The Rinaldi Family

A visit with Santa

2010-12-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

We took Dom to visit Santa for the first time. While we were in line he was so excited to meet the big man himself, but once it was actually his turn he got a bit nervous. He was very stiff on Santa's lap until Santa read him a Christmas story, then he was happy to be there.

Fire station visit

2010-10-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

One of the fire stations in Sunnyvale was having an open house where kids could ride and explore fire trucks, shoot water from the fire hose and play in the fire house. Our friend Itay and his son joined us at the firehouse. Here are some fun pics from the day.

Fun at Grammy's house

2010-09-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple cute videos from today.

Dom is our little cowboy and loves to ride the pony when he visits Grammy. Yee-ha!

He also had his first experience with karaoke...watch out he loves the microphone!

Playdate in the park

2010-09-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

Today we had a playdate with our friend Leslie and her son Peyton. Leslie and I spent most of our time across the park from each other chasing the boys, hardly getting anytime to catch up with one another. Our playdates have completely changed! I remember our first day in the park with the boys, we got to sit on a blanket, talking AND eating lunch. Our boys are busy little guys exploring everything!

Dom loved driving the car

18 Month Checkup

2010-09-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

We saw Dr. Blaustein for Dom's well check today. As we suspected, he is developing great. This is our last checkup with Dr. Blaustein until he is two; our little baby is growing up!

Here are our little peanut's growth results:
Height: 31.5 inches
Weight: 22lbs
Head circumference: 50cm

Dominic had a little bit of a cold at this appointment so we had to push back the vaccinations for a couple weeks. We also want to get him reweighed since he hadn't gained much weight since his last checkup.

Fun with cousins!

2010-07-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

This has been a really fun week for us, Dom got to spend a lot of time with his cousins! Kier, Conner, Hunter and Keenan came down for a few days to visit and celebrate Hunter and Conner's 13th birthday. We spent a day a the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, saw Jordan's summer camp play, went to ice cream and hung out in Half Moon Bay. By the end of their visit Dom and I were exhausted from all of the action!

Dom wanted Grammy to hold him most of the day.

Buddies :)

Conner, Hunter & Jordan waiting for the Mission Impossible laser game

Kier & Keenan snuggling

Grammy, Dominic & Keenan

Jordan & Conner were the only brave ones to ride the Double Shot...

The end of the ride...

Keenan and 'his little clone' at Grammy's house

Rinaldi fest!

2010-07-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

We went up to Ashland, OR for a long weekend with the Rinaldis. It was great getting to see everyone, it had been a long time! We got to see El Grandre, Noni, Aunt Danielle, Great Grandma Adel and Great Grandpa John, Great Aunt Bonnie and Great Uncle John, and Nicole. That's right, 11 Rinaldis in a small town! Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures of the weekend.

We spent most of Friday exploring downtown Ashland; then met up with the rest of the family in the evening for dinner. Saturday we went wine tasting and then off to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house for a BBQ. Since it was a long drive, we headed home on Sunday morning. Dominic was such a great trooper on the long drive. He slept the entire way up and for a couple of hours on the way home.

Sitting on Great Grandpa's lap

Danielle, Adel, Star & Nicole working in the kitchen

This was the first time Dominic stayed in a hotel; he LOVED it. He had so much fun running all over the place and exploring every inch of the room.

Looking at the creek after breakfast

Cute little guy :-)

2010-07-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Gymboree

2010-07-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

I've been taking Dom to Gymboree for some classes this month. He loves playing on all of the equipment and meeting the other little kids in the class. Just in the past few classes he has become really confident climbing all over the slides, ramps, tunnels and other things. So far one of his favorite parts of the class is drumming to music on the giant tube.

Here he is playing on the mini trampoline.

A message for Daddy...

2010-07-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day hanging out together. We played at Cuesta Park and then headed to our friend's house for a BBQ. Dom was asleep before it was dark so we missed the fireworks, but he'll definitely see them next year!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-07-01T22:13:00.001-07:00

We spent Father's Day together, just the three of us. We went to a random indian lunch in Palo Alto, then Gabe got to watch an autocross and we had a fun walk around our neighborhood. Here are some pics from the day...

Photoshoot for Father's Day

2010-06-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

I took Dom in to get his portrait taken to surprise Gabe for Father's Day. We got a lot of cute shots, I was too excited to show Gabe I couldn't wait for Sunday. Here are some of our favorites...

