Visions of Virginia

In late May/early June, we traveled to Virginia, ultimately for Cousin Sue's wedding but made a longer trip out of it and got to spent some time with the Franck clan

Our little Lady Bug turns ONE!!!

April 19th....Helaina's first birthday. It really is amazing how quickly the first year flies by and how quickly an infant grows into a toddler. Helaina is now easily pulling to a stand, cruising along furniture, walking with hand held and we think she has started to say "hi" and "kitty". She has indicated that she is in deed a "big girl" and has stopped letting us spoon feed her. We can't get enough of her smiles and giggles which are easily brought out by pretending to "get her" and tickle her. She is currently sporting eight teeth, which did keep her up at night for a period of time. Much to our delight, she is sleeping through the night most nights now. Still, her favorite time of day is "tubby time" where she will splash and giggle and splash and giggle. Grandpa Ken and Grandma Terri came to help with the 1st year celebrations. We took in a Brewers ballgame and they of course spent a considerable amount of time playing baseball with Finn as well. They were a big help in getting ready for Helaina's lady bug party. We may have a "girly girl" on our hands as Helaina really just used her frosting as makeup...we need to work on her technique a bit though! We had a great time with friends and family and very much appreciated them coming over to help us celebrate. Helaina has been a truely amazing addition to our lives!

Easter Bunny comes to Wisconsin

The Beall's and Grandma Patty joined us for Easter this year. Finn, Faythe, Chris and Uncle T-Bone (Tom) went to a Brewers baseball game while the rest of the ladies stayed home and made tutu's and princess crowns. Chris and Tom also ventured out for an unsuccessful fishing trip but I think they enjoyed their time away from the chaos. We took a trip to the Delafield Play Gallery where the kids got to run around a pirate ship. Of course much time was spent playing baseball at home with Finn as well. We started our Easter off the night before with a glow in the dark easter egg hunt and then the next morning the kids were delighted to find Easter baskets full of goodies and the Easter Bunny left eggs both inside and outside for them to gather. Finn loved his time spent with Faythe and Macy and has asked no less than 50 times since they left when they are coming back again to visit. I also suspect Lilah and Helaina will be fast friends as they grown up...currently both share a fondness for pacifiers. Lilah would even help Helaina out when she inadvertantly droped her pacifier and stuff it back in Helaina's mouth for her.

Helaina updates

Helaina got her first tooth on New Year's. Shortly before nine months she started with an army crawl and about one and a half months later she has mastered the crawl. She is quite speedy with the crawling and is constantly making a bee-line for the cat water bowl. She is also pulling up to a stand and starting to cruise along the furniture. Much to Finn's dismay, she prefers Finn's toys over her own and she has earned the nickname Hurricane Helaina as she frequently plows through the middle of his toys. Her favorite pastime is tubby time. I think that is when we get the most smiles and giggles from her. She loves splashing and has no fear in getting her face wet. We also see her biggest tantrums when trying to get her out of the tubby.