Mueseum of Science

We went to the museum of science this morning with the toddler playgroup from church. Frankie had a great time! What was not great was the bus ride home. The 69 was in rare form today - we waited for 50 minutes for a bus to show up. Fortunately, I had a bench to sit on and a friend to talk to (just some other pregnant woman at the bus stop who had all kinds of questions for me). It's in the 20s today, so we were a bit frozen by the time the bus came, but Frankie was a tropper, and survived.

So many Frankies...

I can see you!

Giant Teddy bears are fun to hug, and frustrating when you aren't big enough to move them where you want.

Magnetic toys are fun!

Kristen and Nathanael joined us. Nathanael is in one of the dress-up cow costumes.

Elizabeth and Frankie hit the bubble again.

Frankie enjoyed the water feature so much she cried when we had to move on.

Necklace lady

Frankie has been a bit of a necklace lady recently (think cat lady, bag lady, etc...). Heather thinks this started at their house, where Frankie and Elizabeth play dress-ups and put on necklaces. Everything has the potential for being worn around the neck: a piece of rope, her plastic rings, momma's bandana, momma's underwear... This last one in particular cracks me up - I'll come out of the shower to find her with my underwear and shirt draped around her neck.

My sweet girl, loves to help her daddy play the piano.

Burr-lington

Last weekend Chris and I went to Burlington, VT all by ourselves! It was fantastic. My mom stayed with Frankie for the weekend while Chris and I watched movies, went out to eat, and toured the town of Burlington (which is almost to Canada, on Lake Champlain). It was cold while we were there but we still did a little snow-shoeing at Shelburne Farms, a working dairy farm in the area that allows visitors to tour the grounds during the winter via cross country skis, snow shoes, horse-drawn buggies, and good ole fashioned boots.





Frankie had a great time with her Nonnie. We miss you, Nonnie!

For the Rampeys

In appreciation of all the cold-weather blog posts Melanie has shared with us over the last few months, here are a few pics from my recent business trip to Fargo. The worst event of the trip was when I rolled down our car window to pay a parking fee and the window froze in the open position. A few of us were seriously concerned about frostbite (or death) while trying to figure out what to do about it. At the time the ambient temperature (not including windchill) was 22 below.

Shot of our car thermometer (later that day, once things had warmed up):

Local newspaper warning the locals to pack their car-survival kits:

How Fargogians try to keep warm; three giant hot tubs dominated the hotel's "fitness center":

Retirement

I realized recently that I have neglected to blog about this important upcoming change in my life, so here it is. As of February 27th, I will be retiring from my post at MIT and will become a full-time stay-at-home mom.

I'm excited about this transition and the upcoming time I'll have with Frankie while we get ready for the new little man to enter our lives. I'd been working 2-3 days/week for the last 9 months, and have found it increasingly difficult to want to leave Frankie, and to keep up with my job in a way that makes me feel I'm being effective and productive. I feel that it can be really hard trying to do both roles (work part time and be a stay-at-home mom part time) - I would end up feeling that I wasn't accomplishing either role in my life well. It seemed like in both roles I would have enough time to catch up, but not enough time to spend on the "extras" that I enjoyed.

I know that being home with Frankie (and little baby brother) is going to be challenging and exhausting in different ways, but I feel ready to embrace those challenges. I wasn't ready right after I had Frankie - I still wanted to work part time, and my program office at MIT has been wonderful in helping me accomplish that goal.

I know she's going to miss getting to go to Heather and Elizabeth's twice a week, and to Sarah and Hannah's once a week, but I'm happy to get her all to myself 5 days a week.

Happy Birthday, Frankie!

Frankie is one today! We love our little girl so much, and are so thankful for her loving, deliberate spirit. We had a birthday party for her on Saturday, and it was a delight to see her light up and smile when everyone gathered around her to sing.

She was not so sure about her cupcake though:




Daddy was able to convince her later that cupcakes weren't so bad

Um, yes, Frankie does look a lot like Chris

She loves her new stroller and dolly

My big 1-year-old


Today we had two playdates (!) with Nathanael. We first saw him at Together in Motion, where Nonnie helped Frankie play with the fun balls and gym mats:

Here's what happened when Nathanael tried to join her on the pony at his house later that afternoon: (it's her birthday and she'll cry if she wants to)

Nonnie took us out to dinner at the All Star Sandwich bar, where Frankie ate french fries, steamed carrots, and some grilled cheese with avocado. Then she discovered the free oreos at the counter:


It's been an amazing year watching her grow and develop from a helpless infant to a toddler with opinions of her own that she is able to communicate to us. We thank God for her, and our prayer for her is that she will know the Lord Jesus Christ as her savior.

Here is a slide show of Frankie's past year. It's a little long, but I couldn't pick just one per month after I got started. We love you, Frankie!

Reverse Psychology

Matthew (my brother-in-law) sent me a hilarious talking card for my birthday that Frankie loves to play with. Every time you open it, Steve Carrell from the Office starts to talk about Reverse Psychology. Thanks for the toy for Frankie, Matthew!



In other newsy news, My mom's here! She got in yesterday, and will be here for the next 10 days for Frankie's birthday, and to give Chris and I a baby-free vacation next weekend. We're heading to Burlington, VT (home of the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory) for a weekend of doing what we want when we want instead of having to wait for brief periods between naps and meals to go out. And sleeping in if we want! It's so great to have to help here at home.