The Francesca Files

Purple Party

2010-01-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

We decided we wanted to have a birthday party for Francesca, not b/c she wanted one or would remember it, but more for us. I know this and understand that a child's party is more for the parents until they are probably 4, but I really wanted to celebrate Francesca with all of our friends here in Winston Salem that have helped us get through the past 2 years. I wanted everyone that had been a part of her life here in WS to come and celebrate with us.
So when it was time to decide a theme, b/c every kid's party needs a theme, I thought of the 2 things in the world that she loves: Elmo and the color Purple. Debating between the two themes was very simple. We didn't want her to know that there is a plethora of Elmo things out there in the world, so we picked purple. I decided to have everyone wear something purple and I would try and make as many purple foods as possible.
I asked our friend Gina to make a cake and I searched for some pictures to help give her an idea on what I wanted it to look like. And b/c of Francesca's egg allergy wanted it to be 2 layers, one for her (egg free) and the other for everyone else. So with that in mind Gina made an amazing cake for us and I started coming up with other purple foods we could serve. My plan was to have soups, b/c cold weather was starting to set in up here and I knew I could make them ahead of time and just heat them up the day of. Now that I have 2 kids to chase after I have begun to think about things like this when hosting.
So our menu was: Purple potato soup, Coconut Pumpkin Curry Soup, & White Chicken Chili. I made purple applesauce and had purple yogurt for the kids as well as a cheese platter and other party finger foods.
Never could I have imagined what a great time we would have. Francesca, after she woke up had a great time.

Then the time came for her to blow out her candle. We brought the cake into the living room and sang Happy Birthday. We've been working on Happy Birthday with Francesca and she had been singing it and loved singing it. She also had blown out a candle here and there after I would light them around the house. So I didn't work on blowing out the candle............Big Mistake. We should have practiced that. After 5 mins or more of everyone watching her watch her cake and Dom and I coaching from the side lines I finally blew it out.
She had never really liked cake but she loved that her's had dots on in. She did take a couple of bites of the cake, but really just liked eating the dots off of it.
The best part about it was that she continued to talk about her party for weeks. She loved her purple party and would ask to have more purple party. Whenever she would want cake she asked for purple dots. When she talked about her party we would ask her "Who was at your purple party?" And it just depended on what mood she was in as to who she would say. Each time it could be someone new, but always someone who was at the party. I never could have imagined how much SHE would enjoy and remember her party.

Long Time Gone

2010-01-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

So after a year I've decided to post some more. Will I post often? Probably not. But I will try to jot a few things down every now and then. A lot has changed with Francesca since our last post. After she started walking we learned that we would be having another little Mastroianni. So she became a sister on April 27th 2009. I will do a separate post of that night's events. More for myself to remember as many details of Dominic Micheal's birth as I can.

2008-12-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

Boy has it been a while!!! I guess I just always forget to post all the new things happening. Francesca is a walker now. Mom & Dad came to visit on Oct.24-27 and by then all she was doing was walking. Dad didn't see her crawl the entire weekend.
GOOD NEWS: Francesca is going to be a big sister!!!!

She's Walking!!

2008-10-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here are two videos of Francesca walking. I will update the blog when I get more time. But she is a walker now. She walks instead of crawls, a majority of the time.

USF 41 NCSU 10

2008-09-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

USF traveled up to Raleigh NC to play NC State so we took the 2 hour trip over to watch our Bulls play. Dom realized the Bulls were coming up here about a week ago, and since we haven't been to a game in quite a while we decided to go. I thought it was a great idea and couldn't wait to see some football. Then when I realized it was a 7:30 game I started to worry. What would we do with Francesca? Of course we were planning on taking her with us, for 2 reasons, #1 it would be cheaper than paying a babysitter and #2 she is going through her separation anxiety pretty bad right now and breaks down when I leave her with strangers. I woke up in the middle of the night last week worrying about things. What would people think of me bringing my young baby to a late night game? What would we do if she fell asleep, just hold her? She does get pretty heavy.
Dom had no worries so off we went towards Raleigh. We left the house after she woke up from her nap. I wanted to make sure she got at least one good nap in. The drive over went well. We stopped about mid way at a Target to pick up a rain poncho. We got the last one, but it was nice to have later that night. Once we got to Raleigh we drove around the stadium and had no idea where to park. Dom wanted to meet up with his buddy from MedSchool and we had to meet the people with the tickets. We found the tickets on craigslist. I wanted to sit in the USF section so I put a want ad in the Tampa area and we luckily found some. After resting in a business park parking lot for a while and allowing Francesca to crawl around and be out of her seat we jumped back in the car and found our parking spot. Dom started cooking and I went walking towards the stadium to get the tickets. When I got back Francesca was pushing her toy around the parking lot with Dom following close behind. We tailgated for a little while and then started heading towards the stadium. Francesca wore her USF Bulls cheerleading outfit and was a hit with all the fans on our walk up. She was a in a great mood, smiling at everyone and loved all the people. We were able to meet Dom's friend Jason Kurecki and let them catch up.
Game time!! We went to find our seats and Francesca was so tired on the way into the stadium. I was hoping she would fall asleep, but there were too many people to look at. So we found our seats and watched the opening. Once the two teams came out, everyone started cheering and the fireworks went off she had the deer in the headlight look. I was hoping she wouldn't break bad on me, but she didn't. I thought that if I went back under bleachers where the consession stands were that she might fall asleep. Well after USF drove down and scored on the first drive and then NCSU got a field goal I figured she was not going to sleep. So we went back out to watch the game. After a few minutes it started raining. I thought we might be able to weather the storm but it started getting heavier and I knew she had no business getting wet. This is where it was nice to have the rain poncho. Dom stayed to watch the game while Francesca and I went back underneath with all the other fans. She did very well, but would not fall asleep. At one point I found a place to sit and started reading to her. I gave her a cookie to eat, hoping that would help her sleep. But then the winds changed and the rain started hitting us. We evenually moved. It rained and rained, part of the first quarter, all of the second, through half time, and into the third Dom called and told me it had stopped and we could come out and watch. A lot of the NCSU fans had left during the rain. It was already 27-10 when we got back out there. Dom took Francesca to give my back a break and within 5 mins the girl was out. She was finally getting her nap, over 2 hours after she was initially tired. She took a 30 min nap and was in a great mood for the rest of the game. She seemed to enjoy the crowd and all the cheering. She would smile and flirt with all the fans around us. The game ended 41-10. The walk back to the car everyone was surprise that she was still awake and said that she would fall asleep as soon as we got into the car. Well she didn't. Dom called it, he said that we were about 30 mins from the house she would fall asleep. And that is what she did. She was awake for over an hour in the car before she finally crashed.

Crystals Wedding

2008-09-28T19:27:00.001-07:00

Crystal tied the knot!!!

Francesca and I drove to Florida for the first time. We left here on a Tuesday morning and then jumped in a van with Crystal & Jeremiah Wednesday afternoon. Jeremiah was not looking forward to the 6hr trip with Francesca. He doesn't care for all of her talking. To him she is just making noise, so the thought of spending 6hrs trapped in a vehicle with her was not appealing and very discouraging. I was a little apprehensive b/c she doesn't travel well at night, but knew she would be able to make it. We left Columbia in the evening around 5:30ish after they got home from work. Francesca fell asleep about 15minutes into the drive. Her and I had gone swimming earlier in the day, I was trying to wear her out so that she would nap in the car. She slept for over an hour and half (YEA!!) I was so excited. After about an hour of being awake she got pretty fussy and it was time for us to eat dinner. So we stopped at a Beef O Brady's to eat. We let her walk all around the restaurant and hotel lobby(it was connected to a hotel.) When we got back in the car she stayed awake for 45 mins or so before she went back to sleep. I was so proud of her. After all the trash talking and bad mouthing her Jeremiah admitted that she did do very well and it was a quite plesant trip.
The wedding was Saturday Sept 13 at Marineland in St.Augustine, FL. I was in the bridal party so I rode with Crystal and the girls up to Marineland before the wedding. Dom was in charge of dressing Francesca and bringing her up. The girls and I were all across the dolphin pool and I saw Jermaud walk in carrying my baby, Frankie (Jermaud nicknamed her that.) She did well during the ceremony and got a little vocal towards the end. But Dom just got up and walked around with her.
During the reception Francesca spent, what time she wasn't being passed around, pushing her stroller back and forth. It was very warm in the tent so by the end of the night I took her dress off of her and let her run around in the diaper cover. She did dance a little and when they played "Shake your booty" she was on the dance floor shaking her groove thing. Around 11pm she was looking pretty tired so Dom and I took her out to the parking lot so that she could fall asleep. Once she was a sleep we put her in the carseat and waited until the party was over. She slept the entire way back to the condo. But once we got there she was awake and very dirty/sweaty. So we took a shower, which might have woken her up a little more. But she was nasty. Eventually she did get to sleep that night.

Its just a Dollywood Birthday

2008-09-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

For my birthday Dom, Francesca and I went to East TN to stay with Missy & Greg & go to DOLLYWOOD, America's Theme park.
Dom had the weekend off so when he got home on Friday afternoon we headed out. Dom and Francesca were both asleep before we hit the interstate. The drive over took us around 6 hours after getting stuck in traffic and having to stop to eat and give Francesca a break.
That night Francesca had a really rough time. She fell asleep not to long after arriving at Missy's but she woke up screaming. Nothing I could do would calm her down. Finally I went out onto the porch area and we watched the fish tank. She would fall back asleep if I was holding her, but if I put her down the screaming would start again. Finally I was able to lay down with her on my chest around 2am.
Saturday morning Francesca and I went with Missy & Greg to Aaron's cross country meet. Dom stayed behind to catch up on sleep, he was getting off of night shift and hadn't adjusted his sleep patterns yet. I loved getting to see a cross country meet and it brought back so many memories of my time running in high school. The course was 2 laps through a great park and there were a lot of places to stand and cheer them on. Aaron did really well. I was so proud of him, I even got a little tear in my eye when he ran by. I guess being a mom brings out emotions I use to not have, but it was a great morning. That afternoon Sam B was in town for Booms Day and we went to the mall and spent an hour or so with him before we headed over to Maryville College to see Sam Howell's dorm and school. He gave us the tour around his dorm and the college. It seems like so long ago that I was living the care free college life.
Sunday was Dollywood day!!!! I've been wanting to go to Dollywood for some time and Missy, who has a season pass, got 2 free guest passes. Greg decided to go with us which was really exciting. Missy planned on watching Francesca while the rest of us stood in line and rode roller coasters. The TN tornado was my favorite. We waited extra to go in the front, my thought is that if you are going to ride a coaster, ride it from the best seat available. So tracks it makes a big difference to sit in the front and others it really doesn't, but this one was worth the little bit of extra wait. It was probably the fastest track I've ever been on. It was really intense. Francesca spent most of her time pushing her stroller around. Francesca rode her first carousel with Dom. I didn't ride b/c someone needed to take pictures, and they make me sick. Lunch was a highly reccommended turkey leg. Sam H. told me we had to get one, when I told him we had tried one at Disney he said "yeah, Disney's can't be that good, we know how to fix them up here in TN." And I do agree with him, it was quite tasty, and the meat fell right off the bone. While Francesca slept Dom & I were able to catch a show. We watched a gospel quartet sing. We figured since we skipped church this would make up for it. Overall the day was great. There are plenty of rides to keep you busy and entertained and a ton of shows that could fill in the rest of the time. I highly recommend it. Like Dom's friend said "It's not Disney and they don't try to be Disney."

Birthday Wishes

2008-09-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend was my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND. Dom and I give each other an entire weekend and sometimes an entire week to celebrate our birthdays. So for my weekend we took the trek over to Alcoa to stay with Missy and spend a day at America's Theme Park, Dollywood.

Party in My Crib--2am

2008-09-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

So Francesca had a party in her crib last Thursday night. It was Dom's first night back from the night shift. It all started out like any other night here in the Mastroianni house. Francesca laid down between 9:30 and 10:00pm for bed and then Dom and I got to bed closer to midnight. Around 2ish she made some noise and I went in and tried to calm her down. She fussed a little but seemed to be tired enough to go back to sleep. I headed back to my bed. I would hear her whine every once in a while but she did so back to sleep.

Well an hour later I hear her up again. I thought to myself that she might be hungry since she was a little restless for the past hour. So I picked her up and fed her. I laid her back down and thought she would go back to sleep. I could tell she was tired and knew it shouldn't take long for her to fall back asleep. But she didn't. I send Dom in to see if she would go back to sleep. He sang to her and almost had her down, but then she somehow woke up again. It being around 3:30 at this point I tried to take her into our room, turn out the lights and feed her. This has worked before and b/c it is pitch black she normally will fall asleep. But she didn't. She ate and then she would sing and flip flop around between Dom and I. At one point she was 'shaking her groove thing' which is where she will shake her head back and forth and sing. Then I could hear her clapping her hands. She did this for over an hour in the dark. Dom had already gotten up and went into the living room to read, his sleeping schedule was so off anyways. Around 5am I took her into the living room and figured it couldn't hurt, what I was doing was not helping. Dom read to her for a little over an hour and around 6:30ish he was able to get her to fall asleep. I was so exhausted the next day, and we were suppose to drive to Missy's that night. I felt hungover. It's a terrible feeling when you didn't drink the night before to cause the hangover.

Shift Work

2008-08-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

So Dom has been on Night shift this month. It sucked. He worked 6pm-8am everynight. After showering in the morning he would crawl into bed. Some mornings Francesca would be awake and she would spend a few minutes with him before he passed out. But most mornings her and I would still be sleeping. When she would wake up she would do her normal morning cuddling and whalering. She would flop back and forth and some mornings she would realize that it was Dom laying beside her and she would get so excited. This morning when she realized it she sat up and started banging on him. I don't want her to wake him up so this is my cue to take her out and start our day.
We were gone the first week or so Dom was on this shift so when we had to adjust to his schedule. After our first day back Dom had to start wearing ear plugs. She is just too loud to have someone trying to sleep in the room right next to us. He gets Friday and Saturday nights off. So last weekend we headed down to Crystal's. Our plan was to leave as soon as he came home on Friday morning. He was expecting to sleep on the drive down there, I was more realistic and assumed he would be babysitting during the drive. After packing the car and getting everyone loaded up we were on our way. Dom was in the back with his ear plugs and eye mask. When we hit the interstate I looked back and could see Francesca banging on his head that he had leaned in her direction. She was entertaining herself by playing with a new toy that made noise whenever you hit a particular button. Somehow she learned very quickly where that button was. All I could hear was that toy playing song after song after noise. I had no idea how he was sleeping through this but he did.
Around Stateville she had been very good for about an hour and started to stir. She hadn't had her cereal so I stopped at some small gas station that had an even smaller restaraunt next door. So her and I went into Britney's Bar B Q and took a break. We were the only customers at that time, we beat the lunch crowd and it was after breakfast. I ordered a sandwich to go and sat there and tried to feed her. She ate ok, but was more interested in entertaining the waitresses. She is such a ham. After 45 mins or so I put her back in the car and headed south. She started to fuss when we got closer to Charlotte. I tried waking Dom up to help her calm down and not allow her to get too worked up, but that was to no avail. He was out to the world. I managed to get her a wagon wheel to quiet her down. It only took a couple of minutes before she was sleeping as well. She slept great. About an hour and a half later she woke up. We were about 15 minutes from Crystal's, she didn't make a peep. She started playing with her toys and sat really quitely until we arrive. Dom managed to get pretty good sleep on the trip. If you ask him he didn't think so, but he also didn't realize that we stopped and he was sleeping in the car by himself for 45mins. This schedule has been hard on him and us. Me and little girl miss him and can't wait for a more normal schedule.

Water Baby

2008-08-26T15:15:00.001-07:00

I know most babies love the water and Francesca is no exception. She has always enjoyed baths, the spa, swimming and even the beach. And for months now she has always tried to drink the water while she swims. The second video is of her in the pool sneaking a drink. The first video is her just talking and being happy.

But lately she has learned in the bath and in her little blow up pool to lay down on her belly and drink the water. This position allows for her to rest her mouth open in the water and allow it to run in. Before she would always bend over and try to suck up water. This usually choked her. Her new method allows for less choking and more drinking.
She also learned to drink out of the hose in her baby pool. I would leave the hose running very slowly to see what she would do. And of course she picks it up, sticks it in her mouth and drinks the water. I guess I can't complain, at least she will drink water.

Mastering the basics

2008-08-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Its amazing how you can work on one thing for months and she will show no signs of picking it up or learning what it is. Then one day she has it! This past week has been Francesca's Ah ha week. She has started to wave goodbye and play Pat a Cake. We've been working for almost 3 months on both of these and overnight she started doing them.
Around 6 months I figured I should start teaching her goodbye, and waving. So whenever someone would talk to us in the store, or mall or anywhere I would always say 'bye bye' and wave my hand and then move hers. She never showed any signs that she got what I was doing or that she should be doing it back. And out of no where she has started waving. Now she doesn't do it 'every' time, but she does it a lot and knows when to do it.
And this weekend mom had her outside at Crystal's and she came back in and said that she had done Pat a cake. I didn't believe it at first because she had never clapped her hands together for me. But sure enough when you start to sing it, she starts clapping. She always enjoyed playing before and would giggle when we played, but she never clapped her hands together. Now she thinks it is the greatest thing ever and laughs when she does it.
So it has been a week of mastering skills.

Disney

2008-08-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

Our first trip to Disney was awesome!!! My friend from high school, Kara, works for Disney and offered to get us in for the day. So I took her up on the offer. Not so much b/c I wanted to take Francesca to see Mickey, but more b/c I wanted to see Mickey. Plus Dad had never been to Epcot and thought he would enjoy the park. Now I didn't really think too much about it, b/c it was well over 90 degrees and summer crowds, but Disney makes me really happy.
Kara's office is inside MGM, which is now called Hollywood Studios (this was a little confusing when we were trying to park and couldn't find the signs for MGM), so we decided to at least go into MGM and try to ride one roller coaster. Well the line was about 80 mins long, so we past on that. Actually all the rides that I would have wanted to ride that day were over an hour. So now rides for us. But we walked around MGM for a little while, we wathced some short film about animation and then went outside to see the parade. Francesca really liked all that other kids. She loved that everywhere she looked there was another little person in their stroller.
Epcot was nice. We went around to all the countries, we stopped to watch a short film on Canada (the USA's b*tch, according to Dom) while she napped in the stroller. But other than that we just were there to site see. We did get a couple samplings of food and drinks around the world~ England: Hard Cider from the pub, France: Strawberry Crape, Germany: Brat, Consession Cart: Popcicles. Mom & Dad were both on a diet so we tried to be good and not eat too much. I think Dad could go back and really put a hurtin to some of the different food around the world.
She got her picture with 2 characters: Belle and Mexican Donald Duck. We went to the character spot, but the wait was over an hour-not worth it, plus we had Mexicn Donald who else could you want.

One neat thing, at least I think it is neat now that I'm a mom, I could have cared less before, but they have a baby center. I saw a sign in the bathroom on the changing table about it. So we went. They had a place to heat food and bottles, a nursing room, a changing room with some huge awesome changing tables and a place you could buy baby food or formula. I used the nursing room. It was a dimmly lit room with 4 rocking chairs, we were the only ones in there but it was air conditioned, and on a hot day that was probably the best part. We also got to use the changing tables, luckily we were there when she decided it was time to potty, good timing. It was a pretty hot day and to cool off we all got strawberry popsicles. I
We left after being there for about 5-6 hours. On our way out we decided to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and then get a bus from there back to MGM and our car. Francesca really like the monorail and the bus rides. I think she just really liked being in a moving vehicle and not being strapped into a carseat.
The day ended with us stopping at Mom's favorite restaraunt Hops and getting some ribs. Before our food came Dad had Francesca and she got a hold of the napkin with the silverware. She pulled out the steak knife and Dad took it away from her. She got the biggest pouty face and started screaming. She was throwing a fit right there. I took her and tried to quite her b/c I didn't want to bother the other tables. She would start to calm down and then she would look over at Dad, shake her head back and forth and start crying again. It was so funny. She did that about 4 times before she was over it. She really didn't like him taking away her knife.

ps-Our computer won't download pictures until I free up some space. So as soon as I do that then I will post the pictures.

Wedding Weekend

2008-08-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

I had the privilage to be a bridesmaid for my friend Michelle Nase. So Francesca got to visit South Florida for a few days. The weekend included visiting with our old high school friends and was topped off by a gorgeous wedding. Michelle was Dom and my old roommate, we lived with her the first 6 months after we were married.

Francesca and I flew into FL late Wednesday night and then started our drive down to Boca Raton the following morning. We got a late start but she was really tired from the late night. Mom and I were hoping she would sleep most of the way down. She was asleep before we reached the interstate: Success!! this was working out to be an easy drive. She should sleep quite a while b/c she was so tired. Well before we got to Rockledge I heard her little voice. She got a 30min or so nap, ewww. We had to stop at 7 eleven (my favorite) to grab a sluppee, some drinks and I had to grab a toquito, they are so addictive and I can't pass them up. Then after our snack attack we started driving again.

We stopped south of Fort Pierce at a rest area b/c Francesca was upset being stuck in her car seat. Boy did she have fun at the rest area. We let her crawl around and burn some energy. She loved playing in the FL dirt and learning all about pine needles. She was pretty nasty when it was time to go so she got a quick rinse in the sink. After that the trip was pretty uneventful and we eventually made it down to Boca.

Then we got to spend some time with Paul and his lovely girlfriend Lauren. Francesca was napping when they arrived so we talked out on the patio. Paul had to go in the room for something and as soon as he walked in, the door slammed and woke her up. Leave it to Paul to wake her up. But we then had a lovely visit with the two of them. Paul wasn't so keen on holding Francesca and he was a little worried that Lauren and I would drop her or allow her to fall off the bed. He isn't use to the little ones, so he stuck with caring for Lauren's dog Jersey. He did a great job at watching her.

The following day, Friday, she took a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. So needless to say Mom and I didn't really do anything before we had to go to the rehersal. At rehersal Francesca climbed her first set of stairs. They were small stairs and she crawled right up them. No hesitation on her part. During the rehersal she was her normal talkative self and Mom had to take her outside so that everyone could focus on the rehersal and our jobs for the wedding.

Saturday came and was planned to be a fun filled day. We started it off with a visit to the Flanagan's. We drove down to Cathleens house to hang out with her and her kids, Madison & Kevin. Little Kev was so good with her. He thought she needed some clothes so he went and found some 'baby' clothes. It was 2 of his t-shirts, but he was very genorous and said that we could keep them. Francesca then went swimming with the kids in their pool. Afterwards we hund out and let the kids play. I didn't put Francesca clothes back on her right away and Kevin was very concerned. He kept asking why she wasn't wearing any clothes. Madison then put on a dance show for us. She is a trip. During her performance Cathleen and I were talking some, Maddy stopped dancing and then came to ask why we weren't watching her, sooooo cute. During lunch the kids sang all their favorite nursery rhymes to her. She really enjoyed that. And during all this Mom was trying to fix my dress for the wedding. I guess it wasn't as small as I had originally thought and it really did need to be altered. Thank goodness Mom was there for the rescue.

We rushed back to the hotel so that I could do my hair and make up. I was ready in time and headed to the church to get ready. Francesca and Mom were staying back. It was a really nice time at the church as Michelle and all the bridesmaids got ready. The rain cleared just in time for the wedding. The wedding proceeded as planned and it was a beautiful ceremony. Francesca and Mom did not attend the wedding. Francesca was sleeping and Mom did not want to wake her up. She did really well with Mom. No crying spells and Mom was even able to get her to eat. Mom did make her upset once. Francesca had been trying to play with the cell phone charger cords all weekend and we had been telling her NO. When she went towards them this time Mom said "Francesca" she stopped, looked back and then headed back towards them. Then Mom said "Francesca No." She looked back at Mom and gave her the biggest pouty face ever.

After the wedding I came back and got her dressed for the reception. She loved all the attention at the reception and was very well behaved as long as I held her. After dinner when they started dancing she kept looking towards the dance floor and smiling. I finished up feeding her and took her out there to do the ChaCha slide. She loved it. She was laughing the entire time. We then danced to a few more songs. Around 9:30 she was pretty tired so we took her downstairs and put her to bed. When we got to the room and put Francesca on the bed we tried taking pictures of her. And she would see the camera and start posing, it was so cute.

Peek A Boo

2008-07-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

For months now we have played peek-a-boo with Francesca. She has always loved it and it's a go to game to play with her and get a smile. She started hiding her face around 6 months and then popping up. She loves doing this with Dom.
While his dad was visiting we were out at a restaurant and she took a napkin and played with Dom across the table. Here is the video of me capturing it from the side.

Sleep Training

2008-07-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

Since she was born I've heard "You have to teach your baby how to fall asleep. Make sure you lay them down awake so they can learn to put themselves to sleep." When you hear this you don't really realize that a baby has to 'learn' how to fall asleep. I guess I always took for granted how to close my eyes and go to sleep. Well, she had kinda fallen asleep on her own when we laid her down a couple of times so I figured we were ok. She seemed to sleep pretty well for an 8 month old. Then Val decided that she needed to train Toby to sleep. It sounded awlful, but was really working for them. I examined Francesca's sleeping habits and decided that they weren't too bad and she would be fine. Then I started noticing that at night she would eat and not fall asleep. We were then allowing her to play around till she was moody and then Dom or I would hold her, read to her and sing and eventually she would fall asleep. Most nights it wasn't till about 10:00 or 10:30 that she would go to sleep.

So we realized that she didn't have a great sleeping habit and we should start helping her put her self to sleep. Last night (7/25) was our first try at it. We would bathe her, read to her, cuddle and then put her in her crib. We knew she was tired so hopefully this would go smoothly. We we were just kidding ourselves. After laying her down she would immediately stand up and start crying. Sometimes she would take it to the next level. We waited 3 mins and then went back in. I did pick her up and tried to soothe her. We then went in every 5 mins or so, comforted her, laid her on her back and then walked out. After 45 mins I went in and when I laid her down I got close to her and comforted her. She almost immediately went to sleep. YEA! success! One night down. She woke up around 2ish but was able to go back to sleep before waking up around 5 to eat.

Today I tried to do the same for nap time. She was tired, but not willing to sleep. I tried for 30mins and then gave in and let her come out to play. She eventually went to sleep while eating. Tonight Dom was on call so the duty was mine. I gave her extra time in the bath, but knew she was somewhat sleepy. I read to her, fed her and read one last book. She was very tired so I was hoping it would go better. As soon as I had her hovering over her bed she started crying. She has learned in 2 days what is going to happen. She was upset at first but after only 30mins she was asleep. The last time I went in she had sat down on her own and was not standing up to meet me. So hopefully she will eventually learn to sit, lay down and then fall asleep all by herself. We will take it one night a time. I know we will all be thankful when she has learned to fall asleep.

The next night was even better. She cried for about 15 mins and the second time we went in and laid her down she fell asleep. Then the two nights after that she only fussed for 3-5 mins.

SUCCESS!!!! We've been doing this for close to a week and she has really responded well to her bedtime routine. While we are reading to her she has really calmed down and I think is starting to associate all of these activities with sleep. Now when we lay her down we don't have to go back in and calm her down. Lets hope she keeps this up.

Now we will work on her waking up during the night and learning to fall back to sleep then and naps during the day.

Seventh Heaven

2008-07-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! What a busy month we've had. We started it off with a quick trip to FL to celebrate Mom & Dad's 30th anniversary. Francesca got to go swimming in the ocean and pool and play in the sand with Toby.

She went to the Doctor for her 6th month check up and everything looks good. Her head jumped up to the 95th percentile, she weighted a little over 15.5 which puts her into the 25th percentile of weight. So she is carrying most of that weight in her big ol' head, we are hoping she grows into it like Dom and I did.

She definately is crawling now. We had to baby proof the house b/c she is always on the move now. She hasn't slowed down since she started moving. Now she has learned to pull her self up on almost anything. She would always try to stand up on the rocking chair in the living room. It took 3-5 days of practice and finally she has learned to mster standing up on a moving object.

