KJ and Ty

KJ loves Ty. L-O-V-E-S. He was over today. Little Miss lights up whenever she sees him. She said Ty for the second time. As he was heading back to Mad's room to play, KJ said Ty and he whipped around to come back to her. Oh, so sweet.

Hot, Hot, HOT

It has been beyond hot here the last few days. Like middle of July hot. Not only hot, but humid. Ridiculously humid. But what does heat and humidity make? A very happy Madeline. Joe blew up her swimming pool last night. I filled it with water this morning before dance class and then this afternoon she got to swim! Apparently the water was still too cold for her to go all the way in, but she still had a blast. KJ got to take a quick dip after nap. That was all good 'til she went under. She was done.

We all went to Joe's softball game tonight. Beautiful weather down in Shorewood. This was the first time Madeline watched the game for more than 3.5 seconds. She asked a lot of questions. I was afraid I wouldn't know the answers if she would have kept asking. My base/softball knowledge is quite limited. KJ also had a great time. She was completely mesmerized by all the guys on the field. That was fun to see. After the game was over Joe took Mad onto the field and let her run the bases. That was the first time she's ever done that. She asked right away if she could do it next time.

One more quick story and then I'm done for the night. This afternoon Mad and I were in the bathroom while I was braiding her hair before going out to the pool. She was wearing just her undies. She was staring at herself in the mirror, which is the usual, then pointed at her nipples and said "When I get bigger, these will grow. And then when I have babies, I can milk it, right?" Gotta love it. I laughed long and hard at that one.

Good Times

This weekend was full of good times. Friday started them all out. M had her first sleepover. Her best friend, J, spent the night. Those two girls are fun and funny. They had so much fun together and as an added bonus they kept KJ quite entertained. Joe, KJ and I all had fun watching M and J have a pajama dance party in M's room once the blankets, sleeping bags and pillows were all set up. KJ tried very hard to keep up with the 'big' girls. We all had fun that night.

Saturday was a full day. The day began with M, KJ and I going to J's tennis lesson. It was fun watching J do something she enjoys so much. M got to play with TJ, J's sister, too. Happiness all around. After that the girls and I went down to my Mom's house. M and KJ got to hang out with Grandma while I ran a couple of errands. Then to top it all of the in-laws kept the girlies over night. Joe and I got a date night. WOO HOO!!! We went to dinner at Bar Louie followed by seeing Iron Man at iPic. We got out of Iron Man with just enough time to go potty and get ticket to go see Robin Hood. It was a lovely kid-free night.

This morning Joe and I went to get the girls from the in-laws' house. My FIL made pancakes and my MIL made bacon and fried potatoes. Yum-o! After breakfast we took the girls to the Zoo. It was super HOT, but we had a very nice time.

Now the day is coming to an end. Little Miss KJ is in bed. Mad is on her way. Then it's my turn!

Sweet Madeline

Madeline and I had a "Maddie and Mama Only" date last night. Can I just say that she is the sweetest little girl. She warms my heart and makes me so happy. I love all of the random hugs she gives, even when it's in the middle of walking and we trip. She also tells me multiple times how happy she is to have Maddie and Mama time. Such a wonderfully sweet little thing.

Picnic Tables

My hubbie, Joe, has always wanted to build things. For years now he has been saving up his Sears gift cards and slowly accumulating all of the tools he wants/needs. He's used them a few times now. Mostly when he remodeled our kitchen. Recently he built two picnic tables - a toddler size one and a big kid one. He built the toddler size one for Kaitlyn for her first birthday. He built Madeline the big kid one just because he wanted to. Kaitlyn got to have her birthday cake at her table. Yesterday the girls and I ate lunch at the tables. I pulled them next to each other. Put Kaitlyn at hers and Mad and I sat at her table. I pretty much fit at Mad's table. Halfway through lunch Madeline moved to KJ's table to sit with her. It was wonderful.

My Sweet Girl

Madeline and I were just cuddling after she woke up from her much needed and very long nap. She looked at my necklace and told me that she liked it. Then told me that she remembers that she and Daddy gave it to me for my first Mother's Day (It's a small symbol of a mother and child. I wear it every day.). Then she told me that she thinks it looks pretty on me. Seriously, this girl could not get any sweeter. That is one small example of her sweetness. Oh, how I love that girl.

Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday Party

Today was Kaitlyn's very first birthday party. We enjoyed a day full of family, friends, food and fun. A few of the highlights - Kaitlyn took a lot of steps on her own throughout the day, she said Ty, made a huge mess out of her smash cake, had fun playing with some of her toys, fell asleep drinking her bottle and is now sleeping off the fun day. That's it for today. Too tired to go into more detail. Off to bed now.

1st Steps

Exciting times in the Frank household. Kaitlyn Jo took a few steps yesterday unassisted and then took quite a few more this evening. It is so fun to watch her start heading in one directions (towards Joe and Madeline) and then see her go in a completely different direction cause she doesn't know how to walk in a straight line yet. So fun!!!

Tomorrow is the 1st birthday party for Katie Jo. All this work and planning. She doesn't know nor does she care. But she'll have fun with all of her people. I would imagine she will also have quite a fun time with her 'smash' cake.

Off to clean the bathroom now. More excitement!

One Year Later

Here it is, May 12, 2010. My sweet Kaitlyn Jo was born one year ago today. The last year has brought so much to my life. I have survived a very difficult newborn; enjoyed watching Madeline become a big sister and love her sister so much; enjoyed watching Kaitlyn love and adore her sister; watched with much joy as Kaitlyn learned to do so much; learned how to be a mother of two; felt love fill my heart as I've watched Joe become an even more wonderful Daddy; fell in love with the funny little girl that Kaitlyn has become; felt so much pride as Madeline has continued to grow into a truly wonderful little girl; the list goes on.

