He's definitely a Craun

Dominic is one!

How my baby boy went from this

to this

so quickly is beyond me. This last year has been one of the best years of my life. I love my little boy so much, and I love Brian even more after all we've been through together this year. One year ago today, we were coming home from the hospital, and I was on the verge of a meltdown because I couldn't figure out how to position myself to breastfeed on our furniture and I couldn't go up stairs. Amazing how life changes so much in one year!

Weight and height:  just over 22 lbs and about 28" tall

Sleeping patterns:  He takes a couple of naps a day, mostly one long one, which is what they do in the one-year room at daycare. It's amazing what a bedtime routine does to get him wound down. He could be going bonkers down in the living room, but when we bring him up to his bedroom and go through the routine he is out within 15-20 minutes. 

Eating habits:  His favorite food is Goldfish crackers. He also loves cheese sticks, turkey, applesauce, saltines, and animal crackers. He'll eat chocolate teddy grahams but prefers the salty foods. Definitely like his dad.

New discoveries he's made:  Grass is tolerable! He's so fun to play outside with now. He also figured out that dirt is not yummy, and that wine is not for babies.

On his birthday, Grandpa was talking on the phone and Dom put his hand up to his ear and babbled. Since then, he does it whenever he sees someone on the phone. We got him a toy phone for his birthday, but it's too different from our phones for him to generalize. But he'll dance to the music of it, so I guess it will do.

Dom imitates everything we do now. He tried to do push ups when I was working out this morning, and he likes to brush his teeth. We play naptime and have dance parties with him copying my sweet moves. When I said "night night" to him the other night, he said "ny ny" back to me. I love this age!

Accomplishments:  He's able to stand on his own with no support for a little bit. He'll take one or two before he falls forward. He really likes to play Trust Fall with us now. He's also starting to figure out how to go down the stairs, which has resulted is a dive from the 3rd step onto the hardwood floor.

Playtime is more fun, now that Dom is starting to have more functional play. We roll a ball back and forth, and he'll sometimes throw it. He also pushes trucks and trains around, and will play with a shape sorter. He likes to drum on stuff and hammer things with his new toy from Grandma. 

Places he went:  Brian and Dominic went to Omaha for Bennett's baptism.

Special friends he's made:  His buddies came over for his birthday party, and it was so fun to see them all play together.

Noises and babbles:  He screamed "DADA" at the doctor the other day when I was holding him down for the doc to look in his ear. So yeah, that word is pretty clear! He also says Mama, baba, and kiki (kitty cat) sometimes. He makes raspberry noises all the time, and says lalalala. He also loves to yell, which can be pretty hilarious. We took one-year pictures the other day and he was playing with balloons, screaming like a banshee the entire time. It was pretty amazing!

It addition to all the noises, he's also signing "more' and "milk".

Firsts: 
First birthday party, trip to the zoo, and train ride
Dominic and I went to the zoo for the first time for a friend's birthday party. I can't wait to take Dom to the zoo when he's a little bigger!

On the train

First birthday
We had Dom's birthday party last weekend, and it was a blast. He loved all the attention and all his new toys (and I loved his new clothes and shoes). We're so blessed to have such loving family and friends to help us celebrate!

He did not, however, love cake. Is this kid even mine?!?! He's had a couple other times of trying cake in this last week, and he has no interest in it.

Yuck

Dancing to our singing on his actual birthday (Thursday)

Top teeth
Dominic has 3 new teeth in the last month, 2 of which are almost all the way through with one starting to poke out.

First scribbles
Brian has Dominic "sign" my mother's day card - so sweet!  And the other day, I gave Dom some crayons and paper. He scribbled a bit, but was more interested in trying to eat the crayons.

Other adventures this month:  Bess took his one year pictures, and we had a blast playing outside. And of course, he chose to eat Goldfish instead of cake. 

Popping bubbles and eating Goldfish

Loving the balloons

My favorite

Almost one year

Imitating Daddy, who was desperately trying to get him to smile.

Enough with the pictures - I want to eat!

Weight and height:  Heavy and tall...I have a legit excuse for slacking. Between work, wedding showers, and first birthday planning I've been super busy. Good thing he weighed himself the other day while playing - 22ish pounds.

