The Hooah House

A long year ahead...

2011-05-22T11:56:00.000-04:00

Sadly, it's that time again: saying goodbye to daddy for a year. I'm a little nervous about what the year has in store for us, but am confident in the Lord's grace and mercy. The separation will be harder on the girls than any of us and it's my intention to help them to understand how important daddy's job is. I'm going to "try" to put some stories/comments/photos on our blog a little more often; especially since I've been so bad about it recently!

The girls!

2010-12-24T12:39:00.000-05:00

Silly girls laying around with the dogs!

Evie's new napping spot

Genna loving on Patch

Our beautiful trio

Wow, it's been a while!

2010-06-08T15:58:00.002-04:00

Gosh I'm getting lazy! I last posted at Christmas! The Ramos family is doing great and we're still lovin' our "new" house! We've added our last addition to the family recently, our Dachshund/Beagle mix, Patch. He's the perfect companion for Molly because he gets her off her butt and makes her play! He's wonderful with the kids and I think that's one of his greatest attributes (besides being a super cutie!)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-20T14:35:00.003-05:00

Seasons greetings everyone! Just like last year, we're attempting to save some paper (and some time) by eliminating Christmas cards and simply sending our well-wishes through cyberspace instead!

What are we up to? Well, this summer we moved from Fort Leavenworth, KS to Walkersville, MD and purchased our first home! We have settled in nicely and have finally finished with all of the painting and decorating. We love our new neighborhood and have made some really great friends.

Grace is in Kindergarten this year and she absolutely loves it. She is doing really well with reading and writing; we're very proud of her. Grace's favorite thing to do when she's home is play "teacher"...and what a bossy teacher she is!

Evie just turned 3 years old last month and boy is she a thinker! It's so amusing to hear the things that come out of her mouth! Recently she has decided she would rather wear diapers than use the potty, which has been very discouraging, but we're hoping she'll change her mind soon and become "a big girl".

Genna is now 15 months old and is walking and climbing all over the house. She has amazing little conversations of gibberish with herself and her sisters. She is doing really well with communicating by using signs, gestures and words.

Peter just got back from a 10 day trip to Korea and is still a little foggy from jet lag. He has been working at Fort Detrick with the 6th MLMC as the SPO S3 (lots of gibberish I know, but that's the Army for ya!) Over the next few months he'll be participating in training exercises in Korea and here in Maryland.

I have been working hard at making this house a home while caring for the girls and daddy too! If time allows I'd like to be a volunteer at our local animal shelter. I plan on making some doggie beds to donate and would like to be part of the foster program as well. I have also been working with local charities to support families in need this holiday season.

Well, that's it from us....here's hoping that this note finds everyone in good health and good spirits! We pray that you will all have a blessed holiday and very happy new year.

God Bless!
Love,
The Ramos Family
Peter, Michelle, Grace, Evie and Genna

Trimming the tree

2009-12-20T14:15:00.003-05:00

Our first "real" tree at our new house!

Genna really enjoyed eating the ornaments!

The tube that the ornaments came in proved to be more fun than the tree!

Finally got Evie interested in helping

Grace looking super cute!

Winter fun

2009-12-20T13:54:00.004-05:00

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Daddy and the girls enjoying the snow!

2009-11-06T18:19:00.002-05:00

The ferrets were having a blast playing. They're quite entertaining to watch!

The MAN room!!

2009-10-12T14:44:00.001-04:00

I actually painted and arranged the man room while Peter was away and surprised him when he got back. Of course there had to be a place for his Army guys to fight their battles!

2009-10-12T14:41:00.001-04:00

Here is my sunny sewing room. We added an area where the kids can play or draw and the room with the white wall is another part of the basement that we set up as a play area. You would think with so much for them to do we'd have lots of time to hobby down there, but that's not the case....it's always "I want to go upstairs mom"!

2009-10-12T14:38:00.003-04:00

Our beautiful kitchen and new fridge and our "sitting room" with the couches new "makeover". Still have pictures to put up in this room but it's getting there!

