Just a quick update on how our family is doing!... We are doing great! Our only complaint... we are still a family of 3 and are very eagerly awaiting our little girl!

Yesterday I had an appointment with my new O.B. He is fabulous! If I could I would carry him around in my pocket! He is extremely kind and took lots of time with me going over everything and answering all of my questions. He made me feel very comfortable and welcome. He told me all about delivering at St. Luke's and got me really excited about that. They have rooms where you labor, deliver, and then stay all in the same room. And, they are all private rooms! They give the baby its first bath right in the room so mom and dad can be involved and they just seem to make the whole experience very family friendly! I can't wait!

Nick is enjoying his new job. I think it is a little bit of an adjustment going from a company with about 5 full time programmers to hundreds but not a bad change. I think working in a cube after having an office is also an adjustment but not a big deal. Nick (who you know is die-hard about getting out of debt) is most excited about his opportunity to work overtime. After 40 hours he gets paid hourly and has been invited to work as much overtime as he wants. Although, I don't love the idea of him working extra I do know it will be short term and is a great opportunity for our family. Plus, him doing it now has the added bonus of me having back-up! My grandma is a huge help and as you fellow stay-at-home moms know the main thing is having an adult to talk to throughout the day so that will make it all a lot easier.

Living near family is amazing. Max loves spending so much time with Gaga, Emmie, Gaga June, Gapa, etc... I think if it were up to him we would all live on one big compound and spend all day, everyday together! He just loves, "his people"! And, being 9 months pregnant, I LOVE having so many people help keep my son entertained! I always knew our family was wonderful but these past few days I have really felt it! I can't believe we lived without family for this long!

I can't think of much else to report! Since I have a little more free-time these days I will probably update here in a day or two or when Sophie gets here!

Getting Settled!

Well, we are here in Lake St. Louis and working on getting settled! We are so happy to be here and are enjoying getting all moved in and making ourselves at home.

We headed out from Nixa at about 10:30 yesterday morning. We are very grateful for all of my parents help in getting us moved out! After getting settled we got to celebrate Emily's 20th birthday with the family! It was great to see everyone! Max is in absolute HEAVEN with so much family around. Last night he was playing with all his cousins, dragging around the adults, and making sure his Grandma, a.k.a. "Gaga" was always in sight!

This morning when Max woke up the first thing he did was ask for his Grandma and then when he was informed she wasn't here he cried for about 5 minutes! Not that I want my son to be sad but I love the special bond he has with his family. He loves them so much!

This morning we woke-up (well, Nick woke-up, I didn't really sleep at all!) and we had breakfast and then walked over to the park to let Max play. It was so nice!

On Friday I was able to find a pediatrician for both of the kids and when I arrived here I had recieved all my hospital paperwork in the mail. So, it is nice to not have to stress about Sophie coming with all of our doctors and hospital stuff lined up!

Well, I will post pictures and more updates soon!
Love,
Katie

I got a new doctor!

Yay! I found a new baby doctor when I move to STL!! I knew that I would find someone but I really wanted to find a good one and I was sure the whole situation was going to be a big hassle! So, I went to my O.B. appointment with Dr. Franklin on Monday and she suggested a doctor for me. I called the next day (ready to put up a fight and do lots of begging!). I called and told them my situation and the lady said, okay, well I can get you in on Tuesday! It was the easiest thing I have ever done! Plus, his office is located in Chesterfield, super close to where we will be living! And, I love that I will be going to someone Dr. Franklin reccomends because I trust her so much! So, praise God! I just had to share my good news!

update

Wow, I can't believe our big move is only a few days away! There are definetly pros and cons with making such a quick move! Things have been stressful and busy around here but overall really good! I will definetly miss our friends and am trying not to think about that too much and focus on how great it will be to live so close to our family.
We have been so increadibly blessed by family during this process. My parents have totally helped with the moving efforts including packing here and getting our "place" ready at Grandma's... all while waiting on stand-by for Sophie to come. Then my Grandma has generously opened up her home to us which is just an increadible blessing!! We really look forward to getting to spend time with her and are so thankful for the opportunity to get settled without some additional stress! She is amazing! I really don't know what we would do without our increadible family! A day hasn't gone by since all of this moving stuff began that Nick or I haven't looked at each other and said, "we are so blessed to have such wonderful family!".
My family has taught me so much about what it means to be a family and I am so grateful for that. They really are always there for us when we need them and are the first ones to offer to lend a hand when things come up. I am so grateful to God that my kids will get to grow up with such amazing people totally involved in their lives.
Growing up I had the most amazing relationship with my grandparents (I still do!), but we lived so far away. I am almost jealous of what my children will get to share by living so close to my parents!! I am so excited that they will have grandparents that they get to see all the time! I am so excited that they will get to have grandparents at their soccer games, school concerts, church plays, etc! And, I am not going to lie... after living far from family the past 21 months I am really excited to have a date night with my husband every once in awhile knowing my kids are having a blast with thier grandparents!!
Please keep praying for us as we make this transition! I am kind of hoping that Sophie comes soon or holds off for a little bit! But, please pray that no matter when she comes she will be healthy and that everything there will go well! Thank you all so much for your love and support!

Nick and I had the most amazing date night last night I just can't help but write about it! I am the luckiest woman in the world!

We decided since we are moving we needed to go to one of our favorite local places so Nick decided to take me to "Milly's" downtown. It was so much fun! I just love the atmosphere there and the food is delicious. It was so fun to just sit and eat and chat! Then we went for a walk around downtown and just talked. It was so romantic and so good for me emotionally with the stress of everything else going on! Then we went to Target and bought a few last minute things for Sophie.

I just love my husband so much and love getting to spend time with him one on one when we are just husband and wife. He is so amazing and I am so proud of him!

