We're Back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I know...I've said it before, but I'm really going to try this time to keep this blog updated! There is WAY to much to type and catch everyone up on over the past month. But to sum it up Bella is doing FANTASTIC at school and she LOVES IT !!!!!!!!!!!!! We are already seeing major changes. Frankie is doing great as always and his personality is really starting to shine. I think we are going to have our hands full with that one. Mom has been super busy with school for Bella, doctor's appts., playdates, parties, etc. Daddy is working hard as always and we live for the weekend where we can all be together. Our biggest news is much to our surprise we found out that we are expecting baby #3. He or She is due May 5th!! Needless to say that has added to some of the reason for my lack of posting. All day morning sickness has kicked in full speed. Thankfully we have a GREAT daddy that has been Mr. Mom for several weeks.

This week is off to a great start. The kids and I spent the morning at the park and our enjoying the beautiful weather. Bella has school on Tues. & Thurs. Tomorrow Frankie and I will be doing some last minute errands before Halloween and hopefully can squeeze in a story time. Then Friday we are off to Dewberry Farms with our playgroup. I can' wait !!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday we have a baby shower and Sunday we are celebrating Grandma Bird's birthday. We are busy bees over here at the Trifilio house !!!!

Busy Busy Busy!

Another busy but great week for the Trifilio family! On Monday Bella had her first Ballet/Jazz/Hip Hop class. She LOVED it and did a great job, she was bumped up to the the 3-5yr old class. We are so proud !!! We spent a huge chunk of time waiting on a contractor to replace our shower door...that only came once to measure and we haven't heard from him since. AHHHH !!! We did have Meet the Teacher for Bella, and we were very impressed and enjoyed meeting Bella's new teachers for the year! The whole family went to a FUN FUN FUN birthday party this weekend. The kids had a blast swimming and fun in the sun!

The kids and I spent alot of quality time together playing, coloring, painting etc.! Bella really has surprised me with her sentence formation and has started to use proper terminology etc. She is so smart..too smart for her own good! My little man is just one walking and talking machine! His words of the week are Thank you, dog, and cat!! He has been quite the trooper running errands with us lately so we can get ready for Back to School! I have to admit I'm looking forward to having some one on one time with him, when Bella starts back to school!

This week so far is filled with Back to School, hair cuts, playdates, and more!!!

"To infinity ... and beyond!"

We had another great week and a busy one to say the least. Daddy had to go out of town for work again, so the kids and I did everything possible to stay busy. We went to several playdates, ran a ton of errands, and went to the pool several times. I even squeezed in a mini MNO!! WHOOP!!! We are also trying to get our house squared away and on the market, and of course with that in mind we have been looking at houses for weeks now. Hopefully all of our ducks will line up soon and we will find our dream home and sell our house quickly. One can only hope right??? Our trip to the SplashPad was fantastic on Thurs. and our trip to the pool on Friday was even better. My children are absolutely water babies!!! THEY LOVE IT and aren't afraid at all. I really should look into getting them into lessons. Hmmm I need to add it to my To-Do list. Daddy surprised us and came home early. So we all were able to make it to Zube Park on Saturday to ride the trains. It was baby Frankie's first visit and he LOVED IT!! We will need to make this a regular thing to do. Both Saturday and Sunday were family days and we loved every second of it. The weather in the Atlantic is starting to act up and at any given moment daddy could get activated for work, and that means would potentially don't see him for weeks! Eeek!! So we try and soak it up while we can.

Both kids are doing incredible! I'm happy to report that Bella finally knows her colors or at least is saying them out loud correctly. We've been working on letter sounds this week and talking about school. She is still loves all of her barbies and princesses, and her memory still AMAZES me. She will sing every Disney song from start to finish. Plus the girl LOVES to dance and will make a day of it. Bella is getting quite protective of her little brother and is playing with him more and more every day. She still is testing us on occasion, but I think THANKFULLY our NO phase has passed. Our new battle is bed time routine, but hopefully that too shall pass.

