Dominick has this terrible habit of crawling to the T.V. and pushing all the buttons and BANGING on the screen. It is especially aggravating when he pushes the buttons on the front panel and the T.V. screen goes blank or fuzzy. I am constantly taking him away from the T.V. and saying "NO, NO!", but he immediately crawls right back. Last night Jonathan said, "Dominick don't you break my T.V., I don't want to have to go out and buy a new one" and Jon had a huge smile on his face. He would LOVE to buy a LCD T.V., he'd probably jump up and down if Dominick's hand suddenly went through the speaker or the screen.

Oh this is so much fun. How I do love to bang on the T.V. screen.

Uh-oh, what happened to the screen Mama???

Oh, thank you for fixing the T.V. Mama, I like it better with a picture on the screen.

Awww Man, why does this keep happening when I push the cute little buttons???

WRESTLING SHOES

Dominick's Dada had been wanting to get him these little Puma wrestling shoes for several months but we weren't sure of his shoe size before he came home. So he was finally able to buy them for him this weekend. The boy wears a size 5 shoe, I would have never guessed. The 4 fit him but didn't give him any room for growth...and these were not cheap baby shoes. They are so adorable. They had the same exact pair for adults but Jonathan doesn't like to spend any money on clothes and shoes because he works 6-7 days a week and only wears dingy work clothes and shoes. So now I know something I could get him for Christmas. I NEVER know what to get him for Christmas and it stinks for me. Jonathan doesn't buy himself much but when he does IT IS NOT CHEAP. He likes to buy the best, most expensive televisions, stereos,

X-boxes, and so on. But yet he'll get mad at me if I go out and buy him clothes or something.

WE ARE ALL SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

Yes, Dominick is sleeping 100% through the night. Doesn't wake up at all. Praise Jesus, he has answered my prayers AGAIN!!! Now the napping is a whole other story. He did take one 60 minute nap today but then didn't fall asleep until 11:15 PM tonight. He got his first round of re-immunizations today and it didn't make him fussy at all. He did great.

For those of you with a baby that wakes up during the night, I'd REALLY encourage you to let the "cry it out". I just cannot believe how wonderfully it worked. And it was only really bad the first night, and a little unpleasant the second night.

In my desperation for him to nap yesterday, I gave him a bottle in the Jumperoo. I know, Bad Mommy but like I said, I was desperate and had a fussy baby.

And it worked... for a very short nap. He woke up ready to play when I tried to take him out to put him in his bed. Notice the bottle lying on the Jumperoo. Usually when he's finished a bottle, he THROWS it. Even if I'm holding it for him, he reaches up, takes it out of his mouth, and THROWS it. TOO FUNNY!

Dominick went crawling to the tub when he heard his Dada running the bath water.

Here he is pulling up to have a closer look at the water.

And here he is sticking his hand under the running water and laughing.

It's so cute, he gets so excited about taking a bath he starts dancing while holding onto the tub every night. It's even more cute when we undress him while he's desperately holding onto the tub and his little naked butt is dancing. I wanted to show a picture but didn't know if that would be appropriate, so here's one in the diaper.

One of the first things he does when we put him in the water is to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles. It is hilarious!!! I crack up laughing so he keeps doing it. He is such a tough little guy, he usually ends up inhaling water and chocking on it, but he keeps laughing and doing it again.

And here he is kissing his duck. If I ask him to kiss one of his toys or Mickey (the dog), he'll gladly do it. But when I ask him to kiss Mama or Dada, he laughs and turns his head most of the time. Silly Boy!

Night # 3-CRY IT OUT

Last night was great, Dominick only woke up to wine but never cried and slept through the night. I really can't believe how awesome he's doing. It was soooo bad when he was waking up all through out the night. Now we are having problems with naps, probably because he is sleeping much longer at night now. I woke him up at 7:15 this morning but I think I'm gonna have to try to wake him up around 6:00 so he'll be more sleepy for a nap. This Sunday we are having a time change in Louisiana so he will be waking up an hour earlier anyway.

The bad news is, I don't think the scabies went away. He has broken out in a bad rash AGAIN! I am so disappointed that I have to wash EVERYTHING imaginable again... Ughhhh!!!

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Dominick's doctor wants to give him ALL his immunizations AGAIN because he does this with all his patients who are adopted internationally just to be safe. So he is having 4 shots tomorrow. I hope he doesn't get sick from it.

Night #2-CRY IT OUT

Okay, last night was AWESOME at the Duhon house. Dominick woke up around 1:00 AM and cried for about 10 minutes and went back to sleep on his own. I peeked around the corner of his room to make sure he was OK and let him cry it out. It wasn't nearly as bad as the night before, but it was kinda hard to hear him crying "Mamaaa, Mamaaaa, Mamaaaa!" Then he woke up around 3:00 AM and cried for 1 minute and fell back to sleep ON HIS OWN!!! I woke up about 7:45 AM, went in his room and found him playing with the bottom on his monitor in his bed just as happy as could be. I guess I need to move that out of the bed because of the loose wire.

