Bye Bye Bottles and Big Spring Break Fun!

Warning: This post includes A LOT of cute pictures!!!

Frances and I have had the most fun Spring Break week...We played hard everyday, took lots of trips to the park with friends, had fun at the library,  went to Mississippi, did a little closet cleaning, and booted the bottles out of the house!  Like I said last week, getting rid of the bottles was really more my issue than Frances.  I stopped them last Monday and she has never even acted like she missed it, and has done great drinking from whatever sippy cup or straw cup I have given her.  For me, its just taken some time to get used to seeing her sitting in her rocking chair holding her little sippy cup in the morning rather than holding a bottle. 

Chilling out in the swing

So much fun playing with Ethan!

So on Thursday morning, Frances, Meme, and I loaded up and headed over to Oxford.  Sage was at work when we arrived and the nanny headed out, so mom and I had all 4 babies until Sage got home.  We fed them, managed to get all 4 to sleep at the same time for about 15 minutes, then headed out for a walk.  The rest of the weekend we just had fun playing, feeding babies, walking, shopping, and relaxing a little.
 
A few realizations/observations from the trip:
1.  I used to think I spent a lot of time making and washing bottles.  Nope.
2.  Want to lose a lot of weight and get in shape?  Push 3 babies + infant car seats around the neighborhood in the Cadillac of strollers (see pic below).  I'm talking head to toe workout!
3.  I will not complain about the amount of laundry I do.  One load per day of burp cloths and bibs from the triplets far exceeds what we use in 1 week.
4.  These girls are beautiful little miracles and I can't wait to see them again!

This stroller will kick your butt into shape really quick!

Frances and Brooks having a very serious conversation.

Brooks, Irene, Anna- stylin in Frances' old clothes.

Irene and Anna

Irene, Brooks (probably thinking we are all crazy), and Anna

Meme with the girls- getting a little hard to hold them all!

Anna napping in the exact position as Irene- see below!

Irene

Meanwhile, Fran took a snooze in the super swing.

The girls are almost 5 months old and are SO cute!  They are so interactive and just have the best smiles.  If you read Sage's blog, you may remember her mentioning that Anna can be somewhat dramatic, maybe taking a little after her aunt Anna Ruth....Sage wasn't lying:)  The are traveling to Birmingham for Easter and we can't wait to see them again!  Enjoy the rest of the pictures.....

Lots of girls and lots of fun!

Frances telling Anna how to get exactly what she wants.

Frances loved having all these friends to play with!

Frances is letting them know that no matter how much they fuss, they still have to do tummy time.

Ready to ride!

The baby brigade heading out for margaritas.

Frances is really getting ready to crawl!

Silly girl!

PS- Frances is getting her 2nd set of tubes this Friday.  Should be quick and easy, but please say a little prayer for her, and pray that they stay clear this time!

Houston, We Have Lift Off

This weekend, Frances decided she was ready to move.  It takes A LOT of hard work, grunting, and rest breaks, but she is really on the go now!  She has figured out how to commando crawl to get to what she wants, and every once in a while she is getting up on her hands and knees.  Just give her a piece of paper or a remote control and she gets ready to go! I took a look around the den this morning and realized many things will soon have to disappear.....Bella's food/water station is the first thing in view.  All shiny and right on Frances' eye level-  Sorry Bella, you are going to have to find a new dining location.  ***Disclaimer- please ignore the spit-up crusted hairdo***

We had another fun weekend of playing outside and going to the park.  We spent some time at Railroad Park- could not believe how hot it was in March!  Yesterday was Will's birthday and we had a fun day at church, relaxing at home, and having fun with friends last night at the Annual Meatloaf Cook-Off.  For those of you who know Will, a meatloaf party was all he needed for his birthday to be complete!  Looks like we are close to saying goodbye to bottles.  I have been trying to give Frances more drinks in her straw or sippy cup and she does great with it.....actually she would probably be totally fine if I just put the bottles up today, it's mommy that just keeps not doing it! 

Big girl with my cup!

I love swinging!

Worn out after a day at the park.

Add caption

Weekend Fun!

This weekend has been one of those that we just hate to see come to an end.  It has been full of sunshine, playtime, and fun with friends.  Saturday morning, Frances and I wore our PJ's over to a friend's house for breakfast, and Frances had so much fun playing with Charlie, Lydia, and Amy.  Lydia cooked us a really yummy from-scratch breakfast that was so good. 

Charlie was so sweet to feed Frances her grits.

Playing beauty parlor with Amy.

These 2 are gonna be trouble!

Our house was showing Saturday afternoon so we took Frances out to explore and enjoy the nice weather.  We ended up at the new Red Mtn Park and it is awesome!  I can't wait to go back when we have more time to see what all there is, and I highly recommend checking it out.  It was pretty muddy out there and Bella got really dirty, so when we got home she got the first bath she has had in almost 2 years!!! Bathing, like many other things in life are traumatic to Bella.  Poor girl.  We played outside in the yard for the rest of the afternoon, and Frances was really putting on a show!

Having fun at Red Mtn Park

Bath time for Bella!

Look at this cool leaf!

Watching the sunlight and shadows.

Such cute little fingers and toes!

Our happy girl!

Bella, play with me!

I got to go out with my girlfriends for a YaYa birthday dinner on Saturday night, and had a great time being with all my closest friends.  I wish every weekend could be like this.

Birthday girls, Kerri and Magen!

Lazy Sunday morning

Big Girl Things

Life has been pretty boring (thank goodness) around here lately.....so here is a little video of what Frances has been up to.  She is doing so well sitting up and has really been enjoying playing with all her new birthday toys.  We are getting excited to make a Spring Break trip over to Mississippi in a few weeks to visit the triplets!

Could I be any cuter?

On The Mend

The past 2 weeks have been rough at the McCalley house, but we are finally in recovery mode.  After Frances' trip to the ER, being sick all week for her birthday, then the marathon, we thought we were headed for a restful week....but she had other ideas.  Poor Frances ended up with pneumonia and was really sick- thank goodness we never had to go back to the hospital though.  She is finally starting to act like herself and is sleeping and eating like a champ again- which makes us all happy!

A sick little Valentines love bug:(

Not something we see from Frances very often!

We spent many long nights doing this- thank goodness for Praise Baby on the iPhone!

We started the week off today with a visit from Christy, who is Frances' Early Intervention therapist that comes to the house.  We love her!  Frances had an awesome session, and was really showing off her sitting skills.  Christy brought us this cool table/tray for Frances to sit at and play, and Frances is loving it!

I love my new table!

Feeling so much better!

I'm getting really good at sitting up!

My all time favorite Frances pic- Valentines Day 2011! 

A Birthday Marathon

A trip to the ER, lots of birthday celebrations, topped off with a marathon....that's what our week looked like!  We can't believe a year has gone by since Frances was born.  This year has been filled with the greatest experiences of our lives and each morning when we see Frances' smile, we are reminded of God's perfect plan.  Although birthday week didn't go quite as we had planned, it all ended up just right.  It was so special to be able to celebrate all week with our friends and families (of course we missed the Nichols clan). We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us! 

So, the week started out with Frances getting sick and us going to the ER on the eve of her birthday.  Thank goodness we got to go back home that night- she has bronchiolitis and has had a rough week, but is starting to feel better now.  She had to miss her party at school, but we had lots of other celebrations to make up for it.  Cake seemed to be the one thing all week that made her perk up, and she seems to love icing (just like her mama!).  As you can see in the pictures, this girl is not scared to get dirty!

Bella was so sweet taking care of Frances.

We finished the weekend up with The Bell Center kid's run on Saturday and then the big marathon Sunday.  Will decided to be my cheerleader for the race, since he has been nursing an injury, and he did an awesome job!  Meme and Grump had Frances at the finish, and thanks to Grump's unmistakable whistle I was able to spot them....so I decided to grab Frances and take her with me across the finish line.  This was by far the best I have ever felt running a marathon, and I know it was because I was running for Frances!

First cake of the week!

I think she likes it!

Another night of celebrating!

Birthday girls and more cake.

And the big party!

Here comes the cake!

Time to get cleaned up!

Frances' first race.

Finishing the marathon with mommy!