Putting up the Christmas Tree
We put the Christmas tree up today! We normally wait until December, but since we have our cookie party next week we wanted to make sure we had it up for that. Vincent was excited, can you tell? He started waving his arms and legs like a dolphin when Jeff held him up. He is so funny.
Vincent is 4 Months Old
Vincent is 4 months old! My what a change from 1 month ago. Look at how tall he can lift himself up now when he is placed on his tummy. Last month he would only lift off for a second or so, and even then it was not enough to take a photo of his face.
He looks so cute in this collegiate sweater — again thanks to Patti’s son Evan’s wardrobe.
He is so much more aware of his surroundings and is able to control his arms by bringing them together to hold things. He loves to play with his toys, especially the round pliable balls we bought him and his kick n’ play piano.
He loves to exercise his voice and smile and laugh at his reflection in the mirror. He especially loves it when we come up to him from upside-down and smile and coo and him. His eyes get so bright and cheerful and he lets out a big laugh. He looks so adorable when he is “looking up”.
We love you Vinny!
A Simple Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! As i said in my facebook post, very much to be thankful for this year — our biggest little blessing being our baby boy Vincent. Couldn’t ask for anything more beautiful and perfect in life.
Grateful always for my parents and especially my Mom who is helping to watch Vincent this month. It is a lot of fun to be able to spend so much time with her after all these years living away from home.
Thankful for all the time we get to spend with our furry friend Mr. Butters, who we thought would not make it to see the birth of Vincent. The radioactive iodine treatment worked wonders and he is now a healthy kitty once again.
So this Thanksgiving is the first i’ve spend with my mom in 10 years! It is also the first time my mom baked a “fresh” turkey and so it took a bit longer in the oven than she thought it would. She brined it which made it taste very moist and delicious.
We invited Angie over and so it was just the 5 of us, though since Vincent doesn’t eat real food yet, he took his nap right when we were ready to eat and that worked out perfectly for the adults to enjoy their meal.
Here is our complete meal! All the regular fixings. We had some pre-made bread pudding we bought from Costco for dessert — super yummy and easy as pie (but not pie, LOL)!
For whatever reason, Butters has a big liking for corn on the cob. We let him lick the cob and also have a small serving of turkey.
Next year, Vincent will get to eat turkey too!
A Typical Day with Grandma Daycare + Mommy Working from Home
Grandma Jerrie and Vinny have lots of fun all day together while i am working “part-time” from home. Of course “part-time” is really more like “full-time” but that is okay, i am just glad my boss is flexible in letting me work from home. I work using Schipper’s laptop, and my own monitor. Here is a view of my setup in my home office:
I typically work from 9am-5pm, with a lunch break and a couple pumping sessions dispersed throughout the day. I also get to steal a few hugs and kisses and sometimes help with diaper changes or putting Vinny to sleep for his nap.
As much as i would love to be just a stay -at-home-mom, i know that i would eventually drive myself coo-coo. I really enjoy my career as a web designer, and if i “take a break” to take care of the kiddo, it would be a very big challenge to get back in the game since my job involves technology that changes on a daily basis. I know it will be quite the challenge to incorporate the role of being a new mommy into my life but somehow i will get through it! I am going to try to continue breastfeeding as long as i can, but i have a feeling that is not going to be for very much longer after i need to start going back to the office, which will be in a week or so when Vincent goes to daycare.
Grandma and Vinny spend the day playing in the sunroom, going for a walk, hanging out in the kitchen while Grandma makes the family dinner, singing songs together, reading books, watching TV (i think it’s funny i hear the opening to “Spongebob, Squarepants” while working in the office), doing laundry, and lots of other fun stuff! It is so cute to watch them together.
Most of all, Grandma Jerrie does a great job at spoiling our son by buying him all sorts of cool toys!
Holding His Head Up High and Rolling Over!
Vincent has recently been getting really good at holding his head up, especially on the boppy pillow. I caught this cute moment on camera — Vinny lookin’ up to his big brother!
He can also do it pretty good on the floor now, but we tend to hear more “complaining” from him because it is such hard work! My mom jokes it’s because he has such a big head.
On Tuesday, Vincent finally rolled over all by himself! The photo seen above was what I snapped right after i found him face down on the floor! He only flipped over cuz he was getting mad that no one was paying attention to him, and the flipping over made him even more upset! Haha!
About a week or so prior to this i caught him tilting his head up real high while he was in his pack n play. After that, we could see him “practicing” further by arching his back and stiffening his feet — we call it his “strongman” or “he-man” pose! Its quite funny to watch.
He rolled over again on Thursday while i was posting this picture to Facebook. The onesie he is wearing is one that Jeff’s Nana gave us and was Vincent’s first piece of clothing.
This is a few seconds after the first picture was taken.
Finally fits his Giants onesie – a little late on the season.
And same goes for the New York Yankees hat we bought him to wear home from the hospital.
This outfit Taylor gave me with a Mommy PJ set. So cute! This one is a little tight on him now…
Just mommy and Vinny hanging out in the sunroom on a weekend.
His 16 week growth picture next to the shave ice. We recently received the handmade blanket from Kim, Taylor’s Aunt.
The Many Costumes of Vincent’s First Halloween
At first we weren’t even sure if we were going to get Vincent a costume for Halloween since it’s not like he will go out and trick or treat… then all of a sudden we had a bunch of outfits from him to dress in! First up, a Halloween themed outfit from Patti/Evan that says “I VANT YOUR CANDY!” hehe – looks like a a candy corn in the picture with the yellow socks.
