Sick

It's her first real "sick". She's got a terrible little cough and she's teething on top of it. I'm a little worried about an ear infection. Why is it with babies the symptoms of two things are totally the same??! Yet despite it, she is in pretty good spirits. Maybe it's because we are in our 7th living space in 18 months and this apartment is very open and long so she has tons of room to crawl. I think she likes the freedom. She's got an independent streak and is also not afraid to tell you when she's mad. That's really the biggest news and other than that she's growing fast and is standing up all the time on everything. You can see her in all her standing glory below. She also has been more into reading and books lately too. She was on a book boycott but especially when she's tired before bed, she'll sit still and listen to a story. Plus she loves turning the pages and holding it herself.

Stillness

Being still? There is no time if you are Frannie. She is on the move. She's speedy at crawling and is pulling herself up on anything she sees. She's in to EVERYTHING. And boy is she happy about it. It's like she's been biding her time til she could be independently mobile and now that she can go where she wants she wastes no time. She has even figured out that if she sits up on a slippery wood floor and kicks/wiggles her legs in and out, she can scoot/slide from room to room. That's a sight to see, and she looks so proud. 

I'm certain those top teeth will arrive any day now, and with her teeth has come more chewing and her enjoying more chunky foods. She loves yogurt and cottage cheese and likes tofu too. :)

She's also quite cultured. She's a regular at the library, zoo, aquarium, and has been to the animal shelter. Thank goodness for a dad that likes to take her places and a up for anything nanny.

We have so many great pics of her, here are a sample of some recent ones.

Halloween (early)

Saturday we had two events that encouraged wearing your Halloween costume - Boo at the Zoo and the Cooper Trick or Trot. The Trick or Trot is a run/walk fundraiser for my school so I pushed Frannie in her stroller and did the 1 mile walk with my friend Sarah. Boo at the Zoo is an event at the Lake Superior Zoo where kids can dress up and there are community vendors giving out candy throughout the zoo. 

It was a pretty cold day, in fact we saw our first snow flakes so we didn't stay either place very long, but it was fun to see Frannie in her costume and she got to see lots of people which is always fun for her. 

And a side note, she is a crawling machine now and pulls herself up on anything she gets a hold of. And those bottom two teeth are slowing coming in and I'm fairly sure the top two must be coming shortly. She's doing all the same stuff she did before the bottom two popped.

Crawling

No rest for the weary. Frannie is 7 months old and she's added crawling to her milestones. The girl never stops moving. If she's not crawling, she's rolling or grabbing on to stuff to pull herself up or trying to stand or standing while holding on to stuff. Amazing. 

Here are two pics I like to call angel and devil.

Pumpkins

It's fall, my favorite time of year. The color change, sweatshirts, and festing. Due to crappy weather, Frannie did not get to experience her first CranberryFest but we all made it to Bayfield for AppleFest. It was not ideal...misting, windy, and chilly...but we had a fun time at the pumpkin patch. Every year we go to the same place to pick out our pumpkins and this year it was even more fun cause Frannie was with us. She helped pick out our pumpkin family (4 pumpkins-one for each of us plus foxy of course), although we ended up with a tall skinny one, a round squat one, a small skinny one and a very flat one. I'll let you determine which pumpkins represented which of us. Some of us found this funnier than others..... I'll have to take a picture and post that later. Here are some good ones of Frannie tho....

It's Not a Race

I keep telling her it's not a race. You really don't need to walk before you are supposed to I say. Take your time. Crawl around. I get a resounding No (or Frannie's version of a No which is a pissy yell/screech). The girl can't sit still. She wants to stand all the time. Now I will say that she can sit for about 10-15 minutes and happily play which is awesome but the majority of the time she wants to be moving. She also likes to talk and is babbling a bunch now and laughing more. If you laugh, she'll laugh too, and her laugh is adorable. She loves eating real food and is quite good at drinking juice or water from her sippy cup with a straw. Much to my dismay she is also still drinking lots of formula mainly at night which means sleep hasn't been so great. It's truly unbelievable how much she's growing.

Teeth!

They have finally arrived.....or at least they are on their way. Frannie's two bottom teeth are coming in. You can feel the point of one of them when she chews on your finger. She hates when you mess with her mouth so it's nearly impossible to get a good look but they're there. When they are in far enough to get a glimpse, I'll post a pic (if she'll allow it) :)