Franzone Family Blog

It is so hard to believe that my baby girl is one year old today. Life flies by so fast. I can remember when I was a little boy and it seemed like Christmas would never come. It took forever to get here. Birthdays were the same way. My parents and grandparents would always tell me to slow down. The older you get the faster life goes they’d say. Yeah right! They’re just making that stuff up to scare me. Guess they were right after all.

A year ago I was visiting the doctor because I’d had a headache for about a week. Of course I would soon find out the true meaning of the word migraine and have since learned to hate the word. A week after that we were back at the doctor for a routine doctor visit/checkup for Aubrey. She was having contractions pretty close together so they sent us over to the hospital to see what was up. The doctor there took one look at her and said, “Nope, you’re not going home today.” A couple of hours later we were introduced to Avery Noel Franzone, 8lbs 15oz with tons of dark brown hair and a perfectly round head.

I have three children and we had three coed baby showers. I have friends with children. Yep. Coed baby showers. Guess what. We didn’t want to be there! We? It’s the men I’m referring to. I did some research on the topic and all of the guides and so called etiquette says pretty much the same thing. All written by women I’m sure (yeah, go ahead. Bring on the comments!)

Baby showers that have both men and women attending are growing popularity. Many expectant fathers, male friends, uncles, brothers and soon-to-be grandfathers welcome the chance to be invited to a baby shower. And why shouldn’t they be?

WHAT!? Are you serious? That’s a bunch of woman talk. I’m sorry to offend any of the ladies out there, but I’m a man and I have to represent my fellow man here. In fact this topic came up whilst having lunch with three of my male cohorts this past week and we all agreed… no, we don’t want to be invited to the stinking baby shower!

First, couples baby showers tend to be oriented more around family and friends, talking and catching up than around playing games and indulging in the silly traditions that women tend to do at showers.

Sydney Franks was in my son’s Pre-K class this year. They had an unusually small class so all of the kids were very close. She had a heart transplant at a very early age, but nothing got her down. She had a smile that lit up the room and a laugh that warmed your heart. My son was quoted as saying that, “she looks very pretty in pink.” Sydney has gone home to be with the Lord now and so while the heavens rejoice at her homecoming… we are all silent and speechless.

Our deepest condolences go to the Franks family. I have three children of my own, including two daughters and a son and I cannot fathom the depths of emotion that I would be feeling under those circumstances. Please know that there is an army of people who love and care for you and are praying around the clock for you.

It is always hard to know exactly what to say when there is a loss of loved ones. Especially the loss of one so young. So instead of saying anymore I will just let a few more pictures say the rest as we remember Sydney’s beautiful life.

Just so you know… it’s not just me. My entire family is crazy. Here is the proof.

Click on the collage to view the entire wacky album

We were getting the kids ready for bed Thursday night and got to playing around and being goofy. Ragan started making funny faces and showing everyone so I told her to let me get a picture of it. Well that started a trend and we all got pictures of our funny faces. Well, except for Avery of course.

Anyway I love chances to be silly with my kids. I can be such a serious dad and feel like I’m always on them to “be careful” and “do things right” and “blah blah blah”. It’s good to be able to break free from all of that and just have some fun with your kids. If you can commemorate the event in photos and post it on your blog… even better! Then they can point it out to you years from now when you’re an old codger.