Time to catch up (I) - Wally's Wedding

Well, we've been posting like crazy but we've also been a little bit slack in terms of keeping up with pictures from events in a timely fashion.  I was uploading pictures onto the computer yesterday and realized "Holy Hannah, I haven't posted stuff from almost a month ago!".  This June we have been to Wally's wedding, had my birthday and father's day, had more pictures of random Teresa & Frances cuteness, had our priest retire, been to the Children's Museum, and in the next couple of days we plan to go to the zoo, our first baseball game and perhaps a movie.  Add to that we are meeting with Meghan & Olivia in mere minutes this means we have lots to share - or we will let stuff be forgotten forever (at least on the blog).  Lastly, we are soon to have sporadic posting due to our random beach schedule so I will start trying to catch up...

So here we are documenting Wally & Candray's wedding.  I was a groomsman, fun (virtually unbelievable) fact, I was the only groomsman describe by the photographer as 'sexy'.  It was a gorgeous day, with an early afternoon ceremony at St. Nicholas' Ukrainian Catholic Church and the reception at St. Charles Country Club.  The girls attended the rehearsal and went to the ceremony but not to the reception.  We learned that day that Frances really won't take the bottle and it isn't just me.  Myrna tried to feed Frances and she cried so hard Myrna was worried that she would choke and die, so Cara had to go home during some of the speeches.

We also visited Wally for dinner on the Friday for his last night as a bachelor. Wally and I celebrated by watching the Moose lose game 6 of the Calder Cup finals with only 1/50 the alcohol consumed at his bachelor party the previous weekend.  In fact, now that I think about, we drank more the morning of the ceremony with Mrs. Krawec then Friday night.  Why do I mention this though?  I figured I should point out how nervous Wally was about this, and how cute they are with our girls.  Wally is so enthusiastic with Teresa and it is great fun to watch....  Too much text, now for a few pictures...

Candray ready to rumble down the aisle, looking rather fetching in her (as Teresa calls it) 'Princess Dress'.

The happy couple, and one of Teresa's favorite things: Bubbles

The two girls, looking awful cute.

Yes, I am wearing Morning Dress with an ascot, why do you ask?

The girls haven't really figured out this whole looking at the camera deal.  Thank heavens for digital, but this is still the best we could do for a family picture.  Good luck in August Jackie.

The reception at my old stomping grounds...  Why yes, I may have some rye in that coke...

The two girls truly do love each other...

I have more free time now, so I have been consciously trying to get some stuff on video and post it for everyone. I find this all exceedingly cute although I would like to apologize for my hacking and hocking throughout. I still have a cold, and this morning I finally decided it was time to see a doctor. We'll see what's up on Monday now.

Favourites

I take a lot of pictures.....seriously, too many maybe. There are many that do not make it on the blog, so I have decided every once and a while to put some up for your enjoyment. So....enjoy!

Teresa channeling Pat Benatar 

I am so in love with this face!

Changes & Giggles

Well, I finally cracked. I am sick of posting YouTube videos and having to tweak their size down, so I found a blog template that adjusts to your page size and changed it to my liking. This page is now best viewed at a minimum of 1024 pixels of width with the following fonts installed: American Typewriter, Handwriting - Dakota, & Skia. I hope you enjoy the changes, although the tweaks will continue to come over the next few days as I am irritated by little things no one else notices on computer.

Beyond that I have a new video. I realized that we hadn't seen Frances in action lately so I got her giggling for you. She's awesome.

How To.....

Confuse the crap out of your mother:

Please don't ask me to explain this...I just live here.

Teresa's Trike

We were at the lake all weekend and I got a chance to finally do the video of her first ever trike ride a couple of weeks back...

Four Months

Today is Frances' official four month birthday, and, I must admit, life is pretty sweet. Frances is doing very well. She is now rolling over like a pro, and has even made it back on to her back a couple times. Her favourite activities continue to be eating, sleeping, licking stuff and kicking. She has added a couple more tricks to her repertoire: Frances will now sing along with me (her two favourites are "Rubber Ducky" and "I Don't Wanna Live on the Moon") and she loves to watch her big sis and giggle. Bath time is no longer seen as a time of torture (much to our neighbors relief) and Frances continues to grow and change and become less of an infant every day. 

Although I love watching her grow, develop and change, it is bittersweet. I now know how fast they grow, soon enough this little baby will slip though my fingers and be off to pre-school. I am looking forward to seeing Teresa and Frances become the women they are meant to be, but I do wish time moved a little slower, and was more forgiving. Alas, this four months has been a blessing, and I am sure Frances is looking forward to her milk party later on.

These fingers are flavour country!

A smile for her legions of fans

A close up of my precious girl

Mom, I'm done with this photo shoot!

She loves that big sis of hers.

Sicko....

This past week I was sick, so very sick. I had a three day fever and am still feeling the after effects of whatever it is that tried to kill me. We are pretty sure it was n1h1, which does not surprise me....you all know how I hate to miss out on a nice worldwide pandemic. But the problem was, well, I don't get sick days. Ken stayed home with me on Monday, but because exams are close he could not stay home more than that. So what was a girl to do besides let the toddler run the house?

That is exactly what I did. I let Teresa play with whatever she wanted, mostly play dough, and she got to stay in her pyjamas for days on end. Honestly, I thought it was a little hypocritical for me to stay in mine and make Teresa wear actual clothes. While Frances napped Teresa watched cartoons and I napped, and we somehow survived the week. The only really crappy part was cleaning up all the dried up play dough, oh, and all the mucus.

Teresa made me pancakes and hot tea

The girls enjoying play time without any interference from Mom.

When you have a face this cute, how can you be bad?

The Roller! The Roller!

Frances rolled over for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I just documented this momentous event on film. She is very good at getting on her stomach, and her method for getting back on her back is ingenious. Mainly, she screams and fusses until one of us takes pity on her and flips her back over. Nicely played Miss Frances....nicely played.

Sleep Well, My Darling

I admit it, I have a cuddle addiction. There is just something so intoxicating about a sleeping baby. The soft sighs, the warmth of their little furnace body, the way their hair curls with the moisture created from nap heat, and the quiet, the sweet sweet quiet. I cuddled Teresa and Frances with unabashed abandon for the first three months of their lives, and I do not regret a second of it. They are only that little for such a short period of time, and, I admit, allowing them to nap in my arms was selfish, but I think they will forgive me for it:)

The only problem with allowing my sweet babies to nap in my arms was, well, they got used to napping in my arms. I trained Teresa to nap in her crib when she was three months old. It took three days, and man, was she a napper. If napping was an olympic event, she would win. She still naps for about two hours in the afternoon. I just finished training Frances to nap in her crib, and I have to admit, I miss my afternoon nap partner. I do however, need some time to myself, as does she. The key to Frances napping was letting her learn to self soothe. This was hard. It involved hours of crying (her and me), but once she got the hang of it, she napped like a champ. Now she can fall asleep anywhere. She just pops that thumb into her mouth, her eyelids flutter, and bang, she's zonked. Now that she is properly rested the crying and crankiness are virtually non-existent, and everyone is happier for it. Plus, if I turn the monitor up, I can still hear those soft sighs.

Asleep on her playmat after an exhausting workout session including trying to eat toes and rolling over.

How To...

I am starting a how to series here on spawn, and here is our first installment.

How To Accessorize Like a Toddler:

Excessively