A Day in the Life of Franklin

In the mornings, Daddy gets up and gets his shower and he always offers to let me out before he leaves for work. Some days I get up and take care of business and sometimes I really can't be bothered to leave my comfy spot next to Mommy in the bed. Mommy and I sleep until my buddy Ellie wakes up, usually around 7:30...for a few weeks she was sleeping really late but she's back to normal time now...sigh.
Ellie's ok as far as sisters go...she tries to pet me sometimes (well, really anytime I get close to her) but she doesn't ever try to pull on my fur or my tail so that's good. She also will look for me while she's sitting in her highchair and she'll toss me food...Emmie never did that when she was a baby...she kept all the table food for herself.
When Mommy's getting breakfast ready I go out and take care of business and then come in and lay on the couch until the girls have their food..then I take up my position under the table.

After breakfast I either go back to bed or hang out on the couch...I'm not really a morning puppy. Sometimes Mommy and the girls go run errands and sometimes they stay at home. If they go run errands I get to sleep for a bit if not I spend the morning avoiding small children. Sometimes I play with Emmie though, once I'm good and awake. She's always up for a good game of tug of war.
Emmie is a pretty good sister. I'm very protective of her...I've always felt a great sense of responsibility when it comes to Emmie...well, really any of my people but especially Emmie. That's why I always tattle on her when she's doing something she's not supposed to. She tattles on me all the time too so I guess it's fair. We play together too. Today she chased me around with her pretend camera trying to take a picture. I acted like I was annoyed with her but deepdown I was honored that she wanted a picture of me :)

Anyway, usually mid morning we go take a walk. Emmie usually walks and Ellie rides in the stroller. Mommy holds my leash. I'm glad Emmie has started walking faster...it used to take us FOREVER to walk around the block and when a guy is on the scent of a trail he just doesn't have time to lolligag! Today Mommy let Emmie hold my leash all by herself for a little bit and I must say I was quite impressed with how well she did. She was very patient when I needed to stop and leave messages for the other dogs. Mommy told me she was very proud of me for being nice and calm while Emmie was walking me....what can I say? I'm a great brother! Emmie and I always stop and say hi to the dogs on the corner, Maggie and Dixie, and we both get really excited when Hailey is out in her yard!
Hailey is the little poodle that lives up the street...she's sooo pretty!
At the end of our walk Emmie and I always look for the kitty cats at the house down the street. Emmie gets so excited when she finds them...I get excited too...I don't think we get excited for the same reason though.
Lunchtime for the girls means lunchtime for me as well...thank you Ellie! Then Mommy goes and puts Emmie and Ellie to bed and I camp out on the couch or in the bed. I used to have to supervise all the putting to bed activities but I've finally decided that Mommy has it under control. I think I trained her well.
I love nap time...Mommy always cuddles with me!

After naps it's playtime again. I really like when we go outside. I love to just sit out there and soak up the sun...especially if there's a nice breeze as well.

Dinnertime is next...yummm.

Then it's often another walk...usually Emmie rides in the wagon this time around so we get to go at MY pace.
Then it's bathtime. Bathtime is fun because Emmie will fill up a teacup with water and let me drink out of it...soapy water is the best!
After bathtime it's bedtime and while Mommy puts the girls to bed I once again camp out of the couch.

If Daddy comes home late he eats on the couch. Which means I get to get up close and personal with his food...exxxxcellent!

After the girls are in bed I count the hours until SOMEONE goes to bed. I get REALLY tired at night...sometimes I get so tired I just stick my paws up in the air and pass out.

Insert funny caption here...

I tried hard to come up with a funny caption for this picture but finally decided that I would let everyone come up with their own...leave a comment on FB with your caption!

What we did on Monday...

We ran lots of errands in the morning, came home and ate lunch, took naps, walked Franklin and then hung out...here's some snapshots of our late afternoon/evening...

Ellie rocked in the little rocking chair...one of her favorite things to do!

Ellie practiced pulling up on the dishwasher.

Emmie had a temper tantrum because her mean Mama wouldn't give her raw shrimp.

While Emmie was screaming Ellie commandeered her cup and we learned that Ellie can drink out of a straw. Pretty sure she very quietly drank quite a bit before anyone noticed. More Emmie hysterics ensued upon discovery that Ellie was drinking out of her cup.

We played with the new bath crayons in the bathtub...Emmie wanted us to draw a boat for each family member.

