Daniel James Jr

Daniel James Jr is a pint sized ball of love right now. We even got a thumb's up from him:)

(did I just spill the beans?)

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again

So it's 3:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. At least I woke up in time to remember that the Jeep was parked on the street and my loving husband got up and parked it in the drive way (to avoid an annoying ticket). No parking on the city streets from 2am to 6am November 1 through April 30. A little ridiculous in my opinion, but I know it's for the snow plows (if we'll even really get snow this year). The snow we did get is all gone, and it's been raining, yes raining, all night long.

On another note, I have most of the house packed up and in the living room. We leave in 7 days! This would be a lot easier if I could just focus on getting it all done at once, but life with little kids (and a short attention span) don't really make that possible. Daniel finished clearing, so he might be able to occupy the girls for a few hours so I can organize all the boxes and move the big furniture around. We plan on having the house completely packed and ready to be moved before we hit the road next Friday, that way when we come back (after finding a place in AL) we can just throw it all on the moving truck and drive South again.

We have a realtor. We got pre-qualified for a home loan. I'm nearly 11 weeks pregnant. We aren't moving to Korea for another 2 years. We are moving back down to the dirty dirty until that time. Anything else I haven't told you all? I'm sure there is, just can't think of it right now. Here's to a stress free move (I hope it'll start being stress free now...the past 2 months have been rough to say the least).

Yuck

So I broke down and ate some Cam's pizza just now. It was good while it was on my tongue, and now that 3 slices are in my belly I'm feeling sick and gross. I knew this was going to happen. The slices were not the huge ones that you normally get, they were from a small pizza, but they are not sitting well nonetheless. Why didn't Daniel stop me from buying this? Rather, he told me to go ahead and eat it. Maybe he wants me to learn things the hard way. He said he'd rather have me eat a lot of junk than hardly eat anything at all. Well, tomorrow our juicer is suppose to arrive, so maybe that will help me "eat" (drink) more nutrients. Nothing is very appealing now-a-days, well nothing but junk. And then when I do break down and buy the junk it's gross and so very unsatisfying. I remember being pregnant with Yahaira and wanting McMuffins and sloppy joes. Israella I craved sugar (like Snickers and gummies and junk). Now it's greasy food and more junk.

More pictures

Here are some pictures of the gang. We are all doing well. I am a little tired, but seem to have caught my second wind (at 7:30 at night). I probably should have just gone to sleep at 6pm when I was exhausted. Now I'll most likely be laying awake until 10pm. Oh well.

Yahaira is adjusting to being a big sister very well.

She loves to give Israella kisses and toys to play with.

Here is Daddy, and his girls. Israella was just born.

The Ramirez granddaughters: Isabella, Israella and Yahaira.

Having some Mommy time:)

Daddy, Israella, Yahaira and Grandma Kelly.

Bright eyed and 5 days old.

This picture is so adorable!

I must say that Daniel and I do make beautiful babies:)

ISRAELLA IS HERE!

So Israella Grace Ramirez was born on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 7:55pm. She was 8 pounds 0.5 ounces, 21 inches long. She is such a little cutie:) The last hour of my labor was more intense then when I had Yahaira, but that's what happens when you go from 5 to 10 cm in less than an hour. Israella was out in 2 or 3 pushes, I don't remember exactly. All I remember was that it was quick, THANK YOU LORD! Here are some pictures of her. I have more on my phone, but still need to upload them onto the computer. I literally just got home from the hospital:)

Here is a picture of Yahaira.

She's adorable:)

A Fun Day

So today has been a rather productive day. I managed to crochet this adorable hat out of some scrap yarn I had. The pattern I "followed" called for the hat to meet at 4 points and then have 4 pom poms, but I modified it to make it easier for me.

Such a great baby model. The doll is about the real size of a newborn, maybe a little bigger.

And here is Yahaira, not a flattering picture, but she wanted it to be taken none the less.

As you can tell, today has been a pajama day. It's now 4pm and Yahaira and I are still in our pjs. They are comfy and warm...which is a must since we pay WAY too much to keep our house cold. We got the heating bill today: $431! Ridiculous! Live and learn I guess. I will never "lock in" my gas prices again because we did that last year...because rates were suppose to go way up. Well, they have actually dropped A LOT and we are stuck with the high locked in price. STUPID TAX as Dave Ramsey would say. Oh well, I cancelled the contract today, but we have to pay exit fees.

On another note, some friends came over to have lunch, play with Yahaira and make homemade laundry detergent. Out of the 6 little ones in the house, only 2 helped...a third one got interested at the very end. It was super easy to make and I think it was fun.