Little man is doing INCREDIBLE!! and has become OBSESSED with Buzz Lightyear he carries around a mini figurine of Buzz EVERYWHERE. He has also become quite the chatter box and has added several new words to his vocabulary. Frankie is still amazing me with his "physical" differences over Bella at this age. He crawls, climbs etc. over everything and Bella never did. WOW! The boy/girl difference is incredible. He still LOVES to eat everything and we haven't found something yet that he has frowned at. I do think it is cute that he has started to chase after the big boys...his time will come! Where does the time go?

Bella will be starting dance and school soon and little man and I will have some quality time together! We have another busy week and weekend ahead of us with playdates, parties, contractors, and more!!

I know I know...

it has been WAY to long since my last post. Honestly it would take to much time to write down every little detail of the past month and a half...but to sum it all up we have had LOTS of birthday parties & playdates, fun with friends, celebrated Frankie's 1st Birthday, fun with family, visit from my cousins in Wisc. (trip to FTW), tossing around the idea of selling the house, getting ready for Bella to go back to school, Bella's trip to the ER, and much much more. I promise to write more and sit down at least once a week. So...until then here are some pics!!

Bella's Dance Recital and lots of fun in the sun!

Last weekend Bella had her first dance recital !! My baby girl ROCKED IT !! She was absolutely amazing. The weekend started off with my parents coming into town, we had lots of fun with Mimi and Papa. (A big thank you to Mimi for continuing to help me clean out the closets). Saturday morning she had her dress rehearsal, and our little princess came out on stage and danced her booty off. By far the best in class ;-) Sunday was the big day and again she ROCKED IT!! She performed her routine perfectly, I think my heart almost burst with all the love and pride I felt for her. Brother enjoyed watching his big sister and clapped away while she was dancing. The kids and I spent a ton of time outside last week and the kids had a great time playing at the pool and splash pad !!! Hopefully next time I will remember my camera every trip and take lots of cute pictures.

Both kiddos are doing fantastic and we are enjoying our summer to the fullest! My little latin babies have gorgeous tans already!! Bella is still dancing and singing away. We have been working quite a bit on colors and letter sounds. I'm hoping by the end of summer we have them down. The negotiation phase has officially started...discussing a magazine on the table "Mommy can I have it? No can I touch it? No can I hold it? No can I hug it? No can I push it? No and it went on and on from there! Little man is doing FANTASTIC! He runs around like an "animal" constantly. He reminds me every day the difference between boys and girls. He is SO DESTRUCTIVE! I save him at least 100x at the pool from drowning. I truly believe he thinks he can swim. He also has officially started standing up to his sister. If she pushes then he pushes back...we have a long road ahead of us. Thankfully they do typically play really well together and I love to just sit back and watch. He is talking more and more every day, I can actually hear momma, daddy, Bella, Ball, Bye-Bye, Baba(bottle), and Hi.

Daddy has been traveling alot lately so we are anxious for him to be home for a few days next week! I'm proud to announce (with the help of my BF's mom) I made my first pair pants for Bella. I'm officially sewing!! VERY EXCITING for me!

Another busy week/month...Lots of birthday parties, pool time, doctor's appts. and playdates!!

12mth Check-up!

My little man has his 12mth well baby exam on Tuesday. He did great !!! His stats are 18lbs 7oz (-3%), 30 1/4in (60%), 17 3/4 (15%). Developmentally he is doing fantastic and is right on target.

I will post again on Sunday after our busy weekend with Bella's first dance recital !!

Happy Birthday Frankie !!!!

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted last? So much has happened and I know I can't even remember it all. Most important my little man has turned 1, his birthday was June 4th. I still can't believe he is one already. Where does the time go? I'm so blessed to the mother of the most precious little boy, he brings so much joy to my life every day. We also were overjoyed to welcome our new precious cousin to our family Zachary Thomas Haun arrived on May 8th.


