Happy Father's Day!

We spent Father's Day weekend in Houston with my family, and I got to spend the day with my favorite Dads.  My father has been a big inspiration in my life in so many ways.  He inspires me to work hard, to put family first, and to be disciplined.  His relationship with my mom also inspires me to always make sure to make time for my marriage. 

Frank has been so helpful and great with Frankie these last few weeks, and Frankie is going through a phase where he really prefers Frank to me.  Frank is a wonderful Dad, and I am so blessed to have chosen the most caring man as my husband and Frankie's father.  Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing fathers out there. 

Visit from DeDe!

Last week, Grandma DeDe came to town for a week-long visit.  She was a lifesaver!  I actually had to go out of town for work, and she was able to watch Frankie for us, which was a huge help.  They got a lot of good quality bonding time together.  She was originally going to be "Grammy" or "Granny D," but Frankie started calling her DeDe and it stuck.  Somehow we did not manage to take any pictures during her visit, but we had a great time and can't wait to see her and Grambo again at Thanksgiving!

Also, I just got a box of all of my favorite See's candy in the mail from DeDe and Grambo--THANK YOU!

I could be an M.D.

Frankie is sick with hand-foot-mouth (again).  He has now had it a grand total of three times, although this is the first time we have had it confirmed by the doctor.  I was confident that this is what he had, because at this point, I feel like I am becoming an expert at diagnosing symptoms.  Poor little guy woke up with a burning fever yesterday morning and he was clingy, fussy, and lethargic for most of the morning.  He also refused to eat and cried a lot while eating.  After he got some ibuprofen into his system, he was much happier.  I decided to go into work today, but right after he woke up, Denise called me and I could hear him screaming and crying "Mama!" in the background.  When he is sick, he just wants his Mama.  I immediately left work (I am SO THANKFUL for a job that is flexible and understands these types of situations) and came home.  He was already doing much better by the time I got there, but he woke up from his nap today with another fever, so we decided to take him in to make sure he did not have an infection.  We took him out to dinner after his doctor's appointment, and he did so well!  He ate his food, laughed, and was so happy--you would never know he was sick.  I hope he gets well soon!

Happy Memorial Day

Saluting the flag with Daddy on Memorial Day

water!!

Fun at the splash park!

We had a great Memorial Day weekend, spending lots of time outside and lots of quality time together with friends and family.  On Saturday, Allison and I took Frankie to the splash park.  He was not quite sure what to make of it.  He really liked the fire hydrant and a few of the other structures, but he was scared by the water that shot up from the ground.  I think he will really like it once he gets a little bigger and does not think it is so scary.  On Sunday we went up to the Four Seasons for their big memorial day pool party, and Frankie had a great time!  We brought the Manktelow family up there with us, and Frankie had fun playing with Maddy.  Maddy is 3, and it is so amazing how much older and grown-up she seems compared to Frankie.  She was really cute with him though.  On Monday we went up to the Manktelow's country club pool and went back to their house for lunch.  We put Frankie down for a nap, and he cried/screamed for 30 minutes straight!  He NEVER does that.  We finally got him up and took him home.  It stunk that we had to leave so early, but for some reason he just did not want to sleep at their house.  We got home and he took a 3-hour nap as usual.  We are looking forward to a summer full of time at the pool and fun with our friends!

18 months

Frankie had his 18-month doctor's appointment this morning.  He started crying as soon as the nurse walked into the room, and he cried while he was weighed, measured, and checked by both the nurse and the doctor.  I think he was traumatized during all of his hospital x-rays.  He weighs 25 lbs 2 oz (35th percentile) and is 34.25 inches long (95th percentile).  He remains tall and lean, and at this rate he will most likely be over six feet tall.  The doctor was really impressed with his language development.  She said that she expects kids his age to know 10 words, and she was surprised when I guessed that he knows 100 or more words.

At 18 months, Frankie is:

• Getting much better holding my hand when walking in public.  And I finally broke him of his key dependency when walking to day care.
• Not doing so good with sharing.  He thinks everything is "mine!"
• Really trying to talk in sentences.  He can say two words together like "mama car" or "more milk" or "truck home," but he cannot quite piece everything together yet.  I am sure it won't be long.
• Eating really well.  He still loves fruit, likes salad and broccoli for veggies, and loves chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, sausage and hot dogs, and anything with ketchup.
• Loves to read books, and will now sit still and let me read to him for entire books.
• Still loves watching Gigglebellies and singing the bumble bee song and watching "Ben."
• Can name all of the workers at day care, his teacher, and all of his classmates.  Can also say the names of all of my family members and Frank's family members.
• Loves giving big hugs and kisses, but also sometimes hits and bites still.  We have started doing time outs when he hits or bites one of us at home.  He bit a kid at day care last week for the first time.  Hopefully this will not be the start of a trend!
• He is finally over his fear of slides, and he is in love with the hose! 

I love this little boy so much, and I cannot believe he is 18 months already!  Here are a few pictures of him playing with his new favorite toy...the hose:

Frank's graduation party

This weekend I threw Frank a big party to celebrate his graduation from Auburn.  We had a bunch of family come to town and a lot of our wonderful friends came out to celebrate with us.  Our house was full of adults and crazy kids.  There were a bunch of older boys, and Frankie was not too happy that he had to share his toys and his turf.  He shouted "mine!" several times, and he was not always on his best behavior.  But I think he had a blast.  I am so happy that so many people came out to celebrate with us.  I know that it meant a lot to Frank to see everyone.  Frank's sister Stella and her husband Ronnie came in town from Portland, Oregon, and his Uncle Andy came out from San Francisco.  It was great that they were all able to come out and make the trip.

I was really preoccupied during the party, so I did not get too many pictures until the very end of the night when only our families were still there, but here are some of the few pictures I took:

Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day thanks to my adorable baby boy and my sweet husband.  They surprised me with a massage and pedicure at a wonderful spa near our house, and I was spoiled with wine, chocolate covered strawberries, and 3 hours of blissful relaxation.  I loved it!  Frank also had Frankie sign my Mother's Day card, which I thought was soooo cute.  He loves to "write" and "color" these days.  Frank also surprised me with these beautiful hydrangeas and cooked me filet mignon for dinner.  I am privileged and blessed to be Frankie's mom, and it is 100 percent the most important thing I am, my number one priority, and the thing that brings me more smiles than anything else in the world.  Frankie's smile is infectious, and spending time with him and seeing those smiles lights up my world.  Granted, these days, he is more likely to be whining than smiling, but I will take them when I can get them!  I hope all of the mamas out there had a fantastic day!