My Little Helper

Ramsey is quite the little helper these days. I had blogged that he had been a cooking assistant earlier this week and now he has moved on to cleaning. YES!

Testing His Limits

Just thought I'd share these cute pics of Mr. Ramsey. He got this little club chair for Christmas and loves it! He is constantly testing me by standing up in it and I am constantly telling him to "sit down please" to which he does but only to stand up again and grin. I know at this stage he is just testing my seriousness of the word "no", so after I tell him twice the chair goes on top of the dining room table. It looks a bit funny to people walking into our home but whatever works I say. I am stern in the moment but inside I am secretly giggling because he is just so cute and funny to me.

Cooking With Nama

Ramsey and my Mom (AKA Nama) had a play date at our house yesterday and they made cookies. They made "good for you" oatmeal cookies which have raisins, pecans, craisins, and oatmeal in them. Ramsey loves them and they a considerably healthy snack so that is doubly good! Mom said they had a swell time and that Ramsey was a most helpful little assistant.

Chef Ramsey doing some mixing:

He's a most helpful little guy:

Of couse he always shares with his little buddy Bentley:

The high chair could hold his skills no longer, so it was down on the floor for more intense mixing:
Tasting his hard work. Yummy!:

The little note left for me along with freshly baked cookies!:

Wordless Wednesday-Sweet

A Few More Pictures From The Weekend

I've mentioned lately how funny Ramsey is these days. When I was putting away some laundry this weekend Ramsey picked up a pair of my undies, grinned, and put them over his head. (I normally would not post my underware but it was too funny not to share):

My Mom and Morgan just moved into their dream home on a 5 acre lake they own. My Mom has taught Ramsey how to throw rocks into the water and see them "splash". He is a lucky little boy to have such natural surroundings and a world of outdoor learning:

Ramsey with his Papa Morgan helping get dinner ready. We are so blessed that Ramsey has so many wonderful grandparents with so much love to share with him:

It Doesn't Get Much Cuter...

...Than a little boy and a puppy. My Mom and Morgan got a call from their dog, Emma's breeder a few weeks ago that a sold puppy had been returned due to a heart murmur. The breeder had no interest in trying to resale the now 5 month old puppy and simply wanted to find it a good home with loving parents. My Mom said she'd happily take her and see if it work out and if not she has wonderful people lined up to take her. They've named her Molly and she is adorable. Their dog Emma is doing fairly ok with her so we'll see??? I really hope she can stay as she is just so sweet. Oh, and my Mom is taking her to the doctor in the AM to get her heart checked and see if the murmur is something she'll out grow or if she needs special care for it.

Ramsey and I went over to see them yesterday when they got home with the new addition. I just had to take a few pictures of Ramsey with a puppy. In my book it doesn't get much better then seeing my little boy get to enjoy a puppy. They're both so young and innocent and enjoy the simple joys of life.

Crate Training

This is one of Ramsey's favorite place to play these days. He is so active but oh so much fun! He makes me laugh all the time. He woke up at 6:30am this morning (an hour earlier than usual) and only took about a 45 minute nap this afternoon. I was a little less then thrilled but as soon I went to get him I just had to laugh out loud because he is so stinkin' funny to me. I am really enjoying the toddler stage thus far. He is such a clever little boy and I love to watch his little mind working and learning new things daily.

Cabin Fever

No much going on with Ramsey and I this week. We've been staying in most days due to cold weather and trying to get Ramsey over his yucky cold and ear infection. Thank God today was warmer and so nice outside. We strolled the neighborhood and just breathed in the fresh air. I can hardly wait for spring and the neighborhood pool to open! Wait...that means I'll have to wear a swim suit, CRAP!

Here are a few pictures from today. I remember when Ramsey was around 6 months old and I could just set him anywhere and take his picture forever. Those days are long gone and now I have to literally chase him around a snap as many as possible to try to even get one decent one. See what I mean?:

New Fabrics

I've have recently added some new fabrics to my http://www.collectionsbytaranicole.blogspot.com/ site. Now there are more choices then ever to create the perfect welcome to the world baby gifts. I absolutely LOVE making these items and love knowing the names of the new babies. If you or anyone you know is looking for a special "birthday" gift let me know.

NOTE: I can mail any gift to you or directly to the recipient along with a note that it was chosen by you for their special little one.