Swimming with Daddy

2010-06-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally warm enough for us to enjoy our pool! Gabe took Dominic swimming today, this was only the second time he had been in the pool (the first being his lesson which he hated). This time around was completely different, he LOVED it! Gabe eased him into everything including dipping under water. Dom had so much fun he was even trying to blow bubbles! Since Dom had so much fun today, we'll be spending many days at the pool this summer :)

Before the swimming fun

Playing with Daddy

Floating on Daddy

He loves being tossed in the air!

Dom is never too busy to point out an airplane!

Getting warm and cozy after the pool

Words...

2010-06-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday while I was driving, Dominic was playing with one of his cell phones; this phone talks and sings to him while lights flash. The phone said, "call Grandpa" in which he said "ampa" and repeated a couple more times. This totally took me by surprise because we haven't been working on that word with him. Later that day I was telling Gabe the story and Dom said it again. Then today when I was on the phone with Grandpa, Dom saw his picture on my phone and repeated 'ampa' again. I guess he knows who his ampa is :)

Other words he has said are:
dada
mama
apple
cracker
highchair
hi
bye
kick

A trip to Granite Bay

2010-05-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

Now that we have had a successful trip to SD, we are now feeling more comfortable with the idea of spending the night away from home. We made a quick trip up to GB to visit Kier, Conner, Hunter, Brandon and Keenan for Brandon's 9th birthday. It was great hanging out and watching the boys play together. Dom had a few firsts while we were up there, he got to play in the sprinklers, go on a Slip 'n Slide and "jump" on a trampoline; Auntie Kier has such a great yard!

It was great seeing everyone, too bad our visit was so short. We look forward to seeing them all again soon! Dom loves his big cousins :)

The birthday boy lighting his candle.

Keenan (6) and Brandon (9)

Chillin' with Daddy

Dancin' and fun

2010-05-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

Hiking at Rancho

2010-05-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

After our friend's Itay and Brooke bought a hiking backpack for their son Aiden, we decided it would be fun to get one too. We had our maiden voyage with Dom's new backpack at Rancho San Antonio today. Dom had a great time being up high on Daddy's back, he had a great view of everything.

We were out for a few hours which was a good amount of time to break in the backpack and realize that it's not as comfortable as we had hoped. I was the lucky water girl, but Gabe was the pack mule with about 40 pounds of loot including our little man.

Starting our hike...

We saw many creatures including bunnies, deer, gofers, squirrels and a baby rattlesnake.

All this hiking was tiring for a little guy, he's starting to zone out.

Perfect time for an afternoon nap on Daddy.

All in all it was great to spend the day outside in the beautiful weather and Gabe got in a good workout!

Happy Hollow & My Birthday

2010-05-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my 30th birthday by going to Happy Hollow today. It was great having Gabe join us at the park. Dom got to show Daddy how much fun he has on the rides, in the zoo and petting the animals. Here are a few fun shots from the day.

Dom riding in the fire truck, he loved ringing the bell and steering the car.

Now that Dom can walk he had even more fun with the goats. He walked into the coral confidently and ready to touch as many goats as he could.

Feeding the goat some hay...

Sitting in goat poop...

First trip to San Diego!

2010-05-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun going to visit Grandma Lela and JB in San Diego! It was quite the adventure for all of us, we decided last minute (5:30pm the night before our flight) to cancel our flights and make the 7 hour drive down to SD. We quickly packed up all of our stuff, got Dom ready for bed and then jumped in the car. Luckily we ended up missing all traffic going down and made great time. Dom was a trooper and slept the entire way.

Once we were in Cardiff, we had fun exploring the area, finding cool local parks, hanging at the beach and most importantly celebrating Mother's Day. Saturday we had lunch and checked out a couple parks in Solana Beach and Del Mar. On Mother's Day we took Dom for a walk around Cardiff, had a nice lunch, played at the park and had a great dinner prepared by JB. Monday we took Dom to Cardiff Beach where he got to play in the sand. I'd been looking forward to watching our little guy walk along the ocean.

Park in Solana Beach...

Park in Del Mar...

Getting to play at Cardiff Beach...

Another fun thing Dom discovered on this visit was Grandma and JB's fountain; he couldn't get enough of it! Every time he would catch a glimpse of the fountain from in the house he would walk to the door and try to get out. We couldn't even have his highchair face the door because he would freak out and want to go out to play. He played in the fountain a lot on our visit.

