Summer's Here

It's hot in Hayward. Finally, it's been in the 80's and all the good and bad of summer is in full swing. The bad of summer? Oh yes....the swarms of mosquitos, humidity where you find yourself scraping the film off your face, and worst of all - the ticks. Today was the first day I found TWO ticks on Frannie. Now I'm fairly obsessive about making sure she doesn't have any or that she isn't being eaten by mosquitos so these little blood sucking cannibals were only on her a very short time. One was IN HER EAR and the other was on her head. I was horrified. I think they were waiting in her stroller and then got her on our walk. I'm sure that is just the beginning of ticks for Frannie but these first ones really were disturbing.

The good news about summer is that no one can yell at me about not putting socks on Frannie :) and I can dress her on these oh so cute dresses and rompers. She also has taken a liking to bird sounds...so much that we have bird call apps that she likes to listen to. She really likes facing out in the carrier and talks a bunch while we walk. More than one person has commented that I have myself "a talker"....hmmm, I wonder where she got that :)

Fathers Day

Mom, Frannie, and I have been in Duluth for over a week and are headed back to Hayward tomorrow. Several doctor appointments and some time with Brian and friends took up the majority of our time. Frannie got two more shots and I asked the Dr to pop her lip blister. She did but it filled back up almost immediately so now we have to go to an ENT to have it popped/removed. Oh and I mentioned she is putting everything in her mouth....well she is totally teething. As you can see by her constant and copious drooling in that second picture.

Brian and I also toured a day care (nice place but my heart was in pain thinking of leaving her) where as of now Frannie will go for afternoons each day once I go back to school. Brian will have her for the mornings so that's a relief. Hopefully mom's new meds will kick in by then and we won't need day care at all. Fingers crossed. Oh wait, I guess we need a finished house first. Fingers and toes crossed for that.

Friday and Saturday was the Park Point rummage sale. Friday I did half of it with Kate and Sam and got some books and clothes for Frannie. Saturday I went with Brian and Frannie. Then we took Frannie on her first trip to the beach. It was short lived because it was pretty chilly and windy. She enjoyed putting her feet in the sand though.

For Fathers Day, Brian, Frannie, and I went ramp hunting. This involved a backpack, shovel, and gloves and an hour hike in the woods to find the goods. Frannie was a great sport and complained less than I did (damn mosquitos).  Ramps are wild onion/leek/garlic type things that are delicious and my brother happens to adore. I'm mailing him some in exchange for some good coffee. 

Then we had a great lunch at the Scenic Cafe. Here are some pics of our adventures.

3 months

Frannie is three months old already! Some of the changes I've noticed (other than her looking older) are.....

- She constantly is wanting to sit up. If I hold her like I'm going to rock her, she does tummy crunches trying to sit up.

- She is talking more and louder 

- She is blowing "razberries".

- She is grabbing on to stuff more deliberately and putting things in her mouth.

- She is chewing/sucking on her hands more.

- She lifted her head and chest up during tummy time.

- She actually likes (well, more than before) her bouncy chair, swing, and her new Bumbo chair.

- She is big enough and has enough head control so I can face her out in the Bjorn carrier.

Pretty cool to see the changes. 

One other interesting tidbit....Brian and I took her with us when we went to see Ironman (I was very leery about this due to the loudness) but Brian assured me that we could leave if she wasn't happy. Turned out that the minute she saw the screen she was GLUED to it. We ended up leaving after 45 minutes because I was sure we were rotting her brain with all that screen time. She was even talking to the screen at one point!! Yikes. Guess I should have figured since she likes looking at pictures on my phone.

Visitors

Aunt Vicki and Cousin Meg came to visit Frannie (and me and mom of course too) this past weekend. Frannie loved the company, especially when they doted on her for three straight days. Who wouldn't like that?

She is acting like she wants to sit up (does these mini crunches when you lay her down) and also lifted her head and chest up during tummy time for the first time on Saturday. She's talking lots and has figured out that she can make her voice loud or soft, which she is really liking the loud version right now. I also am wondering if she is in her 3 month growth spurt because she is eating a ton and crashes after she eats. As much as she eats, she is still long and lean.

Not much else to report other than I harvested the first batch of rhubarb last week and dad has lots of tomatoes and basil ready to put in the garden. Maybe it will be summer soon.....

Family Time

With our sucky house progress, we are in yet another weird living situation with Frannie and me in Hayward and Brian in Duluth. Thanks to the kindness of friends I'm able to visit Duluth quite often, but with Brian also working full time we don't get to see him too often. We were able to get a little more time together last week which was nice. And although I'd like to strangle him over the slow going with this house, he is a great dad. My heart melts watching the two of them together, and Frannie clearly loves her daddy.

And of course I would never forget our other family member who is also a baby who loves her mom and dad (and is doing really well with Frannie too)......

Foxy :)

Side note: Circe is happily living with Brian's mom so I don't have a pic of her.

Climate Change

We came back to Hayward today after hanging out in Duluth for almost 2 weeks. When we left this afternoon it was 42 in Duluth and I was wearing a sweatshirt. As we pulled into Dad's, I was sweating because the temp was 82. Yep, a 40 degree temperature change in a 90 mile span. Crazy. Here is Frannie dressed for a walk in Duluth the other day and our Hayward walk today...and a couple other happy views I had while sitting outside enjoying a nice breeze on a gorgeous day.

Two Months

Frannie had her two month check up on Monday. And last Thursday she had her hip ultrasound as well. The verdict...she's just fine :)

She weighs 11 pounds and is 23 inches long. Her head is also growing nicely-she's in the 80th percentile for head circumference. Her hips are fine and overall the doctor says she's great. She's got amazing head control too. My new favorite thing she does is I sit with her on my lap and read a book so she can see the pages. As I read she babbles, which I have decided is her reading with me which in turn makes her a genius baby who reads at 2 months old 😉

We currently both have a cold. I had to use the booger sucker on her today. She doesn't scream often but that device guarantees a scream. Yesterday on our walk, she was in the carrier and actually leaned back and looked around for awhile. Usually she sleeps the whole time, so that was cool to see. 

Lots of pictures to choose from so here are some of the most recent.....