Dominic's Homecoming Countdown

I think that is what our little man would say if he could speak. Dominic has a fabulous first birthday! He loved his balloons and his very own cake. He doesn't really understand the concept of gift and he doesn't realize how many cool new things he has but I am sure he will notice them soon. He is a very, very happy baby and we are a very, very happy family!

Dominic has learned how to stand up all by himself. It is the cutest thing! He will be in the middle of the room and he will suddenly sprout up, just like a little flower! He realizes that he is standing up and he gets a big smile on his face . . . then he lands on his rear end. It is really funny. He stands up more and more all the time and I'm sure that he will figure out how to take a step soon.

We think we might have 2 "words" from him right now. We have decided that he refers to me as Mamamamama, give or take a few ma's. He usually says this when he sees me or when he wants me to hold him so we guess that is his name for me. The new word we might have is "Tee" which we think is for "Kit-tee." "Dadadada" is creeping up into third place and we might even be hearing "Bah" for balloons.

We had our post-placement appointment with our agency and everything went really well. Megan loved meeting Dominic and he loved showing off for her! We had a nice long talk about our love for Guatemala. Frank and I really love the country and we hope that we will be able to add a sibling from Guatemala to our family someday.

Life has been crazy now that I am back to school full time. I am thankful that I am busy because it keeps my mind away from the fact the I am not with my little boy. We have a really great situation and he is right across the street from my school all day long. He has 2 other little boys to play with. I think that the socialization is great for him. He makes so many different sounds at home and I am sure that he got them from the other kids. He really does well at Jeff and Michelle's house. Michelle hasn't had any problems getting him to sleep (knock on wood) and he adores her. I will admit that my favorite part of the day is when I go to pick him up. When he sees me, his entire face lights up and he races over to me as fast as he can. I get a big hug and a baby kiss and lots of smiles. I don't think there are many things in this world that make me as happy as this does.

This will be our last blog entry. It has been one full year since Dominic was born in our hearts. Thank you so much for following us on our journey. When I think back to the email I received last September 16th, it give me chills to think that the beautiful little boy in the referral pictures is now my son. After months of staring at pictures and praying for everything to be completed, we are now together as a family and no one can ever take our Dominic away from us. You will never now how much your kindness and support has meant to me. Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers :)

I won't try to hide our dirty laundry from you because Dominic had so much fun playing in it and these pictures are very cute. It doesn't take much to entertain this kid. He had so much fun rolling around in this stuff! The past few weeks have been pretty eventful for us! We actually made it out to a movie while Grandmom and PopPop were babysitting. Frank had several of his former students stop by to visit and meet Dominic. My aunt Diane and my cousin Jessica came to visit with Travis, Jessica's little boy. He is almost 2 and he showed Dominic all kinds of "big boy" tricks! It was nice to get together and for the boys to finally meet! Last Thursday, Dominic decided to show one of our super duper baby gates who was boss and ended up taking a ride down our deck steps. I wasn't home, but Frank said he cried for about 2 minutes and then wanted to play again. He is a tough little dude! Frank took him to the ER just to make sure that everything was OK and Dominic was fine. The worst part was the little cut on his face. You can see it in the picture but it is much better now. (His PopPop gave him a new nickname: the Guatemalan Deck Diver!) On Friday, we had a very nice visit with his greatgrandfather Val. We went out for lunch and played in the house. We spent the weekend at the beach and, drumroll, please . . . Dominic stood up for the very first time, all by himself! He did it about 8 times for his Nana but I only saw it twice. One time he stood up right in the middle of his baby pool! He can go from sitting, to kneeling, to standing . . . it is so cute! Today Dominic and I had a great lunch with two of my former co-workers, Nancy and Joe, at the Cheescake Factory. (I have been eating lunch out WAY too often! I need to get back to my 30 minute 8th grade lunch period!) We sat there for about 2 hours and Dominic was a perfect little angel! He is getting much better about going out to eat and traveling. He is such a good-natured baby and he is so happy all of the time! He expresses his happiness with clapping now and he is getting very good at it! His first birthday is right around the corner! Here is Dominic with my second cousin, Travis . . .

