed media work. After I was back on my feet I started creating more ceramic cells and spending a lot more time in the studio. I did my first art fair in Owensboro with my friend Staci, started my Etsy shop (even had a couple of sales!), and have had my work displayed a couple places around town. I was also accepted into the Access to Market program, part of the Kentucky Small Business Development Center. 
• In mid-March I took over some of the duties of the exhibitions coordinator at LAL. The broken ankle got in the way of some training I should have gotten so it was a little bit of a fake-it-til-you-make-it situation but thankfully the rest of the staff and others were incredibly helpful. It was a great experience. 
  
• I was able to go home to Minnesota 4 times this year. Including once for a wedding, once to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday, and a last minute trip home right before the holidays. We even had a couple visits from my family. It's nice when we get to see each other so often. It's almost like we aren't 900 miles apart. Almost. 
• I had several of Ruby's photos picked to be featured on Offbeat Families, 7 I think? I don't get anything for it but it's pretty cool anyway. 
• I hit my 15 year mark with Target. 

Looking back the year hasn't been a total fail...but why does it feel like it? Maybe it's just this end of the year funk I'm in right now. I stopped making resolutions long ago but I do have some goals for this year, including: 

• Being nicer to myself. Stop eating crap, exercise, drink more water, eat more fruits and veggies, etc. 
  
• Simplify, simplify, simplify. Maybe I'll hire someone to mow our lawn this year, just to take something off of my plate. Even though that makes me feel totally lame. 
• Spending more time with friends. Girls night has gone the way of the dodo and I miss seeing my friends!
  
• Push myself when it comes to my art...even though I want to climb into a hole and never come out. I plan on entering a few art fairs and shows. 
  
• Vacation. No definite plans yet but we are looking at spending some time in Dublin in late 2013. Heath and I haven't been on vacation since Florida right before Ruby was born so I think it's about time. Sorry, Rubes, you'll miss out on this one. We'll take you to Europe next time. 

Any big plans for 2013 out there? Thank you so much for hanging out with me via the blog. I look forward to sharing more exciting things with you this next year! 

Ruby had her two year check up yesterday. She's perfectly average across the board as usual, although there was a slight bump in her height percentile. No shots this time around and the prick on her toe to check her iron levels would have gone completely unnoticed if not for the band-aid they put on it. That came off quickly and was re-stuck to various body parts until all stickiness was gone. 

I don't realize just how big she's gotten until I look back at pictures. I think I said something to someone once to the affect, "She never had a chubby baby phase", and then I looked back at the pictures and saw that I was obviously wrong. How did I not see that? 

Most parents don't haul the camera into their kid's appointments but I have since the 4 month visit. At first I think the nurses thought it was a little strange but now I think if I came into the office without my Canon around my neck they'd ask why. Of course this is not something that I'll always be able to get away with, eventually she'll be all like, "MOOoooom!!" and rolling her eyes and making exasperated noises but I think I have a couple of more years until that hits. 

I guess that this was technically Ruby's third Christmas but since she was born only 8 days before Christmas in 2010 and we stayed home and did basically nothing to celebrate (no presents, no tree...nothing) it feels more like her second. This is how things usually go: We trek our way down to Pikeville to stay with Heath's parents, open all gifts Christmas Eve, and then go over to an uncle's house for lunch on Christmas Day. 

She definitely got the concept of presents this year. When we told her it was time to open them she jumped up and down yelling, "Presents! Presents!" 

Heath and I also exchanged gifts, something we haven't done it a while. Of course I hate being in front of the camera so the one pic of me is me making a ridiculous face. He got me a few things that have been on my Etsy favorites list forever and I added to the collection of table top miniatures which must number in the tens of thousands by now. (I'm exaggerating....maybe)

Since we had some time I decided that I was going to make a couple of desserts. I decided to try my grandma's recipe for Peanut Butter balls and Monster Cookies. What I didn't count on was the PB balls being the biggest pain in the ass ever to make.  I ruined the first batch of melted chocolate (thanks, water) and when I finally got that taken care of the dipping was a disaster. Broken, misshapen, half-coated balls were everywhere. It took so long that I didn't even bother making the monster cookies. I was a little bitter and have declared that I will never make PB balls again. They do taste good at least!

Christmas Day we moved the party to Paintsville and had a delicious lunch  and opened more gifts. To say it was chaotic in an understatement: 

A little friend was brought out too...now here's something you don't see every day. (I'll keep my comments to myself but if you know me at all you know how I feel about this!)

I'll be honest with you. I am glad that the holidays are almost over. Minus feeling like crap for a week it's been fun but I am ready to move on and get things started in the new year! 

I was reminded by a post on Instagram that today is the 10-year anniversary of when Heath proposed to me. The story of the proposal isn't all that romantic, well, it wasn't how I always pictured that moment in my life. I knew he was going to ask me because we had already talked about the whole thing over the phone, him in Kentucky and me in Minneapolis. We even shopped for and designed a ring online together (although he takes total credit for the design of my ring I say it was a team effort). 

When he came up to Minnesota to visit in '02 we went to the store together and ordered the ring. Thankfully the Shane Co. was able to put a rush on things and we were able to pick the ring up on the way to the airport where Heath proposed to me at the curb of drop off. I said yes, he flew home, and I went to work at Target where I was giddy as a school girl with a blingin' rock on my finger. 

On Christmas Eve I went home and it took about 2 seconds for my mom to see the ring on my hand. Unfortunately, I think the news of my moving to Kentucky weeks earlier kind of put a damper on my family's reaction to the news and everyone wasn't all like, "yay!"

So, meh. It wasn't exactly like I pictured it would be but that's okay. None of that stuff matters in the long run. I'm happy and that's more important. Plus, the story of how we met and leading up to the engagement was romantic enough to make up for it :)

I've been struck with a funk and have been feeling less than stellar since Monday evening. Con: Low-grade nausea for days on end (nope, not pregnant), Pro: Decreased Appetite-which is far more conducive to losing weight than my usual 24-hr Increased Appetite. I also haven't had any pop since Sunday-not even diet. Go me! 

Le Funk has pretty much reduced productivity of any kind to nothing. I called in to work on Tuesday and even though vomiting ceased in the early hours of the morning fatigue did not and I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday asleep. The evenings have consisted of minimal parenting and then wrapped up in blanket on the couch finishing Dexter and streaming Alias until bedtime. Christmas cards-not mailed. Presents-not wrapped. Meh. 

Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. Christmas plans are up in the air due to my FIL's recent surgery and the fact that if he were to get what I have it wouldn't be pleasant for him. (hernia surgery+vomiting=bad) So we may be sticking around the house instead of traveling to Pikeville. I hope all of your holiday plans are going smoothly! 

Today is Ruby's second birthday! We had a little party last Friday, nothing too involved just Heath and I, his parents, and his grandma. I did a little decorating while Ruby was in daycare. I am totally in love with our fireplace mantle...maybe not so much how I decorated it (I swear I am missing the decorating gene) but I love the character it adds to our home. 

Heath and his dad spent about 2 hours to put together the cool retro kitchen we all got her. Sure, I could have gotten a plastic one that would have been cheaper and easier to put together but, well, I'm picky and I really wanted something cute if I was going to have to look at it every day. 

Two hours to put together but only about two seconds for her to notice it after she got home from daycare. One of the first things she did is go up to the microwave and start hitting the buttons and saying, "beep beep beep!" Another one of those where-did-she-learn-that moments that have been happening so often lately. 

There were of course other gifts to open, mostly accessories for the kitchen including fake fruits and veggies, pots and pans, and a vintage toaster and metal plates. When I asked Heath's parents if they would split the cost of the kitchen and accessories with us I really meant that as Hey, you don't need to get her anything else, this is more than enough but I guess when you have the only grandchild all that goes out the window. 

After dinner we had cake. The plans for the cake were as follows: 
Plan A: Make a cake from scratch (yeah. right.)
Plan B: Buy that Caramanda's cupcake Groupon (only I forgot to buy it. Crap.)
Plan C: Find a suitable cake from Kroger for Ruby and cupcakes from Gigi's for the rest of us. 

I wasn't planning on going home again this year, I've already been home a record three times, but I figured that we should probably take advantage of the whole kids under 2 fly free thing one more time. 

Ruby's time flying has been pretty good, as far as babies traveling goes. I've been lucky that the seat next to me (in the very back) has always been empty. Otherwise...oy... I don't even want to think about how terrible the flights would be. Even with the free seat it is still hard to keep her contained, trust me I've tried. For this flight she was in the aisle, in the empty seats across from us, and under our seat. I'm not a germaphobe, otherwise I'd probably be upset that I caught her eating peanuts off the floor. 

Of course the biggest event of our trip was the 12+ inches of snow! I wasn't really prepared to take her out in this much snow but she seemed to do okay with a couple extra layers.

The snow trapped us inside until day 3 of my trip. I was going a little crazy so we escape to my grandma's place where I gave her a bath and she got to open her birthday gift. 

And that is about where I stopped taking pictures. Someone was being a toddler and trying mommy's patience and I spent about half the trip frustrated as hell. I think I am going to have to take up yoga again so that I can handle the next year without imploding. Or two years...since everyone keeps telling me about the Terrible Threes. Heaven forbid! 

Less than 8 hours after we arrived in Minnesota winter storm Ceasar hit and left about 12" of snow up at my parent's house. This was Ruby's first experience with any significant amount of snow. She went between being excited to faces likes this whenver the wind blew snow into her face:

She also didn't like when she fell in the snow. The roads are getting better but are still not drive-the-speed limit-able. We've been stuck at my parents house since Saturday and yesterday morning I was ready to get the hell out so we went and visited my grandma. Usually I eat lunch with her when I'm up but yesterday the cooks "couldn't make it in" (really?) and all the seniors had to fend for themselves. I cooked lunch for her her, gave Ruby a bath in her sink (my parents have crazy rusty water...yuck), and thankfully my cousin arrived with her son to help distract Ruby from destroying things.

Last night my aunt watched Ruby while I went out to eat with my brothers and their significant others at Famous Daves. Dinners like that, although a bit crass at times, really make me miss home a lot.

I am in Minnesota! Ruby and I arrived this afternoon after a relatively easy flight. There was little screaming on her part but plenty of squirming. At one point she was wedged underneath our seat and another she was throwing a small-scale tantrum in the middle of the aisle. Thankfully the flight was quiet and I was surrounded by empty seats. I let her do some things that I am pretty sure were against Delta safety regulations but it kept her occupied and the flight attendant didn't seem to care so I just went with it.

After we arrived at my parents house cousins and aunts and uncles convened, dinner was prepared, and good times were had by all. The only stain upon the evening was the viewing of the god-awful Frosty Returns. If you've never seen it before-stay away!!

The plan for the next five days include my nephew's birthday party, a little Christmas/birthday get together for Ruby, and a photo session, hopefully with snow!