14 Months Old!

2010-05-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

Kim & Aaron's wedding

2010-05-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend we attended our friends, Kim and Aaron's wedding. We were happy to be able to be a part of such a special day in their lives.

Getting ready in the car before the ceremony... I love the little man shirt.

Daddy and Dominic are ready for the festivities...

Dom was a great wedding guest, he didn't make much noise at all during the ceremony, instead he played on the grass near Daddy.

Cheers to the happy couple!

We've got a walker!

2010-04-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

For the past few months Dom has been "cruising" around on our furniture. In the last month all of his practice has come in handy and he started taking steps here and there without holding onto anything. Tonight for the first time he was really walking! Here is a video showing his new skill.

8 teeth!

2010-04-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Dom's bottom tooth finally popped out!

Our first "Roller coaster"

2010-04-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

Dom and I met up with our friends Brooke and Aiden today at Happy Hollow. Happy Hollow is an amusement park with a petting zoo which is perfect for little guys. Dom and Aiden were big boys and rode on two different rides, one with fire trucks and police cars and another with bugs. The boys loved the car ride the best so they got to ride it a couple of times.

Dom in the police car...

Aiden liked the fire truck the best...

Not only did the boys go on the rides, they tore it up on the playground, checked out the animals in the big zoo and played with the goats in the petting zoo. All in all it was a fun day for everyone :).

Swim Lessons

2010-04-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Today we joined our friends Leslie and her son Peyton for a swim lesson. I was really excited to see how Dom would like being in a pool since he loves his bath. Unfortunately they are completely different and he cried pretty much the entire 25 minute lesson. Poor little guy was very overwhelmed being in a pool with a lot of kids swimming around in other lessons. Unfortunately it wasn't a great fit for us so we decided to pass on this round of swim lessons. Now that the weather is getting warm, we'll get him in the pool again soon.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

This is Dominic's second Easter! We went to brunch at the Woodside Pub with Grammy, Uncle Todd, Aunt Rachel and Jordan. Since it was raining, we had a little Easter egg hunt in the house; Dom had fun finding the eggs throughout the living room.

Daddy Bird

2010-03-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

Gabe came up with a creative way to feed Dom animal crackers.

First birthday party!

2010-03-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

Dominic's first birthday party was a huge success. Thanks to all of our family for making the long trip to be here and our friends for coming. This was a special day for us and as we sang happy birthday I surprised myself by getting a little teary eyed. I didn't expect to be a little emotional, but I guess it's just because its been an amazing year and our little baby is growing up.Dom did great today. He was a bit overwhelmed at first but enjoyed being the center of a lot of everyone's attention. He played with his cousins and little friends and meet his Great Aunt Bonnie, Great Uncle John and Great Aunt Patty for the first time.

Dom wasn't sure what to think about getting a room full of people singing to him...

To go with the alphabet zoo theme of the party, here is the special lion cake that Grammy made for Dom. This was the first time he'd ever had any sort of dessert.

At first he didn't know what to do with it...

After a little "help" from mommy on his nose, Dom dug in and liked the frosting...yum!

The aftermath...

12-month checkup

2010-03-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

Today Dom had his 12-month checkup. All in all he is doing great (which we already suspected). His stats are as follows:
Head: 49 cm, 98th percentile
Length: 29.25 inches, ~35th percentile
Weight: 20lbs, 10oz, ~20th percentile

Hopefully by his next appointment in three months we can pack some more weight on our little peanut.

He caught on to what happens at the doctor's office...shots. Poor little guy was freaked out from the beginning of the appointment when we undressed him to get measured. At the end of the appointment he got two more shots (HIB and PCV). I can't wait until we have an appointment without vaccinations, it's so hard to watch him be miserable.

Happy Birthday Dominic!!!

2010-03-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes!

11 months, 3 weeks and 6 days old!

2010-03-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

Wow, to think, this time last year I was in labor and we were getting ready to head to Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City. My how our lives have been changed in an amazing way! It's been fun to reminisce today about the adventures in parenthood we've already experienced this year with Dominic.

Since balloons are one of Dom's favorite things, Gabe brought home a HUGE balloon to celebrate his birhday (a little early). Dom will have a lot of fun with it for quite awhile.

Where's Dominic???

There here is...peekaboo!!!

One more week until the big ONE!!!

2010-02-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T21:29:00.001-08:00

Today was Dominic's first Valentine's Day. He was a really good little guy and actually slept through the night until 6am; which we can't remember the last time he has done that. We were really happy about his gift to us because we got to celebrate our V-day on Saturday night by going to a nice dinner in Los Gatos while Grammy babysat.

I wanted to get Dom some sort of festive shirt for Valentine's Day but everything I could find was extremely girly and generally pink. This shirt was the best one I could find that was somewhat "manly;" sorry Dom, it's still kinda girly but you look really cute :)

Another event that happened today that wasn't so fun was Dom got his first bloody lip. I think he was trying to make up for his shirt by looking tougher with a cut lip.

Some other photos from today...
Good shot of all of his teeth

He looks just like Daddy in this shot

Look I'm on one leg!!

Fun with bubbles

2010-02-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

Since one of Dom's favorite activities at the Little Gym was to play with bubbles we decided to buy a bubble machine.

We've got a stander!

2010-02-10T21:10:00.001-08:00

Dominic is getting more confident in his mobility. He's been able to stand on his own for a few seconds; today he was able to do it for more like 15 seconds. Dom's getting so strong and growing up so fast, before we know it he'll be walking all over the place!

11 months old!

2010-02-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Dom got a balloon for his 11 month birthday. This is only his third balloon ever, but he can't get enough. He dragged this balloon all over the house until the air was pretty low and it just mysteriously disappeared one night after he went to bed. He will have a TON of balloons at his birthday party!

I know I've said this a lot, but I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Our little baby is turning into such a little boy before our eyes. Everyday he is changing and learning new things, becoming more independent, trying to communicate, crawl, stand, cruise on the furniture and so many more things. We are so lucky to have this amazing little man in our lives. We love him so much!

Dom's first car

2010-01-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

We bought this cool little car for Dom which he LOVES!

He's already picking up bad habits from mommy, driving on the phone (I'm getting better!)

Last day at the Little Gym

2010-01-21T21:46:00.000-08:00

Today was Dominic's graduation from his class at the Little Gym; he no longer is a Bug, now he will be a Bird. Daddy was able to join us for this class so Dom could show him all the tricks he has learned over the past 5 months. As usual, all of the little kids had so much fun together.

Even though Dom loved the Little Gym we decided to not enroll him in the next semester. We want to expose him to as many different classes and activities as we can. His next classes will probably be music and swimming. I'm sure we'll be back to the Little Gym in the future.

Here are some fun shots from the day.

Circle time with Daddy

Climbing up to the balance beam

Daddy attempting to do a somersault on the balance beam (much harder than you think!)

Crawling through the doughnut

Our little 'Muscle Man' hangin' tough!

Fun with Daddy on the air mat

Mid-somersault

Some of his little friends from the class...

Yeah, bubble time!

I love the Little Gym!

Some cute photos from this month

2010-01-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

6 Teeth!

2010-01-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

All Dominic wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth. They didn't come in by the time Santa arrived, but they made it for the new year! On new year's day Dom woke up with his two front teeth and his other front fang. With his new teeth have come a lot of very funny expressions including an under bite and a pouty look.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

We brought in the new year with a nice homemade dinner and a couple of friends. On new year's day Dominic cut his other three front teeth. With the addition of three new teeth Dominic has learned to make some really funny faces. This is his pouty face; he's actually in a good mood here.

Our Little Elf

2009-12-23T22:01:00.000-08:00

Just a few days before Christmas and we are so excited!

Little guy exploring the tree...

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

2009-12-11T21:53:00.000-08:00

My friend Jessica came over with this awesome Santa suit. I couldn't resist putting Dom in it and taking some pics!

Little Gym Friends

2009-12-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

Dominic absolutely loves going to his Little Gym class. It's amazing to see how much he has developed since his first class. He went from crying during most of the first class doing tummy time and rolling around to crawling, hanging from bars, forward/backward rolls, making friends, and overall LOVING the class. His favorite part of the class is when they bring out the balls and bubbles.

Here are some shots with his buddies from the class.

Dom and Billy on the parallel bars...

Prince Charming standing at the bar...

All of the kids LOVE eating the jump ropes...

Playing with the hoops with Billy and Tate...

