Damon Arland Innes

8 pounds, 1 ounce, he's got Nana's nose...

and he's into our hearts just as deep as it goes.

Hey all! No time to really WRITE... but I thought I'd at least post some pictures of our new little guy. He's such a sweetie and we are loving him to pieces!

Life is good. We have been blessed beyond measure. Love you all!

And here he is...

The day he was born... November 19th.

His hair

He went home with the same outfit and blanket as Dominic.

Thanks Aunt Robyn and Kara! :)

My friend Mandi made the cute quilt...

Dominic plays with my toes every time I nurse Damon.

For once I am grateful for his weird foot fetish! Haha!

Angry.

The Jolly Green Giant...err... elf.

First Bath... same towel Dom used for his first bath. ;)

I know, I'm silly.

Sleepy Daddy fell asleep on the hard floor. Why is he so tired?

Dominic/Rudolph:

He hates the baby. But he does refer to him by pointing and saying "baby".

And he has kissed him a couple of times.

But for the most part, he thinks we should sell Damon to a band of gypies.

I'm sure he'll adjust. :)

Tumblin'

A lot of our friends take their kids to the gym. Since I was a gymnast I was totally excited for Dominic's first time! He had so much fun and completely exhausted himself. What a great activity for my hyper little guy! Rich took him to a "Daddy and Me" class with his friend, Steve.

It was super-fun but Dominic has a hard time waiting in line. So, I try to take him to open-gym as often as I can. That way, if someone's on the trampoline, we just move on to the tumble track... and I'm spared the embarrassment of a tantrum. (Most of the time.)

Anyway, here's some pictures of Dominic tumblin' at USA Gymnastics.

The Double-Mini

Perfect Stick! I'd give that a 9.8!

The Trampoline

The (not-so) High Bar



The Tumble Track

Faster than a speeding bullet!

The Pit

At the end of the tumble track is the pit. Dominic has yet to work up the courage to run full-speed and jump on in. He's a little cautious. So, he does it like this. ;)

The Beam

Look at that balance!

The Foam Cubes

The End!

Trasmundi Family Reunion!

Our Trasmundi Family Crest...

Our family reunion this year was sooooo much fun! The Trasmundi's are Rich's mom's family, and they are a super-fun, super-loud, super-awesome group of people. We stayed in beautiful Carlsbad, California... right across the street from the beach. Doesn't get much better than that. It was beautiful. Here's a bunch of pictures from the reunion, and most of Rich's family.

I am so sad that I didn't get pictures of everyone... I tried, but alas, I missed Jen and Thayne's kiddies, Leslie and Jim, and Holly and Jaren and their kiddies too. I got most everyone's pictures on a family day at the beach (I'm sure I was very annoying) but somehow missed them. The rest of the time, I was busy chasing Dominic around the hotel.

I don't take as many pictures as I used to... I wonder why. ;)

Anyway, on to the reunion! First stop... the BEACH.

The Beach... and Rich's Family

Dominic and Rich's cousin, JonPaul

Jonpaul's wife, Cortney and their little girl, Stella



Jonpaul and Cortney's other cutie, Skylar






Rich's cousins Gina and Nick (middle and right) and Gina's boyfriend (on the left)



Rich's cousin Kerrie and her little girl, Allie

Rich's sister, Angela and her little sweetie, Ali

Rich's cousin Jessica and her cute kiddos, Audriana and Lucas

Aunt Rene and Uncle Frank

Uncle Rick

Bathing Beauties: Rich's little sis, Amy... my cutie-pie niece,

Jo... my wonderful Mother-in-Law, JoAnn... and Rich's Aunt Peggy

Rich's cousin, David and his son, Dominic

(Cousins with the same name? Yes.

This little guy and my Dom were both named after their great-grandpa.)

David's wife, Jill and their daughter, Samantha

Rich's cousins, Meredith and Mary

Pool Fun at the Hotel

Rich, me, and "belly". Ugh.


Our Mom, JoAnn and Rich

Rich's sis, Angela

Rich's cousin, Jen

Rich's sis, Amy and Dom

Our Dad, Jim and Dom

Rich's Aunt Betty and Uncle Dave

Family Picnic at the Park

The guys all played volleyball

The kiddies had a pinata!

Mmmm... Nana helped Dominic eat pinata candy.

Trasmundi Idol

Alas, these pictures don't do it justice. My old camera was beginning to show it's age... and whenever I'm not the one taking the pictures (Rich took these for me while I video recorded "Idol") they blur because you have to hold it juuuust right. So... they are blurry, and I didn't get all the contestants because Rich was too busy chasing Dom to take pictures for me, but I still had to post them. :)

Here's our cousin, Jaron, being "Norman Gentle" from American Idol.

He was so good at it, it was scary!!!

My brother-in-law, Ross

Our dad, Jim (Randy) and mom, JoAnn (Kara)... exchanging notes

JonPaul (Ryan Seacrest) who was actually responsible for not only hosting Trasmundi Idol, but for throwing the entire reunion together himself! JP, you are AWESOME!!!

Our panel of judges...

Jim (Randy), JoAnn (Kara), Aunt Betty (Paula) and Uncle Dave (Simon)

Darts (To be taken very seriously... haha!)

Rich's family are serious when it comes to darts. There's not a Trasmundi gathering without a competetive dart game going on at some point. Here's what I could catch of the tournament between running after Dom with my big prego belly. ;)

Haha... told you they were "serious". Look at this dart case.

The "Dynamic Duo": Big Rich and Mean Thayne were a team

The Dart Trophy... pretty nifty, eh?

The kiddies all played games during the festivities.

During the tournament, we had a baby photo guessing game of everyone in the family.

Can you find me and Rich and Dom?

Click on the picture to enlarge...

then scroll down below and I wrote our numbers down. :)

Rich is #47

Dom is #25

I'm #11

Innes Family Dinner

Our little family. :)

Ross and Angela

Jim and JoAnn

Sisters... minus Amber and Leslie.

Amber was full-term and about to have her baby, so they didn't come to the reunion.

Jolene and her boyfriend, Goran...

...after dinner, they went for a walk together on the beach.

We got a knock on our hotel room door later that night and found out that Goran PROPOSED! Woohoo!!

So here's Jolene and her fiance, Goran, the next morning. Congratulations you guys! :)

Beach Bum

Ahhh... the beach. Dominic had sooo much fun when we went to the beach in Carlsbad. (Yes, I'm still trying to catch up our summer. This was actually in AUGUST. Sorry.) At first, he didn't really like the water, but soon enough he was squealing and running into it and having sooooo much fun! Here's a little picture walk of his first time at the beach!

Dom and Daddy

(Nice hair.)

Not quite sure...
... he didn't know what to think. It looked interesting from afar, so he decided to continue onward.
Brave little soul.

Oh gosh, why is it coming after me!?

I hate it, I hate it!

"Heeeellllp, help me! Somebody get me out now!"

"Cruel and Unusual Punishment"


... Rich, trying to convince Dom that the waves are fun.



Dom and Mommy


... a little later that day, we tried out the water again.

As long as he had a hold of us, he actually enjoyed himself.

"Sand, I love you."

The sand was definitely his favorite thing about the beach. He could've played in the sand all day. Here he is, sitting in a hole that Daddy, Uncle Ross, and Ali are digging.

Buried Alive!

He had so much fun letting Rich bury him in the sand. He giggled the whole time!

Bustin' Out

Building a "Castle"... kinda

Having a BLAST!

"Dear Ocean, I like you. I forgive you for knocking me over, scaring the poo out of me (almost) and getting me all wet. You're not so bad, in fact, you're pretty fun... if Mama's holding my hand. Sand, sweet Sand... I love you forever. You feel nice and warm between my toes. You're fun to throw, and mold, and eat. Thank you for covering me from head to toe. You make me so happy. Seagulls, thank you for running around and letting me chase you all over the beach. You tired me out and helped me to take a great nap. Love, Dom XOXO"

Little Dom

Our SWEET Boy...

