Category: Raymond

    Ray and Ray

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    We named Raymond after Ben’s mom’s dad – Raymond Becker. We finally got a picture of the 2 Rays together on Sunday when we celebrated Grandpa’s 86th Birthday.

    I think it is cute that they are making the same faces in these pictures. Lets smile big in this one and just slightly grin in the next… Ray and Gladys live here in Alpine now so we have been able to see them more often. It’s nice to spend birthdays and holidays with them when we can. We love Grandpa Becker and are grateful to have him close.

    Birthday Cake! Uncle Pete’s birthday as well.

     

    we made him this fancy pumpkin for his porch !

     

    and I love this picture except my baby has turned into a little boy. Look at that hair and his teeth and he just looks so big… bitter sweet for mom.

    Categories: Raymond

    Rosies Fat Lip and Ray Rays Teeth

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    Rose – all bloodied up from her walking injury

    Rose will not ride in the stroller. She turned 2 on the first of October, Just one month ago! BUT she will not ride. She wants to walk. We walk Packer to school almost everyday so now it takes us double or triple the time because we have to go Rosie Speed. She walked at cornbellies. She walked all of trick or treating. I still take the double stroller in hopes of convincing her to jump in but she never does. Last Friday she walked and she tripped and she got a fat lip and she bled a lot but, guess what? She STILL would not get in the stroller!! I finally got her home and got the blood cleaned up. She needed a sippy and blanket and 2 band aids on her feet! Her tooth looked pretty bad but has healed ok from what I can see.

    I little medicine helped too.

    I wasn’t about to put the band aid on the lip so the foot did the trick.

    And as most of these incidents go, little brother decided that he was not happy and needed to cry the whole time with her 🙂

    I’m not happy!

    Ray got 3 new teeth in October. He got one while we were in Florida and here towards the end of the month he decided to cut 2 more on top. I’m guessing the 4th top will be in soon because he has been a grouch today. He is officially our early kid. He came a little early in general and has done everything from teeth to hair to roll, sit, crawl, stand. He slept longer earlier and ate real food super early. Anyway, he is growing up fast. I think he is done nursing. Maybe once a day until I am done but he would much rather have a banana, cereal and bottle.

    I think he got some tylenol that afternoon also.

    Categories: Raymond, Rose

    8 Months

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    Ray Ray is 8 months. Rose calls him Rway Rway so it is starting to stick for me to. He is a mover. As soon as I put him down he is off looking for something to shove in his mouth or he heads straight for the stairs to do a little pulling up and climbing. Last week he learned to sit up from crawling position. Now he is pulling himself up to his knees. I think feet will come soon. He cut his 3rd tooth last week. He goes to bed at 8:30, wakes up one time during the morning hours and then stays in bed until 9am. He takes 2 naps a day. He is pretty much done with baby toys and plays with whatever the other kids leave within reach. He loves real food, loves the bottle, and still nurses but that doesn’t seem to be his go to food source anymore. He loves to sit in the booster seat at the table. I am packing up the bumbo and swing that he hasn’t used for months. Cali still mothers and smothers him. And he is just the cutest little guy when he sucks his thumb and smiles behind it.

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    Categories: Raymond

    Florida Vacation

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    Ben had a work trip to Florida so I invited myself to come with him. My sister in laws in PG all said they were willing to help with the kids so I got to go! I am not ready to be done nursing yet and middle of the night babysitting is a lot harder to ask for so Raymond got to come with. We flew out on Saturday morning and barely made our flight! We Were THE last ones to board. We changed planes in Houston and I was happy to get to sit next to Ben for the 2nd flight instead of squished between 2 grown men in the very last row. If you are a frequent flyer you KNOW that is the last place you want to be. But, again, I was happy to be on the plane at that point. Anywhere on the plane. We checked in to one of the beach hotels in Ft Lauderdale that night.

    our beach and our hotel – Bahia Mar

    We ate at a really nice Brazilian restaurant. The most authentic we’ve found to date but Raymond decided to cut a tooth right then and got super grouchy. We left in a hurry and decided not to eat out any more during our trip. We enjoyed the warm ocean water and looked at the beach while watching conference and looked at the beach while Raymond napped. We went on a couple of walks. We bought our food and snacks at 7-eleven where they were affordable. The bridges and waterways were fascinating.

    Raymond testing out the water

    Ray liked his cage for playing NOT for sleeping.

    waiting for the bridge to lower

    warm waveless water – that has been my florida ocean experience

    Monday we woke up to rain but it was warm rain. We checked out of the hotel and headed to the State Park that we had passed earlier. We went on a walk through the park and passed some amazing waterfront homes. Then we punched in the next location on our GPS and went to the FLORIDA EVERGLADES. We went on an air boat! Air boats are fun! and gliding over the grassy swamp was fun. We had a fun tour guide and saw one wild Gator, and lots of gators in their exhibit. We got back in our rental and found the SawGrass Shopping which was a HUGE mall and TONS of people were there. We people watched and window shopped and enjoyed spending the afternoon together.

    trying to capture the beauty behind us at John Birch State Park (?)

    should I take my boat or car in to town?

    Ready to go on the air boat – Ray would suck his thumb whenever he was a little worried or scared or tired.

    cutting through the grass, wind whipping through your hair, warm sun shining down…

    They call it Gator Chasing and we did find one gator and he came right up to our boat.

    Coming back in from our boat ride. About 30 minutes. 20$ per person. Raymond did not like it but finally fell asleep.

    Monday night we checked in to a new hotel where Ben had his conference. It was a little inland from the beach – the Bonaventure. We tried Lucille’s Diner and waited FOREVER for Monday night football to start – East Coast time is crazy! and parking in Florida is meant for cars not vans and SUV’s and every where we went Raymond was the star attraction. I maybe saw 10 other kids the whole time we were gone! Ben was in classes on Tuesday and Wednesday so Ray and I went on long walks around the resorts and golf course and we hung out by the pool and listened to my audio book and did a little shopping and eating.

    the new hotel pond

    the water was a little cool and Ray was nervous about the water fall.

    eating cheerios – i’m still amazed when its so warm that you don’t need a towel… weird

    The reason we ate in most nights and were glad we had two beds… the crib was a great play area but Ray DID NOT sleep in it.

    these little lizards were EVERYWHERE

    I picked Ben up at the hotel right after his last Class and we headed straight for the airport. We experienced the 9:00 hour 3 different times with the time changes but we eventually got back to SLC and home to our beds and Raymond finally slept without me! I enjoyed my vacation. It was fun to try new things and new places and be the minority and take a break from cooking and cleaning and have more time with Ben. I didn’t hear the word mom for 5 days! that was weird. We missed the kids and were excited to pick them up Thursday morning!

     

    Categories: Ben, Jana, Raymond

    two babies

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    Rose has been so sweet with Ray Ray this week. She plays with him and shows him how toys work and today she was crawling around with him and needed her clothes off because Ray’s clothes were off…

    Categories: Raymond, Rose

    Chubby Cheeks

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    On Sunday Night Sean and Joel took a picture of Raymond (top picture) and in my head I could see that picture. Like I remember having one just like it of Benji so I finally got on the computer to see. I found the picture of Benji  (middle picture). Benji was around 5 months old, 20 pounds and we were visiting Than and Erica in Michigan. They are the same pajamas and Ray is 7 months 20 pounds so I tried to reenact the picture again last night (bottom pic.) but this is as close as I could get. It’s actually pretty tough to squeeze the baby’s cheeks, get him smiling, eyes open through the flash and take the picture. Anyway, I love my cute chubby babies, all 5 of them!

    Categories: Benji, Raymond

    Raymond is 7 Months

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    I was late on immunizations so Ray went in for a 7 month instead of a 6 month. He weighed in at 18 pounds 11 ounces and 26 inches long. He is a healthy little boy. He just started crawling on his 7 month mark. He can’t go far but he can go. Last night he crawled over and got his bottle out of the diaper bag. The other trick he is working on is crawling to sitting up. He has done it once or twice but has not mastered the self sit. He loves to eat anything that we let him. He is still a good sleeper and we just love him to pieces.

    2 weeks ago – thinking about crawling.

    Rose had some snacks and Ray wanted them SO bad. He was throwing himself up ion top of Rose and trying to steal them. It was funny.

    the thumb is just too cute

    I CAN CRAWL!!!!

    found my bottle

    moms phone is also good motivation to crawl

    Categories: Raymond

    Raymond is 6 Months

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    6 months has gone by so fast! Ray is such a good boy. A perfect fit for our family. He just learned how to sit up. He got his 2nd bottom tooth on his 6 month day. He rolls and scoots a ton and is already thinking about crawling (our kids aren’t supposed to even roll over until 8 or 9 months. Guess he’s in a hurry). He likes to be put in his bed to fall asleep which is wonderful. He has the cutest giggle/laugh. He is super tough from having Cali and Rose as play mates.

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    I love my little boy so much. We all love on him when we can. This age is so much fun. My best guess would be that he weighs about 18 pounds. Happy half birthday little buddy.

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    Categories: Raymond

    Raymond, Cousins, 9 Years

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    Ray is getting so big. He isn’t 6 months old yet and he already went and grew a tooth – his bottom right and it is a SHARP little tooth. Now he is up on his toes and knees and can get all over the place. He has reverse down and is working on his forward plunge to get where he wants to go. MY KIDS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE MOBILE UNTIL AFTER THEIR 8 MONTH MARK! He has started waking up more in the night 🙁 but he is pretty chill during the day 🙂 He can take a bottle now ( = a little freedom for me) and he likes food but is not good at eating it yet.

    you want me to crawl?

    big eater

    mr slobber with that new tooth

    Amanda and I swapped baby sitting a few times this week including Saturday so Ben and I could celebrate our anniversary. The kids loved it, cousin time really is their number one thing to do. We all watched a little Olympics together Thursday night. And I have been watching the Olympics as much as possible. It’s so fun. Last Sunday we celebrated Nettesheim birthdays at Ben’s parents and this Sunday we had more family over for dinner and games. Have I mentioned that we love our family!

    Birthday Cake for Grandpa, Emily and Udine!

    Christian loves Rosie's house

    all the kids hiding from my camera.

    We've been married for 9 years!!!

    Categories: General, Nettesheim, Raymond