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!

We make cute kids!

Family picture
Owen using his potty
Cutest and sadest face ever!
Strong men

All the boys relaxing
Being goofy

Bath time!

Blake's first day of school

Oversized backpack

Life as we know it!

It has been a bit crazy here the past couple months. We’ve been trying to get into routines and the boys have been growing and changing so rapidly we almost can’t keep up. Owen started counting to 5 all by himself! It is the cutest thing and we are so proud especially since he isn’t even 2 yet. He is also doing well with colors and animals. He sometimes can be hard to understand but he is learning new words every day and he is so polite saying “sorry,” “thank you,” “please,” “you’re welcome” and when you tell him you love him he’ll say “too.” He is ready to be potty trained but we’ve been waiting because 1) we aren’t really looking forward to asking every 5 seconds if he has to go potty and 2) the CDC won’t allow him to wear underwear and won’t take him to the bathroom when he needs to go until he is in room 2. We understand this, most kids under 2 aren’t potty trained and they can’t have a teacher take 1 kid to go to the bathroom but it would have been nice to start potty training as soon as he showed an interest. I’m sure he’ll pick it up quick once we start.

Blake starts pre-school today and he is so excited! We got him a new backpack that is WAY too big for him but it will work until he gets the one we ordered. We ordered him a Lightening McQueen backpack that has his name on it but it could still be weeks until we get it. Blake loves being a big boy and is so curious about everything. He is at the age where he wants reassurance for everything and also wants to tell on every move Owen makes lol. At least whenever Owen takes his diaper off in the morning or mid nap, Blake is always right there to tell us so there are few messes to clean up. He is so smart and we are so proud of him. He is still having trouble with red and blue colors but everything else he knows, even black and white. We’ve been working with him to write and recognize his name but I’m sure they’ll have more patience with him at school. It’s hard for us to sit with him and try to go over things especially with Owen around because Blake will start imitating Owen to get attention and pretend he doesn’t know things.

Vinny is growing so quickly, he is already 3 months old; he smiles all the time and at everyone. He is such a happy baby and he started really laughing last night. It looks like his two bottom teeth are starting to make their way to the surface and we already predict he will not be a pleasant teether. I wish I could stop time because I love this age. He has started sleeping more at night (although there are times he will still be up every hour to 2 hours and that’s usually when Blake and Owen want to wake up super early so I get almost no sleep), he smiles at us and he still will cuddle. I love my cuddle time, it’s the best part of my day and no matter what is going on it always puts a smile on my face. Vinny loves tummy time, as soon as he is on his tummy he tries moving all over the place. He also loves to stand and is very strong; you can have him stand and only hold his hands and he’ll just stand there with a huge smile on his face.

We ordered the boys’ their Halloween costumes. Blake is going to be Buzz Lightyear, Owen will be Woody and Vinny will be one of the little squeaky toy aliens. I will have to alter Vinny’s costume because they only had 12-18 month ones everywhere we looked.

Anthony and I are doing great. Anthony is only a few classes away from his Bachelors degree in Political Science. Just as he is finishing, I’m starting. I registered and start classes in November in hopes of getting Bachelors in Psychology with a minor in Communication Studies. We are both looking forward to going back state side but are enjoying and trying to do as much as possible here before we leave.

I’m doing well with my weight loss, would love to be further along but I’m still proud of myself. I’ve ran farther and longer than I ever had before and my goal is to get to 3 miles in 30 minutes in the next couple weeks. I’ve lost 32lbs since having Vinny and still would like to lose between 18 to 28lbs. I’m only 1lb away from the 1st incentive with over 2 and half weeks to go. I’m 11lbs away from the 2nd incentive but not going to kill myself trying to make that goal. It’s about 6 weeks until our pictures so I hope to be comfortable by then so I’m not self conscious about how I look.

So that’s it for now. Will try and update more often if the boys will let me!

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!

Birth Story!

Well, after 57 hours in the hospital I’m finally home with Vinny. The hospital trip started on the 9th at 3:30 in the morning when my water broke. I woke up and jumped out of bed (which I wasn’t aware I could do at 9 months pregnant) and ran to the bathroom. I realized it broke, and since I was on Anthony’s side of the bed lucky for him I didn’t just burst like a balloon right there in bed. I called my friend Hannah and she came over to watch the boys for us. We got the hospital about 5 in the morning and I was admitted immediately. The doctor started explaining everything to us and said that because of the risk of infection a 24 hour timer started when my water broke. If it took that long, I’d have to have a C section. At 7 I was hardly having contractions so they started me on Pitocin. It was the minimum amount at first and then every 20 minutes it went up. I got the epidural around 11, but I could still feel everything in my left hip. The doctors call it a “hot spot” and there was nothing they could do for me. The doctor came in around 4 and checked me and realized my water was not completely broken, so she finished the job right then. Everything started progressing very quickly after that. My contractions started to come more often and they were hurting even worse. At about 6:45 I had Anthony call in the nurses because I couldn’t take it anymore. They came in and told me to push, which I don’t think they were ready for. The nurses ended up telling me to stop pushing because the doctor wasn’t there and he was almost coming out. The doctor got there 5 minutes later (which seemed like 20) and she told me to push which I did. The second push got his head out and then the she realized that the cord was around his neck. It was not wrapped around like a noose, it was more like a scarf but if I would have pushed again the cord would have ripped. She cut the cord and had me push him out with one more push. He went directly to the warmer where they started to do all of the birth things on him. The doctor cut the cord long so Anthony still got to cut it too. It took a half an hour for them to get him to me but they finally did. That half an hour seemed like eternity because I could see him just sitting there with his eyes open and all I could do was sit there and wait.

