Tuesday, November 11, 2014

4 Months

Vin is 4 months old already!  Time is flying by.  It makes me sad that he's so big already.  In a few short months, he'll be rolling everywhere, sitting up and crawling!  I'm trying to soak in as much snuggly baby time as I can.  They sure don't stay little for long.


Vince is such a happy little boy now, and will always give you a smile when you talk to him.  When you walk in the room, he lights up with excitement, and he can definitely follow us as we walk around the room.  He loves to vigorously kick and kick and kick when he's playing or excited.





Vin really loves Vera and the attention she gives him.  And, she really loves him back.  She always greets him with, "Vin!  Hi Bud!"



He's become awfully rolly polly.  I don't know how much he weighs exactly, but based on his chubber thighs and round belly, I'd say he's at a healthy baby weight.  His 3 month clothes are almost too small and plenty tight.



He started rice cereal around the beginning of November.  He had no trouble in mastering the ability to swallow.  Usually he's fairly patient between spoon fulls, but occasionally he does fuss in impatience.  He also likes to chew on his fingers while eating cereal, which makes for a real mess.




The poor little baby had a case of Hand Foot Mouth Virus last week.  It's been passed around at our babysitter.  He ran a fever first and then started waking through the night.  At first it was frustrating because I had no idea why he was waking up.  I thought maybe he was teething, which would explain the fever and irritability.  Toward the end of the week, we noticed some raised spots throughout his body.  By the weekend, he had it all around his face.  Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done because it is a virus.  We did lots of rocking and snuggling.  In fact, most of our Saturday we rocked while he slept for a few hours because he would wake in discomfort every time we laid him down in his bed.  Fortunately, he was a trooper and bounced back to his happy self within a few days.



Probably his most favorite thing to do right now is play with his hands.  He's always twisting, turning and folding his hands.  Sometimes it looks like he's praying.  And then usually, they end up in his mouth.


He's started to coo and squeal a lot more, and his coos are definitely getting louder!  :)  When he sits in his bouncy seat, he's started to reach for the toys and play with them.  He really likes his playmat and firmly grips those toys as well.  The seat in the kitchen is also still a favorite.

We might be biased, but we sure do think he's cute, and we love him to pieces.

Happy Halloween!

We really lucked out this year for trick or treat.  The weather was so nice--almost too warm for the kids to wear heavy costumes.  Ms. Vera was adamant on being a witch for Halloween.  But, I already had two costumes in our stash and I wasn't keen on purchasing a costume for her.  Finally, after we tried on both of the costumes, she agreed to be a lion.  I must say that she was pretty cute with her round belly and butt.  The claws and mane were my favorite parts!  Adam did a really good job of painting her nose and whiskers.





Mr. Vince was the cutest little frog!
Our first stop was grandma Otte's house.  Blake wasn't so sure about Vera dressed as a lion.  He was a little afraid of her.  Vera's response, "It's just a costume, Blake.  It's just me."  

Blake was a cute monkey!




Sweet Nora was a little witch.  She sure is cute!
 After making a few other stops, we ended our day at Grammie and Papa's house.  Bailey was dressed as Izzy, and she was excited to see us!



Love this picture!
Vera and I made these spooky treats for Bailey and Blake.  We also sent some to Patty's house for Vera's friends.  I thought they turned out pretty cute.


My First Godchild

Sweet little Nora Louise is my first godchild.  She was baptized in mid-October.  We enjoyed her special day, and also celebrated Mr. Blake's 2nd birthday.

She's such a sweet little girl!

Her brother is just a little ornery!

Double trouble!



Lots of little ones.  It was a bit of a challenge to get this picture.

This is a nice picture of Vin with his great grandma, or Big Grandma, as she's sometimes called by other great grandchildren.

We finally remembered to take a picture of Vin and Nora together.  Vin is 10 weeks older.  Amazing how much of a difference there is at this age!

Cute kiddos!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Lindsey's 30th

We celebrated Lindsey's 30th birthday with a fun surprise party.  We pulled off a good surprise; Lindsey had no idea.  I don't know who had the best costume...everyone was so creative!

Vera thought our costumes were so funny!

Lindsey is so creative and crafty.  Their costumes were so cute!


Mom & dad's costumes gave everyone a laugh! :)


Disney on Ice

At the end of October, Vera, my mom and I went to Disney on Ice at the Nutter Center.  It was so awesome!  I remember going to see Beauty and the Beast on Ice when I was younger, and this show was just as fun.  Thanks to grandma, we had really awesome seats right on the ice.
Thanks to Grandma, Vera got to wear a princess dress just like all of the other little girls there!



When the show started, Mickey and Minnie skated out first, and Vera's face was priceless.  I loved watching her sit on the edge of her seat in amazement with her little hands folded.



She also sang along to the songs she knew.
Beauty and the Beast
"Be Our Guest"

The Little Mermaid was cool, complete with bubbles floating in the air.

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go..."
The Sleeping Beauty act had a dragon that breathed fire, and Vera did not like it at all.  In fact, she started crying because she was scared.  Good thing that part didn't last long.


Before the show and at intermission, there were all kinds of vendors selling cool (and expensive!) Disney souvenirs  Vera was beside herself.  "Look mom, Olaf snowcones!  I want a flashlight!  Can I get a boomerang?"  She was very good when we kept telling her we weren't going to buy anything, but it sure didn't stop her from asking!

Like most of the other kids there, her favorite part was the Frozen scenes and songs.



Vera was a very big girl.  Thanks to Grandma for a fun day!