He has arrived!

Joseph Andrew Ramirez has arrived!
He was born on November 11, 2009 weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and 20in. in length!

The labor and delivery went very well and only lasted about 15 hours. I started out wanting to do the whole thing natural but after about 10 hours I gave in and got an epidural. I had no idea how much it would do. I took a 20 min. nap during labor.....it's a miracle drug let me tell you! We were discharged on Friday afternoon and were so happy to get him home.
I always thought women were so funny when they became moms and thinking that their child is the most perfect child and most beautiful child born to this earth. Well I now know what they are feeling because I am now one of those women! I am obsessed with our little man! He makes me so incredibly happy. I can't stop staring at him.
On Sunday we had to go back into the hospital because Joseph had jaundice pretty bad. It broke our hearts to see our baby boy go through so much. They were trying to start an IV and ended up sticking him 4 times and still never being able to get a vein. It wore us out! Then he had to lay in a "Bili Bassinet"....basically his first tanning bed...for 24 hours. The only time I could take him out was to change him. It was very hard looking over at him and not being able to hold him! But he was a trooper and we made it through and are back home now!

He was being such a good boy!

Sorry it has been forever since I have posted any updates. I have been bugged by everyone so here we go again. Let's see if I can get on that bandwagon once again of keeping everyone updated with the going ons of our life.

About a month and a half ago I got a great promotion at work and moved into the sales office at the hotel. It has been a WILD and CRAZY ride but I have learned so much through this transition. It really wasn't great timing seeing as how I am pregnant and would be taking a leave of absence soon but it has all worked out!

A couple weeks after I started in the sales office, we had a little visitor come by our back docking area at the hotel....an 8 week old little white lab puppy. After getting her checked-out and cleaned up I brought her home and we have been in love with her ever since. She is the most precious little puppy I could ever imagine. I didn't want to leave her at home by herself while we came up to Dallas a couple weekends ago for a baby shower so we brought her with and she was a HUGE hit. Our little man will have a great puppy to grow up with and play with.

So now to the important stuff....the BABY!!! This past weekend JoJo, Joseph, Fran, and myself completely emptied out the babies' room and ripped up all the carpeting and base and put down new wood floors. We are finally coming to a close with putting up the final touches like the base and crown and then we can move everything back in. I will post all the remodel pictures once we are completely finished with the room.

As of tomorrow, I am considered full term and can have the baby any day and he will be just fine. It's truelly hit us now that we are going to be parents. Last night JoJo and I were laying in the living room talking about how close he really is to being here with us. We both admitted we were starting to get nervous about being parents and wondering if we are really ready. I'm assuming this is something all first time parents go through at some point simply because you will be in charge of creating and molding a new life. That's a LOT of pressure. The feeling of excitement and anticipation, however, far out weighs the anxiety and nervousness!

Oh Joy it's a Boy!

The baby shower for our little man came and went this past weekend and it was perfect! Very laid back and relaxing, which allowed me to chat with girlfriends that I hardly get to see anymore! I couldn't have asked for a better time! PLUS, we got some pretty adorbale stuff! Once we got home and were looking for more space to store all the baby stuff we decided to designate an entire closet to baby stuff! It's amazing how much space baby things can take up! And by the way if you haven't seen a closet with little baby clothes hanging up in it, you are missing out on one of the cutest things EVER!!! A huge closet with tiny little hangers and tiny little overalls and onsies! ADORABLE!!!!

Every other Monday, Joseph and I go to a parenting class through Heartbeat Pregnancy Center and let me tell you, the attendees are quite interesting! This past Monday was breast feeding week! How exciting for the guys, huh? I think the best part about it was that we were maybe 2 min. late and so we had to sit in the front of the circle, next to the speaker, and also directly next to the huge fake boob and plastic baby. I guess you could say I'm still a little immature, but at certain points I couldn't help but giggle when the speaker attatched the huge fake boob to her chest and would pretend to nurse the plastic baby. And when you are sitting right up front where everyone is watching and you begin giggling.....the moment becomes very awkward very quickly! Oh well, what are you going to do?

Comal Conundrum

This past weekend JoJo, Fran, Joseph, and myself met up with Elena ( JoJo's sister) and some of her friends in Gruene, TX. Gruene, TX is a town that according to the rest of the world does not exist. We tried putting it in my GPS and looking in two seperate atlases and it is no where to be found. So with a couple wrong turns here and there and some shady directions, we made it to Gruene and suited up to float down the Comal River. The weather was gorgeous and the river was much warmer than usual and also much lower. With the lack of rain that most of Texas has gotten the rivers were all very low. We ended up taking the long 4 hour float, but due to the low level of water, at a lot of points, there was absolutely no river flow so it ended up taking us almost 6 hours. Talk about exhausting. Having to paddle myself in the burning sun for 6 hours and also being 6 months pregnant. But none the less, as tired as we all were, it was nice to get out of Nac for a while to see Elena, and be in the water.
The ironic thing about all of this is that I had just convinced JoJo to come with some friends and I to float the river the end of August. Needless to say I'm thinking our plans have changed and we won't be returning anytime soon unless some miracle happens and Texas gets over a foot of rain in the next 3 weeks. (I'm not holding my breath)


On a side note, my great friend Dana is throwing me a baby shower for the little man this Saturday, August 8th and I am so excited! I'm really more excited to see all my girlfriends than I am to be getting all the baby stuff! But all the cute baby gifts come in a close second! At this point in time we are still curious as to where we will be putting all this baby stuff but we have put it in God's hands and trust that he will take care of our family. People are asking us all the time if we are worried or stressed about the whole situation but it really hasn't bothered us as of yet. I haven't felt the HUGE desire to put together a baby room yet or anything so we are just keeping our options open, staying relaxed, and taking everything a day at a time.

Life is good!

The two month mark of being married is coming up and things couldn't be better! Joseph and I both have jobs that we enjoy, family and friends that love us, a roof over our heads, and a baby that is coming soon to a hospital near you!
About 4 weeks ago Fran (Joseph's mom) brought us into the office and we did an ultrasound. Much to our surprise, we found out that we are going to be having a BOY! The second that little penis showed up on the screen Joseph was jumping up and down....literally. So, we are now preparing for a little man to join us in only a few more months!
I am now 24 weeks along and I feel like I have a kickboxer in my stomach. It's insane how much this little guy moves around. But I would much rather be feeling him move around like crazy than not be able to feel him move at all. Just yesterday I saw one of his kicks under my shirt. Talk about WEIRD! It almost creeped me out because it looked like one of those movies when the alien is about the rip out of the person's stomach. But, thank God, no alien popped out and soon after that I quickly became infatuated with starring at my belly waiting for the next kick.