Our latest trip to the Dr. was Monday and Vin now weighs 6 lbs. 12 oz. which means he gained almost a pound in the last week. The average weight gain for newborn boys is an ounce a day so he should be a big boy in no time. He goes to the Dr. again in two weeks.
The world is changing these days, case in point, at the Dr. the options for parental relationships lists: single married, divorced, or long time partner. This is so wonderful to see printed on the form so we don't have to write it in ourselves. I was also pleased to see when I ordered Vin's baby book that pages could be ordered for Mom/Dad, Mom/Mom or Dad/Dad format. I know these are minor in the big scheme of life but small efforts like these give me faith that the world is getting closer to recognizing that families come in all shapes and sizes.

Teri went back to work on Tuesday but since then has worked a few half days at home to make sure I was ok with everything. We sure miss her since she always makes a real lunch while if it's just me I'll eat mac and cheese or a grilled cheese sandwich nearly everyday. She's also great for being the calm one and encouraging me and giving me confidence when I'm doubting myself and all the new baby stuff that I'm (we're) clueless about. But best of all about her is her gift giving. A few days ago she surprised me with a gold and emerald ring (Vin's birth stone). She is so great and I wish she could stay home with us everyday!

Twice today Vin has done the "tinkle sprinkler" to me while changing him. You'd think I'd learn but I haven't so far. Teri's claim to fame is that he's tried to sprinkle her but she ducks and weaves and so he's never officially gotten her yet. Additionally he's launched his spit up three times in the last day or so. All I can say is that I've done more laundry in the past three weeks than I have in the past three months!

Just a cute picture of him sleeping... The only person interested in this video may be Mayme (who by the way has changed her flight to arrive on Monday instead of Wednesday of next week. She just couldn't stand it one more day!!)
The video is 4 minutes of his face - there are a few cute smiles and funny faces. Hopefully this will satisfy Mayme until Monday.

His First Day in Pants!

Vin is so tiny that all the clothes we had for him were too big and we had to buy new smaller ones. He is slowly gaining his weight back and today he was able to wear pants for the first time! How cute are they??!!

Outing #2

I'm sure no one is surprised to learn that Vincent has already experienced his first trip to Chilis. Really it was more about Teri and I getting out of the house for a few hours and getting our Chilis fix (it had been over a week since we'd eaten there!) He was of course a "hit" with the staff who had seen us on a weekly basis for the last 9 months.

Look Alike???

My Mom sent newborn pictures of me in the mail today. We think Vin looks an awful lot like me!

The Other Babies
My friend Wendy says that when you have children the cat becomes just a cat and the dogs are just dogs. I swore to Boris that he would never become "just" a cat to me! We have a nightly ritual where I call for him from the front porch, he come running in and then I hold and rock him like a baby on the couch. When I was pregnant and he was laying on my stomach purring, Vin would start rolling around in response. It was like they were already friends. Last night I got to hold both my babies at the same time - it was great!



Henry and Bella are also doing great with the new addition. Bella basically ignores him altogether and Henry gives irritated doggy sighs whenever Vin is crying or when I turn on the light in the middle of the night to feed him.

Vin's impression of Little Bunny FuFu

Our First Week

The Challenges
Today Vin is one week old today and we've had one BIG week full of learning experiences and progress. Teri and I brought him home on Wednesday afternoon and it was just the three of us for the night until Mayme (aka Patty) arrived on Thursday morning. For the first two days Vin absolutely demanded that he be held 24 hours a day. He refused to be laid down in his crib or bassinet so this was our first "project" with him. By Friday we were slowly getting him to "detach" for small amounts of time and at this point he's good to go!

The Help
We had lots of visitors this week and once again the kindness and generosity of our friends and family was evident. We had tons of food brought to us to help make life easier but the biggest help of all was Mayme. She stayed with us from Thursday through Monday and we can't thank her enough for her extra set of hands and her years of mothering experience. On her first night with us she volunteered to hold Vince all night so that Teri and I could get some sleep between feedings. She finally got to sleep at 6 am. She is the greatest! She gives us the help and guidance we need and yet lets Teri and I be new parents and learn and make decisions on our own. She is not dominating like many mothers can be and I am so grateful that she and Teri have a good relationship!

When Mat and I were kids we used to listed and sing along to records with her all the time. She has kept the records all of these in her basement, so for Mother's Day I got her a record player so that she can do this again for the multitude of grandkids she bound to end up with. ( Did you know that my sister Cassie is pregnant and due in October?!)

I also must mention my sister Tara here in the help category. She has been great! Since we found out I was pregnant she has continuously bought this child stuff he will need. For example, I already have two Halloween and a Christmas outfit for him. When I was in labor she came to the house and washed all his clothes and organized the nursery so that when we got home it was ready for us. I cannot begin to thank her enough for this. Once home she brought us a full set of baby cleaning products, sprays, stain removers and odor eliminators plus 4 packages of diapers. She works just down the street and I love that. Even though Mat, Tara and I technically live in the metroplex it is so difficult to make time to get together. For Tara and I we see each other every week, usually when I'm getting the mail and she is on her way home. It's a nice part of my week and we know we can count on her for anything!

The First Bath
On Sunday we took our first bath and he Hated It! You can view the picture below of him screaming his lungs out. At least we know his lungs are strong!

