Some Pictures of our recent activities...

Stella Stories

One night, Stella woke up with something terrible bothering her. I rocked, walked, held and cuddled her as long as it took for her to calm down. She is very intense, but this was unusual behavior for her. Looking back, I think it may have been a night terror. It was so sad to see her that upset. But eventually, she did clam down, so I could hold her and reassure her that she was ok, and of course, she slept with us the rest of the night. Now, Peter will often be the one to get the kids in the middle of the night, but on this particular night, I was the one who stayed up. The next morning after Peter had gone to work, I asked her,"Stella, did you sleep with mama last night?" She looked at me with a big smile and said, "No. Papa!"
She is such a Papa's girl! It is the cutest thing. And Dominic of course is Peter's greatest fan. He wants, and often tries, to do everything his Papa does. Stella sometimes gets so offended when Peter and Dominic are doing something that does not include her. For example, last weekend, Peter got to bring a Humvee home from work! The kids had a blast! Especially Dominic. When Peter took Dominic out for a ride first, Stella stood at the door crying for him. Then she went and got her coat so she could be all ready for when it was her turn!
Stella was a "dee bug" (lady bug) for Halloween this year. For awhile, when she would see a picture of a lady bug she would look at me questioningly, and pointing to the picture would say, "dat della?"(is that Stella?).
She loves shoes and dressing up in hats and scarves! Also, she has recently discovered that she likes to push her dolls and stuffed animals ("doddies") around in a stroller. However, I had to laugh today when I saw that she had put her favorite white dress shoes in the stroller instead, and was pushing them around!
My mom put nail polish on her toes the other day. She loves looking at her toes now, and every time I tell her how pretty they look she'll remind me, "Nonnie di dat" (Nonnie did that)!
She is such a wonderful little girl. She has such character and is just as cute and pretty as can be! She is also the most snuggly child I have ever known! It doesn't matter where she is, if she feels like snuggling and she's not being held by someone, she'll lay down right then and there, and snuggle with the floor! I just can't get over how sweet she is. I love watching her grow and seeing that adorable personality coming out. She continues to amaze me everyday!

Boy Oh Boy!

After our lovely date, Peter and I went to pick up our kids from my mom's house, where they were having lots of fun playing and hanging out with my mom and brother Johnny. As we were leaving I yelled "good night" to my brother...
Dominic: Good night Johnny.
Nonnie (my mom): Dominic, you should call him Uncle Johnny.
Dominic: Good night Uncle Johnny. Good night Uncle Nonnie.
Nonnie: Oh, but you can call me just plain Nonnie.
Dominic: Good night Just Plain Nonnie!


Dominic: Jeffer (Jennifer), where is Papa?
Me: Wait a second. You have to call me Mama!
Dominic: Well... I'm a big boy, so I can call you Jeffer!


Dominic and Peter love to wrestle, tackle, and basically rough house when Peter comes home from work! It will often start something like this...
Dominic: Papa, I wanna tackle you.
Peter: OK! I'm gonna get you!
(Tackle, roll, wrestle, etc!)
Dominic: Wait a minute, I need to get my hockey stick and tools! (Runs off)
Peter: Uh Oh!
Moral of the story is that Dominic is very enthralled with weapons. He also really likes Spider man, and will sometimes pretend to be him, at which point I will often have to remind him that Spider man does not use weapons!


My Dominic is such a boy and I love it! He is so active, energetic, and full of life! Sometimes, however, I find myself a little confused about what makes little boys tick. I was never into weapons, tackling, wrestling, etc. So it can be a challenge sometimes for me to know how to relate to him in that way. Luckily, Peter is excellent with knowing how to relate to him, and I think Dominic realizes that there are some fun things that he does with only Papa, and some fun things that he does with only Mama.
After Mass on Sunday, Dominic was playing with his cousin (also a total boy!), kicking rocks, running, shouting, throwing sticks, and just having a great time together. As we were getting ready to leave, we found Dominic at the statue of St. Joseph and baby Jesus. He was sweetly holding the baby Jesus statue in his little hands, and cuddling with it! He is such a great combination of strong and gentle. He is just amazing. I love trying to figure out what is going on in that adorable head of his!