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!
Grandma Jerrie Flys Home
Well after a long but nice stay my mom is heading back home to the islands! Jeff woke up early to drive her to the San Jose airport.
I watched Vincent and boy was he happy! Smiling away and making all kinds of babbles.
Jeff had to hurry home so I could team teach RIPPED class Monterey. I barely made it in time! Last week Saturday i taught my first Turbo kick class since having Vincent. It felt so good to be back!
Anyway, we sure are going to miss grandma jerrie cooking us dinner and watching Vincent all the time. And also giving our indoor and outdoor plants some love. But she will be back in February when my sitter has a week long vacation. And grandma will get to see Vincent when we go to Hawaii in January for my sister Jill’s wedding.
3rd Annual Cookie Exchange
Held our yearly cookie party a week earlier than normal so my momma could partake in the festivities. I sent my invites out a little late and was expecting a small turnout but we ended up with a good amount of cookies.
I made Chinese Almond cookies. I would buy them all the time from the Chinese restaurants when I was growing up in Hawaii so I wanted to try and make it on my own. My mom have me the recipe which she got from her mom. The secret? Good ole lard! Lol. Or I guess they sell it as Crisco nowadays. Here is the recipe:
Chinese Almond Cookies
Cream together:
1 1/2 c Crisco (do not substitute butter)
1 1/4 c sugar
Add:
3 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
Add:
1 beaten egg
Add:
1 t almond extract
Roll into balls (i used my cookies scoop), flatten with the bottom of a flat cup. Place a red dot using red food dye and the back of a chopstick in the center of the cookie. Bake 375 degree oven for 12 minutes. Yield 36.
Here are some of the other cookies!
Gingerbread Men baked by Torie. My favorite bikini wearing men, lol!
Crispy Chocolate Chip cookies from Sandy
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies from Chi
Lemony Sugar Stars from the Hustons.
Peanut butter Oatmeal from Carrie
White and Milk Chocolate Chip from Jerrie
Chi brought her 2 little ones Paige (8 months) and Peyton (2 years). Pictured above is Paige and Lilia (1o months), Roger and Carrie’s little girl.
Grandma Jerrie took care of Vinny while i played hostess.
He had on the cutest Christmas outfit thanks to Patti, complete with Santa hat.
And some of our guests:
Renee, Wayne and Hunter (8 years old)
Kyle and Bonnie (she is expecting a little one in April)
Torie and Orlando with their gingerbread man and woman 
Vincent’s First Day at Daycare
Vincent is being eased into daycare by going half days this week. The lady who watches him (Miss Becky) also watches another boy, Logan, who is a couple months older than Vincent. When we dropped him off, he did start to let out some hesitant cries, but nothing like his full blown hysteria when he saw Angie. Becky sent us the photo below a few hours into his stay on his first day:
In the few hours that he was there he drank a few ounces from his bottle and slept 40 minutes. Pretty darn good! I was worried he wouldn’t take the bottle at all, but seems like he is doing just fine with it. He looks like he has tears in his eyes in the photo above, but is smiling now. So cute. When my mom and I went to pick Vincent up he looked SO TIRED because he was used to napping every 2 hrs but was getting much less sleep than that – probably from all the commotion. He barely even noticed me come in the room h was that tired! But i am sure happy to see me.
Bumbo Seat
Since Vince is getting bigger he is ready to start practicing sitting up. I had this bumbo seat on my baby registry but didn’t end up receiving it. So i took Vinny to Babies R Us and had him try it out at the store to see if he’d like it and it seemed like he did so i went ahead and bought it. He was all smiles when we put him in it at home. Daddy had to help him sit up right though.
You-know-who wanted to play with the box!
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!
