This goes out to Uncle Dennis

We've only got one real golfer in the family, Uncle Dennis. Today's outfit is in his honor. It was a hot one but little V was cool, calm and collected in his lightweight cotton- which proved particularly nice when we did Stroller Strides for the first time tonight!

How much fun would this be?

Maggie Smith is teaching a crafting class at Quirk Gallery this weekend- how fun would this be???
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=115594200755&mid=dad924G4c44070aGb8b962G7


This was Vake's reaction when I told him he had to know how to use his thumbs before he could go and take Maggie's class...

Eric actually is the boss of the weather.

So no one could believe that our wedding weekend was beautiful and sunny. And now Eric's in Seattle and it is 100 degrees. All I am saying is that he takes the Richmond weather with him wherever he goes...

6 Months Doctor's Appointment

This morning, Vake and I went (in his newly installed big boy car seat, thank you very much Daddy) to see Dr. Soltys.

Vake was an all-star. He is in the 95th percentile for height and (ahem) considerably above the 95th percentile for head circumference and weight. Eric is salivating over all the football games that little V will play and I am starting to mourn the death of his professional figure skating career.

Seriously, though, Dr. Soltys said that she thinks it is unlikely that Vake will deviate towards the mean- it is more likely that he is always going to be a pretty large person.

We finished off the fun of the morning with a round of shots (poor V...) and then I took him to see his good buddy Taren and I went to work.

Eric's away for the rest of the week but will be home on Friday- I am just gutting it out until September when we finally go on vacation.

Sitting and Seersucker

I was leaving the jail after interviewing some clients this week when I checked my messages. There was a message from Taren to call- I of course assumed that something was the matter but when I called, Taren told me that Vake had been sitting up all day!

This weekend, he's been sitting up to play with his toys for ten or fifteen minutes at a stretch. It is so hard to believe that my little baby is now able to sit independently- where did the time go???

I snapped a picture of him sitting by himself on the counter- he's so surprised and inquisitive in this picture.

And coincidentally, both Eric and Vake were dressed in red seersucker this afternoon- it is the perfect summertime fabric! This sweet little outfit was a gift from my little sister in my sorority, Courtney. Courtney grew up in Baltimore, hence the seersucker with the Maryland crab!

Vake Loves the Ladies and Mommy Loves Silhouettes

We visited our good friends Katie and Ted yesterday- Katie lives next door to Grandmary. There was a lot of excitement at the house- both of Katie and Ted's girls had friends over and they had a super fun time playing with Vake who thought it was awesome to hang out with all the bigger children.

So it was four girls all paying attention to little V. Thank goodness he is 6 months old, not 16.

And I had Vake's silhouette made last week at Quirk Gallery by a local artist, Mary Davenport Williams. The proofs came back today- this is for what will wind up being notecards. I love to write notes and these are going to be super fun to have in the rotation. The nice thing is that Mary will keep a copy of the silhouette so you can use it in a bunch of different ways. A silhouette may well become my "go-to" gift for all my friends who are having babies!!! I think the only change that I am going to make to these cards is that the font may be copperplate instead of script.

Letter to my Precious Son

Dear Vake,

Mommy thinks you are the best. But when you roll over in the middle of the night, the answer is not to wake up and start talking to your mobile. Please roll back over and go back to sleep.

Love,
Mommy

Stilly Love and a New Headboard

Recently, Vake has started to become more cognizant of our two dogs, Stilly and Judge. Judge is a pretty independent fellow. He will come if you call him and is perfectly tolerant of being petted. Stilly, on the other hand, firmly believes that she is a lap dog.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I had Vake in the room with me. Stilly jumped onto the bed and the two of them snuggled for awhile. I think this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Then when I got home from work, Mom and I worked on my new project: a headboard for the bed in Eric and my room. Unfortunately for my friend Charlotte, she got looped into it as well...

The final product is pretty fantastic- see below. I am especially pleased because we had put off getting a bed because the one I wanted was out of our budget.

The total cost for this was about $100 and I think it gives a very good effect. Eric, when you get home, I need you to finish nailing it into the wall...

Good Morning and Good Luck, Daddy!

Eric's in Houston this week, so the V and I are hanging out by ourselves. Which is ok, although we miss Eric when he's not around.

Every morning, after I feed Vake, we go upstairs so that Vake and Eric can have some quality time together- and Vake's usually in a really good mood.

He was in a good mood like that this morning, so I took a couple of quick pictures.



I also took a short video of him- I thought he'd be talking a little more, but he was mostly content with just rocking backwards!

Peas Please!

Vake's become quite the eater in the past week. He's figured out how to slurp food from the spoon all the way down his throat.

Eric and I had him try a couple of days of rice cereal and then we set out on our first vegetable adventure: peas. We had some Gerber baby food peas that we started him with and I have to say that neither Eric nor I was all that impressed by how the Gerber peas looked or smelled. Imagine, if you will, the worst cooked cafeteria peas all mashed up. They were dark green in color and they smelled pretty grim.

So we got some regular peas, steamed them and put them through the blender. I cannot believe that I am writing this, but the difference in color and smell was astounding- they are bright green instead of kelly green and they smelled the way you want peas to smell.

Vake loves them!

Here he is at dinner tonight, just chowing down. If you look at the picture, he's wearing the cutest bib in the world. My friend from growing up, Elizabeth Hamilton, made it- too cute!!!

Our Visit to The Little Gym

Eric got home from Seattle late Thursday night and worked all day Friday. I am so glad that he's home because the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty brutal for Eric in terms of travel.

I've been interested in getting Vake started in some kind of activity class so Eric and I took him to a class at The Little Gym today. It was a good class: I just think Vake's still a little young for it. He liked it a lot but it was difficult to tell if he liked it more or less than he likes playing in the Exersaucer, which is our favorite price of free.99. Daddy held up like a trooper but the music (all of which contained references to The Little Gym) made him a little crazy- see below!

I was surprised that Vake wasn't more into riding on the parachute. He thought it was ok but I was expecting him to be a much bigger fan of it than he was.

He did do a lot of exercises- here he and Eric are doing bicycle legs.

As those of you who know Vake know, he LOVES to stand, so you can imagine how thrilling a red bar to help him stand was- this may have been his favorite part!

Rice Cereal!!

I had a pretty miserable day today. I had a tough morning with clients in my office, followed up by losing the expert fees I had gotten on a Commonwealth's Motion to Reconsider. On my way out of the office, I got a telephone call from the AAMCO that they actually cannot fix my car.

I needed for something to go right. When I got home, I ate a pretzel and Vake grabbed it and put it in his mouth, so I said to Taren that the time was right to try a little rice cereal.

The first bite. He's not so sure about this.

But it could be worse.

His tongue doesn't exactly know how to work around this- I flipped the spoon over a couple of times to get the cereal into his mouth.

In the end, I think there was more cereal on him than in him but we will keep plugging away at it!!!!

Vake's Early Morning Triathalon: Sit, Swim and Roll

Vake gets up relatively early in the morning- somewhere between 5 and 6:30, depending on when he's gone to bed, etc. He usually wakes himself up by rolling over and staring through the dark at the beloved mobile, then talking to it, laughing at it, and finally shrieking at it.

I definitely don't sleep as well when Eric's not home, so this morning I conceded defeat on the sleeping routine at the first signs that Vake was waking up and I headed downstairs.

He was in a great mood when he woke up, as he is most mornings. Taren put him to bed last night in a pair of his short sleeved pajamas. Despite the fact that I am not employed by the Gap, I will put out a free endorsement of their most excellent, thick, soft cotton pajamas. They aren't cheap ($22 a pair seems a little outrageous) but they are so cozy and what's not to love about a blowfish. Vake's wearing these in an 18 months size right now.

So once he was awake, we kicked off the morning festivities by practicing our tripod sit. He's now able to balance himself for about 5 seconds before tipping over.


Then, he rolled over a couple of times, and once that was through, he finished off a morning of exercise by doing the "swim." Go Vake!!!

What a day!

Vake and I had a busy busy day. Eric rolled out of here super early but got a chance to say goodbye to little Vake before he hopped a plane to Seattle.

I had a day in Court that actually made me pretty satisfied in terms of the way I am handling more and more difficult clients. I had one who is a "frequent flier" who I've represented a couple of times. The first time I had him was for an assault case and I didn't manage him very well. He wound up not getting any jail time on that but being extremely argumentative with me. Today, I got him on board with my approach to the case and even though he got 60 days of Home Electronic Monitoring, he didn't take out his anger on me! YAY!


So after work was over, it was time for little V and me to go to Jacques Penne for his five month portrait. We roll in to find that little V and Domingo are celebrities- look at who was framed in black and white as part of the display. My favorite part is the "I Love You" that was added at the bottom of the pic. Perhaps my little V will be the next Zoolander- all he needs now is his own Blue Steel pose.
Here are the Month 5 pics- don't you love them? For people who want to order them, you just have to go to https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0359102119JCP and my user name is ALISON MONROE. (Don't know if it has to be in all caps but always put it that way...) He's dressed in his Fourth of July outfit.

So Happy!!!!

Yum, my fist is dee-licious.

Ha. I love Taren. (Taren was with us and made little V laugh and laugh.)

Isn't it crazy how big I am, people?

So to top the night off, I ran my first 5K since I found out I was pregnant. Most of you know that Vake really gave me a run for my money most of the time that I was expecting him- I didn't really feel much like myself so it feels like a HUGE accomplishment. My time wasn't all that great- 41 minutes BUT it was really hot and humid. So we will take it.

Here I am with my good friend Hien- she punched it out in like 25 minute and came back and got me. I did run the whole way, though!!!!

More Amazing Family Pictures

So tonight when I checked my email I had such a huge treat in store- the color pictures that were taken of us had been emailed to me!!!! What fun.

I love the expression on E and V's faces- and could two people look more alike than the two of them? It is almost enough to make you forget the gigantic and fabulous root action I've got going on- this had to have been before I got "touched up" although I've got to admit I just cannot remember.

And this picture is so sweet- the two of them are doing one of Vake's favorite activities- and I love how the picture is so crisp and clear- I am finally starting to understand why a better camera actually makes a difference.

This one's definitely not as good of Eric- I think his eyes are mostly closed, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a sweeter picture of my little munchkin.

What do you people mean I can't taste this?

Eric was working in his office this morning, so I brought the backup exersaucer (words that I never thought I would say...) upstairs to Eric's office so they could have some quality time together before Eric takes off for Seattle tomorrow. This exersaucer has a plastic sphere that is partially filled with some water in it. A duck floats in this water. Vake has decided that this is pretty cool: it is probably his favorite part of this exersaucer.

Today he was cracking me up because he has reached the stage where he wants to try to put toys in his mouth and he couldn't figure out how to get the duck.

Happy Fivemonthiversary, Vake!

Happy Five Months, Vake!

Vake is getting so big so fast! At five months, he weighs about 22 pounds and is about 27 inches long. He can sit up by himself if you help him get to the sitting position and if he can rest on his hands. He loves to stand up with assistance. His favorite toy currently is the exersaucer and the Lamaze butterfly is a close second.

Vake is the happiest baby I've ever known. He loves to give smiles away for free. He seems to be recognizing the people that he sees the most often and he is in love with his nanny, Taren. She had Friday off, and when she walked in the door to babysit on Saturday, you would have thought it was Christmas morning based on the smile on little V' s face.

He's getting more curious about the world around him. He is enjoying toys more and more and is starting to take an interest in the dogs.

This is the last month before he starts solid foods- that's going to be an adventure!

Almost Five Months

Tomorrow when we wake up, it will be Vake's five monthiversary. It is so hard to believe that so much time has already passed since the day that my favorite little person arrived. Time seems to be moving at roughly eight thousand times the speed it did before he came into Eric and my life.

Here's a picture of the day we left the hospital. It's unbelievable to think about how much my perfect little person has already changed and grown since that day.

Little V- you and your father are the best things that have ever happened to me. I am so lucky to be a part of your life.

More Overalls and the End of the Day (which equals the End of Vake's Patience)

Vake was so cute today, wearing his sweet little overalls with the sailboats on them. He's very into sucking on his fingers/hand right now so I snapped a picture of him right before he took his bath tonight in that pose.


The other new development in Vakeland is that he will now end his nap/nighttime sleep prematurely by rolling himself over to look at the precious mobile. Unfortunately, he cannot figure how to roll BACK over so he winds up screaming and his naps get cut totally short.

By 5:30 or so tonight, my little friend was exhausted. And not his usual charming self at all.

We Are Family!

Our friend, Jay White, gave us the fantastic gift of a family portrait- for those of you who know our house, I've got this dream of having the back hallway totally filled with black and white pictures- I've done most of one wall but haven't started underneath the banister. I think the temptation with the first child is to totally fill all the walls in his first couple of months of life- thus leaving you with no wall space for the first t-ball picture, etc...
Anyway, I think this picture of me is ok, but not great- but WHAT A GREAT EXPRESSION from little V! I mean, he is just hamming it up for the camera- so cute!

