Dominic is now over a week old.  It’s just so hard to believe.  He’s a pretty good little sleeper and is just a joy to hold and care for.  Life has been busy with us trying to adjust to his/our routine, which we still don’t have but are working on. I truly love being a father and there is just something amazing about when he looks up at you with his big eyes full of trust.

Here again are the set of photos from the first few days in the hospital and here’s another set with general photos which I’ll keep updating/adding to at random (if you care to, you can subscribe to the RSS feed with google reader for updates).

I’ve also put together a few clips from the first 5 days of his life:

Click here to see the video in High Definition OR if you don’t see a video in your RSS reader.

We’re still waiting for our little guy to arrive.

We had a nice 4th of July yesterday.  Early part of the day was spent watching a few movies and enjoying the AC.  Later in the evening we headed over to the Drobeck’s house to celebrate the USA’s birthday with food, bocce and fireworks.

I have many fond memories (from my younger years) spent with their family and it’s always so fun to celebrate with them.  Steve is a LOL riot and he out did himself again when he pulled out this firework the size of a bucket, I nearly peed myself I was laughing so hard!

This year we also celebrated with the newest member of their family Emma Rose. It was fun to watch her react to the festivities (once she woke up) and then to the fireworks.  I so look forward to having a baby to celebrate our upcoming holidays with family and friends.  I also look forward to helping make many joyful memories for him.

BAH!  I’m rambling and nostalgic.

Here’s the meat of the post. We did the fireworks in the backyard this year, it was nice and private feeling. I setup the camera on a tripod and let it roll to record the night’s fireworks show.  I sped up the video / time compressed it down to a little over 11 minutes.  It’s fun re-watching the 900 times I nearly burned my legs or arms, all in good fun!  This year I saved one of the dogs from jumping right into the about to erupt firework, crazy dog!

Last night after dinner and yummy s’mores, Lori, Donovan and I decided to play some Rock Band. Lori played the drums… she’s currently 39.5/40 weeks pregnant! For the grand finale song we played “Run to the Hills” which is a pretty hard song. So she played on medium and scored a 92%!

We were hoping by rocking out so hard that maybe it would encourage little Dominic to make an appearance. Apparently he likes Rock music and is still just feeling too comfortable.

I really do have the best wife ever!

Lori’s been knee deep with thank you cards and report cards since our last two showers so I will forgive her and do the update.

On Friday (May 30) Lori had her work shower and she scored a bunch of nice gifts from her co-workers. I know she’s going to miss no working with them next year but she’s also excited to team (teach) next year along with Gina at an awesome school.

Friday I went to pick up tables, chairs and spare easy-ups and spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the house to prepare for the big shower the next day.

Saturday morning I woke up with intense pain in my left shoulder and neck. I took some aleve and hit the road to Donovan’s house to pick up our shower cake. Donovan really went above and beyond and created such an awesome and thoughtful cake (three flavors) we are spoiled by his friendship! I brought the three cakes into the back and put it together. I think I did a decent job, but I’ll be sure not to quit my day job!

The shower began around 12:00. I ended up hanging outside for a while to make sure Lori wasn’t over-doing things and to help out wherever I could. The pain in my neck and shoulder SUCKED bad! So I alternated between sitting on the couch and visiting (and taking video) outside. When the shower ended I loaded up my truck and dropped off the tables, chairs and easy-ups back over to Downey (thanks Paul!)

We got a bunch of great stuff from all the showers we had and after looking at the filled up baby room I realize we are truly blessed to have such generous friends and family who care so much about our little Dominic!

Sunday I woke up with the pain still, though the spasms were nearly gone. I head over to church and began to setup the audio along with help (thanks Tim!) I had a great time mixing and it’s SO much more enjoyable with the new Aviom system.

After the second service I helped tear down, we hit some lunch and then headed off to Disneyland with a few friends. Disneyland was fun and we rode the Buzz and then sat and ate corn dogs (Lori got the winner!) at the Tomorrowland Terrace, er Club Buzz while watching the band on stage.

Here’s a (short) video of Drew, Jackson, Ellie and Bella dancing to some Elvis. Drew was getting down and was stealing the dance floor. Hopefully next week (when my Vimeo quota resets) I’ll upload a longer version because I captured some improvisational break dancing and other fun.

If you don’t see the video above, or want to see a higher quality version, Click Here.

This update felt long and Jason Parks-like but I still think he holds the records for longest blog posts!

I made a quick video from a few quick clips from recent visits of our newest (newborn) friends, Charlotte and Emma. They are both so small and cute, Dominic take note! But you’ll have to wait 18 years or so to start dating! :)