Dominic's friend Aspen gives him kisses now at all of the classes...

Hanging with Bella and Eli...

I love the Little Gym!!

Dominic loves to swing!

2009-12-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to take Dom to the park. He had so much fun crawling on the grass and in the swing.

9 Months Old!!!

2009-12-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

We can't believe that Dominic has been with us for 9 months already! We were talking today about how fast time has flown by. We have been having so much fun with him, each day he shows us more of his awesome personality and makes us smile and laugh. He is such a sweet loving little guy who likes to cuddle and give us kisses. It has been so fun watching him explore the world and go through so many first experiences. He is crawling like a champion, pulling himself up on anything he can, babbling up a storm, and is just starting to clap.

Today we had Dom's 9 month checkup. Unfortunately he now recognizes the doctor's office and immediately started crying when we went into the exam room; he knows this is where the shots take place. He is now 28 inches long (45 percentile), 19 pounds (25 percentile) and has a head circumference of 47.5 centimeters (95 percentile). We have proof that he's a smart little guy with his big brain :). At this visit, we learned we need to up his food intake and can be more adventurous in what we're giving him. So far he has been easy to please with food, hopefully this trend will continue.

After the appointment we went to Whole Foods to get more food for Dominic to try. This was the first time he got to ride in a shopping cart, which he loved. He had so much fun grabbing everything I was putting into the cart.

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

This was Dominic's first Thanksgiving. Grandma Lela and JB came up to celebrate with us this year. We all went over to Grandpa Ron and Gram Gram Joan's house. It was a full house this year, in addition to all of us, there were Joan's two daughters Lizzie and Sara, Sara's husband Kerouac and their two children Miles and Radley. As always the food was really good and so was the company. Dominic tried turkey for the first time and really seemed to like it. Now that we know he likes meat, he'll be having a lot more of it :)!

He had some special treats waiting for him at his highchair. This highchair has been used by me, my dad and my uncle, so it has a lot of history behind it.

A Visit from GG

2009-11-23T21:27:00.000-08:00

Dominic's Great Granny (GG) came down to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday and got to meet him for the first time. Dominic is the youngest of over 15 great grandchildren. He has been really lucky to have gotten to meet four of his great grandparents!

A Tooff!

2009-11-19T11:47:00.001-08:00

Dom has been teething for the past few weeks; he's been drooling a lot and gnawing on everything. We noticed this morning that he cut his first tooth on the bottom right side! I'm sure his other bottom one will be here within a few days. It looks like he will get all six of his teeth around the same time; his gums are really swollen and you can see his four "ghost teeth" on the top and the second one on the bottom.

Unfortunately Dominic isn't letting us see his tooth very often so we haven't been able to take a picture of it yet.

Another Fun Visit

2009-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

This week we had a visit from El Grandre Bo, Noni Star and Aunt Danielle. This was the first time Dominic got to meet his Noni, they had a good time bonding together. It had been many months since Danielle and Bo had seen Dominic and he has changed A LOT. He showed off all his newly acquired skills like crawling, pulling himself up on things, climbing the stairs and many more.
The visit was short but we had fun, hopefully we'll see them again soon.

Grandre feeding Dominic his dinner...

Snuggling with Danielle...

Dom vs. the cow

2009-11-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's funny, about a week ago I pulled out this toy cow that vibrates and moves across the floor and Dominic was terrified of it. He would hide in our arms and start to cry, poor little guy. Now has become more brave and LOVES his cow. He's played with it so much that we've already had to replace the batteries!

8 Months Old Today!

2009-11-02T22:16:00.001-08:00

Today Dom and I went to Half Moon Bay to visit Grammy. It was an absolutely beautiful day in the 80's; such a treat in November! Dom had a great time getting into EVERYTHING in Grammy's house; it's amazing how busy he is now. He is such a little explorer.

Here he is sitting in our childhood rocking chair that was originally Kier's and then mine...it's just his size.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

This year we celebrated Halloween the day before at a small party. Dominic was a little lobster, Gabe was an 80's hair band member and I was a devil. Dom did really well in his costume (surprisingly) and he also liked to try on parts of our costumes.

The costume didn't even stop Dom from practicing his crawling...

Cute little devil...

Baby rocker...

We've got a crawler!!!

2009-10-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Dom has been doing his "commando crawl" for a while now, but today he officially became a legitimate crawler! We've been using our cell phones as motivation...uhoh he already loves phones :).

