It’s been about a month since I last put up a video of Dominic and I missed his 8 month post a few weeks ago. So here is a little slice of today’s activities with Dominic.

In the last day it seems like Dominic has figured out how to babble a bunch. If you know me, you know how much I love sounds so I’ve been digging his new little noises!

Currently he does the Da Da Dah, and the whisper version where he’s moving his mouth but not much sound comes out and then he does what we call “the old man voice” or “brando voice” which is a super throaty strange noise, as if he’s gasping.

Also not shown in the video is his crawling/scooting which still resembles a butterfly stroke but he does get up onto his knees more and will take *steps* from them if something is close and he wouldn’t have enough room to do the butterfly thing.

He is a fun baby to be with and often wakes up so happy and will spend the morning playing and looking over at me and smiling. I love this little boy so much and while I look forward to him growing up I know I’m going to miss this age!

It’s been an emotional and busy few months so I’ve finally been able to process and upload new photos, here’s an album of photos from his  5 – 7 month photos

It’s so crazy looking at him now, he seems so different from that little (big) guy we brought home. He now babbles a lot when he wakes up in the morning and sometimes while he eats and at random throughout the day. He likes to do the raspberries as evidenced in the previous post’s video.

He can pull himself up pretty well and likes to stand and lean on his toys. He can’t crawl quite yet but he is getting really good at scooting around and pulling himself across the floor while on his tummy. He can also get up on his knees and he lurches forward sometimes but he hasn’t figured out how to coordinate his arms and legs to get an effective crawl.

He eats solid foods at least twice a day and we are beginning to introduce him to more bland versions of our dinners, though he’s still not quite into the texture of the ground up stuff. He plays around with his sippy cup while laying on his back on the floor and also enjoys chewing/sucking on frozen banana in a mesh strainer. He still doesn’t have his teeth but is working on them and we think we feel a few bumps on his bottom gums.

He’s still sleeping well at a very consistent 11 – 12 hours a night. He tends to take one 1.5 – 2.25 hour nap in the mid morning along with two 30 – 45 minute naps during the day and plays in between.

He is quite the happy baby and loves to smile and laugh. He seems to be developing quite a big personality and has us laughing often throughout the day. We are very blessed to have him in our lives, he’s quite the super baby!

Even baby gowns have that pesky problem of catching a draft, though he didn’t seem to mind.

Today he had 3 shots, and didn’t even cry for the first one and minimally cried for the next two.  He checked out well and his current stats are: His weight is 20 lbs 2 oz which means he’s slowed down a bit but is still in the low 90%. His head size is 18” or the mid 90%  His height is a little over 29” which puts him off the charts (above 100%).

We both felt his weight had slowed down and have recognized his height as he often has to wear clothing a few months ahead of him, so we weren’t too surprised.  He’s been cleared to move on to next stage foods and soon enough on to real food.  He will have to go back in a month to get the second part of his Flu Vaccination and then his next set of shots will be at 1 year old.  So for 9 months he’ll just go in to visit with the doctor and get measured and weighed.

Christmas was fun this year with Dominic and I can’t wait until next year when he’s more aware.  I finished editing through and uploading our Christmas Eve and Morning/Day photos.  I took way to many photos and now I feel bad for always giving the shutter heavy photographers a bad time at the award shows for overshooting :)

What is our little guy doing now?

He loves to smile and laugh at us.  He has discovered the jumper in the last few weeks and loves to jump and often stays in there for a long time (which allows us to get chores done).  He’s rolling over pretty good now and even back again.  He is starting to be entertained more and little less dependent on us always holding him.  Dominic likes to explore our faces and grab hair, necklaces, noses, chins, cheeks…  He’s still an AMAZING sleeper at night and sometimes during the day will take longer than 45 minute naps!

Though we have our moments of difficulty, Dominic and I do pretty well on our days together.  I really enjoy being able to spend time with him and watching him grow up.  He is a fun little guy and I think he’ll only get more fun and funny, I suspect he’ll have quite the funny personality!

His health has been good, he did get sick the week of Halloween with a cough but it didn’t seem to bother him much after a few days.  Yesterday was his 4 month checkup which also came with 3 shots!

His current stats are: 18lbs 10oz & 27” long so that puts him still in the 95 percentile and though he’s large he’s growing very proportional!  The doctor said he appears as large as the average 8 month old child and I would have to agree!

Here’s a quick video montage of some 2 – 4 month Dominic activities.

On a side note, I looked back and see that Dominic’s really stifled the blog posting (deal with it), this will be the 18th post in the last 4 months! Though we haven’t blogged much in the last 4 months, I try to keep up with posting photos and you can always visit flickr to get your fix of new Dominic Content!

Tonight was out first Halloween with Dominic.  Though he had no idea what was going on and he also wasn’t feeling 100% well, he did great dressed as Chewbacca!  We trick or treated in Los Alamitos, where our Bug-A-Boo was being held.  It was a fun event and we had a blast, the Platt’s really know how to have a fun time.  We really look forward to next year when he can toddle around!

