Cool babies wear their headbands to the side!

It's been awhile since I have posted a Ramona update, so I thought I would take some time to catch you up. Here's what we have been working on since our last posting:

1. Sitting up/balancing on her booty. This is a tricky game, because at any moment she could do a nose dive into the carpet. But she is doing pretty well. She looks so cute propped up on the couch.

2. Sleeping through the night (Round 2). You might have known that just 1 month ago, Ramona was sleeping 11 hours at night. ELEVEN HOURS!! It was awesome. She kept this up for several months. Yes, we were "those parents". We would smile and shrug when other parents would ask us how we managed to get our 3 month old to sleep that long. "What a good baby!" they would say. And then out of no where, she started waking up one and two times a night. So, at five months old she is sleeping 6-8 hours at night. Not too bad.

Side Note: I read my baby bible (Baby 411) and it turns out we are doing everything wrong sleep wise. Here's the checklist:

- Lay her down while is still awake, but almost sleeping. (She Cries...Loudly)

- Don't give her a pacifier because she will wake up crying if it's gone. (Whoops we do that too!)

- Don't let her fall asleep for the night while feeding. (But that's how she goes to sleep!)

- Don't feed her during the night, offer her a pacifier first. A five month old can go 6 hours with out eating at night. (What?!? Doesn't that conflict with a previous rule? And eating will put her back to sleep, I've got work in the morning!)

RANT: And since I mentioned work, how the heck can all these Mom's afford to stay home? Even with rising gas prices and paying $825 a month for daycare, I still can't afford to quit working and stay home. That's crazy! It's like paying rent for a separate baby apartment. I've run the budget and cut out EVERYTHING... Tivo, Netflix, gym membership, cable, the cat. And we still come up short. Somebody please email me your budget and how you afford to live on a single income. Because I would love to stop paying someone to raise my baby. Rant over.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures!

5 generations. Ramona and I are looking the

wrong way, because there are two cameras.

He's Baaaack! (UPDATED)

Sooo, does anyone want an adorable orange cat? Pumpkin is full of personality, but Chris and I do not have time to pay attention to him with a newborn in the house. It is better for him and us if he finds another family that will love him and give him the attention he deserves. Here are his selling points:
1. He's the fuzziest.
2. He's litter box trained and outdoor trained.
3. He has thumbs/mittens. (polydactyl)
4. VERY affectionate
5. He's independent. All he wants is to play outdoors.
6. He's fixed.
7. He's handsome, all your neighbors will envy you.
8. He alerts you if there are bugs in the house. He was a lifesaver when we had roaches!
9. You can leave him with a pile of food and go out of town with out worrying about him. But he also travels well!
10. He comes with all his own stuff. No need to buy anything!

You may be asking yourself, "If he's so great, why are they getting rid of him?" Good Question! It breaks my heart to give him away, we have had him for 4 years. But with Ramona learning to crawl soon and playing on the floor/eating the carpet. I can't take any chances with germs. Honestly it freaks me out. And Pumpkin feels abandoned, because he used to be the baby. If Ramona was a few years older, then it would be fine. But I can't time travel, nor would I want to. So if anyone is interested in an awesome cat, please check out the craigs list posting below and let us know if you would like to meet him.

http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/811264038.html

UPDATE: It looks like Lt. Pumpkin will remain in the family. My parents have offered to take him into their home until my brother finds an apartment. Then, hopefully, my brother can officially adopt him. Watch out, ladies, soon there will be two handsome devils livin' it up in their very own bachelor pad! When I told Pumpkin about this new plan, he told me (with his eyes) that he was excited about moving back to San Antonio. But, nevertheless he was very hurt because he obviously had no idea we were trying to give him away on Craig's List. And with that, he left the room to take a 12 hour nap. Thanks, Mom, Dad and Mark!

She Rolls!!

She's done it! Ramona has rolled over and let me capture it on film! She rolled over for the first time a few days ago but refused to do it again in front of the camera. She's not a circus monkey for heaven's sake! So I now have 15 movies of her almost rolling over and one movie of her rolling over completely in the poorest quality a digital camera has ever filmed. See for your self below, it looks like I filmed it 20 years ago. (Don't panic, Dad, I didn't film it with your fancy video camera. I used my digital camera.) The video is not too long, but she doesn't roll over until the very end. But she doesn't disappoint. While you are waiting for the main event, you get to see her grab her toes and make various baby noises.

I couldn't get the video to upload, so I put it on YouTube. Enjoy!