It is August already! I have been going in to school for inservice meetings and workshops and I am trying to get myself ready to go back. My first day is Dominic's first birthday! We have done some practicing with going to day care and Dominic seems to be doing great. I am sure it will be much harder on me than it will be on him. Heck, he will have other kids to play with and tons of toys around. What a life! :) I am very lucky that Dominic will only be across the street from my school. Our guidance counselor lives across the street and his wife stays home with their son. We are so lucky that she will be taking care of Dominic. They are both very kind and caring people. If he needs me, I am just a few steps away!

Dominic is doing great. Here are a few of his recent developments:

• claps hands and even claps his hands when you tell him to
• dribbles soccer ball while crawling
• kicks soccer ball when standing
• understands the words "ball" and "truck"
• says the words Mama and Dada (but might not connect them with us!)
• is trying to say kitty ("kah") and ball ("bah")
• races up the stairs when the gate is down (and giggles because he knows he shouldn't be on the steps!)
• holds and drinks a few sips from a sippy cup (and then throws it on the floor so I will pick it up!)

Congrats to Betsy on her new house (awesome!). Happy 1st Birthday to Savanna and Carlton! Yippee to Erin on her beautiful baby girl referral. Congratulations to our friends Ryan and Angela on the birth of their little boy, Dylan. I'm so happy for everyone!

Other new things? We took Dominic down on the beach for the first time. He was a little frightened of the ocean and wanted to eat the sand. We were only there for about 20 minutes. Maybe next year! We just got a new car that has lots of extra room for the little guy. It's a Chevy Equinox. It is a bit bigger than my Focus (I cried when I traded her in!) but it will be better for our family in the long run. Dominic has spent time with both sets of his grandparents and he celebrated his Grandmom's birthday with dinner at Applebees. His Nana and Grandpa visited last week and helped us with some major landscaping in our back yard (THANK YOU!). And . . . Dominic has started watching pre-season Eagles games with his Dad. We might be creating a monster!

Enjoy the pictures!

We took Dominic to the pediatrician the other day, just for a weight check. He is up to 16 lbs. 13 oz. He gained 1 lb. and 4 oz. in 5 weeks. We were really happy with that. If he makes it to 19 lbs. by his first birthday, he will be "on" the American charts. Right now, he isn't in a percentile. We aren't too concerned because according to the Guatemalan charts, he is right on track. He feels like he is gaining a pound a day!

I can't believe how quickly he is growing. My baby isn't a baby anymore! He is really turning into a little boy. He LOVES toy cars and trucks and making messes! Aimee had Chrissy, Luke, Dominic and me over for a really nice little lunch yesterday. Luke is almost 3 months and you can tell by the pictures that Dominic is way out of of the infant stage. They were very, very cute together! Dominic was fascinated with Luke's crying . . . looks like he was trying to make him feel better :)

I think his favorite thing by far is the water. We went to visit our friend Susan on Sunday and Dominic played in the baby pool for 2 hours! He loves it. The other pictures are from his bath. He tries to stand up all the time. It is VERY hard to keep him down. He has mastered shaking his head "No" which is probably not a good things. He probably just knows it because I have to say NO to him all the time. He is ALWAYS looking for trouble! No wonder I am so tired all the time!

What a face! We are really enjoying every second that we have with him. I know that we are really lucky to both have the summer off. I think that Dominic is really growing attached to us. It will be hard not to be with him during the day once we got back to school; I hope I make it! So many people have done it and I have many good roles models to follow so I know that I will be OK. Dominic spent the night with his Grandmom and PopPop so we could go to the movies and he did just great. He is very good about staying away from home! (We saw "Dead Man's Chest" . . . what did you think? I liked the first one MUCH better. I did like the fights in this one . . . I HATED the ending . . . how could she DO that!!! So bitter :) )

Congratulations to Meredith and Mark on the birth of their 9 lb. son, Mark :) He is adorable! Tomorrow, the three of us will be traveling to my friend Kim's baby shower. I will finally get to see her belly and she will get to meet our little guy. From there, we are heading to the the beach with Nana and Grandpa for a few days.

Stay cool and safe :)