Eventful Week, Full of Milestones

Even I have noticed my posts become fewer and farther between. These days, Vincent keeps us busier than ever before..and we know that soon our lives will be forever changed. Vince is crawling! Well, just about anyway. He's been up on all fours rocking like crazy, and he has begun to move backwards. Here he is trying to crawl right through the laptop to grab Gramma's nose...or cheek...or glasses...or hair....yes, he's grabbing everything in reach, too.

Hi Gramma!

Another big milestone this week has been sitting up all by himself without any support. This one sort of surprised me, it sort of happened without me realizing it. Here he is chewing on a new favorite frozen teether. Vincent cut two little itty bitty bottom teeth this week! Ooh they are sharp! If I were nursing, this would have been the week I quit!

Big Boy!

Eating these last two weeks has been a new challenge, too. Vincent has little use for rice cereal, but we are trying. By now it's more applesauce than cereal, but he's liking it a little more. I then introduced peas to him, and he loved them! Right now we are working on sweet potatoes, which he loves as well. Trouble is, as you can see form the picture below, Vince is hardly a neat eater. He sort of face plants into the spoon. It's comical for sure. Thankfully, he hasn't given me raspberries yet during mealtime, though he's been practicing. I'm waiting!

Love This Face!

Daddy Feeds Me, Too

So far we've been feeding Vincent right on the counter, but today I ordered a highchair. He squirms around so much, we need something to contain him! I just had to include the picture below for fun. Vincent was just happy as could be in his jumpy while I did a few things around the house. I think I sat down to work on the laptop, and found that it had become oddly quiet. Well, this is why...

Play Hard, Sleep Hard

White Matter

A couple months back my brother-in-law, John, began his own blog to reflect upon his own family, his profession, and his passion for cycling.

While I will admit to skimming over his bike jargon, it's the connections he makes with his family that really speak to me. Referring to a recent cyclocross race with Will, John found the words that I think I have been searching for. See John-I told you I would use them! This captures what it means to remember the "moments."

"I look over and he looks back with a grin I am trying to emblazon into my white matter forever." (JMM)

There are so many faces I want to emblazon into my white matter forever, but of late, these are a few that melt my heart.

That's The Face

My 2 Favorite People

It's hard sometimes to write meaningful words without sounding like I'm narrating an episode of Grey's Anatomy. I hope that at the end of this, I will still have emblazoned onto my heart as well the intense love I have for my family. It's the kind of love that spills over like teardrops when you just can't believe how lucky you are.

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch!

Nothing feels like fall like triple digit temperatures, right? This is about the time of year that I begin to get a bit cranky...and extremely homesick. My favorite time of year is Fall, especially in New England. Mom shared her pictures of Blaise at Brown's Harvest, and I just knew a trip to a pumpkin patch up north would be on our list of things to do. After all, down here in "the Valley" you mostly find make-shift pumpkin patches in empty corner lots or big bins in the produce aisle of the grocery store. So while up in the White Mountains, we traveled to a little town called Snowflake to visit Willis Farm.

Well, the pumpkin patch was a little weak, not much to do. Most disappointing, there were no hayrides! But we did have fun walking through the field to find just the right pumpkin for Vincent's First Halloween. A 20 pounder-a little bigger than the boy!

Kodak Moment Photo Stop

It's Been a While!

Whoa! I've been taking some heat about not keeping up with the other bloggers out there. It's true, I really have slacked this past month. The truth is, I've been having way too much fun playing with the little boy rather than writing about it. And I know I will kick myself later for not getting everything down on paper, err... keyboard. So, I hope I can make up for it with this post.

Let's see, today is Vincent's half birthday, as my students say. How many times have I said or heard how quickly time is passing. It's so true, and so hard to accept. So to celebrate Vincent's 6 months in this world, I put a little cereal in his bottle last night. Woo Hoo! He loved it. I think. Who really knows? But he did gulp it down. Later today, we'll try making a small batch of slop and see how that goes. Should be interesting. Since nursing didn't work out, I am all geared up to make home made baby food. Really? How hard could it be? Hey-pipe down out there busy mommies who have been there done that-I can hear you laughing at me.

So Vince...oh, how I wish we didn't live so far away from so much of our family. He is precious. He is hilarious. He is happy, curious, active, thoughtful, tactile, affectionate, cuddly, mellow, even-tempered, alert, and just dog-gone sweet! We hit the jack pot with this kid, we really did. These last 6 months have been some of the best times of our lives, and really, not much has happened. We are fully aware that each stage of Vincent's life will be better, he will do more, and we will enjoy him even more. But so far, he's exceeded all of our expectations of parenthood. Vincent is flat out awesome.

This past month we've noticed him making some huge strides towards mobility. Vince is steam rolling his way across the living room. He prefers to roll over to his left side, and once he gets going, he doesn't stop. It's no longer a struggle to roll from tummy to back. Forget the blanket...he rolls right off. He's also begun to enjoy playing on his tummy more, and pushes himself up on his hands. Earlier this week he began pushing himself forward just a bit, and I caught him up on his tippy toes. Of course he quickly face planted, but it made us realize life is about to change, again. We are quickly approaching the time when we may no longer be in charge. I have a feeling we are about to go where Vincent wants to go and when Vincent wants to go.

Murphy is Vincent's best bud, as Uncle John says. Murph loves to lick his face, and he doesn't mind it one bit. Now, he watches Murphy and follows her as she walks by. He smiles at her, too. When she snuggles up to him, he reaches out to touch her soft ears and wet nose. Murph had another rough go of it this month, and I worry that Vince will never know just how special she is. Hang in there ol' girl, soon enough Vincent will be chasing you around the back yard! Ant will be annoyed if I don't mention how much Lucy loves Vincent, too. OK, she does, and unfortunately Murphy doesn't like to share. It's pretty funny watch Lucy try to check him out. Murphy runs right over and pushes her back, out of the way.

