Dominic - 14 Months

This last month went by REALLY quickly. I totally almost missed Dom turning 14 months and writing this post. 

Weight: 29.8 lb (100+ percentile) - They keep telling me he'll lose weight when he starts running/walking... well he's running/walking! Still waiting for the plateau!
Length: 31 inches (65th percentile)

Likes: 

• Spotting Dad up in the media booth at church. This past Sunday David was on media, and I was just in the congregation like usual. Dominic spotted Dad right away, and Dave entertained him by popping his head up every so often. Dom was smiling SO huge and pointing and giggling occasionally. It was pretty adorable, but I didn't think much of it. After church, I had 4 different people come up to me to tell me how adorable that was and how it made their day and how hilarious Dom is. Yes... thanks... he's a cheese-ball. He loves his Dada!
• "Talking on the phone." He has now figured out that our phones (and apparently any TV remote) is used for communication with people. He will hold it up to his ear and giggle or say, "EEEEE!!!" (How he says hi). The other day in the car he had his toy remote and I hear him on his "phone" saying, "Da da... EEEE!... Ba byee!" It was way too precious. 
• Looking at his books and pointing to things when we ask him to "Find the..._____." 
• Getting a rise out of people. If he does something and people laugh, it is all the encouragement he needs!
• To "say" no. He shakes his head to let us know when he doesn't want something. I especially enjoy it when someone comes in to try give him a hug or a kiss and he shakes NO NO NO! A man after his mother's own heart ;). #notahugger.
• Eating... No surprise here. This kid eats like a horse. A snack will always cheer him up! The day he turns down food, I'll know something is really wrong!

Dislikes:

• The usual suspects... Being ignored, not getting his way, having things taken away from him... He's a pretty easy-going toddler. He's starting with the tantrums, so we're starting to research ways to set boundaries and rules that are reasonable for a 14 month old. It's hard! 
• Having food taken away. He has had to be removed from nursery twice and Noah's Ark once because he steals other peoples' snacks. Just this week at nursery my mom had him in there, and each kid is allowed to have 1 cookie. Well... Dom swindled 2 cookies AND stole another baby's cookie. Mom took it away and he got pissed off, so she brought him out away from the food to distract him. Someone would tell me if my child was over-weight right? Goodness gracious! I actually got worried about Dom being too fat this month at a couple points, but then I see how big his head is next to another kid his age and I realize he's just a huge child. 

Notes:

• We cannot go anywhere without people commenting on Dom. His size, his cheeks, his lips, his cheesy smiles... He is our little ray of sunshine. 
• He got his first bump/bruise on his forehead this past Sunday. He was "helping" me in the kitchen by whisking around in a cooking pot, and tried to walk away with the pot. He tripped and fell and smacked his forehead on the pot. He only cried for like 10 seconds before going back and playing with it again, so I thought maybe it just scared him. It wasn't until I got to church that I realized he had a little raised bruise. Oops!
• His vocabulary has suddenly developed! He is using words (or... they're sort of words) to communicate and it is SO nice! So much fun to know what he's trying to say, or what he wants. 
• Words he uses: Puppy (buppa), Dada, Mama, Banana (nanana), Bye (baaaaaaaiiiii in high pitched valley-girl talk), up (puh-puh-puh), Boom!, Blue, uh oh, Opa (sounds a lot like puppy), Oma (Buh-ma), Ball, Yay, Tractor (Ta-ta), Po - like from Kung-Fu Panda (Boooe!), Toes (Tooooooe).
• I'm sure he has many more words that we just haven't figured out yet. 
• He still loves his animal sounds as well. Love seeing the gears turning in his brain!
• Because he has more words now, he (and we) have taken a step back from signing. He pretty much signs "more" for anything. Sort of as a confirmation that we're right about what he's asking for. "Do you want more?" (signs more), "Do you need help?" (signs more), "Can you say please?" (signs more). It works for us; as mentioned above, he will shake his head "no" if he doesn't want any of those things!
• Tries to share his night-time bottle with me sometimes. Thanks dear... not interested.
• He is drinking goats milk now and it seems to be better for his belly than the cows milk was. He was previously having some digestive issues (aka 4+ really nasty poops every day), so we thought we'd try out some goats milk and it's a lot better, but still not perfect. 
• I have been working on teaching Dom ways to help out for when the new baby comes and I'm stuck nursing. He will get me his/my water bottle, bring me my phone, get a diaper, put diapers in the garbage, etc. 
• He saw David's Mom (Gramma) blowing her nose one day, and now any time he has a napkin or a piece of paper he crumples it up and blows his nose into it. This came in handy when he had a cold this month because he would actually blow his nose! Too cute! Not so cute when he does it and then holds the cloth up to your face to blow your nose too. 
• He loves to "help out" around the house - stirring water or empty pots, vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, lint-brushing. 
• Likes to make us do the "blblblblblbl" noise with our mouths by putting his finger up to our lips. 
• Can identify the colour blue. If we ask him to "pick up the blue block" he gets it most of the time! Unless he's just being silly :)
• He is only drinking 1 3-oz bottle each day, at bedtime. The rest of his milk comes from his sippy cup during the day.
• He is wearing 2T clothing.

