The Ranney Files

Friday, May 8, 2009

A few more cute videos...

Well, Doug and I are officially in LOVE with our new video camera. It's very compact and super easy to use. Please enjoy these new videos:

Gotta love bath time in the duck!

I love this video...this is CCR's new game...

We've started making a few new noises...I love this one in particular because apparently when I was a baby, I would make this same sound, but I did it in slow motion because I couldn't seem to do it up to speed...

Enjoy!!!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Swimming for the First Time

I took Colton to the YMCA today to go swimming for the first time. He had a great time in the water, but Doug and I have been saying that he's got a very inquisitive mind. He is constantly studying his surroundings. He didn't make a peep for the first 15 minutes. He was just soaking up his environment. He smiled a few, rare times, but all in all had a good time with his new adventure. Doug and I are going to sign CCR up for swimming lessons in August. That will give him much more exposure to the water which we both believe is very important. I couldn't take a video of us in the water - plus I don't want to be on video in a bathing suit - but here's a short video of CCR in his swimming outfit with his hooded towel. In the video, he's still studying the things around him. Enjoy...

I flip, you flip, we all flip for video clips

Here is another video clip of CCR. Here he's in the jumparoo generously donated by the Wilcoxson's to our home. CCR loved it at their house, and since everyone is now in the playroom during the week, the jumparoo is now at our house. Thanks Noel and Jen!!! Enjoy his funny antics...he loves to jump like the dickens, then just go rigid...he's definitely got the cutest legs ever! I hope you can see his kissy lips that he makes as he's turning his head around between jumps. You really just get the profile of them, but they are adorable!!!! Enjoy!

Flip Video Camera

I know Doug and I are totally behind the cutting edge, but we just got a new video camera. It's called the Flip. It was showcased on Ellen's show a few months ago and has already been a hot new thing, but we're avid Wooters. Doug and I like checking Woot to see what the item of the day is. Well, last week it was the Flip video camera - it was refurbished but almost half price. Doug immediately took it out and captured some great footage of CCR. Check it out:

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Bluebonnets

Everyone that I know that has kids has already gone out to the rural areas of Texas to take pictures of their children in the bluebonnets...so I'm fully aware that we're behind the curve, but here's the story...

One of my dearest high school friends was supposed to come into town this weekend because they had two southwest airlines tickets that were about to expire. So in order to capture sweet bluebonnet pictures with Colton and her daughter Audrey we delayed our trip. Well, the trip didn't work out so here we are posting our belated bluebonnet pictures. Doug and I always have a great time on a road trip so we were looking good to that part of this trip. Actually I was looking forward to it all, but Doug was not enthused about the "weeds". Well, we got a late start because Colton was quite a bit more tired today than usual, and we were trying to time his nap for the drive down. Well, he napped from the time we left the house until we opened his door to get him out in La Grange. We changed his clothes - for those of you who don't see him on a regular basis, we are teething which means we lose about 6 gallons of saliva per day down the front of his onesie. Jen picked up a very cute Mickey Mouse outfit at the Ladies' Night baby/maternity swap so we put him in that cute outfit. He looked adorable!

Before Doug and I got Colton out of the car, we went out and scoped out the good spots so we wouldn't be dragging him all along the embankment in order to find the right shot. Well, we noticed that there were a bunch of fire ant mounds in the area so we made a mental note to scope it out before we put Colton down - anywhere. So we get him out to the bluebonnets and set him down in a safe zone. I stepped back to make sure I was a good distance away from him in order to get some good pictures. I looked around me to make sure I wasn't going to be in an ant hill. None in sight...so I knelt down to get closer to Colton. I started taking tons of shots like a professional photographer. I was catching some great shots!!!! Then all of a sudden...my right foot is on fire!!!!! I jump up to find the entire top of my foot covered in fire ants. For those of you who don't know, I am allergic to fire ants. I've had to go to the ER once before from 5 ant bites on my right pinky finger when I was building Texas Aggie Bonfire my sophomore year in college. So needless to say, I went in to frantic mode. This is not how I envisioned this day going...and we even scoped it out...sheesh! So for the rest of the shoot, I carefully ran around getting pictures with only my left shoe on. We were able to get some great shots and then rushed to town to get me some Benadryl. I put some cream on my foot and took some pills to tackle an allergic reaction from both fronts. It worked! I have a bunch of bites on my foot, but oh well. I have some of the most gorgeous photographs of Colton, Doug and even myself in the bluebonnets in 2009.

We ate at the Riverside Cafe on the north side of La Grange and grabbed some pastries and kolaches from the bakery at the Shell Station. We made it safely home and all crashed when we got there. All in all, it was a fantastic day! Even Doug admitted taking the road trip in order to get bluebonnet pictures turned out to be a great idea! Thank God we had a great time, the rain started on our drive back to Austin and Colton didn't get any fire ant bites. I thank You for those little things that made our trip a success.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Skype

I just wanted to share with everyone that Skype is a fantastic invention! My parents live in Orlando, and my mother-in-law lives in Madison, Mississippi. We have started Skyping with my parents which has been fun! My dad has not been able to meet Colton in person yet so it's been great for us all knowing that he can see his grandson in real time instead of just photos on my blog. It's a great way to chat and visit with my mom under the auspice of Skyping to see CCR...tee hee We're going to get my M-I-L set up today even though she doesn't have he camera yet. She'll still be able to see her grandson. It's been really nice since our family lives so far away. We don't get to see each other much so it's been a great filler. We're new to this so expert I am not, but I'm looking forward to the many video chats in the future. If you have family or dear friends that are a great distance away, try Skype. It seems trendy and all that, but it is just an easy to use software program that allows you to video chat with others for free. Skype, Skype, Hoorah!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Six Months Old

Well, I can't believe it's already here, but Colton Cash Ranney is 6 months old! Holy cow!!!

We went to the doctor for his check up today and here are the stats:

Weight: 21 lbs. (95%)

Height: 27 in. (80%)

Hat size: 45.6 cm. (90%)

To say the least, he's not a premie anymore! He checked out completely healthy! Thank God! There are no signs of heart or lung issues which is such a blessing. He was really funny at the doctor's office. He was very chatty and sweet while the doctor was checking all of his parts out. When the doctor was wrapping up our appointment, CCR was lying on his back on the table. He looked over at me and gave me the saddest pouty face ever! I think he knew what was coming (vaccinations) and was hoping I would rescue him ahead of the agony...poor guy!

These pictures were taking last night during dinner on his half year birthday...enjoy!

Playin' around the house...

I was about to take a laundry basket of CCR's clothes/blankets to his room, as well as take him to change his diaper...so I thought I'd take both at the same time...he looked so cute in there...too funny!

The picture below is one of the first pictures we took right after his haircut bath...what a face! It is so hard to capture his smiles without a second person around to keep the smiles coming...he doesn't think the black box (camera) is very funny or playful.

CCR's First Haircut

CCR has had some lingering cradle cap issues so we decided it might be beneficial for the breathability of his scalp to buzz his hair...For those who may not know, CCR was born with quite a bit of hair...over the past months the portion of hair from ear to ear equi-distant from his forehead to the back of his neck has been replaced with big boy hair...his bangs are still his newborn hairs and at the base of his neck is still newborn hair...but the rest is so incredibly soft and light. Well, there's a big difference between his natural hair and his buzz cut. See for yourself: