Well it's officially after midnight on September 17, 2010 and I can no longer say I have a TWO and ONE year old. I can't believe you are THREE Francie!

Our friends Emily and Chris had a baby girl this morning at 4:45am at Stanford Hospital and I got to go visit them right after my 20 week ultrasound scan (all looked good for baby number three!) right down the hall at 11am. It was so much fun to remember those days with Francie exactly three years ago!

Francie at a few hours old...

Francie. You are a character and give your Dad and I a run for our money. You keep us entertained and we couldn't love you more. We love to get one-on-one time with you when you seem like a 2-going-on-5-year-old (you tell people sometimes you are five- nice try) and enjoy every minute with you.

We are going to have a little party for you tomorrow with family and friends in the Redwood Grove and your big present is a trip to Disneyland. You could not be more excited. Every night you ask your Dad or I to lie with you in bed and you say "Could you tell me the truth abouttttt...... the rides at Disneyland?" (we get this question a lot in the car- you want to know the truth about derr signs, the truth about roads, the truth about fire trucks... you get the picture:) but you must knoe every disneyland ride your dad and I can remember by heart and we can't wait to see your face when you meet "the REAL Minnie and Mickey." as well as Professor VonDrake, Figaro, Daisy and Donald among others you just can't wait to meet.

You are out spoken and usually not shy around new people. You met a doctor the other day (actually the man who founded the Parkinson's Institute- a really interesting guy who lives near us!) and you introduced yourself and said "My name is Francie. This is my little sister Maisie. Our nicknames are MaryFrances and MaryMarjorie."

You LOVE dolls and babies and being a "mom." You report to have twins in your belly and their names are "Lonesome and LuLu" and you really think I should name my baby Lonesome. Not sure where that came from. You have your favorite doll Honey and she goes lots of places with you- sometimes strapped to your CamelBak on the front as your very own BabyBjorn. (I found a picture of me below at four years old with my favorite doll in Jannie's blue corduroy carrier- glad to see you take after me France!) You told me the other day "Mom- I am a wonderful mother" and I had to agree and ask you where on earth you learned to be such a wonderful mother ;)

You talk a mile a minute about whatever is on your mind and when we ask you questions sometimes you thoughtfully pause before you answer... "Accccctually..... I thinnnnnnk...." followed by some hilarious sentiment. You want to know what everything is, how it works, why it's the way it is and your questions never stop (thank goodness for the "Cow songs" in the car to divert your attention to singing sometimes!

You are learning to bargain (but we're not falling for it!) and before bed last night you said "Mom. If you come lie with me I will be happy. If you DON'T come lie with me I'm gonna be reallllly mad." and you stormed back into your room. (We still struggle with your bedtime although not too bad- your sister points to her crib and stays put without a peep until morning but you need a little more coaxing and "someone to lie with me" most nights. You love to talk in bed about all sorts of things (stall tactics) and have mom draw letters on your back- a game Jannie taught you.

You love your sister Maisie and are really sweet to her- you even share most of the time and make sure she has what she needs. In the car sometimes Maisie likes to high-pitch-scream for no real reason (you did teach it to her) and you get upset and say "Ow Maisie that hurts my ears" and instead of getting upset you have learned how to handle her- you ask her "Maisie- what does a doggy say?" and she switches gears to much quieter animal noises :) we all love you for this.