What a Crazy Day

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We had quite a day! A Halloween Party at playgroup, shots at the doctors office, visits with friends and family, I gave in and got an iPhone, Aunt Kat came by to visit, Uncle Jerry came over for dinner and we topped it all off with a 5.6 earthquake!

Calm before the storm... Dad snuck this picture of Francie and I sleeping this morning (she feel asleep in between us after waking up at 7am to eat and play)

We had a good morning together and Francie got to put on her little piggy costume, here she is in her bouncy while I got ready to head out of the house

She slept right through most of the Halloween Party with all the babies at playgroup (actually called the Stanford Mom's Group since these babies don't really play yet:)

Then we met our friends Nancy, Joe and Whitney Wallace at the park for a visit... Joe is so cute! (Whitney was sleeping in the car)

He was a sheriff today and showed me how to stand on one foot

Nancy meets Baby Francie

After lunch we walked across the steet to Dr. Cisco's new office for Francie's 6-week appointment

In Doctor Cisco's office... Francie weighed in at 10 pounds 10 ounces and 23 inches long

We weren't smiling for too long... she had FOUR shots today :(

Even though she got a sticker she was still not happy after those shots and was a little out of sorts for the rest of the day

Uncle Jerry came over in the afternoon and stayed to help update our computers with iLife 08 so I can have even more fun with my billions of pictures and we can finally download the video from our HD video cam that wasn't compatible with old versions of Mac software, and he set up my new iPhone. He stayed for dinner too and was here for the 5.6 earthquake! (Heff was lamenting that we shouldn't have left the 4-wheeler in Red Bluff in case there were bigger aftershocks and we needed to "get out of town"... oh my crazy husband)

Francie Hanging Out in Red Bluff

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Francie has been having a great time in Red Bluff with her Oma and Opa. I have had lots of time to relax and play our new favorite game "Ticket to Ride" and some Scrabble too. Oma and Cathleen have been cooking up gourmet meals and Claire taught me how to make homemade "No Kneed Bread," really yummy and so easy! We made a few trips into town for the finishing touches on our Halloween costumes (is that a hint? :) We're heading back to Menlo Park today!

"What are you looking at?" (Mom thinks it's funny to put me in Ellie & Kate's doll stroller, I'll get back at you for this!)

Playing with cousin Ronan again in our matching outfits

Happy Baby Ronan holding his cousins hand :)

No love for the camera Francie (she must still be mad I put her in the doll stroller)

A competitive Ticket to Ride game between the girls out on the sun porch, the weather has been hot!

Glad to have Dad back too!

Francie Goes to the Movies in Red Bluff

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We are up in Red Bluff for the weekend, Francie and I are hanging out with Claire and Tom, Cathleen, Margaret and Baby Ronan while Heff is out looking for an unsuspecting deer to find it's way into our freezer. He stays out at the "deer cabin" on Greg Weber's family ranch so Francie and I are without him for two nights! Good thing we have Oma to help :) The girls all went to a movie on Saturday, "Dan in Real Life"... it was very cute and Francie liked it so much she slept through the whole movie. She is dressed up (above) in an outift from Aunt Francy for her first time to the movies.

Later in the afternoon watching the sun go down thinking about Dad out there in the hills! (Francie is in an outfit Auntie Baby Ann brought home from Nashville...)

Playing with Cousin Ronan before dinner... he's so big!
(Francie 5 1/2 weeks ~ Ronan 5 1/2 months)

A Typical Night for Francie

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Most nights, if we make dinner at home, we walk down to our neighborhood "Willow Market" for groceries and wine. Heff tried Francie in the "dad sling" I bought since the other carriers are all a little girly. Francie wasn't so sure she was ready for this mode of transportation yet...

That would be a NO

Get me out of here!

So we bundled her up for a walk in the stroller instead... She's still mad about the sling incident :)

Mom and the bundle

Aunt Kat and Uncle Mark came to join us for dinner too

Aunt Kat kept Francie happy during dinner by giving her the "Binky Friend" (a kind of creepy soothie binky attatched to a stuffed animal)

Our night time routine (not that we are organized enough to have a routine yet, but the usual things we do with Francie)...

