Ice Cream Face!

Mommy & Ryder went on a date.

We shared an Ice Cream….

And it was “Nummm Nummm” good!

Back to the Doctor

We went back to the Doctor today to get Ryder’s blood work done (can you believe it has been a month already?!).  Lucky for him…well…I guess it depends how you look at it, but he has an ear infection so we couldn’t do the blood work!  I asked the Dr. to check his ears before we took his blood because he has been tugging at his right ear a lot the past few days.  Sure enough, he has an ear infection, so it would be pointless to do the blood work because that would throw all of his levels off anyway.  That pushes us back to waiting 3 more weeks to get the blood work done to check his platelet levels.  On that note, I’ve really been stressing about these platelet levels, worrying that with them being high he could be at risk for another stroke.  So, I contacted the Neurologist yesterday and feel a little better after talking to them.  They said they won’t be concerned unless his levels are persistently in the 700’s and Ryder’s were right around 600 both times, and 450 is normal.  SO…even though they are elevated, lets just pray that they don’t reach the 700’s and there will be no real reason for concern!

I love going to Ryder’s Pediatrician’s office, they are all so sweet and they love Ryder, so of course I love them :)  I mostly love how they notice the little progressions that Ryder makes, it makes me feel so good to see that his Dr. actually notices and is proud to see him moving forward or doing something new.  For example, when she walked in the room Ryder was crawling on the ground and she immediately noticed that he was putting one arm in front of the other, instead of the pull & scoot move he always did before.  Even though he’s still crawling on his belly, it’s great to see the coordinated movements between arms & legs.  And when she walked in the room I said to Ryder “say Hi Doctor…” and he said “doctor” (in Ryder language but totally understandable) and she couldn’t believe it!  After visiting with us for a while, she said he’s saying really unique words that most 13 month olds wouldn’t be saying yet.  His therapist made the same comment today, so it made me feel good to hear something positive from both people in one day!

Bye-Bye Ba-Ba; Helloooo Pop-Tart

Ryder is officially off the bottle, he hasn’t had one in a full week!  He’s so easy, how did I get so lucky?  Every big change I anticipate so anxiously, thinking he’s going to have some horrible reaction, but every time I’m pleasantly surprised with how easily he transitions.  Our new nighttime routine consists of drinking his milk from a cup, on Mommy’s lap, while we watch Praise Baby together.  When the movie’s over, he knows it’s night-night time so I lay him down in his crib and he goes right to sleep.

  So today, Alan did the grocery shopping (have I told you lately how much I love my husband?!) so while we’re putting the groceries away, he looks at me with the most sincere face and says “Baby, can Ryder have a pop-tart for dinner?  I bought them especially for him!”  How can I say no to that?!  Even though it goes against everything I believe in, there was a very special moment tonight at dinner when Daddy & Ryder bonded over sharing their first pop-tart ever!

His all-time favorite food at the moment though is still a banana!  I’m going to have to start hiding them, because it doesn’t matter if it’s morning, noon, or night, if he catches a glimpse of a banana – he wants one NOW!  Lucky for me, watching him eat a banana ranks pretty high on the cutest-things-Ryder-does-that-make-Mommy’s-heart-melt list!

One Word Wednesday

**Riding**

Golf Cart

It is hilarious to me that one of Ryder’s very first real words he decided to say was “Golf Cart”!  That’s a story that I definitely think he’ll find funny when he gets older.  The obsession came into play when Uncle G was driving Poppy’s golf cart to/from his house to meet him for work in the mornings when his car was being fixed.  One evening, Daddy & Uncle G took Ryder for a ride…and the rest is history!  He loved it, and every evening after that he would point at the door and make “vroom vroom” noises until someone would take him for a ride.  It only took him a few days to realize it was called a Golf Cart, and that he could get his point across much faster by saying the actual name (which comes out of his mouth more than any other word…all day…every day!).

     

Lucky for Ryder, Nanny & Pap-pap have one too, so I often get there on my lunch break or after work to find this:

Is it bad that we’re actually considering buying him his very own golf cart?!  

Daddy In Training

Ryder’s OT brought a baby doll to therapy the other day!  The point being A) to try to teach Ryder how to hold the baby with one hand and “pat-pat” with the other, and B) to show him how to be easy & gentle.  Well, lets just say the lesson flew right over Ryder’s head.  He grabbed the baby by the arm, bit her in the head, flung her across the room, and now thinks her name is Pap-pap!

To make matters worse, she accidentally left “Pap-pap” at our house!  Luckily when Alan walked in his room to find a baby doll on the floor, I was able to quickly reassure him that Ryder has no interest in playing with dolls!  Nor, in being a Daddy!

No interest in being A daddy, but definitely an interest in being HIS Daddy…as in a little mini Alan.  So lately, whatever Daddy happens to be doing, Ryder wants in on the action. 

Whether it’s doing pull-ups:

Lifting weights:

Or chewing on straws & toothpicks:

 

He’s definitely Daddy in training!

One Word Wednesday

**Rash**

Don’t worry I won’t leave you hanging with just one word (as long as you’ll forgive me for making a lie out of my title).

