What he does best

Franklin is a pro at stealing hearts. I'm not entirely sure how to descibe what he's doing other than it is super cute. He chatters and talks his own language constantly, as if you know what he's saying, however he doesn't talk as if he's being serious and that you should understand him like I've seen a lot of toddlers do. The whole mouth, tongue, and eyebrows get into it too. He gives the whole personality all at once; that is if he isn't pretending to be shy at first.

He also believes he is very clever, especially when playing "Where's Franklin?" He'll use his blanket, or his hands and cover his eyes. When you "find" him he laughs as if he is the most clever boy in the world. He has smooth moves too, if you ask for a kiss he'll lean his head forward and let you kiss him on the head (he doesn't give as many slobbery, on the mouth kisses, but he does them every so often), and he loves to copy silly faces, especially if it has anything to do with the lips.

Nursery is great, and he's learning where it is, and what it means when he goes. He can't wait to get to nursery now! Our primary kids miss him, but it feels like we actually have full lessons now in class. We're still trying to find out what happened to naps since the time change. Its like he knows, and now its not just Sundays, its every day.

My sister, Greta, babysat Franklin for us on the Saturday before last so Stephen and I could attend the Temple. It's been ages since we've gone, mostly because I wasn't ready for a babysitter. It was a relief to have her watch him, and he enjoys his cousins. Greta's been urging us to go on more dates, and leave him with her more. He sure won them over, and now they can't get enough. Its the whole personality at work, I tell ya!

This last Saturday was very nice. Stephen says I've created a new V-day breakfast tradition: Crepes with strawberries, mmm, mmm, good. Franklin took his morning nap, as we watched a movie that we've had forever (and needed to go back to the store). We ate lunch, and immediately after I got sleepy. Stephen was great, he let me sleep, even though there were things we wanted to get out and do and Franklin woke up right after I went to sleep. When I did get up, we headed out because we wanted to see Bolt at the dollar theater. It was insane out on the roads anywhere near theaters, mall, and major stores. We bought our tickets, thought we'd take care of an errand, then thought better of it and turned back.

Franklin LOVED the movie. It was the best he sat through ever!! We really enjoyed it too, it was more commical than we expected. Toward the start of the movie Franklin though he wanted our soda, versus having his own drink. It was too heavy, and we weren't paying much attention till we both felt our legs getting wet. At least it was at the start of the movie so it had time to dry before we got out in the cold.

Just a little side information: Sunday before last we were told by our landlady that her roommates would be moving out by the following weekend. We were very surprised, and excited. I've lost lots of sleep on account of the noises from upstairs, and as a result my stress has been out of control, and I started getting migrains. I've never had them before, and I started to get really sick because of them. My doctor has given me something to help me sleep, but it seemed once we had that news my stress was back in check, and my pains were going away. On Thursday I heard a discussion from the mother and daughter upstairs, and decided to take Franklin out of the house so they could talk as loudly as they liked. Stephen and I agreed that the result of this conversation would be that they would not be moving out. The weekend came and went, and we have had some communication that now proves we were right. Ironnically my stress has gone up a little since, but now we know what my struggle is we are trying to keep it under control so that my pains won't return.

Sorry there are no pictures. Its not that we aren't taking them, I just don't always download them, so please be patient with me.

First born survey

1. Was your first pregnancy planned? Sort of, we had been trying for 21 months, but stopped because of the heartache, and decided to let the doctors find out why we weren't getting pregnant.

2. Were you married at the time? Yes


3. What were your reactions? In denial. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled, but not concinced I actually was pregnant


4. how old were you? 24


5. How did you find out you were pregnant? A specialist was going to start me on treatments, so they did a blood test to make sure I wasn't pregnant. Got a call the next day at work.


6. Who did you tell first? Stephen. Then my doctor. We waited a few weeks to tell family


7. Did you want to find out the gender? Even before I could wholly accept that I was pregnant I knew it was Franklin. Stephen was the one who needed convincing we were having a boy.


8. Due Date? August 18th, 2007


9. Did you have morning sickness? Did I ever!! I actually found out a few months ago there is a name for the sickness I had, hyperemisis. I lost 18 lbs. in the first 5 months


10. What did you crave? Nothing, I was thrilled if water stayed down. After the sickness was over I was happy to enjoy all food (still couldn't eat certian meats for months after he was born)


11. Who/What irritated you the most? The shaking from when I was so absolutely weak, and when I was ordered on bed rest for the last 7 weeks, which I didn't completely obey.


12. What was your first child's gender? Boy


13. Did you wish you had the opposite gender? Absolutely not, I knew it was Franklin specifically.


14. How many pounds did you gain? I gained back the 18, and then a few more.


15. Did you have a baby shower? Yes


16. Was it a surprise or did you know? I knew


17. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? I had pre-term labor on our 3rd anniversary, and was ordered on bed rest till he came, 7 weeks later.


18. Where did you give birth? Sierra Vista Regional


19. How many hours were you in labor? If you count early labor, which most women don't, 17 hours. I was at the hospital for only 5 hours from when I got there till when he was born.


