Splish Splash

Now that Ellis' newborn belly button has fallen off she gets to enjoy every girls' favorite thing, a soak in the bathtub! I wasn't nearly as scared this time as I was with Vince. He felt so slippery to me like every time I touched him he was going to slip right out of my hands. Ellis loved the bath and the warm water. Too bad for her tiny little babies only get a bath once or twice a week because I'm sure she could use a stress relieving bath after a long day of watching her brother. I know it makes me tired and it must wear her out!

Click here to see all the sudsy pictures of our little bathing beauty.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

Doggie Drama

November 1st turned out to be even scarier than Halloween. We spent half the night before up with our very sick dog. They don't get a lot of blog space but our dogs Kayle and Lil keep life very interesting. At almost 10 years old they are more like little old ladies instead of energetic little puppies. We rushed Kayle to the vet that Monday morning to find out there was a brillo pad in her stomach (We have no idea where she got it. I can't even remember the last time I used one of those) and her kidneys were failing. The doctor prepared us for the worst and all day while Vince was at school Matt and I agonized over what to tell a little boy whose dog is probably dying. We cried and worried all day but in usual Vince fashion when we told him that Kayle was very sick, had to stay at the dog hospital and we didn't know if she would ever come home he just said, "O.K. It's going to be O.K." And like that the conversation was over.

Over the next three days slowly but surely Kayle got better and her kidneys started functioning again. Her liver has some permanent damage, but that's not a huge deal according to the vet. Wednesday the 3rd we finally got to bring Kayle home. We're all back where we belong two exhausted parents, two darling children and two spunky little dogs... hmmm it's starting to remind me of Noah's Arc around here everything in twos!!

All Our Love,
The Damicos

Trick or Treat!

The trick is that there's one more Halloween post. The treat is that it's the last one... for this year. Sunday night Matt took Vince out to trick or treat in our little neighborhood while Ellis and I stayed home to hand out candy. The girls got the easy end of the deal because by the time we finally got Vince out the door we had already had our yearly 8 trick or treaters and there was nothing left to do but eat the leftover Reese's peanut butter cups.

Vince wasn't really interested in the trick or treating and Matt basically had to beg him to go but once he got out there man we wasn't interested in stopping at the 6 houses we had picked out. He made Matt go through the whole neighborhood stalking homes that dared put on their lights.

Click here to see all the photos. There aren't too many because even Matt was sick of Halloween by then!

All Our Love,
The Damicos

Halloween Party... Part Deux

I'm lucky enough to belong to a mama group with some great ladies started by my friend Kenzi. Every year they have a kids Halloween party so everyone can catch up and see how much the "babies" have grown since last year. Since it finally felt like fall we decided to break out Vince's real Halloween costume. The skeleton costume was an emergency backup to our original plan. Vince told us he wanted to be Brobee, his favorite character from the TV show Yo Gabba Gabba. I went online and found the most realistic Brobee costume I could. Well it turns out I wasn't being super Mom, I was being super stupid because Brobee is completely covered in fur and so was the costume making it way way too hot for Georgia. I was so stoked Halloween morning when the temperatures dipped into the 40s and Vince could finally wear his costume.

Ellis and I got into the mood with a skeleton t-shirt and baby carrier. We had a great time partying it up with a dizzying 40+ adults and 23+ kids at the brunch/lunch time party.

And for the record even though it was cold outside the costume was too darn hot and Vince was sweating bullets by the time we took it off and headed home for nap time. Oh well if we ever get a massive snow avalanche in Georgia I know what Vince will be wearing! And now looking back at the costume he sort of looks like the Grinch, maybe I can trot it out at Christmas time and make it really worth my money! Click here to see all the pictures from the party.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

The Party Never Ends

You didn't think we were going to just one party on the 30th did you? Nonsense! We partied all morning and then after nap we were at it again. I just keep telling myself that all this pre-school partying is preparing my kids for the corporate world and all the schmoozing they will have to do... I know it's a lie but darn all this partying sure does make them nap well!

After the birthday party and a nap we suited back up in our skeleton costumes for the Grant Park Halloween party and to meet up with the Smiths and the Crosbys. They just happen to be two fabulous families with sons in Vince's daycare class. I know I'm a little biased but the pictures of those three in their costumes was so stinking cute. We're talking I'm going to put this in your senior yearbook and cry about its cuteness at your rehearsal dinner cute. Well you can judge for yourself... aren't they the cutest skeletons and robot you've ever seen?!

After a couple of hours partying in the park we went over to East Atlanta to have dinner at Holy Taco and to take advantage of the EA business trick or treating. Dinner was a riot because for some reason the boys were way more interested in playing with the restaurant's pumpkin display than they were in eating. Ellis was not at all interested in the pumpkins but she did decide to majorly spit up all over me... twice. Thank goodness we were in a big crowd of friends with many helping hands!!

All the businesses in East Atlanta village had someone designated to hand out candy so after dinner we walked the kids from business to business and they got some good loot while we got to walk off all those yummy tacos we ate. Click here to see all the party pictures... don't worry I was in charge of the camera so there aren't that many.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

Party People

With two kids I have the feeling we will be going to twice the birthday parties in the coming years. October 30th we got to celebrate the first birthday of one of our favorite sweet pumpkins, baby Isaac. Our neighbors Amber and Paul have helped turn our little neighborhood into a wonderful place for our kids to grow up. Their daughter Olivia is 7 months older than Vince and their son Isaac is almost exactly a year older than Ellis (don't worry Matt has already warned him about dating our daughter).

They were kind enough to invite us to celebrate Isaac's big first birthday and even let Vince help the birthday boy open his presents (as if we could stop him). Vince loves to play with Isaac which I'm convinced is going to take years off my life. Vince is so much faster and rougher that we have to chase him and watch him like a hawk to make sure Isaac makes it to his second birthday!

Ellis is turning into quite the party girl at only two weeks old she was already going to her second party. Click here to see all the fun party pictures. Warning! There are a LOT of pictures. Matt was in charge of the camera that day and I'll just let you in on a little secret, Matt loves to take pictures of our family. If ever I feel like I'm too obsessed with my cute kids I can feel confident in the fact that there is someone even more fanatical than me.... my husband. I don't mind; he can take all the pictures he wants because I get to edit them!

All Our Love,

The Damicos

New Belly Button

Ellis made one huge leap forward towards precious little girl status on Friday October 29th... her alien baby belly button fell off!! Our friend Joe teases me that I gave birth to this child, she was in my body, yet the thought of her belly button stump grosses me out. Here's our little beauty and her new belly button. I think she's going to have an inny belly button.

All Our Love,
The Damicos

School Halloween Party

I told you the Halloween partying never stopped last week. On Friday the 29th Vince's school had a Halloween celebration for the kids. But for some reason this year they banned costumes and asked parents to dress kids in Halloween themed shirts or black and orange. We continued the skeleton theme with a sweatsuit that had a skeleton painted on it. Thank you Nannie for finding us that Mr. Bone outfit!

All Our Love,
The Damicos

Love Bug

It seems everyone around here has caught the love bug. Vince, Matt and I are just crazy about Ellis. We have to monitor Vince's love pretty closely because as a toddler he tends to have a bad case of unecessary roughness! If we let him he would kiss and hug Ellis all day but since his hugs more closely resemble full body slams, we limit him to touching her toes and kissing her on the cheek.

Matt has been on paternity leave and I'm on maternity leave so we get plenty of time to snuggle her solo during the day while Vince is at school.

Click here to see some pictures of us showering our little baby with love in her second week.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

Spooky Season

Matt and I have always been pretty social but man we've got nothing on Vince. That kid has a social calendar that would make a celebrity jealous. The day after his big Yo Gabba Gabba adventure he was invited to a Halloween party thrown by his daycare at a local park. Our whole family loves Halloween and Vince could not wait for the festivities to start. He even told me "Mommy I don't want to go trick or treating just to parties." His wish was our command.

Matt and Vince dressed up as matching skeletons except that Vince refuses to call them skeletons, he would like you all to refer to them as Mr. Bone Man. Vince had a great time at the party. Matt almost passed out from exhaustion after chasing Vince for two hours straight while dressed in an adult skeleton costume and Nannie and I spent the whole party talking to other mothers who were fawning over Ellis in her little pumpkin costume. Click here to see pictures from the party. And I really hope you like Halloween pictures because Vince made the rounds and went to 3 parties and trick or treating twice with two different costumes... more spooky posts to come.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

Mini Model

Teetee came to babysit Ellis last weekend while we took Vince on his special big brother adventure. Apparently Ellis is her muse because she spent hours taking photos of her. Click here to see all of her great photos of our little sweet pea. You may want to grab a gatorade and a snack because there are a LOT of them and it will take you a while. She spent hours taking pictures!

All Our Love,
The Damicos

Overcompensating

Months and months before Ellis was born I had a mini pregnancy hormone and insomnia related breakdown. I was reading all these articles about introducing your toddler to a new sibling and I was just convinced that Vince would feel all heartbroken and betrayed that we had brought a newer baby into the house. One of the articles suggested that we do things with just Vince every once in a while so that he would know that he was still going to get attention. Fate would have it that about 2 weeks after his sister was due one of Vince's favorite TV shows Yo Gabba Gabba was going to be on tour live in Atlanta.

If you've never seen Yo Gabba Gabba, it's hard to describe. The characters are strange, the premise is basic and most of the time I think that the parents love it more than the kids.

I without hesitation decided that we MUST take Vince. You know to convince him that we still loved him (work with me people, hormones work in strange ways). So I went online to buy tickets and lo and behold I must not be the only loving guilt ridden parent out there because almost all of the tickets were sold out. And I say almost because there were two kinds of tickets left: too far away to see anything and mortgage the house expensive. Guess what kind I bought? Knowing that if we were too far away to see the stage Vince would never sit still and we would have wasted all kinds of money, I decided to clean out our entertainment budget for the entire year and buy the good tickets. Not just good... front row good (remember hormones make you do crazy, crazy things).

Flash forward and not only is Vince not jealous of his sister, she was born late, so he didn't even have time to realize that he would be with her 24/7 for the rest of his life before the showtime. So 7 days after Ellis arrived, Matt, Vince, Nannie and me were off to see Yo Gabba Gabba live. Teetee drove in from Tennessee for the day to babysit Ellis. Vince had no idea why the heck he was being treated like prince for a day, and he wasn't about to question it. 

When the show started the look on his face was priceless. He was so ecstatic it was like Christmas morning times 100. I don't know if it was the complete lack of sleep because of the newborn at home or the gaping hole in my bank account but when I saw that little look of shock and amazement I started bawling like a baby. So I guess all of the Metro Atlanta YGG fans now think I'm some sort of deranged groupie for those large freakish stuffed animals but whatever. Vince had a great time, I didn't regret spending the money (ummm maybe a little) and Teetee got several hours of baby alone time.

Click here to see all of our Gabba fun... and don't be surprised if most of the pictures are a side view of Vince's face with a dumbfounded look.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

Second But Not Second Best

In an effort to prove to Ellis (and myself) that being the second child doesn't mean you're second best, I've been busting my tail trying to take pictures of her and man is it a challenge! You're going to see a lot of random pictures of her sitting in her bouncy chair (ignore that it's blue and that it was Vince's) and in her little crib (also Vince's, I promise she does have a lot of her own stuff). Without head support there are only so many places she can go.

Vince loves to start every day by talking to his baby sister. He doesn't seem to care if she's awake or not. He tells her good morning and then bombards her with questions. I feel like I am a toddler to newborn translator; both languages are grueling to learn trust me. I can't wait for the day she can answer them and take me out of the equation.

Ellis had a little day/night confusion on her first few days home. Much like Lindsay Lohan she was content to sleep all day and stay awake all night puking in her own hair. We helped her realize that day was way more fun by taking her for some sunny stroller rides. Vince assumes that she wants to go where he wants to go... to construction sites. After the first two or three days at home Ellis has realized that night is boring and the perfect time to sleep and daytime is fun and the perfect time to play with Daddy and let him take ridiculous pictures of her sitting with Vince's toys.

Click here to see pictures from our (thankfully) uneventful first week at home. Hey dull can be good sometimes.

All Our Love,
The Damicos

Coming Home

After two and a half really long days at the hospital Ellis' levels of jaundice were low enough that we could all go home. Picking her going home outfit was no small feat. I had at least 4 options in my bag. Babies bigger than 8 lbs don't fit in newborn clothes so I had to have two different sizes and "fall" in Georgia means you might "fall" for the con that it's going to actually be cool outside. It wasn't. It was about 80 balmy degrees the evening we took Ellis home on October 18th. 

Matt says I picked the most difficult outfit to put on a newborn but I loved it. It was a short sleeved dress with built in bloomers (modesty first you know) with a cardigan sweater (in case that phantom fall weather showed up). And besides who cares if the outfit was cute, the pictures of Matt sweating while trying to put it on her where worth it!

Vince was very excited that we were finally home and that we brought Ellis with us. Please ignore the giant booger and dirty t-shirt in this picture!! Our first night home was uneventful and slowly but surely we are inching our way towards being a fully functional family of four.

Click here to see the photos from that first night at home.

All Our Love,

The Damicos







Damico Party of Four

So this blog which started out as a clever way to share news about our newborn baby Vince is morphing into something different... a family blog. Our darling baby Vince is a full blown little boy who loves to "hunt monsters" and beg for candy. He now has a darling baby sister who is slowly learning that being the second child means sacrifice... like your name is not the title of the blog ha ha.

Another change to the blog. I've promised to include more pictures of myself so that my children will remember that I was their every day too... not just their handsome photogenic Dad!

We've been loving our sweet baby girl for 11 days now, but trust me she was in no hurry to get here. She was due on October 11th but for the entire last 6 weeks of our pregnancy every doctor, friend and random stranger kept telling us she was going to come early. We weren't surprised because Vince showed up 2 weeks early. My doctor's even had me stop working in September because they kept saying "any day now." Well our stubborn sweet little girl proved them wrong and made it to her due date and beyond. Thankfully our doctor scheduled us for an induction on Saturday October 16th.

Despite assurances that once they induced she would come quickly, she continued to take her sweet old time. After 11 and 1/2 hours of a very easy and relatively pain free labor Ellis Catherine Damico arrived at 8:23pm Saturday October 16th. She weighed 7lbs 14 oz and was 19 inches long. Our joy of course couldn't be measured :) She was a beautiful dark haired little newborn clone of her brother. Neither one of use could believe how much they looked alike at birth.

Even though I was a little bummed that Ellis didn't get to pick her own birthday, we picked it for her, I loved the perks of having her on a schedule. That gave my Mom and Dad her Nannie and Poppie and my sister and brother in law her Teetee and Uncle Troy plenty of time to drive to Georgia so they were all here when she was born. We let her get some rest Saturday night but Sunday was a full day of visitors... including the most important and anticipated visitor of all... her brother.

Now if you've read this blog at all or ever met Vince you know he's uh well uh "spirited." Vince has more energy than a room full of people combined. When you mix that with a very healthy dose of curiosity and the vocabulary of someone twice his age, you often get quite an adventure. We spent many hours discussing, fretting and wondering about what Vince would think of this new baby who was coming to dethrone him as center of the freaking universe. In true Vince fashion he kept us guessing until the very end and his response was very unexpected. He was happy and downright bored with her. He could care less that we were giving her attention because not only did she not eat fun food, she can't even talk. What a bore! Not to say there won't be some naughty jealous days in the future but for now our greatest fears have been unconfirmed... phew.

Click here for pictures from October 16th and yes they include pictures of Ellis looking like an alien and me looking like I'm on death's door (hey there's only so much photoshop can do).

