I can patty cake and move from one side of the room to another without actually crawling. I have come up with many creative ways to move. I am also pulling myself up and standing momentarily. Look out world!

sunday snippets

Just a few great things said by the men in my life.

I texted David to pick up a few things from the store. Tortillas from bakery, organic green beans for Elle and baby yogurt. I used details (from bakery and organic) and also said call me if you need to ask. While looking through what he bought, I see.....

DORA yogurt. So the conversation goes like this.

Francie: " Daddy, I told you to buy baby yogurt for Elle."

David:" Francie, I did. I mean I looked all over. I looked in the yogurt section and then I looked in the baby food section (keep in mind this section is non refrigerated). And then I went back to the yogurt section. I mean Dora is for kids right"

Francie: Elle only eats organic whole milk baby yogurt made for babies near the organic milk.

David:"Damn, I tried."

Francie: "KC, will you feed Elle while I make the rice?"

KC :"Aww man I just showered."

I asked him to feed her not bathe in her food.

He did it !

I also got to witness mom try to teach casey how to do some yoga stretching for his back. PRICELESS. Look at Elle thinking WTF!!

Meemom also taught Elle how to wave bye bye today. She learns all her monkey tricks from the Meemom!! Although I didn't capture Elle waving. I did capture Meemom taking a bite out of Elle's arm.

Note: Elle is wearing only a diaper because her daddy insists that it is too hot for the precious outfit her mommy put her in today. I am opposed to the naked white trash baby thing but baby daddy is not!

Productive Weekend?

Interestingly enough...this post was from jul 26th.

Well my to do list hasn't been completed yet. Will it ever?



1. Pick up Elle's christening gown (check)

2. Eat seafood (check)

3. Make babyfood (Check)

4. Grocery store

5. Pack up this damn house to move HOME!!



Well the packing is slow. Problem is we have to be out of this house on the same day that the contractors have to complete our house. So...we can't move anything home until there are floors etc. which there still aren't. Cross your fingers that this all works out.

Aunt Cheech Came to Town

Aunt Clare arrived on Wednesday night and we trucked it to Casey's for a little seafood action. Elle was showing off her monkey tricks to Clare. Unfortunately for Clare we had craziness to do the whole time she was here. Running all kinds of errands trying to get this house stuff DONE! Tile store here, target there etc. etc. etc. I ran her and ran her. We were happy to see her even if it was short and full of errands. Come back Cheech!

I can't believe it is already mid July. I had to go to training today instead of the pool with my girl. Not ready for the reality that summer will be over soon.

Aunt Catherine, Eva, Johnny & Owen visit the Grock

We have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the N.J. Buerglers. They drove all the way from Tenafly N.J. to They stopped in Ohio to meet Baby Henry ( Drew and Sara's new baby). They also had a real life history lesson all the way down. Eva knew lots and lots of historical information that she enlightened her momma with. Elle was thrilled to see her cousins and Aunt ( & godmother). She was stoked to meet Owen too. The heat is intense here on the island especially for people from N.J. but they have acclimated easily. We have stayed cool at the beach and at the pools. We have eaten at several local places that have FRESH seafood. (Casey's, Yaga's, Sonny's and the GCC). We miss them so much but are so glad that they are here in Texas for the summer!! Elle is so ready for round 2 with her peeps.

Bitter Sweet

So we walked from 7-8:15. There was enough of a breeze until about 8. It remained under 90 degrees according to car temperature thing. Mom and I rewarded ourselves to fresh squeezed OJ and coffee from the sunflower bakery. We were happy we weren't dying but a little sad that we don't have an excuse to not get up so early. I think Aug. 1st will be the start of me and my pootie hanging in bed sipping coffee....meemom concurs. Happy July

We might have to rethink our morning walk. It is so damn hot by 9:30 a.m. that the dogs and the baby are SUFFERING. Mom and I were struggling today. 7:30 just seems so early for a summer day walk but it might be that or nothing! Summer = hot. That was yesterdays thought. So Today We went at 7:45 and still TOO DAMN HOT. It took Bruce literally 4 or 5 hours to completely cool off. He was panting and panting and just laying around. Poor boy. Elle was super stoked when we began our walk. She was just taking it all in the ocean, the ocean breeze, the dogs, the people and the sand. Until all of the sudden there was no ocean breeze and it was 100 degrees. I think we are gonna try to walk at 7 am tomorrow. Not sure it is worth it. Maybe I should go back to sipping my coffee (that my wonderful husband brings me in bed-when I'm good) and snuggling with my pootie while we watch GMA and surf the internet. I will let you know what we decide.

Auntie Clare continued.

a few more pics i couldn't resist. i have to keep some in the vault to use at a later date...

