Cameron's Baptism Weekend

We drove out to CT this weekend to celebrate Cameron's baptism with lots of family!   It was Vera's first time meeting some of her awesome Kane "cousins"- Caitlyn, Emma, James, and Emmett. 

Snuggles with Aunt Chris who was up from Alabama with Uncle Mike 

Vera was happy and quiet during the baptism thanks to Aunt Jaime and Uncle Bri.

Yayyyy, the kids table.

with Dad and Aunt Kate

The girls!  Caitlyn and Emma, ages 11 and 9?

Cheerios!

Vera, my little carb-monster, had Cheerios for the first time this weekend.  She LOVED them.  Is it bad that she is learning to snack?  Oh well, she's the second child right?  It's fine to give her snacks as a way to keep her busy and self-entertained while I deal with Griff? 

Vera Turns 7 Months Old!

I can't believe it.  Our little peanut turned 7 months old today. 

 

Vera, my sweet little girl.  I can't believe how much I love you.  It's more than I ever thought was possible.  You are such a happy and easy going baby.  At 7 months old, you have pretty much mastered sitting up (you roll around all over the floor), you have 2 little bottom teeth, and you started waving this week!  You've been to the following states: MA, NY, ME, NH, FL, CA, and HI, and you've flown twice so far in your life (roundtrip from Boston to Hawaii, with a 3 night stop in San Francisco, and roundtrip to Orlando).  Size wise, you are about 19 lbs, in size 3 diapers (you've been wearing cloth diapers for the past month and a half, unless we are traveling), and you have just outgrown your 9 month Carters clothes and are now into size 12 month.  I think you are actually in the middle of a growth spurt as you've been napping like crazy this week and last night you woke up at 11:45pm, 3am, and 5am to eat (that was super rough on Mom!).  You are unfortunately still waking me up at least once a night, and silly Mommy, I'm still responding to you as it's so tough to hear you cry at night.. you are just too precious to let cry, and I don't want Griffin to wake up!  Dad can't take it either.. we tried to let you "cry it out" for about 20 minutes last week and Dad cracked and had to go help you.. .it was heartbreaking.  In the past few days I've noticed that you started crying more when I leave the room... it's half funny and half sad, but surely just a phase.  You love eating puffs.. you smile when I pour some on your tray; you are probably at about a 70% success rate of actually getting them into your mouth.  Let's see what else is going on right now.. You and Griffin are interacting more and more. He will occasionally pick up a toy and give it to you if you've dropped it.  You don't seem to mind it (yet) when he takes a toy from you.. I think you are just so happy that he is "playing" with you.  Sometimes if he wants to give you a hug, he squeezes you really tight, and he often rolls on top of you and you giggle and laugh.  I'm trying to teach him to share with you or at least give you something else if he wants to play with what you have.  He only says that he wants to hold you when the neighbor girls want to hold you..  Griff makes you laugh a lot and he also can get you all riled up, especially in the car.. you two squeal together in the backseat.. Your brother sometimes calls you "Veer", as a nickname..  Whenever we drop off or pickup Griffin from school, you are so excited to see everyone, especially him.  I wear you in the Bjorn and you kick your legs and wave your arms at everyone you see!  Lots of people comment on how cute and happy you are.. and if they also knew Griff as a baby, they say that you look just like him (which you do.. just with more hair and you look more girly).  You love it when I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to you- I use that as a distraction tool, like if you are getting fussy while I'm trying to feed you dinner.  You immediately stop fussing and you smile when you hear the tune; it's almost as if you are comforted by it because you remember me singing it to you when you were in my belly.  You are quite possibly the smiley-est baby I've ever met.  Every time I look at you and smile, you smile right back.  You even wrinkle your nose and eye brows a bit when you smile really hard, just like I do.  You absolutely love Penny and Simon, our cats.  Penny sometimes sleeps on your changing table and I try to help you pet her occasionally.  Every time I run your hands across her soft fur, you have a giant smile on your face.  You have a funny habit of sleeping perpendicular in your crib, meaning that when I put you down at night the long way in your crib, you tend to roll and wiggle yourself until you turn a full 90 degrees.  When I lay you in your crib, you turn your head back and forth looking for one of your two lovies (pink cat, that Griff gave you for Christmas, or your pink striped giraffe lovie).  You'll grab a lovie and rub it all over your face.  I put in your pacifier, zip you up in your sleepsack and you settle yourself right to sleep- sometimes you make little cute moaning sounds (just like your cousin Cameron). When I come into the room in the morning and lift the blinds to let light in, you kick your legs and shake your arms enthusiastically and smile every time (I'm just as happy to see you too.).  You are so amazing Vera, and I'm so happy to be your Mom.  Sorry for all of the rambling, I just wanted to jot all of these little things into the blog so you could know what you were like when you were a baby... I love you!

Love, Mom 

Vera/Anna & Johnny/Griff

Duplicate post from Griff's blog:

Check out these pictures of Griffin and his buddy Johnny (taken July 2010, at 5-6 months old) and their baby sisters Vera and Anna (taken March 2013, at 5-7 months old).  Amazing!

Vera + Gpa Victor

Vera absolutely loves my dad. I mean, I can't blame her, he is pretty awesome.  Vera is always super happy whenever he is holding her or near her, and she follows him around with her eyes when she is being held by someone else... It's so cute to see them together.. he is such a cute grandpa. :)

Vera's First Swing Ride!

At River Road Park in Niskayuna, NY this past weekend:  (almost 7 months old)

Albany Weekend! Vera Meets Audrey

Tom and I brought Griff and Vera to Albany this weekend to visit "Grandma Victor, Uncle Anny, and Aunt Alex", as Griff jokingly likes to call them, as well as to meet baby cousin Audrey for the first time.  As a bonus, Uncle Frank (who calls himself my "best Uncle", and cousin Doug) came up from the city too to join us!  We dined at Bob and Ron's Fish Fry when we first got into town (our fav!), and then spent the rest of the weekend playing, sleeping, and eating at my Dad's and Brother's houses, and shopping at the outlets during both drives.  It was definitely a great time, but it was definitely new territory for all of us since there are now 3 babies/kids in the mix to logistically plan around... eek!  We were all so busy tending to the little ones that we basically forgot to take pictures of the kids with Frank or Doug, and never got a shot of all of the grand kids together, wah wah..  At least I'm blogging it, so we know it officially happened: Griffin and Vera met Audrey for the first time.  Yay!

Here are a few pictures that we did get from the weekend:

Cat Lover

Vera is a cat lover just like her Mom; she just loves Penny and Simon.  She lights up when they walk by and loves getting to pet them; I have to hold her fingers open while I run her hands gently through their fur so she doesn't accidentally grab a fist full of grey fur.  Since her birth, Simon has become more and more tolerant of Vera's crying and somewhat unpredictable movements.  He now sometimes comes over to "mark" Vera with his face and has made biscuits and even flopped on her while she's been nursing or sitting with me.  Penny on the other hand, has always shown a motherly affection toward Vera.  One of P-Bear's favorite spots to snooze is on the changing table next to V's crib.  They often take their afternoon naps together. 

Bath Time with Big Brother Griffin

Bath time with big brother Griffin is definitely one of the highlights of Vera's day. She squeals with excitement while splashing in the water, chewing on foam letters, and getting water poured on her head by tub mate (it doesn't seem to phase her). I love watching the two of them interact in the tub.  Kid bath time is also one of my favorite times of the day, not only because it means I'm 30 minutes away from quiet adult time, but also cause it's freaking cute.

Going Bananas!

Our little 'Banana' (you know, she's yellow on the outside, white on the inside) ate her first banana (mushed) today.  It's the 11th food she's tried...  rice cereal, oatmeal, peas, carrots, green beans, butternut squash, prunes, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and now bananas..  yum.

Love Being a Mom...

My lovely day included cleaning faces, wiping boogers and butts, changing poop diapers, getting spit up on my clothes, and bonus, cat puke.  Good times.

Vera's Growth Stats

4/2/2013 (6.5 months old), height: 25.25" (15%), weight: 18lbs 14oz (87%), BMI 20.8% (I'm pretty sure the height was off as the nurse didn't stretch Vera very long when she measured her!... clearly Vera is a pretty tall girl)

1/14/2013 (4 months old), height: 24.5" (61%), weight: 16lbs 6oz (91%), BMI 19.2%

11/19/2012 (2 months old), height: 22.5" (52%), weight 13lbs 9oz (92%), BMI 18.8%