11 Weeks Old

 Happy, Naked Ramey

Happy September!  My birthday month! I have always loved my birthday and the entire month of September.  But this year it doesn't feel like September since I am not in school.  I am still trying to get use to not teaching, but I did get to see a bunch of my precious little angels over Labor Day weekend!  I messaged my last years class and some other wonderful parents of previous years and invited them over for a few hours on Sunday and Monday of the Labor Day weekend.  It was so great to see their sweet faces and their amazing parents!  Thank you to everyone who was able to come and meet Ramey and hangout with me!  If you didn't get a chance to come by, we will definitely do it another time!

Ramey is now 11 weeks old!  It is crazy to me that I was on bedrest for 10 weeks and that time went sooooo slowly but these last 11 weeks have flown!  It really makes a difference what you are doing! Lol.
Here are some of the new things Ramey can do or has noticed.
He has found his feet and loves to stare at them! He has found his hands as well and loves to put them in his mouth and suck on them when he is in his swing and wants to take a nap.  He sucks on them so hard that you can hear it across the room.
He likes to smile at himself in the mirror.
He loves to listen to Mommy read books.  We try to read at least 3 books a day.  He looks at the pictures and sometimes smiles and has started grabbing for the book.
He loves to watch tv.  We have a Baby Genius dvd and he will watch it and wave his arms and smile almost the whole time!
He has started rubbing his eyes when he gets tired (just like his daddy!  Harry is a 28 year old man who still does this!)
He smiles all the time!
And my favorite: yesterday, he laughed at me!!! Harry never would have believed me because he hasn't done it again but I was laying on the floor with him being as goofy as it gets and he was just smiling as big as can be and then he laughed!  I yelled at Harry in the other room "He laughed at me!" and Harry came in and said, "I heard it!" So what have I been doing all day?  Being even more goofy trying to get more laughs!  So far... nothing!

Saturday is our 10 year high school reunion.  I seriously can't believe we graduated 10 years ago!  It only seems like a couple of years!  It probably seems shorter to me that other people because I have been with Harry the whole time, but it has flown!  On Saturday, one of our classmates is throwing a picnic at a park in Edmond for people to bring their families to and I am pretty excited to meet everyones kiddos!  Then we have a tour of the school.  I was last in the school in 2007 because Katherine was there but I barely saw anything then.  I know it has changed alot.  Then Saturday night we have the main reunion thing at the Bricktown Brewery.  I can't wait to see everyone but I'm not sure what I am going to wear, lol.  I went shopping the other day and that was just depressing!  All of the dresses I found had a weird waistline that was not flattering at all to someone who just had a baby, therefore, I didn't get a dress.  Boo!  I think I will have to dig in my closet and see if anything will work!

On the 2nd, we (Mom, Dad, Katherine, Ryan, Ramey and I) had a surprise birthday dinner for Harry.  I ordered a cake from Raspberries and Creme, the amazing Ribbon Cake!  I took it over to Mom and Dad's house on Saturday and then told Harry we were going to do our first Sunday Dinner by going out to eat.  Then Mom and Dad brought the cake and we all met at Charlestons.  When we sat down I said, "Yay! This is your birthday dinner!"  Harry was pretty surprised and even more surprised when they brought out a cake!  I felt bad we never celebrated Harry's birthday since it was the day after Ramey's birth.

My dad's amazing cousin, Jamie (my 2nd cousin) started and own the baby product company Leachco.  I talked about my maternity pillow before and it was made by Leachco and was the biggest life saver during my bed rest.  Well they have AMAZING stuff once the babies are here too!  Well her sweet daughter, Mabry (my 3rd cousin) and Jamie have been so amazing and sent me tons of their wonderful products!  What a great and generous family I have!  This is a picture in one of their products, the Podster.  Ramey loves it!  It is great because it props them up a little bit so they can look around and is adjustable so he fits in it perfectly!  He will sit in it while I fold laundry or when he is watching his baby genius dvd.  You will see it in quite a few pictures because he loves it so much!  I will post more pictures as we use more of their amazing stuff!  Go buy Leachco stuff, they are amazing and based out of Ada!  Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, BuyBuy Baby, and many other places all sell Leachco products!
Thanks again cousins!!!
Here is their website if you want to see their amazing things!
http://leachco.com/

Ready for the 1st Game

 This is the face he made the next morning when he heard OU won!

