Friday, January 30, 2009

We found a new home.....at blogger :)

Whew! It has been a very busy new year at our house. Unfortunately my posts on this blog has suffered the brunt of our busy schedule
Little Vinnie is not so little anymore! He is about 15 and 1/2 pounds now. At his 6 month check up he officially made it on the charts. This means he was in the area for weight and length with full term 6 month olds even though he is gestationally 3 months younger than them. He is in the tenth percentile on the charts.
The “percentile” for babies is similar to BMI for adults. It is a way of telling you if your baby is a healthy weight and also if they are growing properly. Babies should not go below the 5th or above the 95th percentile or risk major health problems. The growth charts show us the statistical distribution of weight, height , etc. in a particular set of babies (or children or adults). So if a baby is in the 50th percentile for weight on the CDC charts, it means that half of the babies of the same age in the US are heavier and half are lighter; if a baby is in the 10th percentile for height, then 90% of babies of the same age in the US are taller and 10% are shorter. What doctors are generally looking for on a growth chart is that baby stay relatively consistent in their growth pattern.
Joe took Vincent to his 6 month check up so when our pediatrician told him Vinnie was in the 10th percentile he thought this meant he was in the Top 10. It was cute. Neither of us really knew what it meant until we did our research. Oh the things you learn with children. Vinnie is still #1 in our book though
Vincent is still going to physical therapy at Baptist Pediatric Rehab. On Monday a pediatric physical therapist from T.E.I.S. (tennessee early intervention system) will be coming to our house for a consult and evaluation. After that she will then come to our house once a week to work with him. He has already made great progress with his current therapy, the work we have done with him, and the work our nanny has done. I know with the addition of TEIS he is just going to take off.
My mom left in December to go back to Nebraska. We were sad to see her go after her three month stay and nervous about having a new nanny. I am so very happy to report Kristen has been nothing less than excellent. He is always happy to see her and they get along so well. She works with him daily on his motor skills, reads to him, and makes us feel at ease leaving our little angel with her. Vinnie’s grandma Vic watches him on Thursday’s and Friday’s. She does so much for us too. If I started naming off everything you would be reading this blog all day. She spoils him rotten.
This month I have had to spend extended periods of time away from Vinnie. My grandfather (my moms dad) passed away in the beginning of January. He was a wonderful man who lived a long life with large loving family. He had nine children, too many grandchildren for me to even count right now, and 6 great grandchildren including Vinnie. Although he never met Vinnie in person I sent him pictures often and he was in Memphis while I was about three months pregnant with him. I was lucky to have a grandpa like him and will have many stories to share with my son someday. The last time I saw my grandpa Clete was at our wedding last march. It was a wonderful way to remember him. We had our last dance and he still had the moves too! He is now in heaven with my grandma who he missed so much. Their lifetime of love is such an inspiration to me. You will be missed Grandpa Clete.
I was in Nebraska for 5 days. It was great to see all of my family, but I missed Vinnie (and Joe) terribly. I would call and Joe would put the phone up to Vinnie so I could talk to him and he did his little coo’s for a bit, but mostly just slobbered on Joe’s phone. When I got back I was in Memphis for 6 days after getting back from Nebraska and then headed to NJ for 5 days for work. Vinnie is getting tired of my millions of kisses already.