ANGELLO FAMILY: December 2008

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas Day

Rough-housing with Mommy

Working intensely on his new laptop

Jason assembling Vin's new Little People Noah's Ark from the Botkins.

Christmas Eve

Baking cookies Christmas Eve morning

Jason taking Vin to work.

Jason reading the Christmas story from Luke

Listening to the Christmas story.

Lexi playing ball with Vin.

Aunt Missi and Luca.

Luca's ornament from Aunt Missi.

Vin playing with his new Mr. Potato Head

Messy face from his first M&M

Playing with one of his cool gifts from Aunt Missi

Helping Daddy put away dishes.

In lieu of their normal Christmas party the new expense conscious AIG had a "bring your kid to work" party on Christmas Eve. So Vin went to work with Daddy and he had a ball. When he came home he was vibrating with energy and excitement. He could barely contain himself when he was telling me all about his morning at "Daddy's work". I couldn't understand much of it but it was precious.

That evening we had family over for a little Christmas gathering. Jason's Mom made her incredible lasagna and I baked cookies. Jason read the Christmas story and the kids opened gifts.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Jason with every one of our dependents laying on him.

Enjoying art time. He looks so tired in this picture. Poor guy.

Christmas Party with Vin's Friends

On 12/7 we went to a Christmas Party with all of Vin's Gymboree pals.

My First Outing with the Boys

My little guys sleeping in the car. Look how angelic. Who would guess the heck that would follow just a few minutes after.

Two Friday's ago I decided to brave the elements and take the boys to the Science Center. After the Science Center I went to Jason's office to introduce Luca to his co-workers. I think the thing that surprised me the most is how long it took me to get ready. I had to breastfeed Luca, clean up a "deposit" Vin made on the floor while I was breastfeeding Luca, dress Vinnie before another such accident, then chande Luca, pack Vinnie's lunch, pack the diaper bag, make breakfast and then feed Vinnie, pull the diapers out of the dryer and stuff them so I would have enough for later that day, and then it was time to feed Luca again. ARRGH! We finally made into the car and both boys fell asleep on our drive there. So when we got there I sat in the car and watched the snow fall while they slept. It was actually quite nice to be able to just sit and enjoy the complete ,silence for 4o minutes.

The peace quickly faded. Once Vin woke up we headed into the museum and our first stop, as always, was the bathroom so Vin could use the potty. I plopped him on the potty not really paying attention and before I knew it there was a arch of urine going everywhere. I forgot to push down his you-know-what when I sat him on the potty. His clothes and jacket were soaked and there was urine all over the bathroom floor. At this very time Luca decided to have a blowout. After cleaning up the urine mess and trying my hardest to keep Vin from running around in the urine puddles it was time to change the disaster Luca had made.

Vin choose this time to start running in and out of the stalls and invading the privacy of all in the bathroom. Oh my gosh, I was so embarrassed. There was little I could do to stop him since Luca was buck naked, crying and covered in pooh on the changing table. It's like Vin knew I wouldn't be able to stop what I was doing to give him a timeout or spanking so my threats fell on deaf ears. Before having kids I remember seeing moms out in public frantically yelling at their offspring and I would just smirk and think I would never be like that. Well, in that bathroom I had become that very woman. Finally, I got the idea of bribing him with a lollipop. He succumbed to the temptation and I was able to get him to sit on the bathroom floor while I finished changing Luca. 25 minutes and one very long lecture to Vin later we emerged from the bathroom. The rest of our trip was a lot fun.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

More pics of the duca and update

So things have been going well here. My parents left on Sunday so Monday was my first day alone with the two boys. So far so good. I've even taken them out shopping a few times this week which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It just takes a lot more time than it used to.

I think we can say that Vin is now well adjusted to having Luca around. And being back in our old routine has really helped because this week the tantrums have lessened and he is finally back to his sweet self. And much to my relief we are starting to bond again. Since Luca's birth he has pushed me away. I think I shared in an earlier post how for the first few days after Luca and I came home from the hospital he wouldn't even look me in the eyes. It did get better but there was still a strain between us.

For example, when he would fall down and get hurt he would only want Jason to hold him, he would fall apart when Jason went to work, he wouldn't want me to put him to bed, etc. This was both awesome and sad. Awesome, because he and Ja have developed such a strong bond. Sad, because my relationship with Vin was changed. Hey, who said this parenting stuff was easy? But happily things are getting better and as I said we are starting to bond again.

Luca is still an angel baby. I never imagined a newborn could be so pleasant. Maybe it's because we are far less stressed than we were with Vin. I don't know but I'm just really enjoying this time.

He has, however, decided to kick things up a bit in the sleep department. Here's what he was doing: We used to put him in his crib at 9:30, kiss him on his little head, tell him we love him and waltz out of the room. He would fall asleep on his own and then not wake up until his middle of the night feeding at 2:00. After his feeding he would promptly go back to sleep and stay asleep until 5:00 or 6:00.

But for the past two nights he's changed his game plan. Now when we lay him down he puts himself to sleep but then ten minutes later he is wide awake in his crib. Once we pick him up he stops crying and will fall back to sleep in our arms. But then we put him down in his crib and he wakes up again after a few minutes. And so on and so on. Last night this song and dance went on for three hours before he finally stayed asleep in his crib. We kinda expected this since what he was doing before is unheard of for a newborn. Though, I hope he goes back to that soon because it was AWESOME We shall see.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a incredible Thanksgiving this year. We were blessed to be surrounded by family - Jason's Mom and Sister moved from GA to Pittsburgh the day before Thanksgiving so they were able to join us this year. My Mom and Dad were here from FL, and my brother, Mitch, his wife and three girls drove up from NC. Our table was filled to capacity and it was wonderful! I didn't get any pictures of the feast itself because I was busy with meal stuff but here are the pictures I got of our time together the day before and after.