Freeze Frame

"Freeze Frame....Freeze Frame" (Is the song in your head yet????)

Random Candid pics of Caitlin and me together.  She crawled up on me and I started snapping!  I look like a dork, but she cracks me up...she's hilarious and so cute!

My baby! 

Bits and Pieces

Caught Red Handed:  Abigail served "dinner" while I ran to the restroom

Kramer is a good sport when it comes to Abigail

The Real Housewives of Roselle:  Apparently that's where Abigail goes to ballet.  I have never seen such a spectacle when it comes to moms dressed up at 9am (I'm talking heels) and tutus and bows bigger than the kids.  We have 4 weeks left and then we are OUT OF THERE!  Abigail loves ballet, but I think the park district ballet is more our style!  But Abigail did great in the class and loves it...so that's what counts!

So sad...last day of swim lessons.  Abigail absolutely LOVES her swim teacher...she had her when she was 6 months old and again at 2 1/2.  Abigail did really great and is ready for real swim lessons next summer...and we hope we can have Dana again.  Best swim teacher...EVER!!!  Abigail loved the noodle so much we now own one (but no pool) and did great with the kickboard.  But her favorite is jumping in.  She would stand at the wall and say "Mom, go over there" and point to the other side of the pool.  She tried to jump in when I was not looking...one day I'm gonna let her actually go in and see what she really thinks of it, but for now, I'm just happy she loves the water.  Next summer, it will be Caitlin's turn to begin mommy and me swim lessons (Abigail only did it that early because of physical therapy) and Abigail will be in the real lessons...very exciting for both girls!

8 Month Pictures

"Hey Mom...I'm 8 Months Old Today!!!!:

"I know..the monthly picture in the chair.  I'm not sure we're going to make it to 12 months in this chair!"

"Remember when I used to just lay in here...."

"I WANT OUT!!!!"

"Being the little sister is pretty cool...most of the time!"

Dear Caitlin,

We can't believe you are already 8 months old.  You have grown so much in the last month.  Your biggest accomplishment this month is you learned how to crawl...and boy are you fast!  You learned how to crawl in about 1 hour at grandma and grandpa's house.  Within days, you began pulling up and now you can pull yourself up and stand on everything.  Your favorite things to stand up on are the couch, the ottoman, the bathtub (supervised of course), and any person.  This month, you also really started eating.  You LOVE Puffs....I've never seen a baby eat Puffs faster!  You eat them by the fistful...literally!  You are on stage 2 baby food and like all foods.  There is no food you don't like, but you prefer the veggies over the fruit.  You still drink Nutramigen formula...and mommy and daddy are pretty sure you are not going to be able to drink dairy milk until you are much older.  Now that you have the tubes in your ear, you can hear everything!  Hearing your name makes you smile instantly.  And when you hear Abigail talk, you always look for her!  You still aren't talking to us yet, but we know what you need...so don't worry about that...just take your time and when you are ready, we can't wait to hear your sweet voice!!!  When you are happy, there isn't a happier baby in the world.  You have a smile that lights up the room.  And everywhere we go, people say you look like the gerber baby (it's the cheeks, kid!).  Mommy and Daddy gave you private swimming lessons over the past two weeks, and you really like the water...but you LOVE bathtime and playing in the bath with all your toys...especially now that you can sit up.  You are a GREAT little sister.  You tolerate your big sister and all the things she likes to do with/for you (feed you, give you bottles, dress you, change your diaper, play dress up with you, color with you, read with you, etc.).

We love you so much, Caitlin bug!  You bring such joy to us everyday!  Everyone in the family is so in love with you!!!!  We LOVE YOU!!!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, Big Sister Abigail, and Kramer

*Side note, we are leaving tomorrow for our 10 day stay-cation in Indiana!  But I'm doing a few posts now and scheduling them to post throughout the week so you'll have some new posts!

Hmmm...How'd that happen????

How did this little peanut

who was so smalll

turn 8 months today?????  Happy Golden 8 Month Old Birthday!!!

Where did the time go????

We have a very busy day of ballet, swim lessons, preschool tour, party for visiting friend from out of town,  and dr appointment between 9 and 3 (not to mention packing for our stay-cation), but will post pictures of our big 8 month old tonight!

4th of July, Part 2

Wow...What a great fun family-filled weekend!  We had a great time playing with our neighbors on Friday night. 

On Saturday morning, mommy got a little "quiet" time and ran 15 miles while daddy got the girls ready for the parade.  We went to the Carol Stream parade...it was nice small town parade.  We really like living in such a small community!  Abigail saw the trucks (her biggest fear right now) coming and tried to get us to leave, but she stuck through it and enjoyed the rest of the parade (except the SCARY clowns!!!!!!).  We ended the day back at Carol Stream events.  We parked at the fireworks (so we had PRIME parking) and headed out to sushi (and delicious pitchers of mojitos). Then we went to the Carol Stream concert and ended the night watching fireworks!  Abigail has been so scared of the fireworks going off during the nights but really enjoyed them at the festival (I think it had to do something with the cuddling she got to do with daddy).  These were Caitlin's 1st fireworks and she loved them!!!  However, when they got loud, we were saying that Caitlin was probably wishing we hadn't put the tubes in her ears...they must have been extra loud to her!

Sushi

Caitlin is standing on EVERYTHING! 

Sunday we braved the heat and headed to Brookfield Zoo.  It was.....HOT!!! 

By Sunday afternoon, we were all exhausted and decided to stay in and not do fireworks again.  However, that didn't stop us from a little DQ run!

On Monday, Abigail had swim lessons so the whole family headed to the pool. While Abigail did her lessons, Caitlin did private lessons with daddy!  She seems to love the pool as much as her big sister!  We stayed at the pool all morning.  The highlight for me was watching Abigail play with other kids.  Those who know Abigail know she doesn't really play with other kids, she's always just observing (except for Reese and Chase of course, her buddies).  However, she played with 3 girls today and it was great to see.  Caitlin, on the other hand, will probably the social butterfly always playing with kids...but today she choose to stay by mommy and daddy!

We ended the great family weekend by having both our parents over for a cookout.  I didn't take any pictures (so sad) but I think it's fun for the girls when both their grandparents are together...we are so lucky that our parents get along so well!!!!  One day, we are gonna have a BIG backyard and have our families over all the time for real cookouts!

It was a really great family weekend.  We were together the whole weekend...and reallly got to spend quality time together!!!  Next week is our stay-cation in Indiana so lots more fun family times to come!!!!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!

4th of July, Part 1

Happy 4th of July Weekend!!!!  We love this weekend...it's full of fun family activities!  Here are a few pictures from the Carol Stream parade on Saturday morning!

and our slip n slide/pizza/pool playdate with the Staniaks!

Hope you are having as nice a weekend as we are...lots more to come!

Summer Happenings

Okay, I know I need an update...and I have nothing!!!!  I only found 2 pictures on my camera from the girls playing in the pool on Saturday....so I'm posting them and then will have fun updates this weekend!