We have been busy with playdates, a trip to San Antonio, and taking care of two sick babies. The kids and I enjoyed the nice weather and made it to several park playdates. Both loved every second of it !! The Triflio and Curl family also made a trip to San Antonio Memorial Day weekend. We had a FABULOUS time visiting Sea World, The Alamo, and The Children's Museum. I would pay a million dollars just to see Bella's face one more time when she saw Shamu. We all had an amazing time, and the kids loved every second of it. Of course both babies were spoiled rotten by the time we came home ;-). Unfortunately we came home with two sick babies. Both Bella and Frankie were pretty miserable with colds, asthma, etc. the following week. That brings us pretty much up to date...this past week we went to several playdates and celebrated little man's birthday. We were a bit sad that daddy wasn't able to be here, but we took tons of pictures. We also made our first trip to the Splash Pad on Frankie's birthday. We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to several more visits this summer.


My goodness both kids are doing incredible! Bella hasn't had a potty accident in almost two months. She is still having a bit of trouble going alone, but we are working on it. Her imagination surprises me daily. She will sit and play with her dolls/doll house/ figurines for hours, and I could sit and listen to her equally. We are very excited as next weekend is her first dance recital. My little girl is growing up so fast. She is VERY excited for it to be the summer because that means lots of water play !!! Lots of pictures will follow soon!


My son! He is the most precious little boy. Frankie is still quite the animal, and plows through everything. He also has been quite the fan of MUSIC, and loves to dance especially with his sister. They both are playing together more and more every day, and he just loves to be in the same room with her. He is talking more and more everyday, still no baby signs I think he is just being stubborn. Bella at this age had almost 15 signs down. He is eating like a machine, and I'm hoping that the scale will tip our way when we go for his 12mth check-up. Keep your fingers crossed!


Please continue to pray for sweet precious Layla Grace! She needs all of our love, prayers, and support. Follow her story at http://twitter.com/laylagrace and http://www.carepages.com/carepages/LaylaGrace .


We have another busy week planned !!

Prayers for Layla Grace

www.twitter.com/laylagrace Please pray for this sweet angel. Layla is the youngest daughter of a friend who is in my playgroup. Shanna is an amazing mother and an inspiration to us all! I still don't have the words to express my sorrow for the Marsh family. All I can say is please lift up your thoughts and prayers for them as they fight Layla's battle with cancer.

Flooding and Swine Flu

Last weekend we had a wonderful weekend! We spent some time with friends at their farm, we all had a great time. Bella caught several fish, played with a turtle, and lots more fun. Little man had a blast being loved on by everyone. This week started off great with a play date with friends. Then the rain started...and the flooding began. Our area (Cypress) received over 10.5inches, our backyard and front yard were completely underwater. Thankfully it didn't rain for several days in a row or our kitchen would be underwater. Of course this means that daddy was working extra hard due to all the flooding in the area. After the rain there was the swine flu, and of course this means lots of work for daddy with his job. Needless to say I had my hands full with "single-parenting". But we had a great week! Bella and I made some yummy cookies, danced, and played. On Thursday I took Bella to ballet and we picked up her first dance recital costume. IT IS SO ADORABLE! I also was able to see her perform the routine, I do admit she did an amazing job and I can barely wait until June. Friday we had a great time at our last MOPS meeting. We ended the weekend with a birthday party and dinner with friends!

Bella is still my beautiful princess. A little more every day. Her vocabulary still continues to amaze me. The expressions and statements she makes just melt my heart. She will randomly come up to me and say "Your beautiful mommy" or "I love you too mommy". I continue to notice that her memory is becoming grand. She has several songs and books memorized and loves to recite them to anyone who will listen. We are still experiencing some behavior hiccups, but I'm hoping that this is just another two year old phase and will pass soon. Overall I can't complain she is my adorable princess.

My little man! We were suppose to have a weight check this week, but decided to hold off going into the ped's office until the swine flu check-ups pass. He stands up on his own constantly now, and is taking up to three or four steps on his own. He will take seven or eight steps if he is walking to you directly. This week he has been in constant chase after his sister! He adores her and is trying everything possible to keep up with her. He is still babbling away, and eating like a horse. I'm hoping that this means he is growing like a weed. He still looks so small to me. Frankie is an "animal" as we affectionately call him. He has NO FEAR !! He destroys everything and is smiling all the way. I have never seen a happier baby!

We are hoping for a fun-filled rain-free week!

Home!

We are back from our whirl wind trip to Ft. Worth. We had a great time as always with my family, we were able to spend some extra quality time with my sister. Of course there isn't a trip to FTW without some hiccups. By the end of the week we either had been or were getting sick

:-( allergies, sinus, and a virus are not great combos. But we made it through and were able to drive back home on Sunday. That being said we weren't able to accomplish pretty much anything that was on our list for visiting friends and family, but they will be another trip soon. Since we had quite a bit of down time, I was able to catch up on some much needed me time with some R&R. The kids had a great time playing with Mimi, Papa, and Nanie. This trip we came home with lots of funny stories and great memories....one of the favorites is Bella trying to put my mom's dog on the potty b/c she the dog had an accident and telling the dog she needed to peepee in the potty. I admit my daughter is hysterical and truly a constant entertainment.

This week so far we are trying to get back into our normal routine. We spent Monday & Tuesday trying to get over the last hump of everyone not feeling well. We went to the park yesterday in the beautiful weather..sunny, 90 degrees, and perfect. The kids and I had a great time just being outside again.

Bella is doing wonderful as always and is still surprising us daily with what comes out of her mouth. Potty training is complete. She still wears a pull-up at night, and still has a bit of fear for public places but can now "hold it" until we get home. The only thing we have to work on is Bella going alone. One step at a time..I have to admit I'm shocked and amazed on how easy it went for us, because I was expecting it to be much harder. We have been having some MAJOR sleep issues with Bella lately. Night Terrors...basically she will wake up and cry for about 30minutes but never open her eyes and never wake up. It is scary to watch, needless to say isn't sleeping well at night and still wakes up between 6am-7am. Hopefully this is just a passing phase. My little man is doing excellent! He is up to 7steps walking towards one of us, and will stand on his own and take 3-4 steps to a toy. He doesn't do this at every instant, but I'm sure that is around the corner. He is talking quite a bit more frequently, he doesn't seem to be interested in signing yet. I try not to compare but Bella was already using 2 or 3 signs by this time. He is saying mama, dada, baba, bell for bella, bye-bye, and a few other sounds. He loves to play and is in constant motion, still quite the bulldozer as he has no problem crawling over anything and knocking EVERYTHING off every table. I am a bit worried taking him for a weight check next week, he eats ALL the time and a ton of food. Just last night he had chicken nuggets, pears, green beans, and some crackers. He just doesn't look bigger to me. I'm praying that he is!

We hope everyone is having a great week! We have a busy weekend planned so hopefully I will be able to post some cute pictures this weekend!

Happy Easter!

I can't believe it's April already! Seriously where does the time go? I swear it was just yesterday I wrote a post. Ahh! The life of being a parent with two babies that are nonstop on the go 24/7. I'm happy to report that we seem to have made it over the allergy season hump finally. The kids and I have been able to make it out a bit more often and even attend a few play dates. The past couple of weeks have been filled with playing, an allergist appt., potty training, and fun!

Bella my sweet princess! I think I can officially say she is 97% potty trained, we haven't had an accident in almost two weeks. She is in panties full time except at night, and is using the big potty all the time. We still have a bit of fear at public places like restaurants etc., but she seems to be fine in a "school setting" as she did just find while she was in her classroom for MOPS. Fortunately for us she hasn't had any accidents out and about, but is running to the bathroom by the time we get home. She is quite proud of herself and I am of her !!! She continues to amaze me on a daily basis with talking, dancing, and memorizing, she brings me so much joy. Her bond and love with her brother continues on a daily basis, and they are figuring out ways to play together ie. Bella rolls a ball and Frankie chases it. My favorite line of the week is after hearing thundering walking in from outside she looks up and says "Mommy storm clouds are coming!". Where does she get this? Too precious! We do still have our diva moments, but hopefully those too shall pass with time.


