Ok, some of you have been updated and others have not yet. Here is the drama from the last 12 hours of our lives.

I woke up at 2am to Matthew making some noise over the monitor and for some reason I decided to go check on him. I usually wait it out to see if he'll settle back down but last night I actually went upstairs to check on him. When I got outside his door I realized his breathing didn't sound right so I went in to get him and realized he was seizing. I ran downstairs and woke Gilbert up and had him call 911 while I ran back upstairs to get Matthew. He seized for a good 5 minutes before the paramedics got here and we were rushed to the ER. His temp was 103.7 when they got here and it was up to 104.5 by the time we got to the ER.

Once we were there and they'd run some tests they determined that he'd had a febrile seizure. He has an ear infection, which caused the high fever, which in turn triggered the seizure. With these seizures it's not how high the fever gets but how quickly it spikes that causes the seizure so there's really no way to know when he can have one. He will be susceptible to these types of seizures until he is 5-6 years old and at the slightest hint of fever we need to treat it aggressively with fever reducing meds. All in all, he's going to be okay and we just have to watch him closely.

On top of that, I had been talking to his doctor yesterday about some changes I'd noticed in his urine and they wanted to test him for diabetes markers on Friday. Last night the hospital ran a glucose test without me saying anything about it and his glucose levels were extremely high. We checked in with a pediatrician this morning and they tested his urine and it came back clean. They said that the body can react that way to stress or illness. All in all, no diabetes. This is also a good thing.

That's basically the gist of the scariest night of my life. Our God is good and our little boy is going to be fine. Give us a call if you want more details and I'll be sure to update soon on how he's doing.

A couple of pictures of Matthew in his new chair. Just to lift the mood a little =)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Despite being away from our family we managed to have a great Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at Kelly and Marianne's house where we got a GREAT Christmas surprise in that our friends Jimmy and Mari showed up. They're the ones who just moved to Pensacola, Florida 3 weeks ago. Jimmy is a Navy recruiter and Pensacola is this last tour before he can retire from the Navy. Earlier this week I told Gilbert I had 6lbs of roast for 8 adults and 3 toddlers and he kept pushing me to buy more meat and it was bugging me because I was thinking we would have way too much left over. Turns out he was in on the big surprise and knew that they'd be spending Christmas Day with us and he wasn't supposed to tell me =).

Matthew hanging out in another pair of Christmas pj's from Grammy





Once Matthew went to bed on Christmas Eve Gilbert and I put out all of his gifts so that he'd see them as soon as he came downstairs.



The only gifts under the tree here are for Addilyn and Elijah





Matthew is used to getting his milk first thing in the morning and will usually whine until he gets it if I try to do it any other way so we figured we'd give him his milk upstairs so he'd be happy by the time he saw his presents. It worked. The only problem we had with opening gifts is that he wanted to play with each gift as it was opened so he didn't want to keep opening gifts. He had fun, though. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Christmas pj's Grammy sent him. The hat only lasted so long, though.





He's been wanting to play with this Batmobile that he's carrying around for the last few weeks. Every time we go to Toys R Us Gilbert shows it to him and Matthew goes nuts. He loves it.





He got some Mega Blocks and a dump truck to go with them



He also got a Batman racetrack. He can't quite figure out how to work it but he loves when Daddy makes it go for him.



Then he decided that although his presents were pretty cool, he'd rather play with Daddy's shoes and keys.



Christmas morning bath. He got these bath letters and a pirate ducky for Christmas, too. He had fun =). I had to spell out "monkey" because they didn't have a second T for "Matthew".







I'm sure you'd like to know what Elise got, too.

Well she got a couple of onesies in her stocking, along with a rubber ducky of her own. Hers is spotted like a cow and even has horns and a cow bell. Mommy and Daddy bought her her first pair of shoes:





Grandpa and Grandma bought her some clothes:





This is what she wore on Christmas Day



Matthew and Mommy on Christmas Day





Matthew and Daddy



Here's a video of Matthew's Christmas morning. It's a bit long (I think it's about 12 minutes). Feel free to watch it, but I think it's more for the grandparents than anyone else =)


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Matthew LOVED having everyone here on Christmas Day. I made 8 lbs worth of pot roast in 3 different crock pots and we have very little left over. As I mentioned before, Jimmy, Mari, and their kids spent the day with us. Addilyn and her parents came over. So did Elijah, his parents, and his uncle. We had a full house and everyone had lots of fun.

