2-year appointment

Today I took Frankie in for his 2-year checkup.  These appointments are easier in some ways and much harder in other ways than they used to be.  If we could get in and out in 30 minutes or at least less than an hour, I think the whole thing would be great!  But when we have to wait in the little room for over an hour to see the doctor...this two year old boy gets antsy and starts acting like a wild man.  He also pooped while we were there, and of course I did not have a change of diaper with me.  But, he is 35.5 inches tall and 27.5 pounds, right at 75-80% for height and around 45-50% for weight.  His head is still small, in around the 20%.  He is healthy (yay for no ear infection!), and he is right on track for his development.  I was actually a bit shocked at the questions the doctor asked, because most of the things she asked about he has been able to do for quite some time.  He had to get two shots, and boy did he scream!  He then kept trying to roll up his pants and remove his bandaids on the drive to school.  He was not a happy camper at all when I dropped him off, but hopefully he will feel better after his nap and have a good afternoon!

Frankie is going to be a ...

Big Brother!!!!  Frank and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting another baby!  I am currently 12 weeks along, and I am due on June 12, 2013.  The babies will be 2 years and 7 months apart.  We found out I was pregnant on October 2.  I had to change doctors due to insurance, and I have already been to the doctor for two appointments and one ultrasound.  We had a super early ultrasound at 6.5 weeks and got to see the baby's heartbeat!  Then I went back at just under 10 weeks and the doctor was able to find the baby's heartbeat with the doppler, so I got to hear that sweet sound!  The heartbeat was fast, 169 beats per minute.  So far, this pregnancy is very different from my first.  I remember being absolutely exhausted last time during my first trimester, but this time my energy level has not really fallen.  I am actually having some insomnia, which stinks.  I have also been extremely nauseated this pregnancy, sometimes with the nausea lasting all day and  night, sometimes accompanied by puking.  It has made it extremely hard to get up and go to work.  I have also had a disgusting taste in my mouth near constantly for the last 6-7 weeks.  It tastes like disgusting metal, and it gets worse every time I eat.  It is gross and it makes me want to eat more to get the taste out of my mouth, but nothing really works.  Most food has been completely unappealing to me until the last couple of weeks.  Now I am mostly craving cheese and meat. 

I told my sister just a few days after I found out I was pregnant, but we did not tell anyone else until just last weekend when we went to Houston for Monte's fundraisers and Frankie's birthday.  It was so hard to keep such a huge secret for so long!! It was especially hard because I was so sick and the pregnancy was all that I could think about.  We had Frankie open up the "Big Brother" t-shirt as a birthday gift on November 17 in front of my parents and brother.  They did not get it at first, but when they did they were shocked!  My mom even cried :)  I can't believe they did not guess before that, because I am already HUGE!  I swear I am as big right now at 12 weeks as I was at 18-20 weeks last time.  I am already wearing my bella band with pants and feeling like I want to get into maternity clothes.  

Although we most definitely planned this pregnancy, we are both feeling a little apprehensive about adding another baby to our family.  I am especially nervous about how we are going to handle getting two little ones ready each morning and putting them to bed at night.  I already feel like I have no extra time...but I suppose everyone just makes it work!  I am planning to take a longer maternity leave with this baby, and I am really excited about that. 

Last pregnancy pretty much every single person we knew thought that we were having a girl, but Frank and I were pretty sure we were having a boy.  This time, Frank had a dream that we are having a girl, but I am not so sure.  I do not have a strong feeling either way, and I think either one would be wonderful.  We are just praying for a healthy baby.  We are so excited about this new edition, and we cannot wait to be a family of four!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have been enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving week with family here in Dallas.  Frank's Dad and Denise arrived in Dallas on Tuesday, and my family all drove up from Houston on Thursday to enjoy Thanksgiving at my house.  Frank and I cooked a turkey and ham feast for 12 people!  We had way too much food as usual, but it turned out wonderful.  We have so much to be thankful for this year.  It has been a tough year for Frank and his family, but we are all so thankful that Monte is alive, in remarkably good spirits, and fighting hard to recover.  We are thankful for the enormous and unexpected generosity of so many friends and strangers who have prayed for Monte and supported his recovery.  I am thankful for my wonderful husband, who has a bigger heart than anyone I know, and who works so hard all the time taking care of everyone else.  I am thankful for my son, who amazes and inspires me every single day.  I am thankful for my job, for finding a place where I feel inspired at work, and for wonderful encouragement from my boss.  I am thankful for our beautiful home and our awesome friends.  Most of all, I am thankful that we got to spend this holiday surrounded by family, love, and laughter.  Frankie cannot get enough of Nana, Granny D, and all of the rest of his extended family.  I am sad that we don't get to see them more often, but I am so thankful that we got to spend so much time together this week. 