Love those long lashes!

 Watching Baby Genius for the 1st time

 Aunt Kaprine babysat and put the little guy to sleep.

 A little morning exercise

 First minute of tummy time before he gets mad, lol

 Trying to turn around to watch the tv.  He takes after his Boompa and his Great Papa, Big Ramey

Have a fabulous week!!!

2 month check up and more

Happy Monday!

Ramey had his 2 month check up this morning.  He is doing great.  He weighs 10 lbs 4 ounces (25%) is 22 inches long (10-25%- I don't know why there is a range) and his head is 38 cm (10%).  So he has a small head, which is funny because big heads run in my family.  We even measured everyones head about a month ago when my Uncle Steve and Aunt Karen, Katherine and Ryan, Mom and Dad and Harry and I were all together because we wanted to determine who has the biggest head.  I won't embarrass the person and post the results here, lol.  Anyways, I asked Dr. Adair if that was okay that his head was smaller and she said yes he is just a little guy.
Then it was time for shots.  He had to drink one of the "shots" and he didn't like that and kind of choked on it even though I gave it to him pretty slow, so he started mad.  Then I thought he felt a little warm so I had the nurse check and she thought so too, so she took his temp... in his booty.  He was 98.4 so he could get his shots, but that just made him even more mad.  Then he got 3 shots, 2 in one leg and 1 in the other.  He did the 'scream so hard nothing comes out and you aren't breathing' scream.  He has done it a handful of times in his short life but this was definitely the worst.  Katherine use to do it when she was a baby so it doesn't scare me like it might someone else but I still don't like it.  Then he calmed down and I put him in his carrier with 2 big bandaids on and we left.  He was asleep by the time we were outside and is still sleeping (in his carrier in my bedroom) right now.

The last couple of weeks.  Harry still loves his job and Ramey is growing like a weed!  He can hold his head up so well now and can push up really well with his arms when he is laying on my chest.  He still doesn't like tummy time on the floor but likes doing it on my chest.  He is also getting strong little leg muscles.  He loves to stand up on my legs and put weight on his.  Sometimes he looks a little like Elvis with the hip swaying but he is getting pretty good at it!

Had my first horrible Mom experience on Friday. I was clipping Ramey's nails for the first time and when I got to his precious little thumb, I accidentally got a little bit of his finger.  He screamed immediately so I stopped clipping so I didn't cut it all the way, but good enough for there to be bleeding and crying from both of us.  Harry was here (thank goodness) so I said, "Take him!" and gave him to Harry while Ramey and I both cried.  It looks so much better today, but I just knew the top part of his thumb was gone forever.  Stupid nail clippers and teeny tiny nails.
I had Dr. Adair look at it and she said he is fine.  She has had some parents cut every single finger and not know it because the baby was already upset when they started so they didn't realize they were cutting them!  So at least mine wasn't that bad!!!  She said to use little Revlon blunt scissors next time.  So I said that to mom and she said "Oh yeah!  That is how I did it. I was thinking, How did you cut his finger when you were using scissors"  Thanks alot, Mom!  She even bought me the clippers when I was on bed rest! lol.

