Growing Up

PROUD TO BE A BIG BOYIn the last week or so Dominic has been doing a bunch of new "big boy" things such as:

1. Potty Trained - We started potty training him about 2 weeks ago and he is doing awesome. He wakes up with a dry "big boy pull-up" (He gets mad when I call them anything else.) and will keep them dry all day long. Even at church or preschool he will tell his teacher and use the big boy potty.
2. Toddler Bed - Since Dominic is doing so well with the whole potty training thing we thought it was time to change his crib into a toddler bed. Now he can get in and out all by himself. Knock on wood, the getting out part hasn't been a problem. At night and during his nap he stays in his bed even though sometimes he cries for me to rock him more. He could just run after me but he doesn't. This child is so good. When baby Garek is ready for the crib we are going to buy Dominic a real toddler bed. This is a great transition for him because it is still his crib and we were able to leave his bumper on which really comforts him when he sleeps. I think it is so cute to watch him wobble into our room in the morning and tell me that he has to go potty.
3. Bubble Gum - Dominic also learned how to chew bubble gum without swallowing it. It is so funny he has to have the wrapper in his hand at all times so when he is ready he can spit it out. If you take that wrapper away he freaks. I love watching him show off that he is a big boy and knows how to chew gum. He has to tell this to strangers at the store and at church. Funny kid.

I am very proud of the kiddo for all of his new accomplishments.
THE HOUSTON ROCKETS

Friday night was my Dad's birthday. We had him and my brother over for dinner then went to watch the Rockets play the Blazers. Brian was on the color guard. You can see him holding the American flag in the picture above. The game was tons of fun and we won 104 to 100! Then after the game we came home and ate a yummy chocolate cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

The End of Our Vacation

THE LAKE

Yesterday marked the end of our super long holiday with Brian out of class. We have had a blast. This past week we went to my Dad's Lake Lot for a day full of outdoor fun; boating, fishing, campfires, hiking up and down a big hill. And for Brian tree climbing. We got my dad a face for a tree out there and Brian offered to hang it up. He went so high I almost had a heart attack. Luckily no unwanted limbs broke but the hammer Brian was using did. That was one hard tree. My dad and brother tried out cooking a big pot of Polish soup out in the wild. This was their first time. And it was the perfect meal for the cool weather. Then my brother took us out to inspect his trout line. We caught one! Dominic had a blast especially with my dad's dog, Zoe. And of course we stayed to sit by the huge campfire and make s'mores. DOMINIC'S 1st SLUMBER PARTY
This week also marks another 1st for Dominic. It was his first time to spend the night away from mommy and daddy. It was kind of sad for me but we had fun on a late night date night and sleeping in was nice. My mom wanted to have a slumber party with Dominic at my grandmothers house. So as you can imagine Dominic was in heaven with all the attention. He got to sleep in a big bed with grandma and did great. I think they tuckered him out pretty good before bed.
CHILI COOK-OFFFor Martin Luther King Day Brian decided to try out his Texas Chili making skills. He researched on the internet for a long time to find the perfect recipe and he picked a good one. We started by smoking 5 lbs. of chuck roast, all different kinds peppers, and onions. Then we chopped part and shred the other half of the meat so the chili was chunky. Brian thinks that a staple of good chili is that you can eat it with a fork. Then we put it in a pot with all the other ingredients along with two bottles of beer. We invited some friends over to test it out with us. It was spicy and sweet at the same time and he used no sugar! My chili bowl was never ending because I kept adding cheese, sour cream, and crackers to it. As you can see from the photo above everyone seemed to enjoyed it. We plan to go camping in March and this is what we are going to make.POTTY TRAININGWe are trying the whole potty training thing again now and it is going great. I bought some big boy underwear with cool things on them like Thomas the tank engine and Lighting McQueen. When we are home I let him run around in just his undies and he is doing great. Today he wore the same pair all day long! Yippee! Maybe he will be potty trained by the time our new little one comes!
THIRD TRIMESTERThis week marks the beginning of my third and final trimester. Not much longer now! This past month has been kind of hard for me because I had some bad back pains. I think the baby was just growing along with my stomach. Because now it isn't bothering me as much and I am definitely bigger. We have been thinking about names and we are liking Garek the best. It is a polish name just like my mom's family. Garek is moving and kicking a lot now. At night is when he likes to exercise. Brian says he feels Garek kicking him all night long. Dominic is understanding things. He talks to his baby brother and thinks it is funny when he kicks mommy.
We are all very excited and can't wait to meet the little guy.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Today was our official day back to school. That is right I said ours. I have decided to go back to college. I am just taking one class this semester and it is an online class. I never finished my degree and always wanted it. I love being a mom but sometimes it is kind of mind numbing. So I thought this would be the perfect activity for me. I am taking Mirco Economics. Hopefully it all goes well.

