Francie's Second and Third Days

The highlight of my days while in the hospital were when my big girls came to visit. I loved seeing them although their presence wore me out! They are two very busy, chatty, highly energetic girls! They were also very excited to see Francie and me while they were there! 

In this photo, Shelby Claire is pointing at Francie's nose and saying, "Nose!!". She was so thrilled by all her little body parts. 

 We got a new hat! :)

 I was trying to take a picture of her super chubby legs-- I wanted a shot of those fat rolls but it didn't quite turn out like I hoped.

 Clay is a master swaddler. He can bundle a baby up so tight they can not move! Francie loved it!

We had Francie on Friday and stayed in the hospital until Monday. We were initially in the smallest room in the whole unit! It was strange that they put us there because we were one of only four mothers on the whole floor. The place was very empty! They ended up moving us to a new room Sunday night. Since we were practically the only ones on the floor, they let us pick the room we wanted to move to. We chose the same room we had when we had Shelby Claire. It was huge and has an awesome view of the city. You can't see much from this picture except the parking deck but at night the whole city lit up in the distance and it was beautiful. Much better than looking at the entrance to the hospital from our old room!

Each time the big girls came, they had to get their hands on their new baby! :)

 Look at Shelby Claire!!

 Playing with the hospital bed was big fun for Audrey! She made it go up and down a million times!

 They also both wanted to play in the bassinet and pretend to be babies. We did whatever we could do to entertain them! :)

This pretty little baby will be running wild like her sisters very soon!

Francie's Birthday

After having an emergency c-sec with Audrey, Shelby Claire and Francie's birthdays were nicely planned and scheduled. We knew months ahead of time what day Francie would be born. Initially, the doctor suggested February 14th but we didn't want her to be born on Valentines Day. We knew that would not be fun if she were a girl! I am a planner at heart so this type of delivery set well with me! We had plenty of time to arrange child care for our big girls and to get everything ready! 

Clay's parents came up on Valentines Day to spend the night and to watch the girls for us while we were in the hospital. We had to be at the hospital at 5:15am to prepare for Francie's arrival. This photo is of me in the parking deck- I was ready to meet my new little girl (or boy! We didn't know!)!

Having done this twice before, I knew what was coming but still had lots of nervous energy. I knew what they were about to do and it was a little scary! I will say, the insertion of the IV is still the hardest part for me!

This is right before surgery which was scheduled for 7:15. All of the people in the operating room were so excited to find out what we were having. It was a fun, festive environment! I was feeling pretty anxious at this point. I was ready to get the show on the road!

Here she is!!! They announced that she was a girl and everyone cheered! So fun! We were THRILLED to add a third girl to the family! Everyone was hustling and bustling around and it seemed like it took forever for her to cry. I could hear the commotion going on behind my head and behind the curtain in front of me but kept waiting for that precious sound of her first cry. I know it was only seconds but it seemed like it was minutes. I formed the words in my mouth to ask about her right when I heard that sound that is better than nothing else.. crying!

The nurses commented on how red Francie's hair was right from the beginning. I have always dreamed that I would have a red headed child but have been blessed with dark haired children so far. I was so surprised when they said she had RED hair! I was also surprised at how big she was-- our biggest baby!

First meeting... :)

One proud, proud Daddy!

They put this hideous red hat on her because they had ran out of the normal newborn hats. They said they had these to celebrate Heart Health month. She's still beautiful but I was so surprised to see her in that hat!

Right after that picture was taken, they transferred me to a hospital bed, handed me Francie and wheeled me back to my room. It was so strange to be in the hallways and elevator of the hospital. It seemed so PUBLIC! I was still in my hospital gown and was being wheeled around for the world to see. It was a strange feeling!

She was officially born at 7:31 and by 8:00, we were all back in my room. These pictures are of her first bath-- she did not care for it much! I can't say that I blame her- she'd had a pretty shocking last half hour! 

All clean and calm-- being warmed up by the warming lamps.

This photo was taken about 30-45 minutes after delivery. Although I don't look like it, I was feeling really good at this point! I had lots of good pain medicine and I think that if I had been able to move my legs, would have been able to run a marathon! :) It wore off by lunch though. Ha!

When we got back to my room, my parents and sister were waiting for us and waiting to hear if it was another granddaughter for them! Francie makes FIVE girls!

It wasn't long after we got back to the room that Too Too and Granddaddy brought the big girls to meet their new sister. I was so excited to see what their reactions would be-- Audrey had declared that she wanted a "brudder" and I was a little worried she would be disappointed. I shouldn't have worried! When I told her that she had a new sister, she lit up like the sun and we haven't mentioned a "brudder" since! 

