Cute kids again

The other day Jocelyn was playing in a box that DominicsMom left in the kitchen. DominicsMom snapped the following two photos:

Dominic hams it up during dinner.
Joss follows suite!

DominicsDad

New Video

Dominic enjoys curling up on the couch sometimes, usually in the morning when he's not really awake, but sometimes he just likes to play. The other day he curled up on the couch with his little leopard and then began to pet it, making silly cooing noises. It went down hill from there.



DominicsMom does not always know when I'm using the camera to film a scene. She's never sure if I'm just taking a long time to compose/wait for a shot, or if I'm actually filming. There are a lot of "Are you filming?" in my video clips... This evening she thought that I was only letting Dominic look at the LCD on the camera and she didn't think that I was filming. Silly Mommy!

But I'm probably going to get castrated in my sleep for posting this...



DominicsDad

More photos!

Ok, DominicsDad is on a roll! DominicsMom and I went through 3 weeks of photos tonight and we were laughing our butts off! Dominic and Joss can be too funny.

Coming up we have photos and movies of Joss walking, Dominic playing a meerkat, Dominic singing, Joss in her new booster seat, naked boy, Easter cookies, and many other cute photos! Hopefully I can get to all of them very soon!

Dominic eating watermelon - he made a mess!


Joss in a box!Really cute!

DominicsDad

Finished the last group of photos

I finally finished the last group of photos, they have all been sorted, named, and the best ones posted here. Now I just have to download three weeks of photos that are still on the camera...

Dominic proudly stands by the Dora puzzle he finished.

Cute kid!

Joss in her new dress.

DominicsGrandma Pat with Joss.

Cutie in her high chair. We just replaced it with a booster seat and she now sits in it for meals. She has been wanting to sit in Dominics booster seat for the last couple of weeks, so we finally got her her own chair.

DominicsDad

Starting to Catch Up!

I'm starting to catch up! Here are some more pictures. I'm pretty biased, but they are pretty cute!





DominicsDad

UPDATE: Assessments and Reassessments

There is an update to my earlier post.

DominicsDad

Some Random Shots

I'm still trying to sort the best photos out, toss the worst ones, and name the remaining photos. It's slow work as we seem to take them faster than I can look at them.

Last month we showed you Joss eating a donut hole for her birthday. Here's another shot and a video.

Dominic tries to put on his shirt, but he isn't paying attention and is having some problems.

Cute!

Joss & Dominic

DominicsDad

Assessments and Reassessments

I had drill this last weekend and it was my second month as a Staff Pogue. I did get out to a range for a couple of hours on Sunday morning to watch Alpha Company conduct a shoot with their LAV’s, so it was not all bad. I returned home Sunday evening to Dominic, Jocelyn, and DominicsMom. DominicsMom let me know that I had received a call from the Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHR) and they asked me to call their 1-888 number.

I had filled out the PDHR survey form during our February drill. They have each service member fill out this survey 90 days after their return from a deployment. It covers your typical aches & pains, were you exposed to chemicals, radioactive material, loud noises for extended periods of time, etc. They also have an extended section on mental health and it is obvious that they are searching for signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression. I had just missed their call, but with helping DominicsMom feed both kids and then putting them to bed, I didn’t have time that evening to call.

Today I took a moment out of work to call their office. Before I did so I started to think, “Did they find something in the survey that I filled out? Did they see some sign that I don’t know about? Am I supposed to be depressed? Am I depressed?”

I called the number and it picked up gratifyingly quickly, but it was one of those d@mn voice answering systems. “Press 1 if you are returning a call from the Post Deployment Health Reassessment team. Press 2 if you need to blah blah blah.” I choose 1. “Press 1 if you need to speak to a nurse practitioner. Press 2 if you need to complete your PDHR survey.” I completed my survey, so I must need to speak to the nurse. I do??? There must be something wrong with me….

Of course, I was immediately placed on hold. After listening to some soothing elevator music for 20 minutes and intermittently being told that I was behind 1 other caller (that guy must be REALLY screwed up if he’s on the phone this long), it cut over to an answering machine and I left a message. It has been a couple of hours since I left the message and they still haven’t gotten back to me.

Now I’m depressed.



UPDATE (27 Mar 07): Whew! I finally got through to the PDHR office. I am not crazy or depressed! Yay! They were just following up on my referral to the Veteran’s Administration and to see if I was being taken care of.

VA?

Maybe I am depressed…





No Mom, I'm not depressed!

DominicsDad

Long Time No Post

It has been awhile since I've posted, we've been busy and the kids have been a hand full. Yes, our two darling angels can drive us to distraction as they tear the house apart. Joss is starting to walk further and further, she actually turned away from me and walked about 6 feet towards DominicsMom this afternoon. All she wants now is for me to put her down so that I can help her walk...to DominicsMom. To steal a phrase, she is turning into a regular 'little barnacle' the way she clings to DominicsMom (or to myself if DominicsMom is not available.) She is also completely off formula at this point and gobbling down everything that we put in front of her. To borrow another phrase, a Marine Corps phrase this time, she is turning into a regular 'food blister.'

Dominic is a bundle of energy and emotions these days, quick to yell and run around as well as quick to achieve a full-blown temper tantrum. He continues to do well with the potty and so his pre-school has graduated him to the next room with slightly older kids. He started today and seemed to enjoy it. It will be interesting to see if the art he brings home gets more involved.

Anyways, I'm going through a ton of photos and hope to post some new ones soon. Here are some older photos that I never posted:

DominicsDad

A Trip to the Department Store

DominicsMom related this story to me:

The other day DominicsMom took Dominic and Jocelyn along with her to Kohls to shop for some clothes for the kids. Knowing that the toy section is near the kids clothing and that they carry Thomas the Tank Engine, DominicsMom cut through the women’s clothing area, specifically the ladies undergarments section. As they walked by the bras, Dominic reached out to touch one of the more heavily padded bras and gave it a good squeeze, “Mommy, look! Boobies! Boobies!”

DominicsMom was very thankful that there was nobody else nearby…

DominicsDad

Cute Picture of Dominic

Dominic's pre-school recently brought in a photographer who took pictures of all the kids. He did a good job and we bought a print. The photographer included the negative with the print, so I can make copies for anyone who asks (I can also e-mail out a very high-res image suitable for printing.)

DominicsDad

Joss's First Haircut

Earlier this week Jocelyn received her first haircut! She needed it. She had straggly long hair that was constantly in her face and DominicsMom would dispair of keeping it neat. So she took her to Bambinos, the children's barber where we take Dominic (he also had his hair cut this time even though he could have gone a bit longer.) They did a great job and now she looks nice and neat with a cute little trim.

Here is a photo of her pre-haircut.
And here she is shortly after her haircut looking nice and neat with a little bow in her hair (which did not last terribly long.)


On the actual evening of her first birthday, we gave Joss a donut hole after dinner. She really enjoyed it and gave us lots of smiles and hugs afterwards.

DominicsDad

1st Year Check-Up

Jocelyn had her one-year check up this afternoon. DominicsMom took her in and she is doing fine. Joss was not too wild about the 4 shots that she received, but she took it like a trooper. She was measured at just over 28 inches in length and she weighed 19.5 lbs. This puts her at just over average in length and a bit under average in weight. We thought that she was pretty chunky (with what DominicsMom calls her 'cha-cha' thighs...), but I guess we were wrong!

Joss on the see-saw at the park.

DominicsDad