A new gymnast, a yogi or ???

2009-10-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

When he gets bigger we'll be putting him in gymnastics for sure :).

Oh how things change...

2009-10-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Before Dominic was born I told Gabe I didn't want our house to be taken over by baby stuff, I still wanted it to be an adult home. Seven months later our house has completely transformed to Baby Land. Now we have a Jumperoo, high chair, play pen, gymnastics mat (with another one on the way) and toys galore. This week I took away his gym because he is over it and would rather roll out of it and try to play with the lamp or speakers instead. To add to our colorful kid friendly house will be three gates as well as something to keep him away from the tv. Our house will never be the same, in a VERY good way :).

More food!

2009-10-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

As always the days are busy with new adventures and developments in Dom's life. He has tried a variety of vegetables and fruit along with his rice cereal. He seems to really like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans and pears; he's not a fan of avocado. To my surprise just to prove once again he is my son, he doesn't like bananas! I was surprised by this one since pretty much every kid loves bananas; we'll try it again at a later time. He's now on apple sauce which he seems to like.

Pumpkins

2009-10-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

We took Dominic to Half Moon Bay for his first pumpkin. We met up with Grammy and our friends Brooke, Itay and their son Aiden.

Dominic was the cutest little skeleton at the pumpkin patch. Here Daddy was trying to blend in with the pumpkins.

Mommy was a little too creative with the pumpkin.

We had fun at the pumpkin patch, not only did they have pumpkins, there was a petting zoo, pony rides and a train ride. Unfortunately Dom was too little for most of the activities but he did get to ride the train with Daddy, Itay and Aiden.

Since Aiden is older than Dominic he was able to do some of the other fun stuff like ride a pony and play in the pumpkins; he seemed like he had a good time.

Grammy was very happy that we came to the beach to get the pumpkins.

Next year will be even more fun since Dominic will be old enough to do all of the fun stuff at the pumpkin patch!

Mover and shaker

2009-10-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Dominic has become VERY mobile in the past few weeks. He is still on the early stages of crawling but he gets around all over our living room and anywhere else we let him roam. Gabe and I are in the process of figuring out what gates to get for the house; it has become a bigger project than we imagined.

Dom is definitely all boy, he gravitates toward anything technology related - iPhones, computers, remotes and tv components. The way he started his "crawling" was by putting our iPhone out of reach on the floor, this was enough motivation for him to cruise over to the phone.

He has been working on his baby yoga skills; for an added challenge he tried to drink from his sippy cup.

More Fun at the Little Gym

2009-09-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today was Dominic's fourth session at the Little Gym! For a special treat Daddy was able to join us for most of the class.

There has been much progress since his first experience there; he actually likes it and doesn't cry (for the most part) during the class! The key I've discovered is as long as he's had his naps and eaten before the class we're golden...go figure :). So far his favorite activities are playing with the bubbles, balls and getting to explore the different fun things to climb on.

Homemade Baby Food

2009-09-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

I have ventured into making Dominic most of his baby food. The other day I made my first batch of sweet potatoes and butternut squash. The blended mush looks EXACTLY the same in the freezer, luckily I labeled them!

Today Dom tried butternut squash and gave it a thumbs up. Once again he helped feed himself and for the rest of the day I was scrubbing orange remnants off of his face.

A Visit from Grandma & JB

2009-09-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Grandma Lela and JB came for a visit. Lela hadn't seen Dominic since he was 6 weeks old so he was obviously a lot bigger and had a lot of new tricks to show her. We had a fun weekend hanging out, introducing Dom to peas, going to Palo Alto, Villa Montalvo and downtown Los Gatos. We enjoyed having them here and Dom loved the extra attention.

More Peas Please

2009-09-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Dom tried his first vegetable today, peas! He's really getting the hang of eating in the highchair and actually gets excited when we put him in it.
He wasn't too sure about the peas at first.

After the first few bites he seemed to actually like them and decided to help me feed him.

Thanks for helping Dominic!

Labor Day

2009-09-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

We had a very relaxing Labor Day and spent some time at Shoup Park.

Dominic had his first ride on the swing and seemed to like it. Once he gets a bit bigger we'll actually let the swing move :).

Yum...Rice cereal!

