Pleading Ignorance

So, I'm sitting here on a Sunday afternoon feeding Kathryn in her high chair. In walks Joseph with a pencil thin mustache and a little spot under his lower lip colored with a black marker. Before I can say anything, he decides to launch a first strike vehement defense .

"I DO NOT know how it happened, Dad, I have no idea how this happened!."

Good thing picture day was last week!

Kathryn is skeptical of his defense. She's caught on quickly.

What's up with that...

This is what Kathryn looks like when trying to get her to say Mama

This is what Kathryn looks like when trying to get her to say Dada

Feel the love

A Post of Pictures

Horsin' around with Dad

Quiet Time


Just hangin out

Michael after his school awards ceremony

Ok, so, it's been a while...

Its amazing how time continues to so easily creep away. It seems like yesterday we were celebrating Kathryn's first birthday and now here it is the end of June. So what have we been up to? Aside from the daily throws of life and work it's been pretty busy.


Kathryn continues to go to physical therapy (pt) and occupational therapy (ot) every week. It is so wonderful to not only see her progress in therapy but also to see just how hard she works during therapy. Her progress is slow but steady. Verbally, she loves to make sounds and hear them repeated to her. She is scooting around the floor and is close to sitting unassisted. She will fully open her hands now and do "clap clap" whenever asked, or whenever she feels the need to make herself laugh. One thing that has been consistant from the first time we saw her laying in a crib in the childrens hospital is her contagious smile and joy to see and be around people.

April brought spring break visitors of Auntie Linda and Claire. The kids had a great time visiting with their Aunt and cousin. Plenty of days at the beach, pool and just hangin out. We had so much fun and can't wait to see them again.

May was the official end of school, sports, and the unofficial beginning of summer. Memorial day weekend was very special as we celebrated Kathryn's Baptism. She has been a complete blessing to our family and its now difficult to remember what life was like without her. The boys continue to be fully engaged with their sister helping out where they can and ocassionally taking turns holding her.

The boys finished their respective sports the end of May. Daniel's baseball team had the same kids in the spring as they had in the fall so they were able to have some continuity and momentum. They did fantastic! Even though they don't officially keep score in his age group I'm pretty sure they won all their games. Michael's soccer team had participated in a post season competition and finished first place. Joseph finished his first season in T ball and just had fun being there.

We will post pictures as soon as we are able to upload them to the computer. Stay tuned!

Kathryn's First Birthday

Can't believe her first birthday has come and gone. On Wednesday March 11, we had a great family dinner together to celebrate both Kathryn and Michael's birthdays and then took the kids to Cold Stone on the beach for dessert. It was a beautiful night. Kathryn spent the day with Nana so that she would not have to go to day care on her birthday. Thank you, Nana!

Our family celebration was on Saturday the 14th. Everyone came over for a BBQ and swimming. Yes, the kids got in the pool. Kathryn didn't get in because none of the adults did. She is still fighting a small cold but is feeling better.

Michael decorated the cakes for both of them. He drew the pictures and Publix scanned them onto the cakes. He was proud of them and should be! It was so sweet to see him excited about sharing his birthday with his sister! Daniel and Joseph helped with her open gifts and, of course, helped eat birthday cake too! Another first, Kathryn got to see her first shuttle launch.

On Sunday I got in the pool with Kathryn and she loved it! We heated up the hot tub so it wasn't quite so cold. She loved to lay on her back and splash and kick. It will be a fun summer!

Hangin' out at the beach with some Cold Stone!

The Grillmaster. Cooking it up for a birthday dinner.

Michael drew the template for the birthday cakes.

Loving my tasty birthday cake

Michael and Kathryn. Happy birthday you two!

Playing with Nana

Stylin' in my new bathing suit.

Mommy with Daniel and Joseph teaching Kathryn to float.

Kathryn's first Space Shuttle launch. It never gets old.

Sweet dreams, Little Peanut.

Windy City Weekend

After living in Florida for many years, it's always good to go back home to Northern Illinois in the winter for a reminder of why I decided to live in a warm weather climate. As if spending almost two months in Southern Siberia wasn't convincing enough. Ok, it was Fall so it wasn't really THAT cold but it sounds impressive. Anyway, it's always good to visit with family and this time to introduce Kathryn to the rest of my family. It turned out that we brought along some warm weather with us as the temperatures that weekend reached the upper 40's and even into the 50's after weeks of below freezing temperatures. Much to Joseph's disappointment, much of the snow melted but he did manage to make a few snowballs to toss at dad.

Kathryn did wonderfully travelling and meeting many new faces. Of course, everyone enjoyed seeing her and visiting with funny boy, Joseph.

Busy, Busy, Busy....

What a month it has been. Dave stayed home with Kathryn until Jan 5th and now I am home with her. Each day I am amazed at how the time flyies by. We are busy just spending time together, running errands and getting Kathryn to multiple doctors appointments. Most of them are just to check everything out and satisfy the pediatrician. We have had to catch her up on her vaccinations as well. She has been given a clean bill of health in almost all areas. We did find out that she is near-sighted and may need glasses. We go back to the otpthamologist in a few weeks to find out for sure. As long as the glasses are pink or purple, Kathryn is agreeable:-)

We continue to feel the blessing of having Kathryn in our family. She has really made the adjustment without any bumps in the road. She has slept through the night since we came home except for the occassional teething incindents. She has 6 teeth now; 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. Her smile is full of teeth now.

We are trying to make the transition easier for her when I go back to work , so she is now going to day care once a week while I go to work. She will start full time in Feb. Even though she cries when Daddy drops her off (not sure I'm ready for that yet), she is always happy when she is picked up.

She started physical therapy a few weeks ago and is doing great. She is being treated for torticollis in PT one day a week. In the pictures you can see how much better she is able to hold her head up straight then she could 2 months ago! She is a quick learner. For the past 3 days she has consistently rolled herself over from stomach to back when she is not ready to go to sleep or when she wakes up. We are very excited for these milestones. . . as long as she doesn't grow up too fast. I can't believe we are already thinking about her first birthday in March!

Here are a few pictures from this past month. . .