New Year's

Happy New Year's! To bring in 2010 we went to my cousins house to shoot off fireworks. Everyone bought some so we had a ton. I thought Dominic would be afraid of the fireworks but he loved them. As he was watching them take off he would say, "Wow! It's like a rocket. Rocket ships go 5,4,3,2,1 blast-off!"Dominic also loved throwing and jumping on the Snappers and loved holding the sparklers. My family just can't shoot off fireworks they have to create so things are always pretty interesting. We had only one accident this year. One firework didn't shoot off correctly and got Liz in the face. It only cut her lip but it looked like it hurt. The most interesting creation was made with tons of sparklers. We found out that Sparklers blow up when lit together. Who knew! There was actually a mushroom cloud.
CY-FAIR ALUMNI GAMES Saturday Brian had his annual alumni game for his high school lacrosse team. We had a lot of fun watching and they won! Go Alumni! Dominic had a blast with his cuz, Timmie. They loved watching their daddies and loved playing on the bleachers. Brian did a great job playing and ended up breaking his lacrosse stick over someone. Ouch! After the game we all went out to eat.

Our Christmas

It has been a great holiday so far. Brian is out of school and our household has gone into a late schedule. Brian and I like to stay up late and sleep in in the morning. So we have been letting Dominic go to bed later and later. Now he goes to bed at 10 at night and wakes up at 11 in the morning with no nap. Brian and I are having so much fun watching movies till late and sleeping in. I normally never let Dominic schedule change this drastically but I thought I might as well enjoy it with the new baby coming and all. Brian did so well this semester. He ended it with a 4.0! Way to go, Babe!
CHRISTMAS EVE

We lucked out and ended up seeing almost all of our family this Christmas. My mom was able to get off work on Christmas Eve which we didn't think would happen. We had lunch with her at my grandmothers' house. It was nice visiting with them. Dominic got to open his first gifts from his grandma and great-grandma which were some wooden tracks. Dominic has a friend who has wooden train tracks and he LOVES them. That's all he does when he goes over to his friends house. So I put out the word that to his grandparents that he wanted them and Dominic hit the jackpot this Christmas in wooden train tracks. Christmas Eve evening there was a party on my dad's side of the family at my aunts house. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone and Dominic got more wooden tracks from his grandpa! How exciting.

CHRISTMAS MORNINGSo we did our first real big Christmas this year, big Christmas for Dominic along with a big Christmas for us. It was a lot of fun! Dominic is understanding things so well which was exciting however we had to go wake him up at 9 in the morning because of the whole late schedule thing. It took him a while to come to but once he did he was super excited to see what Santa brought. Brian and I wanted to do something big for the little guy this year. I wanted to get him a real bike and we found one with a rocket ship on it. Dominic loves rocket ships. And Brian found a really big remote control jeep that he knew the little guy would love. We were so excited about giving them to Dominic but Dominic watched the Polar Express and would not stop talking about a black choo choo. Every time we would talk about Santa he would respond with, "Santa is going to get me a black choo choo for Christmas." We thought he would forget about it but he didn't luckily for Santa, Dominic got his little black choo choo too. Then after presents Brian made us a delicious breakfast. In Monterey we loved a restruant called First Awakenings. Our favorite was their Raspberry Coconut Granola Pancakes. Well my husband searched long and hard and found a good recipe then surprised us with them. They tasted just like the restaraunt. WHITNEYThen we packed up and went to Whitney to see Brian's family. The drive was great; we got there in record time. Dominic enjoyed his Christmas candy on the drive. That kid can put down the candy. When we got there we had a yummy Christmas dinner and over the course of the next 3 days we got to see almost all of the family. Dominic did great there. He was so happy and he slept great. Much better then all the other times but Brian didn't. I guess we are spoiled by our tempur-pedic matress. The first night something crazy happen with Brian's back. He woke up in so much pain. It pretty much messed up his 2nd day there. Luckily Brian's dad had muscle relaxers and pain relievers. By the end of our trip Brian was feeling better. We had so much fun with everyone and we ate so much food. I swear when we finish eating a meal there we start preparing the next. I left feeling like I would never have to eat again.
HAPPY TO BE HOMEAfter our fun trip we are happy to be home. Dominic is finally getting to enjoy his toys. I think he forgot about them because he got so excited when he walked into his room. The funny guy now won't let me leave his room. He likes me to sit in the rocking chair and watch him play choo choo's. So fun. It has been raining so much and we still haven't been able to try out his new bike. We are so tried of the cold rainy weather. With the new year I think we are going to get some sunny weather.