Mom plays on the couch

Then Dad reads a bedtime book for Francie!

Francie is Making New Friends!

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Francie is certainly making new friends in the Mommy/Baby Playgroup circuit! We've been to Day One in Palo Alto for a 0-6 month baby group, to the Stanford Moms Group for 0-5 month old babies and we're going to try the "Blanket Babies" group for pre-crawlers tomorrow morning. Francie has met lots of cute babies... she's hoping for some BFF's but we'll have to see :) It is fun to talk to other new moms, although Jannie feels a little slighted when we have other plans! Francie is starting to smile at us (mostly at Dad, Jan and Auntie Ann... the books say they won't smile at Mom first because "mom means business"). Here she is with her first doll!

Almost a smile...

and a smirk!...

On our way out of the house, Francie is the one who means business in this picture

then she cracked a smile :)

Jannie assisting in an outfit of course... We can't meet new friends without a change of clothes!

This was my little "bubble suit" Jannie had saved, it won't fit Francie for much longer but she looks so cute in it!

We think her eyes are turning more blue... they were grey/blue when she was born but have become a lot more blue in the last few weeks. Heff has blue/green eyes and I have hazel eyes so a blue eyed baby girl wouldn't be out of the question but I never thought I'd have a blue eyed baby!

Dad home from work and his run greeting his baby girl!

Yummm... salty sweat :)

After a daddy diaper change and happy sleeping on her favorite spot

A Big Name for a Little Girl

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I thought I should post to explain Francie's name and how we decided on a big name for our little girl! Obviously I am a Mary and I have always loved my name. My grandmother, Jan's mom, was Mary Virginia (we all called her Marmar.) My other grandmother, my dad's mom, was Mary Jane. I have an Aunt Mary Elise (my moms little sister Mimi) and an Aunt Mary on my dad's side too. I have a great-Aunt Mary and lots of ancestors in the family tree. I didn't want to name my little girl after myself, or have the confusion of two people in the household with the same name... so we decided a "double first name" was a great way to carry on the "Mary" tradition and solve those problems.

Mary Regan and Mary Frances

Francie just got her "name shoes" from my mom's college friend Ginny... just like mine 29 years later!

Three generations of Marys before Francie... (my Aunt Mimi is going to kill me for this picture!) on the left is my grandmother Mary Virginia Sheehy Arnerich with my parents outside Stanford Hospital on the day they took me home from the hospital and on the right is Mary Elise Arnerich Kreeft or "Mimi" (only 16 years old when I was born!)

Frances is a name Heff and I both loved and is a family name on both sides too. Brian's grandmother Bernice Heffernan, who passed away in February, had a sister named Frances. My Great-grandfather, Jan's grandfather, was Gerald Francis and from what I have always heard was a great man and very loving father, husband and grandfather. He meant a lot to my mom. His mother's name was "Fanny M. McGovern" which we think was a nickname for Frances Mary. Then there is Aunt Francy! Brian's aunt (married to Tom's brother Bob) is one of our favorite people and always so much fun. We loved her name and when our Mary Frances was born Heff and I looked at her and said "She's a Francie!" (we spelled it with the "ie" to avoid the confusion of two Francy/ie Heffernans in the family.) Francy always wanted to play the "name game" when I was pregnant... it was especially hard to hold out and not tell her. We hope our Francie grows up to be just like her Aunt Francy!

Aunt Francy with her granddaughter Emily at the Heffernan Reunion this summer

Bernice Borchard Heffernan (Brian's paternal grandmother)

Borchard (pronounced "orchard" with a "B") was Brian's grandmother (Tom's mom) Bernice Heffernan's maiden name. The Borchards were farmers and early Santa Ana settlers and Tom is very proud to be a Borchard. We've had a chance to learn a lot about the Borchard family history spending some time in Southern California this year for Bernice's 91st Birthday celebration in January and then at her funeral in February where the Heffernans and the Borchards all gathered to celebrate her life.

