Ruby May

Today is my Ruby May's Birthday. She turns 4 today. I must tell you, that my Ruby May is hilarious. She is the cutest, (as most parents think of their children) and she makes me laugh every day. Her faces, and little comments are quite funny. (again, most parents are thinking the same of their kids... sorry) I just love her. She is a kick!

She is, as most 4 year old girls, into dressing up, playing house, pretending, and she loves playing with cars. She is forever swiping the matchbox cars from Jonah's room. She likes her preschool, and thinks that working with Daddy is the best thing ever. She also loves going on dates with Ben.

Having Ruby was no small feat though... She was my 4th child, so I was fairly optimistic that things would go smooth and easy. Well, they did, except for the pushing part. I usually don't mess around with these things, I am a fairly fast deliverer.

Ruby was actually born on her due date, which happens to be the Birthday of my nephew Samuel. I was a little bummed for him, but when you go into labor, what do you do? Couldn't stop it. She was also the first baby after my Dad passed away, which was very emotional for me. He was always thrilled to meet his new grandchildren. I have to giggle a little though, you see, my Dad was a great guy, but he was also a stinker. His personality was just ornery by nature. So, to get Ruby, who is named for my Dad's Grandmother, and to see that she resembles him in some ways, was fun. But now as she is older, I see that she has his ornery, stinker, personality. I love it! You must understand, that after my Dad died, I began to picture Heaven in a totally new way. No longer was it just a marvelous place that existed, it is actually a place that my Dad is! I also had many thoughts about how things work in Heaven. I got to thinking, if God has known us from the beginning of time, then maybe before we are thought of, in earthly bodies, we must exist in Heaven, or our spirits do. (note that this is not theologically based. I can only imagine Heaven) So, if our spirits live in Heaven, and if God picks who we belong with, I can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, (again, not theological) my Dad was able to put in his 2 cents about Ruby belonging to Ben and I. I am not sure that I explained this very well, just know that Ruby closely resembles my Dad to me. In many ways. I am aware that this may totally be emotional to me, but I am an emotional person, and can accept this.

Things went fairly smooth, but she was turned just enough that my hardest pushing just was not doing it. The long and short of it is, that I pushed for 2 1/2 hours for Ruby! Yipes! You must understand that with all of the 4 others, I had to push for a total of like 15 minutes... combined! She was well worth the wait. She was a lovely baby, slight dimple in her right cheek. Very sweet. We were not sure of the name, by the next day I was happy to name her Ruby. Ben thought that since she was born on May Day, that we should name her Ruby May. Which suits her perfectly. I love calling her Ruby May. She is very sweet.

So on this May Day, the day that our Ruby May joined our crew, we celebrate. We celebrate her fun life, and enjoy her each day. We also practice patience every day with our stubborn, ornery, and joyful version of my Dad. Remembering, if he were here, she would tickle him so much! He would have carted her around like he did with Jonah. He would have seen that she was very much like him!

We are loving having our Ruby May. Thank the Lord for her!
Happy Birthday Ruby May!