Frankie turns 2!

My sweet little boy turned 2 years old on Saturday!  My, how fast this year has flown by.  I feel like just yesterday we were hosting his first birthday party and he was flinging cake all over the place.  This year's party was so much different.  We just had a small brunch at my parents' house in Houston.  Frankie had a blast.  He loved when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and he loved opening presents.  He clapped and got so excited about each and every gift.  It was so nice to see him so happy and enjoying himself so much. 

At age two, Frankie is....

*Wearing size 2T shirts and size 18 month bottoms, although those are sometimes too big.  He is still tall and skinny.

*Still eating pretty good, but he can be picky sometimes.  His favorite foods are:  salad with ranch dressing, pancakes, chicken nuggets, cereal, cupcakes, and peanut butter and jelly.  He also loves chips and guacamole, and he loves pretty much every single condiment.

*The best sleeper ever.  He goes to sleep at 8:00, and he will sleep as long as we let him on the weekends, typically past 9:00 am, which I really appreciate!  On the weekends he takes 3 hour naps, but he takes 2 hour naps on weekdays at day care.

*Just moved to the "big boy" class at school.  They are working on potty training, and we are hoping to have him trained in the next few months.

*Loves reading. His favorite book is still a nursery rhyme book, and he can recite almost all of the nursery rhymes in the book.  Some nights I read the book to him, and other nights I let him "read" the book to me.  It is so sweet!

*He knows all of his numbers and letters, can spell his name (but about half the time he forgets the "A"), counts to 20, and knows several words and numbers in Spanish.  He is a sponge, and he learns like his Mommy does. 

*Still talking and singing up a storm.  He speaks in sentences and speaks very clearly.  I had a transition meeting with his teachers last week, and they told me "from the first time he opened his mouth, we thought this was not the mouth of a two-year-old."  He has gotten in the habit of saying "yeah" instead of yes, so we are working on that. 

*Can be very shy sometimes, unpredictably, but usually when I am around along with a bunch of other people.  He is the opposite of shy at school, so it always surprises me when he acts like this. 

*Still so, so sweet.  When I tuck him in at night, I say "snug as a bug in a rug," which is something Frank used to say, and he loves it.  And then he says "sweet dreams." 

*But of course, can also have his epic tantrum moments.  Today he screamed the entire way to day care and had a massive tantrum when I dropped him off.  I guess waking him up at 5:00 a.m. to drive home from Houston  did not make him very happy.  

*His favorite toys are his broom, his ipad, and his books. 

Frankie, you are such a smart, curious, energetic, and sweet boy.  You give us a run for our money, but I have absolutely loved watching you grow into such a cute and curious little boy.  I wish you could stay little and innocent forever, but I know that I will enjoy watching you grow and change.  I hope that you had a wonderful birthday!  Love, Mommy

Happy Halloween!

 Frankie had a blast this Halloween.  We let him pick out his costume from a limited selection at Target, and he chose to be a spaceship.  It is a really silly costume.  I was trying to get him to be an army dude, but he wanted none of that.  So, spaceship it is!  In the morning his school had a Fall Festival parade and trunk-or-treat.  All of the kids under 3 went first and they all paraded in a circle around the parking lot three times.  Frank did not want to wait with his teachers and instead sprinted ahead to be with the big kids.  This is pretty typical of his attitude most days!  After the parade they stopped at 5 or 6 cars in the parking lot to get candy.  You could tell that the kids did not really get it at first, but once they figured out they were getting candy, they just wanted to sit down and eat it!  It was so funny.  After the parade was over and they all went inside, the teachers had to take away their pumpkins and candy, and all of the kids were so upset.  I would not have wanted to be a day care teacher on Halloween, that is for sure!