2009-10-12T14:35:00.001-04:00

Evie and Genna's beautiful garden room and Grace's pink and aqua fairy room

Our House

2009-10-12T14:32:00.003-04:00

Here's some pics of our cozy family room

Grace's birthday with her friends at Summer's Farm

2009-10-09T12:20:00.005-04:00

The giant bouncy pillow was a BIG hit!

Grace and her "crew"

Relaxing with Cousin River

September at the Ramos house

2009-10-09T09:33:00.006-04:00

September was a crazy time here. We had several birthday parties.....Genna celebrated her 1st birthday...twice....once with grandma Woods and again with the Ramos clan. Grace ended up getting 3 birthday parties......her "big" party with her friends was at a farm...those pics will be posted with the October blog.

Pictures of our new house

2009-06-20T16:51:00.008-04:00

Here's our new house in Walkersville, MD. It was build in 1978 and has been owned by the same people since it was brand new. After we close we plan to do a lot of updating. The house has good bones and the inspector said he wished that all the 30 year old houses he inspects were in as good shape as this one. We'll start with new paint, bead board,light fixtures and closet doors and eventually new windows for the back. Our closing is scheduled for July 16. We have a nice corner lot, 4 bedrooms and two rooms in the basement (one is going to be my sewing room!)
Since I can't figure out how to label the pictures and have the labels stay next to the right pictures....the first pic is the formal living room, then the front of the house, back yard that connects to a common area with play equipment if you go in between the two fences. The next picture is of the deck, then part of the master bedroom (I plan to cover the wallpaper with bead board). Grace's room, dining room (definately getting rid of the pink!), family room, kitchen, back of house and another shot of the front.

Here's Evie...what else can I say...she's one of a kind!

2009-02-27T15:29:00.002-05:00

The cutest girls in Leavenworth!

2009-02-23T09:01:00.001-05:00

Evie counting her toes!

2009-02-20T15:55:00.004-05:00

One morning, before church, Evie and I were sitting on my bed watching cartoons and I asked her to count her toes...she happily obliged!

Grace and the case of the wobbly tooth!

2009-02-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

A few new pics

2009-02-20T08:47:00.006-05:00

Genna's first bath experience with her sisters! It was great fun except for my aching back!

Grace wearing my latest creation, "Seeing Spots". I had leftover fabric from a previous project and thought it would make such a cute dress. It will be given as a birthday gift to one of Grace's classmates this saturday.

2009-02-01T10:35:00.003-05:00

Purses for Christmas, Grace's bedroom re-do on a budget, Evie in her jean skirt made from daddy's old jeans, another purse (this one for great grandma), Evie in her twirly jacket made by mommy, Evie, Grace, and of course, Genna!

Poor neglected blog!

2009-02-01T10:06:00.002-05:00

Wow, my poor blog feels so sad! I have to post something! What's up with us??? Well, we just found our we're going EAST!!! Yup, Fort Detrick. We plan to buy a house so we'll be flying out there in early April to take a look. I'm so excited to be closer to my family and a lot of my friends too!
The girls are all doing great. Genna is talking up a storm. That child babbles non-stop!! She forgets that she's an infant and tries to sit up. She looks like an out of shape person trying to do sit ups!
I've lost about 5 pounds and continue to go to the gym 5 or more times a week. Peter is doing good in school and looking forward to the electives part of the course when he gets finished each day before noon!
We can't believe our year is almost up here, but we're looking forward to our new home.
Oh and I almost forgot about my new toy! Peter got me a serger for Christmas. It's a BabyLock Imagine and I absolutely LOVE it! I'll post a few pictures of my latest creations along with some pics of the girls.

Homemade Gifts

2008-12-22T09:04:00.006-05:00

I've been slowly but surely starting "Gigi Designs" along with my other label "Kid Covers". This Christmas I've been hard at work making gifts for friends and family. It's been fun to see the finished products. For my niece, Ivy, I made an adorable camo pants and shirt set. For my nephew River, I made a cozy paw print fleece. It has brown pants that go with it but I forgot to take a pic of them before sending them off. My good friend and neighbor had a party for her 1 year old daughter and I made a cute cord skirt and matching top as well as a dress with lace trim. For my girls, I made the grey and pink dresses pictured at the top of the blog. I've been working hard!!