OK... I'm almost 34 weeks prego now. And pretty soon, I'm going to have TWO boys to blog about. So, I figured I'd better at least update my BIG litle guy and tell you all about what he's up to these days. He is SUCH a JOY (most of the time). He is VERY, VERY strong-willed and stubborn... and he's gotten reeeeeaaaaallllly good at throwing tantrums. But all that is offset by his smile, his giggles, his kisses, and all of the incredibly cute things he does. Anyway, we are just loving him (of course... you'd think I was a bad mommy if I said otherwise) and enjoying the last few weeks of his being our "baby".

Awww... isn't he a love!?

Here is a little picture walk on what our little Dom is into at the moment...

He LOVES to read. This is his #1 favorite thing to do EVER. Sometimes he lets us read to him. If he wants US to read, he'll sit on our lap, turn our hand palm up, and place the book in our hands. If HE wants to do the reading, he'll sit on our lap, open the book, and start to jibber-jabber while pointing to each picture with wonderful intonation, and turning each page until he gets to the end. When he's done, he even says "Eh-eh!" (The End.) He will read for over an hour at a time... if I have the patience.

And when I'm doing housework, he carries two or three books around the house with him as he follows me. If I'm doing the dishes, he sits on the floor by the sink and reads. When I move into the laundry room, he picks his books up, runs into the laundry room, sits down by the dryer and reads. If I leave there and go to my room to make the bed, he frantically gathers up his books, chases me in to the bedroom, finds a comfy spot by the nightstand, and continues to read. All the while, "speaking" with such feeling and pointing to all the pictures. I love it!!!

Loves to brush his teeth while sitting Mama's sink in the morning. Here he is, in his Sunday best... getting ready for church. ;) Pretty slick, eh?

His 2nd favorite activity ever... is taking a bath. He LOVES to stick his alphabet lettes on the wall and act like he's naming them. He only knows the names of A,B,C, and D... so EVERY letter is one of those. He's lately discovered how fun it is to stick the letters to HIMSELF too. Silly boy. He'll stay in the bath for as long as it takes me to get ready in the morning... even when that includes blow-drying my hair! Soooooo nice. :)

He LOVES hot dogs. And corn dogs. And Apple Jacks... mmmmmm!

He loves playing "kitchen". Rich and I are going to get him a kitchen set for Christmas. He loves organizing the condiments in my fridge, and "making dinner" with our tupperware while I make dinner. Here he is with his partner in crime, his cousin Allie, at Nana's house. They're taking full advantage of the fact that Nana doesn't have child locks on the cupboards.

He's REALLY into turning the lights on and off. It gives him a sense of POWER. ;)

He now says, "Off!" and "On!" as well.

My dad bought me this piano for Christmas a few years ago. Dominic ADORES it. The first thing he does when he enters the playroom is run to it, turn it onto his favorite "demo song" and then turn the volume up as LOUD as it will go. Then he runs around in circles (quite literally) for the next 10 minutes. Apparently, this is how he gets into the groove.

His 3rd favorite thing of all time is PUZZLES. He loooooooves puzzles. Kind of like reading, he'll sit with me for an hour if I let him, and put puzzles together.

Here he is, working with his current favorite... the fishing puzzle.

LOVES going to the park by our house and playing with his friends! He just went down the BIG BOY slide... a tall twisty one... by himself for the first time this week. He's so proud of himself and claps and says "Yaaaaay!" when he lands. This is kinda dumb, but it makes me a little sad that he is already doing things like that on his own. He's getting so big and independent... ahem, independent with some things.

He's still a major Mama's boy. :)

Loves to play with his Little People animals. He has started making animal noises... except for he growls for the horse... and neighs for the pig... and so on... but I'm sure he'll get it right soon. Haha!

LOVES to sweep. I finally found him a miniature broom (not pictured here). I've been searching for months! Whenever I'm sweeping or mopping, he frantically runs to the laundry room to fetch his broom and help me. If only this zeal for cleaning was something that will last!

Oh those BLANKIES. I should move this up to #1 on his list, actually. He cannot go anywhere without them. Woe to the mother who forgets them when she leaves the house to do errands. I've only done that ONCE... and it's not worth it.

