October has come and gone!

Owen had his 2 year checkup last week and he is doing great. I can’t believe my little boy is 2 years old already. He is learning new phrases everyday and he is so good at trying to say things. When we ask him to say a phrase like “There’s a snake in my boot.” He will get the main words across and say “snake, boot,” since he can’t remember the whole phrase. His birthday was fun. We had cake, opened presents and just spent the day together since a typhoon was making going outside impossible. We also went to DisneySea on Tuesday for his birthday and the kids loved it. We had dinner with Pluto, Mickey and Minnie. Owen loves Mickey and kept saying he wanted to see him but as soon as he did he just frowned. He wasn’t thrilled with any of the characters. He didn’t cry but he wouldn’t smile unless one of us was holding him. We got pictures taken when we were at Disney also and they of course came out great. We love Amanda and are going to miss her when she leaves in a couple weeks.

Owen trying to ignore Mickey Mouse

Vinny had his 4 month checkup a couple weeks ago and he too is doing great. He is a whole 14lbs now and 24 inches long. He started eating rice cereal; at first he didn't seem to like it but now he is getting very good at eating it and doesn't make faces everytime a spoon full enters his mouth lol. He is rolling over like a champ; you can’t keep him still long enough to change his diaper. The second your hand moves out of his way he is moving and then as soon as he is on his belly he starts to try and crawl. Right now he is an inch worm getting around places but at a very, very slow pace. I don’t think it will be long until he tries to lift himself to crawl. He also LOVES to stand whenever he can and like all Montemurro boys he can’t get enough of looking at himself in the mirror lol. Today Amanda took some pictures of just Vinny since we didn’t get many at Disney and I can’t wait to see them.

Eating rice cereal for the first time

Blake is always making him laugh!

Blake is doing great in school. He is learning lots and brings home lots of school work and art projects. He isn’t very good at remembering his friends’ names, he only knows maybe 2 but everyone knows his name. All I hear is “Hi, Blake,” as we walk in. He is still excited about school and asks to go every day. He and Owen fight but they still love each other and play all the time. In the mornings I wake up to them laughing and playing. I don’t think he knows all about Christmas but he knows what the decorations and everything look like. It will be nice that he understands more this year and can help decorate and everything more than last year.

He is becoming a very handsome boy... he needs to stop that

We took the boys trick-r-treating on Sunday and they of course thought it was the best thing ever. We only took them to a few houses since they didn’t (and we didn’t) need that much candy especially with Owen’s birthday cake sitting in the fridge. They looked adorable in their costumes and were asking to wear them every day.

Woody, squeeky toy and Buzz Lightyear going trick-r-treating!

The boys: July edition!

Vinny smiled!!!! Vinny smiled a few days ago but it wasn’t a full smile and it wasn’t at anyone so we’ve been waiting. Today he smiled at me several times. I am so happy I got a picture of it.

Vinny is doing great, eating all the time but I don’t mind. I’ll deal with getting up 4 or more times a night and everything else that comes with having a baby because I love him being small. The time goes too fast, I’m sad that he is already 6 weeks old. Next week he’ll be going in CDC (Child Development Center) for the first time, I’m nervous and sad about him going but also excited. I can’t wait to start going to the gym again, and next month we’ll be putting all the boys in for the special opening and having a date night. Oddly enough, I love Anthony and can’t wait to spend some alone time with him lol.

As of July 14th Vinny is 21 inches long and 9lbs 4.5oz. Still the only part of him that is chubby is his face lol. Blake is 40 inches tall and weighs 34.6lbs. Owen is 33 inches tall and weighs 25lbs. The boys are healthy and happy and as always are all tall and skinny. Here is a picture of Blake being goofy and just like Vinny his head is the biggest part of him lol.

I never really noticed before but Owen is a rock. He is so much sturdier than Blake was at his age. He isn’t fat, he is still tall and skinny but he looks more solid. We think he’ll be a football player with how he is built and the fact that he is always running into things and knocking Blake down without getting hurt. Blake will probably do something less physical like baseball. Not saying baseball isn’t physical but it’s not like he’ll be getting tackled by a 300lb guy lol.