The Tom Heffernans at Bernice's funeral in Newport Beach in February 2007 (we were a two months pregnant at the time with Francie but no one else knew it yet)

Lazy Sunday

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Heff took Francie downtown to Pete's Coffee early in the morning while I got to sleep in :) he even dressed her by himself... he realized afterwards this outfit is already a little small for her and said the "half shirt makes her look like a hussy." Francie is 9 lbs 12 ounces today at almost 5 weeks old, two pounds heavier than when she was born!

Sunday afternoon our good friends Janna and Erick came over with their adorable boys James and Wil...

My cute godson James doing a great job holding Francie

what's that?

Wil loves Sage!

Janna and Francie

Baby Francie finally meets her Auntie Baby Ann!

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Auntie Baby Ann was on Fall Break from Vanderbilt and home for a long weekend to meet her new niece. We are having so much fun hanging out with her, good thing she is a senior and she better be moving home next year :)

I love my Auntie Baby Ann!

We all went to our friends Tim and Cat Komo's wedding Saturday night...

The Heffs on our way to the wedding

Ann figuring out how to keep Francie happy in the carseat for the drive

The "Bill Simonsons" were in town for the weekend to meet Baby Francie... everyone was hanging out around the pizza oven Saturday night after the wedding

Cousin Sadie, Cousin Erin and Aunt Tere

James and Jimmy... The "James Simonsons" with Francie

Auntie Baby Ann and Christine with Francie

Go Vandy!

Happy Birthday Uncle James!

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Francie went to Izzy's Steak House in SF on Friday Night to celebrate her god-father's 28th birthday with the Simos.

Auntie Baby Ann is home! She and one of her roommates Christine arrived for a long weekend since it's Fall Break at Vanderbilt

She got a little mad when James' friend Bammer said this was his first time ever holding a baby (with his girlfriend Brooke who brought Francie the cutest outfit!)

Dad rocking her to sleep... it was so hot in the restaurant we had to take off Francie's Fancy-Pants

She fell fast asleep on the booth between mom and dad

Francie goes to Tea!

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For her One Month birthday Jannie and I took Mary Frances for her first trip to my favorite Tea Room in San Francisco, Lovejoys! We met our friends Molly Coogan and Mary Kane there (we missed Anne and Sarah and Barb this time!) Francie was an angel and let mom enjoy her tea sandwhiches and scones:) Happy Birthday Francie, this will be your first of many trips to Lovejoys for Tea!!

Getting ready to dress up for tea and playing with mom in the morning

The Ryan's stopped by to say hi after dinner!

Francie loves shopping!

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Ok, so this kid has a lot of clothes and I put her in new outfits all day long... my relatives think I'm crazy and I know I am, but it's so much fun! It doesn't help that I have Jannie to hang out with all day who just encourages it. I used to despise shopping (ask my sister Baby Ann how bad I am to shop with, she is the queen bee in that department) but for Francie I am out of control. Jannie and I put each other on a week long time-out from buying anything for her (starting tomorrow:) Here was her day Wednesday...

"Oh what am I going to wear today?..."

Cuddled up with me on the couch in the morning while I blog/email and check other people's blogs:) (at least I can say I don't online shop too much, besides being addicted to Amazon "Prime" with free overnight shipping, but I don't usually go there for clothes!)

Francie tried on her new "party dress" and bloomers, but decided she should wait for a bigger party day indoors

Getting ready for a trip to the shopping center in her polka dots

I wish I could wear something this comfortable out of the house!

Bundled up to go shopping, it's cold outside today

Jannie and Baby Francie ready for the fall weather

Francie's first time at the dressing rooms, with our friends Joy and Kelly, who met us at Stanford for lunch and some shopping

Kelly is going to be Francie's first non-family babysitter when we go to a wedding in a few weeks! She is great and loves Baby Francie... she and her mom Joy stayed at Janet's house last year for a few months while Kelly finished treatment after a Bone Marrow Transplant, she'd doing great and we love when they come back for visits!

