A day in Paris!

Today we decided to load up and head out to Paris....Paris, Texas, of course.  Frank and I went to the "real" Paris several years ago, but we had never been to Paris, Texas.  Frank's great grandmother lived there before moving to California and he had always wanted to go, so off we went!  Paris is about a 2-hour drive from our house.  The town was pretty tiny--I think the population was around 25,000 people.  We walked around the square downtown, threw pennies in the fountain, walked over to the courthouse, and checked out the cowboy Eiffel Tower.   We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a cafe on the square and some fudge and hot chocolate for dessert.  Frankie was such a good boy all day, even though we kept him up hours past his normal nap time.  It was really nice to get out of town and explore a new place.  Here are some pictures form our day in Paris:

20 weeks!

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant...officially halfway there!  In some ways, I feel like this pregnancy is flying by.  In other ways, I feel like I have been pregnant forever.  As far as my pregnancy symptoms go, I am finally over morning sickness completely and am actually feeling pretty good these days.  I have been trying to work out some, and every time I go I realize how much I miss it.  I feel enormous already, and I can only imagine how big my stomach will be by the time I am 40 weeks!  In other news, I have some big changes brewing at work, which I will post more about once everything is final.  But good, exciting changes are on the horizon! 

Rodeo

 This weekend, we had big plans to spend a lot of quality time with Frankie.  Unfortunately, I woke up Saturday morning with yet another stomach bug (I swear I have been puking for 5 months straight), so I was bedridden all weekend.  However, Frank and Frankie got to spend a lot of fun time together!  They went to the new Perot Museum on Saturday (where they saw "skeletons" and "lions" and "brown bear!") and then to the Fort Worth Rodeo on Sunday, and they had a blast together.  Frank said that Frankie loved hanging out with the cows, and they spent a lot of time looking for "blah blah black sheep," but unfortunately they were not able to find one.  Frank paid for Frankie to go on a pony ride, but he chickened out at the last minute and decided not to go.  When they got home, Frankie brought me a beautiful turquoise bracelet and said "feel better Mommy!"  It was the sweetest thing ever.  I was sad to miss out on a fun weekend with my boys, but I was so glad that they got some good bonding time in.  Frank and I both had Monday off of work, so we took Frankie in for a half day of day care and went to lunch and a movie.  It was a wonderful little date, and such a great way to start off the week. 

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Scoop

Frankie talks very well for his age, and he is especially good at pronunciation.  Not only does he know a lot of words, but he also knows how to say them.  Most people can understand everything he says.  However, there are a couple of words that he mispronounces, and I almost think that is cuter than when he says things correctly.  The one that cracks me up the most is that he says "scoop" when he means "scoot," as in "scoop over, Mommy."  Other cute frank-isms:

Lellow=yellow
pasketi=spaghetti
ansanya=lasanga
open-en-it=open it
Blah Blah black sheep=baa baa black sheep
glubs=gloves
losh=lotion

Just because I don't want to forget, he is also saying a lot of cute sayings lately, like, "let's get out of here," "don't worry about it," and "it was an accident."  He constantly amazes me with his memory.  This afternoon after he woke up from his nap, he wanted to rock on his lamb and I started singing "mary had a little lamb" to him.  He said, "Mama watch lamb on computer."  I said, I watched the lamb on my computer?  And he said, "no, on the piano."  I remembered that I had played that song on the piano a few weeks ago, and I said, is that what you are trying to say, and he smiled really big and said "YES!"  I can't believe he remembered that!

We are still having a lot of issues with him listening to me, and him saying "no" all the time.  I guess this is just all part of the terrible two's!  Thank goodness this stage is not all terrible...maybe only like 25% of the time.

It's a boy! and new baby anxiety?

On Friday last week we had our BIG ultrasound and found out that we are having another baby boy!  We are super excited that Frankie is going to have a little buddy to grow up with.  I think that Frank really thought we were having a little girl, so he was absolutely THRILLED when the ultrasound tech told us it was a boy.  Everything looked great at the ultrasound, but they want to do another one in 4 weeks so that they can get a better measurement of the baby's heart.  It will be nice to be able to confirm that the baby is still, in fact, a boy.  We are pretty close to deciding on the name, but we are not 100% sure yet.  

In other news..in the last few weeks, Frankie has really been clingy.  He cries almost every day that I drop him off at day care, and he often cries when I put him to sleep at night.  Yesterday he did not take a nap at day care, which is VERY unusual for him.  He has also been having some pretty massive temper tantrums lately, and I am wondering if all of these issues are manifesting as a result of his anxiety about the new baby.  I talked to his teachers about it briefly this week, and they said it is very common for toddlers to have a strong reaction to a new pregnancy.  It breaks my heart that he is already acting this way, and I hope that it is a phase and not a sign of what's to come once the new baby arrives. 

Miller Mexico wedding!

The day after my birthday, Frank and I headed to the Riviera Maya, Mexico for my good friend Lindsey's wedding!  I have known Lindsey since elementary school, and we played softball together in high school and then lived together for one year at A&M.  She was one of my bridesmaids, and she has always been an extremely loyal and wonderful friend.  I was so excited to get to be a part of her special day!  She and Brian seem so happy, and she was an absolutely stunning bride.  The wedding was at the El Dorado Royale hotel, which was a bit disappointing.  The location was beautiful, but we had a bunch of issues with the service, things that you would never expect at a luxury hotel.  It all worked out in the end, and we had a nice, relaxing vacation with friends.  Although it was disappointing not to be able to drink, it was great to read books, lay on the beach, catch up with my Houston friends, and spend some quality time with my hubby!  We were gone for 4 days, and this was the perfect amount of time.  Frankie was super sweet when we returned (not mad at us, like he has been in the past).  It is always hard to leave him, but this time it was perfect.  Nana and Papa took great care of him, and we enjoyed a few days of relaxation and pampering on a beautiful beach.

Here are a few pictures of our trip to Mexico:

Happy Birthday to me

I can't believe I am 31!  For some reason, this birthday made me feel so much older than last year when I turned 30.  I am officially "in my thirties."  The last couple of years we have been unable to go eat pizza on my birthday, but this year we picked back up the tradition and went to Verona's Flying Pizza in Houston.  My mother surprised me with this awesome red velvet birthday cake! After years and years of complaining about my lackluster cakes, she has gotten my this awesome cake the last two years, and I love it.  I celebrated my birthday with a great dinner with family, and I could not have been happier.

Here are some silly pictures from the restaurant:

Christmas 2012

I feel way behind, but one of my new year's resolutions is to get organized, so I am going to start today by updating my blog!  We were out of town for almost two weeks over Christmas and New Years, and we had such a great holiday.  We started Christmas at our house, and it was so much fun with Frankie this year, because he really is starting to understand what is going on.  We showed him videos and read books about Santa coming down the chimney, and we baked cookies for Santa and left the cookies and milk out for him.  In the morning, we brought Frankie downstairs to see the train table Santa brought for him!  Frank and I spent a LONG time putting that thing together the night before, but I think it will be a great toy for Frankie so of course it was worth it. 

The next day we headed to Houston to spend the week with my parents.  Santa came to Nana and Papa's house too and spoiled Frankie some more.  I think it is confusing to have Santa come twice (maybe because that never happened when I was growing up), but I guess he is still too young to really get it.  It was a little sad this year because Allison and Mammy were not home for Christmas, but we had a great time with the rest of the family.  We are so blessed!

Here are some pictures from Christmas 2012: