Christmas Day 2010

I think Dominic now understands as much of the concept of Santa Claus as a 2 year old can. When he woke up that morning, he didn't ask to go down to see if Santa had come, however, when we reminded him, Dominic was all set to run downstairs and see if anything had been left. The look on his face was awesome and he was just so excited to see everything. As you can see, he jumped on his new Mickey Mouse Quad right away and we actually had to remind him there were other presents after he had been playing with that for a while. He was showing off all of his Dominic cuteness as he would give such excited reactions to everything he opened. We must have heard "Wow!" and "more presents and toys" a million times that morning. After we had finally finished opening everything up, we had the whole rest of the day to stay in our PJ's and play with whatever Dominic wanted to open.

Thank you to all of our family and other loved ones who helped Santa and Mommy and Daddy to spoil Dominic this year. He is definitely one lucky little boy!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun for us this year. We got to share some of our traditions with our friends, the McMahon Family, Jace, Michelle, Treyton and Cade. There was plenty to eat and drink, which of course, consisted of a mess of seafood and also some great Christmas desserts made by Michelle. The boys had a blast running around, playing and finally, opening their presents at the end of the night. Hopefully, we'll get to do it again next year!

A Visit with Santa

The Saturday before Christmas, we had to make one last trip to the mall to finish our shopping. The line to sit on Santa's lap was very long and I asked Dominic if he wanted to wait or just wave to him from where we were. He was very insistent that we wait our turn so that he could sit on Santa's lap. The wait took about an hour but Dominic did great. Luckily, he made a few little friends on line which helped too. When it was finally his turn, Dominic ran right up to Santa and hopped up onto his lap. He told him what he wanted, "presents and toys" and listed to everything Santa had to say. Santa took his time in visiting with Dominic, making sure to remind him to listen to Mommy and Daddy, brush his teeth, go potty where he should and all those good things. I think the visit was really impactful on Dominic and it was well worth the wait for all of us!

Happy Name Day

Thanks to Aunt Maria, we learned that today is Dominic's name day. It is the feast of St. Dominic of Silos. Here is a little bit about him:

"It’s not the founder of the Dominicans we honor today, but there’s a poignant story that connects one Dominic with the other.

Our saint today, Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a peasant family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he welcomed the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in numerous leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over property, Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a new monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses in Spain. Many healings were reported there.
About 100 years after Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to be the "other" Dominic—the one who founded the Dominicans.

For many years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labor. The practice ended in 1931."

So, it looks like on August 8th, we'll also get to celebrate Dominic again when it is the feast of the "other" St. Dominic. Even though this is all definitely beyond Dominic's grasp at this age (We're still working on Santa Claus!), it was still nice knowing that is was a special day for him and it will be great to come up with a tradition to celebrate this day with him in the future once he can understand what it means.

Major Milestone!

I have a very big milestone to report this week. Dominic has given up his pacifier! Although, he was not terrible with his pacifier and adhered the rules of only using it for when it was time to go to sleep, Dominic definitely depended on it to bring him off to dreamland every day and night.

Vinny and I decided a few months ago that it was time for him to give it up, however, with a few trips that we had planned during November, we decided it was best to wait until December. The time finally came and we took the plunge this past weekend. My method was the cutting method where I cut a hole in the paci so that it was no longer fun to suck on. After handing it back to me and telling me it was "broke" he was not a very happy little boy when he had to take his first nap without it. He cried for 40 minutes that day before falling asleep. By that night, he was down to 10 minutes. Since then, it really has been fine. Anyone who has been around Dominic before nap time or bedtime, knows that all you had to do was give him his paci and "Ellie" and he would immediately put his little head on his pillow, snuggle up and go to sleep without a peep. Now, he does whine a little with me, because he thinks he can get away with it. Of course, on Monday night when Vinny put him to bed he did not complain at all. Tonight, he was trying to entice me to stay with him in his room by using tricks like, "Mommy, guess what?" or "Stay right there" in his cute little voice. The last attempt was standing up and giving me more good night kisses. I told him I was leaving and that I'd see him in the morning. I walked out like I always do. He whined for literally one minute and then went off to sleep. Not bad for just 4 days!

