Picture with our two boys…I think they’re beginning to like each other.

Here are some pics from when Kwame was dedicated at Campus Hope Fellowship at the University of Michigan.  “Kwame” is the Ghanian name for a boy born on “I am that I am’s day” aka Saturday.  Dr. Pipim performed the ceremony and in his message he explained that throughout the Bible, the purpose of child dedication is actually more for the mother.  So, I was dedicated as well.    It was also here where the baby officially received his African name, Kwame.  (It’s what Dr. Pipim calls him.)  This was on Sabbath, April 22nd, 2006, the last church service of the school year…so, here’s Kwame Ramos being dedicated to the Lord!

In the Pond Room (A,B,C) at the Michigan Union on campus.   www.campushope.com

I was sick with mastitis, so I was too weak to hold the baby, so Israel held him.

The wonderful photographer. 

PS:  After Kwame Brown’s wonderful performance in game 7, Israel is starting to doubt whether he likes that name or not…

PPS:  And for some comic relief: 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6742988194956129075

We’re about to head out to visit Jen and instead of packing up our
belongings and the baby bag (like I ought to be doing), I decided to
post some pics.  I actually downloaded the pics yesterday and have
been meaning to post them for nearly 24 hours…and I finally found
some time!  Here they are…

IA finally got to meet his imo, Julie.   She’s out at Loma
Linda working out and getting buff, oh, and finishing up her third year
of med school. 
She and John Yoon duked it out one night doing like a million
push-ups.  My sis did over 100 of them…and I’m talking “man
push-ups” – perfect form.  She was not proud of my gut that I’m
still working on getting down. 

A pic of the family after a morning of basketball…actually, a weekend
of basketball.  We’re chillin in Justin’s room before we have to
take my sis back to the airport.  We had the privilege of meeting
Justin’s squirrel pet, Nutz.  John Yoon, quit flexing for the
pictures!

After my sis left, I was inspired to do some walking.  So, on
every nice day, we usually go walking at least once around the
block.  The baby is sporting his bear outfit that he got from his
imos, Angie and Alice.  I think this was the last time I was able
to squeeze it on him.  It’s too small now. 

More walking on a Sabbath afternoon with the Kleinsters…

While my recent bonding with the baby has been our walks, Israel’s
bonding with the baby still remains their afternoon naps
together.   Can somebody say lazy?!

Our animals have been trying to fit in more.  Bentley is trying to
sit on baby to see if he’ll get off his owner’s lap.  He literally
sat on the baby for a few seconds.  (The baby didn’t seem to mind
or want to move.)

And after Bentley’s endeavors to boot baby failed, he humbly agreed to
a compromise.  He would share his owner with the baby.

The kitties all of a sudden took a liking to the baby’s things…like his stroller.


Here’s the last pic and also the most recent one of the
baby.  Next time, I’ll try to get more pics of him while he’s
awake.  He’s looking less and less like a baby.

Well, this is my last week of freedom.  I begin
school on Monday.  I miss teaching, but if I were to choose
between raising the baby and teaching, I would most definitely choose
the baby.  That is something I never dreamed would be me
saying.  Being a mom is just the best thing.  I can’t wait
for all of you women to experience it.  Okay, I gotta get
going.  God bless each of you…

Judy’s sleeping right now because she’s gotten sick.  Thus, I
thought it a good idea to keep you updated on some of the happenings in
the Ramos Household.
We’re (She’s) in need of a good parenting book.  Like any good,
experienced parent knows, it is very important for the baby to
sleep!  Thus, Israel does anything to ensure that the baby sleeps
at all cost.  I put his tummy on my knee and give him a little
(sometimes a lot, pray for me) vibration, put him over my shoulder and
pat him, give a variety of pillows to choose from when he’s crying and
Judy is too sick to feed him and I have to attend to him but he seems
to be grumpy and will not go to sleep as all good babies should in
order to grow up to be big and strong!  I do all sorts of
things.  The new thing is putting him on his little swing with
some classical music for kids that Auntie Sarah gave him.

And then…

Judy wakes up and hears the music that’s way to loud (according to her)
and sees the swing that is swinging way too high (according to her [and
maybe one or two other people…at most!]) and MOVES the baby (WAKES HIM
UP) and puts him on the bed EVEN IF he starts crying again!  So
I’m like, what’s going on?  What are you doing!?

Her answer?

HE MIGHT BECOME DEPENDENT!

