Southbound

We are heading to Houston through Monday. David has a conference that he was going to all by himself and that just didn't sound like any fun for anyone. So, we are heading down in the morning and plan to play all weekend while Daddy is "conferring." I am sure we will have some fun pics to post when we get back.
Have a super weekend.

Cookies for Fall

Benjamin's birthday is usually the first day of fall or pretty close to it. We decided to bake some cookies to welcome our favorite season, even if it is still 90 degrees plus here!

That darn tooth

Please pray that our little Jonathan gets the tooth he's been vigorously working on for quite some time now. He just hasn't been himself the last couple of days and we are sure this is why. We drool. We chew. We drool. We cry. We drool. We constantly have our hands in our mouth. I think our household, especially Jonathan, is ready for this tooth to break on through. I am sort of hoping this is like four teeth, I am not sure I want to go through this every time we have a new tooth! This poor kid does not handle teething too well. Pray for him! And us.

They Say it's your Birthday....

Now that we are all singing that good ole Beatles Birthday song...just wanted to post a few photos from our birthday weekend. Benjamin had a fun filled weekend with family and friends and has not stopped talking about Saturday. David's parents came from Pecos on Friday and my friend Lori was able to drive down from McKinney. Along with my parents and one of my brothers and nephew, we also had several families from our new church and another friend from Temple make it over.
It was sort of neat that Saturday was his actual birthday, too. I always thought it was fun when I was growing up to have the party and actual day coincide.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Benjamin! We love you, kid!

Happy, Happy Day!

Although it is still hours (we hope) before you wake up, we want to wish you a happy, happy Birthday, sweet Benjamin.
You have brought so much joy to us. We just love you more than words can say.
Now....
Let's Party, Little Man!

New Look, Same Great Product!

Thanks to Arly's very talented friend, Carly, I have given our blog a face lift! I feel like it is just a little more me...err, us.
Carly Carlson rocks! Thanks for all the help, girlie!

Drama, Drama, Drama

It's never good to have the police at your house for any length of time. As my mom would say, "It just doesn't look good." And it didn't. And it wasn't.
My mom and I were packing up her car this morning and we both ended up outside at the same time. We've been pretty careful to keep the doors to the house closed all the time lately-- a frog jumped into our laundry room last week, uninvited.
So after my mom came out, she shut the door. We finished piling the stuff in her trunk and as I went to go back inside, the door was locked! And neither of us did it; a small child named Benjamin thought it was funny, initially. However, he also shut the door from the laundry room to the rest of the house, which has a child proof-knob on it, and he couldn't get back into the laundry room to unlock the door to the garage. I am sure you are all sensing the complete wave of panic that inevitably followed.
The house is locked. The two adults are outside. The two children are inside. David is in Dallas and so are his keys. I couldn't decide if I needed to cry or freak out. My mom actually kept telling me to calm down (it's usually the complete opposite).
Thankfully, my mom did have her cell phone in her pocket. I called David (in the middle of his conference) to get the combination for the lock on the backyard gate, trying not to alarm him too terribly much. Seriously, how do you sugar-coat this one?
"I need the code to the backyard." I think, please, oh, please don't ask me why.
"What's up? Why do you need it, just go through the kitchen."
"Oh, well you know. Benjamin has locked himself in the house. We're locked outside. Just needing that darn code." I think, please don't panic like I am, someone needs to be calm. Of course, David is naturally calm about it and gives me the code. I hung up and ran to the back door, knocking like crazy trying to get the attention of a very confused little boy.
The back door could have worked at this point with a little explaining from mom. The dead bolt was locked, but the knob was not. All I needed to do was to get him to unlock the dead bolt and everything would be okay.
He unlocked it like a pro, right after he locked the knob. Are you kidding me?
At this point, he was starting to panic and cry, so I called 911. I was so flustered that when they asked for the number of the phone I was on, I couldn't even remember my mom's number! She has had the same cell number for atleast twelve years.
They came right away, followed by the Pop-A-Lock people who do these emergency unlocks for free. They were all so nice and understanding.
We busted on in, and, besides a few tears, everyone was okay. Jonathan was still in his crib (not that I expected him to come running out or anything) and Benjamin wrapped his entire body around me and didn't let go for quite some time.
Quite the morning in the Dominguez household.
Tonight we went to Walmart and stocked up on spare keys.

Sunday Night

Just gearing up for a busy week getting ready for Benjamin's birthday. David left for Dallas today for a school conference and won't return until Wednesday. My mom came to stay with us because I am a big chicken about staying alone.
Wanted to share of few pics of Jonathan who discovered he can sit up on his own...that is, until gravity takes over!

Look at me! I am getting to be such a big boy!

Whoa! The carpet...it's taking me down!

I guess the sedative worked...