Ryder broke out in this horrible rash, so I took him to the dr. yesterday afternoon.  Thankfully it’s not bacterial or fungal, she said it’s some sort of irritation, mixed with his eczema.  I’m not sure what caused his skin to get so irritated, if I had to guess it would be A) putting him in all his new clothes without washing them, or B) letting him sit and play in the grass.  We got a prescription for Hydrocortisone, and she said we could give him some Zyrtec.  The mixture worked great because this morning the rash looked a whole lot better.  I’ll keep treating it and hopefully it’ll be completely gone soon.

So, sorry for the “wordy” Wednesday post, but I figured I’d better explain :)

Chit-Chat

I could listen to this little voice say new words all day!  (Excuse the hiccups, he gets them every time he laughs)

13 Months!!

1 year and 1 month old today!  I’m going to have a long list of what Ryder is up to this month, so I’ll just get right to it!

• Ryder has moved up to size 12 month clothes which are very baggy on him but he got so many cute outfits for his Birthday, I had to put him in them!  And he’s in a size 4 diaper.
• He eats 3 meals, 2 snacks, and one bed time bottle.  He’s a great eater, we haven’t found much that he doesn’t like.  His favorite foods right now are the Gerber’s little crunchies, grilled cheese sandwiches, and bananas!
• He is still doing the army crawl and is pulling up to his knees and to stand ALL the time now!  He’s finally getting some strength in his legs and doesn’t seem as unstable. 
• He has started talking so much over the past few weeks.  Some of the words he is saying are car, cracker, sit, ball, rock, golf cart, elmo, bye-bye, and night-night. He has the cutest little voice.
• He has Occupational Therapy every Tuesday to help strengthen his left side.  His arm & leg continually get stronger but we have lots of work to do in hopes of a full recovery.
• He has a horrible rash mix of eczema and rug-burn, we’re treating it with hydrocortisone and Aquaphor, but might be making a special trip to the Dr. if the break-out doesn’t clear up soon.
• Still only 4 teeth!  2 on top and 2 on the bottom, I’m guessing more will be coming soon.
• He still takes 2 naps during the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, atleast an hour each.  He is in bed by 8 and sleeps until 6:30.
• His favorite toys right now are his letter magnets on the fridge, his work bench, and Mommy’s cell phone (I apologize in advance if he accidentally calls you).
• His most favorite thing to do is go for rides on the golf cart and anything that involves Daddy :)

I feel like I could keep going on and on.  Ryder is at such a fun age and he is all over the place doing all sorts of new things.  I like having a 1 yr old, its very entertaining!

Doin’ the Dishes

Party Weekend

This weekend felt like one long party that ran all together!  Friday night, we had Sophia over so her Mommy & Daddy could go out on a date :-)  It turned into a party when Penny & Madeline came over to hang out too…

 

Saturday morning me & Ryder headed off to our first Mommy & Me swim class at the YMCA.  We had SO much fun, I’m so glad the class lasts for 6 weeks!  Seeing him in a bathing suit makes me smile:

Saturday evening it was off to Yaya’s house to celebrate her Birthday!  We love Yaya so much and had fun celebrating her :)  Happy Birthday Mommy!  I only got the camera out once, while Ryder was doing something super cute (he pulled himself up and was standing, looking out the window saying “da-da”):

  Sunday we had a baby shower for Alan’s Uncle Danny and his girlfriend who are expecting a little boy.  We can’t wait to meet Samuel and are so excited that Ryder is going to have a cousin so close in age with him.   The diaper cake was made be ME!  Sorry, I’m a little proud of it, it is by far the most arts & craftiest thing I have ever made in my life.

Party’s over…back to work tomorrow!

Dinner, Slide, Cracker

Today we met Yaya for dinner at a really yummy restaurant that is right on the water.  Ryder had a love affair with his hushpuppies and grilled cheese: He would say “MMM” after every bite he took, ha!  Even though he loved his food so much, he still offered to share it with his Yaya (at the same time that she shared hers with him)…that’s love! Then we ventured over to the park to see how Ryder would like it, this was his very first trip and he really didn’t know what to think.  He clenched onto me a little tighter than normal and was very skeptical, especially when we climbed the stairs to go down the slide.   He felt a little safer sitting on the bench wearing Mommy’s sunglasses!

I know this little daredevil has plenty of sliding in his future…when we got home he definitely wasn’t scared to pull up and stand at his activity center (of course Mommy was though!)

I love how his shorts come all the way down to his ankles…and his shirt says “My Favorite Color is Dirt”.  As if that isn’t enough cuteness for one post, listen to him say cracker!

Shape Collage

Inquiring minds want to know where I made the heart collage for One Word Wednesday and the answer is…I took my camera, took a picture of my heart, and tadaaaa…it was filled with pictures of my little love!

No really, there is this website I found called www.shapecollage.com, you download the program, upload your pics, and it will make them into any shape you want, like an R for Ryder:

Pretty cool, right?!  As if Blogging and Blurbing and Facebooking (except I don’t do that) and tweeting (or that) aren’t enough, now there is shape collaging…Great!  Have fun :)