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.