33 Weeks - Celebrity Spotting

My mom got me candid today at the Como Zoo... Baby is 33 weeks and halfway to my knees!

And we got a nice picture at the Conservatory, too, right before Joseph fell into some bushes, Ha!:

We went to Pittsuburgh

And took one photo. Oops. Maybe Grandma has more on her camera?

Waiting for the school bus to drive by - is there anything more exciting?

We spent most of the time house hunting, though T.J. got to golf in a charity fundraiser for one of his old high school friends, and I got lots of relaxation time. The weather was pretty lousy, but I'm sure we'll get used to it in a few years! Our grand master plan is to move in November, after the baby is born and before T.J.'s brother gets married. Because that timing shouldn't be stressful or difficult, right?

We put an offer in on a house, but it sounds like the sellers are not ready to negotiate. Ours is the 4th offer they've received in over a year and they've never even countered! We'll see if ours is the lucky one. It's a nice house, with a great yard, so we'll be happy if we get it. But if not, we'll just keep looking.

DomerBabyII is growing like crazy! Or, I am at least. That could be the 2 cakes, 4 dozen (at least) cookies, 2 boxes of klondikes and 4 quarts of ice cream at T.J.'s parent's house last week. NO, I did not eat all of that. But I did what I could to keep the inlaw's happy! ;)

Today I went maternity clothes shopping so that I can be somewhat presentable. Not much of my wardrobe from last time works, since I was pregnant at a different time of the year and I was working, so the majority of my maternity wear was winter work stuff. Not so good for 90 degree weather at the park!

Next week our plan is to head to Florida for the holiday weekend! We're going to visit our friends Kathy and Pat in Jacksonville, then Sian and Marcus in Gainesville. I can't wait. It should be a great time. Hopefully Joseph won't mind the drive too much. It's only about 5.5 hours, so it shouldn't be too awful.

Up North

Joseph and I headed up to Chicago/MI/IN last weekend to visit my friends Taylor and Teresa. Tay lives south of the city, and Teresa and her husband Michael were back after evacuating from Tokyo after the earthquake.

What can I say, the combo of not traveling in months plus having my BFF need to evacuate her home put the need for speed back into my wheelie bag. So Joseph and I booked a flight 4 days before we left.

It was Joseph's first flight that we had to pay for (booo) but he was a great air passenger, as always. It had been recommended to me that we bring his car seat on the plane, but really, that was awful. Imagine trying to get a carseat, toddler, and 4 bags down an aisle. Luckily there were friendly passengers on the plane to help us! The flight home we ditched the car seat at ticketing and it was much more enjoyable (and easy!). Maybe the car seat would be good if you were going during nap time? I dunno, but I don't think we'll be doing that again ourselves!

Besides that little snafu, everything went off without a hitch. Joseph slept almost the entire ride to Michigan, and the whole ride back from Indiana. He had a ton of fun with Teresa's nieces and cousins, and loved all the dotage of all the adoring adults! We went for walks, learned numbers, and played with trains (of course). He just barely fit in the pack'n'play we were able to borrow, for which I'm eternally grateful, because I don't know how we'd have done it in a strange adult sized bed! I think Mama would have spent a lot of her free time laying next to Joseph during naps and bedtime! I suppose we'll see for next time, as he's pretty much maxed out the PNP for length.

Enough logistics! We had a super time and are so thankful for the hospitality we received from Mike and Teresa's families during such a stressful time for them! I didn't bring my camera, but Mike took lots of pics. But, being as the flew back to Japan, I'm sure they have other things on their mind.

Stay safe, guys, and can't wait till you are back!

Asheville and the Biltmore

Biltmore Estate - October 2010

Last weekend, we went to Asheville, NC to see our friends Vicky, Carrie, and Aaron. T.J. went to high school with the girls. We rented a cabin and saw the Biltmore Estate, which was completely fabulous! I even got to go to a fiber fair (yarn convention). The weather was beautiful, and the leaves were turned, but unfortunately I left the camera at home. Lucky for me both Carrie and Vicky had their cameras, so we still have lots of pictures.

Joseph enjoyed playing in the leaves

What you lookin' at?

Hanging out in the yard at the cabin

Biltmore Conservatory

Biltmore Gardens

Biltmore Gardens

On our way to the Estate!

The Three Musketeers

Mama and Daddy are wiped out

Visit to Pittsburgh

T.J. and I had a wedding to attend in Ohio, so we flew into Pittsburgh and dropped Joseph off with the grandparents for the weekend! It worked out really well for everyone. I'm not sure who had more fun, to be honest. We flew up on Wednesday and left them on Friday, so Joseph had a couple of days to get acclimated. Then we all flew back to Atlanta on Sunday. He ate, slept, and behaved very well for grandma and grandpap, which made us all happy!

