What a year!

Well, it is official...we no longer have a baby in our house.  The boppy and swing have been packed away, the bottles are all cleaned and boxed up, ready for the next little Keimig to enter our world (whenever that may be).  Enter sorting toys and books and baseball tee's, sippy cups and plates.  Enter an ever growning, ever moving toddler named Vinnie!  While we are excited about the growth and change and excited to enter the next phase of parenting, it is with a tinge of sadness that we say good-bye to our little baby and the first year.  Never again will we experience what the past year has brought us.  Sure, there will be new babies and new adventures with each of those precious gifts, but there is something special about being a first time parent!

Vinnie officially turned one on Wednesday, July 25th, and while we were hosting a party in Minnesota the following weekend, we could not let the special day go without celebration.  Vinnie and mom spent the day shopping together.  We started by getting a sweet treat at the Barnes and Noble cafe.  Thanks to a birthday coupon, Vinnie enjoyed an oatmeal raisin cookie, and mom enjoyed a carmel late.  It was what our summer together has been all about...taking time to enjoy the little things and exploring and experiencing new things together.  It was a perfect morning!  That evening we went out for pizza...Vinnie wasn't such a fan, I'm not sure if it was the pizza or the soccer that was on tv that prevented him from fully enjoying his birthday dinner.  We returned home for some presents and a little taste of a cupcake before heading off to bed.

In an effort to get to celebrate with as much family as possible, we decided very early on that we would bring the party to Minnesota.  So Thursday, after Jon was done working, we ventured on our usual 5 hour drive north to White Bear Lake.  We spent some time Friday morning getting ready for the party, before taking some time in the pool and heading to Cup and Cone for an ice cream cone (a new FAVORITE!).

Saturday we were blessed with the most beautiful Minnesota weather...blue skies, sunshine, and thankfully, not too hot!  We got our little cowboy ready and celebrated his first year on the range with family, enjoying Sloppy Joes for lunch, cupcakes, and then a little swim at the Keimig watering hole.  It was such a perfect day!!!  That evening a few friends stopped over to celebrate as well, rounding out a great weekend and tuckering our little one year old out.

We have enjoyed every minute of the past year with Mr. Vincent.  Looking back on pictures, it is hard to believe all that we crammed into this first year, and amazing how fast it flew by!  Now, our sites are set on the school year ahead...returning to work and daycare.  Vinnie and I are enjoying our last full week together before the responsibilities begin to trickle in.

I leave you with a video I made to celebrate Vinnie's 1st year (its amazing what a mom with a computer,  few naps and a little time on her hands can do!)  Please follow the link to the video on youtube and enjoy

Vinnie's 1st Year

Splish Splash!

Vinnie has successfully finished the Puddle Jumper level of swimming lessons.  3 days a week, for the last two weeks, we spent our evenings at a local pool swimming away!  While he didn't really complete many of the tasks they set before him...blowing bubbles, jumping into the water; he did really enjoy his time in the water and managed to even master kicking.  There is definitely more work to be done next summer...but it is a start!

On the very last day of class he was given a certificate and an awesome pool toy!

From Sweet Dreams to Rocking Nights

Prior to becoming a parent, you are offered an overwhelming amount of advice covering every facet of parenthood.  In many cases, this advice is coming from a good and helpful place, and often considered in our household, BUT perhaps some of the best advice we received could be used in many parenting situations..."sometimes you just have to do what works for you."  So, in the winter of 2011-2012 as we battled one ear infection after another, usually beginning with a rough night, and little sleep, we started to do just that. 

Vinnie had always been the easy kid.  He slept through the night at 4 weeks.  He is a silent observer as we cruise down the aisles of the grocery store each week.  He is a perfect little angel in church (pun TOTALLY intended).  From the very beginning he had us questioning why everyone said transitioning to this parent role would be so hard.  Vinnie gave this mommy and daddy sweet dreams from very early on.  Now, I know that babies should be put to sleep awake, to help them learn to soothe themselves if/when they woke up in the middle of the night, but when you have a fussy, miserable, sick little baby, that you know a nap here and a good night sleep there would help, you do everything in your power to make that happen.  And so began our nights (and now this summer days) of rocking.  Each time Vinnie went to sleep...we would rock and rock until he was asleep.  We went from our happy sleeper, who slept through the night at only 4 weeks, to a not so happy sleeper, who took minimum 15 minutes to put down each night, after which I usually felt as though I had been drifting at sea from all the swaying and rocking AND woke up, crying out several times through the night. But worse than all of that was the thoughts tossing and turning in my head about the future battles that we were making for ourselves.  But...at the time it was necessary...and it worked.

