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Update and Pictures

Whew! It has been a very busy new year at our house. Unfortunately my posts on this blog has suffered the brunt of our busy schedule

Little Vinnie is not so little anymore! He is about 15 and 1/2 pounds now. At his 6 month check up he officially made it on the charts. This means he was in the area for weight and length with full term 6 month olds even though he is gestationally 3 months younger than them. He is in the tenth percentile on the charts.

The “percentile” for babies is similar to BMI for adults. It is a way of telling you if your baby is a healthy weight and also if they are growing properly. Babies  should not go below the 5th or above the 95th percentile or risk major health problems. The growth charts show us the statistical distribution of weight, height , etc. in a particular set of babies (or children or adults). So if a baby is in the 50th percentile for weight on the CDC charts, it means that half of the babies of the same age in the US are heavier and half are lighter; if a baby is in the 10th percentile for height, then 90% of babies of the same age in the US are taller and 10% are shorter. What doctors are generally looking for on a growth chart is that baby stay relatively consistent in their growth pattern.

Joe took Vincent to his 6 month check up so when our pediatrician told him Vinnie was in the 10th percentile he thought this meant he was in the Top 10. It was cute. Neither of us really knew what it meant until we did our research. Oh the things you learn with children. Vinnie is still #1 in our book though

Vincent is still going to physical therapy at Baptist Pediatric Rehab. On Monday a pediatric physical therapist from T.E.I.S. (tennessee early intervention system) will be coming to our house for a consult and evaluation. After that she will then come to our house once a week to work with him. He has already made great progress with his current therapy, the work we have done with him, and the work our nanny has done. I know with the addition of TEIS he is just going to take off.

My mom left in December to go back to Nebraska. We were sad to see her go after her three month stay and nervous about having a new nanny. I am so very happy to report Kristen has been nothing less than excellent. He is always happy to see her and they get along so well. She works with him daily on his motor skills, reads to him, and makes us feel at ease leaving our little angel with her. Vinnie’s grandma Vic watches him on Thursday’s and Friday’s. She does so much for us too. If I started naming off everything you would be reading this blog all day. She spoils him rotten.

This month I have had to spend extended periods of time away from Vinnie. My grandfather (my moms dad) passed away in the beginning of January. He was a wonderful man who lived a long life with large loving family. He had nine children, too many grandchildren for me to even count right now, and 6 great grandchildren including Vinnie. Although he never met Vinnie in person I sent him pictures often and he was in Memphis while I was about three months pregnant with him. I was lucky to have a grandpa like him and will have many stories to share with my son someday. The last time I saw my grandpa Clete was at our wedding last march. It was a wonderful way to remember him. We had our last dance and he still had the moves too! :) He is now in heaven with my grandma who he missed so much. Their lifetime of love is such an inspiration to me. You will be missed Grandpa Clete.

I was in Nebraska for 5 days. It was great to see all of my family, but I missed Vinnie (and Joe) terribly. I would call and Joe would put the phone up to Vinnie so I could talk to him and he did his little coo’s for a bit, but mostly just slobbered on Joe’s phone. When I got back I was in Memphis for 6 days after getting back from Nebraska and then headed to NJ for 5 days for work. Vinnie is getting tired of my millions of kisses already

Enjoy the pics!!!

Pictures Pictures Pictures!!!

Vinnie with his godparents Kristy and Justin

 

Our Sweet Little Snowman

Vinnie with his godparents Kristy and Justin

Vinnie and dad hanging out

Siesta time

Mom saying bye to Vinnie before she goes to work

Be a good boy for grandma :)

Hanging with his favorite friends

Anna Leigh’s baby shower

The proud parents!

Husker Gear

Go Huskers!!

Don’t worry Michigan Fans, he has some upcoming gear too :)

The cutest little snowman ever!

And he fell asleep in the outfit.

Napping in grandmas bed

Bumbo strikes again. He’s almost got it

Helping do laundry

His gift from Kristy and Justin. It is so adorable

Grandma Joan getting her lovings before she heads back to Nebraska

Our Sweet Little Snowman

Tis the season….

The grandma’s and I got into the holiday spirit this weekend by seeing  the Nutcracker ballet. If you haven’t seen it I highly suggest doing so!

