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.