A Year in Pictures

From tummy to toddling: the last 12 months

(don't mind the man on the left of the picture:) This is a split-photo from my cousin's wedding)

Well, it's official. Our little girl is growing up. Goodbye little baby who is content to be in mom's arms and cuddle like crazy. Goodbye little RagedyAnn who hates to use her legs. HELLO little girl who is pulling herself up (as of yesterday), who stands at her little piano toy for super long amounts of time, who is wanting off any lap in order to practice walking, who army-crawls across any room, and who .... are you ready... was SITTING UP in bed when Daddy went to get her up this morning (only the second time we've seen her sit up on her own from being on her back/belly).

She was slow to warm up to the idea of using many muscles, but now she's making up for lost time!

Ramona, we LOVE watching you grow up!

Too Far Away!

While I was in the shower this morning, Miles was in and out of the bathroom and his bedroom as usual. When I got out of the shower, I could not find my glasses. Uh oh. I couldn't remember if I had pushed them back far enough on the bathroom counter that Miles cannot reach them. I called for Miles and asked him if he knew where my glasses were. He said "Too far away". I asked where he had put them, and as we proceeded to search every room together, he just kept saying, "Too far away!". Finally, I asked him to point to where the glasses were. Unfortunately he walked over to the laundry shoot and pointed inside. He said, "Too far away. Can't reach". I ran downstairs to check the laundry shoot door. Sure enough.

Fun Times

Yesterday:
Miles finally dared to romp around in the snow (as opposed to just sitting in it:))




Today:
We've discovered that Ramona likes to sing! Here she got a little shy once I took out the camera, but usually she starts signing when we start, and stops singing when we stop. I'm biased, but I think her voice is just beautiful. Maybe she'll follow in her Auntie Laura's footsteps:)



Miles is getting excited that his little sister is interacting more and more. He's noticed that she'll hold on to things now, and here he is trying to get her to play with a specific toy. He's so patient with her!

Picture Perfect

Yeah! I found the time tonight to be able to post some pics! They take us from the day before Ramona was born until yesterday.

Lovin' the leaves...

She didn't cry at all, so they sucked a bunch of fluid out of her lungs...but she still just didn't want to cry. Seriously, not one peep, for the first few hours!

Getting ready to leave the hospital.

I wanted to document my tummy size the day we left the hospital;0

What a fun surprise to come home to!

Miles was coloring with scented markers...and ended up with a mustache of proof that he had smelled each one:)

When we first got this new baby for Miles, he named it "Baby New". Now that Ramona is home, his baby is now "Baby Mona". I promise he's usually more creative:)

She's quite a momma's girl. At this point as a newborn, Miles was already showing signs of needing "down time" w/o being held, and also was happy in almost anyone's arms. Ramona, on the other hand, hates down time, and is already partial to who is holding her.

This cute little face brings me SO much joy!!!

Ramona Street and Miles' Way

Many have asked how we came up with the name Ramona Jean. Well, Ramona is actually named after a street:) When Matt and I were seniors in college, we lived in houses that were about a mile or two away from each other (Giddings and Fuller, for those of you who know GR). Between the two houses, a route which we traversed quite often (!), we crossed a street called "Ramona Street". We loved the name so much then, and said that if we ever had a baby girl that we'd name her Ramona! Our love for the name never left, and we are blessed to now have the opportunity to use the name:) The middle name Jean comes from our two moms, who both share the middle name Jean. Matts mom got her middle name from her Mom, whose middle name is Jean; my mom's middle name is derived from her own Mom's name, Jeanette... so both Great Grandmas are tied into the name Jean as well.

For those of you who have spent time with 2 yr. olds, you probably already figured out the other half of the title:) Starting before Ramona was born, Miles has been sharing his strong opinion of how we can do things better...aka "Miles' way". Usually this just means Miles doing things himself. On the days that I have my normal amount of patience present, it is kind of endearing, and simply a reminder of how much he really is growing up and desiring independence. He is such a big boy! And such a great big brother to Ramona. Here is a video that Matt caught where Miles pulled up a chair and decided to hold Ramonas hand...ignore the brief shot of me (it was the morning after we got home from the hospital and I was trying to figure out how to set up the breast pump:))...If you are wondering why Miles is making weird noises, it is him copying Ramonas hiccups.






Miles has a lot of energy stored from all of the new excitement, and from not having gone outside for a while. We've come up with a lot of creative ways to keep him entertained and keeping busy. Here is a fun video of a game that Matt and Miles like to play...





I'll do another post with some more recent pictures...

Ramona Jean Cooke

Well, it looks like we may have to change the name of the blog! Ramona Jean Cooke was born on Friday, November 12 at 12:43 PM. She was 8 lbs 5 oz and about 20 inches long. Megan, who was planning to have a C-section on Monday, woke up to labor on Friday morning (around 3 AM) and less than 10 hours later we had a new baby girl. Megan had a vaginal birth after C-section (VBAC), which is a little more complicated, but overall the whole labor process went very well.

Here are a few photos of little Ramona with her family!

Welcome to the world, Ramona Jean!

Miles meets Ramona (or his personal nickname for her, Mona) for the first time. He's very interested in her eyes.

Happy mom and new baby!


Big brother Miles and little sister Ramona try sharing already. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers throughout the pregnancy. We thank God for his care and protection throughout this process.

Impromptu Photo Shoot - 38.5 weeks

So my friend Emily wanted a "straight on" belly shot before this baby came out; after capturing the shot, Matt started getting down with his creative self, and kept taking pictures. Lucky for you, this means a few last belly pics. Pretty sure the next pics will be of the baby, not of the belly:)

As shiny as a bald man's head:)

Here's that straight on one, Em.

Here's where you can see that the individual stretch marks have turned into one big patch. Kind of annoying, kind of gorgeous.



And here's the back-to-back to compare the two pregnancies (both about 38.5 weeks). Ummm, have I really had the same hairstyle for over two years? :)