Here are a few photos from Pa’s Pumpkin Patch in Long Beach.  He didn’t last very long there (also not feeling well) but he hung in long enough for a few cute photos.

Dominic is still doing very well in the area of bodily growth. I’m estimating his weight is now up to 250 – 275. Ok, so not that much but I’m sure he’s pushing 20! We don’t go for another 3 weeks to see his Dr. for a check up so we don’t know the official “weigh in” at the moment. Care to place any bets? I’m guessing “HUGE.” :) He fits nicely in 3-6 month clothing but a lot of his pants are getting too short because my boy is already itching to be a basketball player! I have already pulled out his 6 month pants because he’s so long! What happened to my LITTLE baby???

Along with growing physically, Dominic is learning all sorts of new tricks! In the last month he has learned how to laugh, which in turn, makes mommy and daddy crack up as well! He has learned that his hands are the best snack a boy could ask for AND he has learned that he doesn’t need a pacifier – his bottom lip is just as good! Seriously, not only does he like to eat his hands but he also eats his face! Crazy baby!

Laughing at Mommy!	Bottom lip? What bottom lip? Oh, that one. Oh, well I ate it.
mmmmmm, hands!

He has really started to “wake up” to the world by grabbing at toys, smiling at people, and staring for countless minutes on end at a little nothing of a spot…. this is when he turns into “Cave baby.” When he finds something to study he starts to make little grunts over and over and just stares. Its hysterical! We expect to find primative cave paintings on the side of his crib any day now. We’ll keep you posted.

Angelo and I are also enjoying the coming of the holidays now that we have our little boy. Halloween is still a few days away and we have already been having loads of fun. Last week we attended a Harvest Party thrown by Chris and Leanne. We had lots of fun – depite mommy not feeling good.  Dominic had a good time watching all of the kids run around and I had fun having adult conversation with some great friends.

… and this is his deer in the head lights impression…

On Saturday, we went to Erin’s (Don’s sister) Halloween party and had a really good time catching up with Erin who is having a baby in February – a little boy! YES! Finally another boy for Dom to play with! Poor guy is surrounded by the ladies… I’m sure he wont mind in 16 years or so. :) At the party Dominic got to show off his Halloween costume! He was a big hit posing as his favorite wookie, Chewbacca!

Cutest. Wookie. EVAH!

All in all our little boy getting more fun everyday! Pretty soon he’ll start on solids – sitting up – walking – going to college… man oh man. Dominic, PLEASE slow down! Mommy can’t take you growing up so fast!

Oh, remember Maggie? Yeah, our beloved cat seems to think we’ve forgotten her. We find her in this position all the time. Kitty prosac, anyone?

nobody likes me anymore, they all only like the kitten. Stupid kitten.

Friday night, I picked some Basil from the garden (the plants have really taken off) so I decided to make some pesto.  Lori went out and visited/had drinks with her ex-co workers while I watched Dominic.  After she returned home I cooked lemon and pepper chicken breast and made Linguine and covered it with that fresh tasty pesto I made.

Saturday was a big day.  I woke up, fed Dominic and the pulled out the fall decorations from the (meth)shed before the day got to hot.  Next I ran over to Lowes to get a few wire cages to help train some of the plants that have exploded!  The big activity for the day was the Jack FM concert.  I met up with Rich, Rob and Tim and we left for Irvine.  We stopped at The Spectrum for lunch and said hi to Greg and Amy who were also heading over to the concert.

We arrived at the venue, it wasn’t crowded.  We didn’t have the best seats but they were pretty well centered terrace seats.  The plan was to basically just get into the venue and then I’d work to get us better seats as I’ve had much luck in the past.

The first band was billed as ???? they turned out to be “The Lowrider Band” they sucked and played 3 songs, one being “Lowrider” something else and “Why can’t we be friends”  The stage spun and next we had The Psychedelic Furs, I like the band and it was nice to see them but there was something just not right with the lead singer, either he was sick and was lacking the power/energy or the sound engineers had some silly compression on his voice.

The stage spun and next we had Twisted Sister!  They were awesome and they played in full makeup. The entire audience was singing “We’re not going to take it” over and over, they are very good showmen and had the crowd sing a reprise, lots of fun! Up next was Blondie.  During her set I decided to work for seat upgrades as I had seen blondie 9 or 10 years ago at The El Ray theater and I figured this set/experience wouldn’t touch it.

I had a great time working for upgrades it reminded me of the excitement of peak concert going years and I did quite well.  I ended up with 8 lodge seats (scattered about) and 4 Orchestra seats, 1 Orchestra pit seat and 2 backstage passes.  Rob and I went backstage and were happy to find the Archie’s ice cream truck which is at most Devo / Mothersbaugh events.  After some free ice cream, laughing at the drunk people, saying silly things for JackFM on camera and REO LAME WAGON finishing their set, we headed to our seats.

Rich and I ended up taking the 3rd row seats while Rob and Tim took the seats about 10 rows behind us on the other side.  I forgot how loud it was near the stage luckily we spotted the security lead and asked for ear plugs.  Billy Idol was up next and he was great!  The last band was DEVO.  Though there were technical glitches (the sound crew was out to lunch or off the clock and the one guy just couldn’t figure it out) I still enjoyed the DEVO set and I maintain I could easily easily see them once a year and be happy.

