Happy Old Year!

It's still 2007 as we write...

Christmas was simply excellent. We spent time with family, Raymond travelled like the little travel pro he is and we kept comfy and warm in the company of family and friends. The trip felt a little too short this time... Unable to meet up with many friends this time around and we regretted it when it was time to fly back to Arizona. We promise to see EVERYONE in 2008. Our friends and family are SO important to us...

Raymond got his 2nd tooth 2 days after we found the first one. It was interesting to have a teething baby on vacation, but overall, it all went very well.

For Christmas, Raymond received lots of clothes, toys and other neat things. His favorite things include the DRUM & BALL from Auntie Alicia & Uncle-to-Be Lance... And Alicia knitted this awesome big blue blankie Raymond sleeps with every night! He received a neato BABY EINSTEIN DVD from Auntie Cassie so he can learn some more sign language and items in the house! Also, Great-Gramma & Grampa gave Raymond a WOODEN XYLAPHONE, BEAD TOY and STAINLESS STEEL SIPPY CUPS! Great-Uncle Dennis & Aunt Kathy gave him a SLOTTED SHAPES TOY which he loves, too! Great-Unlce Chuck & Aunt Nancy gave him a neato BOOK & COLLEGE MONEY! And he got a PILE OF CUTE CLOTHES from Great-Uncle Rick & Aunt Debby... Oh, and more COLLEGE $$ and a STUFFED TURTLE from Grandma & Grandpa W. What a Christmas!!!

The BIGGEST present came from Raymond's Gramma & Grampa D. A ROCKING HORSE!

Oh, what fun it was for him to open & play with his presents! (And the wrapping paper, too, of course!)

Raymond would like to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to all who gave him Christmas presents -- many I haven't even mentioned, but still count! It all was greatly appreciated, as were the nice Christmas Cards...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Everyone!!!

It's almost Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays everybody! Raymond and I are in Michigan right now enjoying the chilly weather and the family trees. Raymond is exactly 6 mo old today and guess what!!! Raymond's Gramma D. discovered that Raymond cut his first tooth today! (That would explain the pain he was going through last night at bedtime.) A little tiny sharp white hard dot on his bottom jaw... AWWWH... Happy Toothday for Ray-Ray!

No pic of the tooth -- he barely lets us peek! Instead a pic of his first bite of rice cereal 12/15 -- he's a pro! And a video of some fun with the dog the 12/18 when we arrived at my parents' house. Raymond just loves animals!!! This kid is a blast!!!!!! :)

It's the holiday season!

Hello everyone!

Happy Holidays 2007! Raymond's 1st Thanksgiving was spent at home in Phoenix with his Grandma & Grandpa W. , Great-Aunt Camille & Great-Uncle Gene and Mommy & Daddy. Raymond just turned 5 mo old. We were so fortunate to have had 2 friends bring over a total of 3 homemade pies (mmmm!) and Grandma W. cooked lots & lots of yummy food! Raymond was so thankful that he gave us a gift of officially sitting up on his own unsupported for the first time!!!

Three days before Turkey Day Raymond & I flew last-minute to Vegas to surprise Raymond's Aunt Kim as Erik proposed to her on the gondola at the Venician! We surprised G&G W. that we showed up and boy, did we have a great time!

Now we're getting ready for X-mas! Raymond is asking for college money -- what a great kid, eh? HAHA... The day after Thanksgiving we all went with our neighbors to the Payson area to cut down our X-mas tree! We have a blue spruce this year and Ray seems to like nawing on the branches whenever he can get a chance. He chose the tree, not us. :)

Raymond & I are celebrating X-mas in MI with our family & friends. Raymond is so excited to see his Grandma & Grandpa D., his Great-Grandparents, his Aunties and all the rest of the family! (So am I.) Unfortunately, daddy has to stay in Phoenix b/c he's on-call this X-mas... We're really going to miss him! :( (But we'll call every night and send his pictures, webcam, etc.)

Raymond's First Tumble!

Can you believe I got this on video?? WOW! Cool thing was he didn't get hurt and didn't cry. He rolled right onto my lap and looked around wide-eyed and in a daze. I was laughing so hard and daddy just missed it! We have it on video, though!

Sorry it's sideways. There's no way to rotate it, so you can move your screen sideways if you'd like... HA HA!

I think it's so neat that he looks to us to judge what his reaction should be. Social learning!

Toes on the Nose

Oh, does Raymond love to have his toes touch his nose! He's a little too stiff to pull them on his own yet, but boy, does he giggle when I do it for him!

Also, the other day, I was playing the "don't eat the piggies!" giggle game with Ray and he suddenly showed interest in examining and holding his feet. One hand on one foot then the other. Neato! he looked so proud of himself and looked at me as if to say, "Aren't you proud of me, Mama?"


So proud I had to take pictures!


We have SO much fun together!!!

More Firsts!

Well sort-of! :)

We feed Raymond through a bottle once a day so that he will transition well should mommy be away. When we were visiting Raymond's daddy's side of the family living in Tucson, he wrapped his hands around his bottle and nearly held it up himself! He doesn't seem to understand gravity all that well yet!

4 Mo Check-Up

Happy Halloween!

Raymond had his 4 mo check-up on Nov. 2nd. He weighed in at 18lb 12oz! Doc said she just finished seeing a 19lb one-year-old! His height is keeping up well, too at 27in. He is a big, solid boy! Doc said things are going fine, he looks great and no solids until at least 6 mo (unless he indicates he needs otherwise).

He took his shots well with a little pain in the legs where they stuck him. Poor baby Blue! :(

Mommy has a hard time with the shots part -- more than Ray, I think...

Oh, and Ray was a "little turtle" for Halloween! We visited 2 neighbors' houses and on the way to the third he was fast asleep!

Keeping up

Boy, does time fly! Raymond and I fly, too... HA HA! Ray & I flew to MI for 7 days in Sept and later for 6 days in Oct. It was great seeing everyone again and I think he loved hanging out with his family! We had a Halloween party Oct. 13th at my parents' in MI -- everyone dressed in their best costumes. Raymond debuted his "Little Turtle" costume, but became a little too hot to keep it on. He spent most of the night with Ragedy Ann & Andy...

We've been SO busy here! Mostly Raymond & I are socializing and trying to keep the calendar under control. Daddy's back from being away for what seems like forever and it's SOOOO nice to have him here to tickle Ray and make him giggle while mommy takes a break and runs around the house finishing half-completed tasks! Daddy likes to help Ray with his baths, too. He's the official dryer, diaperer and PJer before bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime, here's raymond typical bedtime routine:

6-6:30pm Milk, bath, pj's, rocking & a little more milk
7:00pm Down for the night
7-7:30am Ray wakes up

He's a great sleeper... We're getting naps under control lately, too. He's a happier baby when I listen to his cues about the sleep he needs. (Even though I love to have him awake and playing!)

Ray's Gramma W. came to visit last weekend! Boy, did we have fun! We went to Ftn. Hills, played at home, splashed a ton in the plastic bath... We love when we have visitors!

I weighed Ray a week ago... Ready for this? Okay... 19lbs. Yep, 4 mo old and 19lb! He is a big boy! He's looking a little chubby at times, but there's nothing I can really do since he is still 100% breastfed. I plan to delay feeding him solids until 6 mo. That was his doc's recommendation since he's growing fine -- and I agree. I love nursing him... It has been such a good experience. :)

The "Firsts"

Raymond was born 6/20/07. That would make him 3 1/2 mo. today. He was born 7lb 7oz & 21in at 1:11pm. It was an easy birth and I definitely would do it all over again!

I weighed the boy today: 18lb. He's about 26in long and very solid. He's a big baby, on the top of the scales for height, weight and length. His doctors are unconcerned since he is solely breastfed and he isn't overweight for his length. He's wearing 9 mo clothing well and seems to have slowed down a bit (I hope long enough to wear those cute jammies for a while!). It's amazing how fast he's growing!

So, I want to document some of his firsts that are already completed... If I can get this done, I'll be all caught up for future blogs! (And I will have something to print to keep for the baby book!)

Raymond's firsts:

• First look in the mirror (he freaked out!): 6/21/07 (1 day old)


• Belly Button stump fell off 7/6/07 (16 days old) (And no, I did not keep it!)


• First trip out of PHX -- to Tucson to visit Daddy in training 7/10/07 (20 days old)


• First bottle 7/18/07 (4 wks old)


• First visit to church 7/22/07


• First PHX T-Storm 7/23/07 (& our 2 yr anniversary!)


• First playdate (Paradise Valley Mall) 7/24/07


• Caught first cold -- lasted 3 days (dry sinuses, congestion) 7/25/07 (5 wks old)


• Hands in mouth 7/27/07


• First attendance at a baby shower 7/28/07 (As if he'll care about this when he's older!)


• First 5 1/2 hr night (b/c Doc told me to stop waking him!) 8/1/07 (6 wks)


• Around this time Ray had his first laugh while fast asleep on my lap... I was shocked!


• First trip to Vegas & 3 day conference (He was great!) 8/5/07 (7 wks)


• Ray begins to smile a little and coo about once a day...


• First flight -- 3.5 hrs to MI for vacation! 8/9/07


• First time touching grass (in MI) 8/12/07


• First boat ride (to Mackinac Island) & bike ride 8/15/07 (8 wks)


• First 12 hr night (in MI) 8/26/07 (9 1/2 wks) (Ray slept 10-14 hrs straight since!!!)


• Figures out jumper 9/4/07 (11 wks, he's held head up well since birth)


• First swim in pool -- kicks like a fish! He loves it! 9/5/07 (11 wks)


• First PHX babysitter, my good friend Tameca 9/8/07 (Tom & I went to a wedding)


• Discovers toys! 9/10/07 (12 wks)


• Shakes rattles, laughs and smiles! 9/11/07 (Then he cries afterwards -- hard...)


• Sucks thumb for a long time with no help. 9/11/07


• Smiles at people's faces (sometime around this time)


• First trip to the zoo! 10/2/07 (15 wks)


• Laughs when tickled (consistently) 10/8/07 (16 wks)


• Held self up on arms while on belly 10/8/07

No rolling over yet! He does like to stand with our support, though. All these firsts... awh, my little man is already growing up! Pretty soon I'll be saying he's crawling, walking, talking... I spend almost every waking minute with him, but where does the time go???

Speaking of waking moments, tomorrow will be my first time away from Raymond for most of the day... It will be hard for me. I really enjoy playing with him. I want to become a Hospice volunteer and the training is from 9-4:30pm tomorrow. At least I don't have to attend the week-long training since I am a licensed professional, but it still will be difficult to be away for so long. Tomorrow's going to feel like going back to work. I hope he's good for his daddy!

*fingers crossed*

We will start with today...

So, Raymond has the sleeping through the night piece well figured out, but napping is another story. Often he will cry and require rocking and cuddling in order to calm down enough to nap.

That's no problem b/c I love the close time with him, but sometimes I have 100 things to do, so I sometimes put him in his swing. He used to love it, but lately he wasn't having it. Today, however, I gave it a whirl and he did well for a few minutes and started fussing...

Pacifier! Nope. Blanket! Nope.

What could help him? Teddy Bear? Yep. He grabbed that bear, snuggled with it and closed his eyes!! He found a "lovey" to help him sleep instead of his mommy! I'm both excited and sad...

Excited that he is growing just a little more independent and finding appropriate ways to cope with separations, but sad that he's growing up and is needing me a little less. But more happy than not. It was awesome to see his attachment to his teddy bear!

Catching Up

Thanks to my friend, Christa, I found this blogging site to keep everyone updated on what we are doing and, of course, on Baby Raymond's development! He's changed so much in the last 3 1/2 months... I am just so glad to have a place to document his accomplishments!

I'm betting the time and energy I put into this site will be appreciated by those of you with whom I am very close... especially family. So, I will keep you all in mind to keep me motivated to add to this site frequently. This will be fun!!

Ah, where do I begin?

...The beginning, right?