Pictured here is a bib, changing pad, and diaper pouch:

Changing pad and diaper pouch:

New diaper pouch I made for Ramsey (the diaper pouches seem to me my most popular selling item right now): Coordinating bib:

Embroidery can be done in any color to match or contrast to your liking:

Round 3

We are now on round 3 of antibiotics for Ramsey's ear infection that won't clear up. He finished his last meds less than 48 hours ago and when we were at a play date this morning he was playing around and having a good time and then suddenly he got very fussy and shorty began screaming. I could not get him calmed down so we left and headed for home. He screamed the whole 20 minutes home and I thought he'd throw up when I dosed with Motrin because he was so terribly upset. I made a call to the pediatrician and the next appt. was in 2 hours so I layed down with Ramsey and he quickly feel asleep on my chest. He was so congested he was snoring. Poor Kid, He slept the whole time until his appt. and sure enough his left ear is still infected. So the doc prescribed a different antibiotic and we'll get his ears checked next week to make sure it is working. He is off to bed now and I'm hoping for a good nights rest and a smoother day tomorrow. We'll see???

On a brighter note Ramsey weighed in at 21lbs. 7oz. today!!! That is 2lbs gained in less than a month. WOW! Also, he is taking his milk again. His eating lady was here yesterday and she suggested mixing his milk with his juice. Gross, I know, but it works. So now I know it wasn't the look of the milk he didn't like it was actually the taste. I started giving it to him for the first time after his nap yesterday and he guzzled 3 glasses before bedtime. Good Stuff!

AHHHhhh

Jeez, Cope left yesterday morning to head back to NY for his final few weeks and I feel like someone has cut off my right arm. I suddenly am finding it hard to function without him. I'm not really sure how I previously did it for a whole 14 months while he was in Iraq??? Besides the fact that he is incredibly helpful with Ramsey I am also missing just talking to another adult on a regular basis. I realize once again how much better I am when he is around. As sweet as Ramsey is he can also be a handful at times these days so I m praying for sanity these next few weeks. But if there is one thing I have learned over this past year is to always remember "This Too Shall Pass", and Cope will be back before we know it. In the meantime Ramsey and I will keep busy and keep counting down the days until he is HOME TO STAY!


Here a picture of Ramsey from yesterday. He is getting good a playing by himself for a bit while I do some sewing in the same room. When he was quite for a few minutes this is what I turned around to find. He is in his toy box sitting on at least a dozen toys just reading (or at least picture looking) away:

Waking Up

Getting Ramsey up in the morning is very high on my list of favorite things each day and here are a few examples why:

Yep, he is totally worth getting up for. I'm a lucky Mommy!

Family Fun Day

Cope and I took Ramsey to Monkey Joes in Kennesaw this past Thursday for some family fun time before Cope heads back to NY on Sunday. Cope only has 2.5 weeks left at Ft. Drum before he can return to Georgia for good! I had taken Ramsey to Monkey Joes about 6 weeks ago for his first birthday and this time he was way more active and wanted to walk everywhere. We had a great time and here are a few photos and 2 videos of our outing.

It is only $5.00 for a child and adults get in free so it was money well spent to see his little face light up and legs start kicking with excitement as soon as we entered:
It is also great exercise for the parents of a 20lb. toddler who needs help getting to the top of some of these slides:

Going down the biggest slide there:

Climbing with Daddy:

You can tell Cope is starting to get a little tired as wild man Ramsey keeps on going:

Here is Mr. Ramsey walking around. He is getting faster by the day and we begining to see lots of chasing/running for us soon:

5-5-5

I was tagged by Amanda over at http://2funsons.blogspot.com/ to post the 5th picture in my 5th folder of pictures and tag 5 other bloggers to do the same. This is my 5-5-5 and it is of Ramsey when he was 3 days old. I had just taken him home the day before and stupid me thought it was best to take him for his 1st pediatrician appt. the the very next morning (early). I think I had had 1-2 hours of sleep and was still in shock and felt like a zombie. Check out Ramsey's red, strait hair. Also this was about the only time he ever took a pacifier. I knew my life had changed but I had no idea about what a wonder boy he would become or that my heart had just doubled in size.



