Growing up with a kid...

So the little one has been around for 3 months and just over a week and we think he likes living with us :) It is pretty amazing to see Dominic grow and learn right before our eyes. Yesterday he decided to start 'talking', I mean he would let out a little yelp or coo every now and then for a while, but he is really finding his vocal cords as of late, and he is loving it! He's also really starting to enjoy tummy time, picking up his head and sitting up, giving him a different view of the world.

Dominic's also started developing his own little personality and so far it's a good mixture of flirty and happy...always smiling and giggling.



He picked up something from Suz and I and that is when he is hungry, he is hungry now! One of the cutest things he does is when he is not happy he has a pouty face...not sure where he picked it up, but he sucks his upper lip in and pushes his lower lip out, and it hysterical...right up until he starts to cry!

On a side note last night we were able to have a chili festival at our house. This was the first little shin dig we were able to have since Dominic arrived. It was a good time with about 12 people making chili's and about 35 people coming over. Sadly between hosting the party and taking care of Dominic we were not able to take pictures. Suz and I are still trying to get used to taking pictures while we are doing stuff, give us time, we'll try to get better at it! A few more pics of the little guy with Mom and Dad!


Stay tuned for Halloween pictures coming next week!

Final Weeks!

With the estimated birth date being July 24, we are under two weeks away. Dominic, at this point, seems to be very comfortable where he's at, so we're not expecting an early debut. I, on the other hand, am finding it hard to even bend down! I feel I have been very lucky in pregnancy ...everything has been very tolerable, so I can't complain much. Definitely ready to return to a non-pregnant state at this point though! Of course, above all, Leo and I are both just very anxious to meet this kid!

We have been very busy with "baby-prepping", but we have found some time to do other fun stuff as well. Leo completed his fourth 14,000+ ft mountain, Mt. Bierstadt, on Saturday with his colleague, Mark. That was after celebrating Lisa's birthday with sushi and bowling on Friday night! On Monday night, we are going to be watching Office Space at Red Rocks as a part of their summer movie nights with a big group of our buddies. Fun stuff.

Something fun for you all as we sign off, a "date and weight" poll! Put your guesses for Dominic's birth date and weight in the comments section. The people who are the closest in each category will get a little something from us and the little man :)

A couple pics of the belly fresh from the new camera (Nikon D60) :)

Early June!

Wow May was super busy, Suz and I were prepping the place for the baby shower, got away for a "babymoon" bed and breakfast up in Ft. Collins, then had the baby shower and now here we are, 33 weeks in! So this will be a fast one, as I have an exam tomorrow. Already passed my EMT class, then got the National Registry out of the way. Tomorrow is a test called the DRCOG. It's a fire fighter specific exam, mainly personality, reasoning and mechanical ability, we'll update how I did on it later in the week. We'll also upload a few shots from the babymoon and the baby shower. By the way thanks to all who came and most importantly all who helped make it happen! Until then, a few shots of the growing kid!

Week 33:

Week 28 AND Finals Weeks

So this will be a quick post for us here in Denver, I have a crazy week that actually started Saturday. The quick and dirty I'm in my last week of the EMT class. Saturday we had an extra lab on vehicle extrication and prepping for the practicals, that basically went from 9am to 3pm. Sunday (today) I had my final clinical, WOOHOO!!!! Have to say it was truly amazing, I'll have to make a post about it after this week. But moving on I have an exam tomorrow, the Final on Wednesday, last Lab on Thursday and the practicals on Saturday. Oh and work...so a busy week indeed!

Well Suz and Mini Meli are marching along. Tonight he must have had an elbow or knee or butt pressing against Suz's belly because there was this cool little bulge and a hard spot on the lower right part of her stomach! This Thursday Suz goes in for her glucose test and that is really about all we have planned on the baby front. Here are those magical little shots of the belly, rapidly growing away!



Until next week!

Mini Meli's room is complete!

Well, Suz and I put our nose to the grind stone and just knocked it out Saturday. Today we put the final trim up and lastly we just need to paint the trim white (it has white primer on there now, so it's good enough for picture time :) ).

A little fun day Sunday today also, we got out with some buddies and did some out door activities. We all hit up Apex open space park in Golden, Suz and Becky Lutz hiked it, myself, Jeff Sammis, Mark Jetten and Ben (can't remember your last name) biked it...needless to say it was wonderful to be out and about. Last weekend and Saturday kept us in do to some spring weather. We did make a little deal though, one weekend a month we will be doing a hike and brunch. Find a nice hike for Sunday morning and a new breakfast/brunch place to eat afterwards, starting next weekend. Well take some pics to show it all off :)

Ok with out further adu (is that how you spell that???), Mini Meli's room!

Week 24-25-26...

Holy cow sorry folks! It's been a tough couple weeks! First off our little niece Reagan had her 1st bday, so Suz and I flew out to Phoenix to hang with the Price's, Kurpeski's and Bonham's oh my! Needless to say it was a grand 'ol time, check out our cute little niece:






Some good family time, a little mountain biking (me not Suz) and some nice warm weather, it was a good break. Not to mention seeing how much Reagan has grown and now she is walking and a bit social...it's really amazing! That was back on the 11th and 12th.


So last weekend we got a little fire under our butts and decided to try and finish up Mini Meli's room...as usual it's a slow process and with me doing clinicals almost every weekend it's even slower.



So you might be asking, why would you be staying inside during a glorious mid April weekend in Denver! Well because we got a two day snow storm that pretty much landed us inside for the weekend:





With all that snow Suz and I couldn't resist, SNOW MAN!!!



As usual with Denver two days of snow is followed by 60 on Sunday, and 70's all this week and 80 tomorrow. So here is the next afternoon...no joke, it stopped snowing Saturday afternoon and this is 24 hours later Sunday maybe around 4ish:



So you might be wondering what's up with Suz's belly, oh it's growing! Mini-Meli is a kicking foo' as of late, we are pretty sure he is teaching a Jazzercise class in there...to who, well we are not sure...but he better not be wearing a get up like this:



The best part is it went from simply feeling rumbles and little bubbles to feeling punches and kicks! Well cool for me, maybe not for Suz, but he is sitting low right now, no danger to the ribs...yet. Oh and you can actually see it all happening on the outside of Suz's belly, which is just plain fun to watch for me. :)

Well I'll end with 6 catch up shots of Suz's belly, they are all shot willy nilly, so it's more like mid-week then our traditional Sunday night shots...So I'd say they are more like Week 23/24, 24/25 and well the last set was shot tonight...right at the start of 27...which is the start of the third trimester, enjoy!

Week 23/24:


Week 24/25:


And tonight, Suz just getting home from prenatal yoga:

Week 23

So week 23 is here and Suzi is still growing away, which is a good thing of course! Here are the belly pics:




On a somewhat related note, Denver got hit with a blizzard on Thursday, shutting down the Lockheed Facility and the EF office, as did a lot of other businesses making for a long drive home. We got a little over 12 inches accumulation when all was said and done (about 16 or so total snow fall - made for a great Vail day on Saturday, which I indulged in while Suz was at work...sorry had to rub it in), needless to say the snow blower my parents gave to Suz and I for Christmas came in mighty handy! So all winter goes by and no snow, then comes spring and we get hit with a blizzard? Colorado is a bit odd, probably why we love it here so much. The good thing about the blizzard, it gave us a chance to add the white stripes to Mini Meli's room:





It's still a work in progress but we are almost there...next thing up should be the brown piping on each side of the white stripes and then the little modern mural Suz and I want to add to the solid blue wall, as usual we will update as we go. :)

Oh, here is a little pic of Lucy running in the back yard the day after the blizzard: