Frances is wiped out and sound asleep after all of the Halloween excitement....don't worry we didn't let her eat too much candy this year! We played and went Trick or Treating with Lyndy and Kat. They sure showed Frances how it's done.
Uh oh! We have a bug problem!
Love our cousins- soon there will be 6 girls!
Somebody really loves daddy
Lyndy teaches Frances what the really good candy is.
Kat the cat!
Frances and mommy.
We are SOOOOOOOOO excited that Sage and Jack will be welcoming the triplets into the world in less than 24 hours! Please keep them in your prayers, along with the team of doctors and nurses who will be taking care of them. Head on over to Nichols and Nonsense to see what's going on with them. Frances understands that she will be taking the back seat to the triplets for the next little while. We get to go meet them on Friday!
The girls will share their birthday with our anniversary. Three years and loving every second of it. Will, you are the most wonderful husband and daddy!
We took Frances to the Great Pumpkin Patch on Saturday and she had a big time! She helped pick out the perfect pumpkin thought the hayride was pretty fun too. I can't wait to debut her halloween costume- she looks REALLY cute!
Fun on the hayride!
This was the prize pumpkin she picked....
And sealed the deal by licking it!
Frances had fun with her friends, Julia and Frances!
PS- The countdown is on...The triplets will be here on November 1 at noon (unless they decide to make their own appearance between now and then). We are so excited for them to arrive!
February will be here before we know it and that means 2 big things.....1) Frances turns 1 year old and 2) Will and I will run the 2012 Mercedes Marathon in honor of our daughter.
You may recall, we ran last year's marathon when Frances was 4 days old! While she slept soundly in her little incubator in the NICU, Mommy and Daddy were out pounding the streets of Birmingham proudly wearing her picture on our backs. Here is a post-marathon moment from last year:
See this face? This is why we run!
Our marathon training kicked off this past week, so now is the perfect time to start our fundraising for Frances and The Bell Center. As "Bell Runners," we have committed to raise $2,620.00 in Frances' name. That's $100 for each of the 26.2 miles we will run on February 12th.
Below is a link to our fundraising page. You can donate securely online, or feel free to mail us a check made out to The Bell Center. All donations go straight to The Bell Center and are tax-deductible. Please pass this information along to your friends. The Bell Center could not provide the wonderful services to children like Frances without your help!
After a fun (but too quick) trip to Memphis to visit with Sage, we walked in honor of Frances in the Buddy Walk yesterday. October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month, and The Buddy Walk is an awesome way to promote the acceptance and inclusion of individuals with Down syndrome. There was a HUGE crowd at Regions Park for the walk, and it was fun to see so many of our friends out there!
Buddy Walk!
Just hanging out in shade- it was hot out there!
Back to Sage.....she is doing great (or as great as possible when your body thinks its 48 weeks pregnant). We had a nice weekend hanging out in the hospital with her, and in true Frances style, she charmed everyone that came in the room. She also enjoyed lounging around on Sage's belly:)
Little ballerina
Frances' play area in Sage's hospital room- don't worry, we didn't let her roll off the blanket
I got to go with Sage to her daily ultrasound on Saturday evening and it was incredible to see all those babies on the screen. There is a lot going on in her belly! We will be seeing those girls before we know it!!!
Frances telling her cousins how much fun they are going to have together!
PS- At the doctor today, Frances weighed 13 lbs and 12 oz!
Look how big Frances has gotten....she is getting some serious chunk on her now! We continue to be amazed and thankful at how much her heart surgery has improved her feeding, energy, and weight gain. I've included a few other pictures for comparison- the 5 month picture was the last one before her surgery. Big difference!
Always a happy girl!
Here are a few things Frances is doing at 8 months:
Learning to sit up, although not a huge fan of having to use her arms to help.
Working on belly crawling and being on her hands and knees for crawling. She is going to be taking off before we know it!
Hard at work!
And of course, she loves playing with her Daddy:)
Meme, Frances, and I are heading up to Memphis on Friday to hang out with Sage in the hospital. Can't wait to see her! She is still holding steady and the babies are doing well- 31 weeks tomorrow!
Some of you may have seen the following video on Facebook recently, but for those who don't FB, here it is again. The short story is that Grump was babysitting and we came home to find her watching Billy Madison with Grump at 9:15pm (normal bedtime is around 6:45), and she was wide open! Apparently she and Grump had big time....however, Grump does need a little refresher on diapering.
Most of you out there probably knew it wouldn't be long before Frances started following in our footsteps....well, she finished her fist road race on Sunday! The Bell Center hosted its first Magic City Mile to kick off the Mercedes Marathon season, and the event was a great success. The weather could not have been any better and we had an awesome turnout of runners, walkers, and supporters.
Mommy, Daddy, & Frances getting ready to run.
Here we go!
Don't have sunglasses? No problem, just use your sweatband.
Frances was tired but she finished strong.
That was hard work!
Hanging out with all our Bell Center friends.
You will be hearing A LOT about the marathon in the next 4 months. Will and I will be Bell Runners (formerly known as Partners in Training), running the full marathon in honor of Frances. Stay tuned later this week for more information about how you can support us!
