Frankie is 3!

My sweet BIG boy turned three years old today!!!! I can hardly believe it.  I can still vividly remember when he was a baby.  I can remember when he would toddle from my car through the lobby to his day care, insisting that he hold my keys and trying to run away and hide any chance he could.  I remember the first time he said I love you.  I remember his first birthday party, when he LOVED smashing his cake and having all eyes on him.  I cherish all of these memories.  These memories are the sole reason I write this blog--I don't want to forget a single moment of this wonderful boy's life.  I don't want to forget when we gave him his big birthday gift (an easel) and he clapped with excitement.  I don't want to forget the huge smile on his face when his friends arrived at his party.  I don't want to forget what it is like to look through the world through a three-year-old's eyes--with curiosity, innocence, determination, and pure joy.

At three, here are some of Frankie's favorite things:

Favorite friend:  Bennett
Best friend at school:  Mackenzie
Favorite foods:  apples, steak, guacamole, yogurt, macaroni and cheese
Favorite color:  orange
Favorite TV shows:  Mickey Mouse clubhouse and Little Einsteins
Favorite toy:  vacuum
Favorite movie:  Finding Nemo
Favorite books:  Good Night Washington DC, Peppa Pig, The Night Before Christmas, and his "bible book"
Favorite song:  "Crazy" Hunter Hayes
Favorite video:  Minnie's bow-tique
What he wants to be when he grows up:  "Eat grown-ups, drink coffee, and go to work."

Frankie constantly asks questions, and he always wants to know "why."  He is inquisitive, insightful, and he has a razor sharp memory.  He is funny, silly, and loves to be the center of attention.  He is sweet and protective of his little sister.   I think he has my smarts combined with Frank's determination, and I truly believe he is going to be unstoppable.  I have big dreams for this little boy, and I can't wait to see what he becomes when he grows up.

We celebrated Frankie's big birthday all weekend, starting when Mommy and Daddy surprised him with donuts at school on Friday.  He was super excited to see us, and everyone was very excited about the donuts, but we didn't think about the fact that it was picture day at school (why his teachers did not tell us, I have no idea), and some of those kids were covered in chocolate from head to toe.  Oops!

Saturday was Frankie's big birthday party at the Frontiers of Flight airplane museum.  We have been there a few times before, and Frankie always loved it, so I was excited to have his party there.  He had a blast.  His best friends were there, and Nana and Papa and Auntie Allison, Uncle Steve, and Kasey also came.  He ran around the play area, climbed, chased, and screamed with his friends, and just had a blast.  He loves to be the center of attention, and he really enjoyed everyone singing to him.  He requested an orange cake with "all the colors," so I got a cake with rainbow sprinkles covering the outside.  It was delicious.  While the kids were all eating cake, Frankie started singing, "Happy Birthday to cake!"  and cracking himself up.  He is so silly.  After the party, most of our family came back to our house to open presents, and Frankie got a bunch of cool new stuff.

Today, on his actual birthday, Nana and Papa came over and we went up to Klyde Warren Park to have lunch and enjoy the beautiful weather.  I think Frankie had a wonderful birthday weekend that was all about celebrating HIM.  He is my sweet, smart, independent, funny, silly little buddy.  

Mommy fail

Today is picture day at Frankie and Lily's school.  Last night, I was giving Lily a bath, and she was being pretty calm and good (as she usually enjoys baths), and then out of nowhere she started screaming.  I was pretty much finished washing her, so I took her out of the bath and dried her off.  I saw that she had a long scratch on her chest and two smaller scratches on her left cheek, and I realized that I must have scratched her with my ring while I was washing her!  Poor baby girl.  I felt awful.  This morning, the scratch on her chest was almost invisible, but you can still see the two scratches on her face (of course, because it is picture day).  I actually thought about putting some makeup on her face to cover the scratch, but I decided against it.  Who knows, maybe it will be less noticeable by the time she gets her pictures taken.  Or maybe they can photoshop the scratch off her face?  Lesson learned:  make sure to remove ALL jewelry before giving Lily a bath!  I took off my engagement ring and my watch, but for some odd reason I did not remove my other ring this one time.

Liliana--5 months!

Happy five months baby girl!  I cannot believe Lily is already five months old.  She is growing and changing so much every day.  She is a very smiley and social baby.  She does not mind if anyone holds her, even people who she has never met.  She loves being around people, and she especially loves to be near her brother.  She is still a beautiful baby girl, and her day care teachers told Frank she is the best dressed baby in her class (of course :)).  At five months, Lily is...

-Having a growth spurt!  She is now eating 4 eight ounce bottles a day, and sometimes an additional 4-6 ounce bottle around 2:00 a.m.  She was very fussy last week for a few days, but once we started feeding her more, she has seemed much better.  We tried rice cereal a few weeks ago, but she did not like it so we have not tried it again since.

-Sleeping good, but still not through the night consistently.  She generally sleeps from 7:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m., wakes up and chugs a bottle, and then sleeps again until we wake her around 7:00 a.m.  Sometimes she sleeps through the night, but most nights she is still waking up hungry.