On Madeline's 1st birthday, I went into her room that morning w/ the camcorder on singing Happy Birthday to her. This morning Madeline, Joe and I did the same thing for Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn's reaction was adorable. She was at the same time excited and confused. We very rarely all three go into her room after she wakes up, we never go into her room all singing and we've never walked in there holding the camcorder (which I very much regret right now). Madeline was so excited that it was Kaitlyn's 1st birthday today. Kaitlyn was wished happy birthday quite a few times. After her bottle, I made Kaitlyn scrambled eggs for the first time. I am bound and determined to have someone else eat eggs with me in this house. She did not like the eggs I gave her in her bowl, but apparently the ones off my plate tasted much better. She also quite enjoyed the rye toast. Yay! Shortly after this Kaitlyn took her nap. While she napped Madeline and I each made Kaitlyn a birthday card and prepped her birthday gifts. After nap, Kaitlyn was given her gifts from us. Madeline gave her a learning lawn mower and a small Madeline doll, Joe made her a picnic table, I have her a jewelry box and the joint gift she was given from Joe and I was PBK anywhere chair. So much fun watching her open and close the jewelry box, climb on and off her chair (she knew that chair was hers), go back and forth between the 'real' gifts and the fun stuff (aka wrapping paper). After this we prepped for our appt at JCPenney for pictures. Despite Kaitlyn's lack of an afternoon nap, she did wonderfully! We got great pics of her alone, her with Madeline and a family shot. Then out to dinner we went. Then home where the girls enjoyed a very small amount of chocolate ice cream at the table Joe built. Then off to bed with the both of 'em.

It has been a very long day. I am still trying to figure out where the last year has gone. How has my newborn turned into this funny little girl? Kaitlyn makes me laugh out loud every day. She brings so much happiness to my life. Thank goodness for her and her silliness. She is sweet, smart, silly and stubborn. So much like Madeline, but yet completely opposite. That, too, is unbelievable. My girls are so very different from each other.

Some of my KJ favorites: the way she babbles, the different variations of raspberries she blows, the crazy amount of drool that pours from her mouth, the way she bounces when she's excited, the way she bounces when she's just bouncing, the joy on her face when Madeline comes in her room in the morning, the way she sticks her long pointer finger out to touch something for the first time, the way she dances, her love of touch-and-feel books, her desperate attempts to get anything that is Madeline's, her smile, the cuddles that I finally get, she blows kisses and her big beautiful blue eyes.

A few pictures from the day:






Happy 1st Birthday my sweet Kaitlyn Jo. I love you so very much.

Time flies

How is it possible that my baby will be one year old tomorrow? Didn't I just have her a few weeks ago? My goodness. It is shocking how quickly time flies by. It's hard to believe that my baby Kaitlyn is big enough to say baby, or as she says 'babae'. She and I were at my cousin's house visiting my cousin and her newborn baby boy. I was sitting on the floor holding the baby. Kaitlyn is standing by me, looking at baby Lucius and says 'baby'. I couldn't believe it. That was three weeks ago. I've been meaning to write that down for three weeks now. So to return to the title of my blog, I truly want to remember the moments. All of them. I know that's not possible. But I'm going to try.

That was fun...

Okay, so my first post is done. Now I need to share a bit about today, my first Mother's Day as a mom of two. I got to sleep in today. Both girls were up early. Joe got up with them, which he always does on Sundays. It's my one day off from the normal stuff. Madeline wanted to make me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. I do not like to eat in bed, so I asked her if it was okay if I had breakfast on the couch. She said that would be fine. A while after they got up, I figured I would get up and see what was happening. I walk into the kitchen to see Joe frying bacon (Madeline decided to make me eggs, bacon and toast), Kaitlyn standing at the fridge holding the handle on the freezer door. She looked so darn cute. I do not want to believe she will be one in three days. She was playing with the magnets from the Fridge Farm. She dropped one and couldn't figure out how to pick it up without plopping on the floor. After working on it for a few seconds, she figured it out. She let go of the handle, put her hand flat against the door and then bent over to pick up the magnet. It's great to watch her figure out all these new things now. She saw me then. The happiness on her face when she saw me brings me so much joy. While this was happening, Madeline was sitting on the couch playing a computer game. She started to call Joe for help, then saw me. I got a big smile, then she ran over to me and hugged me. Again, pure joy. The rest of the day was lovely. Madeline gave me a handmade card and Joe gave me a beautiful store-bought card. They gave me a new scoring tool and a lovely new flower pot filled with very pretty (and pretty smelling) flowers.

My mom, John and Binky came over for lunch today. That was quite enjoyable. The girls gave my mom a stepping stone with their feet on it. Too cute.

We ended the day by going out for dinner and then ice cream. I learned today that Kaitlyn knows how to suck out of straws. Didn't know she could do that. She learned today that oreo shakes are yummy. Here she is taking one last drink so we could get the picture.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the important moms in my life. I am grateful for all of you.

First Blog Post

Oh boy. I am afraid I have started a new obsession. I have throughout the last year become familiar with blogs. I never payed any attention to them before. Then I had a baby who didn't sleep. I spent a lot of time on the computer. Throughout this past year, I have bookmarked quite a few blogs. I check them more often than I should. I have thought many times that blogging would be a good way for me to remember the important-to-me moments in my life. I always say that I will write this or that down later. Later comes and goes. I am hoping that having a blog will help me to record these moments. Big moments. Little moments. I don't want to forget anything about my girls' lives. Let's hope this helps. Hello blog world!