We also got to see another friend and her oldest when they stopped by to drop some stuff off for Israella. I can't wait to find out what she's having so I can crochet her a cute gift before they move in March.

I'm still prego,but we'll see if I've dilated any more tomorrow. I also better remember to find out which days my midwife is on call because I would much rather have her deliver Israella than a doctor I haven't met. Ok, I've met one of the other doctors, but I've been seeing Lucy (my midwife) for every visit except 1. I'm just praying that she'll be on call if I give birth at night or on the weekend. There is power in prayer, and I'm going to tap into it!:)

Wintery Fun

Last Saturday Yahaira got to go on 2 special dates! What a lucky girl:) First I took her to the kiddie pool on post and we went swimming. Daniel was suppose to go cross country skiing with a friend, so he didn't come along. When we got home Daniel was still there, still waiting for his friend. Well, the guy never showed up. So Daniel decided to take Yahaira ice skating while I cleaned the church. Yahaira loves going on special dates with her Daddy.

Ice skating by herself (with the help of the bar thing).
Here she is at the mall in a little helicopter thing...man, what a special Saturday.

We went outside to play this morning, it's very nice out...32F and no wind:) I did my best to induce labor, but to no avail....not really, but I did pull Yahaira around the back yard in a sled for awhile. We made Frosty and Crystal, ate yummy white snow, enjoyed my drawn sleigh rides and chucked snowballs at huge iceicles.

Shoveling some snow.

Yahaira, Crystal and Frosty

Enjoying the Mommy drawn sleigh ride.

Almost There!

Let me start off this blog with 2 adorable pictures of Princess Yahaira. She is so bright and cheery this morning.

Well, I am 38 weeks today:) 2 more to go! I saw my midwife this past Wednesday and she was surprised at how low Israella already was. She said that she couldn't get lower without falling out. I remember that Dr. Heim had made the same comment when I was pregnant with Yahaira. I hope that is a sign that my labor will be short and sweet again. I did manage to get some good sleep last night. I slept from 9pm to 11:30pm! Woohoo! I was then out from midnight to 3:30am, got up and made Daniel an omelet for breakfast (he started his Ch-47F flying in the actual aircraft today...and he had to be to work by 5:45am). I went back to sleep after he left at 5:15am and managed to sleep until 8am. I guess that the hardest part for me is getting to sleep, but once I'm out I manage to get 3 hour blocks of sleep.

My mission for today is to do laundry (3+ loads), organize Daniel's office, price brakes and rotors for the car, help Yahaira clean her playroom, sand and paint a small wall shelf for Israella's room, sweep and wash the floors, clean the bathroom and make a trip to the post office. All before nap time! It's only 9am, I can get it all done before 2pm:)

Times Ticking

So I was sitting in Sunday School this morning and noticed that I was swelling by the second. Now it was not anything to be alarmed at, just the regular water retention that comes with the joys of being pregnant. I was amazed that I have managed to go 8 whole months without swelling or getting fat in places other than my mid-section. My hands swelled so much that I struggled to get my wedding ring off my finger. 3 hours have since passed, and I'm not as swollen. My ring is back on it's finger, but I feel like I'm still retaining some water. Just under 4 weeks to go, I think that I can manage.

A Baby Shower!

Well, today I was greatly surprised by my wonderful friends who threw me a baby shower. I thought that I was going to my friend's house for a ladies tea thing, an adult version of the Princess Party she had last year, but nope. I was truly surprised! Thanks Cheryl, Heather, Shelley, April, Audra, Diana, Kate, Courtney! Sorry we missed you Summer, but thanks for the adorable card and gifts! I can't believe Cheryl was able to keep it a secret for so long, I probably would have slipped up and accidentally said something about it. I guess it helps when you don't talk much about the tea party (your cover for the party). Thanks for all the wonderful presents!


And to end the day on a great note, Daniel and I got to go on a date. We were going to go to Sackets Harbor and eat dinner, but plans changed. I brought home some yummy snacks from the shower, and Daniel ate them all while we were waiting for the babysitters to arrive. So needless to say, we weren't very hungry when we finally set out. Instead we went to the Greek restaurant in town, got some fries and tzasiki and a yummy Greek custard dessert. Then we looked around at some stores. We were going to go buy our crown moulding, but when we got to Lowes we learned that the crown moulding advertised on sale was not actually on sale, it was suppose to be the baseboards and casings. Oh well. Maybe I'll go back next week and buy just enough to finish our bedroom.

