Christmas Day

On Christmas day we had the pleasure of visiting with our friends, Rick, Jennifer & Alexandra, along with Jennifer's family. As you can see, we had a great time! There were even MORE presents, lots of Alexandra making the cutest face ever out of excitement for all of her new toys, Rick and Dominic chillin' together and two happy Mommies who had great holidays made even better by their little angels!

Christmas Morning

It was so hard to choose which pictures to put up of Christmas morning. I know that a lot of these look very similar and I have a ton more just like them, but Dominic was too cute running around the living room that morning. When he first came downstairs, he was simply amazed at the pile of presents that was under the tree since it has been empty the night before. He was so much more reactive than Vinny and I thought he would be. He just loved opening all of the presents. Thank you to all of our family who sent gifts. It was hard not being with you this year, but hopefully these pictures help you see a little bit of how wonderful Dominic made our Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was really nice this year. First, Vinny and I were able to enjoy a romantic Italian Christmas Eve seafood feast for two (Well, I think there was enough food for 4, but we ate almost all of it anyway!), since Dominic took his nap while we were eating. Afterwards, we headed over to the Miceli House for dessert and to see all the kids. As you can see, I was having such a good time that day, that I barely remembered to take any pictures! Here's one of Anthony opening up his present from us. You'll also see that Vinny got what I can only guess he thinks is the best Christmas present ever.

Daddy's Day Off

Last Wednesday Vinny had his first day off in what felt like a very long time. The weather also warmed up that day, so it was the perfect opportunity to go to the park and get some fresh air. Dominic explores a little more each time we go there, but hands down his favorite is definitely the slide, which you as you can see, he likes to go down head first!

Christmas Exchange 2009 with The Stio Family

Since Vinny, Maria and Vincent went to NY for Christmas this year, we got together the weekend before for dinner and some Christmas fun. Here are some pictures of the boys ripping into their gifts. They may not fully understand Santa or the meaning of Christmas just yet, but they sure do like to open presents!

Visit with Santa

It took me a little while to finally get these pictures posted, as they were actually taken about two weeks ago, but in any case, Dominic had a nice visit with Santa this year. He had no complaints about being handed over to him and sitting up there on his belly. He seemed to enjoy having a good view of everything going on in the mall. However, no matter how hard Vinny and I tried, he really didn't want to crack much of a smile to prove he was liking it up there. This picture is the closest we got to one...


And this one is Vinny's favorite. "Hey Santa, you listen here. If you don't get me what I want for Christmas, there's gonna be trouble." (You know, in Dominic's broken English accent.)

Meadow Lights

Last night, we had a little family outing to a town called Benson. It's about 45 minutes from our house. We went to see Meadow Lights, which is a Christmas light display that look at while taking a train ride. It wasn't super cold out so it was really enjoyable. Unfortunately, dinner beforehand is what Vinny is calling an "experience" that I will laugh about someday. In any event, it was still a great night with my two men and hopefully, it can become a Christmas season tradition for us (well, minus the dinner part).

December Update

A few noteworthy things have happened with Dominic over the past several weeks. The biggest thing has been the "Battle of the Sippy Cup" and going through the process of weaning him off of his bottle. We found out the hard way that in Dominic's case, we needed to go cold turky and just pack up all the bottles and put them away only offering liquids from a cup. In response, he pretty much went on a liquids strike for about a week or so - no matter what type of drinking vessel you put it in and trust me, we tried pretty much every kind there is. We even tempted him with straight juice and chocolate milk, but this is one stubborn boy. Things must be on his terms. Luckily, although it is an ongoing process, he is starting to drink again and more than he has in a good long while over the past couple of days.

Through most of November and early December, we had some issues with Dominic's ears and infections. Thankfully, they have been clear for about two solid weeks now. However, once his ears finally cleared up, he got a virus, which the Doctor is pretty sure was Roseola based on the rash he broke out in earlier this week. The poor kid couldn't catch a break!

