What a Silly Boy

Yesterday we were playing around waiting for daddy to return today and I decided to start making baby Frank wear shoes since according to me he -IS- crawling... but my parents claim that what he is doing is not really crawling... even though the main crawling criteria (according to me) have been met... which are as follows

1. forward motion 

2. using arms and legs to propel self in that forward motion 

3. it is NOT a roll 

4. must be on stomach

apparently when he also uses his head is association with his arms and legs... it negates the crawling... so it is not a "traditional crawl" but baby frank is always an original! ohh well... but regardless I am making him practice wearing shoes now so when he is crawling and eventually walking he is used to having shoes on his feet. Also, my neighbor Sandy Kaufman bought frank some clothes that he can wear next summer. One of which is this awesome hat that I keep putting on frank because it makes him look like he is from the Australian outback and it is very funny.

so sweet

g'day mate

baby feet with shoes

playing is so fun!

love that hat

Frank's Best Friend aka Parker

Today baby Frank finally got to meet Parker Enoch... his future best friend! Parker's mommy is Lindsi Enoch, one of my dearest friends from back in the day... and his big brother Conner was the ring bearer at our wedding. Parker is almost three months old and Frank is about 5 1/2 months now... so very soon they will be able to terrorize the neighborhood together. It was so fun to hold a "little baby" again... Parker's 12 pounds is a huge difference when compared to our 17 pounder... he was so sweet and cute... it was scary to see Parker because he looks EXACTLY like his big brother Conner did... It is so amazing how much these little guys grow in such a short period of time!

sleeping baby Parker

Baby frank and Lindsi

Baby frank has the biggest feet ever (size 3)... look at the difference 2 months can make

Playing with Baby Matthew

Tonight Baby Frank and Baby Matthew got to play with each other again. The last time they saw each other baby Frank was about a month old. Baby Matthew is about three weeks older then baby Frank so he was showing Frank all the skills he needs to learn. Baby Matthew already has 4 teeth and is very very close to crawling (we though frank was close but he has a little ways to go still)... It is so cute to watch them grow up.

Blue eyed boys

checking each other out

baby frank is going in for the hug

nice hands frank

so big! and still growing!

Learning from the "big" kids

After watching baby Matthew sit-up by himself frank tried it out and I actually was able to snap some photos... maybe in 3 more weeks he will be a pro like baby Matthew! Practice makes perfect

Trying to focus

I can do it

thanks for the help matthew

5 Months Old with the Gund Bear

Because of the craziness of these past few weeks It took me a while to get baby frank's 5 month pics with his Gund Bear... mostly because the bear was packed with his toys and I had to find it to take the pictures... he is such a big boy... weighing in at almost 17 pounds (50th percentile) and 27.5 inches(95th percentile)... he is one healthy and happy boy!

cheesing for the camera

This looks yummy

happy boy

such a cute baby!

so big!

Dinner with Lisa

Tonight we went to dinner with my buddy Lisa Frank from college. We went to El Vaquero... the restaurant Lisa and I went to weekly while I was pregnant... we love that place... baby frank was the best baby as usual.

Hanging out with Lisa

Happy Birthday Aunt Molly

Today is Aunt Molly Hartge's 22nd Birthday! Here are five things you may not know about her.

1. Aunt Molly is a recent Graduate of Xavier University and she quickly began working at St. Veronica's Parish in Cincinnati where she is the youth minister... the job includes teaching 7-12th graders, service projects and driving a 15 pac van.

2. She is an expert at shelf paper instillation... a little known talent that came in handy this week while she helped us move into our new house in Dayton

3. Molly likes corn beef and hash... this came as a surprise to me considering it was used as torture for my brother and I growing up... but if we go out to breakfast... Molly seems to actually enjoy it

4. While working at Camp Joy Molly met her current beau Ian Blodgett, and they have been dating for about two years now.

5. Baby Frank is so very lucky that aunt Molly is his Godmother (the picture was taken after his baptism),  he loves her very much already!