When everyone was in bed Franklin sat down to write a blog post. He's a slow typer so it might be a few days before his post gets finished...keep an eye out for it though!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Daddy and Uncle Bake (aka Blake)! We love you!

Monday Musings

• I'm so glad that we had a mild winter and spirng came early...sunshine makes me super happy!

• I love Ellie kisses. She opens her mouth wide and nuzzles your face...it's slobbery and messy and I'm madly in love with her kisses...I just can't get enough of the slobbery sweetness! Emmie didn't give kisses until she was able to give a regular kiss.

• I think I need to watch Downtown Abbey. The Greenville Library has the first season so I'm going to look and see if Richland has them.
• I am NOT a fan of Facebook Timeline. Everytime I scroll down a page that has timeline it loads more of the page and bumps me back to the top...so aggravating! 
• I also do not like the new blogger...not as bad as timeline but still a change...I'm not a fan of change.

• One of my big discoveries last year was the waterpark at Ft. Jackson (thanks Christina!) and I can't wait to take both girl this year...so much fun!
• Emmie is really big into ballerina's right now and any dress that has a little poof is a ballerina dress.

• Emmie's favorite color is purple. She gets so excited about all things purple....the funny part is her room is pink and green and Ellie's is purple and green...Ellie's favorite color will probably be pink!

• Today we were at wal-mart and I bought bathtub crayons...I just bought the cheap wal-mart brand and they ROCK...Emmie had a great time playing with them tonight and they are so easy to write with that even Ellie could use them...she was pretty pleased with herself.
• Emmie and Ellie have started playing this game where Ellie will say "eh" in kind of a high pitch and Emmie will do it back and they go back and forth making different sounds...super cute and I love to watch them play together! One day when I charge my video camera I'm going to record it.
• I think Ellie is getting close to crawling FORWARD...she's been getting up on her knees some and she'll hang out in the crawling position for a minute and then just kind of collapse and scoot backward in army crawl mode. She's also been pulling up to her knees some. I'm definitely ready for her to crawl and while part of me is ready for her to pull up another part of me is NOT ready...the child has the longest arms EVER and NOTHING WILL BE SAFE!
• Ellie started going to My Gym last week. The girls are going to a sibling class now and I'm super excited! Emmie had a little trouble with the change in routine but Ellie had a BLAST. My child who cries if anyone else holds her let everyone there hold her...while I was on the other side of the gym with Emmie. She was quite impressive on the bar as well. She gripped right on and she kept trying to pull herself up...her arms might be little but they are STRONG.
• Ellie started taking 1 nap a day last week. It's nice because the girls are down at the same time and it frees up our morning and the late afternoon. Since dropping the second nap she has also started sleeping until about 8:30.
• Emmie is so good in the morning...she usually gets up around 7:15 and goes potty and then she goes back in her room until Ellie wakes up. Sometimes she goes back to sleep and sometimes she reads. I'm pretty sure the child would stay in her room and read all day...who does that sound like?
• Today when Ellie got up from her nap I took her in Emmie's room to hang out and Emmie was playing with her dollhouse. She informed me that Ellie wanted to sit down and play dollhouse too. She gave Ellie the baby to play with (and informed Ellie that the table DOES NOT go in the bathroom..that's silly) and Emmie was the Mommy and Daddy...so cute!

Sunday Style Section

I wish I'd taken a better picture of Emmie's outfit...her pants have a big ruffle on the bottom...so cute!

Love these sweet overalls...and those chunky thighs! By the way, the overalls have pockets on the back and the girls were in the sandbox the other day and Ellie leaned over and Emmie said "she has pockets!" and proceeded to grab a handful of sand and stick it in her pockets!

I LOVE Emmie's watermelon dress...my mom is making another one so that they'll have matching ones! Ellie looked super cute in her little pastel dress.

I just love this outfit on Emmie...she always looks so good in dark colors!

Photo Friday

Giraffe Kisses and other adventures

Today the girls and I met Lindsay and Mason at the zoo. The kids had lots of fun...this was the first time that Ellie seemed really into all the animals...she also enjoyed having a buddy to ride around the zoo with!

Funniest part of the trip...and reason for the title...Emmie and I were feeding the giraffes and Ellie and Mason were right up against the fence in the wagon when Lindsay called me over...the giraffe had put his head through the fence and stuck out his very long tongue and was LICKING Ellie's arm...Ellie was not nearly as entertained as Lindsay and I were!