By yesterday, Dominic finally seemed to be back to his old self and today I can barely keep up with him running around. He even discovered that he can "dance." Hopefully, we can get some goods shots of it soon and share.

The Hoppers House

Dominic met his friend Ella for a play date on Sunday at The Hoppers House. It's a place with large inflatables for bouncing and a big play room for the kids will all sorts of great goodies. Dominic seems to be drawn to the mini kitchens where ever there is one. (His cousin Vincent has one and there is also one at his school.) Wonder if that means anything for the future??

My little marshmallow man

The day after Thanksgiving was the first really cold day we've had here. In order to go out for the afternoon, I had to make sure he was all bundled up. I couldn't resist a picture - too adorable!
Thank you, Grandma, for making it so Dominic's gloves don't get lost!

Museum of Life & Science

Over Grandma and Grandpa's Thanksgiving visit, we got to spend one of our days at the Museum of Life & Science in Durham. We had a really fun day exploring and Dominic and I can't wait to take Daddy there soon.

Mommy's favorite part was the butterfly house. Here's a picture of Dominic and Grandma and Grandpa just outside. There are also a few shots of the butterflies. It is a room that is set up like a tropical forest where there are tons and tons of butterflies. You get to see them up so close. It is truly amazing.

We also got to see some live animals. Dominic thought that the wolves looked a lot like our dog Max. I don't have a picture, but there was a cow that you could get very close to - that was the only time I saw Dominic a little frightened. The rest of the animals were at just the right distance for him to enjoy them.

Here was a cloud machine that Grandma was showing to Dominic.

Here are Grandpa and Dominic both trying their hand at the huge drumset that was outside.

At the Park

On the afternoon of my birthday, we had some time just after Dominic woke up from his afternoon nap, before dinner and the sun going down to spend a few minutes at the park close by our house. Grandma and Grandpa were also there with us to have some fun. Of course, Dominic's favorite part was going down the big slide with Daddy!

Play Time

Dominic was having a blast last night playing with just a couple of the many new toys that he got for his birthday. We just had to share a few pictures of the little man in action!

Our little Walker

Dominic took his official first step about a month ago now. By the beginning of the weekend of his 1st Birthday, he was taking about 5 or 6 steps at time. At the end of that weekend, he was doing even better. Two and a half weeks later, he is a little walking machine. He mostly chooses to walk places rather than crawl, depending how much of a rush he is to get there. He can go pretty big distances now too - like doing a lap or two around the island in the kitchen or one around the couch and walking clear accross the kitchen and living room. The best part about it is how proud of himself he is when he does it. He gets the biggest kick out of it, giggling and smiling the whole way. He usually wants to make sure you know he's doing it so that you can clap or tell him he did a good job once he reaches his destination. The one thing that he has not yet mastered is being able to stand up by himself. He still needs something to pull up on. I know that's going to be the big turning point of when he truly becomes a "walker." Stay tuned...

12 Month Check Up

Dominic had his 1 year visit with Dr. Lerich yesterday. He's still a little pipsqueak only weighing 18lbs and 6.5 oz (3rd percentile), but is in the 20 percentile for length at 28.75 inches. The doctor has no worries and feels he's doing just fine in all aspects. She is projecting that he won't reach the 20lb mark until he's 15 months - sorry, Kiddo, looks like you're in the same old car seat for a little while longer!

He did not get his shots as it turned out that he had a double ear infection and got a cold after all of the excitement of Halloween weekend! He'll go back in two weeks to be re-checked and to get those shots.

Let's Go Giants

Daddy & Dominic all dressed and ready for the game yesterday...unfortunately, their support wasn't quite enough to give the team the boost they needed. Either way, my two men looked great!

Trick or Treat!

Dominic had lots of fun on Saturday celebrating Halloween. He even got to wear two costumes!

And just because I can't help myself, a little reminder of what our pumpkin looked like last year on his first Halloween at just one week old. What a difference a year makes...