My little man! My wonderful son...every day is a new smile...a new look...a new sound. This is one of my favorite stages. Each day brings a surprise! He is now officially standing all the time, letting go, and can stand up on his own from a sitting up position. He is also taking up to four steps at a time. I'm also proud to admit he is 100% boy, we call him "Animal" as he plows through, crawls over/under, sits on ANYTHING! Still something I'm adjusting too..and probably will for quite some time. He adores his sister and would follow her around all day if she let him. My little man will also EAT anything and everything. The boy loves food! He puts it away as fast as we can give it, with the assistance of his new two top teeth. Oddly enough we are still struggling with weight gain, but hopefully we will be over that hurdle soon. We did some partial allergy testing for Frankie last week. We weren't surprised...but some of the results he had some skin reactions and some not, as the majority of his reactions are still GI related. The top allergens are soy, egg, potato, carrots, and cinnamon. We go back in a couple of weeks for fruit testing. Nothing that we can't handle or overcome!

We've had a lovely Easter holiday! Starting with our Easter party with our playgroup on Friday, a Fish Fry Friday evening with our dear friends, and today with family. The kids woke up to a small Easter egg hunt at the house and spent the morning playing with all the new goodies in their baskets. This afternoon we went to Grandma Bird's, a great time was had by all !!

This week the kids and I are off to DFW to spend the week with family and friends! We are going to try and visit everyone!

Potty Training

Well we don't have a ton to report as we had ANOTHER week stuck at home. My poor little man just can't shake this bout of allergies and asthma. Just another sign that his past case of RSV really messed with his poor little lungs. We spent this past week either at home or running to the doctor's office getting Frankie's pulseox range checked. Needless to say since we were stuck at home, I decided to give potty training another go. I'm happy to report that it is going very well. Bella is still running around naked and her potty chair is still in the living room, but other than that it is going fantastic. She was having anywhere from one to two accidents a day, but yesterday she didn't and so far so good today. She obviously is still soaked at night, and refuses to go poo-poo in the potty. But I'm more than pleased with where we are at. Now all I have to do is get her to go in the actual bathroom and put her in panties!!

Overall the kids are doing fantastic! My princess imagination is still growing by leaps and I could sit and listen to her play with her little figurines, dollhouse etc. for hours. She is so precious!! She is missing her friends terribly, and hopefully we will be out and about soon. We are still working on colors, I can't decide if she knows them and is just saying Blue over and over again to drive me crazy or if she is really confused ;-) I wish I could keep a video camera on her 24/7 as the most adorable phrases or expression come out of her every day. Just this morning she asked me "if I had a wonderful dream?" (Yes she loves Cinderella)

My little man is still eating and going NONSTOP!! We have officially stopped all baby food except for a few mashed up meats. Unfortunately because he moves NONSTOP the weight isn't sticking to him yet, but we aren't going to give up. He also is now saying bye-bye and waving on a regular basis. Just this weekend he also took two steps, they were more leaning and rushing forward but I think that almost counts. He is standing alone more often, so he just may be on the same track as Bella and be walking by 11mths. WOW!! I still think he is the most precious little man and has a smile for everyone.

My parents were in town this weekend and it was wonderful to have them here. My mom and I were able to do a bit spring cleaning and shampooing the carpets. My dad helped in our yard and with planting our garden. I think the yard is coming along quite nicely and was so happy with the end results of everyone's hard work. It truly was a wonderful weekend with family and yummy food!!

Hopefully we will have some more exciting things to report this week as we can make some small trips away from the house. Sorry for the lack of pictures as we can't really take pics of Bella naked ;-)

Allergies please go away.....

