Monday, December 28, 2009

The Woman Behind the Tinsel

There’s a laundry list of things no one ever warns you about when you become a mom. You get over your bodily fluid phobia real fast, sleep deprivation is an art form, you will never pee alone again and quite often you’ll leave the house with spit up down your back and not even know it! One special little tidbit hit home this holiday season.

When you become a mom no one ever really tells you about the enormous amount of work that goes into making each and every holiday special for your children and family. Not only do you have to take care of your child/children 24/7, but you also have to shop for every family member, bake all sorts of cookies, decorate the entire house, go to numerous holiday parties pretending to be festive when all you really want to do is go home and finish your to-do-list so you can collapse on the couch.

When I did get in bed after a long night of to-do’s, all I could think about were the next things on my list that had to get done tomorrow. I literally had to write everything down because I didn’t trust my sleep deprived over stuffed brain to remember anything. I do have to shop for a lot of people – we have a HUGE family and lots of nieces and nephews.

Don’t get me wrong. I actually love Christmas. I look forward to it every year. But now, as a mom, it has a whole new meaning. It means that I have to plan every spare second to be sure everything gets done. It means that sure, I’ll stay up late till two in the morning wrapping Christmas Eve because the little guy was up till midnight.

I hope Dominick will some day appreciate all of our efforts into making his holidays special.


Thank you mom for all of your hard work, endless hours and loving time you put into my cherished holiday memories.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Dominick Nine Months

I always begin these posts with… wow, how did time fly buy? But these past few months I’ve taken every opportunity to really sit back and enjoy my time with Dominick. Relish in every cute smile, giggle or silly game. So this month didn’t go by any faster and I hope to continue “living in the moment.” The laundry will get folded and the dishes done, but my baby will only be a baby for so long.
Let’s see – developmentally, he’s right on track with his milestones. He doesn’t crawl on all fours, he kind of does an army scoot – we call it the “wounded solder” too funny! He can now push himself up into a seated position. He had just gotten up from a nap and I walk into his room and to my surprise – there he is, sitting straight up! He LOVES to stand. He would much rather stand than roll around on the floor. Good thing he has lots of standing toys on his Christmas list.


Dominick is quite the eater – he loves to eat solids. His faves are still sweet potatoes. We’ve added apricots, pears and CHEESE! This boy loves cheddar cheese. If I’m having a hard time getting him to eat, I just sprinkle on a little cheese and down it goes. He likes to feed himself and will take the spoon out of my hand. He gets a kick out of that. I’m still making all his food which is really easy. Now I leave some texture to the fruits and veggies. He chews them like a pro! He loves his Cheerios and if he’s in his exersaucer, I’ve caught him slipping one or two to Ozzie who’s waiting patiently near by. Dominick has started to refuse the bottle a bit more in hopes he’ll get more “grown up” food. We’re introducing as many new foods as we can! He had a little taste of tomato sauce from pizza and a little bit of the crust. As soon as he tasted the sauce, he got excited. His arms started waving and he started grunting for more! He loves my “veggie medley” of broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots in a cheddar cheese sauce. We’re sure he’ll be a great eater.

Sleeping – this boy is what moms call a rack master. He sleeps hours, and hours. One night he clocked 14 hours without a peep! He has at least two naps a day, for at least an hour each. Sometimes he’ll sleep 2+ hours for me at home. And he’s sleeping much better at daycare too. That’s a relief.

Dominick is very social and loves to smile at everyone. He’s started to be a little “clingy” and wants his mommy to pick him up – which is just fine with me.

He’s had a few colds since thanksgiving. With double ear infections that returned, we had two rounds of antibiotics. He’s much better, for now.

I will be updating more often. I too have been sick since Thanksgiving. We shared two very nasty bugs with everyone in the house. We’re all better and with the holidays behind us – I’m excited to get things back to normal.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Meeting The Big Guy

We took Dominick to get his 9 month pictures, which happen to coincide with Christmas. We lucked out on that one! We weren’t too happy with the service from JC Penny’s, so we headed off to the Picture People. The customer service was much better, people being very patient and working much harder to get that perfect smile. But, I was a little disappointed in the props. Again, I didn’t voice my opinions, I just went with the flow. Imagine that! I think I’ll be more vocal, especially for his first birthday pics. Not sure where we’re going. We may end up hiring a private photographer. We’ll see. Here’s a sampling of the pics. My fave is the caboose.

Along with his nine month pics we also went to see Santa for the first time. I knew Dominick would do great. He’s never once cried when I put him in someone’s arms – even a stranger.


He did take a few long looks up at the bearded man, but in general was happy to smile at us as we made fools of our selves in the mall. Doesn’t this Santa look real? He’s been at Menlo Park Mall for years… maybe he is real? He hasn’t aged at all!