Christmas is all said and done. As usual it didn't really feel like the holidays to me. Working surrounded by christmas decorations and even buying and wrapping gifts didn't seem to help. I'm sure being sick practically the entire month of December didn't help. If it wasn't some crazy respiratory virus then it was some crazy stomach funk that traveled from Ruby to me and finally to Heath. I think *knock on wood* that we are all better now and will hopefully stay that way for a while. 

For Christmas we did the usual, went down to H's parent's house and opened gifts on Christmas Eve. Ruby was surprisingly so NOT into the whole thing. She was being a major pain during dinner and then while we were opening gifts she was throwing things and just being a little brat. I seriously wanted to be like, That's it. No more presents! A quick swat on the butt and a time-out, while everyone else continued to open gifts, and she was okay….Sort of. Thankfully we were near the end of opening gifts, we cleaned up, and scooted her off to bed. 

Ruby got several gifts, including lots of Play Dough, some clothes, and a new pair of glittery shoes, but she was most excited about the stuffed Target dog that I won at work. Proving, once again, that you don't need to spend a lot of money to make a toddler happy. 

The next day we went to H's cousin's house, had a late lunch, opened a few gifts and then it was time to head home. Ruby fell asleep within two minutes of getting in the car so it was a nice, quiet ride home. The day after was crazy at work and then I made the wrong decision to head to the mall afterwards. I waited for a while at GAP to buy some things for Ruby for next winter (an additional 50% off clearance, Whoo!). Thankfully, I didn't want Starbucks…The line was about 3 store fronts long!

Oh, and Ruby turned 3 on the 17th...

and had her 3-year check up today. 30 lbs and 37.5", 50th percentile  across the board. She had one shot but she took that pretty well, thankfully. 

And, yeah, this has pretty much been my December. Sick, work, Ruby's birthday, and Christmas. I hope everyone is well and had a great Christmas! 

I've been dealing with a sinus/cough funk for almost two weeks now. Annoying. Mostly because my energy is zapped and by the time I get home from work I want to do nothing but sleep or zone out on the internet. I'm mostly unproductive but some things have happened. We decorated for Christmas already. Usually you're lucky if the tree gets up at all but this year we put it up the day after Thanksgiving. Last year I waited until after Ruby's birthday but decided that this year I'd just go ahead and put everything up. If at any point she has a problem with Christmas decorations before her birthday we'll deal with it but for now, it's up. 

A few weeks ago we did a little family portrait session. The photographer was a 15-year old high school, a student of a friend of mine, named Abbey. I was pretty impressed with her in many ways. 1. She's already taking pretty good pictures and 2. She is already certain that she wants to do photography for a living. Hell, I am 36 (I still can't believe that) and I still am not 100% certain what I want to do when I grow up. Or at the very least I am constantly doubting that what I'm doing is the right thing…

Anyway. 

Ruby basically ran around non-stop the entire time and since there was a swing set at the location we were shooting, well, that's pretty much all she wanted to do. Until she saw the horse, then she just spend 10 minutes yelling at it trying to get its attention. 

This is my favorite of the outtakes. Ruby, in the middle of one of her mega-cheesy grins (which were plentiful that day), Me rolling my eyes because dangit, why can't she just smile a normal smile? And Heath, probably thinking about how crazy we all are : )