20. Who drove you to the hospital? Stephen

21. Who watched you give birth? Stephen, my doctor, delivery nurse (who had actually been my school nurse back in middle school, so I knew her and she's friends with my mom) and about 5 others. Honestly, I don't know where 4 of those nurses came from; they just appeared right in the last 15 minutes before he was born.


22. Was it natural or c-section? natural

23. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? an epidural, but for most of the labor my catheter was pinched by my BP cuff cord. Then when Stephen located the problem they lowered my dose to almost nothing; said they wanted me to really experience it. Thanks a lot!!


24. How much did your child weigh? 6 pounds, 10 ounces

25. When was your child actually born? August 7th


26. What did you name your child? Franklin LaVor Quinn


27. How did the father react tot he new baby? Stephen was thrilled to finally hold his son in his arms.

28. Did you experience any post-partum depression or baby blues? not at all


29. Breast or bottle? Bottle, with pumped milk for 3 months. When Franklin finally figured out how to latch I got engorgement, then mastitis. He never latched after that, and I felt so guilty, and that it was my fault. Stephen helped me get over that. Hooray for formula!!


30. How old is your first-born today? He is 18 months, but sometimes is convinced he's already 2 (if you get what I mean)

What a big boy!

Yesterday was Franklin's first day in nursery! I was a little sad to think that he's grown up so much, so fast. However he had a great time in there and didn't miss us one bit. Maybe church will end up being more fun for him once he's caught on that he gets to go to nursery everytime. Of course it helped that they seperated the nursery into two; senior and junior. That means he's less likely to get pushed, or hit. The teachers told us that they just loved him. Franklin has that affect on everyone.

He's just growing up so fast, I guess he's ready to be a wonderful big brother to a little sister. That's right, we're having a girl! I can already tell that the two of them are going to just adore each other. However she is already extremely active, and highly emotional (meaning she's making mommy's emotions go everywhere). Her due date is still June 23rd, but we are convinced she will come sooner. We had our ultrasound on Friday and she looked very long, and is either getting ready to be an acrobat, or dancer. She's has definitely made her presence known, even though I think its too soon for her to be keeping me awake, and causing pain. I'm only 20 weeks, and I didn't feel this much from Franklin till the 3rd trimester.



Franklin and Rizzo are fast friends. They play together all the time, and have a great time! The other picture is of Franklin pushing the world. I'll have a video posted soon. If you didn't watch the 4 new videos I posted last week, make sure you get a chance. The caption at the top of my blog tells what is happening in each video. Inga, I hoped you listened well to the laughing one; I've told you many times he laughs like you!

Playground not always safe

With all the cold, and new fallen snow the only playground that Franklin can play at is at the University Mall playtree. There's a huge tree that has a deck and one slide. Off to the side are foam dinosaur bones children can climb all over, and run through. Franklin particularly likes the T-Rex head.


Last week I was able to take him there, not many kids on a weekday before 5. Most of the snow had melted so I thought soon he'd be able to play in the neighborhood playground again. Nope, we got lots of snow Sunday night, first snow fall since January 5th. So Stephen and I thought we could meet up at the mall after his last appointment and Franklin could play. Immediately when we got there he went for the T-Rex.

Unfortunately there was a 3 year old who thought he ruled that part of the playground, and as he was trying to block Franklin from getting in he was climbing on top of it, and pushed Franklin down with his feet. He kicked Franklin making him fall right onto the teeth. I told the boy its not nice to push, or kick, and he told me he didn't. There weren't very many parents around, but there were none near him so I didn't know who his parents were. So the rest of the time I had to do everything I could to convince Franklin not to play there. He did get interested in this huge stone that's made into a globe, and rotates in water. More like he was interested in the water, and wanted to drink it. Naturally I had to take him away, which he was upset over.

Our things were next to the T-Rex head, and as I'm cleaning his hands, and getting him some of his juice to drink that same little boy is seriously pushing over other kids. I stepped in when he completely knocked over a boy smaller than Franklin. Right then that smaller boys mother came over because other kids went to tell her. She thought the bully was mine, but after asking the boy where his mother was I went over to her to let her know what her child was doing. She seemed mad that I was bugging her. She told me she was watching him; which wasn't true because she either had a stroller blocking her view, or her mother who was holding a new born (I know this because I was sitting right next to this head, and I couldn't even see there was a woman sitting on the other side of that stroller).

She didn't call her boy over, didn't talk to him, nothing. The other mom came to me and said that she should have gone with me to talk about this boy being a bully, but I told her that it wouldn't have made a difference if she had, so don't worry. She then took her kids out of the playground. Sad that we couldn't just let our kids play. The mom of the bully finally acknowledged her son when he got mad at an older girl who was climbing on top of the head and he completely pushed her feet out from under her. Good thing she was bigger, and had a good grip or it could have been a disaster. He sat on the bench next to his mom the rest of the time.

These pictures are of the snow fall we had on Monday. Franklin finally got to play out in the snow. We'll take him sledding this weekend.

There are some new videos, so check them out below.