16 Months

Where, oh where, has my baby gone? I now have a full-fledged toddler living with me. Walking and running still top the agenda, but now more complex movements have become the norm. When he crosses a room, he'll squat to pick up an interesting toy. Soon I fear he’ll be ambitious enough to figure out how to push a chair over to the kitchen counter so he can climb up for a better look — all the more reason to make sure my house is as childproof as it can be. Rayce is changing and growing at such a fast pace some days I feel, I just can’t keep up. It’s pure craziness. Lord help me get through toddler hood, I need you like never before!

15 month check-up

Before I got abruptly cut off from my internet I forgot to give an update on Rayce’s 15 month appointment. He weighed in at 24.6 pounds and is 32 inches long. He is still down 2 pounds from where he was prior to getting sick so that was a little disappointing. Also he is developmentally delayed in fine motor skills and in his speech. His pedi didn’t seem as concerned as I was. She just said we would have him evaluated and nothing would probably come out of it. WTH? I guess because he is doing some things on target but not others. That would be my guess. I’m not as concerned about his fine motor skills as I am his speech because he doesn’t really say anything, at all. For awhile there he was attempting to say hungry but now he can’t quite get that to come out. So in the meantime I decided to delay some of his vaccines. Rayce stays at home all day with me. He’s not in daycare around a bunch of other kids and so at this time I felt it was in his best interest to hold off on the controversial MMR. At least until we get to the bottom of what is going on with him developmentally. When we get things figured out we will re-evaluate. Until then I guess that makes me a non-vaccine mommy. Although you may not agree I feel like this is the best for my child at this time.

15 months

Rayce is 15 months old today! He's a curious little guy. He likes getting into anything and everything. His favorite thing to do these days is to tear the house upside down right after mommy got done cleaning for 2 hours. I find myself constantly picking up after him because if I don't by the end of the night it looks like a tornado just got done blowing through here.

We have also been working on talking. Rayce has started to show more and more interest in talking so lately we have been working on that. So far he attempts to say hungry and bless you. He thinks it's the funniest thing when people sneeze and just the other day I caught him trying to say bless you after Ray sneezed. Too funny! Who thought their child’s first words would have been hungry and bless you?

On Thursday we are going for Rayce's 15-month checkup so stay tuned for that. For now enjoy a small slide show of some pictures from this weekend.

11 months

11 months old

My baby boy turned 11 months old today. I love this kid more and more everyday. We have so much fun together and without a doubt he keeps me on my toes. As usual he’s into everything. His latest thing is swinging on the kitchen table and pulling pots and pans out of the cabinets. There is never a dull moment with this kid, I’m not even kidding. He’s still working on those two front teeth. I estimate he will probably have them by Christmas. Speaking of Christmas…I cannot wait! It’s going to be Rayce’s first but most of all I can’t wait to spend time with my family again.

Here are some 11 month photos, kind of Christmas style to get you into the Holiday spirit.

Yum mom!

Handsome

Such a goofy boy!

10 months

Rayce turned 10 months old today. What a big boy he is. In the midst of everything else I totally forgot to update you guys on crying it out. Well, lets just say it was a SUCCESS! Yep you read it right. Rayce is now sleeping through the night like a big boy. He usually goes to bed around 7:30 (because of the time change), will wake up to eat around 6 and then he will go right back to sleep until 8 or 9. Hurray for over 12 hours of sleep! It makes a world of difference let me tell you. Other then that nothing else has really changed. We’re in the market for a new car seat he has just about grown out of his other one. He hasn’t cut another tooth. He isn’t close to walking. Still no clapping but he does wave occasionally. He does however understand the word NO, he knows when he is not suppose to get into something. Although he does try my patients many time through out the day. Little stinker.

Here are some pictures I attempted to take. I had to bribe him with a sucker just to get him to sit still. Not the best of pics but I still love this kid so much it hurts.

9 month check up

I totally forgot to tell everyone that Rayce had his 9-month check-up on Thursday. He weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds and is 28 inches long, which is right at the 50 percentile for his age. Go Rayce! We also had a few discussions with his Dr. about sleeping through the night and eating more solids. She pretty much said that he has no logical reason not to be sleeping through the night and that he is waking up out of pure habit, the only solution to this problem is to let him cry. She basically said we have one of two options, we can just let him cry or we can be sleep deprived for who knows how long.
Ugh, I will update you later on what we decided.

For the first time Rayce was actually a little behind developmentally for his age. Every time we go for an appointment they ask us a serious of questions as far as what he is doing and not doing. Usually we answer yes to all the questions and this time that wasn't the case. Apparently Rayce should be clapping and waving hi or bye. None of which he is even close to doing. So we have been working on patty cakes and saying hi or bye. I'm not to worried about this because every baby develops at different pace.

I thought for sure this visit we would be shot free but we didn't have such luck. We elected to get Rayce a flu shot. It wasn't mandatory but the flu is yucky and children die every year from the flu. Hopefully we made the right decision.

Auntie Jess came to see us this weekend. She got a heavy dose of what it's like in the day and life of Rayce! It was so nice to have her here and I'm looking forward to spending more time come Thanksgiving. Love You Jess, thanks for all your help.

Did you all enjoy Rayce’s ABC Adventure? I thought it just was the cutest.

Where has the time gone?

HAPPY 9 MONTHS MY BABY BOY!

I can't believe Rayce is 9 months old. Where has the time gone? Before I know it we will be having his first birthday party. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. I can't imagine what life would be like without Rayce but one thing I do know is; I'm one proud mom!

Some of Rayce's milestones to date are:

*Says mama and dada

*Passes objects from one hand to another

*Stands while holding onto something

*Searches for hidden objects

*Pulls himself to standing and cruises

*Picks things up with thumb-finger grasp

*Drinks from sippy cup

*Feeds himself

Now if we could get the kid to sleep through the night we'd be set!

Here's some pictures I took for the special occasion.

Playing with his Elmo guitar!

Isn't he sweet!?
One of the many faces of Rayce.
Huh?
I love him!
And those big beautiful eyes Standing!

I love this kid so much, sometimes it hurts.

6 months

Today Rayce is 6 months old. Wow, I can’t believe he is already 6 months old. He has definitely changed over the months and like always he is a real joy to be around. He has now over come his constipation, which I attribute to a few things. The main thing that helped was switching to soy formula. He also gets more water daily and prunes when he seems to have a hard time “going”. I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months will bring it will definitely be interesting.

Things Rayce Loves:
Sweet Potatoes
Playing peek-a-boo
Bath time
His exersaucer

Things Rayce Hates:
Peas
Naptime
Water on his head
Not being the center of attention

3 Months

Rayce is now 3 months old and growing up fast. He is doing many new things everyday. He loves to play and talk. He can now lift his head when on his stomach and loves to smile. He has also discovered his hands and loves to stick them in his mouth. He also enjoys taking a bath and is quickly learning how to make a mess! He pretty much sleeps through the night now. His favorite time to wake up is 6 a.m.! I know I have been slacking on the blog lately but here are some pictures I have taken.

Holding his head up

He loves bath time!

Smiling for mommy!

Playing with dad...