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?