Francis Thanksgiving

Getting together for holidays takes a bit of choreography now that the kids and our significant others' families are scattered throughout the country. So this year the Francis family gathered a week and a half before Thanksgiving, at Doug and Kim's house in Columbus, to celebrate Turkey day. We got all the fun of the holiday gathering, without the crowded and expensive travel arrangements. This trip marked Harper's second round trip flight in as many months. It also marked her first stay at a hotel (patting myself on the back for the brilliant room redecoration I did to turn the well-lit, cheery-wood business desk into a well-lit, cherry-wood changing station). Since the weather was so great, we even got to spend a day outside at the Columbus Zoo. And cousin Logan had a big audience - and a pool to himself - to display his jumping abilities. Here is an album from the weekend's adventures.

Paternity Leave

Two peas in a pod. That is what Daniel and Harper became during Daniel's paternity leave. Those two were on adventures just about every day, visiting parks, taking walks, running errands, snoozing on the couch, wearing ridiculous outfits, you name it. And since Daniel sent me photos at work every day, we have a lot of the adventures on camera. Here are just a few of them - you can imagine how much these brightened my day when they came through my inbox with witty captions.

Halloween

Halloween for us this year lasted an entire week, basically because Harper had so many Halloween outfits. Our celebrations for Halloween included my office party and strolling along East Capitol for the famous Halloween decorations the Hill folks provide. And amidst all the fun, Daniel and I were even able to get swine flu shots. Below is a one-pic-per-Halloween-clothing-item gallery; for complete coverage of Harper's first Halloween, check out my Halloween Facebook album here.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

Back to work I go. This post is significantly more up-beat being written today - day eight of being back at work - than it would have been the night before I went back. Or any of the days/weeks leading up to me going back. Since I'm now much much shorter on time to blog, I'll briefly recap this "back to work" experience in list format.

1. At lunchtime on my first day back at work, I hit the milestone of the longest I had been apart from Harper. Between July 20 and Oct. 20, the longest I had been away from my girl was three hours. Talk about an adjustment. Luckily I have a wonderful mom-colleague who took me to lunch, which provided a needed distraction as the milestone rolled around.

2. My work team is made up of the nicest people imaginable. To welcome me back they decorated my office, put a Welcome Back sign on my door, and had flowers and homemade chocolate chip cookies on my desk. And they stopped by as a group in the morning as a welcome wagon. That made my first day start off so much better than I was afraid it would.

3. Sometime during week two I finally worked back up to the point where I felt I could safely wear mascara.

4. Finding a silver lining in the situation, it is nice to be able to eat and use the bathroom whenever I want, without worrying about the safety/happiness of my munchkin. And I'm now back in the habit of taking a shower every single day. ;-)

5. Starting back to work with Harper in "daddy daycare" has been fantastic. Daniel sends me photos and audio files from their adventures every day, and the two of them have become the biggest of buddies.

Here are a few photos of our adventures my last day of maternity leave and my first day back at the office.

Last day of maternity leave, watching the dogs at the park.



My office, first day back.


Harper nap time after my first day back at work.

Homeward Bound

In early October, the three DC Ballards trekked back to the Midwest/South on our first big family trip. For a full week we visited relatives and introduced Harper to Daniel's and my hometowns. And it was a fun and busy week! Below is a slideshow/album photo-documenting the entire trip (about 100 shots per city; be forewarned); and below that is a recap of the week's events.



First order of business was Harper's first plane ride. And she was a trooper. Ate on the way up, slept most of the flight, was an angel when she was awake, ate on the way down, then fell asleep as we taxied to the gate. Couldn't ask for anything more. We flew my fave airline, Southwest, and Harper of course made friends with the flight attendants. She even got little Southwest wings.

We flew into St. Louis, picked up baby gear from my mom and sister (thanks, guys!) and headed to Owensboro. Harper was excited to finally meet her Granddad. (NOTE: all four grandparents now have unique names and spellings! Granddad is Dave Ballard. MaMaw (first syllable A sounds like MAP) is Kay Ballard. PawPaw is Terry Francis. MawMaw (first syllable A sounds like LAW) is Karen Francis. Got it?) Harper also met Aunt Rachel and Uncle Evan, though they weren't too thrilled to meet her, the little attention-grabber that she is! Harper got to meet her only living Great-Grandparents, her Great Aunt Elaine, tour the Ballard Estate and Gardens (as I like to call it), and in general get some fresh country air. It was a fun few days!

Next we packed up the car and headed back to St. Louis. Harper met all sorts of relatives, including Uncle Luke, Great Aunt Denise and GUS (Great Uncle Steve), Great Aunt Kathy and Great Uncle Kenny, my cousin Dani and little girl Lily, Great Aunt Vicky and great-Great Aunt Nellie. She also made her first trip to the Hill in St. Louis (the Italian neighborhood) to eat at Favazza's. It was more great family time!

After a full week, we headed back home to Washington with a few new fall outfits, a few hundred (seriously) photos and a whole bunch of memories of our first family trip.

Well Baby 2 Months

On Friday Harper went in for her two-month well-baby visit. Once again she was a little angel, smiling at and talking to the nurse and the doctor. They were very impressed with her social smiles and chattering! This little girl is growing like a weed. She is now 23.5 inches tall (she was 20 at birth) and weighs 11 lbs 12 oz (she was 7 lbs 7 oz at birth). That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 90th for height. And this time mommy wasn't quite as traumatized when she got her shots, and yet again Harper cried for about three seconds. A great visit! Fingers crossed we're not back in there until her next well-baby visit at four months. To help keep it that way, Daniel and I got our flu shots yesterday - bringing our family total of vaccinations to five over the course of two days ... not too shabby!





Vital stats at 10 weeks: 11 lbs 12 oz. 23.5 inches tall.

Harrisburg

We kicked off October by venturing north to the Pennsylvania capital to visit my Aunt Wendy and Uncle Pete, who are now officially our closest relatives. Some key points from the trip: it was Harper's third state, the farthest she's been from home, she was on her first outdoor swing, and she had her diaper changed on the floor of the bathroom of an Italian restaurant (mommy had to make do ... and used lots and lots of paper towels as a buffer between the changing pad and the floor). We're looking forward to seeing lots more of the Stratils now that we're back on the same coast! We had such a fun time with them -- yahoo for adopted nearby grandparents!