Baby Frank Goes to Zanesville

Today we went to visit Zanesville, where grandpa Hayes grew up. Baby frank got to meet great-grandma Hayes for the first time and see his first tractor pull... He was actually really excited t see all the tractors. Every time they would drive by he would turn his head to follow them, I am pretty sure he is going to be fascinated by trucks, trains, tractors, and cars... (what a typical boy)

helping great grandma in the concession stand

Riding his first tractor with Uncle Rick

he looks like he is driving the tractor

he really liked the tractors

Holly was training frank to replace her when he is old enough

Happy 80th Birthday Grammy Casey

Today is Grammy Casey's 80th birthday! Here are 5 things you may not know about her:

1. She is the mother of 7 children, she has 19 grand-children and 1 great-grand child (i guess it is easy to say baby frank is her favorite great-grand child!)

2. Grammy enjoyed her career as a nutritionist before she retired

3. She loves basketball, when we visited during March Madness she kept us up to date on all the teams and scores.

4. She volunteers as a docent at the Milwaukee Art Museum, she gave us a private tour :)

5. Flying is not one of her favorite things to do, however did fly to Ohio for baby Frank's baptism (see picture)... too bad she was flying on sky bus the weekend sky bus shut down.... don't worry she made it home eventually on a different airline

Dinner with the Brights

Tonight Tim and Mary Bright (my parents friends from college) came over for dinner and got the chance to play with baby frank... it looks like everyone had a great time :)

I Can Do It MYself!

People always ask me how old frank is and when I reply,"five months old," they rarely believe me saying he looks more like 9 or 10 months... I always claim he is just a really good eater and now he is totally getting the hang of solid foods... he really likes sweet potatoes, carrots and peaches... he is not a fan of pears, green beans, sweet peas, or applesauce... our strange child only eats orange food for some reason but at least he is eating it! He is now cleaning his plate and trying to lick the bowl if i give him a chance... he desperately trying to feed himself so i let him take the spoon when he is all done eating... he needs to stop growing up so fast!

He loves to feed himself

Carrots are YUMMY!

I want some more...

What a Day!

Today was such a full day! we went to the pool -twice- and played all afternoon. Frank's other favorite new toy is his jumparoo. He gets very excited to be in it and just squeals and delight. He also decided tonight he wanted to hold his own bottle... he is getting to be such a big boy and quite independent.

in his Jumparoo!

playing around

such a fun time

look I can do it myslef

what a big boy

Pool Time part two

Later this afternoon we went to the Mahovlic's pool to play with Kym, Brody, Shannan and Courtney Mahovlic. Baby frank borrowed Brody's lilly pad float and enjoyed just floating around the pool with grandma Hayes. Brody (who is 16 months) and Frank (who is 5 months) look as though they will be the best of friends. Brody made me realize how extremely pale frank is... we had a great time at the pool and we hope to meet up with them again before we go back to Dayton

Playing in the pool

Frank and Brody talking

what cute little boys

courtney and me with our babies

the grandma's with their boys

what sweet little boys

Brody sitting on his blanket and Frank with grandpa

in his lilly pad

with grandma in the pool

Pool Time part one

This morning we took baby frank to the pool at the Lakes. We met up with Doug Sadler and Anne Bates, who actually taught me to swim a the Jaycee Pool back in the day. So we decided it only seemed fitting that baby frank's first "swim lesson" should be with them. Doug put baby frank under the water for the first time (he is professional baby dunker)... after he got over the initial shock he didn't really seem to be too upset over it... he showed off his skills of kicking, splashing as well as blowing bubbles while we were there... he is definitely a little guppy and just loves the pool (just like mommy did!)

Right after he was dunked... he wasn't really happy

why would you do that to me? what did i do to you?

talking to Anne about swimming

at least he doesn't hold grudges... he was quickly back with doug

kicking and blowing bubbles