The Ramos Family

I had mentioned in a previous post last month that Maria would be selling Girl Scout cookies for the first time this year. She officially started on January 17th and has until the 31st. Their troop is trying to earn a 'fun day' together! She has done a good job selling so far, we had scrapbooking at our house last weekend and she asked everyone that came over and we spent a little bit of time on the phone yesterday calling other family members. She talked to Grandpa Don, Uncle Rob & Auntie Drea - and Auntie Drea said she was very impressed that Maria was calling and asking for herself. Maria didn't want to at first but I would make the phone call and do a 'warm transfer' and she did a good job. We'll be making a few more calls today as well but I thought I'd let others know what's available - there are two new kinds of cookies, Lemon Chalet Cremes and Dulce de Leche, and one favorite that isn't available, the All Abouts (don't ask me, it wasn't my choice - it's one of my favs too!)! Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Trefoils and Sugar Free Chocolate Chips are still available. Check out detailed descriptions and nutrition information here if you're interested! And, of course, if you would like to place an order, just give us a call or submit a comment and I'll get back to you! Thanks to everyone for your support!!!

I can hardly believe we've been blessed with our little man for nine months already! The time is truly flying by! He had his nine month checkup last Monday and here are his stats (I actually had the doctor write them down for me this time!):

Weight: 18.6 lbs (below 50th percentile)

Height: 29 inches (75th percentile)

Head: 18.24 inches (75th percentile)

Fortunately, he didn't have to get any shots this time! The doctor said the only thing they sometimes want to check is lead levels in the blood, depending upon the age of your house as well as how mobile the baby has become. We opted to wait until next time to test that. He does scoot around on the floor, military crawling, but actually prefers to be standing up most of the time. He doesn't (won't) spend much time is the exersaucer anymore, he prefers to be free standing. He works his way around the outside of the exersaucer and his stand up Leap Frog table toy. He now has four teeth, his two bottom and recently his two uppers came in - he will sometimes grind them together - YUCK!

Other things he is doing/likes:

He loves to eat table food, especially if he can feed it to himself. He is not a fan of baby food fruit but will gobble up small cut up pieces of fresh fruit like it's going out of style. He loves veggies - whether it's baby food or cooked, he sets a great example for his sisters who are much bigger fans of fruit than veggies!

When you put your hands out to pick him up or take him from someone, he reaches out his arms and leans towards you (usually with a big smile). But he also likes to push away from you - I think he just wants to take off running and be part of everything his big sisters are doing. He's always craning his neck to see what they're up to (usually in the play room, making a lot of noise). He always has a big smile for them the moment he sees them, either in the morning or when they come home from school! He's still high maintenance as ever, and as much as we sometimes claim he has ADHD, we've been told over and over 'he's just a boy' - so different from what our girls were like at this age! But we wouldn't change it (or him) for the world, he has a vibrant personality and a definite passion for what he wants in life (yes, already - just ask Grammy - it doesn't matter WHAT it is he wants, he just wants it now with complete certainty!)! He makes all of us laugh, pretty much daily, and we couldn't imagine life any differently now! Love you Renzy Roo Roo (this is Bella's new nickname for him, I'm sure Daddy will put an end to that before he gets too old)!!!

Here are some recent pics of our Little/Big/Mr. Man:

It didn't take long after Christmas break for our lives to return to the same old craziness as before break! Back to homework, piano, early bedtimes and too much to do and too little time in the day! I feel that is my constant battle, trying to find the balance between work, school, me time and family fun - I'm sure I'm not alone. I love my job, love the fact that I get to work from home everyday and have the flexibility to schedule my day - I don't know how I used to do it when I was in the office everyday! But along with that comes working day AND night - whether that's because I have scheduled my day that way or because I just have that much work to do, it's so easily accessible! I know what it comes down to is being more proactive and scheduling my days more efficiently and I'm hoping that things will settle down in the next few weeks to come. I know, poor me :o( I know this sounds like complaining but really - I love my life and I'm very grateful to have it so filled to the top. I'm just working towards a little more downtime, not just for me but for my family - I think we'd all benefit from that!

Last Friday night, Paul & I took the girls bowling - it was more for us to practice with our new balls (yes, we have our own balls now......hehehehe) since we both bowled in league on Saturday night. We were next to another family - actually a dad, a little boy and another older boy, and we had fun cheering each other on! On Saturday, I took down most of the Christmas decorations, including the tree and Paul steam cleaned all of the carpets in the house. Man were they dirty! We wanted to get them cleaned up now that Mr. Man is on the verge of crawling all over the place. Saturday afternoon, we headed to Uncle Matt & Auntie Missy's house, they were going to watch the kids for us while we bowled. I had to warn them about Lorenzo, he's been a total crank bomb for about two weeks (for proof, see The Pelletier Family blog - post from last week, you'll see evidence by way of actual tears rolling down his face) - his top two teeth are coming in so it's made our normally high maintenance boy into an ULTRA high maintenance child! I'm sure he just doesn't feel well but it doesn't seem there is ANYTHING that makes him feel better!

Sunday morning, Auntie Missy dropped Gen off at our house while she & Matt helped out/watched Noah's jamboree hockey tourney. Gen came with us to church - we were a little late in getting there and mass had already started, we had to sit outside of the church in the lobby because it was so packed (now that's a good thing!)! After church, we got some donuts then we had to drop Gen & Lorenzo off back at home and the girls and I headed to swimming lessons. This session, Maria & Jon are in the same swimming class and Bella & Nick are too! Their teachers said they did really well - after Myra and I let them know they were all cousins, hopefully they won't goof around too much! After swimming, the girls and I went home so they could have a quick bite to eat then we packed up Lorenzo and went to Auntie Juli & Uncle Dan's house. They watched Lorenzo for us so the girls & I could go to Grandma Kay's concert/performance at the St. Paul Seminary/School of Divinity. Grandma has been singing in the Chorale for 20+ years now and last year, Bella used to go with her to practices on Wednesday afternoons. The service was very nice and the music was beautiful - there was a reception afterwards so the girls ate some chicken wings, crackers and cheese and of course, cake! We then had to head back to Auntie Juli's to pick up Lorenzo and get back home for Maria's piano lessons with Tito Joey! It was a busy, tiring day!

This weekend is much more laid back. Grandma Kay ended up getting the stomach flu so stayed home to rest on Friday so I took the day off from work - but I did have some conference calls scheduled that I needed to attend so Paul worked from home as well so, between the two of us we took care of the boy. I got a lot of my cleaning done while Lorenzo was napping - it's very nice to start the weekend off with a clean house and most of the laundry done! Today is scrapbooking day so there are some people coming over later in the afternoon to scrapbook - or just hang out, whatever they choose to do! Tomorrow is church and swimming lessons. The girls don't have school on Monday, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day so Paul took the day off as well. Lorenzo has his nine month checkup in the morning, then I think we might head to the Mall to use up the free wristbands at Nickelodeon Universe. It should be a fun-filled day!

One of the gifts we gave the girls for Christmas was a snow tube so over the break, we headed over to St. John Vianney to try it out. We also brought their old, plastic sleds along. The tube was so much fun! It was a double seater so Paul & I both took turns going down the hill with the girls. But we soon discovered that we either exceeded the weight limit or we simply bought a 'cheap' tube...... the air was almost out of it entirely after 4-5 rides down the hill! We used the sleds a little bit but man, that was rough! Paul went searching for a tube and new sleds but a lot of places didn't have much left. We might have to wait until next year! After we were done sledding, we went home and had some hot chocolate, YUM!