His own language

Frankie is "talking" up a storm lately. It seems like he learns new words almost every day. However, there are a lot of words that I still don't understand. I told Frank that I can't wait until we can understand his language...and he told me he can't wait until he can speak ours! His new words for this weekend include: hot, more (always "more more"), water, pretty, and no, no, no.

Frankie had a follow-up doctor's appointment this morning to check his ears, and they look good! However, he has an eye infection, so we got some antibiotic eye drops for that. Hopefully it will clear up soon.

Here are a couple of pictures from this weekend:

happy boy

loves his fire truck

First happy meal

Tonight Frankie had his first happy meal, and I am pleased that my son actually went for the apple slices before the fries or the chicken nuggets. He managed to eat the entire happy meal, and he loved it! We almost never eat fast food, but tonight it was just what we wanted.

Temper tantrums

We have officially entered the temper tantrum stage. Tonight, he had three of them, and I am officially exhausted. First, when I pick him up from day care, he immediately demands to be let down so that he can walk through the lobby of the building to the elevator bank. This is about a 300 foot walk, and he gets easily distracted by other people, things, noises, etc. I usually let him walk until we get close to the elevators and then pick him up to get on the elevator. When I went to pick him up tonight, he threw his head back and started screaming. Thankfully, it was short lived and he was okay by the time we got into the elevator with seven other people. But I know the day is coming quickly when he will scream until we get to our car.

Then, I made spinach, mushroom, chicken enchiladas for dinner, and he did not want anything to do with them. We fed him some various other food items, and then I decided to let him practice using a spoon and gave him some blueberry yogurt. He loooves using a spoon, but it takes him forever to eat that way. I let him feed himself yogurt for about twenty minutes, and then I took it away to take him upstairs to get him to the bath. He kicked and screamed for a good five minutes while I carried him upstairs, took off his clothes, and put him in the bath. It was not until I gave him his toothbrush that he calmed down.

Speaking of his toothbrush....I took it away from him after about five minutes of "brushing" his teeth in the bathtub. And he completely flipped out. He stood up in the tub, pointing at the toothbrush and screamed and cried. He was bouncing up and down, almost shaking. I felt bad for him, but at the same time, it was so ridiculous...he wanted a toothbrush?! After that, I had Frank come upstairs to put on his PJs and get him to bed. I was completely exhausted and defeated. Thankfully, he calmed down enough before I left to give me some kisses and say goodnight, so I know he still loves me. I am NOT looking forward to more nights like this, but I know that they are coming!

First trip to the zoo

Today we decided to take Frankie on his first outing to the Dallas Zoo. In the last couple of years they have completely revamped the Dallas zoo, adding a huge new section devoted to animals that can be found on an African safari. I was really curious to see the new exhibit, and I was excited to see how Frankie liked all of the animals. The weather in Dallas has been gorgeous this week, and we were not the only people with the bright idea of going to the zoo today. It was packed! The Africa exhibit was really cool--still nothing like seeing those animals up close, in the wild, but very neat for a zoo. Frankie seemed to enjoy being outside, and he liked seeing the monkeys and the elephants, but I think he is still too young to really get it. He was distracted by the buckle on his stroller, his graham crackers, and other people more than he was attracted to the animals. He did enjoy his first ride on a zebra on the merry-go-round. It was really nice to spend a day together as a family!

Here are some pictures from our day at the zoo:

fun with an elephant statute

petting goats

riding the carousel

One year pictures

Chocolate syrup helps the medicine go down

Frankie absolutely hates medicine. When he was younger, it was easy enough to force him to take it, but in the last month or so, it has become really difficult to get that medicine in his mouth and keep it there. Sometimes I have luck mixing it with juice, yogurt, or applesauce, but sometimes he detects the medicine and then refuses to eat or drink any more. When Frank is here with me, sometimes we can hold him down, hold his hands, hold his mouth open, and force the medicine in there, but usually at least half of it is spat back out at us. And he is way too strong for me to get it in him that way by myself. I have tried putting the medicine on a spoon, in a sippy cup, in a regular cup...nothing works consistently. Tonight, I gave him the medicine mixed with some juice in his sippy cup and he refused to drink it. I took the medicine out of the sippy cup and put it in his bathroom cup that he loves to drink out of, but he shook his head "no" and clamped his mouth shut. I remembered reading in a baby book that chocolate can mask the aftertaste of medicine, so I decided to put chocolate syrup on the spout of the sippy cup and see if he would drink it. And it worked! Sort of. He drank about 3/4 of the medicine before he decided he had enough of my shenanigans. Maybe the key is to keep mixing it up? I have 8 more days of this medicine to go, so hopefully I will manage to get at least most of it in him so that these ear infections go away for good! My mom told me that I am smarter than him so I just need to keep coming up with ways to trick him, but I feel like my days as the smarter one are already numbered!

Spoke too soon

Yesterday I expressed my amazement that Frank can be so happy and content even when he feels like crap. Well, he decided to prove me wrong today. This was one of the worst days I can remember with him, almost as bad as when he was a newborn and we hadn't yet discovered that he had acid reflux. He would not sleep unless I was holding him, he would not eat, and he was generally inconsolable most of the day. I took him to the doctor and it turns out that he has two really bad ear infections on top of his stomach bug! Poor little guy!! Usually ear infections do not bother him too badly, so I know that these must be really bad to be making him so miserable. The pediatrician gave him a shot of antibiotics, so hopefully that will help. On top of Frank feeling terrible, I also felt terrible all day today because I got Frank's stomach bug. Overall, it was a horrible, no good, very bad day, and I am glad that it is almost over!!

