The Kresl Family

After dinner dance party

2011-04-07T01:34:00.001-05:00

Future best friends

2011-04-06T12:01:00.003-05:00

Molly has really taken to Maggie. She loves to hug her, kiss her, and pat her head. I hope that she continues to be so nice to her baby sister! In the picture above, Molly is trying to kiss Maggie's legs, while squeeling, "Baby! Baby!"

I don't usually do these....

2011-04-06T09:22:00.004-05:00

I am.............Mom. I want..........to be able to afford to move to a bigger house where we can have a basketball hoop in the driveway and the kids can ride their bikes. I have..........the best children anyone could ask for. I wish..........that I could stay home with Molly and Maggie and be here to welcome the boys home from school everyday. I hate..........having a job where I am unable to use my best qualities. I fear...........something happening to one of my children. I hear..........myself yell more than I'd like. I search......for a career that makes me feel confident in my work again. I wonder....if my children's dreams will come true. I regret......not working hard in high school. I love..........my husband more than he'll ever know. I ache.........for my children when they are disappointed. I always.....speak before I really think through the best thing to say. I usually....am very affectionate with Tim and the kids. I am not....a vengeful person. I dance......to bother Molly or the boys. They usually yell for me to stop until I do. I sing.........when I know that no one can hear me. I never......feel as confident in my abilities as I should. I sometimes...wonder if we'll ever feel financially secure. I cry..........a lot less now that my hormones have leveled out after Maggie's birth! I am not always......as appreciative as I should be. I lose.......my phone daily. I am grateful......for a husband who loves me more than I ever dreamed someone would. I need......nothing. Though a truckload of money would be nice. I should....appreciate my time with my children more. You're next: The Mrs.

Maggie is one month old

2011-03-24T19:14:00.004-05:00

Maggie is one month old as of yesterday. It's only been four weeks, but it feels as though she's always been here.

Trip to Discovery Museum

2011-03-24T09:12:00.008-05:00

The boys are on Spring Break this week. Having all four kids home all day actually hasn't been as chaotic as I thought it would be. Molly is actually loving having her brothers home all day. Yesterday, we made a trip to the Children's Discovery Museum. The boys enjoyed their favorite exhibits, Molly enjoyed exploring, and Maggie enjoyed a nap. Here are some pictures from the day.

In the picture below, Sammy is pointing out the new Jimmy John's sign on the back of the Jimmy John's in downtown (not Uptown) Normal.

Motherhood is so glamorous

2011-03-18T20:16:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook today, and it is absolutely true.

"Kids are definitely the boss of you. Anyone who will barge into the room while you are on the commode is the boss of you. And when you explain to them that you are on the commode and that they should leave but the don't? That's a high-level boss." -Tina Fey

While Maggie is not yet able to barge in on me, she is still the CEO of me since she manages to cry every time I consider walking toward the bathroom.

Maggie's birth

2011-03-18T09:00:00.005-05:00

Margaret Marie Kresl was born February 23, 2011 at 12:10pm. She was 7 lbs 9 oz and 19.5 inches long. Maggie was a tiny peanut!

Below are a few pictures from her Birth Day.

Fresh Start

2011-03-17T14:23:00.001-05:00

I have decided to try and resurrect the blog. Maggie is growing so fast, that I am afraid that I won't be able to document any of her babyhood if I don't get moving!

Surprise!

2010-07-09T19:41:00.002-05:00

In your early twenties, you are absolutely positive about how your life is going to be. I distinctly remember telling my dad that I was going to have 2 children and be rich after I finished school. His response to me was,

"Do you want to see God laugh? Tell him your plans."

He was right. God is laughing because He continues to send us surprises.

We are happy to announce that we are expecting our 4th child on March 3, 2011.

Our children continue to bring so much joy and love to our lives. We can wait to meet our newest addition!

Story Time

2009-10-02T19:16:00.003-05:00

Sorry we aren't very good at keep our blog up to date. This is Benny reading Go Dog Go to his favorite and very captive audience.

DON'T DRESS ME IN CUTE GIRLY THINGS!

2009-08-22T20:48:00.002-05:00

It's not all fun and games

2009-08-20T11:41:00.005-05:00

I have been receiving complaints from husbands saying that their wives are seeing too many cute pictures of our Molly and getting that twinkle in their eyes around bed time. I hope these illustrate that it's not all smiles all the time.

We are still waiting to capture the ultra-powty bottom lip face. That is almost as cute as her sleepy face.

Chunky Monkey

2009-08-14T18:21:00.003-05:00

Sammy is warming up but still hasn't held her.

2009-08-10T20:01:00.006-05:00

In the picture below, we had to threaten Sammy with not being able to play baseball to get him to pose. That was when Molly was just over a week old.

In this picture, Sammy had no problem posing. He was quite happy to do it as a matter of fact. I tried to recreate the picture perfectly to demonstrate how much bigger Molly is but I failed. You can still make out some arm and leg folds so I think that should work ok. She is almost 6 weeks old in this one.

Random Stuff I Just Happen To Know

2009-07-27T20:47:00.002-05:00

White towels are more absorbent than colored towels. The towel that has color uses some absorbency to absorb the dye.

Making progress

2009-07-08T17:53:00.002-05:00

I'm making progress on de-swelling! Today is the first day that I have been able to wear my wedding rings in several months. They are still a little snug, but I'm wearing them anyway!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T10:32:00.006-05:00

This year the 4th of July was nearly a complete washout. It was in the 60s and it rained all day until about 6:00. And it wasn't just sprinkles. It was a hard, soaking rain. All. Day.

Luckily, Tim refused to let the rain spoil his BBQ plans.
While a lot of Independence Day festivities were canceled in Bloomington-Normal and the surrounding towns, fireworks were not going to be canceled unless it was raining at the time of the fireworks show. So it was cool, it was breezy, the ground was damp, but the fireworks still went on.

We went out to Heartland Community College and thought that we would be geniuses just opening the tailgate and enjoying the show. Naturally the fireworks were completely blocked by a tree. We were able to just get out and walk to the sidewalk though. Which is actually where most of the other spectators were set up as well.

Since we've been home...

2009-07-05T09:20:00.004-05:00

Molly's first bath. She promptly peed on me the moment I picked her up after her bath.
Benny is a very proud big brother. He asks to hold Molly several times a day.
Sammy rediscovered his love for drumming since Molly was born. For a couple days, he was moved to jam at 7:30 in the morning.
Molly

Molly's Homecoming

2009-07-05T09:04:00.004-05:00

My mom had asked for some pictures of Molly's homecoming, so here they are!
All ready to go!
Once we were home, she settled in very quickly.

One of my favorite things about Molly's homecoming was the outfit that Benny wore to the hospital to pick us up. He wouldn't pose, but I had to capture it.

A lot has changed in the last four years

2009-06-27T12:18:00.020-05:00

Before I start today, I just want to let everyone know that a childhood friend of mine has had a tragedy in her life. Heidi Weaver Thompson will bury her baby on Tuesday. I hope all of you will count your blessings today and don't take anything for granted. I know I will never take any of my children or their health for granted. It's sad that there has to be a tragic event like this to really step back and look at how lucky I am.

Molly Elizabeth

Benjamin Laverne
Samuel William
It has been just over four years since Renee and I did this whole baby thing. A lot has changed since then. For one thing, babies nowadays are born with a lot less appendages. Two less than Benny and three less than Sammy to be exact. I told the nurses before surgery that if Molly didn't have extra fingers I was going to order a DNA test. But after I looked at her I knew she was one mine. The resemblance is quite obvious. Now that I compare pictures she might look more like Sammy. But anyone with kids will tell you those unprofessional maternity ward pictures never do the baby justice.

I'm not sure if this is one of those different hospital things, but we didn't get a birthday cake for either of the boys when we were at the other hospital. It was quite delicious. The frosting was just right, not too sweet like a wedding cake. Mmmmmmm.

Sadly, there is someone missing from this picture. He would have been proud to see his grand kids play in a baseball tournament someday. Unless Juli or Jane have another kid. Then we could divvy up the grand kids and had them go head to head in a basketball game.

The one change on the technology side of things is having wireless Internet in the rooms. Without it I wouldn't have been able to share pictures of my girl the very day she was born. Then the Mrs. of One Carbon Hill wouldn't have had that instant gratification of being able to live vicariously through my bonus baby instead of having one of her own. Is that completely off the table, Mrs.?

And these boys were no where near this handsome four years ago. They both had a pretty rough go of it in the looks department. They are strapping young men now for sure. And don't worry, I think Sammy may just be afraid of hurting Molly. That's why he is not interested in touching her....... we hope.

And for all of you ladies that are going to go to bed tonight with that twinkle in their eye, don't forget this picture. That is not a yawn, it is a blood curdling scream. I think a lot of us forget about that kind of thing after four years. Just think about that before you scoot over to crowd your man's side of the bed.

And finally, some more pictures of my girl. This should get me off the hook for at least a week with the blog demands.

Molly Elizabeth

2009-06-25T21:17:00.005-05:00

Just a sneak peek for now.

The pictures don't lie. One big brother is a little more excited than the other.

Less than 24 hours to go!

2009-06-24T11:38:00.002-05:00

My c-section has been moved again to tomorrow (Thursday, June 25) at NOON!

We are very excited, but a little panicked because there is a lot to still be done before we go to the hospital tomorrow morning!

We will post pictures tomorrow hopefully!

36 weeks and counting!

2009-06-10T10:50:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow I will officially be 36 weeks into my pregnancy! I never thought I would make it to my ninth month. I am very grateful to be almost finished. It has been trying at times with the daily shots, the nausea, and the swelling. However, I know that in a couple weeks it will be completely worth it!

Once again, I have gotten quite swollen. Due to the swelling, I have been on bed rest since the end of April. Laying down for 4 hours a day used to help the swelling, but as you can see I'm losing the Great Water Retention Battle of 2009. I don't have a picture of my hands, but rest assured, they could be mistaken for boxing gloves. I really am a treat for the eyes!

Our baby girl will be here soon, and we can't wait to meet her!