Last week started off great, we relaxed on Tuesday and Wednesday we took Frankie for his 9mth appt. The doctor said he is doing great! His lungs are getting stronger and developmentally he is doing FANTASTIC. The good news is he had gained 2lbs since his last visit and is growing. The bad news he is still in the negative percentile. Unfortunately he is battling a double edge sword, since he is so extremely active he is burning up everything he takes in. His stats are 16lbs 10ounces negative 3 percentile still, 27.5in for length 25%, and FOC 17in 10%. We reviewed his eating habits, and she wanted to try some weight gainer supplements ;-) more like protein shakes. I told her I would research it for the ingredients b/c most of those are soy based. Overall we couldn't be happier, we are still on breathing treatments probably until the end of May. But we are hoping it is the treatments that are making his lungs so strong. My little man is doing so well, and he is self feeding most of meals at least 90% of the time. Where does the time go? He is still babbling away and letting go of the furniture more often to stand on his own. He amazes me everyday with how active he is. Again just another reminder how different boys and girls are, I distinctly remember Bella being perfectly content to sit on the floor and play with the few toys in front of her. I'm constantly chasing him around the house, fishing things out of his mouth, and double and triple baby proofing the house! He doesn't sit still all day !!! His big new thing is..and we hadn't posted it b/c we thought it may have been a fluke but it is occurring regularly now. Frankie is say "Bellllll" referring to Bella. When she runs into her room it is the first thing out of his mouth, I just melt every time I hear it. Oddly enough even when he goes "Belllll babababab" she runs to the kitchen and grabs his bottle. Just another miracle in the mystery of communication.


Friday morning I went to MOPS and I have to add it was an INCREDIBLE meeting. I was truly touched by what I heard. It was about "princess with a purpose" and raising your daughter as a princess to the king of kings our Lord! http://www.princesswithapurpose.com/frmHome.aspx
It was truly wonderful and I'm strongly considering sending Bella to her princess camp this summer. (she also has a prince program) It also opened my heart as a mother and wife...Kelly read several verses regarding God has a plan for us all. It just happened to be the perfect day for me to hear this. It was an incredible experience I actually couldn't wait to tell my husband all about it when he came home. It really help me come to peace about several things going on in our lives right now...my son's health, finances, etc. Especially my son's health I had been turning into a self pity party lately, wondering if I will ever get to spend an extended length of time anywhere outside, park, or a public place without the constant worry that is will have an attack, a severe setback, or worse.


As luck would have it Friday afternoon, my little man took a turn for the worse with the severe pollen count in Houston. Both of my Frankies were in a severe amount of discomfort Friday evening. The early hours of Saturday morning were spent in the shower with my little man, Mr. Blue, and the breathing machine in overdrive. This continued on to Sunday, Monday, yesterday and today. I'm happy to report that he is finally seems to be not getting any worse. He still has zero oxygen flow but I guess after all of these months of this going on. My poor guy has learned to sleep through night after the worse seems to past in the early evening. We are extremely excited to finally have him tested on everything at the end of the month.

My poor princess unfortunately is stuck at home with little man and I. But we try to keep things exciting. Between puzzles, flash cards, coloring, playdoh, and making cookies. We try and stay busy. Hopefully next month she will be able to enjoy the outdoors just as much !!! We decided not to attempt potty training until Frankie is healthy again.

We are looking forward to seeing our Aunt Kimmy this weekend and hopefully getting some honey-dos accomplished.

(and yes if you haven't noticed, Bella feels the need everytime she takes a picture with Frankie to put her hand on his head ;-)))))

We are home !!!

The Trifilio's are home from their trip to Fort Worth. We went to celebrate my father's retirement from AT&T...35 years. We are so incredibly proud of him!! It was a short trip quick trip, but we had a wonderful time. The party was Saturday afternoon, Sunday we spent at home with the family, and today we made a trip to our financial advisor and back to Houston. Of course if you have been keeping track this is our third trip to FTW in 5-6 weeks. So we are going to stay close to home for awhile. Traveling with two kids back and forth for quick trips take a ton out of all of us.