Our Trip To The ER

The other day the weather was beautiful so I let Dominic go play out on our back patio. He was having such a fun time it was hard to get him to come in. When I got him in I changed his diaper and noticed a huge 2 inch in diameter bug bite on his leg. I immediately thought spider bite. I examined him and found three others which weren't quite as big. I called Brian because he always knows what to do and he told me to draw a line around the outside rim of the bites to see if the bites get bigger. Over the next couple of hours they did by alot. We searched online and called Uncle Lane to help us try to identify the bite. You can't really tell from the picture but there was a small pink dot in the middle and the skin was raised to the rim. The only things that came close were Cellulitis and tick bites but those didn't fit right either. We weren't that worried because Dominic was running around fine like they didn't bug him. Then at nine o'clock the rings expanded so much that they started to disappear. We put him to bed and thought it was gone. Of course I checked on the little guy during the night and at two in the morning the rings were back but in different places. The biggest ring moved to the opposite leg. We decided that we should take him in for some peace of mind. Lane told us about an awesome ER that isn't busy like the others. We walked right in. It was great. The doctor agreed with Lane close to Cellulitis and tick bites but not quite. So he figure Dominic just had some weird allergic reaction to a bug bite and gave us a prescription for antibiotics. The spots were gone in the morning except for a few new places one being his cheek. But when he gets hot all of the old rings come out as big red spots. It all pretty weird. He still hasn't complained about them. Dominic had another mystery bug that would bite about a year ago but he had a different reaction from it. We never found out what that bug was and I guess we won't find out what this one is. The next day we got to spend some time with Brian's brother who has been in Afghanistan. Steven is a mortar man in the Army. He brought his girlfriend over and we enjoyed a delicious brisket Brian smoked up on the back patio. Steven gets to stay two weeks in the US then has to return to Afghanistan. His deployment ends in July.

Our 5th

This year our anniversary fell right on one of Brian's big final exams. He woke up at five in the morning and studied till the test. When I woke up my eye was all red like I had pink eye again. I was so irritated. Of all the days plus I didn't want to have to wear glasses for the next two weeks with Christmas and all. So I went to go get it check out and start my annoying drops but lucky me the doctor said it wasn't pink eye after all. Yippee! She said I irritated my eye some how. I was thinking about it and the night before I glittered a bunch of Christmas cards with really fine glitter. Our house is coated in the stuff now. I guess that's what happened. My dad came over because he had another eye surgery the next morning. We all went out to dinner together then after my dad and Dominic went to sleep Brian and I did something wild. We went to see the midnight showing of Avatar in 3D. The theater was sold out and we had so much fun. The movie was awesome! We both thought it was one of the best we have ever seen. I totally recommend it especially in 3D. I haven't been to a 3D movie since I was in elementary school. They have come a long way. The movie was almost three hours long and didn't drag at all. We didn't get to sleep till four in the morning. What a fun night!

'Tis The Season

CHRISTMAS PICTURES

We ended up just going to JCPenney's again for pictures this year. I had this big plan of going to the temple to take pictures but the weather just would not cooperate. We went to the JCPenney's in Pearland which was a mistake. The lady wasn't very good. The manager at the Cypress location is the best photographer we have found. She is worth the drive. That was the best picture I got of just Dominic. Oh well, it's better than nothing I guess. CHUCK E CHEESE

The weather here has been horrible lately. It has been day after day of mist and fog. Yesterday Dominic and I met my parents and my brother at Chuck E's for something fun to do. Dominic had a blast except for the ride with Uncle Grant in the off-roading truck. As you can see from above that was too much for him. He loved playing all the games and getting tickets and so did we.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Last Thursday Dominic and I sent a couple hours in the kitchen cooking and decorating cookies. We had a great time getting flour and sprinkles everywhere. The cookies weren't the best tasting but they sure did looked cute. O CHRISTMAS TREEThis was a fun night. We set up the tree then watched the movie "Up" together. Every year we always get white lights but this year I decided that I really wanted to do rainbow lights for something different. So I got them along with rainbow bulbs and rainbow candy canes. Dominic also helped me made a rainbow paper chain. Our tree is full of color this year and I like it.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

SNOW

That's right, snow in Houston, Texas for the second year in a row! We are getting spoiled down here. It snowed on and off all day long on Friday and at times it was pretty heavy. We enjoyed watching it fall from inside our warm house. Dominic especially enjoyed this; it was way too cold for the little guy even with his new hat and mittens. When I made a snowball and tried to hand it to him he looked at me like I was crazy.