Addilyn's mommy, Erin, is also pregnant and she is due almost exactly 4 weeks before I am so we decided to take a picture of the tummies in front of the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, her husband was a bit lazy and wouldn't stand up to take the picture so he made her look like a giant next to me. It's still a cute idea =). She is due March 28 and I am due April 25.



Uncle Bruce, Auntie Vicki, and Elijah gave Matthew his first skateboard for Christmas. I know what you're all thinking given Gilbert's injury record but for now Matthew's only allowed to play with it on the carpet. He knows what it does and immediately tried to stand on it when he opened it.



We took his highchair down to make some room at the kitchen table for people to sit and when we brought it back out he wanted to use it as an arm chair. Gilbert and I have come to the conclusion that we really need to buy him a chair of his own.





In his pj's, playing with his Mega Blocks and sitting in his high chair after a long day

Well, after an exhausting week last week, our weekend was pretty nice. Gilbert did have to work on Friday so it wasn't quite the long weekend we're used to but we thoroughly enjoyed Daddy's company on Saturday and Sunday. I had the boys 3 days in a row last week and I survived. I can do this for 3 more months, I really can (or at least I have to convince myself that I can). I have this week and next off and I plan on thoroughly enjoying my toddler =).

Our friend Jason has moved in with us. After a very dramatic drive into Texas he arrived safe and sound and I think for the most part he is unpacked. Matthew has already warmed up to him and they're buddies.

Matthew loves playing with Daddy's shoes and has recently started trying to walk in them. It's fun =)



And a video of the boy walking around in Daddy's shoes =)


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

For the record, the weather here is insane and my child was not mostly naked on a cold night. I believe it was 80 degrees the day that was taken.

Sporting some of the Christmas PJ's Grammy sent



We bought this shirt for Matthew about 2 weeks before I had him and we've been anxiously waiting for him to grow into it. I'm glad it fits him during the winter =).





Ok, so when I ask Matthew, "Where's the baby?" he'll either try to lift up my shirt or he'll smack my belly. Well, I was getting him ready for bed last night and he was sitting with his sleeper unzipped and his belly hanging out so he and I decided to compare bellies.



My favorite boys



Matthew thinks very highly of his daddy



Christmas is rapidly approaching and we're looking forward to spending Christmas Day with some of our friends since we can't be with family. Matthew has a play date with Elijah and Addilyn tomorrow while the mommies will treat themselves to something nice, probably something decaf from Starbucks. Elijah and Addilyn will be coming over and Christmas Day with their parents as well for some food and basketball. The only downside is that it's supposed to be 72 degrees and raining on Christmas. Why couldn't the cold front have waited just a few days so we'd have a 36 degree Christmas. Oh well.

Here's the tummy at 22 weeks. I think it looks smaller than last week. Maybe she decided to change positions.

I am so excited that this guy:



And this beautiful woman:



Are having a little BOY!!! Zion Benjamin Ramirez is due May 17, 2009. Just 3 weeks after Elise is due.

Here's an ultrasound picture of the little guy:



He's going to be one cute kid.

I was going to wait until the weekend to update since I don't really have much new to say, but I have an overload of pictures to share. They're not the best pictures, but I still need to share =)

We went driving through a neighborhood near ours to see if they'd done any decorating worth looking at and we found the saddest display of Christmas lights I've ever seen...



Matthew has discovered the joy that is the front yard. Especially with all of the cool lawn ornaments we have out right now.



We took him out at night so he could see the lights and dance around to the music we play. He had a great time. This coat was given to him by Auntie Val last Christmas and it's been cold enough for him wear it a couple of times. He kind of looks like the kid from Christmas Story and he has a hard time keeping his balance when he wears it.









I just think he looks so cute in his pj's. Also, the toy he's dragging around is the mirror I used to have in the car when he was in his infant car seat so I could check on him while driving. It plays music and he loves that music as much now as he did when we had it in the car.



Ok, so Matthew is horrible at taking bites of food when he's handed something that is too big to eat in one bite. Well, yesterday Grandma Maudie handed him a mini croissant and we kept telling him to take bites. He took one initial bite and then this followed:











Yeah, he's a good time. He managed to finish it off and he didn't choke on anything.

Elise got her first pair of shoes this weekend. It may seem a bit silly, but we will be wrapping them and putting them under the tree for her. She will also get a couple of stocking stuffers. We know it's more for us than anything but we really want to acknowledge her even though she's not here yet. She also got her stocking this weekend =).



Well, it looks like everyone thinks Matthew looks more like Gilbert. I agree =). The pictures are still posted below and you can still vote on the left until the end of the week.