Anyway, the rest of the day wasn't too great. He did not take a nap all day...the Jumperoo didn't even work. But he's asleep for the night now and tonight will be night #3 of Cry It Out. So far it is working awesome! He's getting more sleep and so is Momma... and Momma feels sooo much better and more rested!

Here is Dominick pulling the drawers out of my jewelry box while I try to brush my teeth and put my contacts in this morning. He is so close to figuring out how to open the cabinet doors...any day now. He already tries to stick his finger in the electrical outlets and pull the night-lights out of the wall.

Here's Gizmo coming to see what kind of trouble Dominick is into now. I can't believe how much this little guy has already learned since being home. It seems like he's already matured since coming home 2 weeks ago, SERIOUSLY! He knows sooo much...too much!

MAJOR SLEEP PROBLEMS!!!

We are still having major sleep problems around here. Dominick used to at least take 2 naps, but for the last 3 days he hasn't wanted to take a nap. It feels like I spend the whole day trying to get him to take a nap. He gets tired and fussy but won't fall asleep. On top of that, he wakes up a few times during the night, once for a bottle and the other times it seems like he's having little night mares or something because he just wakes up from a dead sleep crying. Dominick's doctor told me that I need to let him "cry it out" and DON'T give him a bottle. He said that at 9 months there is absolutely no reason for him to need a bottle in the middle of the night and that he has to learn to fall asleep on his own. Well, for those of you who are or have adopted, you know that all the professionals say that you should never let an adopted baby "cry it out" because of attachment issues and so on. But I was considering trying it in a few weeks. Well, last night Dominick woke up screaming and would not calm down. I tried a bottle and rocking him and everything and he wouldn't stop crying. So finally I just put him in his bed and let him cry. Then I would try to pick him up a few minutes later and he continued to cry. After doing this a few time, I figured why even pick him up because it doesn't help. I finally just let him CRY IT OUT. He screamed and cried for 45 minutes and finally went to sleep. He never woke up again for a bottle and I had to end up waking him up at 7:45 this morning, which has NEVER happened before. He is always up at 5:00 AM. And he woke up smiling and very happy, which made me feel like I did the right thing. I don't know if I'll be able to do it again tonight, but I wish I could. The doctor said if I do this every night, he'll be sleeping through the night in about 4 days. That would be so awesome!!!

Yesterday I tried all day to get Dominick to take a nap and he wouldn't. So around 5:00 PM, he was just jumping away in his Jumperoo and fell asleep. It was soooo funny, he fights his sleep so bad I didn't think there was any way he would fall asleep while playing. He fell asleep and then would suddenly pop his head up and start jumping again without even opening his eyes for a few seconds and then fall asleep again. I was dying laughing. So after his bottle last night, he wouldn't go to sleep again. I stuck him in his Jumperoo and what do you know??? He fell sound asleep again!!!

Nap Time

Night-Night Time

And guess how I got him to fall asleep for both of his naps today...Yep, in his Jumperoo. I'm desperate!!!

THE SMARTEST BABY IN THE WORLD!!!

Dominick learned to drink out of a sippy cup yesterday. I've been giving him sips of juice out of a straw but he still doesn't like juice and he still hadn't figured out how to suck on the straw. He didn't understand to suck on the sippy cup and had no clue that liquid would come out. So I took off the little part that stops the liquid from spilling out when you turn the cup upside down. I poured a little water in his mouth out of the cup and he thought that was so funny. I did it a few more time and he would gurgle the water and let it run out of his mouth, but he was sucking on the cup. Then I put the little part that prevents the liquid from spilling out back on and I gave it to him and he sucked the water right out. I was so excited! He doesn't really like drinking the water but he'll take a sip when I give it to him because he thinks it's funny that water comes out of it. I cannot get over how smart this little guy is. My mom taught him h ow to make sweet eyes in about 10 minutes while I was taking a shower on our 2nd day in Guatemala. Now he does it all day long. He can even do sweet eyes while jumping in his Jumperoo. He says Woof, Woof when he sees the dogs. He learned to say ball. If you ask him where is the light, he points to all lights. If you say Hi, Hola, Bye-Bye, or Go, he waves. When Jon was blowing his nose, Dominick started making the sound that Jon's nose was making. He imitates everything. He knows how to give a kiss and he makes fish lips. I am just amazed how quickly he learns things because all he heard was Spanish for the first 9 months of his life.

Anyway, I finally put Dominick's Halloween costume on. It barely fits him, kinda too small.

Jumping is so much fun!!!

I'm doing some stretch exercises before jumping in my Jumperoo.

More stretching!

Enough with the stretching Mama, I'm ready to jump.

Isn't life good when you can jump all day long.

Oh wow, this is so much fun!!!

Gizmo wants to jump too and I'm getting hungry from all that jumping!

Yummm, nothing like some good ole crackers after a long day of jumping.

Let's see how many of these crackers I can shove in my mouth before Mama stops me.

Mickey is my new best friend. I was scared of him at first, but now I think he's so funny. I say Woof, Woof when he walks by me.

NO WONDER HE DOESN'T SLEEP GOOD

Sorry I haven't been updating this often enough. Things are still busy, busy around here. Dominick had a Dr. appointment on Friday and we found out that he does have Scabies. The Dr. thought he had it and treated him for it in the hospital, but realized on Friday that he does definitely have scabies and we had to treat the whole family. For those of you unaware, Scabies is a little tiny mite (bug) that lives under the very top layer of skin and causes intense itching. It makes your skin swell up and look like an allergic reaction and is very contagious. If you contact scabies, you usually won't have symptoms for 4-6 weeks, so you can pass it along to others without even knowing you have it for 6 weeks. So, us and the grandparents all had to treat ourselves with a cream, and we had to wash EVERYTHING you could imagine. We even had to steam clean the furniture, because I had slept on the sofa a few days. My parents were here over the weekend to help with this big mess and my dad took all the clothes to a washeteria to wash them so he could wash everything at one time. He had like 6-10 bags of things to wash.

So anyway, the doctor said the scabies is definitely what could be making poor Dominick wake up every hour at night. He said scabies causes an intense itching, and it is even worse at night. So other than that, things are going good. Hopefully we did a good job and the scabies are gone. By the way, he had this when we got him in Guatemala, but we thought it was a rash and some type of allergic reaction.

Oh, one more thing, I finally got Dominick a Halloween costume. I will post pictures of him in it ASAP.

Here's Maw Maw cleaning Dominick's Jumperoo because of the Scabies...YUCK!

Paw Paw took a break from his laundry job to watch a little of his Car Races and rock Dominick. By the way, Dominick loves my dad but still isn't too interested in my husband. I don't understand what the deal is, but that's OK, we know one day he will be following his Dada around everywhere.

Dominick's favorite thing to do, take a bath.

OUR TRIP TO AMERICA

Dominick slept on both plane rides to the U.S.A.
(Please excuse the way I look)

This was Dominick's first time planting his feet on American ground (in the Houston airport)!

(We had him in his P.J.'s because we were landing in New Orleans an 8:45 PM and we knew he'd be sleeping by then.)

Dominick's first day home and first time in his Exer Saucer. He loves it!

Our Trip to Guatemala

I don't know where to begin in describing our trip to Guatemala. Words and pictures can never explain the things I saw in this amazing country. All the costumes you see in the pictures are not really costumes, this is the way the Mayan people dress every day of their lives. The things you see in my pictures are not for show, this is the way these people live on a daily basis. Some cities we visited in Gautemala were populated by about 99% Mayan Indian people. We went to so many Catholic and Mayan Cathedrals and saw them offering up sacrifices to their God's; bringing flowers, candles, incence, liquer, etc. and lying it on alters and praying to their Gods. There were crowds or people and you could smell the incence from yards away. Again, this was not for show, this is the way they live their lives on a daily basis. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside many of the cathedrals, but it was just amazing to see the things we saw. Sometimes I think back and it still doesn't seem real. I don't know how to explain everything we saw, but I am forever grateful for this opportunity to experience true Gautemalan and Mayan culture.

This was 3 volcanoes, one of them is still active. You could see smoke rising from one of them, that is not clouds. If we would have had more time, we could have hiked up Volcano Pakaya, an active volcano. Gautemala has over 30 volcanoes and I think 4 of them are still active.

This is corn. The Mayan people plant corn EVERYWHERE!!! It is an extremely important part of their diet. They make corn meal and use it to make tortillas and lots of other things. The mountains were VERY steep and they had corn planted everywhere. They farm it all by hand. I wish I had a picture to show you how steep they plant their corn.

These 4 pictures are at a town called Chicicastenango. It was their market day and we got to do a lot of shopping. It was very crowded but the people were nice and welcomed us. There was a Catholic Church which is the only Catholic Church in the world that is approved to worships both the Christian God and Mayan Gods. Thier services are only to the Christian God, but they have alters all over the inside floors to offer sacrifices to the Mayan Gods.

I wanted to post more pictures but this site isn't allowing it right now. I'll post more later.

As for Dominick, he seems to be just about over his virus. He allowed his Dada (Jonathan) to hold him and play with him for about 3-4 hours tonight. I could acutally walk out the room without him hollering, it was AWESOME! We are enjoying him more and more each day, and falling in love more deeply each hour.

WE ARE HOME!!!

We are finally home, hopefully for good this time. The Dr. said Dominick may still have diarrhea and be contagious for another week or so. He seems to be feeling a lot better and it is so good to be at home. He is such a blessing. Jon and I are quickly learning what parenthood is like..although it is tiring, I'm loving it! Here are some pictures of Dominick in the hospital.

Dominick was lethargic when we first got him to the hospital.

This is what Dominick usually does when his Dada tries to hold him. Notice his little split on his left hand.

Dominick in his hospital gown.

This is Dominick's favorite place to sleep, in his stroller. That is how his foster mother would put him to sleep.

A close up of Dominick's splint. It didn't slow him down a bit. He figured out how to use that hand with the thumb not taped down to grasp things.

This is when Mama finally gets a tiny bit of rest, Thank You Jesus!