Doin' it Myself

Vake's started holding his own bottle. Not for very long, but he's definitely able to recognize that a bottle equals mealtime and he has started directing them to his mouth and then trying to hold them there!!!

He was super-tired when we took this picture after his bath and before bed tonight, so please forgive the upset expression on his little face!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

Happy Fourth of July! Eric, Vake, Mary Sabra, Neil, Martha and I packed up and went out to Shrinemont in Orkney Springs for a bluegrass festival. We met up with Anne and Dennis. Mom, Eric, little V and I are so excited to have them only 2.5 hours away!!! Yee-haw!!!

This year, the bluegrass festival had one of my favorite bands, the Seldom Scene. They played a lot of songs that I love- the only one I wish they had played that they didn't was "Last Train From Poor Valley" but they did play a lot of songs from Act 1 so I just sang along. They played under this shelter...it was such a funny mix of old Episcopalians and younger hippies.
The crowd was definitely laid back and the weather could not have been more perfect. The Seldom Scene played for about 2 hours and this other band that was actually pretty good too, the Farewell Drifters, played for about two hours- the concert went from 3 until 7.

Here's a great picture of Anne and Vake...he was very excited to get to hang around with cool Aunt Anne. Little V was very patriotic in his flag smock.

Vake loved being with the people- he didn't take very good naps at all- he was way too interested in everything that was going on. He especially was interested in staring at his quilt from Grandma Sue. Everytime I put him in the tripod sitting position, he would lean way over to try to see the pattern of the quilt.

As I said, we could not have asked for a better day weatherwise. Here Vake and I are- he's apparently trying to mash my cheeks into submission.

Vake also seems to have my skin, not Eric's. Our pediatrician has suggested that we be really careful about sunscreen until he hits six months- so I put this cute little blue hat on him and we just tried to be cautious about too much sun but he didn't show any signs of being burned today- that may be that we didn't go out to the field until about 3:15 or so...

By the end of the show, my little buddy was tuckered out and was ready for a snooze...but we all had a GREAT time!

Big Boy Bath and Meeting and Greeting

Just as my little V-man and I had gotten used to a bath routine downstairs in the kitchen, he outsized his little infant tub. It's funny, I find that I like reclaiming rooms from the baby gear- I am just as happy not to have his bath stuff on our kitchen counter. (As another example, we packed up the pack and play to take with us to Shrinemont today and to get that space back in the dining room is tremendous and inspires me to buckle down and put the infant swings in the basement storage once I make sure that Taren's ok with that.) On the other hand, and I guess it is because I didn't have Vake until I was 34, with each step forward we make, I've got this visceral sense of loss. Now, fortunately, that loss is balanced by increased responsiveness from him, or more skills, or whatever, but I've got this sinking sense that I am going to wake up tomorrow and we will be packing him up for college and I just don't want to miss anything.

So with the outgrow of the infant tub, we've got a problem. Most babies can sit in it until they are old enough to sit in the bath independently. Unfortunately, Vake still cannot do that. I've got to mount a hunt for a supportive bath seat that will work in a claw foot tub. At Walmart, I got him this little sling but he's really too big for that already too...

Here he is in the sling inside the tub- isn't it crazy how long he already is?

And here's my little man with his towel on getting dried off and ready for bed.

And in other news, we've moved up yet another diaper size, which seems unbelievable- he wasn't in size 3s for very long. Mom and I got these Huggies "overnites" in an attempt to get him through the night in one diaper. When he woke up this morning, his clothes and his sheet were totally dry so these may wind up being a big success. The size 4s start at 22 pounds so I am optimistic that they will hold him for awhile. They just seem humongous.

Vake, as usual, was in an awesome mood this morning. I am trying to take a video of him spinning the globe on his exersaucer- he's pretty good at it but I think he is hip to my taking pictures of him so he just hams for the camera now.

As a reminder to the West Coasters who might have to make reservations, his christening is going to be on Sunday, September 27th- which is also Anne Monroe's birthday! We're going to have a lunch here afterwards- I am actively campaigning for Christopher's Cart chicken salad (it is this delicious cart downtown and you can order their chicken salad by the pound for parties, etc...)

Hope everyone has a really Happy Fourth of July!