The "Oldest Girls Club" we are all proud to be a part of and remind Kelly's mom often she and Baby Ann and Kelly's adorable little sister Shannon can't join! We were taking this picture in front of a giant pumpkin at the shopping center, (it's hidden behind us) but I realized looking at it now this is the spot where I met Heff! We were both there for a fundraiser, "Dreams Happen" and I poured him some wine in almost this exact spot... now we have this beautiful baby girl 2 years later!

"Is that what you are supposedto use my stroller for mom?!"

Back home relaxing in her comfy clothes waiting for Dad to come home from work and play!

Playing with a Silver Spoon in her mouth (almost!) from our good friend Gene Kates

She loves it!

Francie is 4 weeks old today!

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Francie wore a dress to celebrate :)

She loves her bathtime

we tell her to "wash her stinky toes!" since she likes to stick her feet in the running water

and finds her fingers/fist to suck on when she gets a bath

yummmm...

Her "splendid" dress matches Mom's and Jannie's much bigger t-shirt versions!

and her tights had cute ruffle on the bum... they were a little loose on her chicken legs

Francie just Chillin' with the Heffs

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The Heffernans! Everybody celebrating after the runners crossed the finish line in the San Jose Half Marathon Sunday morning.. good job Kat, Maureen and Brian! (This is almost the whole clan, just missing Doug, Maureen's husband, who was working hard in SLC saving lives and such:)

Isabel getting smooches from Aunt Maureen

The Guncles! Jannie loves having her brothers around... Uncle Jerry and Uncle John came for lunch Sunday too. (That's Great-Uncle Jerry and John to Francie) It was Uncle Jerry's first time to meet the Heffernans!

UJ and Francie-pants

Mary enjoying the sun while Francie snoozes in the pram

Silly cousin Ellie :) She has lots to teach the little ones!

Sisters with their neices

Heff and Francie with the Uncles Jerry and John

Uncle Mark looks like a GIANT next to the littles

Oma & Opa with Baby Francie. We're so lucky we get to see Claire and Tom so often... this was Oma's 4th time hanging out with Francie in her three and a half weeks of life! Thanks for putting all those miles on the road for us Oma and Opa too!

Getting her snuggle time in with Oma!

Uncle John opening the champagne with the "card shark" burp cloth Jannie made for when the uncles visit

Sleeping through the festivities

Ever seen Heff look short!?! (his 6' 5" can't compete with his brothers 6'9")
Claire and Tom with their offspring... Brian, Mark and Craig; Katherine, Tom, Claire and Maureen

Mare and Heff

Working on their football pools until Big Sister Jannie butts in

She's so entertaining...

Aunt Kat painted the kiddies toes (including Ellie's friend Elijah!) We always ask baby Kate who painted her toes and before she had much of a vocabulary she would sign "Cat" making whisker motions on her cheek :) It was soo cute.

Andrea and Isabel, Aunt Kat and Francie

Tuckered out:) This is a HORRIBLE picture of Heff and me but someone must have snuck the picture with my camera because it just showed up on my last download... we were so tired after five fun days with family we both fell asleep on the couch at the Johnets Sunday afternoon before a yummy "finale" dinner at Mark and Sarah's house. Francie is tucked in between us, she's so much fun to snuggle with!

Francie's First Pumpkin Patch

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Saturday morning we headed out to Webb Ranch for Francie's first Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had the whole Heffernan crowd out to check out the pumpkins and pony rides. The lines were a little long for the pony rides but we had fun with the pumpkins and hay bales :) Francie had a few outfits to choose from for her first time to the Pumpkin Patch so this outting deserved it's own post (the rest of the Heffernan family weekend festivities on the next entry!)

Quick diaper change on the hay bales

Dad with his little pumpkin

Looks like she's mad at Mom...

Maybe because I made Dad put her in the pumpkins for a picture! (I couldn't resist, sorry Francie)

The new moms with their babies

Francie's pumpkin outfit from Jane Flynn

Ellie and Kate

The Heffs!

