Best Friends

Frances is worn out from a fun and busy weekend of celebrations with friends.  On Saturday, Frances' very best friend, Eleanor, turned one!  Eleanor did not hesitate to dig right into her cake.  At the party, Frances got lots of love from Mamaw (Eleanor's great-grandmother).  I'm pretty sure Frances would have gone right on home with Mamaw.

Best friends

Happy Birthday to Eleanor!....Hey, when do I get to do that?!?!

Love from Mamaw....and yes, Frances was somewhat dressed like an Ole Miss Rebel.

Snuggling with Magen and those two babies in her belly

Sunday we celebrated with our friends, Magen and Michael, who have boy/girl twins coming in December.  Frances and Eleanor got to play some more at the baby shower too. 

Proud grandmothers and their girls

Michael is not quite sure what to do with this? 

We can't wait for the babies to be here!

Also this week, Frances completed her first full week of school and did great (and so did her mama)!

Excited to go to school! 

In other fun and exciting news.....Sage is really living it up at her new residence in the hospital in Memphis.  Aside from miserably failing her glucose test and not being able to eat what she wants, it sounds like things are going ok.  The babies are continuing to grow, and the doctors just want to be able to keep a close eye on everyone.  She is 29 weeks today, and hopefully those baby girls will stay put for several more weeks.  Keep them in your prayers!

Back to School and Birthdays

This has been a big week of great news for Frances, and I'm so excited she got to go back to school (The Bell Center) today!  Amy, who is an early childhood special education teacher and also just happens to be Frances' godmother, was her therapist today....funny how Amy worked that out in the schedule:) 

Amy and Frances

Telling bunny all about her hard day at school.

Frances had visits with the cardiologist, pediatrician, and had blood work done all on Tuesday and she was such a trooper!  Dr. Carlo (cardiologist) was SO impressed with her progress.  So much so that we don't even go back to see him for 4-6 months, and yesterday morning Frances took her last dose of medicine.  Her weight was 12 lbs 10 oz, so she has officially doubled her birth weight!

Time for my morning workout

This week we have celebrated 2 more birthdays.  Kat turned 9 on Monday, and I won't tell you how old Carolyn turned yesterday.  Kat had a rockin' Taylor Swift karaoke party, complete with a visit from Taylor Swift (aka a high school girl).  We completed the week with birthday dinners at Meme and Grumps house tonight.

Happy Birthday Kat!

Kat is a 3rd grade cheerleader this year, and we have been going to watch her cheer.  I'm pretty sure Frances is going to follow in Kat's steps.  She gets excited when we watch!

Saturday morning football!

Roll Tide!

So tomorrow, Frances goes to school/daycare for the first time.  She is just going for 2 hours tomorrow (more for me than her), and then on Tuesday she will be there full time while I am at work.  We found the perfect place for her that is right down the street from The Bell Center, and I know she is going to love making new friends.

All dressed up for church

7 Months Old!

Frances had her 7 month birthday yesterday- how is that possible????  Frances is really growing (check out those thighs!!) she continues to amaze us each day.  We have a day full of doctor appointments coming up next week and I can't wait to see how much she weighs now.  For now, we are looking forward to a lazy weekend of watching football.  Stay tuned for some cute pictures of Frances in her new Crimson Tide gear:)

Our excitement for the week (aside from having no power for a few days) is this new bathtub.  Frances has officially outgrown her kitchen sink tub and we tried out the big girl tub tonight.  She LOVED it and was really getting into kicking and splashing.  

Here is a fun little video of Frances at 7 months:

Look at Me!

 Frances has just discovered herself in the mirror recently and she is so cute laughing and smiling!

Girls Rule

We have just returned from a girls only trip over to Oxford for a big shower for Sage, Anna, Irene, and Brooks, and it was a great weekend!  We piled in the minivan Friday afternoon and could not wait to get to Oxford and see Sage's belly.  She isn't lying, its quite large....not in an "OMG that girl is huge" way....more so, she looks about like most gals do right before giving birth.  She looks absolutely beautiful to us!  She is 25 weeks tomorrow and those babies sure are making themselves at home in Sage's belly.  It's pretty comical to watch her describe where each baby is positioned.