Typical Day:
7am - wake up & diaper change
715am - breakfast (oatmeal w/ peanutbutter, banana, and milk)
8am - David brings Dom to daycare (2-3 days a week)
930am - snack time if needed (some cheerios, veggie straws... whatever we have)
11am - lunch
12-1230pm - Nap 
145/245pm - Wake up from nap (nap is anywhere from an hour and 15 minutes to 2 and a half hours. A little unpredictable, but if he's up early he's happy. I just leave him until I'm ready to get him!)
230/3pm - snack time (something like: cheese, crackers, fruit, milk/water)
330pm - I pick Dom up from daycare if he's there
5pm - dinner time
615/630pm - jammies & cuddles/play-time in living room
630/7pm - 4oz bottle and bedtime!

Naturally, I couldn't pick from all the photos I took, so here are a bunch more!!

Haha can't get this nugget to sit still!

Suuuuch a cheeseball

29 Weeks (PINEAPPLE/COTTONTAIL RABBIT) - 2.0: Feb 20-26

• Hard to believe I am this close to being 30 weeks pregnant... I am 3/4 done already. It is surreal!
• Baby is still kicking lots! She is often quiet for a day or two, and then ferocious for a few days. Growth spurt is my guess!
• Baby weighs 2.5-3lb this week! I feel like she's so much bigger when she moves around in there, but there is still 10+ weeks of growth to do! Even my maternity clothes are getting too small for my belly... already... Anybody have any size medium maternity shirts they want to lend me? :)
• I'm feeling hopeless as I already struggle to get my boots and socks on! There's still a long way to go. I refuse to ask for help. It's just hard to get my boots on when I also have a 30lb toddler, a diaper bag, and my purse in my hands! At church on Sunday I saw another mom carrying in her car seat and diaper bag and I thought to myself, "How am I going to carry a car seat, diaper bag, AND a toddler into church?" I decided that moment that Dom would have to start walking from the car to the church more often. He made it 4 steps on Sunday before melting down. Gotta start somewhere!!
• I was kept up for a while mid-week due to heartburn and pain.
• I went to see the RMT for my hip/pelvis/butt pain. He did a great job, but the next day My whole lower body were just aching non-stop. I'm trying to keep up with my stretches and do everything I can, but there's just not much you can do at this point. 
• Does anyone have any leads on an AFFORDABLE maternity/newborn photographer? The person who did ours with Dominic is out of commission at this time because she's also having a baby!! Our expendable income is very limited, so we're looking for maybe just like a few family photos with the belly, and then a few cute newborn shots for announcements and a few family photos with the newbie. Nothing crazy! I realize we're cutting it close for time to book this!
• I still get occasional braxton hicks contractions, but nothing crazy. Less than I had with Dom at this point I feel like. Either that or I'm too busy this time around to notice all of them!
• There were three babies born this week of people that I know! ALL THE BABIES!!!
• 29 Weeks Pregnant with Dominic - looking back at this post I could pretty much copy and paste most of it here. Poor Sherlock though... he didn't get invited to our photo shoot this time :(. I also feel like my belly is sitting lower this pregnancy at this point than it did with Dom. Maybe just because my muscles are looser?
• 29 Weeks Huggies Graphic
  