Then one night for bedtime we put him in a skeleton outfit that i bought from Old Navy. It glows in the dark! Jeff sported his favorite work gloves that match the theme.
Another costume from Patti/Evan is this cute dinosaur outfit complete with hat and claw booties.
And finally, his batman costume / pajamas! This is the one he wore all day on Halloween until he peed on himself during a diaper change and had to change into his skeleton costume for night time photos.
We carved our pumpkins all last minute! I did the bat to match the batman outfit that Vincent WAS wearing, and Jeff did an “simple-but-not-so-simple” skeleton.
We can’t forget about Butters! He dressed up in a pumpkin t-shirt i saw at Target that was for “small dogs” though it was a bit tight. Maybe next time the “medium dog” size will work better! He actually didn’t mind the shirt as much as i thought he would! What a trooper.
Finally, our halloween candy stash — i got a 150 piece bag from Costco – of which we ate 1/2 before halloween came. So we had to supplement with some gummy bears, candy apple lollipops, kit kats, and butterfingers. WOW that is a lot of candy! We had a bit leftover but that we didn’t mind, 
Vincent’s First Toys
Grandma Jerrie and I decided to go to Babies R Us and buy Vincent more toys, since he only had his activity mat and a few chewable toys as gifts from his baby shower. He is only now starting to become aware of his surroundings and able to control his arms. We looked for toys that he could grasp easily.
Since he loves to kick so much, we bought him a “kick n’ play” piano that also had an activity mat attached to it. This one is better than the one we already have because the toys lie closer the the ground so he can grab them more easily. He likes i a lot and makes tons of noise! When he gets older the piano can be moved to the upright position.
We also bought him some cool smashable balls with lots of holes in them, a spinning toy that pops out balls that he can play with once he is a little older, alphabet letters, a car seat toy, a mini electronic xylophone, and a crib bumper/book that plays music and lights up.
Vincent Cooing with Grandma
3 months old!
Vincent turns 3 months old today! He is now 24.5 inches long and weighs 13.4 lbs. As far as milestones, he still is not very good at lifting his head up off the ground. He does it pretty well on the boppy, but off the floor by himself he struggles a lot! But what he has been doing the past few days is talking up a storm! I think he is testing to see how loud he can grumble and yell. It is pretty cute.
Also, I read online that you can play a game with them by sticking your tongue out an seeing if they copy you. He has just recently caught on to that.
The weather here has been nice. Some days it’s a little cooler in the mornings, but usually still warms up by the afternoon enough to take a walk around the block. Our sunroom is a really nice place to lay out with Vincent on the floor (despite the kitty litter being right there too! We’ll have to address that one day…)
Vincent just loves his mobile in the crib. If he is grouchy you can put him in there and his whole body will light up!
I bought Vinny a seahorse that is kind of like a glo-worm that plays music and lights up. It is supposed to be used as a sleeping aid, and the first night we got it i used it during bedtime and i think it perked him up too much cuz he didn’t fall asleep for a while afterwards. But none-the-less it’s still a cute and usable toy.
On Sunday Vincent took a really long nap (3+ hours) during the day – must have been his growth spurt. Here he is with Daddy and big brother Butters!
Here Daddy is playin’ the drums with Vinny! He loves to laugh!
12 weeks old, Grandma Jerrie & Bottle Feedings
Grandma Jerrie flew in on Friday to watch Vincent for me while i return to work. She’ll be here until early December. She is having a lot of fun watching Vincent smile and coo!
We’ve been trying ALL WEEK to get Vincent to take the bottle during the daytime. Monday, he ate 2 oz. Tuesday he ate 4 oz. Wednesday, 11 oz! Thursday 8 oz. Friday 2.5 oz! Uhhhh! We are using Breastflow bottles which he seems to like a lot better than the Dr. Browns we were using earlier. Jeff could get him to take a bottle when he was a few weeks old, but it seems now he is smarter and knows he can just hold out till mommy feeds him.
It is so frustrating and heartbreaking! He should be eating a lot more than that. His “Eat Play Sleep” schedule is all messed up and he definitely cries a lot more than when he did when i just nursed him. Hopefully he will catch on soon.
My mom found that sometimes she can distract him and get him to eat while he is looking at his “friends” on the comforter while lying down in the pack’n'play. He just smiles and laughs… sometimes so much so that the milk will pool in his mouth and drip out.
Even though he deprived during the day of mommy’s boobie he is still generally a pretty happy baby which is good.
Of course when it comes to his bedtime feeding he nurses for 1/2 hour or more, when usually its only about 10 minutes. Then he conks out. Yesterday i tried to “dream feed” him at 10pm to see if he would extend his sleeping time but he just pursed his lips at me, like the above!
We moved the futon from the sunroom to the office so my mom has a place to sleep that isn’t the couch. This 3 bedroom house seems so much smaller all of a sudden! Butters found a new hangout spot – of course.
Vincent can hold his head up good on the boppy now, if he is in a happy mood. Otherwise he just lies there all limp, it’s actually kinda funny. When we do tummy time on the floor, he struggles SO MUCH! He does not like it at all. And when i flip him back over, he is so tired, and all his boogers come out of his nose!
Here is his 12 week growth photo with the shave ice! This onesie is so adorable! It came from Patti who gave me a bunch of Evan’s clothes that he has grown out of. Thanks Patti!