Vincent has begun preparations for his first Christmas by becoming Santa’s little helper. If these pictures do not get you into the Christmas spirit then I don’t know what will

Tomorrow Joe gets the joy of taking Vincent to his monthly RSV shot appointment. We will have an accurate update of his weight then. I just can’t bear to see him cry from those shots. They are much more painful than his vaccination shots. Although we smother him with hugs and kisses so the pain is short lived.

I am also proud to announce Vincent rolled over for the first time today. He just hates being on his stomach still, but I was trying it out. I put him on his belly and he rolled right over to his back. I couldn’t believe it, although I think he was driven to do so out of pure dislike of being on his tummy. He has another physical therapy appointment this month so hopefully they can help us to get him working on the tummy time.

We also FINALLY found a nanny. My mom leaves from her three month stay on the 22nd of December. We have been looking for a nanny since before Vinnie even came home from the hospital so we are glad to have finally found someone we are comfortable with.

Enjoy the pics!!! Happy Holidays………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

We had a lot to be thankful for this year. Vincent is doing very well following his hernia repair surgery. I swear he it seems like he is growing so much everyday. He is starting to figure out that he has these magical things called hands, but for the most part just a lot of flailing. He enjoys having “conversations” with us. He likes to coo and LOVES to screetch. It’s very cute.

Our thanksgving was great. We had dinner at our house and enough food to feed a small army or at least that is what the scale tells me. Vincent had baby food for the first time on Thanksgiving. He had sweet potatoes and loved them. Since he has been having baby food once a day and his favorite seems to be bananas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bumbo!

Vincent has been recoving well from his surgery a week ago. He’s been such a trooper through it all. Besides a one inch scar you would have never guessed he had anything done. He is much more comfortable now and has more time to concentrate on cooing, drooling, and smiling. The important things

We officially broke in the Bumbo chair yesterday. It was one of his early christmas presents. It was sooo cute and awesome to see him sitting up. The Bumbo chair assists babies in sitting safely when they can support their own heads. It also helps strengthen his neck muscles since he is fully in charge of his head support. I highly recommend it to any parent who has thought of getting one!

We are looking forward to Vinnie’s first Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for this year! We will be having Thanksgiving for the first time at home to avoid public settings and lower our chances of the little guy getting sick. Grandma Vicki and Uncle Jeremey will be joining us for some food and football!

 

 

Vincent’s Surgery

Yesterday Vincent had his hernia repair surgery at Le Bohneur children’s hospital here in Memphis. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. I was nervous about how Vincent would be because he couldn’t eat past 1 am and I know how he gets when he is hungry. Luckily I was able to give him pedialite until 5am and this seemed to hold him over well. The check in process was quick and by 6am he was in the smallest patient gown I have ever seen.

He weighed in on the scales at 12 lbs 1 oz before his surgery. They had to get his exact weight for anesthesia purposes.  About half an hour before his surgery Vinnie was given a shot that sped up his heart to keep it in a good range when he was under. He ended up having to be placed on a vent to breathe for him during the surgery. We didn’t realize this was going to happen until right before his surgery started so picturing him going back on a machine to breathe for him really added to our nerves. We knew we had the toughest little boy in the world though.

When it was finally time to start we went to the “Bunny Room”. This room looked like a little toy store. Here we got to pick out a toy for Vinnie. After that the other side of the room led to the surgery floor. It was neat how they had this set up and would be very comforting to nervous children. Vincent got his little bear and we were on our way. His doctor, all the nurses who would be in the room, and the anesthesiologist met with us once again before we got started. We were more than impressed how well everyone went over everything with us in extreme detail and took as much time as needed to answer our plethora of questions.

The surgery was supposed to last about an hour, but ended up taking two. Dr. Geil said it was difficult in the sense that his protruding hernia tissues were very small and compact so it took a little more time to carefully put everything back where it should be. Once his intestine and membrane sack was placed back in his abdomen stitches were placed inside to close the hole where they were coming through. After this his doctor took a tiny camera to look at the left side of his groin to make sure he was not developing a hernia there as she thought he might be. Luckily he was not!! After that they closed the opening on the surface of his skin with glue. This will leave minimum scaring and has a much lower chance of becoming infected.

After his surgery we went to the recovery room where they were waking him up. His nurse said he woke up well and started throwing punches right away so she had to swaddle him. That’s our boy . He took a bottle of pedialite right away. After about half an hour we headed to our room for the night. This is typically a same day surgery, but considering his history his doctor wanted to keep him overnight for observation. As much as we were not looking forward to spending another night in the hospital this year we knew it was best for him. He had a good night and didn’t need any pain meds or Tylenol until this morning. Meanwhile Joe and I had the luxery of having all the monitors hooked backed up beeping for one last night. We did not miss them at all Vincent’s crib was actually pretty good size. His nurse told me I could sleep in his crib with him so that tells you how heavy duty it was! We could tell already last night the difference his surgery has made. When he became fully alert again he seems more calm and content.

