An update on not updating

We've become aware that some people haven't given up on us posting new content here, especially with the birth of Josiah in September. Betsy has discovered the land of Facebook where the pictures and contents of the lives our loved ones flows freely and in both directions. If you are looking for us here, please seek us there. Betsy would love to be "friends" with you and whatever else you do in that place that is still foreign to me.

All the best,

Russ

A Year Old

Ruthann Autumn has turned 1! She is definitely a one-year-old, always on the go. She takes teetering steps, but isn't truly walking yet. She has three teeth, and says the words "Mama, Daddy, and Hi". She signs the words "eat, more, drink, all done, toothbrush, hat, and doggy". Whenever the telephone rings she says "Hi". She likes to read books with Mom and Dad, loves to eat and throw her food onto the floor, enjoys taking things in and out of whatever, and finds our Christmas tree fascinating. Here are some recent pictures of her birthday parties (yes, multiple parties with loving family). We had wonderful times with family, even a special visit from her great grandparents in early December!

10 Months Old

Fun on Grandpa's boat in August

Ruthie's favorite walking toy - her shopping cart!

Spooooky Ruthie, on the evening of our power outage in Sept

A family trip to Madison, WI and the capital building

Well, happy fall to everyone! The latest news here is Ruthie is cutting her 2nd tooth. She blows kisses, gives high fives, growls like a lion and attacks us, and climbs on Everything. She is happy, happy everyday, and we laugh a lot.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, There's a Cutie in the Tub!

This is before she began to refuse to lie back in the water. Now all she does is try to climb the shower walls!

Whirlwind of Change

Wow! So it's been almost three months since we've added photos and greetings, and during that time our family has purchased our fist house, moved out of Michigan to Illinois, Rusty started a new job as Grounds Foreman, Betsy started to stay-at-home with Ruthie, and Ruthie has grown and changed just as she should! Here are pictures of our family and Ruthie. She is close to 9 months old, she continues to have lots of Firsts every week. In the past two weeks she has accomplished her first crawl, her first pull to stand alone, her first swim in the lake, her first tooth, her first clapping, and her first Burley/bike ride. Ahh!

Here is our first trash day at our new home. This house was a pre-forclosure, and as you can see the previous owners had a different way of living - we scrubbed and cleaned, and hauled this trash to the curb!

Ruthie's first swim at Higgins Lake!

Ruthie's first Burley ride - she loved it!

I love my Daddy, and his hat, and his glasses...

April was a big month around here. Rusty's brother Rich spent his spring break with us (quite a treat), Ruthie was baptised and Rusty started work with the Grand Rapids Parks Department. Ruthie has discovered the wonderful world of mobility and is rolling. She has also started eating rice cereal with us at dinner and likes to shake her head to music. We hope you are all feeling God's wonderful presence inside of you - we certainly are.

Uncle Rich spent his spring break with us - a great time of fellowship and uncle-neice bonding (aka changing diapers).

Ruthie's first bow in her hair. Is there no end to the cuteness!?!?!


Ruthann was baptised on April 20th. All four grandparents were there, as well as Great Grandpa Swart (not pictured). Great Grandma and Grandpa Pickett also came up from Indiana for the occasion. Betsy and I chose Isaiah 54:10 as her baptism verse:

"Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed",
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Ruthie's dress is the same one Betsy wore at her baptism.

Overall, Ruthie was happy with the draft. After the initial disappointment of seeing the Titans taking Chris Johnson in round one and then scratching her head at the idea of drafting 3 centers (really...3!?), she was happy to see Marcus Howard there for the Horseshoe in round 5. I explained to Ruthie that the Colts never do what you think they will in the draft, but that they consistantly pick better than any other team in the league. In spite of my efforts, her first words were not, "In Polian we trust."

4 months ago we met her

Greetings family and friends!
This is our four month update and it's hard to believe how much Ruthie has grown in that time. Four months ago she could hardly see, could not grab, did not smile and was learing how to eat. Now she is incredibly attentive, active, can play with a tub full of toys, controls her head, and can easily express how she is happy, hyper, grumpy, tired, bored and much more (often in the same breath). She is an incredibly happy person who likes to smile. She has added a lot of laughter to our household.


What's worse, a bad hair day or your head on fire?

Ruthie's new thing is to grab her feet. They haven't made their way to her mouth yet.
This picture is a fluke. She really dislikes being on her belly, although she can stand it longer than before.

3 Month Old Photos

During a cold weekend in northern Michigan Ruthie wore mittens on her feet!

3 months old

Friends and Family,

Ruthie's 3 months old now and as you can see, quite active at times. She smiles quite a bit, is laughing daily now and loves to interact with people. We are catching more glimpses of her personality; the playfullness in her eyes, her complete concentration on the task at hand (or rather her hands themselves), and her dislike for anything difficult - mostly being on her belly.

Betsy is back at work full-time. This is a hard adjustment, both reorienting herself with her work and missing the time with Ruthie. Rusty is home on spring break this week and only has two more weeks of class left, then he will graduate from his program at Michigan State.

We hope all who read this are well. Enjoy the new pictures and leave us a note.
With love,
The Brays

2 months old

Happy New Year everyone! Ruthie is now 9 weeks old, or 2 months, and is doing great. She weighs 10lbs, 2oz and is 22 1/2 inches long. She had her first round of shots at the doctor this week, and only cried for a couple minutes. But then she was kind of out of it and fussy for about 24 hours following those shots. Betsy returns to work in 2 1/2 weeks and Rusty is busy job hunting, working, and going to school. With all the snow West Michigan has been getting he has stayed home from school (an hour's drive) a couple times lately. Enjoy the pictures as we are enjoying her daily smiles and laughing. She now likes her mobile, finally, and looks at faces a little more often.

One Month Old and Merry Christmas

Ruthie is now 4 and 1/2 weeks old and has celebrated her first Christmas with Betsy's family in Midland. She is an "easy" baby so far with an emerging personality of what we think is pretty laid back and possibly talkative...time will tell. We are settling into an incredibly different way of life from what we've been used to, and we smile and laugh a lot with Ruthie. She consistently goes at least 5 hours between feedings at night, which allows Betsy to sleep 4 hours straight before a feeding.
She continues to earn the nicknames "the cutest timebomb", and "our little geyser" with her unpredictable large spit ups! She is growing well, we think, and her milestones to date have been finding her thumb to suck when she was 22 days old (but hasn't found it since), rolling herself from her stomach to her back on Christmas day (it was a fluk accident that made her cry, but hey, it still counts!), and smiling back at us on December 26! She wore her first dress on Christmas day (the red one).

The first days