It’s like, “we’re” afraid to do anything because “the baby might become
dependent.”  So if you see us on the news and hear that this crazy
family in Michigan is in jail for making their 8-week-old baby sleep
outside, don’t worry.  We just didn’t want him to become dependent
to a warm home, a bed, a dry place to sleep, etc.

Anyhow, I should probably get going and move the baby from the swing to
the bed before Judy wakes up and I get fired from fatherhood.  The
last thing we want is a substitute father because Judy is sick and
Israel is making the baby dependent on things.  

And by the way, if she posts something about me making up songs, etc.,
don’t listen to her…she’s just kidding.  Everybody that knows me
KNOWS that I would never do something like that.

P.S. the baby’s on the swing right now.  He’s been sleeping
forever!  Guys, if you need some professional help on putting
babies to sleep, I’ll hook you up with a discount.  Here’s the
coupon number: #454D8945PGS

April 4th marked IA’s one month of life outside of the womb.   
He weighed in on the Mendez scale a little over 10 lbs and the
following week at the hospital weighed 11 lbs!  He’s growing like
a beanstalk — like a thick beanstalk! 
On this special day, we celebrated by having Uncle Daniel, our family
photographer, and his assistant, Auntie Kerri, come for a special one
month photo shoot.  Here are some of the pictures he took! 
Imanuel’s cousin, Juan, who is 9 months old, also has a special guest
appearance in one of the pics…

Posing with Israel’s mini Bible.  He wasn’t too thrilled about taking this picture.

Special thanks to Juan for letting us borrow his bunny…and special
thanks to Uncle Justin for letting IA borrow his shirt. 

Now Imax (as his daddy likes to call him) isn’t the most photogenic in
this pic…but we thought it was hilarious!  Poor baby could
barely hold up his body.

This is one of our favorites.

Quick updates on what has been going on…
– The baby has had Thrush (yeast infection in mouth – white tongue and
it spreads to inside of cheeks and lips) and has been on Nystatin for
over a week now.  That is the worst medicine.  Baby hates it
and it STILL isn’t gone.  Got it from the antibiotics …one of
the negatives of antibiotics during delivery/recovery.  Please
pray for it to finally go away!
– Poor baby experienced the 8th day, a couple days ago.  He’s in a
little discomfort.  We also found out he’s 12 lbs 5 oz!  He’s
quickly growing into 3 month old clothes!
AND last but not least –
– This Sabbath Imanuel Alexander will have his dedication at Campus
HOPE church at the University of Michigan during the divine worship
service.  We’re looking forward to that.

Okay, that’s all.  God bless!!

-jr

We thank everyone for the cards they have been sending in celebration of Imanuel Alexander’s arrival.  They are all great.

BUT.  Out of all the cards I think this one, from Rob and
Christine Neall (thanks guys, and thanks for the gift too!), takes #1
(see if you agree too)

Unless Imanuel changes his hermeneutical position, we’ll have to stop him from becoming a theologian.

“Must We Be Silent?”

The Ramos Family

Here are Imanuel Alexander’s current best friends (whether he knows it
or not)!  This picture was taken at our first baby party, on March
28th, which included the mommies and babies of the Mendezes, Kleins,
Turners, and Ramoses.  Kerri and Julie came over with lots of
yummy food to eat.  Thank you so much!  We had a great time.

(from left to right and from youngest to oldest):  Imanuel Alexander, Hunter James, Justine Opal, Juan Israel, and Judy Kay

May they all grow up to know and love Jesus!

Here are some pictures of what life was like for the baby during his
third week.  He changes so much that there are times when I think
just after the baby takes a nap, he’s changed again!  People say
that he’s looking less Korean and more…not Korean.  Justin, is
Israel’s genes “bringin down the team” again?

Grandma feeding the baby.

The baby’s first time in the tubby!  (On Grandma’s b-day, March 20)
His ambilical cord FINALLY came off after two weeks.

Baths have now become a nightly ritual.  Israel and the baby spend bath time together.

The baby successfully puts his daddy to sleep…pacifier-in-mouth and all…

Uncle Justin pretending that he just changed the baby’s diaper and
asking me to take a picture…probably to show off to the girls.

“Uncle Justin probably on the phone with a girl.  I feel used.”  *sigh*

Auntie Steph and baby on St. Patrick’s Day. 

Baby wearing his “mommy & me” outfit.  We had to take a picture because it’s already becoming too small for him!

