St. Louis & the long drive

While Ron was away on a boys weekend... Ramey and I made the long drive down to St. Louis.

We left Thurs afternoon and had an overnight layover in Bloomington. We spent the afternoon playing with Big G and Little G, then had an impromptu gathering for dinner with the rest of the family.
Ramey slept very well at Granma and Papa's house... 12+ hours!!! After a quick tire check, we were on the road... Ramey was asleep shortly after take off... we made it more than halfway before needing to take a quick break.

We had a great time with Aunt Donna, Uncle Bruce and the boys, Uncle Brendan and Grandma...
Ramey LOVES her new activity table

Grandma Betty and Coby helped give Ramey a bath

Our trip to the zoo was short and sweet thanks to the rain that refused to let up until we got back to the car. We really could have used an extra umbrella... too bad I didn't realize we had one in the stroller basket till I was putting it back in the car LOL Due to the rain, we didn't get our picture with the bronze gorilla... looks like daddy will be able to be there for that!!

Saturday evening was spent with more friends and family.

Sunday was a full day as well... breakfast, followed by meeting many of Grandma Betty's friends... nap then it was time to hit the road again. Ramey slept almost all the way to Springfield!! The rest of the trip was pretty quick with an extended layover in Bloomington again. We stopped at Brian and Kristin's again, Cindi and the girls stopped by too!!! We got jammies on for the finally leg of our journey and Ramey slept till we got off the highway. She then had some snuggle time with daddy...

It was a long trip but great to see everyone!!!

TEN Months

All I have to say is that is no baby... that's a toddler

Bally Good Times

This is from a few weeks ago...

She was having a ball chancing the ball:



I can't tell you how many laps we've done in the hallway... we do it with the highchair and with the walker/car all day long:

One Step... Two Step... PLOP

We aren't exactly walking but we are STEPPING!!! She takes 1-2 steps then plops LOL! At most I've counted 4... As much as I've dreaded this occurring, it is getting exciting to watch her achieve this milestone.

Lefty was the incentive:

Lefty Love

Ramey was really lovin' Lefty today... Everywhere Lefty went, Ramey went

At one point I looked over to find her laying completely on top of her, hugging and loving her puppy... Good thing Lefty is a good sport.

The afternoon started with a little ball playing:
And then the attacks on Lefty begin:

Just before this shot she was laying lengthwise across Lefty
Nice action shot of her falling over... onto Lefty
Mini break of Lefty torture with some bar-stool walking
Back to Lefty love
Lefty "tried" to hide among the stools...
no such luck:
love the look on her face
Some how we got her away from the puppy and she hung out with us for a bit and made faces

My buddy and me

Ramey "playing" with her buddy




As hard as I try, I can't keep the mirror clean. Finger prints, forehead prints and kisses... she sure loves her buddy

Tongue in Cheek

or on it, so it seems

I noticed Ramey playing with something the other day... it was her tongue. She kept sticking it out and holding on to it. I had a good laugh...

We of course had to get a few pics of it:

Not exactly the next Michael Jordan

She is in the midst of fighting a little cold with puffy eyes, a runny nose and a little cough. She is improving...

Molars?!?

When I was little my dad would hold me and "shake my puddin'..." It was our something special. I now "shake my puddin'..." with Ramey (hold and tickle, sometimes upside down)

Over the weekend, we were shakin' some puddin' when I noticed:

(click to enlarge)
Note the purple spot on the right side...
(kind of freaked me out)

Turns out its an "eruption hematoma" ~ basically a bruise where the tooth will be coming thru and will go away once it is thru. Boy does that look painful... Poor baby

As if that isn't enough she has a few more on their way too:

She has been a little extra clingy but I have to say, she hasn't been too bad. Still sleeping like Ramey and eating well, just a little extra fussy in the evening.

Before we know it she is going to have 11 teeth (I can feel the bottom 2 molars and SEE 1 on top) Looks like we are going to need a dentist before we know it!

Because she's so cute...

Someone wouldn't let me finish dressing them....

We had a few good laughs... it took a while but I was able to finish dressing her

West Fest

This weekend was West Fest on Chicago Ave. so we hosted our first bbq with Ramey. We had a great turn out with lots of kids. After some good eats we all walked down to the Fest and spent some time at Kid Fest... no pony rides for Ramey but Christopher and Nathan got one!!! Maybe next year... It was great to see all the kids and hang out with the adults... Thanks Lynn and Aimee for sticking around after Ramey went to bed... it was nice to have some adult time (and the bottle of wine!)

Nathan, Isabella and Ramey had fun playing in the mini pool

Brian and Kristin also came up this weekend for the Cub/Cardinal game... Ramey now has a Cub outfit (Thanks Snopek's) and a Cardinal outfit (Thanks Grandma Betty) so now we can support our favorit team.