2009-09-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

This week we gave Dominic his first solid food, rice cereal. We didn't have the most successful feeding experience, he maybe got three bites in his mouth and the rest was all over his face. He was a good little sport, he loved sitting in his high chair and he humored me putting cereal on his face instead of in his mouth. I need to work on my feeding technique and actually wait for his mouth to be open!

After a few days my feeding skills have gotten a lot better and I'm catching him with his mouth open (what a concept!). Now Dom has caught on pretty quickly and seems to really like eating solids; he has been able to finish most of his bowl of cereal.

Next on the menu...sweet potatoes!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2009-09-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

We had Grandpa Ron and Gramgram Joan over to celebrate his 67th birthday this weekend. We finally got Grandpa in front of the the camera instead of hiding behind it...it only took 6 months!

6 Month Checkup

2009-08-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how fast time flies, today was Dom's 6 month checkup with Dr. Blaustein. He is growing well; he's 26.5 inches long (50th percentile), he weighs 17lbs 6 oz (50th percentile) and his head is 46 cm (95th percentile). So far he's taking after mommy on height and weight and has daddy's big brain :).

Now that he's 6 months old we can start him on solid foods and introduce a sippy cup! I'm going to have a lot of fun with my Beaba baby food processor :). This weekend we're going to start him off on rice cereal...yum!

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Rinaldi visit

2009-08-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Dom has been a very lucky little guy and has gotten to meet three of his four Great Grandparents already. Great Grandma and Grandpa Rinaldi came down for the weekend and got to spend some good quality time with all of us. Dom showed off all of his tricks and got in some good bonding time. We had a fun weekend getting to hang out and show them around the area.

Dom and Great Grandma Adele...

Dom and Great Grandpa John...

The Little Gym

2009-08-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dom and I went to his first class at the Little Gym. The LG is a place for kids to play on gymnastics equipment, sing songs and learn body awareness. There were four little kids including Dom ranging in age from 5 months to 9 months.

Poor Dominic had a rough time with all the new experiences (it didn't help that he didn't nap well all day). He cried and wanted to be held through most of the activities. The funny thing is even when he was crying he didn't want to miss any of the action going on. By the end of the class Dom had warmed up to it a bit and left in good spirits. We decided it will be something good for him; he can learn new skills and socialize with other little ones. We signed him up for the fall semester, now every Thursday at 1:15pm Dom will be a little 'Bug' at the Little Gym!

Visit from the Tims

2009-08-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Dominic got to meet his Great Grandpa Tim and Great Uncle Tim this past weekend. They came down for a quick trip to see us and go with Gabe to the Indy Car races in Sonoma. Even though the trip was short, it was great seeing them.

Great Uncle Tim and Dom..

Jumperoo in action

2009-08-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

We've had the Jumperoo a little over a month and Dominic now has the hang of it. Check out the video of him jumping; he built up quite a sweat from this workout!

Sitting up!!!

2009-08-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today Dom sat up for the first time on his own! He caught me by surprise, I was doing a video chat with my dad and sat Dom down beside me. He seemed pretty stable so I let go and he was actually able to support himself for a few minutes; it was awesome! He was so proud of himself, I immediately grabbed the camera to capture this exciting moment. He is working on his "tripod" pose and soon will be sitting more upright.

My Tongue!

2009-08-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Today Dom has officially found his tongue. Not only will he give us a HUGE gummy grin but now he's adding his tongue when he's super excited. For some reason today he is even happier than normal so we saw his tongue a lot...maybe it's because he's had an entire weekend to hang out with Daddy and Mommy :).

Crazy Farm Share

2009-08-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

This year we joined a local farm share and get fresh fruit and veggies once a week. This week we got a huge zucchini which we later discovered was actually a cucumber. We thought it would be a perfect toy for Dom, he had no idea what to do with it.

Playdate with Peyton and Leslie!

2009-08-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today Dom and I had fun at the park with my friend Leslie and her son Peyton (3 months old). Our playdate was very mellow, the boys laid next to each other playing with their toys. Leslie and I got to catch up and eat lunch, we know these days of just hanging out on the blanket with the boys will soon be over and before we know it we'll be chasing them all over the place.

Dom was more interested in Peyton's toys than his own and tried to steal Peyton's little pig...he's already stealing toys on the playground, sneaky little guy :).

By the end of the day Peyton and Dominic were little buddies, and a friendship was started!