Grace's Christmas Presentation

2008-12-17T09:29:00.003-05:00

A lot to say!

2008-12-17T08:59:00.004-05:00

I so love it when Genna talks to me. Take a look at her super cuteness!

Thanksgiving at our house

2008-12-10T09:14:00.009-05:00

I'm a little behind with pictures! Anyway, we had a great thanksgiving at our house with Pete's brother Jose and his wife Jennifer.

Grace and I made some yummy sugar cookies together. She insisted on wearing her princess costume while doing it and of course it was covered with flour!

It actually snowed over the holiday weekend and the girls had a great time playing in the back yard.

After we ate, we set up the Christmas tree. This year, Evie was actually able to participate. The ornaments ended up all in the same place on the tree, but I moved them when the girls went to bed!!

Gigi got to meet her Uncle Joe and Auntie Jen!

Evie's 2nd birthday

2008-11-26T10:01:00.007-05:00

It took a while to get these up but finally, here they are. We actually celebrated Evie's birthday on 11/8. She wanted a "meow meow" cake so I granted that wish as best I could. We had our good friends over to celebrate. It was low key but a great time. Evie had so much fun opening presents this year. Every gift resulted in her looking extremely surprised and excited! It was fun watching her and makes me excited to see her at Christmas!!

"Tagged"

2008-11-20T21:08:00.004-05:00

Ok, so Connie's friend started this and Connie decided to target me as one of her "prey". Here's the rules:

1) Go to your fourth picture folder

2) Go to the fourth picture in that folder

3) Post the picture and write four things about that picture

4) Tag four people with blogs

Okay, so this is a weird pic!
Here are my four things:
1) this picture was taken at my friend Laura's house in Meriden, CT when I was home visiting in May 2007
2) Grace is playing with my friend's son, Jack
3) Apparently they were attempting to fix the chair
4) Jack seems to be laughing at Grace's inability to use a tool!

So here's the people I'm tagging......

1) Gina Home is where we hang our flag
2) Sarah Three men and a lady
3) Christie http://www.sydneywhelan.blogspot.com/
4) Meredith Ryncarz Photography

Smile!

2008-11-18T21:02:00.003-05:00

Genna frequently graces us with her toothless grin and melts my heart again and again!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-02T16:48:00.012-05:00

So our costumes don't really coordinate, but who cares!!! Pete and I had fun with the gangster/flapper look. Grace, of course had to be Ariel and Evie made the cutest witch on the block. She had the best cackle...she ran around yelling "nyaaa haa haa" all over the neighborhood! She really got a hang of trick or treating, right away, and had a fun time getting candy. We also went to a halloween party but we didn't stay long because it was bedtime for the little ones. All-in-all, it was a fun time! I can't wait for Genna to join the fun next year!

=

Girls just wanna have fun!

2008-10-30T12:02:00.005-04:00

I have to admit, I love having girls! I get to be cheesy once and a while and dress them all alike. One thing I love to do is get them matching PJ's. I love the Gap pajamas and found these adorable little owl sets. So.....we had to do the token picture of them all wearing them at the same time!

The post partum weight loss begins...

2008-10-22T20:48:00.002-04:00

Well, this Friday will be 6 weeks since Genna's birth and I've been about a pound below my pre-pregnancy weight for several weeks now. After delivering her I had about 5 lbs to lose. You might be thinking... "I hate her!" or "how did she manage that?"... Well, don't hate me...I never lost the weight I gained after having Evie, so now, even though I'm already back to where I started with Genna, I'm still 27 lbs heavier than I was when I got pregnant with Evie. So, to motivate myself, I thought I'd post my progress every once in a while. I've already been back to the gym, but it's not easy to do with a nursing baby who always wants me. Still, I've been active with the girls and very, very busy so hopefully all those burnt calories will add up! Okay, enough for now, time to go get a bedtime snack!!! (I'm not off to a good start!!)

Show me your Fuzzi Bunz!!

