With 2 parents who are teachers, the love of reading begins early! 

E I E I O

Raleigh was watching his Baby Einstein tape where they sing "Old McDonald" when I walked in from going to the car. As clear as day Ral says "E I E I O"! I think he *is* a genius!! He is talking a lot more lately trying to repeat what sounds. He goes up to the door and knocks and says door. He can also say books, kitty, and shoes.

My poor baby is sick again. He never got over the cough from the last sickness and he now has an ear infection and bronchitis. He is on an antibiotic and a decongestant in addition to the singulair he gets. I hope he gets better soon. We would ALL like to sleep again!

All about Raleigh at 13.5 months

He is walking like crazy!!!! I've even let him walk around a few stores as well! Life is a ball to Raleigh. I can ask him where his ball is and he gets it. Everytime the kid sees a light, however, he looks and says "ball". It can be ANY light...a lamp, the car light, a long light, short light, whatever..its a ball!

Whenever he sees a coffee cup he says hot over and over. Last night I told him my food was hot. He pointed to my water glass and said hot. Obviously he doesnt know quite what the word really means yet!

Sometimes you can ask him what the cow says and he moos in a deep voice.

Other words: da, Dora, bubble, bottle, moo, hot, ball,

He still eats basically anything that he can pick up. He does NOT like to be fed from a spoon now.

Ral has figured out how to crawl up on the recliner! He loves it up there and really thinks he is hot stuff when he makes it. Of course this has meant putting even more stuff out of a new reach! He is starting to stack a few items and has become interested in books recently too! We are in the process of making the switch to whole milk!

Raleigh on his Police Rocker! 

Raleigh is a big boy!

I go to a Baptist Church \of about 700. They have a nursery for 6 weeks - walking, a 1 year old room, 2 year old room, etc. Promotion Sunday was last week. The babies move up as soon as they are walking good and Ms. MAry, the nursery lady, feels comfortable with it. I figured Raleigh would be in there till about October. MANY other kids have stayed in there till they are 15 or even 18 months. Ral first started walking real well about 3 weeks ago, but he is so immature!! My poor baby is still on a bottle and pretty much a wuss!! I just about died this morning when Ms. Mary told me he was moved. She promised to check on him though and said she really wasnt sure he was ready either. I took him to the big boy 1 year old room. They have different people in there for the 2 svcs. we go to, so he won't be able to get attached to anyone. I liked that Ms. Mary was in there every Sunday in the nursery with other volunteers. I felt like she really knew Raleigh and loved him. I almost cried going up the stairs. Much to my surprise, he did great!!!! Mary said everytime she went in, he was playing. A friend of mine who's little girl is Ral's age told me not to be upset, to see it as a good thing. She said having him in the one year old room will challenge him a little more and will allow him to be a little more social, which Im sure is true. I'm still sad though. This is the first official "my baby is growing up" thing we've gone through!

Poor sick baby!

Raleigh has been sick for almost a week now. He started having bowel problems last week when my dad and sister were in town. It just got worse. He has vomited twice. He also started running a high temp on Monday. We took him to the doc today. They did bloodwork and said that one of his numbers, which is consistent with a viral infection, is double what it should be. The good news is that he hasn't lost any weight and isn't dehydrated. We are taking some stool samples to the hospital tomorrow so that they can rule out a few other things. He also has a cough, poor thing!!

All of this the day before we start school! Ugh! Mike and I are SO tired b/c my poor sweet baby has been so sick and up all hours of the night.

Mike and I knew he was sick when he cuddled with us in the chair and went to sleep. Ral NEVER does that!

Walking!!

Yes, my baby is finally walking. He started walking really well on Sunday after we visited with our friends who have a little girl Raleigh's age who has been walking for a few weeks. He by no means is perfect or does it all the time, but he is walking!!! He can go quite a few steps before he falls down now!

He had his 1 year appt today

Ht: 31" 85%
Wt: 25 lb 6.5 ounces 80%
Head: 49.4 CM >95%

He has increased his height and his weight percentiles~ His head just stays big, I guess. He had his blood drawn to check his hemaglobin, which was fine, but they had trouble getting his finger to stop bleeding. 3 of us trying to hold a screaming kid down while his finger bleeds all over us was NOT fun! He also had 3 vaccines today. Doc told us everything looked great. His ears are fine, so he told us to start letting him cry it out at night! Basically, Ral is a great manipulator! He's learned that if he cries REALLY hard, he'll get in the bed with mommy and daddy! Well, I started letting him cry tonight. He only cried 15 min. I couldnt go back to sleep, but he did, which is good!

My little baby is growing into a toddler!