I knew that we would just need to get over the hump and he would be fine, but I must admit that I thought it would be much more of a mountain than the tiny little speed bump it turned out to be.

Dominic, you are one step closer to becoming a big boy and one step further away from being our little baby. These things are so bittersweet for Mommy and Daddy, but none the less, we are so very proud of you each and every day.

Hanging out

Before we left, I caught a few last shots of Dominic spending some more quality time with everyone. We left with some really great memories from that week.

Mom and Dad, thank you for all that you do for our family all year long, every year. Thank you for giving us all one more thing to be thankful for this year!

The Aquarium

Mom and Dad treated us all to a trip to the Virginia Beach Aquarium. Of course, Dominic had a blast running around with his cousins and seeing all of the fish an animals. This was really the only day with bad weather, so it was the perfect day for an inside activity.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day was such a nice and relaxing day. By morning, the Stios, Bill, Linda, Billy, Jacquelyn, and Matthew had arrived. A big thank you to Mom, as even though we all did a little to help, she really did most of the work getting our big feast together! As you can see, this left the rest of us plenty of time to hang out and play all day. (Ok, she seems to have managed to squeeze in a quick game of pool.) We even made it back to the beach before dinner and to the play ground to help us work some of it off.

Phase 2 - The Petting Zoo

John, Camille and Jack arrived on Tuesday night. The next morning, Mom and Dad took us all to a nearby petting zoo. It was great because the boys could all really run around and be up close with the animals. I think the true Novello in Dominic came out as I watched him chase all of the chickens around and pet the baby goats. (Vinny grew up with both of those animals right in his backyard!) Plus, we practically had the whole place to ourselves, which made it even better. What a fun morning!

Thanksgiving Week - Phase 1

Grandma and Grandpa treated the whole Stio Family to a trip to Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving week. I don't think I can even put into words what a great trip it was and how much all three of us enjoyed ourselves. It was an unforgettable experience. The best part of it for me was that it gave Dominic the opportunity to spend time with his cousins, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles all at once. Living far away has it's pluses and minuses and of course one of the biggest drawbacks is how much it limits the time we get to spend with our family. That's why it was so great to get this quality time over the quantity that we just don't have right now.

Vinny, Maria, Vincent, Catherine, Angela, Mom, Dad, Dominic and I were the first crew to arrive to the house. Here are a few pics of what we did during that time. This was before the weather got cooler, so you'll see we took advantage of that!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Ok, so my birthday passed several weeks ago now, but it's been a very busy time since then!
My birthday was the Sunday just before we left for our Thanksgiving trip. Vinny and I got the chance (thanks to Uncle Vinny and Aunt Maria) to have dinner in downtown Raleigh to celebrate just the two of us. I enjoyed some girl time shopping at the mall and then shared a scrumptious second birthday dinner with a few of my very favorite people!

Dominic's 1st Soccer Lesson

We took Dominic to his very first soccer lesson on Saturday morning. Even though the class had been in session for a couple of weeks already, he joined right in with the other kids and had a blast running around and kicking the ball. He did very well stopping to listen to the instructions from his teachers and working on each of the different drills. World Cup here we come!

New friends and old friends

Last weekend, Dominic and I took a trip up to Boston to see Auntie Jenna and Auntie Ally and to meet Sarah. We had a great time letting the kids play together. Even though they are about a year apart, I'm pretty sure they still enjoyed each other's company. It was also really nice for the girls and I to get a chance to catch up. We even got to witness Sarah's first steps! Can't wait for our next reunion when Baby Boy Catts can join in on the fun.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween took on a whole new meaning this year since our little Pirate was now old enough to bring around the neighborhood for trick or treating. Last year at this time, he was just finally getting steady on his feet and a bit too young for the whole concept. For a first-timer, Dominic sure got the hang of trick or treating real fast. Daddy just had to show him what to do one or two times and then he was going up to the houses and knocking on the door all by himself! He knew a reward was on it's way. The key phrases of the evening were "trick or treat," "thank you," "next house," "no one home," and "more candy!" It was a really fun night - can't wait for next year!