He's 1!!!

A year ago today our little boy was born. What a joy this year has brought us! We cherish every moment with our little guy.


Dominic had his 12 month checkup today and he is now 29 inches long (more than half my height!)! He grew 3 inches in the last 3 months and is finally in the 25th % for his height! We are hoping that his daddy's genes are finally kicking in! He is also 21 lb 9 oz. Still very healthy!
Here are some things that Dominic is currently doing...

He is now crawling on hands and knees

He preferres walking along furniture and is fast too! He has let go and stood on his own about 5 times...he will be walking soon!!

He loves helping mommy with chores

He insists on feeding himself now. Mealtime is messy!

He loves the dishwasher. Thankfully this was after emptying a clean load!!

He loves music...dancing, the piano, the xylophone, etc (after his mommy!)

And he is obsessed with keyboards and electronics, chords, etc. (from his daddy!). Can you see the mischievous look in his eyes?

Here are a few pictures from a family party we had for him on Saturday. Dominic had a fun time and even enjoyed his cupcake (although it was made with whole wheat flour, wheat germ, applesauce and mashed bananas with organic baby yogurt as icing! I am not quite ready to give him sweets yet).

I found a picture of Dom and I at around a year. Who do you think Dominic looks more like?

Dom and I talked about it and think that he doesn't look more like one or the other just a good combination of both. But Dominic definitely does have his daddy's eyebrows and expression! HA!








I had fun going through his baby pictures and picking one out from every month.

Our little Christmas blessing

We were snowed in for our 5 day check up (necessary because he was so early and so tiny) and so we took him to the grocery store across the street to have him weighed!

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

and his 1st birthday!!!


Happy 1st Birthday Dominic! We love you so much!

Grandma

I love this picture with my grandma. It was taken the beginning of November at Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary party.

GoodBye

The first time Dominic waved good bye was at the end of the night on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! We were asked to house sit for the week of Thanksgiving and so we were able to use this house host Dom's family. It was my first year to cook the turkey and I was so thankful that it turned out great! I had a fun time cooking and we had great family time too.

Last minute cooking

Dominic was so tired he fell asleep in Uncle Kevin's arms

Uh oh

This is what I walked out to after putting Dominic to sleep...

Cloth Diapers

I never thought I would say this, but we are using cloth diapers. Sometime during the end of my pregnancy we were going over the budget and I realized just how much we would save by using cloth and so I started researching more. Although in the long run we would still come out saving over $500 the first year and $800 the second, we could not afford the upfront cost of cloth.

A couple weeks ago, Dom and I were spending time with my cousin's family in Washington and we were given 30 cloth diapers...a big enough supply for me to wash once or twice a week and to last him until he is potty trained!! They are the nicest kind you can by, nicer than the kind I wanted to get us (because I was trying to go the cheapest route)!

I am now two weeks into it and I can't believe how easy it is! I am using a 5 gallon sealed bucket to store them in between washing, which completely contains the smell. I wash and dry them twice a week and it is so easy!! I am using Bumkins all in one diapers that are just like disposable with plastic outside and cloth on the inside, they velcro shut, no pins or covers required. And they can be washed and dried. So easy!!

I am so thankful for this because we are now able to use the extra money to continue to pay off our student loans and work towards becoming financially free. It is such an answer to prayer!

A day in the life of an 11 month old

Dominic is pretty active now, and my day is busy chasing him around! We have a play date about once a week, go to storytime at church or Barnes and Noble and involved at the moms group at our church . Dominic is growing and gaining more and more confidence on his feet. He walks along furniture, walls, counters and uses his little walker. I can't believe he has just a few short weeks left before his first birthday. I just love every single day with him and every stage he is in!



Dominic is also into everything...cupboards, drawers...really anything he can get into. And, of course, he loves doing this more than playing with his toys!!


Mealtime is another fun time! He is eating more solids now and gets just about as much on his face as he does in his mouth. We get a kick out of watching him!

This video is a little long, but he is so focused on his food, or maybe just playing with the dishes!



Dominic loves to dance. Anytime music comes on, he starts to move. It's pretty cute!




Dominic LOVES his daddy! He always has some fun daddy time when he gets home from work!
Sometimes it's a walk, or just playing and laughing. It is so sweet to see them together!

(He's in the frontpack carrier inside daddy's jacket)

Cutest Little teeth

Right around the time of our California trip (10/23) Dominic cut his first tooth. I was surprised at how long it took for that little tooth to come out...almost a month. But soon after that, he cut another one on the bottom and now he has two coming in on the top. So cute!! I didn't think that Dominic could get any cuter, and then these adorable little teeth popped out!

Halloween

We had such a fun time taking Dominic Trick or Treating! We dressed him up in his cute little pumpkin suit and then took him around to stores near our house before moving on to the big houses. :)

Dominic knew what to do right away. We would hold him up to the bowl of candy and he would grab one and put it in his bucket. It was pretty cute!

He was fascinate with the candy in his bucket!

We stopped in at the police station and took a picture with the mascott there. Shortly after we took this picture, Dominic started crying. He was afraid of him!

Here is a video of Dominic trick or treating in Starbucks! He needed some prompting here, probably because we had a camera in front of his face! Normally, though he would grab one right away! We had a great time and Dom enjoyed the candy!!

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween day we headed out to the pumpkin patch for some fun. It was cut short due to rain, but we still got some cute pictures in!