The Trip to the Doctor
Today we had our first outing and at this point Teri and I had finally figured out the car seat. Thankfully this was a Teri project that she worked on the last day I was in the hospital. Since Vin was early we had only started to work on this but Teri got some help from Tara and Erin so the car seat was installed when we left the hospital. Teri and I both expected a hospital staff member to escort us to the car and make sure that we strapped him in correctly but this didn't happen. However, by today we were ready to go and did just fine on our first outing - no crying fits or anything!
When he left the hospital he weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. and is up to 5 lbs. 14.5 oz as of today. This is good news since he is so small that none of the clothes we had fit him. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and we'll go back again in 2 weeks.
Can't wait to see what we'll learn and discover in the next two weeks!

Pictures!!

Vincent Is Here!

Vincent Taylor De Leon

May 12, 2008 8:46 p.m.

6 lbs. 4 oz 19 inches

On Friday, Kam was working on getting her grades finalized and turned in and I was home with a pulled back. Kinda last minute, we decided to have one last weekend out of town before Vincent's arrival. So, we decided to go to Fredericksburg.

As the afternoon went on, 5 hours in a car sounded like a long time and we were having a hard time finding a hotel room. We decided to get a room at the Belmont for the weekend and vacation in beautiful Oak Cliff just to have some time away from our lives. They have a secluded property and have a very nice pool. Turned out to be a good thing, because Kam started labor on Sunday morning.

She started around 5 am and we were in the hospital by 7:30 with contractions lasting about 60 seconds and hitting about every 4-5 minutes. Well, they sent us home because she was only dilated to 2 cm.

Here's where the fun starts...she labored this way for 29 hours!! Now remember she is going the natural way, so our doula had her walking and doing some other stimulation exercises to move the labor along and get her more dilated. Who the hell wants to walk around the block when you have something the size of a honeydew trying to make its way out of you?!? She pushed through it and Doula Billie felt like she had made some good progress, so we went back to the hospital around 7:30 pm knowing that we would have a son at the end of the evening.

She was still only 2 cm. They wanted us to stay a couple of hours to see what would happen, but Kam was exhausted and they gave us an option of going home. So, we went home and they gave her some medicine for the pain so she could try to get some rest. The nurse told us she thought she would probably see us about 4 or 5 in the morning. While Kam got some rest, Patty and I tried to get the house put together. (Patty and Terry had to change a Llano trip around and head to Dallas to be here for Vince's arrival.) He's trying to make his appearance two weeks early, so we had all our stuff but we weren't quite organized.

On Monday morning , she was still going strong, so we called the doctor to make an appointment (we were tired of being sent home from the hospital.) We discussed what we were going to do if things still had not moved along. At this point, she had started labor 29 hours ago and we thought she had truly made an effort to have a natural labor but it was starting to become a bit ridiculous for her to still be in pain. Before we had our doctor's appointment, we decided that it was time have him get things moving along and time for an epidural.

She had moved up to 3 cm and he was in stage 0. Hooray...we were checked into the hospital to stay. Kam got an epidural and he was here 10 hours later.

He was a little shaky at first, it took him about half an hour to be able to breath properly. Also, Kam had some complications. She ended up with a large blood clot on her uterus. She was given medicine before having it removed but it wasn't working quite fast enough and they had to do it without it taking effect. Kam said it was more painful than giving birth.

All things said and done, Mom and Vincent are happy and healthy. I am okay too. We spent 3 days total in the hospital and we are home now. Patty is staying with us for a little while, kinda to help us get it all figured out. I'm not sure we would be quite as sane if it weren't for her help.

Vincent is a good, strong name for him and we will probably call him Vin for short. It sort of suits him.

He seems to be a pretty good kid, so far (he's only 4 days old now.) He gets fussy every so often, but we are thinking it may be a gas thing (I understand now that I cannot feed Kam garlic and onions.) He is quite the tooter.

We have been told that he is pretty good looking, we agree. He has a full head of hair. Vin's two weeks early, so he is a little guy. We had to go get him new clothes, the newborn size, because all of his clothes were huge on him. His fingers and toes are long and skinny. He still has a bit of a pointy head but its starting to round off. I'm not sure when his eyes are going to turn to the right color, but they are a steel blue right now.

All of his aunts and uncles have become baby hogs. They don't want to put him down. I foresee it being a challenge to keep him from being spoiled.

Thanks to everyone for all of their support. We are excited to have a new addition to the family and look forward to days to come.

Kam, Teri and Vin

Brinker Baby Shower

On Friday Teri and I were again overwhelmed with kindness and generosity at the Brinker Baby Shower. Teri and I arrived just before 3:30 but it was evident as we walked down the hall that the party had started without us!
As many of you know, Teri and I met 8 years ago while working at Chilis Lovefield. Chilis is just a part of who Teri and I are as individuals and as a couple. At the shower I got to see old friends from various stores throughout the years and had a chance to meet new friends too.

Our newest Chilis friend is Nikki, the culinary intern who did a wonderful job catering the event, I've included a picture of her creations. My personal favorite was the BBQ chicken on a blue corn pancake (I hope my description does it justice!)

We extend a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who planned and attended the shower, Teri and I had a wonderful time!

Blog Comments

Since the blog has been up several of you have "commented" on the comment format of the blog - namely you have issues with signing in etc. I think I've modified the settings so that you do not have to log in or identify yourself in any way to comment, therefore we expect to see lots of communication from you!

Kam