The Francis Family: It has been too long....

So, our laptop pooped out on us and therefore my uploading/posting has become more difficult. Yes, our PC is available to upload pictures(which I just realized), but it just isn't as quick as the good ol' laptop. We need to talk to our IT dept (Jeff Reed) to see when he is available to take a look at it! Please! Sorry my faithful readers, I have had some requests and threats to get pictures up ASAP. I guess I spoiled you with the constant updating.

So anyways...what have we been up to!

Easter was great! We went up to see my folks on Friday. Thankfully, Mark had a 1/2 day so by the time he came home and showered we got up to Aurora around 5:30pm or so. We just saw my parents on Friday night and then saw Joe/Amy/Joey and Brian/Jen on Saturday. Unfortunately Caden starting feeling sick Friday night when we tried to lay him down and the rest of the evening was a nightmare. I guess after 8 1/2 months for him to just be getting sick now is pretty good. He only wanted mommy which made the weekend very challenging and tiring. Come to find out on Monday that he had an ear infection and was put on antibiotics.

Saturday night we went to Joe/Amy's house to celebrate Amy's 30th birthday! Happy Birthday Amy! And we surprised or should I say we shocked them all when Caden announced that we are expecting number 2!!! Yes, that is another reason I have not been blogging, but I will get back to that.

Sunday we went to church and thankfully my mom was a eucharistic minister so we had preferred seating our else we would be S.O.L in S.R.O. (standing room only) After church we rushed back to the house and had a fantastic meal as always. Guests included my Aunt Mary/Uncle Tom and cousins Matt (and girlfriend Dunya), Rosemarie, Theresa and JuliAnn, Brian's mom, Dad & sister with her fiancee. Kathy, Mike and Jim Foley (Kelly's family), and of course all of our crew. It was great to see everyone and they haven't seen Caden in awhile so that was especially nice. Too bad he wasn't feeling a little better. The commotion from all the people kind of took his mind off of not feeling well. After the late lunch we headed back to Troy and got back before dark. Thanks to my parents for another fantastic weekend and for helping out when Caden was not feeling well (ie. late night trip to wal-mart for baby medicine).

The weekend of April 17/18/19 Mark was up in Cleveland for Hemo's bachelor party. Caden and I stayed back to relax here in Troy. They had a great time and even stayed with my family on Friday night. They went for a tour of the Cleveland Brown's stadium on Friday, then had dinner at my parent's house and the "JL" taxi took them to an Aurora bar and then picked them up. Yes, JL is ...my dad! Unbelieveable service! On Saturday they met up with the rest of the guys and played whirly ball (combo of bumper cars with Jai alai scoops) and then downtown for other "bach party" activities. Great time was had by all.

I unfortunately was a little bit bored here without Mark around. But the weather was great so we were out in the yard and took lots of walks and visits to our neighbors house.

Last weekend we went down to visit Dan/Natalie Schlater and their two girls in Louisville,KY. It was the 2nd Annual Day at the Track (or something). We stayed with them on Friday and went out to dinner then came back and hung out with the girls (Kristin and Kayla) a little bit. They are hilarious! And I think Kristin, the almost 3 yr old, can walk in high heels better than I can! Ok, they were Dora heels or something like that, but still! I really think she could be on the swing all day...it is no wonder Natalie is in such good shape, she is busy with those two little girls. Talk about busy-bodies! whew! Mark ran a 1/2 marathon in Louisville on Sat morning (to prepare for the Columbus marathon this weekend) and then we showered and met the group down by the track. Churchill Downs is pretty amazing. I have never been to a horse race, much less bet on a horse race...so we had fun. If only I could have had a mint julep! The stands were pretty empty but we still saw a lot of people that should probably have cut their losses and went home. Yikes. I can see how they wrap you in! Mark and I did not win any money. After the races, we went back to the hotel and then out to Wick's for great pizza and then to O'Sheas Irish pub for drinks and dancing. Well, only Jeff Francis and Mark danced, oh and Natalie's friends. Late night, great night. But so sleepy the next day! And why do the bars have to be open until 4:30am? No, I didn't make it out that late, we crashed around 2am. Thank you Natalie and Dan for your hospitality and thank you Dave and Clarice for watching Caden.

So on to the big news! I thought I would get through all the other stuff before I gave you the baby update...just making sure you are reading the whole thing.

Baby Number 2 is due on November 10

I am 12 Weeks along and feeling much better now. I was not sick with Caden, but had some nausea with this one. There was about 2 weeks in the first trimester where I couldn't find a single item of food that sounded good. Therefore it was hard for me to cook dinner as well! On top of that, I think I have been a little moody and ran into an allergy issue conveniently right when Caden was sick. That week after Easter he and I were both not feeling well...made for a long, long week. Mark managed to make it through and give us some sympathy and even made dinner a few times. We are so excited and cannot wait. The kids will be 15 months apart which was a little crazy to wrap my head around at first, but hey we won't have to put the baby stuff away! Our families were definitely shocked but so excited! Caden announced it too my family in a little onesie that I made that says "I am going to be a big brother!" Can you imagine that I had a hard time finding a 9 month onesie that said "big brother"...because not many mom's are having number two so soon. Oh well. It is already crazy around here, what's one more!

So as far as a Caden update. Caden is crawling like a crazy man and getting into everything he can. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to open the cabinets or climb the stairs. But the tv stand is one of his fave places...he enjoys emptying out all the movies on to the carpet. He loves to chase Nia around the house and laughs hysterically when I chase after him. He does not have any teeth yet, and is still drooling like crazy. One day. He pulls himself up onto anything he can and when he wakes up in his crib we find him standing there with his mouth on the railing. We go to the Dr next week for his 9 month checkup. I cannot believe our little baby is soon to be a little boy. He has brought so much joy to our lives, we cannot imagine life without him. (I am sure Nia can!) He is so much fun and loves to smile. He hasn't started with any words that we can decipher, but has definitely changed his babbling noises so that they sound more like "ba" and "da" and "ma". So who knows...maybe a "mama" or "dada" is just around the corner!