Now, as we are quickly approaching Vinnie's 1st birthday, I have decided that things have got to change...for several reasons.  First and foremost, this kiddo is a wiggle worm, and it is becoming downright impossible to get him to sit still long enough to be rocked to sleep.  I also know that tackling this now will make for better nights sleep and perhaps even better naps and that is like gold as we begin to move toward August and the return of the early mornings of school responsibilities.

I started by tackling nap time, figuring if it didn't work...he just wouldn't nap for that morning or afternoon, but could make up for the lack of sleep in other parts of the day...  The first day it took 17 minutes to get him down.  Not one part of that time involved him crying and screaming.  He just bounced up and down in his crib and eventually wore himself out.  SUCCESS!  That night, bed time took a little longer, but again, no tears...we are on our way, I figured.

Then, last night, Jon and I were blessed with a little date night out, just the two of us.  Our baby sitter was one of Vinnie's teachers from the infant room at daycare...a sweet girl who fell in love with Vinnie from early on and was anxious to spend some extra time with him.  We warned her about our nightly battles...and trying to make an easier night for her, I told her, if it got really bad, she could just go ahead and rock him to sleep.  We returned home from our night out and were given the run down of the night...lots of play time, he just loves that green ball, took lots of pictures if you don't mind...and OH MY did he get upset at bedtime!  After spending a whole school year with Vinnie, she had never heard him cry like that.  AND...she just had to rock him to sleep.   Great.  I went to bed feeling horrible for breaking our routine, knowing that the next night (tonight) we would be starting from scratch.  And tonight we did just that...40 minutes of tears, screams, pulling himself up and falling down in his crib, rolling and flipping, he finally gave in and fell asleep.  All the while I was hiding in the basement, across the room from the monitor.

Despite the battles we have already had, and the ones that we know are waiting in our not so distant future, I don't regret the nights of rocking Vinnie to sleep.  It initially came from a place of necessity, and in those touch moments of parenthood you really have to do what works for you and keeps your little one happy, healthy, and safe!  I know we have had some pretty brutal nights recently, but I am confident with a little perseverance we will be back to those sweet dreams again!

Sweet dreams to all of you on this Sunday night!

Happy Birthday Little Lady!

A special little lady will turn 1 this week!  July 18th marks Olivia Grace Gibas' first  birthday!  In the last year she has brought such joy to our lives with her bright eyes, big smile, and sweet giggles!  She has worked vigorously to keep up with older sister, Ella, and is walking and even climbing all over!  We so enjoy the time we get to spend with her, and cannot wait for all the fun on the horizon for her and Vinnie, who are just one week apart!  What friends they will be!

We could not miss the birthday festivities for Miss Olivia, so we ventured north to Minnesota this weekend and enjoyed time with family!

I love my cousin!

Cake time...just getting started!

You go girl!

Happy Birthday Livvie!!!

Certifiably insane or just really clever?!?

So, a little over two years ago, Jon and I moved into our home in Cedar Rapids.  It was certainly not love at first site as it was in rough shape, but it has provided a nice outlet for our handy, and creative sides.  Upon moving in, most of the walls were bone white...a blank canvas if you will.  Over time we have painted most rooms; our bedroom first, next kitchen and dining room, basement bath (that was just an overhaul), Vinnie's room, our guest room...what remained was our living space, the areas where we spend most of our time.  When we found out we were pregnant, we had visions of getting this house in tip-top shape pre-baby.  We went to Menard's and loaded up on paint, and for the most part were successful in getting things done...but our main living areas remained.  This weekend, over a year after purchasing the paint, we finally painted the basement.

And we're off...Jon mixes the paint and we embark on our painting journey!

In an effort to get as much done without exposing our sweet 11 month old to too many paint fumes, we began our adventure at 8pm Saturday night after Vinnie had gone to bed...this is where the certifiably insane part comes in...  At first, we were patting ourselves on the back, happy to have a chunk of time to accomplish something without being interrupted for a diaper change, or to re-route a mobile little one from diving into something he shouldn't be.  As the hours dragged on, the lighting got poor, and we started to question our judgement.  In any case, we started this project, and we were going to finish it.  We painted until about 11:30 Saturday night and retired to bed, exhausted and sore, knowing our little friend would not care what time WE went to bed, and be ready to go come early morning.

