Frances, you have completed our family. You round us out in such a beautiful, fulfilled way. Your first year with us has been filled with such joy. Of course, there have been trying times as any first year has but overall you have been our easiest baby and our best sleeper.
You started your life being the easiest little baby. You would lay in your pack-n-play and sleep peacefully, sometimes for several hours in a row! This type of baby behavior was new to us! I constantly kept checking to make sure you were breathing and Conor, more than once, asked "Meg, is she ok? Is there something wrong with her?" And I would answer him, "I don't think so. I think this is why people love babies so much. I think this is what most babies do." "Huh" he would answer and then watch you breathe a few times and then look at me with a "I guess I'll trust you that there isn't anything wrong" haha! Your peaceful behavior was so foreign to us we almost couldn't enjoy it because we were worried about why you weren't screaming at us needing to be held/rock/swung/etc. But unfortunately, your peaceful baby behavior and normal sleeping habits soon faded into what we were more familiar with and you were up all night demanding to nurse and be held. Of course, we were disappointed when you turned into a regular Gorham baby instead of a baby that is content by themselves for short amounts of time and sleeps long enough for at least one cycle of REM. However, during your waking hours you were always so full of love. Your little face would look up at me and your smile and your eyes would beam at me, saying, "I just LOVE you so much." Woody was very full of love but also very busy and independent. Tohi had such a hard first year. I know there are pictures of her smiling but all I remember is so much crying. But you, your first year was so full of happiness. I remember telling Conor, that you just look at me with such love. Your eyes, your face, your little body is just humming with love and light. Your energy is so joyful and happy and content. Your smile is big and bright and you laugh easy and often. You are a get-a-long girl; genuinely happy and excited for all things that life is showing you.
Life with you as a 1 year old:
Elwood and Tohi just adore you. Elwood wants to hold you and play with you all the time. Tohi loves you very much. . . sometimes a little too much. The hugs get a little long and intense. Other times she is just blatantly too rough with you. We hear you cry out and then we hear Tohi say, "Just a yittle pinch" or just the other morning Dad found you laying on the ground crying and Tohi standing over you and he asked her if she pushed you and she said, "No, I just do dis." And then she took a wide stance and her chubby little arms showed us rapid fire punches in front of her chest. "Ummm, ok. Well, don't do that again please." responded Dad as he scooped an unharmed you up while hiding a laugh. You are a tough little girl that's for sure. You strongly hold your own when Tohi tries to take a toy from you. You know a poor trade when Tohi tries to offer you a broken car for the baby you have. You hang on tight and walk away. You are very sweet and get-a-long but you are not a push over to the power of Tohi. Elwood is nuts for you. He loves when you want to cuddle on the couch and holds you and rubs your belly. Woody is old enough to understand how to play with you and most of the time you two are the most adorable pals together. Occasionally, he wrestles you a little hard but you seem to enjoy it. It's me that yells at him to "be more gentle! She's just a baby!" as you squeal in delight at whatever juijitsu hold he has you in.
You started walking at 11 months (our latest walker of the kids!) and you were so adorable. Arms up, face so happy, just waiting to fall into my arms with such joy. You crawled/walked for a few weeks and then about a week before your first birthday, you completely committed to walking and never looked back.
Your hair seems to be getting blonder but you hung onto a darker blond/light red color until very recently. In some light, you still have an auburn color underneath the more increasingly blond hair coming in. Your eyes are blue, very similar to Tohi's. You have four top teeth and two bottom; and with your near constant smiling we see those cute teeth often. Your nicknames include Frankie, Frank the Tank, Frankie Fern, The bean, little beanie, and Frank
You are a great eater. You regularly out eat both the other kids at meals. I think I would say your favorite food is blueberries. You've only had frozen ones though. You get so excited when you see me take the bag out of the freezer. You yell and run towards me and then run towards your high chair. It's adorable.