We've also realized that Vincent is ready for real toys that do things other than rattle. He's grabbing everything in sight and likes to push, pull, and chew it all. So, it's off to the toy store to buy toys that stack, pop, ding, and roll. He's sitting up pretty well with support, but not yet getting up by himself. Although, he can pull himself into a seated position in the bathtub. He loves to bounce up and down in his jumperoo, which is hysterical and adorable.

Well, given all the new eating experiences we are about to introduce Vincent to this month, I'll be sure to keep you all updated more often. Lots of pictures are sure to come!

5 Months and Back to School

All ready to go!

Well, this has been a busy month.  The biggest change was going back to work.  It was hard the first couple mornings to say good bye to Vince, but once I was at school, there was no time to be sad.  That the great thing about teaching - the day flies by!  I only work every other week, too, so that has already felt like a weight lifted off my heart.  Vince is doing so well with the babysitter across the street, and of course he loves going to Mommo and Boppo's every other Thursday.  Anthony is finding it harder than he expected to work from home on Fridays.  Coffee breaks have turned into feeding, changing, playing breaks.  But it is all worth it.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to stay home with Vince without giving up my career.  Oh, who am I kidding?  What's nice is getting a paycheck again!   It may not be much, especially now, but hey!  Every penny counts!  I had to laugh when I made a trip to Target soon after I received my first paycheck to spend money on something other than diapers and formula for the first time all summer.  WooHoo!  It felt like a shopping spree!

Having fun with Mommo and Boppo!

Mommy finally caught a smile in the pool!

So of course, just as I started back to school, Vincent started to become REALLY fun!  That makes it especially hard to leave him in the mornings.  He has become so animated.  He smiles and giggles and laughs all the time.  I've even been witness to his squealing a couple times.  He founds his feet and toes, so if there isn't a toy or pair of glasses to grab, his toes are never far away!

Vincent is rolling over like crazy, too.  No sooner do we lay him on his back that he rolls right over to his tummy.  You'd think he'd like being on his tummy, but he still gets frustrated and needs help.  But he does lift himself up onto his elbows quite easily now.  He's also trying so hard to sit up on his own!  Anthony and I wish we had that kind of core strength!

I love this picture for many reasons.  Murphy and Lucy are becoming more and more protective of the little boy, and are never too far away.  This morning, Murphy got cozy while Vincent napped in his bouncey chair.  So sweet.  Another reason I love this picture is how much it reminds me of my grandmother.  Memere always loved being under covers, no matter how hot it was outside.  I remember her big comforter that she repaired time and time again because it was her favorite.  Well, this is proof that she is watching over us.  Vincent loves loves loves his fuzzy blankets, too.  Here we are in the middle of the desert-it's 110 degrees outside!  But inside, in the cool air conditioning, nothing feels better to Vincent than a cozy blanket to snuggle up with.  He fights sleep, tossing and turning, until he gets a hold of his blanket.  He pulls it right up to his cheek and he goes light out.  I am so glad we've got ourselves a snuggler! As long as he'll let me I'll rock him to sleep.  No problem with that!

Take Me Out To the Ballgame!

Thanks to our good friends, Tess and Jeff, we were able to take Vincent to his first MLB game.  We had awesome seats, just one section back from homeplate.  The Dodgers were in town, so it was great to see Manny get booed.  Even though he had a great game, the D-Backs had a better game and beat LA 4-1.  We had so much fun, and we are pretty sure Vinny had a good time, too.  He loves watching baseball on TV, so being in the ballpark was a great opportunity for him to take in all the sights and sounds of a ballpark.  He never stopped looking around.  

One of the best moments came when Baxter the Bobcat (Chase Field was formally Bank One Ballpark, but more affectionately referred to as the BOB, hence Baxter the Bobcat), anyway...the best moment came when Baxter came over for a picture with Vinny.  The usher gave Vinny a pin that said My 1st D-Backs, game, and Daddy bought Vinny a rattlesnake shaker to cheer on the "Snakes."

Baxter the Bobcat with Vinny

Vincent stayed awake for most of the game, finally falling asleep in the 8th inning.  The man seated behind us leaned in and asked, "Is he always this good?"  Of course he is!  He received so many compliments-it was one of those proud Mommy and Daddy nights.

Vince woke up to the loud cheering in the 9th inning so he got to see the D-Backs celebrate their win.  We stayed for the fireworks afterwords, too.  Vincent was startled at first, but never cried.  He's still pretty serious, and studies everything new, so while he didn't necessarily smile, I know he loved the fireworks because he couldn't take his eyes off the sky.  

It was a wonderful night to remember, and we hope to take Vince to many more baseball games in the future.  Maybe one of these days we'll get him to Fenway!

Vinny and the Boys!

Oh, and about the shirt...it's a Hawaiian shirt with little surfboards on it.  Since Vince is a Red Sox fan (he told me so), he doesn't have any Diamondbacks gear, so this shirt was the closest we could find to Sedona Red in his closet.   It's not nearly as ugly in person as it shos on camera.

Vincent playing with Elephant

Here is Vince playing with one of his first and favorite toys from Gramma.  He loves to grab all the tags on it.  This was a tricky video to shoot, I'm pretty impressed with my ability to hold the camera steady in one hand and Vince steady with the other.    

Vinny is grabbing anything within arm's reach these days, including Daddy's glasses.  He's also putting everything into his mouth.  He still loves his huge pacifier, he even chews it.  We had to buy a new one today.  It is so fun watching him explore his toys these days.  He doesn't just look at them anymore.  Now he reaches, grabs, and swats them.