Baseball Maniac

2009-06-09T19:03:00.006-05:00

The boys and I spend anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour every day playing baseball. Sometimes even more if I am home all day. Benny sometimes plays and sometimes he plays on the computer instead. Sammy, on the other hand, always plays with or without Benny. Even when we play for over an hour it sometimes isn't enough to satisfy Sammy's hunger for the game. He plays pretend baseball by himself for as long as it takes me to grill burgers/hot dogs/daddy chicken/daddy pork chops. If you aren't in the know, daddy chicken or daddy pork chops are simply chicken or pork chops grilled by yours truly. He gets singles, doubles, triples and even home runs sometimes. The funniest is when he comes back to home plate after sliding into second base with his head down and announces that the other team got a double play. The other team hits a home run now and again too. Here are some highlights compiled by SESPN.(Sammy ESPN)

On this next video Sammy is doing his Jim Thome impersonation. He even stood in the lefty batter's box which he rarely does. He usually juts stands like Gentleman Jim in the righty batter's box. I'm not sure why he was in slow motion all the way to second but what are you gonna do? He gets doubled off sometimes so I'm not going to start criticizing his imagination. I really like the high fives he gives to his imaginary teammates in the dugout. And if you were wondering, those are his winter gloves being used as batting gloves.

Ozzie called, the boys aren't allowed back at the park

2009-05-27T11:01:00.008-05:00

You would think that a trip to U.S. Cellular field would put some smiles on our faces, especially Sammy's. But the scoreboard below tells of a long game low lighted by unstellar play and even worse pitching.
It was in fact the worst loss the Sox have ever had. In over 100 years of baseball our boys saw their greatest defeat. The boys actually had a great time for their first trip to a big league game. The game was long and they were ready to leave by the end but they thought it was awesome. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Lombard the night before the game. They have glass elevators and the atrium was highlighted by a pond holding the biggest goldfish I have ever seen. We had an awesome complimentary breakfast. I'm not talking some run-of-the-mill continental breakfast with cereal, muffins and toaster waffles. I'm talking real waffles made on an iron, build your own omelets, pancakes, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit. You know, the works. We went back to the room for a rest and then hit the pool for a quick dip in their warm pool. It was a little too warm for my liking but the boys didn't seem to mind.

After swimming we went back to the room to get ready for the big surprise. We kept the game a secret from the boys for two weeks and getting dressed in Sox gear wasn't a big enough hint because they had no idea where we were going. They dozed off on the expressway and didn't wake up until we hit the 35th st. exit. When Benny woke up and saw all the banners hanging from the lampposts he finally figured it out. "Are we at the Sox game?"
Sammy had his Carlos Quentin shirt and Benny his Mark Buehrle shirt. We had to buy Benny a hat at the stand outside the gate to kill time and kill some jealousy. Sammy actually wears one of the ones I don't wear anymore. We finally got him to tighten the velcro on it a little so it doesn't fly off at the slightest hint of wind. You can't tell though, can you?

Once we got in the gate we made a B-line for our seats to show the boys how great they were. Renee got a great deal, actually below face value, on some seats 26 rows behind home plate. I guess the trick is to go to a day game before school lets out. They don't even check your tickets to make sure you are in the right seats. They weren't really impressed by the seats that much. The Twins were having batting practice and Benny wanted to go catch a home run. I couldn't break it to him that he probably couldn't catch a ball that was flying for 380 feet so Renee and he went out to the bleachers to try. Sammy and I stayed around the dugout and got those great pics of A.J. and Jim. The boy standing next to Sammy got an autograph from Jim Thome while I stood by and wondered why I didn't have a writing utensil, or a light colored hat for Sammy, or a light colored shirt for Sammy to get Big Jim's autograph. Sammy was in awe and speechless and didn't realize that daddy screwed up so all was OK. He did however sit in the seat directly next to the dugout and announce that he wanted to sit there for the game. A fan nearby reminded Sammy that that was the mayor's seat and he was going to have a hard time getting that seat. I quickly distracted him by saying that we should go to the bleachers to find Benny and Renee.

After a quick stop off for a beer we spotted Benny and Renee in the bleachers and headed down for them. As we were walking down a ball bounced off the seats about 3 sections over and I knew I had a chance to track it down. Without letting Renee know we were in the vicinity, I took off after the ball and scrambled around with two 12-year-old to find it. I found it in one of the seats that was folded up and held it up to show Sammy. A group of onlookers starting yelling at me to give the ball to one of the kids. I pointed to the boys and said I was with them and the group understood that I wasn't an a-hole after all. I just wanted a souvenir for my own kids. One of the onlookers was a little skeptical and watched me all the way over to the boys to make sure I was really with them. When I showed it to Benny he was angry that he didn't catch it. Sammy didn't care though, he thought it was awesome and held on to it for the remainder of the game and argued with Benny when he finally decided it was actually pretty cool.

Is it me, or does it look like I smuggled something under my shirt?

Overall it was a great day. We just have to remind the boys that if Ozzie ever lets them come back to the park, we probably won't have seats as good, daddy probably won't bring home an official MLB baseball, and the Sox probably won't lose.......that bad.