11 month review

I can't reach that remote!


Your not going to take my coke bottle away are you?


I need to check out the bottom of this thing and make sure it's o.k.!


This hand is so good!


This is what Tegan looked like right after I got the beetle out of his mouth. You can tell he had been crying and looks very mad at me. "How dare you"!

Yesterday Tegan turned 11 months old. It is so hard to believe that I am about to start preparing for his one year birthday party. He has been coming along lately and really since he turned 10 months old he has progressed a whole lot. Tegan the tug boat is like a line backer. If you try to stop him from going somewhere by sitting or laying in front of him he will just run over you or climb right over you as if he doesn't even care you are there. He knocks down the baby gates now and only wants to go to the parts of the house I don't want him in. He repeats DaDa every time I try to get him to say Mama and smiles about it as if he knows what he is doing. He will race you in a crawling race and giggle so hard the whole time that he can barely keep up. When Tegan turned 10 months old he was sitting in the floor one Sunday morning and just took off crawling. That is Tegan to a T! He doesn't even let on that he can do it but when he tries it he never fails. This time last week when we stood him up at furniture or something his hips would be so unsteady and he couldn't stand leaning on furniture on his on. Then the very next day (last Tuesday) he just crawled over to the couch and pulled right up to get something he wanted. Ever since then he pulls up on all the furniture and can basically get to anything. I know he will do the same with cruising along furniture and just take off when I'm not looking. He did it with rolling, sitting up, crawling, teeth (6 teeth in a matter of weeks) and now pulling up. HE is also doing the same with a sippy cup. Yesterday I was complaining to Paul at supper about how he wouldn't even try to drink from a sippy cup when I noticed Paul cutting his eyes toward Tegan in the highchair and I turned around and the little turd was just drinking away from his sippy cup! I have been putting a cup around him for 2 months now to get him to use it and he has never been interested. Everything is done on Tegan time around here.
As you can see from his size (11 months old in 18 month clothes) he eats very well. Basically anything unless it is green. He doesn't like anything green, real food or baby food. He has a fit when he can see a bottle being made as if he thinks you are fixing it for someone else. This is why I have been worried about how I was going to wean him at 12 months old. Rylee loved her bottle too but the day she hit one we took it away and she never missed it but I was scared this wasn't going to work with Teg. Well starting Saturday morning he has just lost interest in it. He normally takes four 8oz bottles a day and the past few days he is only drinking 2 or 3 oz from each bottle and that's it. He will literally take his hand and push it away and try to hit it out of your hand. I know he feels fine b/c he has been eating the heck out of baby and table food....he just doesn't want the bottle. So I am going to try to get him to take the rest of the formula I have and then just start putting whole milk in a sippy cup. I know, I know...no whole milk before a year old but if his stomach can handle it, he will get it. Don't worry though, there is no shortage of food b/c he eats everything he crawls past on the floor. Things I have never seen. All day Saturday I spent the whole day cleaning and reorganizing my living room and making sure there was nothing he could eat or put in his mouth. Well he got up from nap and before I could vacuum he had a small piece of wood and a piece of plastic in his mouth. Where he got these from nobody knows b/c I had scanned the whole floor. Well yesterday he got him a good crunch on a bug. I'm not sure if it was dead or alive when he started but it was dead by the time I got his mouth open and I actually heard the crunch as he was trying to hold on. It was one of those beetles that hangs around on our front porch and sometimes get in when we open the door. I was mortified and injured where he bit my figure so hard that he drew blood! This morning it was something that looked like a piece of rope. Go figure!
He loves to play with anything but toys. He loves to take a 2 liter coke and roll it around the floor so that you get a pleasant surprise when you open it later. So I have been giving him empty bottles but he knows the difference.
Tegan cries sometimes when he just wants me to stop and sit down. If I can't get him to stop with that then when all else fails...I put him in the car. He loves to ride.

This is more for me so I can remember all the little things Tegan was doing at this age but I thought some of you might be interested to! I love my little Tegan!

"The Best Day of My Life"

Rylee and the elephants! They were so close.


Breanna (on the left) said she wanted to see an elephants backside...looks like she got her wish and a picture with it too.


All the kids...except Mallory. I think her and Melissa were in their own little world b/c I have no pictures of either of them.