I got home from the concert and noticed that Lori had put up the fall decorations.  I couldn’t sleep so I got up drank some water and looked at what she did.  I had a great day but I totally missed Lori and Dominic.

Today we got up and went to church, good message and great worship today and then came home right after as we were both beat!  Lori took a nap while I hung with Dominic.

For dinner, I had a few roma tomatoes so I picked some Basil (I’m an addict when I have it fresh) and made a Bruschetta relish then I grilled some salt/pepper/oil bread and steaks on the grill steamed some mixed veggies.  The Bruschetta relish was very tasty and topped the steak and the bread well.

Tonight was the premeier of Little Britian USA on HBO.  I’ve been excited for this show for a few months now and I found it to be very funny but extremly crude/lewd, so be warned!  Right now I’m winding down the eveing with a nice glass of scotch and enjoying the sweet scent of whatever Lori is baking while Dominic is hanging out on his activity mat.  It’s about time for the Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family guy premieres and then bed.

Life is pretty good!

So, what’s been going on in my life you ask? Welllllll, let’s see….

I’ve been enjoying my little guy more and more each day. Dominic and I are getting into a nice groove and I can actually say that we’ve had days where he cries very little. I can honestly say that I do not remember what life was like with out him. I know that it was ‘easier’ to do day to day stuff, like I still haven’t figured out how to get all of the house work done with a baby to tend to. Ah well… I guess you will have to just deal with my messy house for now. So, although my old life was easier, my new life is a whole lot more meaningful. I feel so lucky to have Dominic. You know, my whole life I’ve hated my body. I mean, really really hated it (Ok, I still do). But, now I feel this feeling of gratitude to this body… It created my son after all, and that’s pretty awesome.

3 weeks ago I also went back to work. I was surprised that it wasn’t that hard to go back. I guess since I am only working 50%, it doen’t feel so painful to leave Dominic in the morning. I am now working with Gina and I really love it. I think we are a good team if I do say so myself. I have a lot to learn about the world in first grade. Boy-o is it different than fourth. I like it a whole lot more, but it is a lot more work in many ways. I appreciate the wonderful patience that Gina has because she is having to be my “master teacher” until I get the hang of my new job. But, everyday is getting easier and I love the fact that I never work more than 2 days in a row!

Dominic came to help Mommy get her classroom ready... he's slackin' on the job!

Plus, since I have to work 2 or 3 days a week, Angelo gets to be Mr. Mom. I know he has his moments where he wishes I was home to take over, but I know that he’ll get the hang of it and learn to enjoy every minute. I’ll tell you what though… people would be a lot more happy if they only had to work a couple of days a week! I no longer wake up hating the world! It still hasnt completely sunk in though..  I mean… I can go shopping and run errands during the week when no ones there??? Sweet!  I have moment when I’m playing with Dominc for over and hour and think… “I probably should be doing something…” and then I realize that I AM doing what I’m supposed to be doing… playing and bonding and LOVING my son. God is so awesome. What a blessing he gave me.

Daddy is still Dominics favorite ride

We have been enjoying our Disneyland passes once again. When I was in the later stages of pregnancy, the idea of walking (ok waddling) through a huge theme park in warm weather was the LAST thing I wanted to do so we havent used them all that much in a while. Well, 2 weeks ago we decided to take Dominic to the Happiest Place on Earth. We have since gone another 3 times and he has done so well. He likes to look at all of the lights and then we he’s had enough, he promptly passes out. He rocks.

Mommy and Dominic at DCA

Tomorrow we are getting our carpet cleaned and I’m very excited! It’s funny how things like this make you happy when you grow up. I mean really, having the carpet cleaned makes me happy? I’m old.

After the carpet is done I get to follow Rachel and decorate for Fall! I love decorating the house for the holidays! And this is the first time that we get to share it with another little person! I want Dominic to grow up in a house filled with fall leaves, garland, pumpkins, and the smell of apples and cinnamon. Also, nothing makes a house feel more welcoming and warm than a nice wreath on the front door! Oh I am so excited! I also hope to take this whole “getting into Fall” thing a little further and go apple pickin’. I used to go to Oak Glen with my best friend and her family and loved it. The whole place smelled like apple pie and you could buy pumpkins and apples to your hearts content. I think that would be a cool family tradition…. we’ll see if it happens.

Halloween is also right around the corner and for Dominic’s first Halloween he will dress as Chewbacca! We found the costume months ago… I believe around the time we found out he was gonna be a boy and have been looking forward to him wearing it ever since. Of course he wont know any different and probably will nod off during the nightly festivities, but his parents will think he’s pretty cool.

Well, I should go to bed. Today I came down with my first cold in MONTHS and I’m sure Dominic will not escape it and I feel horrible about that. I know how much I hate being sick, I can’t imagine being a little (or in his case a HUGE) baby and not know how to deal with it. I’m sure I’m in for some fun times ahead….  Pray that he can make it through without catching my germs! Fat chance….

Ok, I’m out…