Ruthie Grows

Yesterday I tried to feed little Ruthie rice cereal for the first time. It was mixed with vast quantities of breast milk, of course, which meant that instead of spitting it outright, Ruu gave me this puzzled little look while trying to suck on the spoon. Today, like yesterday, the feeding went well, but most of it ended up all over her rather than in her, of course.

So I'm slowly but surely working on training Ruu (or Roux, as my french-loving friend Emily likes to spell it) to actually take naps. It makes her a much happier baby overall, although it can sometimes take as much as 20 minutes for her to give in to sleep. I don't let her scream and wail the whole time, of course... I set a timer for five minutes so that I *make* myself give her the chance to settle down on her own. If she's not settled after five minutes, I go in, check her diaper, see if her swaddling has come undone, pat her, comfort her as needed, and start the process again.

This past week we had a breakthrough: Ruthie started taking a bottle without much (if any) fuss.

I started on Thursday, offering her a bottle during her mid-day feeding. Every time she got frustrated, I'd stop and cuddle her for a bit, then offer it to her again. Eventually she settled in and drank a full 3oz bottle of liquid, to my extreme delight!

The next day, I tried it again. This time, without any fuss whatsoever, 5oz disappeared almost immediately. So when Saturday came around, and I had to shoot a wedding in downtown Annapolis, I had no worries. Stephen offered her the bottle. Again: 5oz down the hatch, no muss, no fuss!

This is wonderful.

It's been quite awhile since I've written about Ruth, so here I go!

Ruth is eating all kinds of new foods every day now, with mixed results.

What? Me? Messy?! Never!

Some of my favorite photos of Ruthie of late:

Loves sticks.

Eats with THREE spoons.

And she's the cutest baby ever.