This past week was busy as usual. The major news is we did end up pulling Bella from school, and Wednesday was her last day. This was an extremely difficult decision, but we believe in our hearts it was the right one. Needless to say I tried to keep Bella as busy as possible. We had a wonderful playdate at the park and another home playdates (our favorite) at one of her friend's house. We had a wonderful time..and Bella loved playing with all of the "boy" toys especially a robot WALL-E. Also little man had a GREAT time pushing a car back and forth across the tile floor. Friday evening mom was able to get out and enjoy a MNO with the girls, and Saturday morning we hit the road to FTW.

The kids are doing exceptionally well as always, and I'm eager to take Frankie to his 9mth check-up this week. I still can hardly believe my baby is already 9mths old. Where does the time go? I do have to admit it is comical to watch him crawl, pull-up, stand-up etc. because he is SO TINY !!! But hopefully with the warm months approaching and cold/flu season almost over the weight will quickly follow. Again developmentally he is doing extremely well, and continues to crawl, babble, pull-up, etc. Frankie still isn't a fan of the sippy cup, but I'm not in any hurry to push it. Also we are still working on weaning him from the pacifier, but since mom had another round of a cold last week. We continued to run in his room at night and pop it back in. He doesn't get it all during the day, so I figured we are doing pretty good.

Bella my princess...this week was difficult for her, as she did sense the changes going on at school. I think this coming week will be a bit more difficult, but mom has tons of plans for her. She is still our singing and dancing queen; and is hopelessly in love with her brother. We still have our small battles of being "gentle" with Frankie, but we are working on it. Since our school situation has changed, we also are going to attempt potty training. Lord only knows how that will go.

We have another busy week filled with doctor's appointments, playdates, and more.

A quick family update!!

Again...I apologize for such a delay in between postings. We as usual have been super busy. We had another trip to Fort Worth to celebrate all of the birthdays in my family, a couple of birthday parties to attend, I co-hosted a baby shower, and still been dealing with either sick kiddos or a sick mommy. Our trip to Fort Worth was wonderful and we had a great time as always, unfortunately it was cut short because Frankie had to get back for work. But we always looking forward to a return trip for a longer visit. We then were all hit with a round of colds here at the house, so we all stuck close to him for a bit until we all were healthy again. The biggest thing that has been going on is a situation at Bella's school. Unfortunately Bella has been acting out in Ballet class, which we have to attribute to some of the roughness she has been experiencing and observing at school. Frankie and I both have gone round and round on how to address the situation. We as parents understand that no matter where she goes, she will see some sort of "naughty" behavior, we just don't think it would be as extreme as it is now. After some additional conferences, we hope to have a decision by the end of the month.

Both of the children are doing wonderful and thriving. Bella's vocabulary and memory still amaze me every day. Our biggest hurdle we are working on is colors, she hasn't been able to pick them up except for Blue, Red, and Pink. So we are constantly working on those, but her counting and alphabet is coming along nicely. We also got her a sing along DVD for Valentine's Day, and she LOVES IT. We are blessed to hear many Disney Princess songs over and over again ;-) Each day she falls more in love with her brother, and they now love to play peek a boo and tent together. Little man is doing great, lungs look great (though we are still on two breathing treatments a day) and of course we continue to work on weight gain. He is eating three times a day with one snack, I think he will be completely weaned off of baby food by the first of March. He already is eating sliced carrots, squash, zucchini, pears, and bananas. He ABSOLUTELY prefers to feed himself. He is still crawling, cruising, and getting into everything. I'm still personally amazed on how different boys and girls are. Bella was never as active and into everything as Frankie is, and she never put EVERYTHING in her mouth as he does. The smallest speck on the floor goes into the mouth. AHHHH !!! He is the sweetest boy, and has a constant smile on his face. I do have to add that he LOVES bath time and is known to do full rollovers while taking a bath with his sister.

I'm doing great and hoping to dive more into sewing soon. I've been busy with taking care of the kiddos and working out. So that leaves little time for anything else, but the kiddos and I are having a great time !!! The Trifilio's are on the go as usual...and will continue to keep you posted on all the craziness !!