It's 10pm and I'm exhausted. I'll update more later:)

Raking Leaves

This afternoon we worked on getting the yard ready for winter. We raked up and bagged the leaves that were in the driveway, and then worked on the back yard. We got the driveway and about 1/3 of the backyard done.

Yahaira chilling on the deck.

She's the boss: "Get back to work Daddy"

Bagging up a big pile of leaves.Oh, there's the pregnant belly. Cute, I know:)

Rest

So as I write this I am being lulled by the sound of the washing machine and the dryer, such soothing sounds to me. Weird, I know, but there is no one else in the house right now, and the calm is so refreshing. Daniel and Yahaira just left to go hang out at a friend's house. Daniel was going to go on his own, but then Yahaira asked him, "Daddy, I go to?" Daniel couldn't resist. Aw, how adorable! Heather, David and Olivia went out too (they're staying with us until David deploys next week).

So here I am blogging and eating my yummy salad. My salad really just consists of things I found in my fridge: spinach, tomato, carrot and zucchini. The dressing is a homemade balsamic vinaigrette: some extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and the juice of 1 lime. I have realized that since Daniel's been home, we have not been eating very healthy. I then weighed myself this morning and realized that I've put 17 pounds on during this pregnancy so far, and I'm only half way through! So, so long junk food and hello healthy snacks:) My goal was no more than 25 pounds for the pregnancy, so I'd really better curb the junk food if I still want to stick to it.

More Baby Pictures:)

Our cute Munchkin:)
Yesterday I had another ultrasound (to see if things are resolving themselves) and I got 2 very cute pictures of munchkin. I actually got a total of 4 pictures, but the other 2 are not as flattering (the poor kid looks like a mean chihuahua in one and an alien in another one...they were face pictures instead of profile ones) The ultrasound tech wouldn't tell me anything though. I asked if i still had the blood clot and she kept a poker face and said that I would have to discuss that with my doctor (which I don't see until NEXT Tuesday). Oh well. I might call my doctor today and see what's up. Other than that, not much is super new.The baby is rather active, I feel Munchkin moving around quite often now:) Yea!!! Daniel is heading home soon......October gets closer every day! I am going to buy our plane tickets for Turks and Caicos today or tomorrow...because they just keep going up in price. I should have bought them over a month ago and saved myself $500. Oh well. Yahaira is going to love her birthday vacation!

A video and update

Here is a video of Yahaira playing on a playground at a rest stop in Maryland. She saw it and got super excited about being able to run around and go on the slides. She is even becoming quite the little dare devil...wonder where she gets that from...hmmm?

On another note, not much is new with us. I finally went to the doctor today and got to hear the baby's heart beat:) YEA!!! I had a little scare last week (while we were out of town) when I started to cramp and bled some too. But, it looks like all is going well, praise the LORD! I get to have an ultra sound next week just to make sure, but I feel fine now:) I'm already 4 months along! Woohoo! Almost half way there! I'm beginning to get a belly and show more. I haven't gotten too big because I still fit most of my clothes. I've gained 6 pounds so far, and I'm hoping to only gain 25 at most! I guess that's what a week of eating unhealthy fast food does to you...gets you to gain 5 pounds. Maybe I can walk of that fast food weight.

Well, I'm getting tired and am ready for my nap. More later!

Another one on the way!

Hello again from beautiful Watertown! I have been trying to play catch up this past week, and it seems to be spilling into this week as well. Oh well, maybe some day I'll finally get everything done that I need to. As I sit at the desk I am staring at all the clutter on top of it...text book, dictionaries, my Bible, day planner, DVDs, a water bottle, a sippy cup and so much more. It just reminds me of all the stuff waiting for me to accomplish! Well, at least I can say that I did get Daniel's paper edited and so now he has one last thing to worry about. He is nearing the end of his English class, which I know is a HUGE relief for him!

We have some very wonderful news to share with everyone....we are going to be having another baby! We didn't plan on getting pregnant while Daniel was home on leave, but the LORD was planning on it I guess:) Our little munchkin is due in mid February. Yahaira says that she wants a sister, so I have told her to pray to Jesus for one. It is so cute to see her sit down and earnestly pray for a sister. Oh the faith of children! God is really using Yahaira's simple faith to convict and teach me to have the same kind of faith in Him.

Today the girls and I, and one of my Pastor's kids, went strawberry picking. It was nice and we got close to 8 pounds of strawberries! I got a few cute pictures. On the way home from picking we stopped by a waterfall and took a picture. It was fun, though Yahaira was afraid of a big hairy caterpillar on a leaf that we walked past.