Sleeping patterns:  Perfect. I especially like that he goes back to sleep some mornings after he has his bottle, which means I get lots of cuddle time. Thankfully he has been doing well with sleeping so far during teething (he's up to 3 bottom with 2 top and 1 more bottom coming in). Evenings, on the other hand, were not so fun. It was like he was the exorcist baby when the 3rd tooth was coming in!

Eating habits:  He's feeding himself (not very well and only when we feel like it) with a spoon and eating lots of things with his fingers. I think he has the sippy cup down for the most part, although he'd rather just watch the water go everywhere (when he uses the non-spill ones). He's tried lots of different foods but so far seems the happiest with his baby food and bananas.

What happens when Dominic takes control of dinner time...

New discoveries he's made:  Stairs! Opening sliding doors! Getting into EVERYTHING! Summer is going to be interesting.

Accomplishments:  For about the last month now, he's been going up the bottom couple of steps, but since April Fool's Day, he's been climbing the entire staircase. He likes to be chased up the stairs and through the hall. So fun!

He's slowly becoming more brave with lessening the support he needs to stand on his own. He's gone just a few seconds without holding onto anything, and he can stand with only holding on to my thumb. He's speed walking all over, as long as he has something to hold on to. It's only a matter of time!

Places he went:  I went to New York over spring break, so Bri took Dom to Omaha for a bit. Then the weekend after I got home (aka Easter weekend) I had to work that Saturday (who does that?!), so Bri took Dom to Sergeant Bluff for Deb's retirement party. So basically I hardly got to see my monkey over the last month.

Special friends he's made:  No new friends. I think he's pretty happy with just his favorite buddy at daycare, seeing as how they terrorize that whole room. They have a gate-shaking, babbling, crazy time every day.

His b-fri

Noises and babbles:  He says Dada for everything. His favorite is when we play Say Mama and he giggles and smiles and says clear as can be "Dada." Little stink. But at least he says Mama sometimes! He also says kiki for kitty (just like I did!) and I swear this morning he said "ock" as he was putting his socks into the bathtub.

He's starting to sign milk again after that dropping out for a little bit. And a little over a week ago, he was singing in his crib - "la la da la" - so cute!

This doesn't fit in anywhere, but it's too cute to leave out. The night before I left for NYC in March (oh geez I'm so late on posting this!), I was crying when I put him to bed and he handed me his favorite kitty. Such a little sweetie. I love him to pieces!

Firsts:
St. Patrick's Day
So handsome in his green polka dot bow tie. He loved his Lucky Charms!

Easter
Of course he got a basket full of fun (no searching for it involved), and of course I put him in a bunny outfit! No Easter bunny this year. That dude freaks me out a bit, and I don't want Dom to turn into Little Albert and have an irrational fear of all things white and fluffy.

I completely failed to get a good pic of the bunny tail!

This guy's getting ready for his first birthday in a few weeks!

Meg and I were dying laughing at him! He was trying so hard to keep them on his little nose!

On the Move - 10 Months Old

Weight and height: Whatever he was last month...we're slacking

Sleeping patterns:  He thinks naps stink, but he sleeps well at night.

Eating habits:  We added yogurt to Dom's diet in the last month to add more variety. We've also attempted table food - spaghetti, chicken, peas, bananas, and Lucky Charms in preparation for St. Patty's Day. He seems to like being fed more now, but we're okay with that. It's only a matter of time before everything is "I do it!"

He knows what to do when the camera comes out.

New discoveries he's made: He's a curious little guy - he gets into everything! He also started waving hello and good-bye, clapping, and giving high-fives in the last month. He's such a little ham! He terrorizes poor Coco and Marbs too. And we finally had him touch snow. He didn't care much about it.

Accomplishments:  We have a supported walker! He cruises around the house with his walker, and while holding on to the furniture. Here are pics from the first night of walking.

Places he went:   We went to Omaha for the boat show weekend, and Dom got to play with Bennett and Mac. He seemed to have lots of fun, especially with Grandpa Mitch.

Special friends he's made:  Apparently Dom's stranger danger doesn't apply to other men with beards. He just crawled right up to Mark's buddy, and started tugging on his pant legs to be picked up!

Noises and babbles: I'm not certain but I think that he says Dada and Mmmaa (for milk). He's pretty good at joint attention, which makes it easy to figure out what he wants most the time.