We did deal with thrush last week.  I was having some horrible shooting stabbing pains while breastfeeding and for hours after all day long for a few days.  It was getting really bad and not looking too good either.  I checked Ramey's mouth and he had some white areas in his mouth but I couldn't tell if it was regular mouth color or thrush.  I called the doctor and they prescribed some nystatin for Ramey and then I called my OB and got some for myself.  If one of you has thrush you both have to be treated otherwise you will just keep giving it back and forth.  I also had some All Purpose Nipple Cream, that Harry's work compounded for me, and had already been using that for a week.  Well let me tell you, giving a 7 week old 2ml of medicine 4 times a day is not fun!  Some would come back out of his mouth and it was so sticky and sweet.  He didn't like it but got better at it and I got better at giving it, but occasionally he wouldn't swallow or something and he would choke on it.  The first time he choked, it was so horrible!  He turned a little purple and wasn't coughing for anything.  I thought I was going to have to do CPR.  I sat him up completely, he was already partially up, and started patting him on the back and he finally started coughing.  It was so bad that I cried after it was over and called Mom.  After that I gave it to him much much slower and made sure he swallowed it all before I gave him any more, but he still managed to choke a little bit a couple more times.  Once he finished that last dose I was pretty happy.   I also made an appointment to go to the lactation consultant again to make sure his latch was good and to check me out to see if she thought we needed another week of the medicine.  But she thought we were good to go.  We also did a weigh check and he weighed 9.15 at 8 weeks and 1 day.  He gained 20 ounces in 21 days!  I was worried he wasn't gaining that well anymore because he has been sleeping longer stretches at night, wakes up twice (around 2 and 5) then gets up between 7-7:30 and eats for 15 minutes or so, alot faster than he was before, but he is just getting better and more efficient at eating.  But he is also still such a sleepy little guy.  I normally have to wake him up every 3 hours during the day to eat still, but I guess he is doing good!

Ramey has gotten so long and likes to sleep stretched out, so he no longer fits in his bassinet but we don't want to put him in his own room yet.  Our pediatrician recommends he stay in our room until he is 6 months.  SIDS is at its peak between 3-6 months.  So we got a mini crib for our bedroom.  Here is a pic of our long little guy in his too small bassinet.

Ramey LOVES to smile!  He is normally a very happy boy!  Here are some of my favorite smile shots!

2 Month Picture

Our Family

Ramey turned 2 months old on Saturday and we doing a list each month of his likes and dislikes and what is going on with our little man at that time.  So here it is:

2 Months Old- August 25, 2012

Stats as of 8-27-2012
-Weight: 10 lbs 4 ounces
- Height: 22 inches
- Head Circumference: 38 centimeters

Called Bubba, Monkey, Chicken, Ramis, Rame

Loves to pee on Daddy in the middle of the night when he is changing his diaper

Smiles after he is done eating

Smiles big when Mommy kisses his cheeks and Daddy kisses his tummy

Loves to sleep in his swing or on Mommy and Daddy’s chest

Has some crazy farting sessions

Enjoys his bath now and even smiles sometimes when he is getting his bath

Falls right to sleep at bedtime.  Eats at 7, goes to sleep around 8:30-9:00 has a dreamfeed at 10:30 and sleeps until 2.

Enjoys swatting at his animals on his play mat and pack and play

LOVES the monkey that hangs from his carrier

Normally naps for 1 ½ hours to 2 hours

Will stare at the birds and mirror on his swing for an hour

Gets angry at Mommy when he doesn't get milk fast enough

Holds on to my shirt or throws his arm over his face when he is nursing, or throws his arm behind him in a completely relaxed manner.

Smiles while getting his diaper changed if he has already eaten.  If he has not eaten he screams at us!

He cries when he has a dirty diaper... before he could careless

Shakes his leg in the bath

Likes to get his massage, especially the eyebrow rub and head massage

Is getting really good at holding his head up.

Still doesn’t like tummy time on the floor, but loves to do tummy time on Mommy’s chest.

Spits up 30% of the time.

Been listening to French, Edith Piaf is his favorite French singer.  Especially the song Padam Padam.

Likes to look around when Mommy is holding him.  His head is still wobbly and we call it "chicken" when he does it because his head bobs a little and he looks like a little chicken.

Has started babbling and cooing more especially when he is doing tummy time on Mommy or chicken time.

Won’t fall asleep on Mommy’s chest unless he has a paci because he won’t stop looking for food.

Is unhappy if he can’t look around

Has started to bare weight on his legs and likes to stand with Mommy’s help.

Hates getting his finger nails clipped = (   and shots!!!



And I am chopping off my blonde hair on Thursday and going shorter and brunette!  So excited!

Here are some nursery pictures!