Shelby Claire is seeing Francie for the first time in this picture.  I love her expression- she was really studying Francie! 

Here Audrey is getting her first kisses in for Francie. I'm sure there are going to be many, many more!

Francie was very thoughtful and brought gifts for her big sisters. Both girls love "lovies" and especially puppies. Francie knew exactly what to get her sisters! :) 

This next picture was of Audrey sitting on the couch in the hospital room just soaking all the commotion in. She looks like such a big girl. 

First family photo of five. I love it. Audrey has a look of extreme pain on her face but that's just because I was pinching her. Ha! Just kidding-- she is giving us that face anytime someone asks her to smile. :) 

Francie

Our little surprise is another precious baby girl! Welcome to our family, Frances Rebecca! 

2/15/2013

7 pounds 13 ounces

20 inches

Audrey's Date Night

Clay took Audrey on a date Friday night and she was so thrilled. She picked out the dress she wanted to wear, even told me how to fix her hair. He lets her pick where they go when they go out and she chose Jim-N-Nick's so she could have a piece of chocolate pie. 

This picture is of them right before they left. 

 Shelby Claire wanted her picture made with her Daddy too!

 And here is one for the scrapbook... Momma at 38 weeks pregnant with Winky. This was the end of a long, long day! :)

 Audrey and Clay didn't end up getting pie at Jim-N-Nick's after all. She changed her mind and decided to get a "treat" at Target instead. They left the restaurant and went straight to the toy aisle at Target to play. Sounds like the perfect date for a four year old to me!

While they were on their date, I took Shelby Claire to her favorite restaurant for a date with her Momma! She ate the rice and beans for the first time all by herself and like always, cleaned her plate. My plan was to try her out in a booster seat but unfortunately, there were no booths available and I wasn't going to do that with her in a chair! Next time!! 

Friday Funday

Today was our last Friday Funday as a family of four. We are thrilled to welcome a new baby brother or sister into our family next Friday! I knew that today would be the last day that I had my two big girls to myself for a long while and wanted to do something fun with them. We do something "fun" every Friday but I haven't taken them to the zoo since the fall and I really wanted to before Winky got here. know that carting 3 around the zoo will be a tad more difficult than just my two I have now!

We started the day the same way we do most Fridays, with breakfast at McDonald's. I am such a routine type person- I like to find something that works and do it the same way every time I do it! So, we go eat at McDonald's almost every Friday. When we get there, Audrey gets a high chair for Sister, I clean it and then stick her in it. The chairs have wheels on them and Audrey loves pushing Shelby Claire all over the store. We order (2 cinnamon melts, 2 chocolate milks, a large diet coke and a sausage and biscuit) and we sit in the same corner booth every.single.time. Audrey gets our napkins, forks, straws, etc. Last week we had to sit at another table and it was very disappointing for Audrey! After breakfast, we head off for an adventure. I didn't tell Audrey where we were going today because it looked as if it may rain and we might have to cancel. I normally would take them to McWane, the Galleria or A Play Place on a rainy day but with the baby coming next week, I didn't want to chance us getting any kind of germs from those places!

Anyway, off to the zoo we went! Audrey was so excited when she realized where we were! By the time we got there though it was drizzling. I decided that I wasn't going to let the rain ruin our day so we did the zoo anyway!!

First up was a peacock to greet us at the door. Since it was raining, we were the only people there! It was very nice in a soggy sort of way. Shelby Claire was pretty excited about this peacock being so close to her. She kept pointing and saying "see dare, see dare" (see there, see there).

 Audrey started off loving every bit of it. When the weather is nice and I am not a million months pregnant, we usually go to the zoo quite often. Since it had been awhile, Audrey was excited to see the animals she hadn't seen since the fall. She was also loving being in the rain and jumping in the puddles.

We left the peacock and went straight to the primates. It is mostly indoors and I was looking forward to having a dry spot to get out of the rain. On the way there, the rain began to come down really hard so we had to take a pit stop under an awning. As you can see, Audrey was thrilled! Shelby Claire was too but something apparently distracted her from the camera!

We took our sweet time in the primate house and looked at every single monkey there. They were pretty active today and put on a show for us! 