You love coconut milk and almond milk and take a bottle after both naps and before bed. You take a bottle somewhere between 3-4am and then you come into bed with us between 4-5am. You have a nurse and a snuggle and sometimes you fall back asleep and sometimes we get up and start our day. You are, by far, our best sleeper. Which really isn't saying much considering the how horrible the first two kids slept their first years of life. We had a few moments of me feeling like a crazy, worn out zombie but we did some gentle sleep training and you responded well each time. You are unbelievably easy to put to bed, which is my first time experiencing this. It's so so so lovely. We go up and have a snuggle and a song and then I put you to bed awake and you do not scream at me. It's so so so lovely. It's peaceful and lovely and life changingly different than my experiences with the other kids.
You love birds and you make all these excited and happy noises when the birds fly around the house. If you hear the wild parrots squawking about, you run out to the porch and push your sweet face against the railing and search the sky to see them fly by.
You love to swim in the ocean. Lately you've been very brave and a bit dangerous; confidently trying to make your way out to where Tohi and Woody are playing. I hold your little hands and help you out deep and you kick your legs about and squeal in delight as if to say, "look at us, friends! Just three big kids swimming around, having a blast!!"
You give big hugs and sweet kisses on the lips. The hugs are the best. You wrap your little arms around my neck and press your cheek against mine and we just hold each other. I just love it. Occasionally if we ask for a kiss and you don't feel like giving one, you will bow your forehead towards us to let us kiss you. It's so funny.
You are a wrestle boo. You love to throw yourself around a bed or a couch and get tickled and wrestled. You smash your little face into the pillows and roll around with sheer delight on your sweet little face.
You love music. As soon as we turn it on, you make eye contact with me, your face lights up, and you start a little rocking dance. It's just the most adorable thing to see. You dance around and make little happy sounds. You have just started copying one of Tohi's dance moves and you both pump your fists up and down with such delight its contagious. It's now every body's favorite dance move.
You love being sung silly songs and you especially enjoy "Pony Girl." Although you rarely get to get a "ride" by yourself. When Tohi hears the song, she comes running and its quickly changed to "Pony Girls, Pony Girls" but you don't seem to mind the extra "rider" on Mom's lap.
Frances, you truly radiate love and happiness from your very core. Your little energy is so easy and happy and FUN. You are just the best. We are all so crazy for you and we tell you all the time. You have filled our lives with such JOY. Happy First Year, Frances Fernweh.
You started your life being the easiest little baby. You would lay in your pack-n-play and sleep peacefully, sometimes for several hours in a row! This type of baby behavior was new to us! I constantly kept checking to make sure you were breathing and Conor, more than once, asked "Meg, is she ok? Is there something wrong with her?" And I would answer him, "I don't think so. I think this is why people love babies so much. I think this is what most babies do." "Huh" he would answer and then watch you breathe a few times and then look at me with a "I guess I'll trust you that there isn't anything wrong" haha! Your peaceful behavior was so foreign to us we almost couldn't enjoy it because we were worried about why you weren't screaming at us needing to be held/rock/swung/etc. But unfortunately, your peaceful baby behavior and normal sleeping habits soon faded into what we were more familiar with and you were up all night demanding to nurse and be held. Of course, we were disappointed when you turned into a regular Gorham baby instead of a baby that is content by themselves for short amounts of time and sleeps long enough for at least one cycle of REM. However, during your waking hours you were always so full of love. Your little face would look up at me and your smile and your eyes would beam at me, saying, "I just LOVE you so much." Woody was very full of love but also very busy and independent. Tohi had such a hard first year. I know there are pictures of her smiling but all I remember is so much crying. But you, your first year was so full of happiness. I remember telling Conor, that you just look at me with such love. Your eyes, your face, your little body is just humming with love and light. Your energy is so joyful and happy and content. Your smile is big and bright and you laugh easy and often. You are a get-a-long girl; genuinely happy and excited for all things that life is showing you.