HOLIDAY IN THE PARK

Thursday night we checked out this event in Bellaire. It was pretty fun. They had a petting zoo, snow machines making real snow, pony rides, Santa, and Dominic's favorite a choo choo train. We had a great time doing all the fun holiday things and enjoyed a huge funnel cake and hot Dr. Pepper. The funnel cake was so good. I don't remember when was the last time I had one and the hot Dr. Pepper was okay. A little too sweet for me.

OUR WARD'S CHRISTMAS PARTY

Man, it has been one Christmas thing after another latey. It seems like we have something planned almost every day of the week. I was so surprised by this year's ward Christmas party. They decorated things so cute. Good job, activities committee. And the entertainment was also great. Lots of musical numbers. We are lucky to have a lady in our ward who composes and directs music. She is really talented. It is always a treat to hear what new piece she put together.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Yesterday we had a fun filled day at the Galleria. My mom and grandmother joined us as we had Dominic's picture taken with Santa. Dominic was ecstatic. I checked out a bunch of Christmas books from the library last week and have been talking a bunch about Santa so when I told him, the night before, that we were going to see Santa he was so excited. He would not stop talking about the jolly fellow. Last year Dominic was not so sure about Santa but this year he ran right up to him and could not stop talking to him. Dominic is quite a jabber mouth lately. There was a train by the place you take pictures and Dominic really really wanted Santa to ride the train with him. He asked him over and over again. It was pretty cute. Well, Santa didn't ride the train but great grandma did which was almost just as cool. Then after the train ride we went to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. Dominic has been so terrified of this place since they opened it. Every time we walk by it we have to hold him and when we go inside he freaks. Well, his grandma brought him in even though he was scared out of his mind and after a bit he realized how cool the place was. We had a very yummy meal and Dominic was amazed by the awesome lite up cup grandma got him to drink out of.

Then after lunch we let Dominic try the jumping thing they just put up in the Galleria. He was very excited about this too; no fear at all. While jumping he was very serious the whole time. I think he smiled once. He does the same thing when you swing him. He loves it but he doesn't smile or laugh but if you stop he gets mad and wants you to push him more. What a fun day. Mr. Dominic is one loved boy!

Thanksgiving & Tailgating

Thanksgiving

To start Thanksgiving this year Brian work up and ran 6 miles around Rice then when he came home I decided to go run too. I have always wanted to run around Rice and since Brian did it I decided to try too. It was great; I really enjoy jogging. I ran the Turkey Trot in the process. It turned out to be the same path and at the same time. I loved seeing the kids running with their parents. When Dominic gets older we will have to do something like that. I didn't push myself to finish all six miles. I walked home from Rice. Then we watched the parade. Dominic is so much fun now. He is so excited about all the holiday stuff especially Christmas lights. He freaks out when he sees them. After that we went to my aunt's house in Conroe. It was great fun. They have stairs so Dominic was in heaven. Above is a picture of my aunt and Dominic going down. He didn't eat a bite of the Thanksgiving fest all he did was go up and down the stairs.

After that Brian went out to do a fundraiser for the new student chapter he is helping to create called Think Tank. They stayed out all night selling hot dogs and hot chocolate to all the people in line for the Black Friday sales. He didn't get home till 7 am. Those people in line are crazy. We saw some people camped out in line Thanksgiving morning. Is it really worth it people.

Tailgating

Saturday we went to the last U of H tailgate for this season. We stayed there all day and my brother, his girlfriend, and my father showed up too. We had a lot of fun and thankfully it was not HOT like last time. Brian's student chapter cooked up crab legs and chili. It was great; we all got so full. Dominic LOVED the crab legs. He had Brian and I cracking them for him and we couldn't get it into his mouth fast enough. This kid loves seafood. There was a little boy his age there and they had a blast playing football all day together. We didn't end up going to the game because we were exhausted but we didn't listen to the game. We won against Rice 73 to 14. Go cougars!