He. loves. them. more. than. life. itself.

He LOVES going to the splash pad. We're so lucky to live right by the outdoor mall. It has relieved me many a day in the hot, hot summer. They have a play place with soft-ish toys and rubber turf too... so we'll be frequenting it all through the winter as well!

Anyway... that about sums it up! He's getting so big and we are SO BLESSED to have the opportunity to be his parents. I thank our Heavenly Father for his sweet little spirit every day... sometimes twice... sometimes three times. ;)

Okay... It's Been Waaaaaay Too Long.

Whoa. I am embarassed... my excuse is that we've been soooo busy with travel, and family, and work, and moving to a new house, and rennovating, and church, and... I am soooo pregnant (so sad that this is the FIRST time that I've even mentioned this on my blog, shame on me) that all I want to do is SLEEP... not blog. But I am so sad that I can't get on here and browse through my last few months of summer fun! So, this may take awhile, but I'm going to catch up. I told myself that I wouldn't try to do that... that I'd just pick up where we are now, but we had such an awesome summer that I want to remember it all. This may take a few posts, but here is an update from July until now.

The Fourth of July

We spent the day in the canyon in Provo, UT. with Rich's family. Isn't it beautiful? I miss the mountains.

Dom was a little unsure about the fireworks at first...

But after a few, he LOVED them!

For the bigger show, we went to the church lawn somewhere in Lehi.

The next day we had a big family barbecue! Mmmmm...

While we were in Utah, we went swimming... a lot.

On our last day there, we all went up to the mountains and had chili dogs and smores.

Yellowstone

After Utah, we headed to Idaho so visit my mom and her hubby.

They took us to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. We had a blast!

Mom and Jim in front of Old Faithful

Daddy and Dom

The Tetons

Us in front of one of the Elk Horn Arches at Jackson Hole in the Square.

Rupert, Idaho

Next, we drove down to Rupert to visit my dad and his wife Arlene.

They took us jetskiing. It was so much fun...

until the jet ski quit on me and Rich while we were in the middle of the river. Haha!

Dad, taking it for a spin...

Rich, taking a brave Arlene for a spin...

Dominic, Poppie, and Grandma


Tremonton
On our way home, we stopped at Tremonton for the night to visit my brother Jarrod, his wife Jen, and my nephew and niece, Trevor and Zoe.


Dom LOVES these guys. Here's Trev and Dom, watchin' cartoons.




Zoe and Dom

Then Rich left for Germany and me and Rich's sister Amy drove back to AZ and...

we MOVED!!!

Dom loves his Auntie Mimi!



Family Reunion in San Diego
(This one needs a post all it's own... so I'll get right on that. But for now, here's a few pics.)

After Rich got home from Germany, we moved and then two days later, me Rich, Amy, and Dom all drove to San Diego for the Trasmundi (Rich's mom's family) Family Reunion!

Here's the Carlsbad Beach... our hotel was overlooking it.

Dom LOVED the sand at the beach... and eventually he loved the water too.


Dom and Daddy





Dom and Mommy... yes, that's my big prego belly.


I'm about 7 months here... almost.

Dom's sleeping quarters... as you can tell, he loved it.

(We shared a room with our sister Angela and her hubby, Ross, and their little girl, Allie... it was interesting. ;) But fun!)

Back Home to our New House... and a LONG Few Weeks of Renovations!

(I didn't take before and after pictures of anything else besides our new wood flooring.)

Before...

...and after.


I am so sad that I didn't take more before and after pictures! Oh well... I will take pictures of the finished product though... well, the finished so far project... and then post them so you can see our new home! :) We replaced our tile with new tile... our carpeting upstairs with wood floors... and painted every room in the house except Dominic's downstairs and the kitchenette. I'll post pictures soon.

I also just got home from a wonderfully WONDERFUL trip to see my sweet Dad. All four of us siblings flew in to see my dad in Idaho from Arizona, Washington, Utah, and Louisiana. We had such a wonderful time!!! We celebrated his 70th birthday. I am currently on a HUNT for my SD Media card so I can extract my pictures taken on that trip and post them. It was wonderful. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH DAD!

Visiting the Powells Down South!

Wowie, wow, wow! I am such a lame blogger. Somehow life got busy (with what, I'm not quite sure...) and I neglected my poor blog for 2 months! Shame. Anyway, sorry about that Mom, Dad, Robyn, Kara... and whoever else is interested in our daily ongoings. So... I've got about 5 posts I need to catch up on... so I'd better get started!

Woohooo!! We just got back from an awesome trip to Louisiana! :) It would have been even BETTER if Daddy could have come... but with him gone to New Jersey, Dom and I decided to get the heck outta Dodge! Pretty typical of us, really. Daddy, we love you and missed you so much! Thank you for working so hard to support our family, you're the BEST!


Dominic had sooooo + ooooo + oooooo much fun with his cousins. Yes, it WAS that much fun. He chased them around the house, followed them around the yard. Giggled with them, played with them. LOVED them. It was a MUCH needed trip. We can't wait to do it again!


We went to the Audubon Zoo and then the Aquarium in New Orleans. We enjoyed a wonderful rainstorm under Robyn's tin roof out on their porch. The kids played in the pool, ran around naked, watched cartoons together, and just had so much fun!



Here are a TON of pictures from our trip...

The Plane...

Dom on the plane. On the way there, we had a non-stop flight. There was room for him to use his carseat. It was super.

On the way HOME... we had 3 take-offs and 3 landings... he didn't have his carseat, he didn't nap all day... it was so traumatic that I'm not even going to relive it by writing about it.

*Slight whimper*

The Kids...

Rub-a-dub, dub... two babies in the tub... pouring water onto the bathroom floor while I take a picture.

Dom and Alice playing together on the porch.
Awww... they love each other!

Cute little Ali-boo! Man, she took FULL advantage of not being the baby in the house while Dominic and I were visiting. She'd follow him around, cornering him in the hallway, taking her toys and his out of his hands, watching his every move and to every thing she's say, "No, no! No, no!" Just like a mommy.

By the end of our visit, Dom would throw himself to the ground and cry every time she told him no. Now that we're home, whenever I tell him no, he growls REALLY ferociously at me!!! Haha!

Ella and Dom, wrestling on the bed.

Ella holding Dominic. She LOVES to pick him up. He just goes along with it. :)

Tired babies. Aren't they sweet!?

We had a picnic at the park. The kids enjoyed the swings and the slides.

The Scenery...

Some of the beautiful scenery...

... and some of the odd scenery. Haha! Only in the South!!!

More Kids...

Ella, making Dom laugh in the car.

Doiminic really likes the girls' Rose Petal Cottage... maybe we'll get him one!

The Pool!

He couldn't resist. One early evening, we went out to enjoy the backyard. As soon as Dominic set eyes on the pool, he made a beeline... tugging at his shirt. I figured, why not? So I stripped him down to his diaper (we DID bring his swimming suit) and threw him in. He was quickly joined by two other Bathing Beauties... who were appropriately clad in their swimming attire. ;)



Ella, showing us the blackberries she just picked. They're quite tasty.

Dominic, "eating" the pool water. Mmmmmm.

Alice, making the most of it!

What a gorgeous girl!

What an ANGRY boy!

The Nakedness...

Could this picture BE any more shameful??? Naked... and on a pink and purple Barbie jeep!?

The Garden District...

The Trolley.
One of the gorgeous houses.

Beautiful Oak Trees...

The ZOO!

Mommy and Dom at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans!

Ella, the flamingo. They are her favorite animal, she says. (Actually, frogs are her favorite animals...well... amphibians... whatever.)

Ali-boo in her harness. She wouldn't hold still long enough for a picture. ;)

It was rainy... my hair loves the rain. BUT... the rain kept us cool and made for a zoo practically void of other people. It actually only rained in two little spurts... not the whole time. So it was great!
Tuckered out.

Ella, offering herself as a sacrifice to the Mayan Gods.

Ella, being a toucan.

The Aquarium!

As we walked in, we walked through an archway of water all around us!