I just had to post this photo of our nieces and nephew that David's brother Daniel sent out today. The photo is fairly typical of a family with kiddos. What cracked me up was his title...I guess the sedative worked! Their kids are close in age to ours. Benjamin and Eli are just over two months apart and they all seem to have fun when they get together.
Just thought I would share.

More Conversations with a Toddler

Benjamin's verbal ability has just fascinated us lately, so I thought I would keep sharing the tidbits as they keep coming.
Yesterday, we were doing our grocery shopping at HEB (HETB as B calls it). I was strolling through the produce picking up the items we needed and B was my "bag guy." He is fascinated with trying to open the produce bags off the roll and sometimes manages to get them open (I can barely do this sometimes, those are so frustrating).
Anyway. He would annouce each item and its quantity as it went into a new bag...
"Two cucumalers..."
"Oh, lettuce. Wet lettuce, Mommy..."
"Wow. Three tomatoes. Those are deeeeelicious!"
As I grabbed a large red bell pepper, he looked a little puzzled and I asked him if he knew what it was.
"Of course, Mommy. That's a Doctor Pepper."
I laughed so hard that even Jonathan started laughing at us. He was also just excited to ride in the "big boy" seat in the buggy right next to Benjamin. HEB has the BEST shopping carts for people with two small kids-- they have double leg holes in the seat area so I don't have to steer that obnoxious add-on cart thingy around the store, hitting whatever is in my way.
Anyway. I think we all know that David is the big Dr. Pepper lover in the family and I am sure this is where this came from. It just cracked me up.

A conversation with a toddler...

Along the lines of yesterday's post...

"Hey Benjamin, let's talk about all of the animals."
"Okay, Mommy."
"What is a baby horse called?"
"A pony, of course."
"And a baby pig?"
"A pigwet."
"What about the baby cow?"
"Oh, that's a calf."
"And what do chickens give us?"
"Eggs."
"What about cows?"
"Milk, mommy (a little annoyed that I am still asking)."
"And, mommy..."
"Yes Benjamin?"
"Pigs give us bacon."

You've come a long way, Baby!

Even now as a mom, I am constantly amazed at how quickly our kids grow up. I let Jonathan hold his sippy cup for the first time tonight and he ran with it! He was chugging in no time. Before, I have held it for him, not dreaming that he would know how to handle it yet, but, surprise! He was a little rock star again. David said that he really doesn't see Jonathan having any learning obstacles when it comes to eating; couldn't agree more.
Benjamin quickly moved from learning to speak in full sentences to carrying on ten minute conversations about anything and everything. Tonight on the way back from church, we discussed "who all was in our car and what was going on outside of it..."
"Here is Benjamin Dominguez. And that is Mommy Dominguez. Oh, there's Daddy Dominguez. And look, there's Jonathan Dominguez. Is it dark outside? Yes, it is! No, not really!(snicker, snicker) Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
I am including pics of Mr. Rockstar Sippy Cup and the great conversationalist tantalizing his brother within arm's reach of his new slinky.
Have a good week!

This and That

Well, I hadn't blogged in a few days, so I didn't want anyone to give up on me! Not much to report here. One of those strange holiday weeks where things just fly by. Our boys are at my parents' tonight to give me a chance to finally put the finishing touches on the house before Benjamin's birthday.
A very nice couple from our new church stopped by for a visit tonight. They sort of gave us the ins & outs of the church in Belton. Made us even more excited to be there!
Wednesday night I picked Benjamin up from his Bible class and he couldn't wait to show me his art work, he was so proud. He was also proud of one other very important thing they do in class. David asked him how his class went and he says, in a very grown up manner-- "We ate our snacks, of course! Goldfish!"
Sometimes I wish they would serve snacks in our class, too-- how fun! Our class is located next to a very cool "coffee bar," though!

On down to San Antone...

If you ever find a good place to take your kids for pictures, you know it's a valuable thing. I love the Picture People. I know there are locations closer to me than San Antonio, but I stumbled upon a great studio in the La Cantera Shops close to Fiesta Texas. Now that I am closer, I figured this would work out great.
So, I loaded up the boys on Thursday and my mom (who was kind enough to give up a whole day to help me) and drove down to S.A. for the day.
The boys were great having their pictures made! Email if you want to see them online, I am unable to post a link, but can email one directly to you. They were almost too good at having them made. By the time it was all said and done, I spent a small fortune, but in the end we all agreed it was well worth it. I got a beautiful portrait of them made for over the fireplace in our bedroom which was the whole point of the trip. And I was able to time it to where I had the six month and three year old photos done, too. If you are ever in S.A., go to the La Cantera shops-- very fun with a great enclosed playground that Benjamin really liked! It's one of those new outdoor mall concepts.
We were also able to surprise my great Aunt Helen with a visit. She had not yet met Jonathan, so it was great that she was able to. She seems to be doing really well. She is in her nineties, but stays pretty active in her retirement home, not wanting to miss too many events.
All in all, a good day in S.A.!