The Stein family has had a busy few months (hence the lack of posting activity... sorry!). Dougie has been growing and learning faster than we could have ever expected, but we've been trying our hardest to capture every moment with pictures and videos.
Since October, we've been involved in a bi-weekly parenting group with families that have babies Dougie's age. Doug has a great time interacting with the other kids and showing off his new skills every other week. Dougie is one of the only boys in the group, so he really turns on the charm with the baby girls. This kid is going to be a heart-breaker!
In November, we took another trip down to Bloomington, Indiana to celebrate our nephew Jacob's 2nd birthday. Dougie had so much fun watching all of the "big" kids play together and offering big smiles to everyone in sight! Also in November, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the Caporale clan. It was a great chance for Dougie to see all of the Caporales again and try some new food!
In mid-December, we celebrated Great-Grandpa Caporale's 92nd Birthday with the Caporale's. We also took Dougie to see Santa Claus at the Henry Ford museum. Dougie wasn't super excited to see Santa, but he was very interested in all of the cars, trains, planes, and other exhibits in the museum. We think Doug might turn out to be a history-buff like some of his uncles.
The weekend before Christmas, we joined Grandma and Grandpa Stein, Uncle John, Aunt Katie, and their three boys on a trip to the Big Splash Adventure water park in French Lick, Indiana. At first, Doug was a little overwhelmed by all of the noises and water, but after some comforting from Mom and Dad, he had a blast wading in the kid pool and swimming in the big pool. Most of all, as always, Doug liked hanging out with his older cousins. Matt, Chris, and Jacob just love holding Dougie and trying to make him laugh. We can tell he can't wait until he's big enough to tromp around with them.
Tony and Kathy had a blast with Dougie on his first Christmas. The little guy could definitely tell there was something special happening. It all started on Christmas Eve when we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Stein's house to join them, Uncle Andy, and his girlfriend Hillary for our annual international dinner. This year, the theme was Israeli food, which turned out to be one of our favorites. On Christmas Day, we woke up early (as always) to see what Santa brought during the night. Doug's snowman stocking from Grandma Miller (which was as tall as he was) was filled with toys and complete with a potato at the bottom (Dougie was a little naughty this year. He should let us sleep more...).
With no time to waste, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Stein's house to exchange some more gifts. One of Dougie's favorite toys from Santa was a mini-piano. Mom and Dad are
so excited for all of the wonderful "music" he's sure to create with it.
After the Stein house, we headed over to the Grandma and Grandpa Caporale's house to spend Christmas with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Nick, Aunt Mindy, Alistair, Dominic, Uncle Joey, his girlfriend Summer, and of course Teddy (the dog). We wasted no time in exchanging presents with everyone, and then headed over to the dinner table to eat some of Uncle Nick's famous homemade ravioli, which was delicious.
The day after Christmas we headed to New York to visit more family at Doberdom. Dougie was such a good boy during the long car rides, but was definitely happy to crawl around and open more presents at Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Miller's house! While we were there it snowed 14 inches! Unfortunately, Dougie had a cold and couldn't play in the snow this year at Doberdom. His best buddy was cousin Kristina who loved to hold and kiss him. For Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa's 55th Wedding Anniversary we enjoyed going to see a hockey game in Buffalo. Dougie loved watching the game and dancing to the music they played!
All in all, it was a wonderfully exciting and exhausting first Christmas! We feel so blessed to have so many loved ones to share it with!