Early August

End of a real smile at Mommy

Thought it was time for a new post.

Everything is going pretty good at the Harrison house.  Ramey is still a pretty good baby.  He still hates having his diaper changed most of the time and cries when we change it, but last night when we gave him a bath he didn't cry at all! That was the first time.  He goes to sleep at night very easily.
We give him a bath (every other night), a little massage, Harry and I read him his bedtime story, I sing him a song, and he is out.  He normally sleeps 4 hours then wants up to eat, then goes right back to sleep, occasionally he needs to be rocked about 5 minutes, then sleeps another 3 or so hours.  He normally wakes up between 6:30-7:30.  He LOVES his swing but normally falls asleep after watching his mobile for a few minutes.  Anytime he is upset and we are having a hard time calming him down, the swing always does the trick.  He also loves to grab at his toys that hang down from his pack and play and his activity center.  At first I thought it was an accident and just jerky arm movements until I realized he was holding his hair with his other hand and only swatting at the toys with the arm closest to the toys.  And this morning I got my first real smile!!! Not a gas smile, lol.  I went to get him out of his pack and play and he just smiled and smiled and smiled.  It was definitely no mistake.

But at the same time I get teary every time I think about how fast he is growing up... alright, sometimes I actually cry.  I was singing to him one night and Harry came in and said, "What is going on in here?" I just love him so much and everyone says to enjoy him being a newborn because they grow up so fast so I really am trying to enjoy it but it makes me sad because I know it will go super fast because it already has so far, he is already 6 weeks old!

Last week I called and wanted an extra weight check just to make sure he is still gaining weight how he should and at five weeks he was 8 lbs 11 ounces!  That is still 1 ounce a day.  He is getting to be a little chunky monkey!
Speaking of monkey, I am debating what he should be for halloween.  Opinions please... monkey, giraffe, lion, or scarecrow (I found a super cute handmade scarecrow on Etsy), or something else.  I just love when they are animals when they are little!

Now for Harry.  Harry is LOVING his job so much!  And I love the hours.  It is so nice for him to work from 9-6 Monday-Friday.  He even comes home and eats lunch with us some days!
He wakes up and leaves at the same time every day and gets home at the same night.  Since he gets home at a decent hour he gets to hangout with Ramey and we tag team bath time and putting him to bed.  Harry loves all the people he works with and actually gets to talk to patients and isn't stressed out every day.  He already had high blood pressure and his old job just made it so much worse.  I can just tell by his demeanor and attitude when he goes to work and comes home that his blood pressure and mental state is so much better.  It makes me so happy.  It was pretty stressful the first week of Ramey's life trying to get Harry a new job but it is already so much better and definitely worth it.

Harry has also been so great with Ramey.  I always knew he would be a great dad, but he has far exceeded my expectations.  He talks to him all the time and wants to hold him and just be with him.  He changes his diapers all the time and will take him as soon as he gets home from work so I can get a little break.  And here is the best part... he wakes up and changes him and gives him to me for his first night feeding.  He also will rock, hold, or calm him down if it is from 10-2.  (Thats his shift, lol).  Then after Ramey's first night feeding Harry goes and sleeps in the guest room so he can get a full 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Most nights it is more because Ramey will wake up between 12:45-1:30 so Harry will give him to me and then go to sleep.  And I like it because on the 2nd night feeding I don't feel bad about having the lamp on or bothering Harry because we are up and Ramey is eating.  I know how important it is for Harry to get a good nights sleep with his job.

Now me.  These last 2 weeks have been really weird for me.  Normally I would be up at school getting my room ready for school to start.  Today the teachers go back for their big district meeting.  I know this sounds really stupid, but it is weird to think that it is going on and I'm not there.  I'm sure I'm going to get emotional when I see all of my former parents posting pictures of my kiddos on facebook for the first day of school!  I feel very blessed to be staying home with my angel, but I REALLY love teaching.  I love getting to teach kids how to read, about famous pieces of art, and how to be great little people.  The plan is to stay home as long as I can, but I just don't know at this point.  I may want to go back sooner rather than later.  We will just have to see.