Owen is saying so many more words now. Every day it seems he is learning a new word. I love hearing him talk, everything he says is just so cute. He finally started saying mommy and daddy, before a couple weeks ago he would say dedah (daddy mixed around) or dada and mama. Owen also says “do it” which of course Anthony taught him lol. It’s very cute though. Here is a video of him saying a few colors.

Blake is going to be going to a preschool that is being set up at CDC to take place of the Co-Op that isn’t opening. They don’t have the option of 5 days so he’ll only be going 3 days a week for 4 hours a day. At least he is able to go to preschool though. Blake is very excited, he hears his friend Christopher talk about school so he has been asking to go. Christopher goes to a Japanese school so they won’t be going together but I’m sure Blake will still love it.

New pictures!

So we got pictures taken with the boys last week. The lady that did them last time did them this time too, and again, they are awesome! We didn’t take family pictures because we wanted pictures of the boys together, we will get the family ones in October some time. It was a hot day, but the pictures turned out great. Blake and Owen were running around like wild men like always, and Vinny of course had to eat half way through, but all in all it was a good time. We really wanted a collage of the boys showing the blue in their eyes, and I think it turned out great.

11 days have flown by!

Vinny is now 11 days old and I’m already sad. The time is already going too fast, I want him to stay small for a long time. I will gladly get up several times a night to feed him if he just stays small lol. He is doing great. When we left the hospital he was 6lbs 12oz and at his appointment when he was 1 week, he weighed just under 7lbs so his weight gain is very good. Also his bilirubin numbers are low so no worry of jaundice. We’ve already seen him smile a bunch and not just those little smirks while he is sleeping. We’ve seen several big open mouthed smiles while he was awake and looking right at us. I don’t care what anyone says, he was smiling at us, there is no way he was THAT happy because of gas! Lol.

We found out that Vinny is not the astounding 23 ½ inches long that we were told he was. He is only 20 inches long. Apparently the corpsman, the one I already didn’t like for so many reasons, measured him wrong. For one, he measured him to his toes instead of his heel and somehow added another inch and a half to that! I’m very upset that he told us wrong. Now the card we kept and all his papers are wrong but luckily we hadn’t marked his baby blanket (since it has measurements on it) and we haven’t done his announcements yet.

Friday night I called the hospital to try and talk to a lactation nurse because I was concerned about a couple of things. After talking to the nurse and telling her my concerns, she told me I needed to go into the ER to be seen. When I got to the ER they checked my blood pressure and it was high (bottom number was 98) and my temp was almost 102. The doctor checked me out and said I have mastitis. When I had talked to the nurse she told me I couldn’t breastfeed until I was seen so I left Vinny with Anthony when I went. I am so thankful there was a bottle of frozen breast milk in the freezer so Anthony was able to feed him while I was gone. Anthony apparently liked feeding him and said whenever I want to pump and give him bottles; he will gladly feed Vinny again lol. I’m on antibiotics now for the mastitis and some pain meds since this type of infection is very painful, especially during feedings. Although I’m clenching my jaw when Vinny latches on, and even with the pain meds I still have a lot of pain, I am so glad I can continue to breastfeed.

Blake and Owen absolutely LOVE Vinny. They always want to rub his head and check on him. I was really worried about Owen since he would get jealous every time I held a baby and was always wanting on my lap and to cuddle. But, since the first time he saw Vinny, he can’t get enough of him, he is always staring at him and wants to help with him. Every time I walk into the room holding him, Owen will point at Vinny’s swing and say “down” because he wants him down low enough where he can see him and check on him. If I pick Vinny up, he will go and get Vinny’s blanket for me. Both Blake and Owen seem to still be a little bit confused about the fact that there is no longer a baby in my belly lol. Blake loves Vinny and will tell anyone who will listen about his new baby brother.