Where did the month go?

I'm so sorry it has taken so long to post. Seriously where has the month gone?? We have slowly been getting back into the swing of things. Of course we are proceeding with caution, Frankie is doing better but we aren't taking any chance with him having a setback. He is still doing breathing treatments and is on preventative meds, so hopefully he will continue to heal as time goes by. So what have we been up to you ask. The Trifilio's have been busy with MDO, traveling to FTW, playgroup, and 2009 organizing.

Baby Frankie was baptized on the 17th. It was a beautiful private ceremony, we were very lucky to have the same pastor that baptized Bella to baptize Frankie. The entire Triflio, Haun, & Curl family were there and we all had so much fun together at the restaurant immediately following the baptism. Bella was able to once again bond with her cousins, and nothing was more precious than to see Kyle read to Bella huddled over in the corner of the restaurant; and to see Kyle being a good sport with all of Bella's princess toys, pretty ponies, and barbies. She is completely enamored with him and Carter both. We then spent the rest of the weekend with my parents, and the kids loved all the extra attention and snuggle time from their grandparents, aunt, and uncle. I traveled to and from Fort Worth by myself with the kids, and I'm happy to report that both trips went very well. Since the baptism we've been staying close to home, as Frankie came back from FTW a bit under the weather. So we had lots of playtime at home, running errands, getting taxes ready, birthday parties to attend and just plain quality family time with daddy.

My little man is doing so well, again his lungs are slowly healing. Of course this up and down weather isn't helping. He is still sitting up, pushing up into a sitting up position, and crawling ALL over the house, and most recently he is "traveling" along the furniture and letting go. I think he may be walking by spring time...I can't believe my little man is growing so fast..too fast for his mom. Next week he will be 8mths old !!!!! I do admit the best part of him being so very mobile is brother/sister bonding time. I'm not exaggerating for an hour they both will chase each other on all fours around the house. They will sit in the playroom and play together. Bella will build the towers with blocks, while Frankie chews on them. He absolutely adores his sister, and I think the feeling is mutual ;-) Bella LOVES to go and "get" Frankie up in the morning and after naps. I know that this time of bonding is limited so we are all soaking it up.

My Bella...we are in complete awe of her. Hubby and I catch ourselves just looking at each other and smiling and this little angel we've created. She is still very much into Disney Princesses and Dora. We have a pretty steady rotation with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Snow White, Swan Princess, Little Mermaid, and Dora. She has to sleep with at least three of something each night. Her vocabulary never stops amazing me, her memory never stops amazing me, and most recently her song memorization. She now has all songs from Little Mermaid , Sleeping Beauty, and a Rihanna song (Yes we can thank daddy for that) memorized. Daddy loves to point out that she has a better singing voice than I do. Bella is still a dancing queen and loves to go to Ballet. Daddy is sad to report that he no longer can go in and watch class as they are learning their super secret routine ;-) Now that I've said all the positive stuff, boy the terrible two's are in full swing. She has the biggest mood swings ever, and it still quite the diva. Her way or no way...but since I'm bad cop with Bella she prefers to wait until Daddy the pushover comes home to test the waters ;-) One second she will be an angel and the next second she is on the floor screaming. Timeout and Bella have become very acquainted recently. We've been attempting potty training, but are taking a break as she hasn't shown any interest in the past week or so.

Daddy and I are trucking along and trying to keep up with the kids. He is still working hard and loves his job. I'm doing great and even better now that I've been able to squeeze a few workouts in the evening in. I've recently become a huge fan of Yoga and Zumba. I'm also admitting to having a slight obsession to facebook, and it has aloud me to connect with some old friends. I love it !!

We are back to Fort Worth this weekend....to celebrate my parents anniversary(1/26), my dad's birthday(1/29), my brother's birthday(2/2), and my sister's birthday(2/4) !!! I know a crazy month for us!!