Mommy and Dom in front of all the fish... that you can't see. ;)

The kiddies, fascinated with the fish!

More kiddies... getting swallowed by a whale! Aren't they cute!

Here's a clown fish, being loved by a sea anemone.



Here's a big scary shark!


Ella, petting a shark. Dom was brave enough to pet it as well... but it was a bit too difficult to take a picture while holding him. :)

The Disaster!


There's nothing worse than finding a purple crayon in the pocket of your kid's pants... AFTER running the whole load through the dryer. Waaaaahhhh!



We had probably close to $400 of our clothes, Alice's clothes, Dom's clothes and Ella's school uniforms in there! But don't fret... we're smart girls, kinda...

...we got on the internet and found this AMAZING recipe for crayon/dryer disasters. We frantically ran to the store, bought $20 dollars worth of goods, and prayed all the way home that it would work...





... and VOILA! 100% of our clothes were saved! God BLESS the Internet! :)

Just in case any of you are also as unfortunate as we were... I'm posting the recipe here:

• 2 max doses of liquid TIDE or PUREX (we used PUREX)
• 1 cup of Powdered OxyClean
• 1 cup 20 Mule TeamBorax
• 1 cup liquid Shout
• 1 cup white Vinegar

We used warm water because our load was colors. We added ingredients to a large load of water, and let it agitate for a couple minutes to mix it up.

Then we added our poor, stained clothing and let it agitate a couple more minutes.

Then we soaked it for about 2-3 hours.

Last we let it run a full wash cycle with the ingredients still in.

When we were done, ALL the stains were GONE!!! ( Be sure to clean the dryer out too or you'll restain your clothes! )

Easter 2009

For Easter this year, the Easter bunny had to be creative. Why? Well... he forgot that Nana and Papa Innes were visiting, and so he had to come up with some impromptu treats for our guests on Easter morning! He's so smart... how'd he know Nana likes Diet Coke?

Anyway... here are some fun pictures of Dominic's 2nd Easter!

...the eggs...


...the chirping chick...




...the cool new car...




...the strategically placed goldfish crackers. Smart bunny.

The next day, Sunday, we all drove out to Surprise to spend Sunday dinner with our wonderful cousins Jen and Thayne and their family. It was soooooo great to see you guys again! We love you so much and are so lucky to have some family nearby... well, kinda nearby. ;)

Dominic is sporting an adorable Easter egg shirt made for him by his Aunt Angela, and some super-cool shorts (part of his Easter outfit) from Nana and Papa Innes. Thanks you guys!



And just for fun... here'a a picture of Dom on his very FIRST Easter:



...what a difference a year makes!

Visitors!!!

We have been SOOOO LUCKY to have so many visitors in the past couple of months. I LOVE it when friends/family come and visit. I love playing hostess, I love Dominic to see loved ones that he rarely gets to see, and Rich and I just love company.

First my brother came to visit... he travels to Phoenix sometimes for work (yay!) and we get to hang out for a couple days here and there. We usually go to the Grill, and Oregano's... and whatever else we can think of to do for fun.

This time Dom got to check out Uncle Jarrod's semi that he used to take the MRI trailer to the hospital with. Dom thought it was pretty cool.

Next, Rich's parents came down for a little vacation and were able to stay with us for Easter! We always have so much fun with them. Their visits usually entail a lot of golfing on Rich and Jim's part, and JoAnn and I staying up way too late, laughing hysterically over stupid stuff. Don't worry Mom, your secret is safe with me... agghhh hahahaha!

We, of course, took them to the grill...

... and swimming.

Thanks for the visit! We love you guys, come back again soon!

I'm ashamed to admit that when our most recent guests, Angela (my sis-in-law), and then my Dad and his wife came down... I still hadn't uploaded my pictures from Louisiana to the computer and I didn't take ANY pictures! Agghhh!

But I KNOW Angela took some (and some really adorable pictures of Dominic and his cousin Ali playing together)... so as soon as she sends them to me, I can post them! We love you Ang! Thank you SO MUCH for coming down and playing with us and taking our family pictures! I can't wait to see how they all turn out!!! :) You are so talented!

And... my Dad and Arlene will be coming back from Louisiana on Wednesday... so I'll be sure to take some pictures of them then! Hope you guys are having fun in the hot stickiness!!! ;)

Mmmm...

So I'm very excited because I think I'm an official "homemaker". Ha! A couple of weeks ago, some ladies in my ward and I got together to make yummy homemade BREAD. Mmmmm! It was so much fun! And we made it from scratch... we even ground the wheat into flour. Yeah... pretty impressive, eh?

Here is our beautiful and sweet host, and bread-maker extraordinare... Kathy.

We attended a short 15 minute breadmaking class that she gave during a stake enrichment meeting, and after tasting her delightful yummyness, we decided she needed to give us some one-on-one. This is seriously yummy bread. So... our friend Kristen decided to give her a call and ask her if we could come and treat ourselves to a bread-making DAY!




Thank you so much, Kathy, for letting us come into your home and for teaching us all how to be bakers!




Here is our Red Winter Wheat that is ready to be ground into flour.

Me and my friend, Rachel... getting ready to grind.

Us... grinding wheat.

Vanessa, grinding wheat.


Kristen, grinding. :)



Now it's time for mixing. Kathy has a bosch... *sigh*... some day.









After that, we separated the dough into loaves, put it in pans, and let it rise.

Here's Donna, taking a break while we wait for the bread to bake.




Here's Dominic... spazzing and mischieviously playing in the mud while we're too busy baking to notice. He had fun.

When it was finished, we ended the afternoon with a yummy lunch: pasta salads, green salads, warm, fresh homemade bread, and sparkling cider!

Our idea is to do this every month... rotating houses. That way, we'll use our food storage a bit and we won't forget how to do it... AND we'll have delicious bread to eat always!

Walking!!! Well... kinda...

Okay, so this video is about two weeks old. (Shameful, I know...) Dominic took his first steps a couple of weeks ago, right before bedtime. He was sitting on the bottom stair while Rich and I were watching him. He stood up (a little surprised with himself) and then awkwardly ambled toward us. He took 4 steps. Then he did it over and over again, eventually working his way up to 9 steps that first day. The video is of the next day. Today, Dominic walked the entire length of my bedroom... going from the door, all the way across the master to me while I was folding laundry on the floor. He even trampled the laundry and didn't fall down. He laughs as he walks... thinks it's so much fun. :) Anyway... just thought I'd share the good news!


And... before the video, here's 3 cute pictures for good measure. ;)

Favorite Things

So here's a few pictures of Dom, doing what he loves. Lately he's been really into stacking (and throwing) blocks. He especially finds joy in throwing them down the stairs, which is quite hazardous when you're thirsty in the middle of the night and head down to the kitchen for a drink.

He also can't get enough of climbing the stairs. This could provide hours of entertainment if I had the patience to sit in a stairwell for hours... maybe I'll get a good book and do it one of these days.






He also is quite fond of sitting on the back of the couch, with his feet in the window sill, and staring outside. Makes me feel guilty every time, and so after about 15 minutes of that, we usually go outside for a stroll in his car.

Pitiful, isn't it?

"I looooove you, Outside."

I taught him how to push the button to open and close the garage and I LOVE how excited he gets when he pushes that button and then WHIPS his head around to see and hear the garage open/close. He squeals with delight and does his crazy spazo move. (Wide eyes, stiff body, arms out to side, fingers extended widely, toes pointed, and his whole body shakes. Used to scare the poo out of us... but we know now that he's just a little high-strung. What!? High-strung? Who are his parents, again?)

Another funny thing he's into is going through openings. Any opening that looks small, he'll try to squeeze through it over and over again. If Rich or I are playing on the floor with him on all fours, he'll crawl through our legs and then just sit and spaz out under our tummies (so that we're hunched under him). If we move, he'll follow us, crawl under our legs, and sit there again for as long as it takes for us to move again.

Here he is, trying to squeeze himself into the little crack he spotted between my bum and the stairs.

Last week, my friend Taunya and her cute little guy Kaden went with us to the park because Kaden just got a new bubble set. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this one here before, but Dominic is petrified of bubbles... and balloons for that matter. Taunya reasoned that if Dom saw Kaden playing happily with the bubbles that he's realize they're fun afterall. For the first little while, Dom wasn't impressed... to say the least.




Kaden is such a cutie and he and Dom play so well together. Here they are playing at the park with Dom's car. :) They look like they could be brothers... little blue-eyed blondies.

We we were out there playing for a good hour or more and by the end of our playdate, Dom reached out and touched a bubble or two that had landed on the grass.

Yaaaayy!

Speaking of "Yay"... it's Dominic's 5th word.

(Preceded by Mama, Dada, Ball, and Light.)

Below is a video of him after he woke up this morning, saying "Yay!" :)

"Yaaaaaaay!"

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby!

Hi. I'm One.

On Thursday I had my first birthday! My Mommy and Daddy threw me a party. My friends and cousins drove aaallllll they way out to my house so they could be there for my special day. They like me. :) I like them too.

I got some great books, some farm animals that make sounds, a puzzle, a shape sorter, new shoes, lots of new clothes, balls, a swimming pool, and a new car. It's blue. I like it.

My friends made me a "Wish Book" . (Mom's idea... not mine. She's a little much, but she means well. She says I'll appreciate it when I'm older.)

Then we all played "Pin the Hat on Dominic". That was fun.

My mommy made me my very own birthday cake...

...but it's not something I want to talk about right now.

Let's not discuss party hats either.

Here's are some pictures of me cruisin' the neighborhood in my new car. The horn honks. I like it. Lots.

I guess it was worth having to eat birthday cake. :) Love, Dominic

XOXOXO

11 Months and Counting...

Wow! My baby is growing so fast. Dominic is 11 months old today and he's still the JOY of our lives. Some funny (and not-so-funny) things he is doing now...

~~He is petrified of bubbles. He BAWLS and runs (crawls) away when we blow bubbles. :( I thought he would LOVE them! But no, it's like torture for him. I thought it was kinda funny, so when Rich got home, I had him blow some more to show him what Dominic does. He immediately started crying and crawled right up my torso and buried his face in my neck... climbing and clawing the entire time. Then we felt bad. So... no more bubbles for Dom.

~~When he gets mad, he screams, stiffens his body, and then (if he's sitting) he folds himself in 1/2, spreads his legs, and bangs his head on the floor. Yikes! I'm scared... really.

~~He's just learned to wave bye-bye and also to clap his hands when we say "Yaaaaay!".

~~He hums all day long. "Hmm-hmm-hmmmmmm!" He's just so happy, it's catching.

~~He shakes his head from side to side and giggles. What a funny guy. We love him.


Here are a few pictures of the little guy... doing what he does. :)


Cheeeeese!!! Do you think he's used to getting his picture taken or what?




This is his "Curious" look. We love it when he makes this face.




Dominic LOVES yogurt.






He'd eat it for every meal if I let him.




Mmmmmmm... Yum-num.





Congratulations on your FOURTH tooth Dominic! He got his 2nd front tooth (his top right)on Friday.




So now that he's got some little chicklets in his mouth...


Let there be BRUSHING...




And BRUSHING...






And BRUSHING!





I'm sure that this is probably against the LAW in 48 states, but I bought Dominic a pink Cinderella Princess phone. He giggles when she says "Ahhh... I could dance all night!" I know, kind of disturbing.... but it's a flip-phone that is very similar to mine. I can barely hear out of my phone anymore because of all the action it receives from Dom. And there just weren't any "boyish" phones in the "last minute, gimme-gimme check-out isle". So... Princess Phone it is. And he LOVES it.






But... don't worry. He also plays with his VERY boyish red race car that he got from his Mamie. He pushes it around the living room for, like, 45 minutes at a time.







He is an excellent crawler now and can get anywhere in 3 seconds flat! Whew!




He likes to color. (Well... he likes to EAT colors.)






And he's looking a LOT like Poppie Olson!!! :) We love this boy!




We love you all and hope that you are doing fantastic! Love, Us. :)