Life with you as a 1 year old:
Elwood and Tohi just adore you. Elwood wants to hold you and play with you all the time. Tohi loves you very much. . . sometimes a little too much. The hugs get a little long and intense. Other times she is just blatantly too rough with you. We hear you cry out and then we hear Tohi say, "Just a yittle pinch" or just the other morning Dad found you laying on the ground crying and Tohi standing over you and he asked her if she pushed you and she said, "No, I just do dis." And then she took a wide stance and her chubby little arms showed us rapid fire punches in front of her chest. "Ummm, ok. Well, don't do that again please." responded Dad as he scooped an unharmed you up while hiding a laugh. You are a tough little girl that's for sure. You strongly hold your own when Tohi tries to take a toy from you. You know a poor trade when Tohi tries to offer you a broken car for the baby you have. You hang on tight and walk away. You are very sweet and get-a-long but you are not a push over to the power of Tohi. Elwood is nuts for you. He loves when you want to cuddle on the couch and holds you and rubs your belly. Woody is old enough to understand how to play with you and most of the time you two are the most adorable pals together. Occasionally, he wrestles you a little hard but you seem to enjoy it. It's me that yells at him to "be more gentle! She's just a baby!" as you squeal in delight at whatever juijitsu hold he has you in.
You started walking at 11 months (our latest walker of the kids!) and you were so adorable. Arms up, face so happy, just waiting to fall into my arms with such joy. You crawled/walked for a few weeks and then about a week before your first birthday, you completely committed to walking and never looked back.
Your hair seems to be getting blonder but you hung onto a darker blond/light red color until very recently. In some light, you still have an auburn color underneath the more increasingly blond hair coming in. Your eyes are blue, very similar to Tohi's. You have four top teeth and two bottom; and with your near constant smiling we see those cute teeth often. Your nicknames include Frankie, Frank the Tank, Frankie Fern, The bean, little beanie, and Frank
You are a great eater. You regularly out eat both the other kids at meals. I think I would say your favorite food is blueberries. You've only had frozen ones though. You get so excited when you see me take the bag out of the freezer. You yell and run towards me and then run towards your high chair. It's adorable.
You love coconut milk and almond milk and take a bottle after both naps and before bed. You take a bottle somewhere between 3-4am and then you come into bed with us between 4-5am. You have a nurse and a snuggle and sometimes you fall back asleep and sometimes we get up and start our day. You are, by far, our best sleeper. Which really isn't saying much considering the how horrible the first two kids slept their first years of life. We had a few moments of me feeling like a crazy, worn out zombie but we did some gentle sleep training and you responded well each time. You are unbelievably easy to put to bed, which is my first time experiencing this. It's so so so lovely. We go up and have a snuggle and a song and then I put you to bed awake and you do not scream at me. It's so so so lovely. It's peaceful and lovely and life changingly different than my experiences with the other kids.
You love birds and you make all these excited and happy noises when the birds fly around the house. If you hear the wild parrots squawking about, you run out to the porch and push your sweet face against the railing and search the sky to see them fly by.
You love to swim in the ocean. Lately you've been very brave and a bit dangerous; confidently trying to make your way out to where Tohi and Woody are playing. I hold your little hands and help you out deep and you kick your legs about and squeal in delight as if to say, "look at us, friends! Just three big kids swimming around, having a blast!!"
You give big hugs and sweet kisses on the lips. The hugs are the best. You wrap your little arms around my neck and press your cheek against mine and we just hold each other. I just love it. Occasionally if we ask for a kiss and you don't feel like giving one, you will bow your forehead towards us to let us kiss you. It's so funny.
You are a wrestle boo. You love to throw yourself around a bed or a couch and get tickled and wrestled. You smash your little face into the pillows and roll around with sheer delight on your sweet little face.
You love music. As soon as we turn it on, you make eye contact with me, your face lights up, and you start a little rocking dance. It's just the most adorable thing to see. You dance around and make little happy sounds. You have just started copying one of Tohi's dance moves and you both pump your fists up and down with such delight its contagious. It's now every body's favorite dance move.
You love being sung silly songs and you especially enjoy "Pony Girl." Although you rarely get to get a "ride" by yourself. When Tohi hears the song, she comes running and its quickly changed to "Pony Girls, Pony Girls" but you don't seem to mind the extra "rider" on Mom's lap.
Frances, you truly radiate love and happiness from your very core. Your little energy is so easy and happy and FUN. You are just the best. We are all so crazy for you and we tell you all the time. You have filled our lives with such JOY. Happy First Year, Frances Fernweh.
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