2008-10-20T09:52:00.002-04:00

About two weeks ago, we decided to switch to cloth diapers. I realized how much of a "contribution" I've been making to our landfills lately; having two kids in diapers. I did a lot of research and talked to other people who use cloth. The doula that was present at Genna's birth uses Fuzzi Bunz so I was able to see them in person, feel them and ask questions about them. I am so glad we switched! I love using cloth and they are so easy to use and easy to clean. Both Evie and Genna wear them and I haven't had a leak yet. When poop happens, you just dump it in the toilet...no swishing, no soaking. The diapers wash perfectly clean each time...I haven't had a stained one yet! I run the wash on the sterilize mode so I know they come out clean and then I run a "basket wash" in my machine with bleach to clean the drum but I don't think it really needs it because the machine has it's own hot water heater that gets the temp up high enough to sterilize. These diapers came with a pretty hefty up front cost but in the long run, it will be much cheaper than disposables. We've also switched to reusable wipes and we love them too! They come in all sorts of cute colors too!

She looks the most Puerto Rican of the three...

2008-10-16T18:31:00.001-04:00

Of our 3 girls, Genna seems to look the most like daddy. I've been wondering why my genes seem to overpower his but this time the Puerto Rican really came out!! Look at how cute our little Genna is....she's already 4 weeks old in these pics. I can't believe how quickly it's going.

Family Fun

2008-10-16T09:42:00.002-04:00

These pics are a little old; I've been behind with my blogging. We took the girls to this place called Powerplay for an afternoon of fun. It was actually a pretty good deal. The kids area, seen in these pics, is only $3 a kid and they can stay as long as they want and get their hands stamped and return as many times as they want. Evie really loved the ride-on toys...which we didn't have to put coins in!
Outside the small kid area there were a few rides. Grace wanted to go on the tilt-a-whirl so I figured, what the heck, I'm not pregnant anymore, I can actually go on it with her! It was so fast it almost gave me whiplash! My neck was killing me for the rest of the day!
After playing we went and ate lunch at the buffet, which, I have to admit, was very good for a buffet. I was expecting mediocre but this buffet was really awesome!

Rainy Day Fun

2008-10-02T20:40:00.008-04:00

It was a yucky day, so the girls and I decided to make some homemade ice cream. Grace got a neat little gadget for her birthday from a dear friend so we decided to try it out. Here's how we did it...

Set out the supplies

Mix the ingredients and add to a small zip lock bag

Put ice and salt in the special insulated bag.
Add the smaller bag with the ingredients and seal shut.

Then SHAKE!!!

and shake!!

Seven minutes later.......

Enjoy!

Yummy!!!

More birth pictures

2008-09-21T09:53:00.002-04:00

My midwife is applying counterpressure to my back while the other midwife and doula help me relax.

In the birthing pool in between contractions

On the birthing stool right after Genna was born

Clamping the cord after it stopped pulsating

Peter cutting the cord

Grace's Cowgirl Birthday

2008-09-21T09:21:00.005-04:00

Good times were afoot at the Ramos house as we celebrated Grace's 5th birthday. It was a miracle in itself that I was able to organize a party with a newborn in the house but it went off without a hitch! The kids did a craft, played games, ate the frosting off their cake and were off to play with Grace's new birthday toys! We had a great time hanging out with our friends!

New pictures of the Ramos girls

2008-09-18T08:50:00.003-04:00

What a joy as well as a wild ride! It feels like Genna has been part of our family for years yet she's only 6 days old. We are SO enjoying having Genna here and Grace and Evie are doing very well adjusting to their little sister.

Genna is here!

2008-09-12T21:32:00.003-04:00

Wow! What a day!!! My beautiful Genna is such a thoughtful baby...not only did she wait until after 9/11 to come out, but she also let me sleep all night, get up, shower and have breakfast before she initiated labor! I have to say it was such a relief to not have back labor this time, in fact, contractions were so incredibly tolerable for me that I didn't believe anyone that I was actually IN labor! The hard part was at the end, the pressure was SO tremendous that I was beginning to panic. The birthing pool was such a big help but when the pressure got too much I was freaking out so they took me out and put me on the birthing stool. At first I didn't want to get out, but when they said she would likely come with the next contraction if I did, I hopped right out and sat down. I remember thinking "this has GOT to be over soon because I can't do this anymore" and then she crowned. When that happened, I felt no pain at all, just pressure. I didn't even feel stinging or anything. Like I said before I was pretty much in disbelief the whole time that she was actually coming. I highly recommend birthing with a midwife and a doula, what an experience!! When she crowned and started coming out, Peter caught her head! It was pretty amazing.
So, Genna weighed in at 7lbs 14oz and is 20 inches long. She has jet black hair and is absolutely adorable! She was born at 3pm.

