A "Short" Week

Looking as big as ever at almost 17 months old.

The big "event" that happened this week was Dominic getting another haircut.  Yes, this was his 3^rd, so not that monumental, but instead of just a little trim like the previous 2, Dominic was given a buzz cut…by Dad, who has a similar haircut to match.  Dominic’s hair has been a little wild due to the humidity and tended to get really sweaty from the summer heat.  Plus he’s overheating very easily outside due to all of that hair at least in part.  His face will literally turn red after a couple of minutes outside from the heat.  Dominic has such a thick, full head of hair that Brian was convinced buzzing it was the only solution.  I was more skeptical because I didn’t want the haircut to be a disaster.  I cried a little as Brian shaved off my baby's hair in the bathtub, but all in all, I’m okay with it now.  Dominic honestly seems much cooler with this new buzz and of course I still think he’s adorable.  At any rate, with the way Dominic's hair grows so quickly, Dominic won't have a buzz cut for long.

The haircut

Not too happy during the head shave but never cried!

Hair was everywhere!

Pretty pleased with himself here.

His hair in the trashcan after the haircut.

Last week was a 4-day work week ha…ha…ha…well, for the “professionals” out there, but for full-time moms there’s no such thing.  Every work week is 7 days.  We did some fun activities this week which included going to the pool, finger painting, going to the Sandy Springs Fun House, and making another trip to the Sprayground.    

Learning to swim to the side of the pool (still in the very early stages).

The pool is increasingly more challenging because Dominic wants to run around the deck, but he continues to do a great job learning to swim.  He’s holding his breath before he goes under, he is completely comfortable going under, loves hanging onto the wall – by himself, and is starting to learn how to kick and pull to get places in the water.  He even swims independently for a couple of seconds between my mom and me.  Hopefully, by the end of the summer he can get to the side of the pool from a foot or two away. 

Finger painting was something I’ve been planning to do with Dominic for a couple of months now.  Instead of using actual finger paints, we used pudding since I was worried about him eating the paint and dyes.  After all of that, he didn’t even stick the “paint” in his mouth.  He was rather disinterested in the whole idea of finger painting and got up and to play shortly after sitting down.  Then again, to avoid making a mess inside, I set up his outdoor table outside on the deck to paint on, so he had the temptation/interest of the backyard around him.  We’ll have to try it again soon with real toddler paints.  He needs to get ready for these artsy projects before he starts them in PMO (Parents’ Morning Out). 

Finger painting with pudding! 

He obviously preferred to get up and run around instead of finger painting.

Dominic wanted to mow the backyard. 

Look at all of his bruises.  Such a boy.

The finished art work

The Sandy Springs Fun House lived up to its name by being very fun for Dominic.  It was pretty crazy and overwhelming with so many kids playing, but I think we’ll go back after school starts again when there aren’t so many other kids there. Dominic and his friends stayed in the toddler section (a padded cell essentially).  He enjoyed playing in the ball pits, climbing on stuff, and stacking the big blocks.  However, his behavior wasn’t great as the Motrin wore off as soon as we got there, so those molars were really bothering him and making him very easily frustrated. 

Dominic and I met my friend from high school, Caroline and her adorable daughter Maddie, at the Roswell Sprayground over the weekend.  Dominic and Maddie had a ton of fun running around, but it was a little too crowded this time.  This time Dominic wore water shoes (I broke down and bought him the least dorky ones I could manage to find) and didn’t slip at all.  He did, however, get knocked down once or twice.  On Friday, we’re going to the other Splash Pad in Roswell with the MOMS Club, so we’ll see how that goes!

Running through the water!

Trying to kiss Maddie...apparently, the Sprayground is a romantic setting for toddlers.

My little man getting all wet. 

What I’ve noticed in the last few days is that when Dominic sleeps long enough at night, his behavior is so much better.  Obviously, this makes sense, but I’m only talking about an extra 15-30 minutes of sleep a night.  If we put him to bed 15 minutes late at night or he gets up 15 minutes early in the morning or a combination of both (God help us), he tends to have more tantrums, is more easily frustrated (leading to the aforementioned tantrums), and is more aggressive (hitting and biting) the next day.  So, I’m becoming extra strict about the bedtime now, which was honestly something I was pretty lax about until now.  We start getting ready for bed at 8:30 (PJs, read, etc.), and he’s in his crib by 8:45. 

