Vince Gets a Lesson About Malawi

Today Vince and I ventured up to Lexington, MA to visit a former student from when I was in the Peace Corps in Malawi. Lizzie is one amazing Malawian woman. She was a student at the school of another peace corps volunteer near me in the north (yay Tumbuka tribe!), and every one of us educators that met her immediately knew she had special qualities that set her apart from other Malawian students. She is a very hard working and dedicated student, always asking for help and working late every night. She never gives up, and in spite of the odds of most girls not completing school in Malawi, Lizzie completed all her schooling and graduated with high marks! She was always active with the Girls Clubs activities that we put together, and empowered other girls to work hard and get their education.

Through the help of scholarships, Peace Corps volunteers, and their family members.... Lizzie was able to come and study in the United States! She's been here for over 5 years now .... received her Bachelor's at Hollins University, and is now working on her Masters Degree in Education at Syracuse University in New York. Her goal is to finish her studies and go back to Malawi and work in education to improve the future of young Malawians, she's amazing!!! This week she is on spring break and spending time in MA so we headed over to see her. I couldn't wait for Vince to have a little taste of Malawi!!


While Vince and Lizzie got to know each other, we had fun teaching him some Chitumbuka!! He got a few words under his belt: he figured out yewo chomene pretty easily (yewo=thank you; chomene=very much) and he went around saying 'Malawi' for a little while which was super cute. He couldn't quite get Muli Uli down (Muli Uli=How are you?) although he would try! We knew what he was saying though.


Here's Vince after the long lessons on Malawi and Chitumbuka! Sweet dreams little man, may you be dreaming of Africa! And good luck with your final months of schooling Lizzie! We are so proud of you, Malawi will be lucky to have you back and working to make a better future for all Malawians!! Yewo Chomene!!

Vince and His Buddy Adam

I wanted to share the pictures I put together of Vince and his buddy Adam, it's amazing to see how they already have so much history together!! I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. After all, they have both known each other since before they were born! Kathryn and I met in a hypnobirthing class, both determined to stay drug, epidural, and induction free. Vince came into the world last June, and Adam followed in August..... here's a shot of their first meeting. Vince is dressed to the nines to meet his buddy for the first time... and makes sure to give him the heads up of what the first 2 months of life are all about. Adam is listening intently as you can see:


Getting together outside on a nice sunny day! We did this a lot while the weather was nice last year!

Together at the hypnobirthing class reunion in December 2008

Though they've been friends for quite some time now, they never really actually acknowledged each other's presence very much until quite recently.... here's one of the first few shots of them shaking hands:

And then of course there was their first Halloween:

Our first visit to a pumpkin patch.... and here they are completely exhausted, we found them tucked away in a little corner, sleeping.

Here's when they decided to wait up for Santa, just to see if he was real! They figured they wouldn't miss him if they just pulled up their chairs and sat by the tree until Christmas

Practicing how it will be with two kids in tow!

Another fun day out in the sun!

Old pals, sharing everything including each other binkies. Vince, don't look so surprised!

Playing together at the Children's Museum this month:

This place was great! It's a life saver more for parents I think! There is a whole room dedicated to kids under 3, and also a separate part for "crawlers only".... where we could just let them go.

Adam even got in on Vince's first birthday cake! Vince wouldn't have had it any other way of course

Summer Vacation cont'd: Hanging out in California

Vince and I stayed at my mom's house in Glendale for a few days and he got to meet everyone in the neighborhood and part of his California family.

Vince and our neighbor Barbara, she got lots of smiles out of him

Sleeping on the couch after a long day of visiting

Getting a bath in Grandma's sink

Jim, his mommy's Godfather

Vince with Grandpa Marshall

Strolling through Descanso Gardens

Old friends from Buster's Coffee Shop

New Friend Ramona

We went to visit a college friend of Mike's who has a 6 month old daughter Ramona. Vince's other friend Aaron came too and the babies had fun together while the parents sat and had fun talking about poopy diapers and sleepless nights

Ramona Towering over Vince: I think I heard him singing "I see London, I see France, I see Ramona's....."