Click here to see pictures of Ellis day 2 as she welcomed her first visitors and had her battle with jaundice. Not to worry it wasn't a big deal. I had it when I was a baby, Vince had it and now Ellis can post it on her resume. I just couldn't resist taking pictures of her looking like a cast member of the Jersey Shore in what looks like a tiny tanning bed.

More to come, don't want to overwhelm you all in one post.

All Our Love,

The Damicos

February Flashback

A cold February kept us inside for most of the month. The cure the toddler boredom we decided to break out the plastic pony that Tee Tee and Uncle Troy bought Vince last Christmas (he was way way too little for it then so we stored it for a rainy day). Click here to see all the pictures of our little cowboy.

Valentine's weekend we got a chance to see just how frigid February was going to get. We got some rare Atlanta snow. Vince loved it! After getting all bundled up he got to run... uh... walk... trudge through it all in the backyard. I apologize in advance to all my Canadian relatives that are going to think this snow is for ninnies. Click here to see all the pictures.

Vince was lucky enough to have his Nannie as his Valentine this year. She and I took him to the circus for the first time on Valentine's Day. He loved the animals and the popcorn but wasn't so impressed with the clowns or acrobats. Click here to see a few pictures from the circus.

You'll be happy to know that the weekend after Valentine's Day we finally got around to taking our mop top to get a haircut. He used to love getting haircuts, but I think he's grown tired of them and was a little whiny this time so Matt bribed him with some soda... shh don't tell our pediatrician. Click here to see all the makeover pictures. We treated him to a visit to feed the ducks for making it through the whole haircut without tears. Of course that meant shoving a hat on his freshly cut hair giving him the funkiest hairdo, but whatever I didn't even care.

All right I think that's enough stuff crammed into one blog. I'll finish up February next time.

Jackie (Mama to Vince "Samson of the toddler hair" and Damico #2 due in October)

Taking Over

So I've noticed that Vince has been quite behind in blogging so I thought I would take over. There's so much to catch you up on in the last 6 months so prepare yourself for a lot of catchup blogging.

February started off great! Vince was almost 2 and finally getting into the swing of regular playdates. Click here to see some pictures of our February 6th playdate with one of our bestest friends Millie.

The next day turned out to be one of the best of the year for the Damico family. Our beloved Saints were making a trip to Miami for the Super Bowl and that morning we found out that Vince was getting a little company here at Casa Damico. We kept that a secret for a while to make sure everything was fine.... but we were quite open about our love for the Saints. We threw a big Super Bowl party and invited all of our friends and Vince's friends. Click here to see all the party pictures.


Now almost five months later when I look back at all these pictures I can't help but think WOW get that kid a haircut! Vince's hair has taken on quite a life of his own. If we don't get it cut every 6 weeks he starts to look like Shaggy, Scooby Doo's best friend.


More blogging to come!


Jackie (Mama to Super Cuts regular Vince and Damico # 2 due in October)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I know, I know you're probably thinking... wait Vince you used that title last February, and you are right. My Daddy has a birthday on Groundhogs Day every year! This year I decided he was cool enough to play in my playhouse fort in the backyard. He let me wear his police cold weather hat because it was chilly and damp outside. We had a lot of fun until the sun went to bed and Mommy made us come in for dinner.


After dinner it was time for cake!! It was an ice cream cake with cookies but since I'm a dairy free kind of guy I just ate the cookies and frosting and I declared it delicious! Click here to see all the fun pictures from Daddy's birthday fun. Oh and I forgot the best part of any birthday is singing to the birthday boy. Check out this video of me singing happy birthday to my Daddy.

Love,
V

Party Boy

Friends it's been a busy busy 6 months, but my New Year's resolution was to blog more and tantrum less... wish me luck.

Today my friend Hoyt celebrated his 2nd birthday and he invited me to a fun robot themed party at his house. I had such a good time. I was really, really, really excited about his cake because it was shaped like Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba. His Daddy made it for him. Hoyt even let me have two pieces!

Hoyt and I go to the same school and our friend Max from school was there too.

Click here to see all the fun party pictures.

Love, V