Pit-stop at the Dutch Goose for burgers and beers after the Pumpkin Patch

Kate slurping some spilled soda off the table, you can't let that go to waste if you're 2!

Francie says "Kate, that's kinda gross"

Smiling up at her Dad...

...and already sticking her tongue out at Mom for pictures!

Francie's Big Family Weekend

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We had the whole Heffernan clan in town this weekend! Brian, Maureen, and Katherine ran the San Jose Half Marathon Sunday and the rest of the crowd went as spectators to cheer them on. Claire and Tom had all 5 of their children in Menlo Oaks and for the first time all 4 grandbabies together in one place! It was a great opportunity for lots of pictures (not that I don't take any opportunity for lots of pictures:) Jan and John had a full house with everyroom occupied by Heffernans! We had great meals, outtings and time hanging out.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON****

Big Cousin Ellie (the first grandchild... just like me:) meets Baby Francie at the park between our house and Katherine's house.

DAD!!

Heff relinquishing his daughter to his sister Maureen, he doesn't like to give her up!

All the kids back at our house to hang out before going to the Johnet's for dinner. Maureen's friend from SLC and her two boys came out with her (they drove with all four kids from Utah!) and our neighbors Owen and Emma came by to play too. The kids have "Francie suckers" from See's Candy that say "It's a Girl!"

Kate and her new "Binky Friend" from her cousin Francie (I saw these online and couldn't resist... they have little stuffed animals attached to the "soothie" binkies the Heffernan babies love)

My dad at home after dinner, Francie was sleeping in the bassinet while we ate and she started fussing a little so my dad said "I'll hold her"... this wasn't what I thought he meant by that!

FRIDAY****

Friday morning in a festive onesie from our friends Joy and Kelly

Francie and I were hanging out on the couch Friday morning and Heff had just walked in from a run, he left the front door open as the sun had come out after some rain and all of the sudden we heard a huge cracking sound. I thought it was thunder but couldn't figure out why it was sunny outside... Heff quickly realized it was a tree falling next to our house and GRABBED my by the shoulders with Francie in my arms, he pulled us under the door frame. Luckily the tree fell in our neighbors yard and missed their house by inches. We had the police out in no time and the city came to take care of the tree. It was pretty scary!

Friday night dinner at our house and Cousin Isabel arrives!

Craig with his baby Isabel and Uncle Mark with Francie...

Aunt Sarah and Isabel

Aunt Kat and baby Isabel

The babies...

Grandpa and Francie

Opa reading to Kate

Hanging out after dinner

Sleeping on Oma

SATURDAY***

Heading over to the Johnet's for Grandpa John's famous breakfast

Sleeping outside with Opa

The Heffernan Grandbaby-girls pose with their Oma and Opa

Francie making Oma and Opa laugh at her smile :)

Comparing their "mitts" who is cursed with bigger hands?!

Watching football on the couch with Dad while the girls are busy fixing dinner at Jannie and Grandpa Johns

Uncle James and Aunt Em came by on their way to dinner to see their favorite baby Francie! Em brought Francie another adorable outfit... they sure spoil her!!

Sleeping soundly

Priness Sophie (Jannie's "old" baby) has been feeling neglected since Baby Francie arrived and Jannie is over at HER house all the time... she found a new friend on Ann's bed and we found her snuggled up with it last night. This wasn't set up!

The nursing mothers

The cousins! Francie and Isabel will have lots of fun growing up so close in age, here is their first time hanging out together...

Francie punched her cousin Isabel in the eye... She better watch out, Isabel has a few weeks and a few pounds on Francie!

Aunt Kat made a yummy carrot cake to celebrate Tom's upcoming birthday

Happy Birthday Opa!

Francie's First Playdate

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Francie had a friend over Thursday! Melanie and her baby Noah, who we met in Bradley childbirth class, came over for lunch and a visit. Noah was born 2 weeks before Francie and made her look tiny! We had a nice afternoon visiting, and thank goodness Jannie stuck around to make us lunch, bring lemonade to the nursing mothers and treat us to cookies too :)

Worn out after her playdate

"What's with the flash again mom?!"