Family... last Sunday night I got a text and call from my sister at 1:00am.  I saw it when I was up with Ramey.  My mom was going to have an emergency appendectomy in the morning.  My dad was in NYC for a meeting, of course, (remember he was on a plane when my water broke).  So luckily Katherine took my mom to the after hours clinic.  Well she had a uti, but her side was also killing her.  The doctor said if the pain got any worse to go to the ER.  She left the room to write the prescription and when she did Katherine and Mom talked and decided they should just go to the ER anyways because Mom would just worry about it all night anyways.  Then the doctor came back and said, "On second thought, why don't you go to the ER now to get it checked out."  Well they went and yep, appendicitis.  So she was scheduled for the next day but didn't know when.  So Kat called dad and he worked on getting a flight home.  This time it was easier and he got home around 1pm.  The surgery was scheduled for 3pm.  It took about an hour and she did great.  The doctor said that he thinks it would have ruptured in 48 hours and it was somehow attached to her pelvis so it was a little harder to get out.  She was suppose to stay in the hospital until Tuesday morning but it ended up being until Thursday because she was in a lot of pain and the stupid uti on top of it.

Well a different doctor was on call on Thursday so she didn't get seen until around 6 that night, so she had to wait around ALL day.  Dad took off work and Katherine was done with school the day before all of this happened, so they both took great care of Mom.  I felt horrible that I couldn't do much or be at the hospital as much as everyone else.  Mom took such amazing care of me when I was on bed rest and I couldn't even go hangout at the hospital.  I was nervous to take Ramey up there because hospitals are suppose to be the germiest places and with him not having his shots yet and scary pertussis going on, I was just too freaked out.  So I told Mom I would come and take care of her once she was home.  Well that didn't work out too well, lol.  I went over the day after and thank goodness Katherine was there too!  I was no help at all.  Ramey was having one of those days and wouldn't let me put him down and his swing was here at home, so it wasn't gonna happen!  But now Mom is doing much better.  She ran an errand yesterday and her and Dad came over to watch Big Brother last night.

I think that is about it!  I didn't think I had much to write about and then I wrote a novel!  Here are some pictures since you powered through and read everything.

First time out to eat as a family of 3!

What a cool little boy!

Smiles

Bright eyed while shopping

Tough Guy

Grabbing at the monkey

Happy Boy

Silly Boy

Pictures!

July 25th

Last week we had our newborn pictures.  On Monday evening, Angel (the photographer) called and said that she was having a newborn photography class scheduled and the newborn boy that was suppose to come couldn't and she thought of Ramey.  So of course I said yes!  And she said I could have a cd of the pictures she takes during the workshop for free!  How could I say no?  It was our 4th photo session since he has been alive, but I really believe you can never have too many pictures, just look in my house!

Here are the pictures she has posted on facebook so far for a sneak peek!  The first two are from our appointment last week.

I was looking for one of the cute hats that Ramey wore for his first photo shoot on Etsy.  The same woman makes all of the hats that Angel uses and I found her site and then look what I found!

My little boy was a model even before the newborn photography workshop.

 Here are some pictures I took at the newborn photography workshop.  

Some pictures from home this week.

Ellie watching her little brother

 Precious boy... or a Sonic advertisement

Trying out the Moby Wrap and looking pretty tired, lol

Me and my boy

Close up

Crazy Hair

 Milk Drunk

Have a great day!

Life at Home

Love this picture!

Reminder... most of this is for me to remember everything that went on once we got our sweet little bundle home!  But here it is for all of you to enjoy as well!

After we got home:

The first night home went pretty well.  We were having to wake him up every 2-3 hours to feed him, but that was fine with me.  Harry would get up and change him and then give him to me.  But I started to have a little bit of a panic attack because I was afraid something was going to happen to him.  He is already so strong and kicks his legs so much in his swaddle that he goes to the side and I was afraid he would roll into the side of the bassinet and suffocate.  I started to freak out and Harry couldn’t calm me down so I went and got my mom.  She stayed with us for a week and then is still coming over for a week to help do house work and errands.  I have the best family in the world!  She calmed me down and told me that it was normal to freak out because I already love him so much.  She did make me feel better.  Plus we have the Angel Care Monitor that goes under his mattress and can tell if he is breathing or not.  But I was still pretty freaked out.