Vince giving Ramona some tips on what to do with her hair (he's become quite an expert with all of his)

Ramona and her boys

Ramona and Vince were very concerned about Aaron being upset

This is Ramona starting her attempt at giving Vince a kiss, it was so cute!

Weekend Visitors

My friend and co-worker Georgia came to meet Vince this weekend and brought her three children. They were very excited to each get to hold Vince and all of them did a great job with him. Tessa the oldest girl was ready to babysit for me anytime we wanted! Here are some cute pics. It was fun to see how crazy our lives will be when we have more than one child running around in this house... the kids loved our cats, who ran hiding under the bed until the coast was clear.

Dom with Vince

Myra and Vince

Tessa and Vince

Fourth of July

We decided that we were going to pass on the 4th of July fireworks on the Esplanade this year. It's not that the fireworks were too late for Vince, they were too late for the rest of us.

We did go to a cookout at Alastair and Jane's house. Vince was by far the youngest baby there. There were four toddlers, all around 18 months old. They had an incredible amount of energy, and were fascinated by Vince. Mostly they pointed at him and shouted "baby," while Vince gazed vacantly or snoozed. Here's a picture of Elsa rocking Vince in his car seat.


Here are some photos of Vince in his 4th of July outfit that Aunt Ruthie sent.

The Baby Brigade

Vince had some friends come over earlier this week.... we all had a lot of fun walking around the park near our house, and made it back to our place just in time to get out of a crazy rain and wind storm that came our way!

Here we have from left to right: Sylvie (6 months), her cousins Tayeb and Iman (3months), and little Vince (2 weeks)... he's got some growing to do! Sylvie's mom was commenting that the babies are lucky she isn't rolling over much anymore or it would have been a baby steamrolling session!

setting out for the walk...

Visit to Naomi's

We took Vince on his first brunch date over at Naomi's last weekend. He got to meet Naomi and Stefan and thank them for getting married... because that's where his parents met. Here's a picture of Vince thanking Naomi personally


Vince also got to meet Nancy, a long time friend and travel buddy of Lisa's. Vince and Nancy share the same birthday... so Vince was excited to meet Nancy and sing a belated happy birthday. Here's Vince giving a little birthday song to Nancy...
Jenny brought over a pie to celebrate the birthday occasion as well

Vince's Friends and Going Home

Yesterday Vince had a few visitors at the hospital. Beau, Katie, and Sylvie stopped by in the early evening. Sylvie is 6 months old, and she makes Vince look so tiny. It won't be long until he's her size and they will be playing together. Here's a cute picture of the two of them. Joc also stopped by in the evening, sans twins. She brought over a couple of bags of clothes that Tayeb outgrew that are the perfect size for Vince. Thanks Tayeb!
The best part of the visit was the opportunity for Lisa to talk about breastfeeding with Katie and Joc. Vince has not taken to breastfeeding, and the pediatrician has asked us to supplement with formula since he has a high bilirubin count. We've been a little worried that if we supplement, or Lisa has to pump and we feed him with a bottle, that it will be really hard to get him on the breast later. Talking with Katie and Joc was reassuring for both of us, knowing that we can overcome any initial problems that we have.

Friday was discharge day, and we were definitely ready to go home. Here are a few pictures of our journey.

Leaving our hospital room

Lisa and Vince waited at the hospital entrance while I brought the car around front

Vince in his new room

Pierce and Jeane's Wedding

This weekend was a minor Peace Corps Reunion as our friends Pierce and Jeane had their wedding here in Boston. Being 36 weeks pregnant, I am actually quite proud of how well I was able to keep up with everyone! We stayed out at the bar until close to midnight on Friday, and Saturday night I was able to cut a rug on the dance floor until the place closed down at 10:30pm! Between that, two barbeque parties, and visiting with friends.... I fell asleep at around 8pm on Monday night and didn't wake up for 10 hours.

Here's a couple of pictures from the celebration, and a link to all the pictures if you'd like to see them!

Album: Pierce and Jeane's Wedding
(click the link above to view the whole album)

The happy newleyweds

Dave Buie and his new labor and delivery dance move