The Ramsey's have lost it

The Ramsey's have lost their minds. We are moving to St. Louis and are supposed to be there in two weeks! Not sure how we are going to pull it off, but here are the details...



Nick got an amazing job offer from a company called SBS Creatix. Through SBS he will be doing contract work for Brown Shoe Co. in Clayton, MO. Nick has been looking for more of a challenge in his career so this is a great opportunity for him. Anyway, we have been feeling called to move to the Saint Louis area and this opportunity presented itself! So, we are trusting God and heading North!



We aren't sure if Sophie will be born here or in St. Louis but we are kind of hoping she will be born here. Since Max was born early there is a good chance she will be too. We are putting our house on the market within the next day or two and just praying that everything will come together. We are so excited to finally live near family and even though the timing is a little crazy we see God's hands all over it.

My AMAZING grandma has invited us to stay with her for a little while so we can get settled and start looking for a place to live. She has a great house with a finished basement with three bedrooms and a large living area so we will have our own little "apartment" while we stay with her. We are so grateful for our Grandma!

Please pray for us as we make this transition. The next 2 weeks will be crazy... especially if we have a baby in the middle of it. But, we are trusting God and heading out!

Free Samples

Okay, as a lot of you know I am a HUGE dork and I LOVE getting free samples. I spend a little time at WalMart.com every week or so signing up for free samples. Someone posted this and I thought I would pass it along! I haven't signed up for all of them... but you can pick and choose!
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Sunday Fun

I just love 3 day weekends! Somehow that one extra day with Nick at home seems to make all of the difference! We had such a fun time and got so much done! Max and Nick got to play a lot which is so fun to watch. They really are best friends! Today Max snuggled Dad pretty much all day. It was so sweet... and I am not going to lie, kind of a nice break for me!
Today we had a really fun suprise. We went to church at James River and ran into our friends, The Carpenter's! They invited us back to their house for lunch and we had such a wonderful time catching up. They just bought a beautiful house in Ozark so it was fun to get to see it for the first time. They have two kids, Ella (2) and Sam (10 months). It was neat to watch Max and Ella play together. It was the first time I have really seen him interact with another kid about his age. He called her "Ew-wa" and they had a ball! It was great because she totally wore him out and he ended up taking a 3 1/2 hour nap this afternoon! Woohoo!
We had a great time at James River this morning. Nick and I are always so amazed at how much we learn during every sermon. My absolute favorite thing about James River is that God gets the credit for EVERYTHING! It seems like at such a big church they could get pretty proud of themselves and start glorifying themselves but they never do. I am really learning so much about how God deserves the credit for every aspect of our lives. Pastor John continued his series on the Second Coming from the book of Luke. Learning about end times is a little scary and intense but if it is in God's word we need to be paying attention to it. And the good news is, if we know Jesus we have nothing to fear! I was reminded of how important Nick and my job as parents is. Raising children who know the Lord is really the only thing that matters! I needed to be reminded of that!
We are looking forward to another fun week! I am trying to stay cool and comfortable... but that is becoming more of a challenge every day! Wish me luck!

Love Languages

Nick and I read the book, The 5 Love Languages before we got married and really learned a lot. We were also very fortunate to hear the author, Dr. Gary Chapman, speak at a marriage conference a little over a year ago. We have really learned a lot about marriage and speaking love to one another through Dr. Chapman.

Last night, for fun, we took the Love Languages quiz again and our answers had changed a little big since we took the quiz over 3 years ago! Here were our results:

Nick's Main Love Language: Words of Affirmation

Nick's Secondary Love Languages: Quality Time and Physical Touch (totally tied)

Katie's Main Love Language: Words of Affirmation

Katie's Secondary Love Languages: Physical Touch and Quality Time (much less QT)

The funny thing is that even though we share the same love languages and usually people speak their own language to show love, Nick doesn't. He speaks love through Acts of Service which doesn't even register on my radar! Don't get me wrong... I totally appreciate everything he does for me!! He is incredible and I am so lucky to have his help. But, for me, having him fold the laundry (while appreciated) doesn't say "I love you". So, right now we are working on speaking to one another in our love languages!

It is so fun to still be actively working on improving our marriage! I am so blessed to have a husband who wants us to have the best marriage possible! Mediocrity is not okay for us! Thank you, Lord for Nick Ramsey!

One of my favorite things to write about in my blog is what God is teaching me. I tend to write about that a lot because God is always teaching me something! Wow, I have SO much to learn. Recently, God has been teaching me about tithing and it has been mind blowing. The principles are so simple and yet I was just ingnoring it!

God has always blessed our little family so much. Even when we have not been faithful with giving 10% to our church he has been faithful to us. In fact, beyond just giving us what we need he has showered us beyond that! We are so blessed and so rich in so many ways. Every month we are able to pay all of our bills and ever since we have become dedicated to becoming debt free we have not had to carry over any debt.

For awhile we were not giving a full tithe. And, while I felt guilty, I was very quick to justify it in my mind. "Well, we are trying to get out of debt" or "God isn't legalistic about these things. I won't go to Hell if I don't tithe". While these things were totally true they still weren't sitting right with me. Recently I have asked God to teach me more about this area and he made the answers so plain and clear! Everything we have is His!!! EVERYTHING! All he asks is that we give him 10%. That is like nothing! Yet somehow I was justifying lunches out but I didn't have money to give to God? Are you kidding me??? I could buy fun things but not give God His money. Wow, I was so misled.

Heavenly Father,
Please forgive me for my wrong attitudes about money. Please forgive me for being selfish while you have remained so selfless. Help me to think about you and your priorities with every dollar I spend. Thank you for giving so much to our family. Thank you for showing us your priorities for money and for teaching us to be givers! Help me to daily remember that you come first in all things!
Amen!