God has been so good to us!  He has given us adequate support,
encouragement and help when we needed it…and most of all, the
assurance that we are not in this alone.  It definitely isn’t as
easy as we thought it’d be, but we are beginning to understand why
children are gifts from the Lord.  They are given to us to prepare
us for the Kingdom.  Happy Sabbath to all of you!  (I think
I’m going to go take a nap now…)

and we felt something heavy…DIARRHEA?
Last week was an eventful week.
We began to notice that Imanuel’s stools were quite watery.  My
mother was the first to bring it up.  (She’s been staying with us
to help nurse me back to health…it’s been the single greatest
blessing since the baby was born.)  We were all sitting in our
bedroom and the baby begins to strain and turn red in the face. 
Immediately following, we hear a gush of poop accompanied by
corresponding passage of gas from the intestine.  (Bro, that one
was for you.)   My
mom says, “Are you sure the baby doesn’t have diarrhea?”  I went
on a quest to find out if what my mom said was true.   The
descriptions were very similar to what the baby was experiencing. 
His stools were yellow, watery, and seeping into his diaper.  To
make matters worse, the information packet that the hospital gave us
said that if the newborn has watery stool to immediately call the
hospital.  I started praying. 
My mom suggested that we think through everything that might be causing
the baby’s diarrhea and see if the changes that we make, make things
better…so we went through the long list: 1) my diet  2) not
faithfully sterilizing the bottles  3) using filtered, not
distilled water  4) room temperature… and we began making
changes and anxiously waiting for Imanuel’s next stool.  They
continued to be watery.
My mom went through a series of potential solutions to his
diarrhea…some less conventional than others.  I’d rather not
mention some of the things we tried lest the doctor’s in our midst have
a cow.  I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack…partly
because of the diarrhea, and partly because of some of the things we
put the baby through to try to cure him “naturally”.
Anyhow, after much grief and many many prayers that went up on behalf
of the baby, it comes to find out that breast-fed babies tend to have
watery stool (more so than formula-fed) and he didn’t have diarrhea after all.  Oopsies, my bad.  Sorry, baby.

Baby asleep on his changing mat where we change his watery-poopie diapers.

The day after Imanuel Alexander was born, he had to do the Newborn
Screening Tests.  Basically, they had to poke his heel and they
drew enough blood to test for about 7 rare birth defects.  They
also drew blood to check his bilirubin levels to see if he was
jaundice.  About 60% of all newborns are jaundice but only for the
first few days.  Imanunel had border-line bilirubin levels so they
gave us what they call a bili-blanket which is artificial UV light to
help lower the levels.  The next few days, the baby continued to
look a bit yellow and so even after we were discharged from the
hospital, the very next day, we had to take the baby into our
pediatrician to get his heel poked again to draw blood to check his
levels.  The levels were still on the high side, so a couple days
later, we had to go in AGAIN and he had to get his heel poked. 
The baby was so traumatized from the pokes because not only do they
poke with a needle that looks like a flat screwdriver, they SQUEEZE and
SQUEEZE their poor little foot until they fill a tube with blood. 
Anyhow, at our last visit to the pediatrician (our third one already!),
which was this past week, the doc told us that his levels were
normalized and the baby didn’t look yellowish at all anymore.  My
parents weren’t at all nervous or worried.  They say that most
Asian babies are born like that and me and all of my siblings were born
jaundice, but with physiological jaundice, which is the kind that goes
away a few days after birth.  So anyway, here are some pictures of
the baby with the bili-blanket in the hospital and afterwards.

Me and baby (on the bili-blanket…but you can’t see it very well).

Here’s a better look.  His skin had to be directly on bili-blanket
during a lot of our stay at the hospital.  He didn’t like it very
much, and because Israel HAD to sleep with the baby every night we were
in the hospital and the gray cord didn’t stretch that far, Israel made
the executive family decision that the baby didn’t need the stupid
bili-blanket anyway.  (When he was with me, I made sure he was
laying on the bili.)

We nicknamed him our little “glow-worm”.

When we got home, each time the sun was out, we stripped IA and put him in the sun to help lower his bilirubin levels.
 
His poor feet/heels that were punctured more than 4 times in less than one week of life (2 on each foot)!

But at the end, everything turned out!  Israel was very excited about that.

But Bentley remains a bit sad that he has become #2.  “Will someone come over and play with me?”

So all you Asians out there…when you have children, don’t be too
worried if they think your baby might have jaundice.  Most likely,
it will be gone within a few days.  ^_^  Until next time, God
bless!