Sick...again

Frankie is sick AGAIN. This poor little guy cannot catch a break! I feel like every time he gets over something he catches something else. This time, it is a nasty stomach virus. So far (fingers crossed!!) he is the only one who has it. Luckily I am off work tomorrow anyway, so I will be home giving him some extra TLC. He really is such a trooper though. Even when he is really sick, he still sleeps well and generally acts happy. Yesterday he kept lifting his shirt up and pointing to his belly. He does this sometimes to show us his belly button, but he was doing it a lot yesterday, which I now think was his way of trying to tell us that his tummy hurt. I was all excited for a weekend of girls' nights, play dates, and QT with my boys, but now I am focused on getting this baby boy healthy again.

Mr. Mischievous

It is so cute to watch Frankie's personality develop. Although he is cute and can be really sweet, he is also extremely mischievous, and I think we are going to have a little trouble maker on our hands. Today at school his teacher told me that his favorite "game" was to steal another kid's pacifier and run away and hide it from him. He didn't want to use the pacifier, he just wanted to make the other kid mad. His teacher says "not nice" whenever someone does something he shouldn't, and Frank now says "not nice" ALL THE TIME. Only he says it whenever you do something he doesn't like. When you tell him no, he really does not care. He laughs and goes right back to doing whatever you don't want him to do. Ignoring him appears to be the most effective strategy, but he is pretty persistent and he will keep at it until you make him stop.

Just like Daddy

I think Frank looks JUST like his daddy in this picture. This is a little sneak peek from his one-year photos we took about a month ago. Our photographer sent us the images on a CD, but she forgot to include several of them, so I am going to wait until we get the rest before posting them. A few random updates on him from the last couple of weeks:

We turned Frankie around so he is now forward facing in his car seat, and he really seems to enjoy it. He is still generally happy in the car unless he is hungry or we are stuck in traffic.

He can now open doors with handles. He gets up on his tippy toes and pulls on the handle until it opens. He can open every door in our house except the front door, I think because it is too heavy. It definitely makes watching him a little harder!

He has cried at day care drop off the last two days, which breaks my heart. I went to check on him during lunch yesterday, and he was so clingy and whined/cried every time I put him down. They say that he is not like this all day, but he has been whiny and clingy at home in the evenings too, so I am not sure what I believe!

Frank is going to Auburn next week for his LAST semester of grad school. I am so so so excited for him to be done. He has a 4.0 going into this last semester, so I hope he can maintain that and graduate at the top of his class. We are so proud of him, but we are ready for him to finish!!

Christmas 2011, the big 3-0, and New Years

I am too lazy to write a lot about this year's Christmas/birthday/New Year's week, mostly because it all happened so fast, and it was overshadowed by funerals, an ER visit, and a lot of sickness. But, I did get to spend a wonderful week with my family in Houston, and Frankie got a lot of quality time with his Mammy, GG and Great grandpa, and Nana and Grandpa. Frankie is finally recovered from his RSV and ear infections. My big birthday dinner was canceled for the second year in a row because my grandmother got very sick that day and ended up in the emergency room. My sweet brother picked up Antonio's pizza and brought it to my parents' house so we had the celebration there instead. I also had a delicious red velvet cake and some champagne, so I couldn't complain! Frank went to North Carolina to visit his brother for New Year's, so I spent the evening having dinner with my family and then going to Brooke and Mason's party with my sister and her hubby. Frank and I drove back to Dallas today and rang in the new year together in our beautiful home. I am so excited for 2012, and I have a feeling that it is going to be a fantastic year!

Here are some pictures from Christmas, my birthday (I turned 30--but is 30 really that big of a deal!?), and New Years:

Christmas morning

opening presents from Santa

loves his new chair

Christmas with mommy

I love the purse...he loves the box

Christmas with daddy

riding his new fire truck

Mommy turned 30

love my little man

the big 3-0

my fabulous brother

my hubby bought me $30 champagne to celebrate my 30th birthday

Al and Tyler on NYE

Frankie is so over taking pictures

me and Allison with Mammy on NYE

Happy New Year!

Family reunion, in memory of Mike Kevil, December 2011

As I mentioned in a previous post, my uncle Mike passed away unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago. The funeral was scheduled for December 23 in New Jersey, and every single member of our extended family traveled to New Jersey for the funeral. We scrambled to get last minute plane tickets during the holidays, but we all wanted to be there, and I am SO glad that we decided to go. I am sad that Frank and Frankie could not make it, but Frankie was sick with RSV and ear infections, so we decided to have Frank stay in Texas to take care of him. I flew out to New Jersey with my sister, and we headed straight over to my Aunt Barbara's house to spend some time with our family before the viewing. It was heartbreaking to see his immediate family. I feel so sad for my Aunt Barbara and my cousins Carolyn, Kim, and Brian. I cannot imagine losing my father, especially so suddenly. They are all very strong people though--stronger than they know, and I know that they will all persevere. More than 400 people came to my uncle's viewing, and at least 200 people came to his funeral and the lunch that followed. He was loved by many people, and he will be missed by just as many people. This was the first funeral that I have ever been to, and I was truly overcome with emotion during the beautiful service. My faith has never felt so strong as it did that day.

Uncle Mike, I miss you already. You were full of life, optimism, and heart, and I will always remember you for your charm, your support, and your belief that anything is possible. As Aunt Barbara said, you wanted a family reunion, and you made it happen. It was wonderful to see everyone.

Here are some pictures from our "family reunion" in New Jersey, in memory of Uncle Mike:

Lori, Carolyn, Allison and Tyler

Carolyn, Kim, Brian, Tyler, Allison, me, and Drew

double cousins

Carolyn, Allison, Tyler, and me

all of the Kevil (and Nittinger/Proesch) cousins