We got Vinny’s pictures done on Thursday and should see them within the week , I can’t wait! I love the photographer; Amanda, she is the same person that took the pictures we got done a couple months ago. She is so patient and takes a TON of awesome pictures. After trying to get a couple pictures of the boys with Vinny and them not cooperating, Anthony took them to go play so it was just Amanda, Vinny and I so we got a chance to talk. Her and I were talking about weight loss during the shoot; she told me about her losing weight and I told her about my weight loss goals. I had told her that we plan on getting family pictures done in October and she came up with some great incentive for me to lose weight. I want to lose about 40lbs, the sooner the better but my goal is by the time Vinny is 1. She said if I can lose 15lbs by October 1st that she will do our pictures for no session fee, if I can lose 25lbs we won’t be charged a session fee and we’ll get the CD for free and if I can lose 35lbs we’ll get the session and CD for free plus get any prints at cost for us and our families. She is so great! I’ll let everyone know how I do.

A few days ago we got a letter saying that the preschool we signed Blake up for, will not be opening for the 2010-2011 school year. The building failed a safety inspection and because it’s a government owned building, they can’t make the necessary changes. Sadly, it’s now too late to get Blake into another preschool and we don’t want him going to a Japanese school so he won’t be going to preschool at all. We’re disappointed about this but he will continue to go to CDC (I might even increase his hours) and they teach him things there and he gets to socialize. I am also hoping that there will be some kind of program I can get him in when we get back to the states in April but we’ll have to wait and see.
The only picture we got of him not crying
He was tramatized after his bath
He is a skinny little thing!

Fun times in the Montemurro household!

The boys are both doing great. Blake is starting to articulate his words a little better and Owen is growing his vocabulary each and every day. He just started saying "baseball" when he sees it on t.v. and he's trying to say "I love you" even though he always pokes his eye whenever he says I. Blake is getting tough, it's both good and bad. He rough houses with the older kids at CDC and then comes home and realizes that Owen is smaller so he can pick on him. Don't worry though, Owen doesn't have a fear in the world and he takes Blake down every chance he gets!


Apparently Blake has more than one butt!

So Blake wants to wrestle almost everyday, and before dinner is usually when it goes down. This night was no different except when he fell he landed wrong on his butt and that's when he said “daddy broke my butt!” lol. Needless to say, the wrestling continued right after we put the camera away.


Owen is a little monkey!

Owen figured out how to climb in the crib and he is very proud of himself for doing so. He managed to throw the pacifier out of the crib (but remember exactly where it was located so he could get it later) and he pulled down the baby video monitor. We wanted to see how exactly he did it so Anthony gave him encouragment to do it again while recording.

The boys: May edition!

Owen is 18 months now and is finally above average in the height department. He is in the 66th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight so he is tall and skinny. He is learning lots of new words and even though we may be the only people that know he is saying puppy when he says paby, we are just happy he is trying. Owen is a huge dare devil and is constantly doing things that would hurt most kids. He loves to wrestle with Blake and will jump on Blake at every chance. Everytime we change Owen's diaper he tries to escape and run around naked, this time he got away so instead of grabbing him, we grabbed the camera! This picture will come in handy when he starts dating.

Blake started baseball last week and he loves it, he is always saying "I need to play baseball." His second practice was cancelled due to weather but hopefully that will be the only cancellation. They don't have the bats and balls in yet so they just had all the kids use plastic gloves and those crazy looking rubber balls. Hopefully this week they will have everything in so he can use the real stuff. He is really getting good at saying full sentences and stating what he wants. He still has his moments where he copies Owen and just points to things but we are working hard on getting him out of that. He loves going to “school” and playing with all his friends. He is also tall and skinny in the 80th percentile for height and 42nd percentile for weight.

Every day the boys are growing and learning and we love to watch. They are typical boys who love each other one moment and then won’t stop fighting the next. We don’t know how they don’t get seriously hurt when they are constantly wrestling and trying to body slam each other. There is now an area in our house (a rug in our living room) that if you sit or lay on, they think you’re fair game to jump on!

I’m 34 weeks pregnant now and we are getting anxious for little Vinny to come! Blake says daily “the baby needs to come home” or “the baby needs to come out,” he doesn’t understand when I tell him he has to wait a few more weeks lol. Vinny is doing great, growing well with no complications. He is very active and, I think, likes to creep Anthony out by rolling all around so Anthony can see.

Since we just started this new blog up, we’ll be posting pictures in the next week of Japan since we’ve been here.