We went to the pediatrician on Friday, the 29^th, and he was still losing weight.  He was down to 6 lbs and 9 ounces.  (Started at 7.5lbs) That is 10% lost from his original weight.  Most babies lose 5-10%.  Our peditrician is very conservative, that is one reason I like her, besides the fact that she was my doctor and I went to her from age 1-21.  I would rather have someone that is ultra conservative than someone who is a “wait it out and see” person.  Anyways, she wanted to get me into a lactation consultant that day.  So I had an appointment at 3:00 pm at Mercy.  The lady there, Diane, was amazing!!!! I love her and she made me feel so comfortable.  She weighed Ramey before he ate and then after each breast.  He drank a significant amount and she thought he was probably done losing weight but had up to this point because he was born at 37 weeks and 6 days. 
I had another appointment on Tuesday, the 3^rd for a weight check.  He had gained 7 ounces!  She had written down what she had wanted him to gain and it was only 4 ounces!!!  He did great! Before the weight check, she wanted me to pump a little bit before I fed him, which meant 5 extra minutes before I fed him and then 15 minutes after I fed him to clean out the pump and store the milk- so now I didn’t have to do that anymore which was great!

Dreams…

I have always had half-sleep half-awake dreams when I am stressed out, normally at the beginning of the school year.  Some previous examples: I woke up in the closet, told Harry a child was in our room (this one freaked him out so much he got out his flashlight to look around the room), sitting up and staring at Harry (which also really scares him) and just talking in my sleep.

Well now that we have Ramey they have gotten so bad!  I keep thinking I am nursing him but he is in bed.  I even woke up Harry and asked him to help me find Ramey because I thought he was laying somewhere in the bed (he was in his bassinet, don’t worry!) and one night I thought I had already feed him because my dream was so vivid that I turned off my alarm and didn’t wake up until he cried because he was hungry.  One night Harry got up and got him for me but since I was in this half-dream state when he said “get up you need to feed Ramey” I said, “I can’t because” and then didn’t finish the sentence and then still dreaming I said “I thought he was already on there. What am I going to do when it’s a real baby.”  The next night at 10:30pm (I went to bed at 9:00) I told Harry to get up and turn off his monitor because it was going to go off and Harry said, “we are feeding him at 11:00pm” and I said, “I guess I should put him back in his bed then” and Harry said, “He’s already in his bed.”  Then we were going to feed him at 2:00am and at 1:30am I sat up in bed and Harry patted my back and said, “What are you doing?” and I said, “I’m waiting”  Then I laid back down and went to sleep.

Harry also had an incident the 2^nd night we were home.  I had gotten up to go to the bathroom after nursing Ramey.  I came back into the room and started to climb into bed and Harry started yelling at me “You’re on him! You’re on him!”  I had put him into his bassinet but when someone is yelling, “You’re on him!” you start to second guess yourself.  I looked over at the bassinet and thank goodness, he was in there.  Harry had thought when I went to the bathroom that I hadn’t put him back into his bassinet and the quilt on the bed was playing tricks on his eyes.  He thought the dark patch on the quilt was Ramey’s beautiful hair and a fold in the quilt looked like a leg. 

Hopefully these crazy dreams stop once we get a little more sleep and get on a schedule!

