16 months!

Sweet girl is 16 months old. Which means one thing she is getting closer and closer to being a big sister. She is going to be such a good Big sister. She is such a lovey girl. I swear she gets more lovey by the minute. Her favorite things to do when she is around other kids is hold there hands, give them hugs, and lots of kisses. She insists on holding all little kids hands it is her very sweet nature. She is just a very tender hearted little thing. She hates being yelled at, or even when you raise your voice she cries. For example, all you have to say is omg Franki you broke my sunglasses, not even in a mean tone and she cries. She trully feels bad, it is so sad. She is learning all kinds of new words. Her favorties that she uses all the time are UP, HI, HULK, Hot (in reference to lights, candles, the heating vents), Duck, Off (meaning anything from open, out, or off), more (also means again), Dog, and most recently Slides. She continues to love being outside. Even when its 20 degrees she prefers the outside to the inside. She has 12 teeth. She also recently learned how to do the Hokey Pokey (thanks to ELMO), and she loves to do ring around the rosie. She is just a sweet pee all around. She knows what she wants when she wants it and will let you know weather its with a yelp, scream or with words. She continues to understand just about everything we say. I hate to say it but I still put her to sleep every night. It is getting easier and easier. I usually only have to hold her for about 10 minutes, but she still loves momma snuggles and Im just not willing to give that up since soon she wont want those snuggles anymore.

As for baby number two were hanging in there. I am officially 10 week or less from this little girl making her arrival. CRAZY. It has gone by much faster than the lats pregnancy, but about the same. Contracting and in lots of pain, which equals lots of doctor visits (thank goodness for a doctor at the same hospital I work), lots of monitoring and the same answer as always, take it as easy as possible and call or come back when things get worse. So far the preterm labor test that predicts early labor has been negative. So far we will do this test every two weeks. If it comes back positive then any contractions will land me in a hospital bed to wait fror baby girl to arrive. So for now we just hang out, live our day to day lives and see what she has in store.

 A sneek peek at some outtakes for the x-mas card.



Thanksgiving

It was a day to be thankful for and a perfect day to celebrate all the things we trully are thankful for each and everyday. We started our day off early as we do each and everyday when you have a toddler in the house.  Franki, Hulk and I let Tyler sleep in a little bit and took advantage of the quiet crisp air and headed outside to start some x-mas decorating (Its officialy ok to start the decorating process when Thanksgiving arrives :)). A plus that both franki and hulk love to be outside. Franki loves to help so she handed me the lights and rearranged them as a arranged them and they turned out perfect. We were thankful for a nice morning and finding the christmas spirit which is all around us. We came in ate some yummy homemade coffee cake and scrambled eggs with my sweet family. We watched the parade with Franki loved because lots of music, animation and the stuff she loves. So we did some family room dancing and hung out in our pjs just a little longer! We proceeded to shower and get ready for Aunt Kathy's wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! We headed to her house to just be with our little family. It was just what Thanksgiving is supposed to be. Men lounging on couches with beer in there hands and football on t.v's. Women gathered around the kitchen and of course around Franki to laugh, play and just enjoy the beauty of a family kind of day. We as usual played hard, because Miss Franki loves to play. We then ate the usual traditional T-Day food, YUM and wowza heartburn for this preggo. Franki chowed down on pickles and olives not the traditional type yet. We then set off for back home as Franki was sleepy and we jammed to the typical T-day music on the classic 93.9 all Christmas music from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Something about having a child really brings the christmas spirit back full fledge. I got home wrapped presents galore and got ready for midnight shopping with my mom and sister. It was a sight to see for sure. We got to Kohls about 10 minutes before the doors openened at midnight. The line was long but manageable and we were off an running, wait I mean shopping by 1210. We spent an hour getting deal after deal. I would most definitely do it again next year not only did we finish up most of our shopping but the lines went quickly and it was quite comical seeing how many people are willing to stay up for the deals. We had a great time just looking at all the stuff an laughing some more. Just another reason Im thankful to have a sister and that Franki will get to experience these same things some day with me and her little sister! Overall it was a nice day that set us all up for being thankful each and everyday for the times we share and the family we have. Enjoy a few pictures of miss Franki and her 2nd Thanksgiving!

