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