We had newborn pictures scheduled for July 18^th, a week after Ramey’s due date.  Well obviously he was here much earlier than that and wouldn’t be the cuddly sleeping newborn when those pictures rolled around, so I called one of my former kindergarten parents, Shannon Foster (www.thephotojunky.com)  and asked if she had any spots open.  I knew she was super busy and probably already booked, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask and I’m so glad I did!  She said she could take pictures on Sunday (7-1)!  So we went over to her house on Sunday morning.  She had even turned off the air conditioner so he wouldn’t be cold when he was all nakey!  She took some amazing pictures and I couldn’t be happier with them.  Harry was very concerned the whole time with him peeing on her table and blankets.  She didn’t mind at all and said they were all washable but Harry kept freaking out.  So of course we laid Ramey on a table and he started to pee, Harry was right there and we didn’t have a blanket near by so Harry cupped his hand and Ramey peed right into his hand.  It was hilarious.  I also had Shannon take a picture of my feet to document how horrible they had gotten.  I called the nurse on the way home and she said that it could take 1-2 weeks for them to go back to normal.  I just never thought one of the things that would hurt the most after having a baby would be my feet!  Here are some of the amazing pictures!  And the cute football onsie is from one of my sweet Kindergarteners, thanks Renner and Starns family!!! You made these pictures even better!

We had our first little boy peeing everywhere experience the other day.  I was changing him on the bed with a waterproof pad underneath him and mom standing beside the bed about to eat a muffin for breakfast.  Next thing we knew there was a huge arc of pee and her muffin was ruined.  He couldn’t have aimed better if he tried.  It was a perfect shot.  Since then we have had a few other pee incidents but that was by far the best one!

Ellie has gotten use to Ramey.  At first she would bark and run to him whenever he cried or made any sound, but now she doesn’t really care.  She still goes over and looks into his bassinet to see what he is doing, but normally she just sleeps around the house like before.  I was really worried about what she would do but she has been great.

Sunday night (7-1-12) our alarm went off.  We have lived here for 3 years and have never used the alarm and don’t even know how to use it.  And now it goes off at 2:15am!  It stopped going off on its own, but we had no idea why it went off.  Harry called the number on the box and they weren’t there.  So the next day Mom called every alarm company she could think of and no one would come out.  So she got smart and called Sales and we got someone out that afternoon.  Kali was here, thank goodness, and watched Ramey while we dealt with the alarm guy.  He told us we had to get a land line in order to have an alarm or pay like $200 extra and then $50 extra or something like that for an alarm without a phone line.  So now I had to call and get a land line.  We had already thought about changing from Cox to Direct TV so I didn’t want to get a phone with them if we were going to be canceling soon.  So then I called At&T to get a quote from them and Cox to see what they could do.  I argued with the Cox guy for awhile and got our bill lowered a little and a phone in addition!  But it was so stressful!  As I was on the phone with the Cox guy the alarm went off again and Ramey was crying but Mom was here to calm Ramey down and I found the booklet to the alarm and was able to turn it off.

We called the alarm guy and had him come back the next day to sign up for the alarm to be monitored.  He brought in his big boss and he was able to unhook something so the alarm wouldn’t go off in the middle of the night again until we could get it set up.

For the 4^th of July, Mom, Dad, Katherine and Ryan came over.  Harry grilled steaks.  It was great to have a steak that wasn’t well done!  I hate well done!  

As of 12 days old, I think he is going to be a great baby!  He only gets upset when he wants to eat or be held.  He will have a poopy diaper and never makes a noise.  Lets hope this keeps up. 

Right now, I have to wake him up every 2-3 hours to feed him but that should be stopping sometime soon.

7-7-12- we gave Ramey his first real bath.  He wasn’t too happy!  He cried louder and longer than he had ever before.  Right in the middle he peed but I quickly covered him with a washcloth.  We then washed his hair, which he LOVES.  Then wrapped him up in the towel.  Almost immediately he started to poop.  And I’m not talking about a little poop.  This is the most he has ever pooped.  We were laughing so hard because he just kept going!  Surely there is a better way to do this and I think I’ll youtube some videos and see if I can get some pointers!

7-8-2012

The whole family, Mom, Dad, Katherine and Ryan went up to Walgreens around 8pm because they weren’t too busy and got the whopping cough vaccines from Harry.  Ryan doesn’t like shots at all, but he got one because he loves little Ramey so much.  Obviously everyone else does too, but for someone that doesn’t like shots, I really appreciate my wonderful brother-in-law taking one for the team!

