Someone HAD to do it!

Serves us right for making so much noise about how much Ruby enjoyed the drums at Ohakune. We were flooded with offers to buy our girl a drum ... and one person, who we fondly call 'Aunty Thirza' sent little Ruby a big box via courier on Friday morning... containing three drums, two drumsticks, a top-hat cymbal and a little seat. NICE ONE Aunty T!!! Needless to say, the Rube-sta LOVES it and I think I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Her Uncle Paul came round for a bit of a jam session...
but it looks like he may have got more than he bargained for!

NINE months!

She's had a frantic weekend showing us how big she is now that she's NINE months old...

practicing using the TV remote to change channels when we're not looking; it's a bit like having a strange TV-ghost in the house, random channel surfing when we least expect it!

She also spent some time reading the newspaper with Dad (see it's not ALL TV watching!),

and then discovered that she could pull clothes out of her bottom drawer. That was fun!

Add to that the discovery that her tongue could poke a long way out of her mouth and her weekend of fun was complete! She spent most of Sunday afternoon with her tongue hanging out of her mouth like an exuberant puppy. A very odd look. So much for the lactation consultant telling us the problems we were having with feeding were due to her being tongue tied!! Nothing tied about this tongue!

Catch up news

Ruby had a busy old time between 14 weeks and 8 months, and seeing as today she is 9 months old (i.e. been as long 'out' as she was 'in'), I thought it timely to show some of her goings ons since that last post.

When she was 5 weeks old we spent a week in Wellington for her Uncle Andrew's wedding to Megan. Here they are getting acquainted... she was full of smiles for them both!

And meeting her Aunty Tasha (who popped over from Australia) properly for the first time was fun too...

Aunty Tracey came up to Auckland and fell in love with Ruby and helped us get over the initial 'baby shock', then came back later for a visit and more cuddles...

Xmas was a lovely fun and relaxed affair at Aunty Sarah and Uncle Mike's house. The antlers just had to be done; what are kids for if not to make fun of?

Ruby's Grandad and Nan gave her a 'piano' for Xmas and it was an instant hit. As she got bigger, she got more and more clever... and here she is playing it with her feet. If there's one child that is destined to be musical, this one's it! No pressure or anything!

Owen's Mum, aka 'Granny' popped over from England not long after Xmas and got in her share of cuddles too...

Many people couldn't just pop over from far away so Ruby got lots of parcels within weeks of being born too. This wee softy (which got labelled a dino-raffe because Owen thought it was a dinosaur and I thought it was a giraffe) was well loved instantly and I got home to find that she wouldn't let go of it, so it ended up being her nap companion! Way to go Aunty Sophie - you chose well!!

Late in January we spent Auckland Anniversary Weekend at Auckland Folk Festival, parked up in a caravan. It was super hot, so Ruby spent most of the time naked and eyeing up my water bottle. She was a firm favourite with many of the 'folkies', especially as she had just been a 'bump' at the previous festival!

Since Xmas we've also been up to Paihia for a couple of gigs with Owen's mate Paul. Here's the hungry monster being fed something involving pumpkin in the back of the van. My aim obviously wasn't that good at the time. We have both since improved! Quite hard to feed such a nosy little monkey; her head keeps turning to see what else is going on... and parked on the side of the road isn't helpful - much like trying to feed her at a tennis match I would guess!

A couple of Ruby's best fans (and it's mutual!) are her Aunty Hannah and Uncle Gareth. Here they are in our van at one of Owen's gigs.

They also had their first babysitting stint a week ago when we went to the Bonnie Raitt concert (yeeha - a night out on our own!). Here she is stuck under the couch after practising her backwards shuffle a little too enthusiastically (Ruby, not Bonnie).

Ruby at 8 months+

Well, Ruby appears to be too busy learning other things to be bothered with the computer any more, so I will take over and hope to do better... but don't hold your breath. The Rube-star, as we call her, has been frantically busy discovering how to rip newspaper, throw bottles, blow raspberries, wave, say 'dada', scoot backwards, work the TV remote (that freaked us out) and escape from attempts to attach nappies to her butt... not to mention going to parties and making far more friends than one child needs. Of course, we know you're just waiting for the pics, so here's the most recent collection.
Ruby enjoying a cold carrot...

A small bit of attitude being displayed at the after-lunch drinks...
Easter was spent at a friend's lodge in Ohakune with a gaggle of musician friends - who took great pleasure in teaching our girl the basics of stringed and percussion instruments. She took the greatest delight in the drum, which only served to heighten Owen's conviction that she is a budding percussionist.

Of course, Ohakune at Easter is not the warmest of places, so Ruby was truly blessed to have an 'Aunty' that knits, and this gorgeous jacket was worn day and night during our visit, and soon complemented by a most fetching ski hat from the local village. Our little flowerpot girl.
And just as well, because this pink one was hardly going to keep her warm - built for decorative purposes and the far milder Auckland weather... but hey, it's a super-cute photo!
We got back to Auckland just in time to be caught in a very tropical-like downpour that trapped us in the camper for a good half hour... nothing else to do but take cute photos. Not that we need much motivation to get the camera out these days!
That's all for tonight, time to go and make the most of Miss Ruby T being asleep!