No baby yet.....

2008-09-11T09:50:00.001-04:00

This part of the pregnancy is driving me CRAZY!!! It is uplifting however to see that my friends are thinking of me :o) I keep having false alarms....like yesterday.....major backache, cramps, lots of pressure, etc....but still no baby! Today is the one day I didn't want her to be born...9/11...I don't want that to be her birthday but I won't try to stop her! My midwife called last night to check on me; she was convinced I would go into labor sometime on the 10th, but my body is stubborn and likes to hold babies in as long as possible. Ugh!!!

Moving in the right direction

2008-09-05T23:17:00.001-04:00

Update! My midwife came by today and checked me. It looks like I'm 2cm dilated, 75% effaced and at -2 station. Not bad, I guess! I hate the waiting game but at least knowing my body is doing *something* is better than not knowing anything at all!!!!

False alarm

2008-09-05T08:44:00.002-04:00

We had a false alarm last night. I went to a "spouse's night" function on post and had to leave because I was having a never-ending contraction. The ladies were feeling my belly in disbelief. My belly was hard for something like ten minutes, it was crazy! So, I came home and soon later there was actually a pattern to the waves. The only thing was, they didn't feel too uncomfortable. I told Pete and he immediately inflated the birthing pool just in case. I'm glad he did too, because we found it had a small leak in the bottom and the air was coming out. At least I can address that with my midwife today when she comes over. She'll be checking me today and given the track record of my cervix, it's likely not open at all. My body likes to hold on to babies, unlike many of my friends, and doesn't like to dilate until absolutely necessary!
So anyway, the contractions finally just stopped all together and I fell asleep. I woke up and said to Pete "look, she's still in there!!". As if she would have just made her way out while I was sleeping, curled up next to us and surprised us in the morning!!! Maybe I'll get good news from the midwife, I'll keep you all updated :o)

@#!*%@!

2008-09-04T15:43:00.002-04:00

Okay, I'm done being pregnant! Why is this part sooooooo long???? Why can't I just go into labor? I did the Precore at the gym today for an HOUR, yes, one hour and still nothing happened! My back is killing me, I can't sleep well anymore, I'm peeing every ten minutes and I want my waist back darn it! I'm always a happy pregnant person but when I get to this point, like many others, I am quite done! Hopefully, the next post on here will be pictures of Genna!

Gotta love 'em at this age!

2008-08-27T09:18:00.004-04:00

Pete was mowing the lawn and I came out with Evie to ask him a question. Evie only had on a diaper and when I wasn't looking, she got into the pool and started playing. When she stood up her diaper was filled to the brim with water and it looked like she was struggling to stand!! (I wish I had gotten a picture of that!). So I decided to take off her diaper and just let her play for a few minutes. She had a blast!

Growing Up

2008-08-27T08:56:00.004-04:00

Grace started her "1st" day of preschool this Monday. I put 1st in quotes because this is her third year of preschool because of when her birthday is, she misses the cutoff date. I have her enrolled at Trinity Lutheran here in Leavenworth. She really enjoyed her first day and went running in on the second day, leaving me at the door! I made her a new skirt for the special day and took some pics of her before school as well as at her cubby space in the classroom!

VBS and Kansas City Zoo pics

2008-08-12T21:25:00.006-04:00

Here's some shots from the picnic we had when VBS was over. Grace and Evie got to ride on the ponies and Grace had a great time eating a cupcake with the nastiest blue frosting I've ever seen! To stick with the "blue theme" she had to show me what her mouth looked like after eating the cotton candy at the zoo! We went with our friends the Finney's and Grace had a great time playing with her friend Cailin.
The pictures are out of order, sorry!!