I’ve also started closing Dominic’s door when I get up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning to use the bathroom (one of the many times during the night that I get up to use the restroom), and Dominic seems to sleep 15 minutes to even an hour later in the morning!  We’re back to an 8:30/8:45 wake up time as opposed to the 7:30 wake up call we had been receiving many times recently.  Dominic seems to be back to sleeping closer to 12 hours a night, which is wonderful.  Hopefully, this will help prevent his recent behavior issues from continuing!

Our office doors are officially in now!!  So we’re using the new office now!  I’m excited to have the office downstairs since that’s where I spend most of my time during the day.  I try to avoid going upstairs most of the time when Dominic is asleep for fear of waking him up.  The downstairs office will be much more useful to me.  Brian is also in the process of repairing my new computer.  He built me a brand new computer a few months ago only to have it get struck by lightening just a few days later, messing up the motherboard (whatever that means).  Now I’ll actually be able to use my desktop in the office!  I’m pretty excited about that!!   Brian has already moved most of the big things down like our desks.  So far, I love the downstairs office! 

the new doors 

the partially completed office (so much more to do!)

Dominic is racing around everywhere and so is his mind.  I was noticing the other day how much more quickly he seems to “get” toys and things around the house.  It used to be I would have to show him several times how to push a button on a toy to make it work before he would be able to repeat it, but now it only takes one demonstration, and he can make the toy work all on his own.  I’m thinking it’s because his cognitive abilities as well as his fine motor skills are developing dramatically at this point. 

His speech is coming along too.  I really am thinking we’re about to reach an explosion in his language…or so everyone keeps telling me.  He understands so much more than he was even just a couple of weeks ago.  Dominic has at this point perfected the word “No,” now enunciating it in different ways depending on what he is saying no to and has even started saying, “no way.”  I have no idea where he got that phrase from, but it makes me laugh.  To add to the fun, when Dominic breaks the rules by doing something like standing on the coffee table, he’ll say, “No,” as he does it and has started stay, “Dow,” (or down) because these are the words that he hears from Brian and me when he gets up there.  Dominic has been following the rules better and seems to be starting to understand that he’s not supposed to be standing up on the furniture and that I don’t find it cute or funny (but I actually kind of do).  Right now, he’s working on the phrase “uh oh.”  He has said it a couple of times, but it is still a challenge.  He can say “uh” no problem, but putting the “oh” with it is harder.  We’re still struggling with the hitting and biting, but timeout seems to be helping. 

I’m 19 weeks pregnant and I’m told you can tell by looking at me that I’m actually pregnant at this point.  I don’t know though.  I still feel like someone would look at me and wonder if I just have had a few too many bowls of ice cream – which I have.  I got my blood test results back from last week’s OBGYN appointment, and they told me that parvovirus test indicated that I’m immune from getting that virus (that’s good), and the AFP was negative for neural tube defects like spina bifida (also good).  Good news is always good.

As far as how my pregnancy is going, I’m running to the restroom every 2 seconds because the baby is hanging out on my bladder.  I’m noticing that I’m buying toilet paper far more frequently than usual.  Other than that, I’m feeling well, but have started the “side effect” of my ring finger getting a rash.  This happened with my last pregnancy too but I think it was later on.  It’s most likely because my fingers are starting to swell and washing my hands seems to get moisture and/or soap caught in between my rings and my skin.  I’m sure the heat doesn’t help either.  


The only other complaint I have is my heartburn at night.  It's always when I lie down in bed for the night.  Usually, milk would help it but that's definitely not the case these days.  I take some doctor-approved medicine for it, but that doesn't do much either.  I guess it's just something I'll have to deal with, just as I did when I was pregnant with Dominic.  "They" say it's a sign that the baby has a lot of hair, which was definitely the case with Dominic.  All in all, these side effects aren’t the end of the world, and I certainly have more “fun” side effects to come in the months ahead.  I’m going to go enjoy lying on my back for the rest of the week I have left being allowed to do that.  We are almost halfway to meeting little BCM!! :)