 BARE BELLY PHOTOS! I have these all in black & white at the bottom too, because I couldn't decide what I liked better slash couldn't commit to just one.

All the stretch marks and veins. The marks faded quite a lot since Dom was born, but over the next 11 weeks they will come back in full force and probably double in number.

I feel SO much bigger than this! Also, I love Dom's little head and hand sneaking into the photo <3

It looks like I have the linea nigra above my belly-button, but it's actually a stretch mark that goes over my piercing spot. It was one of the first ones I got with Dom.

Puh-puh-puh! (Up up up!) We've been working on this one for a while. It sure beats the screechy whining he was doing before he could verbally communicate that he wanted up.

Fine, hunny... I'll pick you up. All (almost) 30lb of you...Squatting and lifting with my legs instead of my back. Yeesh!

My heart <3

Thankful Thursday - 121

This week I am feeling thankful for...

1. My body. Feeling this baby grow and kick inside of me, and seeing Dom run around everywhere makes me marvel at how incredible the human body is. I am amazed that my body was able to grow and carry these creatures for 9 months. When we first found out we were pregnant with Dom, he was the size of a POPPY SEED! That's like the period at the end of this sentence. Now he's an almost 30lb toddler with a jolly personality. 

Seriously... women kick ass.

I feel bigger than this.

2. Quality time with my first-born. Some days I get a little melancholy realizing that my days with just Dom and I are soon going to be over. I worry about how he will react to sharing my attention. Will he be jealous? Will he act out? Will he be upset? For now I try to focus on the days/weeks I have left with the two of us and try very hard to cherish the "gold star" moments of each day. The other night as I was putting Dom to bed, I kissed his forehead and said, "I love you!" He sat up, said, "Ma ma......... Da Da." and leaned in for another kiss. MELT MY HEART WHY DON'T YOU!

I have a feeling a Dom selfie 25 years from now will look VERY similar to this, but maybe with hair.

Sharing some chili together. I am starting to get over the fact that eating is going to be messy, and that's okay. It's hard!

3. David is published again! David's photos made it into the Vancouver Home Magazine - Kitchen Edition on a 6 page spread AND the back cover! The beginning of the article gives him photographer credit, and the front of the magazine lists him as one of the photographers in the magazine. He was in a magazine last year, but there was no photo credit; just personal pride and sense of accomplishment. 

Here is a link to the magazine. His photos are pages 106-111, and the back cover :). Proud wife!