My kid....the one who just can't follow the others!

2008-08-12T21:14:00.003-04:00

Last week Grace attended vacation bible school at our new church. They had a western theme this year which she loved. At the end of the week they put on a mini "concert" for the parents. Behind the children, on the alter, was a video screen showing the words and gestures of the song and there was another screen at the back of the church for the kids to see and follow along. As you can see in this video, Grace is the only one who insisted on using the screen behind her rather than the one in front of her! You can see the little girl next to her trying to point out the obvious but Grace just didn't get it!! (by the way, she's standing in the front row on the far right with the red, white and blue outfit on...the little girl next to her was such a ham with all the gestures and such and really wanted Grace to get it right!).
Sorry about the shaky camera, I think I started dancing too!

The sewing bug has hit my house too....

2008-08-12T20:53:00.004-04:00

Like many of my friends, the sewing bug has hit hard at my house. Of course, it takes me forever to complete a project because I'm constantly having to get up to break up fights between my girls. Once they go to bed, I'm too exhausted to sew and I basically veg out in front of the t.v. or play Jewel Quest on my computer! Maybe in 5 weeks, when I actually have part of my body back to normal, I'll feel compelled to stay up past 9pm!
Anyway, I figured I'd be busy in the coming weeks so I decided to start Halloween costumes early. Gone are the days where I can pick what I want for Grace. She still is stuck in "Princess World" and this year wants to be Ariel the mermaid. Grace's costume took a lot of work so I decided to just make Evie's a simple witch costume, knowing full well she will likely never wear the hat. Nonetheless, I didn't feel like working with fur this year (Grace wanted little sis to be a lion) so I opted for something easy. So here are the finished products (sans the crown that goes with Ariel and the hat that goes with my little witch....you'll see those in the Halloween pics themselves).

Check out our pics

2008-08-05T08:14:00.001-04:00

We found this wonderful photographer, a stay-at-home mom who does the photos in her home studio. She was great with kids and even though Evie was running a fever on the day of our session, she still managed to capture some shots that didn't reflect Evie's bad mood! Now we have to decide which ones we want to purchase....very touch choices ahead!!

http://www.mramos.photoherald.com/

One of our favorite video clips!

2008-08-03T14:17:00.003-04:00

January 2006 - we were at home for the holidays during the final countdown before Peter came home from Iraq. Pete's brother was visiting as well with his dog and her puppies. Grace was playing with the puppies when all of a sudden she got scared. As Grace put it "the puppies tried to biting me"!! She was about 27 months old in this video.

A blast from our past....

2008-08-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

I thought it would be fun to feature an "old" video every so often just so I wouldn't forget the times gone by. Here is an adorable clip of Grace, about 16 months old, right before Peter deployed to Iraq. I had taught her all the different sounds that animals make and she memorized them quickly, so I decided to teach her the "sound" that the soldier makes. She caught on fast and this became one of my favorite video clips!!

I'm secretly Dolly Parton's mother!!

2008-07-28T21:32:00.002-04:00

Pete and I were working in the hobby room and the girls were playing when suddenly Grace burst in screaming "look at my boobs"! Pete and I burst out into hysterical laughter. The last I knew, she asked me where the balls were so she can be "pregnant" like me. Well, I guess she tried putting two balls under her shirt to make herself even bigger when she discovered they made great boobs! That's my child!!!

My big girl!

2008-07-22T07:15:00.002-04:00

Lately, Evie has been wanting to be like her big sis. Anything big sis does, Evie wants to do it too. So, of course, she sees Grace using the potty like a big girl and wanted to do it too. I figured there was no harm in letting her sit on the potty once in a while so I bought one of those little seats that fits on top of the big seat. The seat I bought has Dora on it, so Evie loves it.
The other day, before bath time, Evie told Peter she had to potty. So, he sat her down and lo and behold, she peed!! We were so proud of her. Everyone clapped and cheered and she thought that was the greatest thing in the world!!

Some pics of our new house!

2008-07-15T16:30:00.003-04:00

Now that we have most of the house set up I managed to take a few pics of the upstairs. You'll see the living room, kitchen, dining room, nursery, Grace & Evie's room and the girl's bathroom. I didn't take a pic of the master suite yet because it's not all that charming!!