Now I will tag 5 others to do the 5-5-5 challenge:

My sister Paige Miller
Sierra Barclay
Cristin Fannin
Katy Toole
Erin Karras

Eating 101

Ramsey had an appointment with a speech therapist this past Tuesday. Not because of speaking issues, because he can say lots of words but speech therapist also work with children who have eating issues. Since Ramsey was a baby I have always had trouble getting him to eat what I considered to be "enough". Even with the bottle he would sometimes take very little and stop if someone entered the room, sneezed, talked, etc. I found this sort of difficult but decided to feed him in a quite room since it was more important he eat then NOT. Once we began solid foods he was never really into them and often wouldn't take more then 1/2 a stage 2 jar at a sitting. Usually he would end up crying and frustrated and I would be feeling exactly the same if not more so. Needless the say being home with him full time and being a single parent this past year while Cope was gone, eating time was HARD! I always felt like I was doing something wrong. Was it supposed to be this difficult? I had visions of me offering the baby food and him popping his little mouth open with delight. This never happened but I kept pushing to not much relief. He did start eating baby food good around 9-10 months and picked up small finger foods easily.

At 12 months I told the doctor something didn't seem right but she said wait till 15 months and we'll see. When he got frustrated with baby food I thought he was telling me he was done eating the baby stuff and ready for full time "people food". So I'd offer him lots of options and he would try some of it but mostly just spit it out. It got so bad at one point that he was only eating about 4-5 bites of grilled cheese and nothing else in a day. He lost 1 lb. in about a week so back to the doc I went full of tears and frustration. I truly felt like I was failing him in some way because I could not figure out what he wanted. We went back to baby food immediately and and back on the bottle. He was so excited to see his bottle that evening since I had already put them away a week earlier. He drank 2 oz ferociously and pulled away and screamed his head off. I decided to take him to an ENT(Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor) later that week but that doctor found nothing out of the norm so then we decided to go with the speech therapist and get him evaluated. In the meantime we have kept him on stage 2 baby foods, he is eating a ton of yogurt, and crackers and cereal galore. His weight is up to 20lbs. 9oz! So he is eating a good amount but not wanting to try much new stuff.

The evaluation was Tuesday and he did great! They evaluated fine motor, cognitive, sensory stuff, etc. He scored very well and every single aspect except for his eating. They watched him eat his lunch and see how frustrated he was. They think there could be a swallow issue but before we order a swallow study test (which they say can be a little traumatic) we will start with eating therapy and see if progress is made. They think it could just be something called "oral sensory issue". They we're so surprised that he loved to play in his food and nothing else related to the senses seemed to bother him. I'm not sure if we have totally pinpointed the real deal issue but I do believe we are on the right path. They did say it was good we intervened this early so that we can get him working on a more varied diet and rule out anything else. They did say too that doing nothing would be ok but he would probably be a 4th grader only eating chicken and french fries. Kids with eating sensory issues find only a few foods they'll eat and stick with that because they get there senses used to it but nothing else. Also, they said typically to get a child to accept a new food you should introduce it up to 10 times but add a oral sensory thing on top of that and you might have to introduce it a 100 times. My goodness! They will also work with us on getting him to accept his milk again.

Here is a list of what Ramsey is eating fairly consistently these days:

Grilled Cheese

Sliced Cheese

Yogurt- 2 containers mixed with oatmeal a day

Ritz Crackers

Cheerios and Kix cereal

Cereal bars

Grapes

Stage 2 Fruits-mostly bananas

Stage 2 Veggies-He is very opinionated these days and will often try to skip the veggies

Overall I am really glad we're doing this. Of course no parent wants to think there is anything up with there child but I've decided to be more positive. Ramsey is AMAZING! He is so smart and they even said his understanding and words are at the 18-20 month level. As cope and I have said to each other "we are his parents and it is our job to do what is in his best interest and help him grow into his best self", hopefully his best self being on who enjoys a variety of foods :) I will say too that this parenting stuff is HARD. I somehow always knew feeding Ramsey was not supposed to be this difficult but everyone kept saying "oh, he'll get it" and I felt like I was failing him everyday. I am so grateful to have someone with better knowledge then me help me figure it out. If you know me, you know it is hard for me to accept help often but if it is in Ramsey's best interest, so be it...I'm in! Cope and I are so thankful to have a bright, healthy child and this eating thing is just a blip on the radar but one I am now ready to tackle and help Ramsey live his best life. I'll keep you posted as hopefully progress is made.

Picture Post

Here are just a few Ramsey pics that I wanted to share.

Driving his car:

He got caught opening the cabinets:

Helping clean out the cabinets:

Hiding from Mom:
Giving the TV remote a good washing:

Having a little morning juice: