Vincent Can Hold the Bottle
Vincent all of a sudden grabbed his bottle and starting holding it all on his own!
He continued doing it, even when i started to hold him — this time holding it from the bottom.
Vincent Turns 5 Months Old
It’s the day after Christmas and Vincent’s 5 month birthday! I almost forgot that is was his month mark, with all the holidays! Just 1 more month till he is 1/2 a year old! Here are some shots from out photoshoot today.
He can FINALLY lift his head up off the ground pretty good now, though he still grumbles from time to time and buries his head on the floor!
It was actually pretty weird that while i was taking these photos he was trying to rollover from his tummy to his back, which he hasn’t done yet. I’d never seen him try to do that before. You can see how far his legs are leaning over. He was laughing up a storm and wobbling all about.
Look a this precious face! He has some pretty bad eczema still on his skin, especially some bad patches on his face. You can see a web of drool on his hands! He’s been drooling pretty good for a couple months now, but no teeth yet.
His shave ice growth pic! I actually measured and weighed him today — he hadn’t grown any inches since last month but he is still in the 75 percentile (he was 90th last month), and he now weighs 17 lbs.
Haha, this month he wanted to grab the shave ice and put it in his mouth!
He looks a lil chubby in this picture, doesnt he?
We like to sit him in the corner of the couch, since it can support him. He still needs support to sit up, but pretty soon he should be able to sit up on his own.
He loves to grab his toes! Especially when we are changing him. Just before he “discovered” his toes, he would always grab his “pee cloth” (what we use to cover his peepee when we change him so he doesnt pee pee all over us). So we would give him a toy to play with so he didnt do that. But now it seems he is happiest to grab his toes.
Other milestones — he tried to “sit up” when he is in his swing (semi-reclined position). He lifts his head up. He also reaches for his pants legs and stretched out his pants. He loves to scratch his head, despite that being a terrible thing to do for his scalp and cradle cap. He also constantly itches his ears and face, especially when he is tired.
He can screech really loud and mostly prefers to do this while he is being changed or is in his swing. He can sure “talk” when he wants to! He also likes to laugh when we make silly sounds or lift him up in the air. He is still scared of strangers! Poor guy. For being so happy around us, he sure can turn on the “cry” fast when its someone he doesn’t know.
Christmas Loot!
This is all of Vincent’s christmas presents! He got lots and lots of books, lots of clothes, a few toys, couple pictures frames, couple ornamants, and some other things. See for yourself! His Nana gave him the yellow butterfly that sings songs and vibrates. The red an blue puzzle ball is from his Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Mike (that is the one he was trying to open in the red package from my Christmas post). The portrait is from Taylor – what a neat idea! She stitched his initials at the bottom of it as well.
Here is a shot of all of my gifts. You can’t see it in the picture very well but i finally got a saucepan with a lid! Lots of kitchen and food related stuffs!
Vincent’s First Christmas
Ah!! What a wonderful day to be sick with a cold! Felt like crap yesterday and was hoping to feel better today but not really the case. Oh well. Vincent got up at his normal time around 730am. I left his “First Christmas” jammies on instead of dressing him for the day since you always open presents in your pjs! While we waited for daddy to wake up I took some pictures.
Once dad got up around 930am we started in with the stockings. We placed him in his Bumbo so he could take pictures in front of the fireplace. He still isn’t very good at sitting in it. He always leans way too far forward.
We put Vince in the corner of the couch and he watched us open the stocking stuffers. He got some books, a teether toy, and an Aloha shirt.
I got a foxtail that was apparently very popular in Japan last year when we visited. Do you like Jeff’s clever box he wrapped it in? Haha! Also I got lots of candies! Twix, hi-chews (also from japan), gummy worms among other things.
I got Jeff some candies as well– Almond Joy and Reese’s. I got him this cool keychain that looks like a key but is a knife, screwdriver, bottle opener, etc.
Here is Vincent hugging Jeff’s Reese’s Candy cane. One of Jeff’s favorite photos from the day.
Once stockings were emptied, we moved to the sunroom where the Christmas tree was along with all the presents.
Vince looked so cute sitting up by himself — with the help of some Christmas presents.
We put Vinny in his bouncer and gave him a present from Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Mike to unwrap. He liked the way the crinkly foil paper sounded when he scrunched it with his hands.
One of the presents i got Jeff was a custom made McGirr Pub shirt that he can wear on St. Patrick’s day!
Butters even got a toy from Lisa and Mike that he had a lot of fun chasing around.
Vincent actually helped us figure out the cat toy! I was telling Jeff – “I think it does something, feel it” and then Vincent pulls the tail and it jittered! (There is something about us and not knowing things jitter because Vince has a few other baby toys that jitter and I kept forgetting that they did that until i saw the same toy at the store with a big sign on it that says “pull me i jitter!” and was like, oh yea, it can move!) Vince is so smart.
Vince also got a cool whale puzzle from his Uncle Pat. (pictured above with Butters)
After we were done opening presents, i changed Vinny into his clothes — but i stayed in my PJs cuz i was feeling sick! His shirt says “My first christmas”!
One of my favorite gifts from the day was a handmade bear rattle from Taylor. So cute!
In the afternoon we video chatted with the grandparents. Vincent showed off what he can do during tummy time.
Then later that evening we had Torie, Orlando, Amy and Victor over for a ham dinner. We exchanged gifts and ate some pie for dessert.
Torie made Vincent a Yankee’s blanket with his name stitched in it, and we got an owl ornament, stitched with our name in it as well.
I love handmade gifts! I wish i had the time, talent, and patience to do that.
And Christmas wouldn’t be complete without dressing Butters up! I am still so surprised at how lax he is when we put him in hats and clothes. Meet me under the mistletoe!
Stocking and Ornaments for 2011
This year’s ornaments i bought from Target. The little penguin is Vincent’s and the wreath in the background is for Jeff and I. I used my extensive skills in “glittergluemanship” to write our names on it.
I wrote it a lot bigger than I had planned to initially….
For Vincent’s stocking — i was on a search for the right kind of stocking that you could personalized with glitterglue (made of felt, not the furry stuff) but couldn’t find one at Target or at Michaels or at Beverly’s and ended up buying some at the dreaded Walmart. But then, as i was leaving the store after checking out, i forgot to TAKE the bag, so then i had to go AGAIN, but went to a different Walmart and they didn’t have the kind we wanted left, so i bought another kind. Make a long story short, we ended up buying stockings 3 different times to get the one we wanted!!
I was sick with a cold on Christmas eve but had to create his stocking! Talk about wait till the last minute. The snowman was modeled after Vincent’s Frosty the Snowman book.
Four Years of Butterness
Butters celebrated his 4 year adoptiversary with us today! I bought him a seasonal santa-like outfit to wear, and glitterglued him a little “4″ sign to mark the occasion.
It is so funny how he lets us dress him up without much resistance. He looks really grumpy in the photo but it’s only because we woke him up from his nap.
No presents this year. He barely has any Christmas presents! Haha… poor kitty, such a second class citizen now.
Shimmying All About
Vincent likes to bring his legs up and then shimmy his way in a clockwise direction while he is laying down on the floor. Jeff laid him down on his kick n play piano, then came back and he had moved 90 degrees, with his leg straddling the arch that hangs the toys. Becky said he does the same thing at daycare. Silly boy.
Mommy Loves her Boys
Just an impromtu photo sesh with my lil munchkin, looking so cute!
He looks so adorable when he is looking up.
Here he is, turning all around on his mat again! I had him facing the “right way” and then he pulls his legs up to turn all the way around.
Can’t forget Mr. Butters when he wants to cuddle with mama!
Nightime Hysteria!
For some reason, Vincent has been crying hysterically at night time. When i go to feed him he doesn’t want to eat, just cry. So i have to calm him down with the pacifier. On bad days, he doesn’t even calm down with that! He is still waking up 2-3 times a night, and seems to be getting worse not getting better! Oh well. I think it is his cradle cap that keeps him up at night because he wakes up and has an itchy head and can’t go back to sleep.
Daycare Routine
Vincent normally gets up at around 8:30am at the latest. Somedays he has waken up as early as 6:30 but that is pretty rare. I try to get everything ready the night before – like my lunch and his milk, pick out my clothes etc, so i can sleep to the very last minute.
Side note** Vince has been having to wear hats because he has cradle cap and will scratch it bloody if not.
I feed him before we go, then i drop him off at Miss Becky’s by 9am. I get to work by 9:30, then work until lunch break about 1230 and pump at my boss’ house which is a short drive away. I pick up Vince around 5pm, or sometimes Jeff picks him up.
Everyday we get a report from her about when he ate and slept and how much he pooped, and any special notes. As soon as i get home, i pump some more. Each time i pump get about 6 oz or more. We have been having to supplement sometimes with formula because i dont have enough milk. I have some frozen but none of it is good — i heard some mom’s breastmilk has too much lipase in it that makes it go bad? Anyway, its unfortunate that that is the case but at least he takes formula OK when we mix it with 1/2 breastmilk.
Daycare is going really well. Here is a photo of Logan and Vinny hanging out at Miss Becky’s. I guess Logan is quite the handful compared to Vinny. Logan will cry at the drop of a dime, and takes forever to put down for a nap, etc. But Vinny is smiley all the time, never cries, goes down for his nap fine, and doesn’t mind strangers (at least at Becky’s, not from our experience!)
Here is one more photo with Vinny in his santa hat!
