Mother of the Year

Yesterday was a banner day (if I was being cruel I would say it was a Britney Spear's day but I'm pulling for her so I'll leave that out). I locked my keys and Vin in the car in the garage of our apartment building. Then last night during his bath Vin lunged forward to grab at the silver stopper and fell face first in the bath water.

He handled both like a champ. Fortunately, I had a spare key for the car in the apartment and management had a spare key for the apartment so Vin was only locked in the car for 15 minutes. When I came back with the key he was in his car seat playing. Once he saw me though he gave me a good fuss and then was over it. As for the bath incident. I quickly grabbed him out of the water, he spit out water and then struggled to get back down into the bath. And what is the first thing he did? Yep, tried to lunge forward again, but this time I caught him.

So after this traumatizing day I decided to work on his moving independently skills. Warning this video is 1 minute long and not packed with action. I will spare you the "I Try" song this time but it will make a re-emergence in future videos.

Army Crawl

Day After Thanksgiving and Day After That

Hanging with the nephews

Three grandboys

Uncle Paul and Aunt Frances having breakfast with Vinnie

You can tell he doesn't believe a word Jason is telling him. Those nephews of ours are smart!

Grandmom Allchin

Little Cutie Cupcake

Those eyes! So precious

Grandmom A. and Dad

Vin enjoying his Mom-mom

Grandpop Allchin entertaining Vin

Pop-pop

Andrea being "attacked" by her girls

Looks like a Russian princess to me

Thanksgiving!

Yes, I took a picture during the prayer

Aunt Frances and Vin

Okay, first I apologize for the delay in posting. (mostly I apologize to Lisa Shay since she has
faithfully been checking for updates :) We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We headed down to NC for a Mitchell Thanksgiving. It's been five years since all of us have been together

and there have been quite a few additions since then. In total there was 14! I know this is an elementary sentiment so please bare with me but I find it amazing and beautiful how families grow. From 5 to 14! Just blows my mind.

Jason and Andrea so graciously hosted us at their house in NC and Dad Mitchell headed up the making of the meal. The meal was incredible and our time together precious.

Trip to Philadelphia 11/16 - 11/18

Ja went to Philly to work the weekend 11/16 -11/18 so Vin and I tagged along. On Saturday we went to the aquarium with some of the gal cousins. We had a blast. Here are a few pics from the day.

My favorite pic!

Group shot - you can kind of see Philly in the background

(Lori & Christina, Dia & Vin, Mary & Ariel, Jenn & Carter)

Vin enjoying the hippos

Cutie Christina checking out the hippos.

If you are wondering why so many pics of hippos. I left my camera at the hotel and Mary's camera died shortly after the hippo exhibit.

Asthma? Not so fast! & Other Stuff

Vin had his regular 9 month checkup yesterday and so we got to chat with his regular pediatrician regarding the entire asthma diagnosis we were giving by another pediatrician in the same practice, and she said she feels it's too early to diagnose him with asthma that she would rather wait and see. We were very relieved to hear this. Just because he's had two viral infections with asthmatic type symptoms doesn't necessarily = asthmatic kid. So our instructions for now are to give him breathing treatments as needed (like when he starts wheezing or coughing a lot). Other than that it's wait and see.

He weighed in at 18lbs 15 oz and was 28.5 inches long. Nice work kiddo.

Apparently we have to start being a little harder on the guy about independent play since he's not making huge strides towards hitting some milestones (for example: being able to pull himself up on on things or moving around on his own). And while the doctor wasn't concerned right now she did mention that if he doesn't start making progress in these areas in the next three months he may need physical therapy. While this sounds serious let me tell you why Ja and I aren't concerned yet: 1) we are realizing that Vin has developed a way of getting the toys he wants and for moving around - he does this by yelling at us to do it for him. And until yesterday we generally complied with his demands not wanting to be neglectful parents and all. 2) so we believe he has the physical ability to do these things but not the motivation. We think it's more a matter of personality vs. ability and that's where we come in.

Here is a great example: Last night at dinner Jason broke up pieces of bread and then put them on Vin's highchair tray. Vin kept waiting with an open mouth for Jason to feed him and he became pretty darn angry when Jason didn't comply. In fact, every time Jason put a piece of bread on his tray Vin picked it up (expertly, might I add), looked at Jason and then dropped it on the floor. When Jason still didn't give in he threw a whining and screaming tantrum. So we just went back to eating our dinner. After a few minutes he stopped yelling, looked down at his tray, picked up a piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth. After successfully feeding himself a few pieces of bread he was all smiles. This sums up our new struggle with the kiddo.

And we finally have teeth!

I forgot to mention that Vin broke his first two teeth this past week. You can kinda see them in the pic above. If you really like teeth and want to get a dentist's view of them you can click on the pic to get a super closeup. We were very excited and that excitement quickly faded the first time he bit me with his new found teeth while nursing. Not cool.

Forgot to Post this One - Halloween Parade 2007

This is the adorable Isaac. He was trying his hardest to pull his stroller. Poor guy, the wheels were locked.

Dad's and their boys.

Waiting for the parade to start.

Vin trying to grab my hot cider.

I just love the tail!

Vin chewing on Isaac's toys.

Isn't he adorable!

Playing trucks together.

Starting to get cranky.

Wish I could say Vin enjoyed the parade but he started crying a few minutes before the parade began and then he fell asleep shortly after. It was during his nap time so I'm not sure what we were expecting. Anyway, we had a great time with our friends Tim and Amy and their adorable little tiger, Isaac.

Kid with Asthma

Much to the initial shock, surprise and dismay of Dia and myself, Vin has been diagnosed as an asthmatic. While we trust that 'many have gone before us' by way of kids with asthma this is our first trip. I am now certain that every parent deals with their own sense of surprise and dismay at the uncontrollable.

For us, this little discovery has brought more knowledge of the shortcoming of mankind and our complete dependence on the fact that 'all things work together for God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,' Romans 8:28. And we believe that through little surprises such as a kid w/ asthma God graciously reveals more of our lacking and dependence on Him.

We also depend on the encouragement and support of family and friends that God has put in our lives... so, encourage away (in the comment section)!