It can be so great and so sad at the same time.....

2008-07-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

I miss my family on Lowe Place. This is the part that stinks about military life. It can be so exciting, invigorating and at the same time make you cry like a baby. You meet people, they become your family and then you leave them only to make new family. Before you know it you're crying about a new group of people that you'll one day have to leave. My family album keeps getting bigger and bigger and I think even though at times its sad, we as military families are blessed because our family grows constantly and we never forgot those who touched our lives as we continue to move on.

9 weeks to go!

2008-07-14T11:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I met with my midwife a few days ago and I'm so excited to have this baby right here in our house! She measured me and did a fetal heart rate right here on my couch! She also checked the position of the baby and apparently she's already head down! One thing the midwife said got me wondering though...she said the baby had the heart rate of a boy! Uh oh! If she comes out a he I don't know what I'll do!
The midwife will bring a blow up birthing tub with her and we'll set it up in the living room. I'll labor however I feel most comfortable and when it's time to push I'll get in the tub and deliver. I also have a doula coming to assist me through labor. Finally, a birth the way I've wanted it the last two times.
I'll keep you all posted as time goes on!

Our new home!

2008-07-09T10:12:00.000-04:00

The Ramos family moved into a new home last week as we PCS'd to Leavenworth, KS. We decided to live off post this time and we're happy we did because we got a gorgeous house in a nice neighborhood and we finally have enough room! Our neighborhood is mixed with lots of different people and has it's fair share of military. We've already had two neighbors come and introduce themselves and welcome us to the neighborhood. How nice!!
The girls love the house. It's so much bigger than our last house that I lose them sometimes and have to go room to room searching for them! We still have boxes to unpack but things are coming along. As soon as the house is put together and presentable I'll post some pictures. I'm a little apprehensive to hang a lot on the wall since this will only be our home for one year but I'll likely put up a few things just so it will have a "home" feel to it! We have 10 more weeks left until Genna's arrival and I'm so excited to meet her. Things will soon be even crazier here as we welcome our third addition but it will be fun to have a baby in the house again. I'm a little sad because this is our last child so I won't get to cuddle a newborn again :o(

I'm planning on birthing Genna right here in our house. I've hired a doula and a midwife who specializes in home births. I'm a little scared of the messiness of it, but I'm sure the midwife has ways to combat that sort of thing! My mom will be coming out to assist with the kids but she's not arriving until the day before I'm due. Let's hope Genna holds on until then.

We are very blessed to have our good friends the Finney's living practically in our back yard! They live on the next street parallel to ours and Grace is having so much fun playing with her friend Cailin who she hasn't seen much since they moved from Fort Riley in May of 2006.

That's all for now, I'll be posting again soon when I get some good pics of the house! Take care everyone and God bless!

A new lady in the family

2008-05-09T14:39:00.001-04:00

On May 7th I went in for my ultrasound and to our suprise we're having yet another girl! I should have known! I thought both Grace AND Evie were boys and I thought this one was a boy as well....I was wrong!!
So now we'll have three little Princesses! Princess #3 will arrive sometime around Sept. 14th. My mom is coming out to give us a hand. I'm excited for her to be here and hopefully this time around she'll get to see the baby longer than she did when Evie was born.
So in about 18 weeks we'll welcome Genavieve Rose Ramos to the family. I'm about 22 weeks along right now and I'll keep you posted on how we're all doing as the weeks go on!

Ramos #3 on the way

2008-03-14T10:48:00.000-04:00

Most of you already know, but our third child is expected around September 13th, 2008! We are very excited. It's been an odd pregnancy; I lost a few pounds about a month ago and haven't gained it back yet. Those of you who know me well know that this is NOT normal for me because I have such a hardy appetite! I have been eating well but my body must be using all that energy to make this new baby! We're really excited to find out what we're having. We're really hoping for a boy this time! At least, poor Pete is looking forward to maybe having a little man around. We'll see. I'm 14 weeks right now so I have about 6-7 more weeks before my next ultrasound. We'll keep you posted!