The giraffe is totally creeping on Lindsay.

Emmie and I rode the carousel and that was fun...she was soooo excited but when I went to put her on one of the carousel animals she did NOT want to be up there so we sat on a bench and she quite enjoyed her ride.
While we were at the zoo we decided to head over to the botanical gardens and check out the new kid's play area. We figured we would walk...because neither one of us realized that it was about a mile straight.up.hill. Lindsay was pulling about 60-70lb of Emmie/Mason/wagon and I was pushing about 30lb of Ellie/stroller...I definitely got the better deal on that one! The play area was ok but probably not worth the effort to get to it! They did have a little playhouse that Emmie LOVED and a big chair that is great for pictures...as long as you can keep the small children ON the chair.

After we hiked back down the hill we fed the kiddos and finished seeing the animals.
We had lots of fun and you would think after 3 hours a the zoo my girls would have taken great naps but alas, Emmie didn't nap and Ellie only slept an hour.

9 months

I am 9 months (and 2 days) old!

• I weigh17lb 5oz (35th percentile) and am 27 1/4 in tall (34th percentile)...I'm quite porportional. My head is in the 50th percentile.
• When she was my age Emmie weighed 18lb 13oz and was 27.5in long.
• When my daddy was my age he weighed 16lb 13oz and was 28in long and when my mommy was 8mo old she weighed 15lb 9oz and was 27.25in long.

• I wear size 6-9mo and 9-12mo clothing and a size 3 diaper.
• I can scoot myself backwards and in circles but can't quite figure out the whole going forward thing!
• I love to stand up (holding onto something of course) and I can finally keep my balance while holding onto the ottoman!
• I'm very good at throwing things.
• I understand most of what people say to me. For instance if you tell me not to do something I definitely understand and listen...at least while you're watching!
• I take 2 naps a day, one at 10 and one at 2. They generally average about an hour each. I sleep from about 7:30pm until 7:30 or 8am. I like to have my little mirror in the crib with me. That baby in the mirror is awfully cute!
• I say "mama" (but only occasionally), "dada", "la", "da" (dog), and "e". I babble A LOT!
• I am generally very content with whatever. I'm such a happy baby!
• This month I had bronchitis and had to use a nebulizer for a week. I was pretty good natured about the whole thing...just had a nasty cough and occasionally would act like it hurt when I coughed. I did really well with the nebulizer too.

• One of my favorite foods right now is parsnips!

• I've been eating lots of finger foods - bananas, tofu, avocado, sweet potato, cheerios, and one of my new favorites...cheese! Sometimes I throw them to Franklin (not the cheerios and cheese...those are all mine!) but if you remind me to eat them I do.

• I've started drinking water out of a sippy cup and I love it!

• I get Similac Sensitive 4 times a day (still in a bottle).

• This month I got TWO teeth (my front bottom ones). I did remarkably well with the whole teething thing.
• I'm still on Prevacid for the reflux and it seems to be under control.
• I LOVE to laugh with Emmie. We often play together...she's decided I'm a real person!

• This month I went to Summerville to visit GG and Papa and while I was there I went to the beach for the first time! It was a little chilly for my tastes but it was fun (although it would have been more fun if they'd let me eat all the sand)! We also went to the Charleston Children's Museum.

• This month I went to visit Gran and Grandaddy in Greenville. I had lots of fun playing with them and Uncle Ben came home for a few hours to eat dinner with us! We also pulled out the baby pool....it was chilly but fun!

• Uncle Ben and Gran came to visit us for a day while he was on spring break. We had lots of fun.

• This month I had my first Easter and I got to hang out with the little girls (who aren't so little anymore!). I was a little overwhelmed by all the people at first but once I saw the other girls playing I got very happy.

•  I LOVE playing in the sandbox that Gran and Grandaddy got us for Easter and I just learned how to shovel sand!

• This month I had my first visit to the Easter bunny! Suprisingly, I thought it was great fun!

• When I swing I like to go HIGH and when you push me high I put my hand on my head like I'm afraid my hair's going to fly away!
• This month we had an Easter party at our house. It was lots of fun!

• I love hanging out with the other kids in our playgroup. I'm the baby (for a few more months!) and the bigger kids are always very sweet to me.

This is Emmie at 9 months:

Sunday Style Section

Emmie kept calling this her ballerina dress!

Look at these sweeties! We had pictures done on the Horseshoe Friday and this is our "sneak peak" picture...I can't wait to see the rest.