Auntie Clare (with dual citizenship)

Elle has a fabulous aunt named Auntie Clare. I met Aunt Cheech in about 1996ish when I lived in Austin. We both worked at Bennigan's. I didn't love Clare when I first met her. I thought she was entirely too high maintenance with her schedule requests!! Her sense of humor won me over very quickly. She can also make some damn good iced tea. Clare and my friendship grew very deep very fast. David absolutely adored her from day one as well. Auntie Clare was in our wedding in June 2004. She was actually the only person in the wedding that wasn't family or a friend since I was five. I feel like I have known her my whole life. Auntie Clare was the topic of dinner conversation on Friday night with the fam. I have honestly never met anyone who doesn't LOVE Cheech. She is so uniquely special, lovable and so kind that it is almost ridiculous. She is the person that you ask yourself- could she really be that nice? Is it real? Well my friends after about 13 years of knowing her I say yes. It is all totally genuine. On top of being super kind, Auntie Cheech is quite the fashionista. She has about 4,567,890 pairs of shoes and i don't even want to talk about her closet. Well she has sent Elle the most unbelievable outfits, books and shoes. I mean I think Elle has gotten an amazing package every month that she has been alive. The Easter package put the Buergler family Easter Bunny to shame. The dresses that she got in the next package might be the most beautiful dresses Elle owns. She wore one to her Meemom's honor's day. On Friday Casey said, " Clare send ANOTHER package for Elle. I mean really. Clare makes everyone look bad" (The packages have been going to casey's house since the hurricane because we have moved several times.) Elle just wanted to say, "Clare you rock and are an awesome aunt and Godmother. I am proud to say that thanks to you my closet is rocking. I am honored to have you in my life.We love you and miss you. Oh and thanks to you I am the proud owner of some "wellies" all the way from England.

We love you- Francie, David, Elle, Bruce, Lupe, Foxy, Tabitha and Buddy

Food for baby thought

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/e203/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cbeaba&cm%5Fsrc=SCH



This might be the greatest thing on the planet. No, we don't work for Williams-sonoma. Seriously it is so easy and efficient. Daddy even helps make baby food. momma is very proud of her stash of fresh, organic produce made weekly for the princess.

It is really gonna happen

This morning Meemom, Lola, Elle, Lupe and myself began our daily morning walk on the seawall. When we began a little after 8:00 a.m. it was 87 degrees, when we ended it was 101 degrees OUCH!! We were sweating our behinds off. After we got home and got cleaned up (and I convinced Meemom to participate in this adventure) we went to buy all of our appliances. We scored with the 4th of July sale. Momma is so stoked about her new steam washer and dryer and oven I can't even explain it. Then we had to venture to North H-Town to find our granite for the counters. It was my second time to a granite "yard" so I knew what to expect. Yet it was still a little weird. Although the first time I couldn't believe this was how it worked. So baby daddy and I walked around the yard and looked at 4,557,678 pieces of granite at 3 o' clock in the afternoon with NO SHADE. We were literally hiding behind pieces of granite to talk and compare notes. Finally i made a beeline for the car to hydrate while David "claimed" our rock. I have to say David and I are an amazingly efficient team when we work together! We ended with our weekly gtown family dinner at Sonny's. Happy 3rd of July. Party at KC's tomorrow. I can't wait to go HOME. It is really gonna happen. T-minus 27 days..... Stupid Hurricane Ike you can't win.

7 months

Elle,

I can barely stand that you are already 7 months old. It is going by so fast I can't even believe it. You are growing and changing every day. Your dad and I were watching you last night and can't believe all of your accomplishments. Within 10 minutes you showed us so much. You looked at your daddy and said dada. You have been saying dada but last night it was as if you were addressing your dada. You also took two objects and banged them together making music and singing while you were doing it. You are working hard at learning how to crawl. You are making daily progress. It will happen in no time. You also like to do downward dog many times a day to show us you strength. Your little personality continues to shine through and there is actually nothing little about it. You are just precious. You are very funny and like to make people smile and laugh. You are generally pretty easy going UNTIL you get mad or frustrated and then well you become IRATE. You don't do just a little mad. You love, love, love familiar faces. You truly do recognize people and have definitely developed some stranger anxiety. You are very needy of your mama right now. You don't like me to do pretty much anything without you. Your dogs and cats are so entertaining to you. You love to watch them play. They tolerate you for a few minutes and then get away as quickly as possible as you try to rip their hair out. Your laugh is the most wonderful sound that your daddy and I have ever heard. Pure joy! I love having this time with you during the summer. We get up with daddy in the morning and take a dog and meet your MeeMom and one of her dogs for a nice walk on the seawall to start our day. It is such a great way to start our morning and appreciate our island. You have been eating solid food since your turned 6 months old. The foods that you have currently passed are: cereal, avocado, banana, sweet potatoes, tofu, pears, baby yogurt and mangoes. Your favorite is definitely a mixture of avocado and banana. At the beginning of June we (your mama, your dada, your MeeMom and you) went to visit your Aunt Catherine, Uncle John and Cousins Eva and Johnny in New Jersey. You did a great job on the plane and while we were there. We went to NYC a few times to check things out and you seemed to enjoy yourself. Mommy and Daddy left you overnight for the first time on our 5^th anniversary. We stayed in a fancy hotel in the city and went to dinner. You also have been to Vegas. Mommy needs to go back and write about this adventure. This past weekend we went to Austin for the weekend with Daddy. Daddy had work stuff to do on Monday. We had a nice time at Uncle Beau's house. You got to see lots of people that you really like including Zak &Amanda, Will & Danielle, The Bonnin Crew, and of course Beau and Megan. We had a great time. Mommy put you to sleep on Monday as I drank my coffee from Jo's and drove around and went down memory lane of my life in the ATX. Hard to believe that so much time has passed so quickly. We need to slow it down and savor each day. We love you our little pootie girl.