Raymond- Let me tell you, we were not expecting to have a baby so soon after getting married. It was not in our cards but it was definitely in Heavenly Fathers. To be honest I felt ashamed and embarrassed cause I didn't want to fit the typical mold of a Mormon. I didn't want it to be a rookie mistake and everything. But now looking back I know that its what God wanted from the beginning. I had prayed about when we should start growing our family and I had told Heavenly Father that we would start trying in December. As we got closer and closer to December I decided to forgo what I had originally told God because Derek and I needed more time to be us. We needed to experience the "world" or so I thought. So as you can imagine when I found out that I was pregnant I was a mess and didn't feel like I was ready at all. But ready or not I was ready, there was a baby on the way and I had 9 months to prepare myself for my world to be flipped upside down in a good way.

It's been quite the rollercoaster of emotions but let me tell you there is no greater joy than having a baby. Just holding that precious little one and knowing they are yours is priceless. I may be biased but he is so stinking cute and I would probably post about him all the time but I know that people probably aren't as obsessed, about him as I am. We named him Raymond Thomas Latimer. Derek and I had long discussions about a name and he could never be serious about what we should call him expect for when I mentioned the named Raymond he said he liked it and that was that. It was really the only name that we agreed on and it happens to be my mission presidents name of whom I absolutely love and adore. I love names with meaning and it's one that definitely means a lot to me in every way. Every since Raymond came out of the womb he has been such an alert and awake baby. That Monday when we were still at the hospital, I feel like he was awake for most of the day. That day also gave me a lot of anxiety cause I needed to feed him but we had so many visitor that I didn't have time and I wasnt very skilled at it. The nurse also made me feel like the worst person in the world because I wanted to have him be sent to the nursery the whole night and not have him come in for any feedings. I was completley exhausted because I had obviously just given birth and then they come in and check you all night so you get no sleep. She was the worst nurse ever.

Raymond Thomas Latimer
September 4th 2016
8lbs 4oz 21.5 inches long
born at 11:10pm

Leaving the hospital 

Anyways when Derek and I came home from the hospital we had accidently kept our swamp cooler on. I have never been to the north pole but if I had I am thinking it would've felt something like that. So we bundled the little guy up and  it looked like he was dressed for the north pole in the beginning of September. But he must get use to that because we like our apartment cold.

2 Days! First few moments home! 

 He was so tired the first day of being home, he had just got circumcised and it just wore him out like crazy. I swear he didn't eat for 10 hours and I was freaking out that he was going to die because he would starve to death because of it but he didn't. But he was such a good sleeper when he first came. The first couple of nights he was sleeping 5-6 hours and only waking up 2-3 times to feed. Then someone told me that I needed to wake him up every 2 hours to feed. Note to future self don't, ever wake a sleeping baby. They are smart and they will let you know when they are hungry, tired, poopy or wet.   I wish I would've been better at writing all about him but unfortunately I wasn't so here we are three months down the road but I will try to fill you in on as much as possible. This little boy is a funny one. He would only poop in the middle of the night as I was changing his bum. I can't
 count how many times he actually pooped on me and I had to change him and everything else. I will be honest there were some nights when I was so tired that I just put a towel on my bed and slept on top of it. I didn't have the energy to change everything. I can't complain though because he is such a good good boy that was the worst thing that he did.

Luckily this one was in the morning!!

 He was so strong coming out the womb it was crazy at three weeks he was lifting his head like it was nobodys business. Sometimes it was hard to hold him on your shoulder because he wanted to looked around at everything but didnt have great control. So he would lift his head for a good 10-15 seconds and then it would come crashing down on your collar bone. He is a funny little boy.

4 Days 

He was rolling over at about 7weeks from front to back. He would lift his head and then move it to the side and then roll over at first we thought it was just a fluke but he did it more than 2 times a. He is pretty awesome like that. I didn't know that was so awesome until we looked up when a baby should start rolling over and it said at about 3 months. He is a pretty content and happy little boy. He has trouble sleeping all through the night and Derek wouldn't know because he sleeps through everything. Between Derek and Raymond, I am lucky to get a couple  of hours of sleep before the morning arrives. Derek is a major sleep talker. The other night I was fully awake and he was asleep and he started sleep talking so of course I pulled out my video camera and started to record and he told me that and I quote "I am going to rip your eyes out and feed them to the dogs." It's not the nicest thing that your husband could ever say to you but it is what it is. Raymond Is getting so much fun. He is such a stinker sometimes. When he wakes up at 5 in the morning I will go in there and he will smile at me. And it hard for me to even be upset because he is so stinking cute when he smiles. Those smiles make all the hard times worth every single minute of it. He is smiling much more now but we haven't got a laugh out of him yet. He is more smiley when you are not holding him. Also sometimes he will be fussy and all he wants is for us to put him down so that he can kick and play and be on his own. Most babies are fine sitting in their own pee but not him. The second he pees he is fussy but when I start to change him. He knows exactly wheat I am doing and will start to smile and be all happy about me changing and then he is fine from there. He is now getting to a point where he loves to talk and hear himself(just like his dad). It may be the cutest thing on the planet. He will just sit there and talk to himself especially when he is doing some tummy time he will sit there and just talk and smile. When you start talking to him he gets kind of bashful and will cover his eyes with his hands and then once he discovers his hands he starts to eat them. He loves sucking on his hand. If he didn't have a binki I think his fingers would be are pruey because he sucks on them so much. Derek always asks if he is still hungry because he is sucking on them but it's just his nature. I guess he takes after me when it comes to that. He also loves to look out of his car seat. If we have him covered he starts to squil but the second we uncover him he is silent and just taking all his surroundings in. He likes to face outward when holding him. So again he can take in all the scenery.  When I bath him I have to do it right when he wakes up or else he hates it and will cry the whole time. He doesn't love the bath when he is tired it just makes him frustrated. He is starting to grab onto everything. Even the little wisps of my hair. I don't know how he grabs them every time but he does, Its incredible! Well the whole rolling over thing. He doesn't do quite as often but he has been doing this inch worm thing and I think before we know it he will be walking. Lets hope that is way way way down the road cause I like that he will sit in my arms and cuddle with me. Sometimes when I am feeding him and he is no longer hungry I will start to say are you done and he will look at me and get the biggest grin on his face and just know that he is teasing me. It is the cutest thing in the world. He is so dramatic like his dad. One second he will be just fine and then i

7 weeks 

9 weeks 

11 weeks 

10 weeks 

12 weeks 

12 weeks 

3 weeks 

ts like and explosion happens and you would think someone is pinching him. His cry is still the cutest. It is almost raspy and not a full cry. There are only a few things that make his so angry and one of those things is sucking his boogers out. I make Derek do that so that I am not the mean mom he is.