 The baby shower was perfect.  There is a lot of love going around for all these girls!  Technically, Carolyn and I were hostesses, but we can't take a bit of credit for it.  Sage's friends did such an incredible job with the food and decorations.  I was in heaven with all the cake and candy!!!  Since Sage is on pretty strict bed rest, she was just laid out on a couch so the guests could come visit with her.  Worked out pretty well! 

The grandmothers, Meme and Honey

Great idea to display all the gifts since Sage couldn't sit and open them all herself.

Sage was strategically placed to hang out in arms reach of the candy

How good does Sage look???

All the girls minus Lyndy- no telling what she was up to!

The rest of the weekend was spent separating and (trying to) organize A TON of baby stuff.  As you can see in the pictures, they have a pretty good diaper stock already.  We all spent time laying on the couch and in the bed with Sage, and watching her attempt to get up every 5 minutes for yet another potty break.  We hated to leave today, but thankfully Sage has sweet Jack and her wonderful friends in Oxford until we return.  Will, Frances, and I already have our next trip on the calendar in a few weeks.

Lots of baby stuff- and this is only part of it!

Lounging on the air mattress

Cousins watching "Praise Baby."  There will be 6 cousins watching it soon!

In other news, Frances continues to amaze us with her recovery.  She is almost 4 weeks out of surgery and she is full of personality and energy.  The pictures don't lie- she really is getting some chubby little cheeks!

Frances loves snuggling with Sage (and the triplets).  See you again soon!

Freedom

Frances got a great report from the cardiologist this morning!  They seemed extremely pleased with how fast she is recovering and loved hearing how much she is eating now.  They will continue to monitor a few little things at monthly visits, but I feel like I can breathe a big sigh of relief knowing that her little heart is mending just as it should.

Getting so big!

I went armed with my little notecard of questions and got the answers I wanted and needed to each one.  So with Frances' glowing report from the doctor, came a list of freedoms for us. First on my list was getting out of the house!  I just happened to have my Publix list with me at the doctor, so Frances and I left UAB and went straight to Publix (I'm pretty certain she was excited as I was).  I feel like a new person knowing I have the liberty to leave the house if I need/want to.  Of course, we will still be EXTRA careful about germs for the next while, and we won't be taking her anywhere with lots of people touching her.  In addition to the excitement of not being on house arrest, we also will be ditching the high calorie formula very soon and we have one less medicine dose during the day.

Worn out from playing

Up until now, we have had to try to keep Frances from rolling and squirming on her belly, which has led to quite a few battles between she and I the past few days.  She is now allowed to do whatever she wants!  We were instructed not to "make or encourage" her to do strenuous work that puts stress on her sternum, and I still can't figure out why the Dr looked at the therapist-mom when he said that????  Frances is loving being able to freely play on her belly!

Back in action!

And finally, I got approval for Frances to travel to Mississippi next weekend for Sage's baby shower!!!  Speaking of Sage, she is doing great.  She continues to entertain us with her hilarious blogging- check it out here.

I'll leave you with a video of Frances' newest trick:

Everything Really Is New

 We have entered unchartered Frances territory since we came home from the hospital.  So much so that I have even checked a few times to make sure we brought home the right baby!  Frances has turned into the bottomless pit- something that I never thought we would see.  In the past few days she has gone from eating 2-3 ounces per feeding to 6-7 ounces, and she actually really lets me know that she is hungry.  This has made me realize truely how fatigued she was before her surgery.  We knew her heart was working hard, but we have seen a miraculous difference in her.  We decided to start trying some baby food with her since her appetite was getting so strong.  I could lie and tell you the first trial was great, but it was a huge fail...I was determined to try it this night even though she was already being crabby:

That is not a bottle- what the &*% are you putting in my mouth???

However, the next morning, she took right to the cereal and she LOVES it!  She is really starting to get the hang of the spoon.  Tonight we tried some pears also and she is definitely a fan. 

Now this is tasty stuff!

 Frances has an incredible amount of energy during the day and is definitely back to her old playful self.  She doesn't have quite the strength and energy to return to turning flips, but that's not such a bad thing since we have to be careful about her being active on her tummy for a while; however, I see it coming so hopefully we won't have those restrictions too much longer!  Here is Frances playing with some of her toys.  It just makes my day to hear her sweet voice.

Finally, I thought it was time to pay a little attention to the big sister.  Bella has really enjoyed her extended stay at Meme and Grump's house (we really are planning on going back to our own house on Sunday).  She always makes sure Frances' blankets stay nice and warm.