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.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/6341572909 https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/6342318542
Another costume from Patti/Evan is this cute dinosaur outfit complete with hat and claw booties.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/6320129609 https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/6302472215
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.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/6302993436 https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/6302994220
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!
Pumpkin Patch with Patti & Evan
I went to the pumpkin patch with Patti and Evan to pick out some pumpkins. I had never been to a pumpkin patch before, there were so many to choose from! Usually we just buy them at the grocery store. Originally we were going to take Vinny with us but he was extra cranky because we had just started bottle feeding him that day, so he stayed at home with Grandma and Jeff.
Evan had fun rolling around the pumpkins and riding in the wagon we used to carry the pumpkins back in.
I ended up getting 2 bigger pumpkins (a mommy and a daddy), a baby squash, and a green duck looking squash.
Can’t wait to carve them and set them out for the trick-or-treaters to see. We already bought Halloween candy at Costco… I put half the bag away in the garage so we wouldn’t eat it all before then.
Schipper Potluck
Today we had a potluck at our house with my work people at Schipper Design. We grilled up some steaks and had yummy orzo salad, green salad, fruit salad, veggies and chips and dip. Oh and some meatballs! Everyone was really excited to meet Vincent. I am sad i forgot to take more photos! I only got a few of the girls with Vincent. This first photo is of Angie’s girl Emma (3) and Anthony’s girl Charlotte (2) meeting Vincent.
Rita and Vinny boy.
Michelle and Vinny.
Laughing and Cooing
Vinny has been laughing and cooing at us lately. It is so cute! He can babble on and on sometimes! He also likes to look at himself through the mirror and smile.
Patti came over to visit us yesterday and showed me how to wrap Vinny up in the Moby wrap. I still don’t think i can do it on my own, it didn’t feel very natural, and seems like such hum-bug to get him in there. We snapped a few photos that look like he is having fun but in reality i don’t think he liked it very much.
And here are some more photos from earlier yesterday at 11.5 weeks:
Such a smiley baby! Ever since we started swaddling him and putting him to bed earlier (7-8pm) he has been sleeping up to 6 hour stretches. So he gets up at 2am, 5am, and wakes up at 8am. Not too bad.
Meeting Olivia
Went to have dinner at Renee, Wayne and Hunter’s house in Prunedale last night. Jeff was supposed to come with, but he was sick so he stayed home. Rebecca was also there with her 4-week old little girl Olivia. They seem to like each other, no?
Cute pic of them and Hunter (8 years old). He is a great cousin to Olivia!
For dinner we had some amazing artichoke pasta, garlic bread and fresh green salad. Dinner is always yummy when Wayne and Renee are cooking! I brought some dessert, homemade cookies. Here is the recipe, because they were good and i will want to make them again! And for some reason i can never find past recipes unless i blog post it, so this is more for me than it is for you… whoever you may be.
Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
from Joy of Baking
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
3/4 cup (160 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups (50 grams) crisp rice cereal
1 1/2 cups (255 grams) chocolate chips
Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy (about 2 – 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the oats, and then gently stir in the rice cereal and chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake the cookies for about 10 – 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. For chewy cookies, slightly underbake. For crunchy cookies, bake a few minutes longer. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 60 cookies.
My notes: I ran out of milk chocolate chips so i used half milk and half white chocolate chips. Very tasty! This cookie is not very “oatmealy” considering it says its oatmeal cookies! I would have liked more oatmeal i think… but don’t get me wrong these cookies are BOMB i can eat about 5 in one sitting and still crave for more!
Evan’s First Birthday
Patti’s little boy Evan turns one on October 19th! We celebrated by going out to dinner at Elli’s. We bought him a book, Goodnight Gorilla. He needed a little help from his grandma to open it.
This was Vinny’s first outing to a restaurant. Jeff and I weren’t that hungry so we just ordered dessert. He did well! It was a little late in the evening for him so we kept the visit short and left so he could get to bed in time.