5 Months Old!

2009-08-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Today is Dom's 5 month birthday, we sang happy birthday and gave him lots of extra love and kisses. He is doing so much these days! He is rolling like crazy and just started what we consider creeping this week. He's keeping us on our toes already!

Happy Birthday Grammy and Uncle Todd!

2009-08-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

Gabe, Dominic and I met up with Grammy Sue, Todd and Rachel this weekend to celebrate Grammy and Todd's birthdays. As always, Dom loved all the attention he got from everyone.

Grammy and Dominic

The birthday boy and girl

Uncle Todd and Aunt Rachel

Naked Play Time

2009-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

I know Dominic won't approve of this when he's older, but who can resist a cute naked baby photo?!?!? He loves his naked play time, if it wasn't for the fear of him peeing all over the house I'd let him do it longer during the day. Let's just say we do a lot of laundry after his play time :).

Peek A Boo!

2009-07-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Dominic has learned to play his first game today! Here is a video of us playing peek a boo with him.

Trip to San Francisco

2009-07-22T22:57:00.001-07:00

Today was Dom's first day in San Francisco! We went up to visit my friend Jessica and her son Aaron who is exactly 3 weeks older than Dom. Their "play date" wasn't very interactive with each other but it was fun watching the little guys. They enjoyed playing in Aaron's gym and staring at each other during tummy time. It will be fun to see them play with each other in the coming months!

First Day at the Beach

2009-07-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Dom and I went to Half Moon Bay to hang out with his Aunt Kier and cousins (Conner, Hunter, Brandon and Keenan). The weather was absolutely beautiful, it was a perfect day to introduce Dom to the beach.

A trip to the beach isn't complete without getting sand in your toes!

Jumperoo!!

2009-07-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

We bought Dom a Jumperoo, this is the first day he tested it out. It's very cool for Dom to play in, it spins 360 degrees, has things to play with and he can jump in it! I was more excited for it to come than Dom :) He's still a little too small for it, his feet can't touch the floor and just dangle in mid-air. He'll grow into it and get the hang of it in no time!

First UFC

2009-07-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

We decided to have people over to watch the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fights. This was the first time we've had a lot of people over since Dominic was born. He loved the extra attention from our friends before he had to go to bed. We made sure he was dressed for the occasion in his "Nap Out' shirt.

Before the fights Dom was practicing his jiu jitsu moves on his monkey.

Playing at the park

2009-07-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Dominic loves going to the park and being outside. Now he just lays on his quilt playing with his toys; before we know it he will be playing with the other kids on the playground!

4 Months Old Today!

2009-07-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

It's pretty crazy to think that Dominic is already 4 months old! He is such a happy little guy. We've really enjoyed watching him grow and all the changes he's been going through. He loves 'tummy time' and recently he has started rolling over from his tummy to his back. He gets a lot of workouts in at his play gym where he loves to "shake it, shake it, shake it!" That phrase was how we first got him to really laugh out loud.

A Visit from Great Aunt and Uncle

2009-07-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today Dominic's Great Aunt Pat and Uncle Dick came down to visit from Gridley. It was fun getting to see them and have Dom meet them for the first time. They brought him some fun gifts including this special orange giraffe which he loves, he's been wrestling with it ever since.

4 Month Checkup

2009-06-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

We were really excited for Dominic's latest doctor's appointment because we wanted to see how big our little man is getting. He was a whopping 15 pounds, 2 ounces and 25 inches long! Dom's pediatrician was very happy with how much he's grown, he's now in the 60th percentile for height and 70th for weight. We know he's got a big brain in there because his head is in the 90th percentile; luckily he's got a strong neck to support it :)

The poor little guy was having such a great time in the doctor's office, laughing and smiling until the nurse came in to give him his shots. Little guy turned so red and cried so hard, Gabe and I felt horrible for him. This was the first appointment that he has been much more aware of what's going on. He gave us a look of "what did you let them do to me?!?!?!"

Father's Day

2009-06-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Today was Gabe's first Father's Day! Dominic had on his 'I love Daddy' onesie. Gabe is an amazing father already; he is so hands on and such a proud daddy. I love watching him with Dominic, there is so much love between them.

Dom's Grandre (Bo) came down for the day to meet little guy for the first time. We had a really nice, mellow day at Shoup Park in Los Altos.

A perfect way to end a great Father's Day...