Having a snack with MeeMaw

Envisioning a bright future with Auntie Mar. OK, they are just looking at a light.

Became a human towel at the playground after a big rain

Faux Hawk at its finest - Sunscreen is good goop.

Keeping an eye on the house

Before leaving Joseph for 2 DAYS! Yeah, my smile is slightly forced. :)

Go Steelers!

Gussied up to go to a party with Grandpap

Again, what's up with him aging YEARS in photos?

Say Cheese!

August MN VIsit

We had lots of fun up in MN this year - we flew in on a Saturday and went to Wisconsin for a family party, then stayed the night with our friends Justin and Megan and their ADORABLE newborn Shelby.

The rest of the visit was spent just hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, and Joseph loved it, as always! T.J. and I went to a Twins game with Auntie Debbie and Joseph stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and didn't even notice we were gone! We left him with Grandma another day, too, to have some free time and he did well again!

I was a really terrible mama and didn't even take my camera out ONCE! Luckily Grandma took some pictures.

Teaching him to do dishes... I like it!

Grandma has the best toys

And she lets him drive them wherever he wants!

Year By Year

While we were in PA, we stopped by to visit the family of one of T.J.'s friends who passed away. We try to head back and see them every year. Last year their daughter Ericka was there with her new baby, Colette, who is just a couple of months younger than Joseph. They were there this year, too! What a difference a year makes:

2009

2010

Molars and Steps and Signs, Oh My!

We've been on the move the last couple of weeks. Joseph and I went to Minnesota for 5 days, returned home, grabbed T.J. and left for Pittsburgh the next day for another 6 days. We arrived home today from our long vacations. They were wonderful!

Joseph has had some amazing developmental leaps the last couple of weeks. He's gotten 3 new teeth (top molars and the 4th bottom tooth in front), taken his first unassisted steps, and FINALLY has begun signing a tiny bit! Mama is amazed and so proud of her little DomerBaby!

Here are a couple of photos of the last two weeks, but you should really hit the SmugMug website to see them all! If I get some gumption I'll do a whole bunch of posts on here... but don't hold your breath.

Joseph with his cousins and 2nd (?) cousins. He's on the bottom left.
The one next to him (my cousin Nicky's son) is about 6 weeks older. Oh my!

Mom, Mar, and Joseph buying everything at the outlets

Grandpa and Joseph learning about physics

Before we ditched Joseph for the Pirates game (sorry kid, at least you didn't miss much!)

Muscle Man pushing the chair around

Piano player piano player... piano
Grandpap and Joseph

Traveling DomerBaby

Last week we went to Rosemary Beach, FL with our friends Sara and Mike and their daughter, Megan, who is Joseph's age. Sara organizes my super-awesome mom's group, so we spend a lot of time together already. It was great to spend time as a couple; besides getting fun adult time, 4 adults vs. 2 kids makes things easy!

We spent some time at the beach (Joseph didn't think much of the sand, but he liked watching everyone else play), some time in the pool, and lots of time just relaxing. It was a great vacation.

Joseph did well in the car - it's a 7 hour drive from Atlanta, and he was a real champ. We did the first ride at night which worked out since he could sleep most of the way. The ride home was more challenging for him, but we stopped a few times and let him stretch his legs and he did ok then, too.

Some day Joseph will appreciate such nice attention!

Getting the hang of the sun and sand

Trapped! Guess we know where Megan gets her hugging from!

Daddy even enjoyed the beach since he had Joseph to hang out with!

Building castles

Is there anything more fun than a cell phone? Not in Joseph's world.

PS. Check out the map at the bottom of the blog - Joseph's hit 12 states already!

If you're going to San Francisco...

Our visit with Tante Teresa was really wonderful! She got to spend mornings and evenings with us, and pretty much all day on Friday. She even woke up with Joseph on Friday morning and let this mama sleep! Brownie points for her!

Joseph and I did lots of touring around town - We bought a city pass and saw the California Academy of Sciences, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,

the Aquarium by the Bay,

the Exploratorium,




and we even went on a boat cruise in the bay. Super fun.


The weather turned out to be awesome


It only rained on Friday for a while, and while Teresa and I got completely soaked, Joseph stayed warm and dry in the Baby Hawk.


Joseph enjoyed riding the trolly up the hill, the street cars, and even the buses around town (though I will not encourage him to ride the San Fran buses once he is old enough to recognize marijuana, since it's apparently where they sell the majority of it!)


The only downside has been his sleeping - which is completely messed up! In fact, he woke up from bedtime and is now chilling with us while I'm writing this. Oh well - a small price to pay for a great time!

Look at his tiny disposable clad backside - Too cute!