Little Peanut

15 month:

Wt: 19 lb 10 oz (6%)
Ht: 30 inches (32%)

My little peanut is growing right on her own little path. She is perfect. She follows the growth curve right along so although she is small as long as they follow the curve there is nothing to worry about. And did I mention this girl can throw down a meal, she just burns it all off with her constant energy. She continues to do new things everyday and is so entertaining. She is very interested in fine motor stuff currently. Putting the cap on and off of everything. Opening and closing anything that she can. Coloring. Putting her shoes and socks on and off. You get the just. She continues to do so well in swimming. Each week she learns something new there. She can now kick her legs whenever you tell her to. She has absolutely no fear of water and will walk head first right under and pop back up with a hige smile on her face. Her little lips and hands are blue by the time she is done and her lips are shaking but she would stay in that water all day if you let her. She also loves her bathtime. If you tell her its time to take a bath she goes up the stairs at lightening speed and would jump in fully clothed if you let her. My sweet little peanut!

Check out her naked dance moves! This girl is crazy I tell you. She loves running around with no diaper and you literally have to chase her down to put a diaper on her.

Fall Favorites

We have been blessed with beautiful fall weather and have taken complete advantage of the pre-winter weather. We have gone to local petting zoo/pumpkin farms, playgrounds, arboretum, and just spent lots of time with family and friends. It what fall is all about right, well that and some pumpkin spice lattes! (For me anyway). There is just something special about the cool air, fall leaves and ambience of fall that puts a smile on my face. I have lots of pictures that document our Fall Favorites! As you will see Franki absolutely loves animals, slides, Hulk and the outdoors!

Franki's 2nd Halloween

A little behind, but better late than never. Franki celebrated her 2nd Halloween in pure Chicago celebrating style a.k.a she dressed up and celebrate the entire weekend long. I love Halloween! Our whole house was decorated since mid September.  Tyler and I have always loved celebrating and have celebrated every year together. This year it was so exciting to see how much Franki really enjoyed getting lots of attention in her costume. Friday night we went to my mom's school for a trunk or treat and some games with the kids. Saturday we spent the day with Tara, Zach and baby London at Lincoln park zoo. We spent 4 hours walking around and enjoying all of the animals. Monday we trick or treated in my mom's neighborhood and it was fun, franki loved every minute. She went house to house until she got a lolipop and it was all over from there, all she cared about was her lolipop. She is definitely like her parents and has a sweet tooth!

Almost 15 months

Franki is just a couple days shy of 15 months old! I cant believe how quickly time seems to go. I remember her being in my belly like it was yesterday and now her baby sister is growing in there and only about 16 weeks or less away from her arrival. Franki loves looking at everyones belly, including her own. She gives big belly kisses and blows rasberries on my belly. Today she learned the sign for baby. We were playing and all of a sudden she was looking for her baby doll and signing baby. She loves her baby dolls that is for sure. Hopefully she will love her baby sister just as much, hopefully even more! She is just so stinking smart these days. She understands just about everything we say. She follow all kinds of simple commands. She also babbles/talks all day long. She can say hi, hulk, see, got it, up, uh-oh, dog. There are a few other words jumbled in there, we just havent quite figured out what those words are. However, she definitely knows what she is saying. She is very persistent on her yes and no's. She knows exactly what she wants. She definitely has seperation anxiety. I took her to daycare this week and as soon as we walked up to the house she started shaking her head no and proceeded to do so until after I was already on my way out the door. Five minutes later she was happily greeting other kiddos at the door. She loves to play, anywhere anytime. Her favorite time is time to spent outside. Cold/Warm anything she can play outside all day, everyday. And man can this girl eat. She loves her food. Her favorites are grapes, bluberries, strawberries, apples, oranges, yogurt, applesauce, mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, carrots, raisans, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, pepperidge farm raisan bread, cereal, guacomole, and cream cheese. She eats a good three meals a day and two snacks. She drinks a little milk, but she usually refuses her milk and wants water. She is a water drinking queen. She also loves to play peek a boo. She loves to dance and sing. I could go on for hours about this girl. But I have to leave some for your imagination!

Baby girl number 2 is doing really well. She is moving around and kicking all night and day. I will be seeing my new OB in just two weeks. Although a very hard decision, I will be switching to make it easier on everyone. I will be delivering just minutes from our house at CDH. So rain, sleet or snow, we will make it there no problem. I am 24 weeks , 6 months along and feeling pretty good. I have had some severe pain but it subsides when I finally sit down for the day. Its a bit different when you have a toddler you are running around after.