Rylee's eyes say it all....Alligators just over her shoulder!


Shannon and Rylee...I call this a love/hate relationship! Smile for the camera and quit hitting each other!


My babies!


Me with the diva princess and the demanding bulldozer!(history on Tegan's name...when he wants something he will go through anything to get it and lately that has included our baby gates. There is no stopping him!


Bathroom break! Rylee looks like she is thinking about what she could eat next. She must be in a growth spurt b/c all she does these days is eat.


Shannon and all her kids looking at the huge Turtles they had....plus Mike on the very end.

The title is the words out of Rylee's mouth. Now only if she hadn't said this at least once everyday for the past 15 days then maybe I would believe her.

I have been trying to think of something else do to with Rylee and Tegan before Rylee starts "real" school in less than two weeks. Well mom had the perfect idea. They had heard about the Greenville Zoo and had heard lots of good things about it. If you live in North Georgia and you don't want to drive through Atlanta to get to the Atlanta Zoo, I recommend the Greenville Zoo. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there and the drive was so much better than driving to and through Atlanta. The zoo isn't as big as the Atlanta zoo which is a plus in my book. IT was the perfect length for us. It was a perfect overcast day with no threat of rain. Which was much better than the sun beating down on us. They have elephants, lions, giraffes and so much more. They also had orangutans which had a tiny little baby that got out and walked around for a minute and then went back under the blanket with her mother to nurse. It was so sweet! That I think was Rylee's favorite part. Tegan loved it also but he could careless about the animals. HE is so happy when he is being pushed around in the outdoors. He never made the first sound. They had a great covered playground right outside the entrance of the zoo with lots of picnic space. Mom had packed lots of stuff for sandwiches and even made brownies for us. It was really a nice day!
It ended with me watching a 20/20 last night that talked about elephants in captivity and how they are treated....Free the Elephants...Poor things!!

Poor Guy

or poor mommy....whichever you prefer. Tegan ended up having to cry for over an hour last night to get back to sleep. It was sometime around 2:00 am when the screaming stopped and he was literally flat on his face. Being flat on his face is what started the whole thing by me trying to flip him over so therefore I just left him this time. Apparently he can breath b/c surely if he couldn't then he would flip over don't you think??? I'm tired and he is tired today!



You want me to do what? Sleep is not something I want to do right now!

Sleep, no thanks, I will just have more of mommy's chocolate ice cream. Don't I look pretty in it!

What are you doing right now?

It is 12:11 am at my house....the Tegan vs Mommy sleep war is in full swing!

His Plans

His plans are to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11.

This verse is one that is a part of my daily life. Since losing Cohen it is one that has been wrote out on a piece of paper that hangs on my bathroom mirror so that I see and read it often but there is more to come on that later. The point of this post is that many times this verse has put me in to focus. When Tegan was 3 months old and we started noticing something wasn't right with him I lost my focus for a few days. Then I went in to "patient navigator mode" and started doing anything I could to help my only living son. I have drove many miles to Dr.'s appointments, test, therapies and shots. I have watched him scream as they couldn't hit a vein in his little 3 month old arm, I have watched him be sedated while listening to the "screams" of an MRI machine, I have watched him look at me with those huge eyes every time he realizes that we are walking in to therapy or a Dr.'s office. But today, today was different. Me, Tegan and Rylee all went to physical therapy today and was so excited to show her that he has started crawling (have I mentioned once he started he hasn't ever stopped) and to find out what comes next. Well my boy is consider developmentally on target for the physical aspect now. With lots of discussion between myself and the therapist we made a joint decision to graduate Tegan from physical therapy! HE GRADUATED! He still has occupational therapy and has some catching up to do there but he has went from the baby that at six months old was floppy, couldn't even hold his head up much less do it on his belly, the child that showed no signs of seeing anything at all for the first four months to the child that could melt you with his sweet looks, the guy that can travel anywhere he wants and get anything he wants and the guy that can see what he wants! I am so excited to have this break for one less thing that he doesn't have to go through. Tegan does things in his own time and maybe sometimes needs a little push in the right direction but he gets there when he is ready. I have noticed that during the weeks when he doesn't have shots or therapy is when he seems to start doing something new. Hopefully soon Tegan will get to go day after day as a normal kid for the first time since three months old.

If your still reading I am getting to the point...a few weeks after the Dr.'s started to panic us about Tegan I started to really read this verse and not only read it but listen to it. I started pushing it....and believing it for him. I would pray to God for him and would quote this verse in my prayers. I stopped asking God for healing and started praising God for the healing that I was seeing. I would daydream of his healing. Suddenly one day I realized it was all happening. I felt as though God has changed his mind about Tegan....or changed his course. Maybe it is Tegan's strength or will or maybe it was my strength, thoughts and will. Who knows but all I know is it has and continues to happen and I welcome it everyday!

Stubborn to the bone!

I had accomplished sweet success over the past few weeks with Tegan and nap time. I had finally gotten to stop laying down in my bed with him to get him to nap and had gotten to where I could lay him down in his bed wide awake and he would cry for approx 3 minutes before giving up and knocking out. Well over the past few days he has realized that he can get up in his bed and either sit up or get on his knees on the side of the bed. This has really hurt my "free time"....or his nap time. Anyways he has been in there today since 12:20 and it is now 1:45 and he is still awake. Don't worry he isn't screaming as long as he is sitting up but I am trying to stand my ground and get him to go to sleep without my help. But in the mean time I got a great video of him being stubborn and not wanting to lay down. Of course once I turned off the camera and tried to lay him down to help him out, he woke right up and is still awake! Enjoy!

Emory Eye Update

Last week before leaving for vacation we made the hour and a half trip out to Emory to see Tegan's eye doctor. There aren't really any pediatric eye doctors any closer to us although I am looking now to see if I can come up with anything closer. As suspected he is doing great. He may be having a little problem seeing far off b/c that is when he tilts his chin down and turns his eyes upward to try to see you. Other than that his nystagmus does not seem to be affecting his vision at all. His null point appears to be straight forward right now and if that stays the same he will not have to have the surgery to turn his eyes. He showed wonderful signs of having perfect vision. His nystagmus has slowed down a little but is still noticeable....especially when he zones out which he does a lot. There are different types of nystagmus...one being for no reason and not a genetic condition and one being from a disease called albinism. There are many forms of albinism from the no pigment at all to just an ocular albinism which is basically just nystagmus. Apparently everyone with albinism has nystagmus. There is no different treatment path either way, the only concern would be that if it turns out to be albinism then there is a genetic quality. Therefore if Tegan married and had babies with someone else who had this same genetic quality then they would run the risk of having a full blown no pigment at all albino. She doesn't feel that this is it so instead of us putting him through all the genetic testing we can just wait until he is around two and they will be able to tell by his eyes. Apparently there are some "holes" in the eyeball that can only been seen during an exam. Which means he has to sit still which just wasn't happening the other day. At this point I feel like it is idiopathic....which means no reason, just something that happened. She also said that hopefully it would continue to improve and by school age the eye movements would only be noticeable to those who know that he has it. I believe that will happen. Either way I am just glad this isn't affecting his vision at all. It definitely is not affecting his ability to crawl and get to small things (and shoes) that he shouldn't! Phew....I'm tired!

Vacation Time

Family photo!


Me and the Teg man



The beloved car....the best money ever spent on a toy.


Our little indian girl!


What you see in this picture is what you get...this is how big it was for 3 adults and 2 kids....Nice!


Mom on Taylor's tractor. She was flying around on this thing and we were all laughing but really her foot was stuck and she couldn't get it to stop. Funny!


My mother-in-law


Cute Caden


Two boy's up to something. This is my two nephews Caden and Taylor


Outside of our cabin...ignore Rylee who is apparently stripping on the front porch.


Melissa and Breanna


Jacob, Rylee and Zach at the campfire


Shannon and Mike (Melissa's Husband)


Mama and Darrin...I can't take pictures of mom looking at the camera b/c she closes her eyes everytime!




We turned Tegan's carseat around after he cried the whole first half of the car ride there and he loved it!


Exhausted Tegan!





Knocked out on the way home


I took this picture of the mountains while driving.

We went to the mountains to "rough it" this past weekend. We left on Thursday and stayed until Sunday. This is the first little vacation we have gotten to have in years. It was full of family...My mom and Step dad, Oldest sister and her husband and their four kids, my other sister and her husband, my younger brother and his girlfriend and his son, and then we had invited Joan (my mother-in-law) to go with us. Oh wait did I forget that my dad came and stayed with my sister in her camper. Yeap...that would be my mom, step dad and dad all on the same vacation. We are very lucky that they get along and are able to do this. Then my older brother came up with his wife and daughter and spent the day on Friday. So we had a pretty full group.

When I say we roughed it I'm not kidding. We stayed in the smallest little cabin ever with no bathroom, no kitchen, no AIR CONDITIONING and no where to hide. There was one full size bed and one set of bunk beds and barely enough room to put all our stuff and set up the pack-n-play for Teg. But somehow it was all fun. It stayed cool in our cabin and we stayed busy outside anyways.
Tegan loved being outside all the time. We got him this little car to push him around in and that is all he wanted to do. He loved this car. It is the best money I have ever spent on a toy...EVER! He slept o.k. The first night we had some issues but other than that he did good.
Rylee had the time of her life. Her mommy (me) let go of her germaphobia slightly and let her run and play and do whatever she wanted. She did not want to come home. She loved every minute of it. This is the first time that she has left our house for several days and be able to remember it.
We went to the casino (or as Rylee called it Johnny Carino's) and lost some money. Melissa (my sister) was the big winner of the trip and I don't want to talk about it.
It's amazing but all of us siblings were able to be on the same campground (with separate sleeping quarters) and actually get along. There was no arguing that I knew if.
Tegan was ready to get back home to his crawling space b/c there just wasn't anywhere up there to let him crawl.
The campground was great and I got in lots of walking since we were about a mile from the swimming pools. They had in door and outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs, minature golf and huge playgrounds. It was fun and we will probably go back at some point but we will be splurging a little more and getting on of the way more expensive cabins with a bathroom and air conditioning....mostly for the bathroom!
Here are some pictures....Enjoy!

Adventures with Granny

I love my Granny. I use to get to spend lots of time with her and my grandpa before he passed away. Even after he was gone I still always got to go get her once a week and go to lunch and take her to Goody's or something like that. Well as I have gotten older, married and procreated, life has gotten busier and I don't see my Granny very much at all.
If my memory is correct she is 81 1/2 years old and still going strong. She is very funny even when she doesn't mean to be and has never been one of those mean Granny's.
Here is my 2 hours with Granny yesterday. I picked her up to take her to the funeral home for a friend and the family that we both know. We get there 10 minutes before it starts and she insist on going on in. So we go in and no one else but the family is there. We pay our respects and she stands there and says "now what" and I say "we're done, we can go" and she reluctantly says o.k. Then she ask to go to Walmart to pick up some thread. Which was perfect for me b/c I needed to go there anyways to take back a car I had gotten Tegan (more on that later). We go in and I notice that Granny is not as fast as she use to be. We get in the door and I go return the car well she follows....slowly but she gets there. Then we notice that the thread she is looking for is all the way at the back of the store. I mean alllll the way at the back of a huge walmart. So 10 or 15 minutes later we arrive at the thread. She was so funny b/c I would stop to look back to see if she was behind me and she would stop too and look back like I was looking at someone else. Then the new car that I needed to get was all the way back up in the front right hand corner of this HUGE Walmart. So when we get to the toys...15 minutes later...I tell her to stand in one spot and let me find the car. She did so without argument. Then she needed Sam's choice cola's...not Coke or pepsi from the multiple displays that we kept passing but it had to be Sam's choice. So I make her stand all the way up front while I go find them. You guessed it, they were all the way in the very back left hand corner of this HUGE walmart. I finally get them and go back up front and notice there are no registers open where she is so I start waving for her to walk my way...she doesn't see me. Well we check out and all is well until we go to the parking lot and I was pretty sure her feet were moving although she wasn't getting anywhere. At one point I honestly thought a car was going to hit her. Instead of stopping they would just go around her. What's wrong with these people! Finally we are in the car and headed home. I laughed as I repeated the story to Paul b/c she is just so dang cute. Could I have thrown her over my shoulder in that store I would have.
If you are reading this Granny...I love you and you may want to consider a motorized scooter! Ha! I'm just kidding! Thanks for going with me to the funeral home!