YouTube - Roll Baby Roll!

Farewell Lt. Pumpkin

Lt. Pumpkin, our cat, moved out tonight. It has been inevitable ever since Ramona was born. He is not a fan of Ramona. He especially hates it when she cries and interrupts his nap. But don't worry about Pumpkin, he has moved in with our friends, Austin and Kirsten. (Thank you so much, by the way!) So, are you wondering what the final straw was? MICE! I guess Pumpkin has been feeling a little ignored lately, so he started bringing home gifts. LIVE gifts and setting them loose in the house. Now, I previously mentioned that Chris was out of town. So who had to catch and get rid of the mice? ME! That is so not in my job description. Here's how it went down:

Mouse #1 (6:00 a.m.)—I chase him around the house, following closely behind Pumpkin, and finally corner the little guy behind the toilet. Then as quickly as possible I trap him in a Christmas popcorn tin and set him free out side near the neighbor's yard. I quickly throw on some clothes and take the baby to Wal-mart to buy 16 glue traps.

Mouse #2 (4:30 a.m.)—Pumpkin has a mouse cornered behind the kitchen trash can, which is where I placed one of the glue traps. So the mouse is stuck and PISSED. Long story short, we have a mouse dying a slow death in our outside trash can. I felt bad putting him in there, but what was I supposed to do!?! Maybe he chewed himself free.

And then, of course, Pumpkin hobbled into my room a couple hours later with a glue trap stuck to his leg. So, I put him in the outside trash can too...Just kidding. I pulled it off and sent him on his way.

He remembers when he was our baby.

So handsome!

Lt. Pumpkin, you will be missed.

Water Baby

Well, Ramona visited the pool for the first time this weekend! Here's how it went:

1. She arrives at the pool wearing the tiniest swimsuit I have ever seen.

2. We put her in the water...and she hates it!

3. We get in trouble for bringing a camera to a public pool.

4. She gets sunscreen in her eye.

5. She gets a heat rash.

6. She cries.

7. We leave.

This all added up to a grand total of 20 minutes. But doesn't she look cute!

Beautiful baby!

It's nice to get away from daycare and just RELAX once in a while!

One too many bottles of milk...

She is not sure about this.

"Why on earth would they bring me here?"

Hey There Ramona

I was listening to the radio today and the song "Hey There Delilah" came on for about the zillionth time, so of course I started singing along because I know most of the words. Only this time I was substituting the name Delilah with Ramona, because I thought it was cute. (And if I got good at it, then I could sing it to Ramona later without her judging me when I forget the words.) Anyway, I almost started crying when I listened to some of the lyrics (Bear with me! You might be crying by the end of this blog too!):

"Hey there Ramona, don't you worry about the distance, I'll be there if you get lonely, give this song another listen..."

"A thousand miles seems pretty far, but they've got planes and trains and cars, I'd walk to you if I had no other way..."

"Ramona, I can promise you that by the time we get through the world will never ever be the same and your to blame..."

"Hey there Ramona, you be good and don't you miss me..."

"Oh, it's what you do to me...Oh, it's what you do to me"

These corny lyrics made me cry, BECAUSE Chris is out of town for 2 weeks touring the United States with his band and all I can think about is him singing this song to Ramona!!! NOW reread the lyrics and picture Chris singing it to his baby girl. Try not to cry now, tough guy!!!

Anyway, here are some pictures that I have taken while Chris has been out of town.

Half naked pictures are strictly forbidden

This is one of her new outfits. She went on a baby shopping spree.

Another new outfit. She's the best dressed baby in daycare.

"I LOVE toys!"

How can I get any work done when this face is looking at me???

"Well, what do we have here?"

"You wanna lose a hand? Go ahead, touch this toy again"

Chris, pull yourself together now, you don't your band to see you crying.

We miss you!

The Mother's Room (WARNING: Girl Talk!)

When I'm at work I frequent "The Mother's Room" daily. In fact, I'm there so often that I feel like it should be my new office. It's quite nice! My favorite part is the giant privacy curtain you can pull around your self. However, apparently this is not everyone's favorite part of the room. Many mothers just see no need for the curtain at all. So here is my question... Am I the odd ball for not wanting my coworkers to see me in this particular situation? I don't think so! This is a moment that should only be seen by your husband and maybe your mom. And even they will be shocked the first time they see it. Picture a cow wearing a Madonna-style cone bra. It's unattractive and embarrassing. But who am I to judge other mothers who want to share it with the world?

Moo!