Vinnie content, as usual, in his pack and play while mom and dad are hard at work.

Sunday morning...getting there!

And boy were we right.  Around 6:30am, Vinnie was up and so were we.  After a little breakfast, we ventured down to finish what we had started.  After a whole lot of touching up (it was the lighting, I swear!) we pushed through and were done painting by 12:30.  Vinnie even took a longer than usual morning nap to help us accomplish a little more.

The finished product in Vinnie's play area...can you tell its different?!?

...And the completed living tv area.

Now that all is said and done, we are happy we did it!  While the change may not be obvious, the light brown color has really made our once white and cold basement much more homey and cozy!  As to whether our painting adventure was ridiculous or very smart...I still haven't decided, what do you think?!? :)

Quack, Quack in the water!

Enjoy a little video of Vinnie Quacking! :)

Sweet (busy) Summer!

Family Picture on Lake Okoboji

Oh dear!  My apologies are required yet again!  Here, as I entered my first summer vacation as a mama, I had visions (but now I'm learning delusions) of time to blog...HAHA!  I may have less time now than I do while working.  Vinnie and I are trying to make the most of our delightful summer together, which keeps us very busy!  Now that we have one whole month of this under our belt, I suppose it is time for a rather extensive re-cap.  Lets hope Vinnie is in the midst of a solid nap, so we can make it happen!

Since I last posted Vinnie has crossed off several milestones!  He continues to move more and more...at 11 months he is just starting to perfect the art of crawling on all fours, while he still prefers the vigorous army crawl when he needs to get somewhere quickly.  He devours every bit of solid food he can get his hands on...we have yet to find anything he doesn't like, and is becoming too cool for the whole bottle thing!  He is a social butterfly and a ham, just like his father, which makes him the center of attention at most social gatherings, trips to the grocery store, doctors visits, really anywhere he can catch someones attention. 

Darby and Vinnie: best buds!

He continues to oodle over his puppy, now petting her and even venturing to crawl on top of her from time to time.  She enjoys him, and all the table scraps he provides, but gets upset when he invades her space and often just walks away, leaving him one lonely little guy.

Hangin' out at the pool.

Vinnie has gone swimming in: his very own wading pool, a lake, a city pool, a resort pool, and Grandma and Grandpa Keimig's pool.  Next week, he will start swimming lessons with dad.  Needless to say...our kid is part fish.  He LOVES the water! 

1st Haircut: Thanks Dad!

Vinnie has even had his first hair cut...done by daddy!  It was a success and we were amazed by how much older he looked, just from that little trim.

First boat ride on Lake Okoboji...rough waters!!!

In early June, we took our first official family vacation, traveling to the Fillenwarth Beach Resort in Okoboji, IA for 4 days with my parents and sister's family.  While there we enjoyed a lot of family time, great food, great sites, and a little time on the lake.





Shortly after returning from our Okoboji vacation, we were packing up the car again, this time headed to Watertown, South Dakota for the Wedding Celebration of Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Laura.  While Vinnie didn't appreciate all the time in the car it required to get there, he did enjoy all the time with family and all the festivities surrounding Jeremy and Laura's special day.  He even allowed us to spiff him up in a suit, and charmed the church as the little ring bearer in the buggy for the wedding!

Happy to be with the Bride and Groom!

With Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.

With Grandma and Grandpa.

All TEN Wennstedt Great Grandchildren!

Enjoying the parade with Daddy!

Our little man is so busy and fun.  He jabbers away at us, entertains us with coutless belly laughs, and has started waving, doing so big, and even giving high fives.  A trip to the Freedom Festival parade in Cedar Rapids provided endless opportunities to wave and giggle...what a surprise, our social guy loves parades!

Now we are just enjoying some relaxing time at home.  I feel so blessed to be enjoying uninterrupted time with Vinnie at home.  I feel so blessed to experience many "firsts" with him during this time at home; he makes even the most uneventful day special!  Trips to the chiropractor to keep those ear infections away, morning walks with mom, naps, play time, and soon swimming lessons fill our weeks... its summer and we are loving it!