I was scheduled to fly out to Missouri for work on Halloween night at 9:30, so I let Frank take Frankie trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and I stayed home to pack and pass out candy.  Frank said that he had a blast going up to our neighbors' doors and saying "trick or treat."  It is going to be so much more fun having Frankie at the holidays now that he is starting to understand what they all mean.

Here are a few pictures of my little spaceship on Halloween!

Pumpkins!

Frankie is a bit obsessed with pumpkins this season.  A few weekends ago, Frank and I took him to the arboretum pumpkin patch, and he had a blast walking and running and playing in the hay.  Then, last weekend, we carved a Halloween pumpkin.  We let Frankie pick out what kind of pumpkin he wanted us to carve--silly, scary, robot, etc.  He said that he wanted a scary pumpkin, so we found a few different pictures online and let him pick the design we carved.  Once Frank started carving, Frankie was so scared!  He was clinging on to my sister or me for dear life.  He is so silly, he loves being scared!  Now, every morning when we leave for school, he waves and says "bye bye Katy, bye bye Dada, bye bye house, bye bye pumpkin!"  It is just too cute.  Here are some pics from the pumpkin patch and carving a pumpkin:

23 months

I cannot believe that Frankie is 23 months old today, and that in one short month I will have a two-year-old.  This last year has simply flown by.  At 23 months, Frankie is:

• Wearing size 2T tops and size 18 month pants.  He is still tall and skinny.  I have heard that if you double how tall he is at age 2 you will find out how tall he will grow to be, so I am excited to see how tall he is now!  We were so surprised that he was tall enough to ride a lot of the rides at the Texas state fair.
• Talking and singing all the time.  He is talking in sentences (although the words are not always in the perfect order), and he is singing a bunch of songs.  He still busts out random songs that I have never heard before every now and then.  He loves to sing or for us to sing to him.  Some of the funny/sweet things he says these days: "Daggummit," "Be nice to Mackenzie," (his little girlfriend at school who has bitten him a few times), "This way, post office, money!" (every time we drive past the post office); "night night, sweet dreams, love you," "Frank do it or Frank [let Katy in], [put butter on pancakes]," etc, etc...he wants to do everything himself. 
• Speaking of food, he is still a pretty good eater, although we do mostly eat "kid-friendly" meals.  His favorite food these days is macaroni and popsicles.  When his stomach was upset last week, he asked for macaroni for like 8 meals in a row. 
•  He is like his Mama and he loves to learn.  He can count to twenty in English and ten in spanish, knows most of his letters, and knows all of his colors and shapes.  His day care teachers have told me since he switched over there that he is the smartest in his class, but they think he is starting to regress a little bit because he is bored.  They are trying to get him moved into the next class as soon as possible, hopefully in the beginning of November.
• He likes to be scared.  He is scared of a few videos he watches on the iPad, but he loves to watch them over and over even though they scare him. 
• He loves to be outside, on playgrounds, riding his bike, or playing with the hose.  His favorite inside toy is probably his broom. 
• He loves to help, especially with cooking or cleaning.  He always likes to clean everything up (he must get that from his Daddy).
• He has random temper tantrums, which are usually related to him wanting to do something himself and us not letting him.  He wants to put on his clothes, take off his clothes, wipe his own hands and face, cook his food, open any container of anything and pour or squeeze it...the list is endless.
• He likes trains, airplanes, Barney, nursery rhymes, and gigglebellies.  His favorite books are "Brown Bear," and "Black sheep." 

He is a handful, a joy, and a blessing.  He keeps us on our toes and brings us unmeasurable happiness.  Happy 23 months little buddy!