Ruby's a Year Old!

I can't believe it. Where did the last year go? One year ago at this very moment I was in the tub at St. E's pushing with all my might to get all 7lbs and 20" of Ruby out of me. It was a long an exhausting labor (20 hours) but absolutely worth every second of it. I am still so proud of my birthing experience (which every mom should be), but I know I could not have done it without the support of my birthing posse :) That would be my mother-in-law and doula extraordinaire Renee, my amazing mom, my friends Tricia and Angelina and of course, my incredible husband. Each played a unique role in Ruby's birth and I know the only reason I was able to stay so strong and not give in to the pain was because of their presence and words.

Here is the amazing crew (minus Angelina who was taking the pic) helping me through a contraction-

After several hours of hard labor I finally was dialated enough to get into the tub - I loved it (however I was also extremely delirious by exhaustion and in the la la land I created to let me escape from the pain)-

At 9:20 pm on February 9, 2008 she arrived. Here's the grandparents getting their first good look at her (this is probably one of my favorite pics of all time!)-

We sure were (and still are!) proud parents-

Ruby, you have filled our lives with more love than we ever expected. Every moment of pain, every sleepless night, every ounce of drool and spit-up on my clothing is worth it because I get to have you. I get to see your beautiful smile every day, see you try new things all the time, comfort you when don't succeed, cuddle with you when you're sleepy. Mommy and daddy love you so much and we can't imagine our lives without you! I can't wait to see what this next year brings!

PS - I thought about sharing photos from Ruby's first year, but through this blog you've already seen many of them. I'll post birthday party pics soon!