28 Weeks (ECHIDNA/ROLLER BLADE) - 2.0: February 13-18

• Heartburn and lower back pain are my chief complaints this week. The heartburn isn't horrible, but it is relatively constant whenever I am moving around or bending over/lifting things. Having a toddler... this happens a lot! The lower back pain affects my walking. 
• Speaking of heartburn, they say that if you have heartburn it's more likely your baby will be born with hair. YOU MEAN I MAY NOT HAVE ANOTHER BALD BABY?! I can't even imagine my babies with hair! Haha
• With my iron levels gradually increasing, I'm feeling more energetic and "normal". Of course I'm still tired, but this is more of a normal tired feeling, not a complete wipe-out like it has been. 
• I went for my second Glucose Tolerance test, because my first 1 hour screening came back low as mentioned last week. This one is a 2 hour test, but nobody really told me what to expect when I got to the lab. I had to fast for 10 hours before going, so I booked a morning appointment. They took my blood when I got there, and then I drank the drink - that nasty drink! I then had to be in the waiting room for 2 hours I was told. Some Googling told me I would have blood drawn at 1 hr and 2 hr mark, but nobody said so, so I didn't think anything of it when the 1 hr mark came and went. At about 1 hr 40 minutes I got called up to have my blood drawn again. I thought maybe this was it, and I could go to work after! The nurse(?) who took my blood told me to go sit down again and wait at least 50 MORE minutes until I would be called up again. Um... how did this 2 hour test get turned into 3 hours?! I have to go to work!
  About 20 minutes later, they call me to get my blood drawn for the 2 hour mark. I explain that I just had it done and was told to wait another hour, but it turns out they made a mistake on their end. The 1 hr blood work never should have been missed. The doctor may suggest I do the test again. UM NOPE! I am not doing it again unless my numbers come back totally crazy. It's not my fault they messed up! Fingers crossed the results are normal and I can get back to my cookies and muffins ;).

The first bloodwork room had this bed in it. I was hoping (out loud) they would let me lay here for the 2 hours. They said no. Worth a shot though, right?
 
• Update for Glucose test: All my results came back in range. No gestational diabetes for me! I wasn't really concerned about it, I mostly just didn't want to do the test again.
• Baby has started kicking me at night and waking me up with it. I don't remember this much at all with Dom. Maybe because my placenta was in the front, shielding much of the kicking? I will never complain about a kicking baby. Well... not for real anyway. Come talk to me when she starts getting into my ribs (which Dom was already doing at this point).
• 28 Weeks Pregnant with Dominic
• 28 Weeks Huggies Graphic
  

Snuggles & Snow!

The weather turned cold, snowy and sunny this weekend; a welcome change. The dark, dreary winter days really take a toll on me and my energy. 

Little walking snot-factory

While this weekend was beautiful, sickness and hormones took over! Dom has some sort of bug which means he requires extra attention from me. Then I got all hormonal over talking about moving him into the bigger bedroom so the new baby can have his nursery room when she comes around. Why is he growing up so fast?! He's going to be so sad moving rooms! This little nursery will always be his first bedroom! Oh hormones... leave me alone!

Saturday started out as a movie day on the couch. Dom was not feeling great and only wanted to snuggle. I'll TAKE IT! We sat and watched Moana, and he literally cuddled and watched the entire movie. This means something... This boy has a 5 minute attention span for watching shows/movies. The rest of the day I was cooped up inside with Dom feeling sorry for myself. I told Dave I was just having a "Woe is me" day. I think we're all allowed those every so often. 

Sunday I was determined to be better! We started off the day with some Olympics and a hot coffee, and then skipped church due to the amount of snot coming from Dom's face. (Nobody wants that in the nursery... that's probably where he caught this bug in the first place!). Instead of church we went out for a walk in the sun, cold & snow! Crisp mornings like this remind me why I love our area so much. Absolutely gorgeous with the mountains, farms, and suburban neighborhood. 

Representing Canada with my Maple Leaf Sweetlegs :)

We hosted brunch at our house so Dominic could nap, and made Belgian waffles for most of David's family. They turned out so delicious, and then we sat and talked for a couple hours at the table with everyone. I asked Dave ahead of time if we could refrain from turning on the TV (I knew it would be easy to fall into the Olympics trap) and just hang out together. I'm so glad we were intentional about this. We had some great talks and laughs together. 

Mom & Dad came over and made dinner at our house in the evening (how did we score THAT deal?!) and Scott & Courtney joined us. Roast chicken with gravy on top of toasted cranberry bread. Droooool! 

I can't wait for our Summer days when I'm not working and Dom can go play in our "yard", or on our patio while I take care of our new baby girl. If I romanticize it enough it will just be perfect right? RIGHT?! Dominic will be a perfect angel right? Don't kid yourself Renee, you're just entering one of the more exhausting/trying seasons of your life!