Almost 15 months

Franki is just a couple days shy of 15 months old! I cant believe how quickly time seems to go. I remember her being in my belly like it was yesterday and now her baby sister is growing in there and only about 16 weeks or less away from her arrival. Franki loves looking at everyones belly, including her own. She gives big belly kisses and blows rasberries on my belly. Today she learned the sign for baby. We were playing and all of a sudden she was looking for her baby doll and signing baby. She loves her baby dolls that is for sure. Hopefully she will love her baby sister just as much, hopefully even more! She is just so stinking smart these days. She understands just about everything we say. She follow all kinds of simple commands. She also babbles/talks all day long. She can say hi, hulk, see, got it, up, uh-oh, dog. There are a few other words jumbled in there, we just havent quite figured out what those words are. However, she definitely knows what she is saying. She is very persistent on her yes and no's. She knows exactly what she wants. She definitely has seperation anxiety. I took her to daycare this week and as soon as we walked up to the house she started shaking her head no and proceeded to do so until after I was already on my way out the door. Five minutes later she was happily greeting other kiddos at the door. She loves to play, anywhere anytime. Her favorite time is time to spent outside. Cold/Warm anything she can play outside all day, everyday. And man can this girl eat. She loves her food. Her favorites are grapes, bluberries, strawberries, apples, oranges, yogurt, applesauce, mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, carrots, raisans, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, pepperidge farm raisan bread, cereal, guacomole, and cream cheese. She eats a good three meals a day and two snacks. She drinks a little milk, but she usually refuses her milk and wants water. She is a water drinking queen. She also loves to play peek a boo. She loves to dance and sing. I could go on for hours about this girl. But I have to leave some for your imagination!

Baby girl number 2 is doing really well. She is moving around and kicking all night and day. I will be seeing my new OB in just two weeks. Although a very hard decision, I will be switching to make it easier on everyone. I will be delivering just minutes from our house at CDH. So rain, sleet or snow, we will make it there no problem. I am 24 weeks , 6 months along and feeling pretty good. I have had some severe pain but it subsides when I finally sit down for the day. Its a bit different when you have a toddler you are running around after.

The best news is my Dad is doing much better. He is tired and sore, but on the road to recovery. With each week we have seen lots of improvement. So we were all happy to celebate his birthday last week.

Hoping for more good news in the weeks to come.

Trauma

Im not even sure where to begin, as all of my thoughts are still running several miles per hour. We have had quite an eventful couple of weeks and it seems I dont even remember where all the time went. Papa, My Dad got hit by a car while riding his bicycle last sunday afternoon. Not the phone call you want to ever be on the other side of, ever. Luckily my mom and I were close to the hospital taking a walk. We made it there before the ambulance did and we just waited. Waited to see how bad it was. When we first saw him I dont think any of us quite imagined what the last week has brought us. He hurt no doubt, but we had no idea how much he hurt or was hurt. At that point we were grateful that he was able to talk to us normally although he couldnt remember the crazy idiot women who completely ignored the traffic light to run right into him. Within a few hours we found out that he had 9 yes 9 broken ribs all on the left side. Ribs 1-9 were all broken. We have a total of 12 ribs on each side. He bruised the left lung, and seperated his left shoulder. He spent the night in ICU for monitoring and was transfered to a general floor later monday afternoon, He spent another 4 nights in the hospital, attempting to wean off oxygen, move a little, and just get the pain and spasms under control with the corect cocktail of pain medications. Ill save the story about the hospital for another time, because I still havent had time to wrap my head or heart around the poor care that was provided. My mom, sister, franki and I spent our days and nights at the hospital helping my dad get back to functioning. Isnt it amazing how wonderful family can be. I love my little family and I love the fact that we drop everything to come together, to make everything work. Without them I would be no one. My family has given me everything I have in this life and what better way to give back than to be just be there with my dad, do anything he needed me to do and just be what a family should be. A huge thanks to all the other family that we have. My Aunt Kathy for bringing enough dinner to feed a small army (yep were still reaping the benefits of the food witht he exception of the brownies :)). My Uncle kurk for coming to relieve me and Franki for a little while and just sit and keep dad company with his endless stories :), my aunt rosie and rita for just stopping in to check on him. And to all my friends who offered a helping hand with Franki. Thanks to Catie and Kevin who came to keep her entertained so I could help dad out of bed. An obvious huge thanks to my mom and sister and franki who were able to come together and keep each other as well as my dad sane throughout the process. Tyler who was able to hold down the home fort and give hulk some extra needed attention. We are lucky. Lucky to have so many people in our lives that care. Lucky that my dad although broken, will heal and has no permanent damage. Lucky that we have each other. I cant even begin to explain how many times this week I thanked God for my family and for the fact that we have each other. So as dad begins his road to recovery I am thankful, lucky, happy, for all of the things we have. Praying for a speedy recovery for my dad.

Franki keeps us all sane. I now understand that saying children on God. They are telling you something in that saying. She is trully the greatest blessing in our lives. She kept everyone smiling even in the grimest of situations. She smiles, speaks and changes moods and the lives of all those around her. Thank goodness for her presence and I know it was what kept her Papa going most days. She was such a good girl. She literally played in the hospital room and was overly entertained with her different surroundings. She helped Papa every chance she got. I am telling you she is a mini nurse in the making and her heart is just so big, She helped me carry his oxygen down the hallway. She clapped when he walked down the hallway for the first time. She kept him company day in and day out. She talked to him with her very vibrant stories. She is just a life changing little person and for that I am happy that I was able to show her the meaning of family this week. I am happy to be able to teach her all of the things that my parents and family have taught me. I also learned a lot about what I want to teach her this week from being at the hospital and from this experience (will share on this later). 

Franki is also saying HI to everyone and it is such a cute little  high pitched HI! She is also forming all different types of sounds and conversations, so she will be talking in all kinds of sentences in no time. She also learned how to say yes by shaking her head which she is doing all the time. You say something she shakes her head yes. She is just a person full of personality and hit the 14 month I only want my mommma when she is around age. Which is endearing most times, but also frustrating at others. I love this sweet baby and sweet family we are on our way to making.

Thankful.