New Pajamas and Vake's First Tie

Vake and I have had a busy week together: Eric's gearing up for a big trial so has not been home at all and I've been a little less busy at work so I've been picking up the slack with little V. He is now a master of sitting up on his own.

This week, we've also made the move into bigger pajamas. Vake weighs about 24-25 pounds now and all of his 12 month pjs were, shall we say, a little snug. He sort of looked like he was wearing a bikini. Here he is rocking his new size 2t pajamas.

Aunt Martha just got back from a trip to Nantucket and brought his some of the cutest pjs I've ever seen- they are so sweet- with little castles on them- but my camera ran out of batteries so I will have to take pics of them tomorrow to post.

Doesn't he look like a little boy in these pictures? Where's the baby? He's not even six months old yet!!!

Aaahhh. Mom, stop taking pictures of me in my nightclothes. It is embarrassing!

Today, one of the bibs that super-Taren ordered arrived- too funny. His first tie.

But Mom, I don't want to be a summer associate. I want to sing and dance! And figure skate. In my white sequined pants!!!

Food

Vake likes peas, carrots, apples, peaches and cereal.

Vake does not like avocado. At all.

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'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!!!!

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.