-Napping so much better than expected at day care.  She is generally taking three naps a day there.  Sometimes naps are really short, but she is doing great.

-Loves to kick her feet, play in her exersaucer, roll around, and sit in her bumbo.  Lily loves to grab on to things, touch everything, feel different textures, and put everything in her mouth.  We are working on learning how to sit up before her six-month pictures next month.  She loves when we sing to her, read to her, or just "chat" with her.

-She is tough, but also extremely sensitive.  We love her so much!

Missing my babies

I am in Missouri for work, and I am missing my babies.  I finished with my deposition early today, but there are no earlier flights to Dallas, so I am stuck in the airport for about four hours waiting to board my plane and come home.  I am so excited to see them!  Frank texted me this cute picture of him and Frankie this morning.  Frankie has been waking up early and coming downstairs in the morning while Frank and I are still getting ready for work (or sometimes before we have even gotten out of bed), so we have been letting him hang out with us in our bedroom while we get ready.  Looks like he was watching Daddy shave this morning and decided he wanted to participate too.

Visit with Grambo and Grandy

Grandy and Grambo just left today after a week-long visit.  Even though they were here for a week, the time seemed to fly by.  We are so busy since I went back to work, it seems like all the days just run together.  They kept both of the kids home from school a couple of days and got to spend some good quality time with them.  They also babysat one night so that Frank and I could go out on a date!  I feel like we have been better this time around about taking time for ourselves, and it is so refreshing.  We really appreciate all the times the grandparents have watched the babies so that we can go out!  Last night we took them to Hard Eight barbecue and had a great farewell dinner.  Lily had been fussy all weekend, so we were worried that she would have a big meltdown at dinner, but she was a perfect little angel.  She fell asleep on the car ride home, and then went down easily and slept through the night!  She also woke up happy this morning, so hopefully her mysterious fussiness is behind us.

This morning we were all rudely awakened by someone violently banging on our door and ringing our doorbell over and over.  Frankie woke up crying and screaming, and Frank ran to the door to find a policeman who informed us that the house behind us was on fire.  It was one of the scariest things I have ever seen in my life.  The house ended up completely burning to the ground.  Luckily, no one was home, and no other houses were damaged.  I am so thankful that our family and our home is safe.

Here are some pictures from Granbo and Grandy's visit:

A couple of firsts

Last week Baby Lily had a couple of firsts, neither of which was very successful.  On Wednesday, we fed her rice cereal for the first time.  She did not particularly dislike it, but she did not know what to do with it, and I don't think she swallowed a single drop.  The doctor had suggested that we might try it out in hopes that it would help with her sleeping, but I do not think she is ready for it yet.  We are going to try again in a couple of weeks.

On Sunday, I took both kids to the park in the morning and I put baby Lily in her big girl stroller for the first time.  She was having a very fussy weekend, and she was not too fond of the hat I put on her head, but I did manage to capture one smile from her.

Quick London trip!

Last weekend, my mom and I made a quick trip to London to visit Tyler!  I was very nervous about taking this trip, since it was only two weeks after I was set to go back to work.  I originally only wanted to go for two nights, but my Mom told me I was insane and convinced me to go for three nights.  I have to admit that she was right...we were so tired and jet-lagged, and if we had only been there two nights our trip would have been way too short!  It was so nice to get to spend a lot of time with my mom and my brother.  He is loving London, and I think this graduate program is absolutely perfect for him.  He is thriving and learning so much, and I am so proud of him.  We got to see his flat and meet a bunch of his friends, and we ate and drank our way through London in three days.  I missed my babies terribly, but I got to face time with them every night, and Frank really stepped up and did an amazing job taking care of everything while I was gone.  I love him so much for letting me go on this trip.

My Mom and I had both been to London twice before, so we did not really want to do too much "touristy" stuff.  We made a few plans, but we ended up bailing on most of them and just winging it.  Our first day was pretty low-key since we were so exhausted.  We checking in to our hotel around noon and then walked with Tyler over to his flat and met a bunch of his friends.  We later went to the first of many pubs for lunch and beer (for them) and champagne (for me!).  That night we met my friend Amy and her husband Tim for dinner at a nice restaurant in Chelsea.  I had not seen Amy since her wedding to Tim nearly four years ago!!  I couldn't believe it.  I chat with her often online, but I really miss her, and it was wonderful to see her.   On Sunday we woke up early to head to Buckingham  Palace and watch the changing of the guard.  It was absolute hysteria and we could barely see anything, but it was still neat to go and watch the parade of guards.  We walked through the beautiful St. James park and headed to brunch to meet some more of Tyler's friends.  After brunch we headed to the Royal Horseguards Hotel for afternoon tea with Amy.  It was quite the event, and my favorite part was the scones and clotted cream.  And of course the champagne.  After tea, we met my brother for dinner at the Jugged Hare, which was connected to our hotel.  It was a wonderful restaurant, and we had a great family dinner.  On Monday, the weather was horrible so we spent most of the day at Harrods and several various pubs.  It was a great little trip, and I am so glad that we were able to go.  I only wish that Allison could have come with us.  Here are some pictures from the trip: