Mitchell loves to eat...

Guess we knew that already since I'm sure he is 20 pounds by now but we started with some "real" food yesterday. I think that more went on him then in him but he enjoyed nonee the less.

He is a super easy going kid (unlike his sister) and has a motto of "go big or stay home". This applies to bowel movements more than anything but... :-)

Mitchell is starting to roll - not when he is on the floor - but off the couch onto the floor. The first of many bumps and bruises to come. It's amazing that when Maura did the same thing we called the Dr and were ready to run to the ER... Poor 2nd kids!

It has been way too long since my last post but life is crazy hectic with 2 kids - I can't even imagine life when Mitchell is mobile! We are adjusting to a new life routine and the house is a wreck most days but thank goodness for our family that is here to help.

They are 2 wonderful kids and life is nuts but good. Maura is 14 months, talking, walking and soaking up everything. She repeats everything you say (even if Jeff and I are the main ones that understand her) but she knows what she wants! We drove through McDonalds the other day to get mommy a big diet coke and as I am ordering she says "fe fry" so I had to get a french fry too! We start swimming lessons in 2 weeks so we'll see how those go...

Mitchell is 4 months, weighs 18 pounds and is planning to play lineman for the Bengals. He eats a lot, throws up a lot but with the lactose free existance is a much happier baby! No rolling over but he is babbling like a champ and is super too cute to talk to.

They each sleep through the night on different nights so hopefully it will all come together soon. We are looking forward to a fun summer - Thursdays at the pool with Grandma and zoo trips with Lily and Nathan!

Welcome Mitchell Joseph!

Mitchell Joseph Franzen was born January 28th 2010 at 10:04pm. After a long night/day of contractions, walking the halls and an epidural with a boost he made his appearance! He weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20.25 inches long.

Maura has done pretty well with him (other than pulling his blankets off for some reason) but she is definitely missing mommy/daddy cuddle time. Muskie is a lot more cuddly now that he is playing 3rd fiddle instead of 2nd but enjoys eating what Maura is now feeding him from her high chair. She is walking now - looks a little drunk when she is doing it but is having a ball and so are we. She is very busy and into everything! She also seems to come up with something new to add to her repertoire of tricks so she wasn't outdone by the birth of her brother.

It has been interesting so far with 2 kids but we are happy that we can utilize the man on man defense especially at bed time! Not sure what his bedtime can be considered these days but that will come (hopefully before I go back to work)

Gambling and Gatlinburg

We had a nice fall getaway while the polyurethane dried on the floors. Started with a visit to Erin with dinner and ice cream. Saw her home and met some of her crew.

Then hit Keenland for the first few races. Maura studied the program and picked a few winners. She of course used Great Grandma's method of $2 on the 2nd horse on the 2nd race.

Then off to Gatlinburg. She shopped like a trooper at the outlet malls (and so did her daddy). She has a yucky cold so we did some extra napping on Sat then headed for the cheesiness of downtown Gatlinburg. After we all got matching air brush t-shirts and carmel apples we headed off for more shopping and the Smokey Mountain Brewery for dinner. All in all a nice trip.

Just a few other updates. She is really close to crawling but not quite yet. She gets started then flops on her face - can't quite get there. She is clapping when we say "yeah" and still does her fake cough. In the last few days she seemed to pick up a "pose" when smiling at people. When someone tells her that she is cute or makes faces at her she leans sideways and smiles the same way each time. She's going to be trouble :-)

It's a boy!

With a very revealing ultrasound every week we decided to find out the sex of the new baby. He made his gender pretty clear so we'll have some funny pictures to blackmail him with later in life. All is well so far with blood tests and blood flow around the brain which is a blessing.

I go for an ultrasound every week to monitor the blood flow around the baby's brain. This "Anti Big E" disorder has me making the baby anemic. Anemic babies (in-utero) have faster blood flows around their brains because the blood is being taken away from other organs. So each week they measure the blood flow through a certain vein that runs down the middle of the 2 hemispheres of the brain. The number gets higher as the baby gets bigger so as long as we stay below the moving target we'll be fine. The ultrasound tech checks the baby and then measures the flow. She checks the numbers with the doctor and if all is well we are released. If there was a problem we would head to Good Sam for an inter-uterine blood transfusion. I also do blood work every few weeks to check my antibody levels. If those get high we would have to do a transfusion as well.

Back to Maura! At her 6 month check up she was in the 80th percentile for weight and height. She is 18 pounds, 27 inches long and seems to get bigger by the day! The gnawing has begun on whatever she can out in her mouth and celery keeps her amused for awhile without any choking so it's my new favorite!

She is making a lot more noise (low pitched grunts and high pitched squeals) which we know mean something but we have no idea. She is rolling over from her back to her front but not the reverse. She scoots herself in a circle but only in one direction... We'll get there! And as soon as we do I'll be wishing for the days she just sat there :-)

Food and Water

We ventured into vegetables and fruit (and boy does her poop stink!) She loves everything - thank goodness that she takes after her Daddy so far. So her daily diet consists of a jar of fruit, a jar of veggies, cereal and formula. I know, I'm drooling too!










We also switched to sitting up in the tub for bath time. She thinks she's hot stuff :-) I can't find the cute bath toys we were given (I always forget to look until she's already in the tub) but cups seem to keep her incredibly amused!

More Firsts...

Our first venture into rice cereal... She wasn't sure at the beginning, maybe texture issues like her mother, but after a few more feedings she couldn't get enough.

After a good plane/mini-van ride, slathering of 70 spf sunscreen and a hat Maura ventured into the Florida sun (in her float with a canopy). If her skin is anything like mommy's she'll look like a lobster in no time :-) She really enjoyed kicking around in the water and was ready for a nap in no time.