She greets us in the morning or after a nap by standing up in her crib, she pulls her self up on things and is just starting to realize she can sit down when she wants to go somewhere else. There for a while she would just cry after standing in one spot

Dom's Mom came to stay and help me for a week. Dom got a few days off after fininshing his Intern year. We all went to the zoo where Francesca noticed the Sea Lions, Giraffe, Zebra, Baboons, & elephants. Everything else she just noticed the waterfall in the exhibit.

We then headed towards Tennessee for a family reunion weekend at my aunt's house. On the way we stopped at a State Park, Lake James, in the mountains and played at the lake. We first had a picnic and then headed to the swimming area. Francesca loved to crawl along the shore in the water and play/eat the sand. Once in TN we went to the city pool Crystal took her down the slide. Francesca walked in her floaty all around the baby pool. We put her in her crab floaty and she could touch the bottom. This allowed her to walk through the water. She loved the freedom and the ablity to go anywhere. She even put up with her Nana torpedoing her underwater... several times. She is getting closer and closer to swimming. Missy hosted a great weekend. All of the Bass family was there to hang out and spend some a great weekend together. We all crammed into Missy's new house, I think around 20 people slept there on Sat. night. She got to visit with a ton of family and hardly touched the ground as there were always some hands waiting to hold her. The City of Alcoa has a great celebration for the fourth and sets off some great fireworks. Luckily we can see them all from Missy's yard. She liked the fireworks, but the finale did scare her a little bit. So all in all it was a great month. Now Dom gets to start year number two.

3 Months and Counting

2008-07-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

We've been so blessed with such a great baby. After just 3 months she has made her nightly routine and goes to bed around 9-10 every night. She has even slept for 7-8 hours a couple of nights. When we read to her she will sit there and listen to the book and look at the pictures. She smiles at us all the time and is now smiling at strangers. She also babbles on and on every night.

We got a freak snow one night. I got a call from a friend who told me to look outside. When we did it was snowing like crazy. Within a few minutes our back porch went from snow melting on contact to being completly covered. You couldn't see any of the road out front, it was one big blanket of snow. So the following morning I dressed her in the snow suit Mom got her and out we went. At first I laid her on a waterproof mat in the snow. Then I was over that and put her directly in it. She made her first snow angel. It was so little and so cute. She enjoyed being outside and the snow didn't really bother her. We then went and snapped a few pictures of her on Dom's bench and then her out in the woods. They are really my favorite pictures of her so far.

Valentines Day-probably one of my favorite holidays. I think I only like it b/c the colors are red and pinks. There is no other reason, but I like to decorate for it b/c I can get a way with putting more pink in the house. I tried to fix a fun meal, so we had cornish hens with a wild rice stuffing. It was quite nice, but cornish hen is a fancy way of saying chicken. It tasted just like a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. It was also a lot of food. Dom and I split one. Francesca sat with us at dinner and got to spend some quality time with the 'rents.
We took an emergency trip to FL. Our townhouse still hasn't sold and I wanted to go and paint it a more neutral color downstairs. I found a super cheap flight and knew Dom would be working. Mom and Dad were so great. We all went down to Tampa and planned to spend the day painting. They had extra paint left over from the house they were remodelling and it was perfect. Our neighbor Mabel was nice enough to let me borrow her boncey seat, and some socks. It was a cold day and I forgot to pack Francesca a pair a of socks. Painting was slow. One of us had to entertain or feed Francesca while the other two painted. I'm so glad I go to go and visit our home. I really do love that house and know that Dom does too. I tried to get some pictures of her and the back yard for him. We put on the primer and then the first coat of paint. During all of this I was feeding her, visiting with Amanda and talking everything over with our Realtors. We took a break to eat some dinner at Ruth's Steakhouse with Keith and then headed home to finish the second coat and clean everything up. Somehow we got it all done and it looked really good. I was pretty sad to cover up the green, yellow and orange but was hoping this would help it sell faster. Luckily for us it was around Francesca's bed time by the time we left. So she slept most of the way home, but it was a long day for all of us. Her and Dad were pretty wiped out by the time we made it back to Daytona.
She also got her ears pierced. Dom didn't want to be there when I got it done. So I waited until one night when he was working and my friend Kiera and I headed to the mall. It nevered bothered me to get her ears pierced until we were walking around. Then I started having second thoughts about putting her through it. But I mustarded up the strength and headed into Claire's. She did cry. After the first one she was pretty upset. The second one wasn't hard because she was so tense from crying that she wasn't moving. Before I finished paying she was laughing and smiling and doesn't even know they are there. I think she cried more when she got her shots from the doctor. That night I was worried about moving them and touching them, but it didn't bother her at all. It was a great decision, she never bothered them and it was so easy to keep them clean. Every time I changed her diaper I would rotate them and put the medicine on them.

2 Month Update

2008-07-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 months now and Francesca continues to amaze us everyday. She now weighs 11 pounds and is begining to get a nightly schedule and sleep around 5-6 hour stretches at night. She has become so much more alert and has plenty of happy awake time through out the day. She has also started to entertain herself and not need someone to hold her at all times.

She has really gained some great head control. You are not required to support her head all the time now. She also started lifting her head up when she is laying on her stomach. Speaking of stomach, she hates to be on her stomach. I try to be the good mom and give her 'tummy time' but that is crap. I leave her there for 30sec or so and once she starts screaming we flip that baby back.

Dom got 5 days off around New Years. We were party animals. We watched Ryan Seacrest in Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve Party in NYC. Then when the ball dropped we opened our bottle of Chapagnae from Costa Rica (that is another story all together. The hotel in Manuel Antonio brought us a complimentary bottle and Dom wouldn't let me drink it b/c we were trying to get pregnant. But I knew that I wasn't. I was so sad. But we brought it back to FL & then up to NC with us.)

After New Years Dom's Mom and Nana & Papa came to stay with us. We had a great visit and Dom and I went out for the first time. Then my Dad came up to get some work done at the house. Dad installed motion lights out back, added a glass door to our front door, and put dead bolts on all of our doors. He and Crystal watched Francesca while Dom and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary from when we started dating.

Toby & Val also stopped by for a few days. What a great time Val & I had together. It was great to sit around and take care of your baby, but have someone there with you to keep you company and be doing the same thing as you are. Francesca & Toby don't notice each other. But they sure are cute together. Toby was a solid brick compared to floppy Francesca. We also had our first snow of the season and the first of the babies lives. We watched it from inside and didn't get to take them out in it before it melted away.

Bath time has also become a favorite. She lays in her little tub and never fusses. Dom gives the baths around here. He scrubs her and makes sure all the dirt that she has picked up during the day is washed away(he really does SCRUB her.)

Her and I went to FL for a couple of days. It was a great trip and she did wonderful on the airplane. She also took her first swim in the hot tub at Mom & Dad's, which she loved. I can't wait to go back and spend more time with our families and friends.

I am ready to have another baby. Francesca is so good, how hard could it be to add another?

In the beginning

2008-07-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

So its been almost 8 months and I've finally decided that I need to record Francesca's progress as she explores and learns about this crazy world of ours.

In the beginning there was darkness and water. Then the doctor said "It is time" and there was light and everyone agreed that this was good. And now we have our Francesca. -I like to think that it was God's master plan for me to have her on November 26th. Not a day that I picked but when it was time for her to come and visit us for the first time, a birthday that she will always share with her cousin Toby.

The Monday Blues:

It was past by due date and the doctor scheduled me for a check up bright and early Monday morning, 7:30 early. Sunday night had been an interesting one. I started having stronger contractions than I had had before, but nothing regular.

So off to the doctor I went- they wanted to have me get a sonogram to check the fluids around her, and make sure she still had enough room. And to do a non stress test to check her heart rate. During the sonogram I saw all kinds of hair on her head. I wasn't lucky enough to be in the room with the 3D sonogram, so it was pretty hard to make out too much, she was smushed in there pretty good. They estimated her size to be around 7lbs 4oz. I wasn't too happy that she was getting so big, I still had to deliver this thing. But everything looked great.

Then off to the room for the non stress test. They hooked me up to some machines that measure the baby's heart rate and my contractions. Things were pretty boring. Then the action began. I started having a pretty strong contraction and as it got stronger her heart rate started to drop. Once they saw this they came in and told me I was going to have to have the baby today and my next stop would be the hospital.

TODAY!?! Val was in Atlanta being induced as we spoke, Mom & Dad were with her. I felt great- not ready to go into labor, and I had a load of laundry (including Francesca's outfit to wear home from the hospital) in the washer. I made a list of things to do today, that I hadn't got done yet. I was hoping she would hold off until Friday and then she would be born on Dec 1 and all of us would have our birthday on the first of the month (mine is Sept 1 and Dom's is July 1.) Plus Dom was on his last night of call. So I took my papers and straight to the hospital I went. Once I got outside I paged Dom with our seceret 911 page. He thought I was kidding when he saw the page, but called to check in. I let him know he needed to go home, grab our bag and meet me in the hospital.

It was very sureal driving to the hospital to park in the parking garage and walk up to the 4th floor to have my baby. It's not how you picture it for 9 months. I assumed I would be in labor for a while at home and keep yelling at Dom to time my contractions and then we would jump in the car and they would wheeling me up to labor and delivary. But I drove myself and calmly walked through the parking garage, into the hospital and up to the labor and delivary floor, went to the nurse's station handed them my papers. I said "I am here to have my baby." And that is what I did.