Vinny was born on June 9th, 2010 at 7:04pm weighing 7lbs 5oz and measuring an astounding 23 ½ inches long.

12 hours later he was coughing up amniotic fluid and colostrum, and he was turning blue. The nurses took him away and didn’t bother to tell me what was going on for 20 minutes. He finally came back and has been doing well since then.

Blake and Owen acted crazy in the hospital. They were more concerned with running around and jumping on the couch than seeing their brother. It was hard to take pictures but we managed to get a few. Since I got home they have both really warmed up to him and all day long are trying to see what he is doing.

Three boys and Anthony… Wow, what have I gotten myself in to?!?!?!?!

Vincenzo Michael Montemurro

So Vinny is finally here! We went to the hospital at about 5 this morning, and she was in labor all day long. They started giving her Pitocin at about 7:30 in the morning, and they just kept moving the dosage up all day. She got the epidoral at around 11 or so, and at 6:30 P.M. she was really hurting. The nurses came in and she started pushing, the doc came in and she pushed three times and he came out. The doc cut the cord while he was still in because it was around his neck a little bit; She told Kim as soon as it's cut he's gotta come out with the next push, so she did. At 7:04 he was born. He weighs 7lbs 5oz and is 23.6 inches! He is definitely a long baby. Kim will post more when she gets home but here are a few pics and a video in the mean time.

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.

Vinny Watch!

On the 19th, I went off base to run a couple errands and while walking back on base I started having some really sharp pains all over my stomach and I was having a hard time walking because of a horrible pain in my pelvic bone. I picked up Anthony, planning on having him help me get the boys and going home, but he insisted on going to labor and delivery to make sure everything was ok. I went in and shortly after the pains stopped but after being on the monitors (one that checks Vinny’s heart rate and the other checks for contractions), the doctors realized I was having too many contractions for their liking, 4 in 10 minutes to be exact (they tell you to come in if you have more than 5 in one hour.) The doctor did an exam and saw that I was dilated ½ cm and at 35 weeks, that was not something she wanted to see. She gave me some medicine to try and slow down the contractions, told me to come back in 2 hours to see if that helped at all but if it hadn’t then she was going to admit me. I went back and was then 1cm dilated, I was admitted and had to stay for 24 hours. I was monitored all night and some hours I had 8+ contractions, other hours I had 2. When I was checked the following night, I was 2cm but since it took me an entire 24 hours to dilate that far, they said I could go home on strict bed rest. I was only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and take one short shower a day. I went back into L&D on the 23rd because I hadn’t felt Vinny move in 12 hours and even when trying to make him mad and kick, it still took me over 4 hours to get 10 kicks in (they want 10 kicks within an hour). I went in and he still wasn’t moving a bunch (he normally is a VERY active baby) but his heart rate was good. The doctor came in thinking I was going to be having a baby that night because my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart for the entire 20 minutes I was being monitored. She did an exam and I hadn’t dilated anymore since Thursday when I left the hospital. After doing an ultrasound and having Vinny start moving a lot and seeing everything was fine with him, she sent me home. I was told I no longer had to be on strict bed rest but to take it easy. She figured since I was having so many contractions, it was cruel to make me sit in bed and not try and help things along.

I’m now almost 37 weeks and still no baby but still having lots and lots of contractions. I’m hoping either these contractions turn into labor and I have him very soon or they stop and I won’t be in constant pain for the next couple weeks until he decides to make his appearance. Good news though, he is now head down (they think him turning is what all the sharp pains were that got me into L&D in the first place) so there is no worries about them having to turn him or me needing to schedule a c-section!

Vinny's Baby Shower

I had the baby shower for Vinny on the 16th and I had a great time. Vinny got some very cute outfits and he now has TONS of diapers, almost all size 2 lol. I’m very thankful for my friend Vanessa for hosting it. This is a video of me playing one of the games, I didn’t win but I came close and it was a lot of fun. Probably would have done better if I didn’t have the big belly lol. The goal of the game is to hold the doll, a cell phone and broom while hanging as many clothes on the line as possible in 1 minute and you cannot drop the doll since it is suppose to be your newborn baby.




Here are a couple pictures from the baby shower, I don’t have many because I haven’t seen the pictures that other people took, these are just from my camera.

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.

Happy Mother's Day!

Last night was the special opening for the daycare so Anthony and I were able to go out on a kid free date. We went to a Thai restaurant that is VERY good, got some dessert from a Japanese bakery, rented a few movies, then went and picked up our sleepy boys and headed home. For the other special openings we have went an hour or so from base but since I'm getting close to my due date we decided to play it safe and stay close.

Today was Mother's Day and it was a great one! I had planned on sleeping in this morning but Owen had other plans, he decided to scream from the second he got out of his room until he saw me downstairs. Anthony made a delicious dinner and was a loving husband who did not make me change one diaper all day! The boys, Anthony, and I relaxed at home all day and just spent the time together as a family. We hope everyone else had a great Mother's Day too.

We wish we could have been with our own mom's but being on the other side of the world made that hard. We will be back in the states by this time next year so that will be more likely.

Vincent Michael Montemurro

Due June 20th

The family in Negishi, Japan April 2010