The best news is my Dad is doing much better. He is tired and sore, but on the road to recovery. With each week we have seen lots of improvement. So we were all happy to celebate his birthday last week.

Hoping for more good news in the weeks to come.

Trauma

Im not even sure where to begin, as all of my thoughts are still running several miles per hour. We have had quite an eventful couple of weeks and it seems I dont even remember where all the time went. Papa, My Dad got hit by a car while riding his bicycle last sunday afternoon. Not the phone call you want to ever be on the other side of, ever. Luckily my mom and I were close to the hospital taking a walk. We made it there before the ambulance did and we just waited. Waited to see how bad it was. When we first saw him I dont think any of us quite imagined what the last week has brought us. He hurt no doubt, but we had no idea how much he hurt or was hurt. At that point we were grateful that he was able to talk to us normally although he couldnt remember the crazy idiot women who completely ignored the traffic light to run right into him. Within a few hours we found out that he had 9 yes 9 broken ribs all on the left side. Ribs 1-9 were all broken. We have a total of 12 ribs on each side. He bruised the left lung, and seperated his left shoulder. He spent the night in ICU for monitoring and was transfered to a general floor later monday afternoon, He spent another 4 nights in the hospital, attempting to wean off oxygen, move a little, and just get the pain and spasms under control with the corect cocktail of pain medications. Ill save the story about the hospital for another time, because I still havent had time to wrap my head or heart around the poor care that was provided. My mom, sister, franki and I spent our days and nights at the hospital helping my dad get back to functioning. Isnt it amazing how wonderful family can be. I love my little family and I love the fact that we drop everything to come together, to make everything work. Without them I would be no one. My family has given me everything I have in this life and what better way to give back than to be just be there with my dad, do anything he needed me to do and just be what a family should be. A huge thanks to all the other family that we have. My Aunt Kathy for bringing enough dinner to feed a small army (yep were still reaping the benefits of the food witht he exception of the brownies :)). My Uncle kurk for coming to relieve me and Franki for a little while and just sit and keep dad company with his endless stories :), my aunt rosie and rita for just stopping in to check on him. And to all my friends who offered a helping hand with Franki. Thanks to Catie and Kevin who came to keep her entertained so I could help dad out of bed. An obvious huge thanks to my mom and sister and franki who were able to come together and keep each other as well as my dad sane throughout the process. Tyler who was able to hold down the home fort and give hulk some extra needed attention. We are lucky. Lucky to have so many people in our lives that care. Lucky that my dad although broken, will heal and has no permanent damage. Lucky that we have each other. I cant even begin to explain how many times this week I thanked God for my family and for the fact that we have each other. So as dad begins his road to recovery I am thankful, lucky, happy, for all of the things we have. Praying for a speedy recovery for my dad.

Franki keeps us all sane. I now understand that saying children on God. They are telling you something in that saying. She is trully the greatest blessing in our lives. She kept everyone smiling even in the grimest of situations. She smiles, speaks and changes moods and the lives of all those around her. Thank goodness for her presence and I know it was what kept her Papa going most days. She was such a good girl. She literally played in the hospital room and was overly entertained with her different surroundings. She helped Papa every chance she got. I am telling you she is a mini nurse in the making and her heart is just so big, She helped me carry his oxygen down the hallway. She clapped when he walked down the hallway for the first time. She kept him company day in and day out. She talked to him with her very vibrant stories. She is just a life changing little person and for that I am happy that I was able to show her the meaning of family this week. I am happy to be able to teach her all of the things that my parents and family have taught me. I also learned a lot about what I want to teach her this week from being at the hospital and from this experience (will share on this later). 

Franki is also saying HI to everyone and it is such a cute little  high pitched HI! She is also forming all different types of sounds and conversations, so she will be talking in all kinds of sentences in no time. She also learned how to say yes by shaking her head which she is doing all the time. You say something she shakes her head yes. She is just a person full of personality and hit the 14 month I only want my mommma when she is around age. Which is endearing most times, but also frustrating at others. I love this sweet baby and sweet family we are on our way to making.

Thankful.