We started the discharge process at about 9am this morning and finally got to leave at about 1pm. Hopefully this will be our last hospital visit for quite some time!

Of course, as usual, I took pictures

 

Getting ready to leave the house and wearing his snow suit from Aunt Audrey

The smallest patient gown in the world

Right before surgery

 

About an hour after surgery

 

Eating with Daddy

 

Hanging in the crib

Birthdays!

Vincent saw quite the weeks worth of birthdays. His grandma Joan (my mom) turned 52 on Tuesday November 4th, his grandma Vicki (Joe’s mom) turned 55 on Saturday November 8th, and Joe’s 30th birthday was Monday November 10th. His Grandpa Don’s (Joe’s dad) birthday is also coming up on November 17th! This year he only got to marvel at those amazing things called candles, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy all the November birthdays even more when he gets to eat cake.

Last Thursday Joe took Vincent in for his second RSV shot. He weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz. His development is on track and he is gaining as he should. I put him on our scale at home tonight and it said 12 lbs!

Vincent’s surgery to repair his hernia is on Monday at Le Bohneur’sChildren Hospital. His urologist like I said is very kind and cautious. We feel comfortable with the surgery and that all will go well, but of course we are still a little on edge. The hospital has been contacting me in weeks prior to see if I have any questions and to go over the process which makes me feel better knowing that they know our level of anxiety is naturally high. Keep little Vinnie, the conqueror, in your prayers. In turn I promise to keep you all posted and will share these great pictures with you

Also, I would like to congratulate my friend Misty and her family on their gorgeous son Tukker’s long awaited home coming! I met Misty through the Kanalen PROM website while I was on bed rest. We leaned on each other for much needed support. Her son came home after 115 days in the NICU. He’s such a tough little boy and I think he gets it from his mom. Congrats! (www.kanalen.org/prom)

 

 

Grandma Joan with her birthday goodies

 

Bath Time!!! Vincent loves water.

 

Have no fear, I am clothed

 

Happy Birthday Dad!

 

Happy Halloween!!!

Thursday I took Vinnie to his four month check up. Unfortunately he had to endure 3 shots, 1 oral vaccine, and a finger prick. He was (to say the least) not a happy camper. We gave him hundreds of hugs and kisses and he was feeling better in no time He weighed 10 lbs 13 ounces so I’m sure he is 11 lbs after this weekend. His doctor also discontinued both of his monitors. We now have a genuine, state of the art, wireless baby.

He’s just been sweet as can be. He can really focus on objects now and is starting to smile. He “smiled” before, but not for a specific reason. Now if you sit and talk to him he will look at you and if you talk really nice he’ll give you a big smile.  

Now that Vincent is off his monitors his surgery for his hernia repair is offically set for November 17th, two weeks from Monday. Hopefully he will be able to catch a break after this and can just enjoy being off monitors and away from doctors for a bit.

Vincent quite enjoyed his first halloween. Grandma Vicki got him a “my first halloween” onzie and a little owl hat. He looked so cute! Since RSV season has officially started we just handed out candy and spent a relaxing evening at home together. Next year we will be able to go out and about trick or treating to our neighbors and grandma’s house.

At the Charles Retina Institute with Vinnie

 

 

Napping with his glow worm from Grandma Joan

 

 

Finally caught a smile on camera!

 

 

Pictures Pictures Pictures

The star of the show Vinnie Joe weighed in at 10 1/2 pounds tonight. Joe took him to his Urologist appointment last week and his surgery in tenatively set for November 17th. He hasnn’t had any alarms lately and is doing even better sleeping at night. His granny nanny Joan has been doing a good job and keeping him awake more during the day. Next week Wednesday he will be 4 months old and will go in for his 4 month check up and shots. Hopefully his doctor will agree we can completely ditch the apnea monitor.

Carole, the photographer that took our wedding pictures was kind enough to come over and do some in house pictures of us as a family and some baby pictures of Vinnie since we can’t really take him out in public to a picture studio.  Here are a few of them. Click on them to enlarge. Enjoy!