Just to Compare

Vera
5-16-11
6 weeks

Vince
8-11-2014
6 weeks

We don't think they look much a like.  I have plenty of pics I could post to compare.  I've been meaning to post these 2 for a while.  I'll try to add more soon.  

It's Bittersweet

Today is my last day of maternity leave.  Tomorrow will be our new normal.  It truly is bittersweet to go back to work.  I am anxious to see everyone at school, and really ready to establish a routine again.  But like all working moms, I am sad to leave my two sweet kids.  I have had so much fun watching Vera play, grow and change this summer.  Her creativity and imagination always make me smile.

Vince is three months old.  I can't believe it.  He's starting to smile a lot more.  Just this week he really started to coo and it is the cutest thing, even though his talking sometimes sounds like we have a cat in our house.  (Thank God we don't!)  :)  He still isn't sleeping through the night regularly.  Some nights he's up twice, which is definitely not ok.  I'm making a conscious effort to not feed him when he wakes up and just rock him back to sleep.  Sometimes that's successful and other times, he won't have it.  I really think he has figured out that if he wakes up when it's dark outside, I will feed him, and I don't want to fall in to his trap.  (He has us in a few other traps!)  Vince's hair is starting to grow in blonde.  It's so cute to see the baldness fill in with little fuzzy hair.  He is also a chewing and slobbering machine right now.  It doesn't seem possible that he could be teething already, but then again, Vera got her first tooth at 4 months.

I spent a lot of time yesterday and today thinking about how far we've come since the first weeks of crying with Vin.  The three months have gone by so fast.  The month of July is completely a blur.  August was a little better.  September has been a sigh of relief.  These months have been trying times for Adam and I, and I know someday I will look back on this time and smile.  I couldn't have done it alone.  My mom came over on a moment's notice more than once, and Adam's mom took Vera a number of times to play for the day.  Countless friends offered support and encouragement when we needed it most.  Though we still have a few hard days, I've really enjoyed the month of September.  It's been fun to watch the seasons change and really have a chance to take it all in.  Nothing beats fall in Ohio!  The trees are so pretty right now!  Whoever ordered the weather for the last three weeks has done a superb job!

I spent today tying up a few loose ends around home, took Vin to get his three month pics taken (he did so well!), and soaking in as much rocking and smiles as I can.  I'm going to miss my little munchkins tomorrow, but I know they're in good hands.

So, here's to the new normal for us!  I hope it's filled with smooth mornings, a sleep-through-the-night baby, 2 healthy kids, and 2 sane parents!

The best ending to the last day of maternity leave--a long snuggle with this sweet boy!

When You Have An Older Sister...

...you get roped in to all kinds of things.  Here are the first (of many) girlie things that Vera has insisted Vince participate.

Vince's first tea party.  Vera, mom and all of the stuffed animal friends were also invited.  "Dor-fy" and "Pink Teddy" didn't behave very well, so they had to leave early to take a nap.  Clockwise from Vera:  Nelly, Vanilla, Monkey, Pink Bunny, Mom, Baby, Vince, Dorothy, and Pink Teddy.

They were both quiet playing in Vera's bed.  I went in to check on them, and here's what I found.

Camping Trips

We just might be crazy, but we went on two camping trips in the month of August with Vin.  His first camping trip was to St. Marys with the entire Bertke family.  I knew I'd have plenty of help with him, and overall he did fairly well.  It was a little cool at night, so we dressed him nice and warm.  He did not sleep the greatest, but we have nights like that at home too.  He sure is a lot of work when we're camping!  Adam and I both agreed that it'd be a lot easier if he were just a little older.

Talking to grandma in the camper.

Vince's crib mattress fits perfectly in his bunk.  

Movie time in the rain.

Blake came for a visit.  These two sat still long enough for grandma to take their picture.  Doesn't Blake look rotten?

Over Labor Day weekend, we camped at Wapak's KOA for our second (annual?) camping trip with the Magoteaux family.  The campgrounds was really nice, though our sites were somewhat small.  The campgrounds was so clean and the facilities were very nice.  We even had cable TV hookup at our site!  The kids thoroughly enjoyed the playground and sandbox.  Vera came back filthy dirty each day.  The weather was really good overall.  It rained for a short spell on Sunday just enough to soak everything and chase us in.  We are 3 for 3 with rain on camping trips this year.

 The campgrounds offered tons of fun activities each day.  We participated in painting a sun-catcher, tie dying t-shirts, hayride, bike parade, and bubble mania.

 We missed the soaker hay ride, but these little ones soaked the wagon as it drove past.

The dads and kids enjoyed their own water balloon fight to end each day.  After the balloon fights, everyone headed to the shower house.

Vin got his baby shots the day before we left, but he was a trooper.  He had his moments of fussiness, but overall was fairly good.

Vera loved the pool on Sunday!

Putting on our gloves to tie dye shirts.

Everyone was tired when we headed for home on Monday, but we had a great weekend of delicious food and fun memories!

8 Weeks

Mr. Vince is 8 weeks old already!  Things are going much better!!  We are really enjoying the little guy these days.  I hate to say it like that, but in the first weeks of crying meltdowns, we were simply surviving on a day-to-day basis.  It was hard to enjoy life when we were exhausted and frustrated.  Thank the Lord we found something that works.  He's still taking the Zantac twice per day, and we don't dare miss a dose for fear of what could happen!

 It seemed like once he reached five weeks, things started to really turn around.  He no longer has major crying meltdowns, and if he does, it's a different kind of cry than before--one that doesn't communicate that he's in pain--and we can calm him down when he does cry.  Hallelujah!

4 weeks old and sporting baby acne.

 Because he started to be more content during the day, he started to sleep better through the night.  At six weeks, we had two consecutive nights of sleeping 6 hours.  At 8 weeks, he slept seven.  I'm still waiting patiently for him to sleep through on a consistent basis.  If he wakes up at night, it is usually only one time.  I don't normally have much trouble getting him to go back to sleep after I feed him in the middle of the night. When he was five weeks old, I started putting him on his belly to sleep.  The first night I tried it, I was so worried.  I set an alarm and got up every hour to check on him through the night.  I was paranoid that he would get his face buried or stop breathing, especially because he was taking medication.  But, all is well sleeping on the tummy.

3.5 weeks old--A test-run of belly sleeping

At five weeks, he developed a mild case of cradle cap and baby acne.  As we cleared that up, his hair started to fall out like crazy.  It literally fell out in a few days, and he is now completely bald on the sides of his head.

Going bald

Look at the baldness!  I would never have guessed his hair would've fallen out that quickly!

At five weeks he also started to smile and respond when we talk to him.  He tries so hard to talk, but nothing comes out but a sweet, soft little coo.  For memory's sake, I have to mention that last week Vera was laughing really silly at Vince.  He started to laugh back, and in turn, made Adam and I laugh.  It was adorable!

At seven weeks, he really started to become a little spoiled.  If he is being held, he's as happy as can be.  If you put him somewhere and walk away, he'll cry.  It makes sense to me how he became so spoiled.  In the weeks when he was having crying meltdowns, we held him a lot to keep him calm and console him.  Now that he's feeling better, he still expects arms.  My goal for the next few weeks is to break that. 

He likes his bouncy seat a lot, and he's starting to like his swing again.  The playmat is only ok sometimes.  I imagine as he gets bigger he will like it more.

I couldn't believe my eyes when this happened.  Not only was he lying on his play mat content, but he was calm enough to put himself to sleep.  Woohoo!

We also discovered that he can put himself to sleep in his bed.  While he was still having crying meltdowns, I snatched Vera's sound aquarium and put it in the crib.  I quickly learned that Vince liked it.  So much so, that it soothed him to sleep.  That event prompted the purchase of another sound aquarium.  Vera wasn't ready to give hers up completely.  No problem.  I'll buy another.  Whatever it takes to get kids to sleep!

Firefighter Vin, though not happy about the photo.  Outfit compliments of Uncle Brian.  8-10-14

6 weeks and growing!

Happy to be 6 weeks old and feeling better! 

Around 7 weeks, Vin started to really chunk up and change his looks.  There is still a chance that the little guy could have red hair, but we're pretty sure his sterling blue eyes are here to stay.  I sometimes see a resemblance of my brother Steve in these pictures.

 Look how much he's changed in one month!

I love this picture.  Cross-eyed baby trying to focus on what he can see is just so cute!

Ready to give you a rock.

1 month

2 months

Vera Lou loves her little brother.  She's always asking to check on him while he's sleeping, and when he's awake she looks after him too.  Sometimes too much.  We're always telling her to back up and use a quieter voice when she talks to him.

Buddies for life.  1 month old 7-28-14

When Vin was 8 weeks old, school started.  I made the decision to stay home for about 4 more weeks.  I'm so glad I decided to take the additional weeks.  My goal is to have Vince sleeping through the night consistently by the time I go back to work on October 1.  Vera will go to Patty's house three days per week so she doesn't miss out on school work.  Plus, she needs to get back in to the "work" routine so when I do go back in October, she's already in that groove.

Here are the two munchkins on the first day of school.