Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Happy Birthday Franny!

My Mom used to always call me on Franny's birthday and say, "Happy Mother's Day! This is your very own personal Mother's Day because it's the day you became a mother."

I was just sitting here thinking about the night we brought her home from the hospital. My parents and siblings arrived just before we were discharged and they came home with us. My parents were going to spend the night at my grandparents, but I guess they couldn't manage to pull away from their first granddaughter, because my Dad sat in Bobby's chair all night holding Franny. I kept waking up expecting that she would need to be fed- finally at about 2 or 3 in the morning, I walked downstairs and found my new baby, curled up in my Dad's arms and sleeping soundly. That kiddo has always loved her sleep. Tonight we were watching American Idol and fifteen minutes before bedtime she said, "Mom? I want to go to bed."

My mom used to talk about how I was her little buddy when I was Franny's age. She'd talk about how much she loved to be with me and listening to music with me in the car and taking me with her on errands. I know exactly what she was talking about now because I have that with Franny. I can only hope that I'll feel this strong connection with all my children as they start to get a little older and their distinctive personalities emerge, but I just know that Franny and I are going to be great friends.

I've learned so much from Franny. I've been trying to teach Franny for a while now that there are certain words I can say that she cannot. Some examples of these words are: sucks, stupid, Dang it!, Shoot!, What the crap?! Franny's been trying to teach me, in her own way, that if she can't say those words, then maybe Mommy shouldn't be either. Hmmm... she makes a good point. I'm working on it, and she's being very patient with me.

Franny loves to sing, and she's getting better. For a while there, we thought maybe she was going to take after me with her musical abilities. That would be very unfortunate. Check out her latest performance:



This year Franny wanted a Spidergirl birthday party. Most people don't even know there is a Spidergirl. As you can probably imagine, it's virtually impossible to find any Spidergirl party supplies. To further complicate my dilemna, Franny insists that our Spidergirl be the preschool version, with pigtails, like the figurine in her 3D memory game. (Which by the way is the only reason she knows who Spidergirl is in the first place.) I had to add pigtails to the only Spidergirl picture I could find. Jayne laughed when she saw the invitation and observed: "she's got boobs and pigtails!" She told me to post it on my blog, so here you go:

I had a very long list of kids I wanted to invite, and it kills me that we had to shave it down so much, but I wanted to keep it as close to 5 or 6 as possible. So we worked together and came up with a list of kids mostly from her classes at school. She is very excited. Me, too.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Franny.

25 comments:

molly said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THAT VIDEO!!! i am so happy and can't quit smiling. oh, sweetest franny. i loved loved loved that. and bobby wasn't too bad himself. love you guys

Sara said...

aww what a sweet post for franny! i didn't realize it was her bday already. wow -- you have a 5 yr old!
that spidergirl is so cute -- lol @ the boobs & pigtails :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to FRAnnY!! :)

The last Unicorn said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANNY! I love the video... Bobby is a great back up singer! :)

Sara said...

Happy birthday Franny!

Heidi said...

okay... that little Franny is ADORABLE with her singing! I love it!

Brendon said...

Happy Birthday, Franny!

You have been one busy mom: pinatas, cake, Spidergirl invitations, & blog posting to name only a few, I'm sure.

What a cute girl...we just love Franny! I can't believe she sang "cliche." Franny helped me understand all the words in the song better. And her forte and pianisimo was extremely well done.

I'll probably be watching that video again sometime soon.

Jessica said...

Love the boobs
Love the pig tail
Love Franny singing
Love Bobby being such a sweet dad
Miss you guys a ton
your video made my day...I'll probably hum Hercules the rest of the day :)

Ashley said...

Yay, time for the birthday song again! I love seeing that performance head on, she has the best facial expressions to go along with it. Sweet Franny, Happy Birthday! We love you!

Jane said...

Happy Birthday Franny! She is the cutest and the picture and story of her sleeping in her grandpa's arms is a treasure.

Betsy said...

Happy Birthday Franny! I remember when you were born and how beautiful you were! You made your Mommy and Daddy so incredibly happy! We loved to play with you! Wish we could now! Have a super fun Birthday Party!

Anne said...

Happy Birthday Franny! She is just so darling and I love the video.

Jill said...

Aww happy fifth Franny, we miss you!

Melissa Savage said...

What a fun video! She's a cutie! Our girls sing that song too, but I think Franny sings it better, I love the expressions, especially at the end! Adorable!

Kelly said...

That's awesome. And I love the Ting Tings

jayne said...

I'm still laughing....

tiffany said...

I just wanted to tell Franny happy birthday. I really miss her a lot. Tell her hi from miss tiffany potter. I also loved the video

Cole Kimball Warner said...

Oh my gosh that was so fun to watch!!! Annie showed it to me for the first time just now and I laughed so hard. We watched it at least 4 times in a row. Haha she is way too cute. I am glad to see she doesn't take after you as far as her singing voice. haha Bobby was good to. No chance no way I won't say I'm in love!!! Thanks for posting that. I loved it!!

Cole Kimball Warner said...

That comment from Dad was actually from me, Julia. I'm on his computer. I told dad and he said tell them the comment isn't from him. Whatever.

Cole Kimball Warner said...

This is Maggie, and although Bobby is a great sport, im pretty sure he lost all his man-ness with this display. That was the cutest thing ive ever seen in my whole life. Ever

Melissa said...

Aw, happy b-day Franny! She is so sweet. The video cracked me up.

Mandi said...

That video is awesome! Happy birthday Franny!

Erin said...

What a fun post! Happy Bday Franny! I love the idea of your mom telling you Happy Mothers Day on her birthday. And the picture of her being cuddled by her grandpa in the hospital is too cute. Have a fun Spidergirl birthday party!

Chrissy said...

So cute!! I miss Franny so much! And you and Bobby are missed too, of course! Happy Birthday Franny.

Danny and Betsy said...

Sorry for the naughty word....but damn Bobby! You have mad back-up vocal skills!!

Franny, all of us love you and remember seeing you that first day in the hospital...even as Katherine was barfing everywhere.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETY!

-D&B&E

Niki said...

oh my!!! i have fallen in love! as everyone got home i made them all watch it and they fell in love too! we can't get enough. when is the next one coming out? franny you were wonderful and very touching. (maybe an acting career in the future?) fabulous! love you guys!!

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