On Monday, July 16^th, I called the Lactation Consultant at Mercy to see if we could swing by and get a quick weight check.  We didn’t need one, but I just wanted to make sure Ramey was still gaining weight.  They want babies to gain 4-7 ounces a week.  We went in and he now weighs 7.14!  He gained 8 ounces in a week!  What a great baby!

Tuesday, July 17, Ramey is finally liking bath time.  We got the water warmer than we have been, put on some upbeat kid music, and laid a towel in the bottom of the tub so he doesn’t slip around and feels more secure.   After we got him out I had a warm towel waiting for him and warm pjs.  It worked great!  I was so excited because he was really HATING his bathtime.
He does LOVE getting his hair washed and always has! 

July 18, we had our original newborn pictures with Angel Porch.  I had these scheduled months and months ago, but since Ramey came early I was afraid he wouldn’t be so newborn-y (sleepy and easy to move into those cute newborn poses) so I wanted to get some pictures taken earlier when I knew he would still be a brand new newborn.  Plus we LOVE pictures so much I didn’t mind having even more pictures.  He will never be this little ever again!  But anyways, we had the original ones today.  Again he was a perfect angel.  He slept the whole time and did exactly what he was supposed to do.  I am so excited to see them!


We did get to Norman early because I was going to feed Ramey before pictures so he would be nice and sleepy, but we were super early so we decided to drive around and show some things to Ramey.  We went down Lindsey street and showed Ramey Classic 50's and then drove to the stadium.  As we were driving by I tried to get a picture of Ramey with the stadium but it didn't work out so well.  Here are my attempts...

This one has the stadium in the background and Ramey is in his carseat in the mirror.

You can kind of see the brick of the stadium

After the photo shoot we went back to Classics and got our favorites... a vanilla coke with sour punch straws, cajun fries, and cheddar peppers.  It was delicious.  Ramey's first time to Norman was definitely a success.


Now the most exciting news of the last 2 weeks.... 
Harry has a new job!  He didn't want me to say anything until he started, and today (July19th) is his first day!
Here is how it all went down!

We found out about a job opportunity.  One of Harry's good friends works there and I use to work with the owners wife at my old school.  Harry emailed his resume, had an interview and was offered the job all in a few short days.  We are SO excited! It will be Monday-Friday 9-6 and every 3^rd Saturday 9-12.  Plus it is super close.  It is an amazing company with great people.  

The only draw back is we are a little stressed trying to figure out the insurance situation.  His insurance won’t start for 3 months, so we have to get Cobra for 3 months because no temporary insurance will take Ramey because he is under 60 days old, but we can keep the Walgreens insurance with Cobra for the 3 months, but it costs so much.  Oh well!  We don't have a choice.  We are so excited for Harry's new job.  

My mom always made us take a picture on our first day of school, so I made Harry take one on his first day of his new job!

And he gets to wear scrubs!!!! yay! 

Sleep
We have just been getting use to having a little angel to take care of 24 hours a day.  Ramey sleeps pretty well through the night but wakes up every 2-4 hours to eat.  He normally goes back to sleep right away but occasionally wants to stay up for an hour just grunting and making noises.  And my dreams have gotten better, thank goodness.  I still think he is in bed sometimes, but am not nearly as exhausted so I make myself look over at the bassinet and realize he is in there and then I can go back to sleep.

Other highlights since being home-

We have had sushi 5 times since being home.  I really missed sushi!

Our first family outing that wasn’t a doctor was to get snow cones!  I love snow cones and really was wanting one so we put Ramey in the car and drove to the snow cone place, got snow cones and then came home.  It’s the little things!

We have also already rearranged Ramey’s room.  We had it one way originally and then changed it and then changed it back 2 days ago.  It makes it feel so much bigger and open.

Lots of wonderful people have brought us dinners and visited.  It has been great and we really appreciate all of the love and food!!! It is making being home much easier not having to worry about getting dinner together!

Some more newborn shots by Shannon Foster

Yawn Progression Pictures

I think these are hilarious

Last Pregnant Picture

37 Weeks

I'm going to do a post later of just pictures because there are so many...

Thanks for reading!

Meredith