2 Months!

With today being January 12th, Dominic is 2 months old!  Ever since he was born on November 12th last fall, he's had a busy life as he's been through his first Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, our wedding, family visits, meeting friends, excursions to our offices, and much more.  To celebrate today, we decided to go with the low key approach.  Of course, that may have been more for us than for him  :)

Hanging Out in the Crib

The morning started off well.  As Andy normally takes care of him in the morning during the work week, I got up with him at 7am today.  Being the good little guy that he is, he patiently waited while I got him ready for the day before we sat down for a snack and a Skype session with Grandpa and Grammy (my parents).

One interesting thing about today marking 2 months is that we're going to cross the age barrier.  Since November, we have essentially measured Dominic's age in weeks.  After 8+ weeks, he's already up to 2 months which means we'll be counting the months for his age.  He's always been our little baby that is "X" weeks old.  In a way, the fact that he is already 2 months old feels like it snuck up on me!

The rest of the morning was actually really relaxing while Papa slept in for a little while.  Dominic hung out on his exercise mat for a bit and played with some toys from his overhead gym.  At one point, I tried to give him some tummy time, but he took that for nap time instead.  (Good thing he already has really strong neck muscles for his age.)  Eventually, I got him settled down for a brief mid-morning nap in his bouncer.

Activity Time

Nap Time

While we don't want to be the parents that mark every tiny occasion with pictures, gifts, and demands for attention, we kind of wanted to mark today as a little milestone.  So when the Amazon box arrived this morning, that means Dominic had his birthday present!

"Birthday Present"

Yep, his "birthday present" was a humidifer.  I can already tell that we'll be those parents.  The ones that get him language lessons and a savings account for his 5th birthday while Jimmy down the street gets an iPad and a puppy.

In truth, this just happened to arrive in time for his birthday, but we decided to roll with it.  Also, just how adorable is a polar bear humidifier?  Pretty sweet huh?  Props to Papa for finding this one on Amazon.

For the rest of the day, we'll treat Dominic to all of his favorite things: bouncing, swaying, rocking, eating, and sleeping.  With the potential for story time and a visit from Crazy Bird, we hope that Dominic will enjoy the rest of his 2 month birthday.

OA&FS Holiday Party

Last weekend, we had the great opportunity to go to our adoption agency's yearly holiday party.  It was a fun experience on multiple levels.  Along with Dominic and Andy's older brother Josh, we spent a couple hours in Seattle with many other adoptive families.  We were able to talk with families that had already adopted, some families that had adopted and were in the waiting pool again, and some families that were in the pool eagerly awaiting their first placement.

After only being able to take part in two adoptive family gatherings while we were in the waiting pool, we enjoyed going to another gathering of adoptive families.  We're still incredibly busy taking care of a young Dominic and adjusting to our life as parents, but it is really worthwhile to spend time with other families who have had similar experiences.  Many of the people we've met are just wonderful and fun to talk to!

Looking ahead, we still have some work to do until Dominic's adoption is legally finalized.  Until then, we've been keeping busy.  Now that the holidays are over and we're into 2013, I have started back at work full time.  It's been a big shift and I'll likely have a post about my new parent-based perspective on work-life balance.  In addition, Dominic's 2-month birthday is tomorrow!  We've been pretty busy and quiet on the posting front (especially me), but there will be some fresh updates in the coming days.

Feeding the Cats

A couple friends of ours were out of town this weekend and asked us to take care of their cats. Sounds to me like a perfect opportunity for a Dominic lumberjack photo shoot!

"This is a really comfy bed."

"Um, who's this guy?"

Everyone's a critic.

Dominic tried to mimic the face on the art, with limited success.

Time for a few pull-ups!

Dominic got jealous of the kitties.

Baby Photo Shoot

A couple years ago, we were lucky enough to find Amy Soper to be our wedding photographer. She did an absolutely amazing job! Now that Dominic's here, she quickly volunteered to come do his first photo shoot! One of our favorites is below, and many more are on Amy's blog.

Thanks again, Amy!

Winter's Here!

One of the fun things about having a newborn is that people love to give you baby clothes. Seriously, I don't think we'll have to buy Dominic an outfit for at least 6 months. And with a November birthday, a number of those outfits are winter or Christmas related.

With that in mind, Dominic wanted to do some modelling!

"Yeah, Santa asked me to fill in up north this year."

"No, no, no, the lighting is all wrong!"

"This is much better."

"Who's this guy?"

"No, too close, too close!"

"If I plank some more, will this be over faster?"

"Absolutely not. Mittens? On a onesie? Really?"

"Rawr!!!"

"This is much more to my liking."

"Baby camo time! Can you find me?"

"Pete can't find me, that's for sure."

"Hmm, I think I can make this outfit better..."

"...with a popped collar! Totally going for the preppy look."

"Or do I just look like a baby vampire?"