At this point, I stopped taking pictures. We left the primate house and headed to the predator zone which is another indoor exhibit. It was still raining steadily and Audrey was getting herself soaked in every puddle we went by! There are four lions on exhibit at the zoo and I don't know what it is about them and the tiger but they scare the mess out of me. The tiger was especially "friendly" today and rubbed up against the glass right onto Audrey numerous times. She thought that was fabulous but this momma was really having to hold myself back from snatching her up and tearing out of that place. I just kept grinning and smiling and telling her how amazing that creature was! I was so glad when he grew tired of her. I could just see my big 'ole pregnant self running through the zoo, in the rain, with a 4 year old under one arm and pushing an almost two year old in the stroller. All the while, my chatter-boxes saying, "Where we going, Mommy? I want to see the elephants, Mommy, why are you running, Mommy?!?".  I really need to get control of that irrational fear of mine! 

After spending the longest amount of time we have ever spent in the predator zone, we finally decided to move on to the zebras and giraffes. By then, Audrey was growing weary of her wet socks and pants. She was cold and getting ready to go.  When she said she wanted to go home and get a warm bath and put her footies on.... I jumped on it and we took off out of there! The girl knows what to say to her Momma to get her way. 

It was a perfect morning with my two girls. 

Smiley at 2

Our little Smiley is growing way too fast for my liking. She will be two years old on the 21st of this month (also her new siblings due date). Some things I want to remember about her at two are as follows:

• She has a personality that aims to please and really thrives on positive affirmations. In other words, she loves for us to "toot her horn".
• She loves her Momma and I love that about her.  At this point in her little life she is definitely a "Momma's girl".

• Can completely operate the iPad, iPod, TV and DVD player. She can find Netflix on the iPad, go to the que, find her favorite show "The Wheels on the Bus" and go to town! She also can find the app "The Wheels on the Bus" on the ipod, pick out a DVD from our DVD's, put it in the DVD player, turn it on and get the DVD player to start! She's pretty amazing!! 
• She is still a climber and will get on top of anything and everything. She also almost always has some sort of bruise or busted lip. I'm told that I was the exact same way when I was a little one. 
• She is thrilled with new clothes. She likes to "strut" and show off new outfits, etc.
• She has a great attention span. She can sit at our table and color or play with play-doh for at least an hour. She also loves to play with baby dolls-- feeding them, changing them, loving on them, etc. 







• She will walk right into her classroom, carrying her lunchbox and sippy cup as if she is a big girl.  She used to love going to school but since Christmas, she's been much more reluctant to go. She goes 3 days a week. I think this change is because her class size grew from 8 to 12 and maybe her teachers are a little overwhelmed? Who knows but she doesn't like going as much as she used to! 
• Her first friend other than Audrey is a little boy in her class named Nash. She calls him "Nashy" and lights up when she sees him. He has blond hair and she thinks every little blond haired boy we see is her "Nashy". She even calls his mom, "Nashy Mommy". 
• She is just like Audrey in that she loves her sleep. We put her crib in the room with Audrey when she was about 18 months old so we could prepare for our new little baby to come. At bedtime, we put Shelby Claire down at 7:30 and she will play quietly, snuggle in with her lovies and usually by about 20 minutes or so is conked out. She typically sleeps until around 6:00 or 6:30. Audrey is almost always still sleeping!! She is also taking an afternoon nap everyday-- just for an hour or so. 






• She likes books and for us to read with her. 
• She is an independent little one and tries to do everything her sister does. At two, she can brush her own teeth-- even put the toothpaste on the toothbrush. She can buckle the harness of her car seat and tries to snap the latch. She can completely undress herself and can put pants on but not a shirt just yet. 
• She can say a million words and even strings them along into 2-3 word sentences. My favorite things she says right now are "Bye! See you soon!", "Mommy, rock, rock", "Daddy home!!!", and when referring to just about anything will put the "ey" sound on the end. For example, "Nashy", "Juicey", "Susy", "Fishy", etc. 
• Her favorite toy right now is Magna Tiles. Audrey got them for Christmas from Aunt Lesa and both girls have really enjoyed them. They are just triangles and squares that have magnets on the edges that make them really easy to build things with. I guess they are a modern building block.
• She loves to ride her momma's hip. It doesn't matter to her that I am 9.5 months pregnant and that my hips are well-hidden. She loves for her momma to hold her. 
• She will eat anything. She is definitely not a picky eater at all and it makes this momma's life so easy. Her favorite restaurant is Mexican, loves for me to make cheese tortellini, and enjoys blueberries for snack. She will eat blueberries for as long as you feed them to her! 

We love our little Smiley and can't imagine how boring it would be around our house without her here! Audrey is thrilled with her and the two of them are playing really well together at this age. They have started "fussing" a little over things like the iPad and iPod but overall they are very kind and loving to one another. I hope they will always be sweet sisters.