Twin Peeks

In early December, our good friends B&C had twin boys … I think mostly to even out the ratio in S-town as A&B and Mike and I both had girls. We brought Fiona over to meet her new “boyfriends” and left feeling like we had a GIANT baby. The twins, while doing wonderful, are quite small compared to our gal who loves to eat! Fiona also established the pecking order during this informal photoshoot by elbowing Jackson in the face and biting Cooper’s head (or gumming his hat anyway). Hopefully soon, we will get all the S-town babies together as this photo just isn’t complete without Ellie!

In addition to twin babies, I’m already starting to countdown to my other favorite Twins – the MN baseball team.Spring training is just around the corner and I can forget the horror of the October playoffs. Don’t say “Yankees” around me yet – the pain is still too fresh! We’re starting to get Fiona in the spirit of baseball. I love this little outfit on her, but it makes her look too much like a little girl instead of a baby. She just keeps growing up so fast! Hopefully the little bug will make it to a game with us this summer.

And I know she will be going to some of Daddy’s softball games. Last year, B, C, and I were all pregnant for the softball season and were fairly uncomfortable. We’ll see if chasing toddlers around this year will be better. Three of us, four of them … the odds are against us!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

So parenting is all about communication and choices. Unfortunately most of those choices are things like "do you want to wash bottles or change the diaper? do you want to get groceries or vacuum?" instead of things like "do you want to sleep in or go out for a leisurely breakfast?" I sometimes feel like a bit of a drill sergeant, but it takes a lot of work to stay on top of this baby gig. Luckily, Mike is a good sport.

And communication - to coin a famous movie phrase, what Mike and I often have lately "is a failure to communicate." A couple examples:
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S: quietly lays a note on Mike's computer in the morning and points at it so as to not waking the sleeping baby. Note says Get hamburger & buns out of freezer.

Evening arrives.

S: I see hamburger buns, but no hamburger.
M: The note said to get out hamburger buns.
S: There was an and sign on the note.
M: I didn't see an and sign.
Looking at note ... and sign is there, but very small. No fault assigned. Sloppy joes cooked from frozen burger.
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S: Can you get me stamps today?
M: Write me a note.
S: writing note: Please buy 5 books of stamps
M: puts note in wallet

Evening arrives.

M: Here is your book of stamps.
S: Are there more?
M: What?!?! You asked for a book of stamps.
S: I wrote 5 books on the note.
M: I didn't read the note - I just saw it in my wallet and remembered you wanted stamps.
Technically, I never said five books. No fault assigned and Mike gamely gets me four more books the next day.
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Needless to say, we're working on it! But more importantly, we're laughing about it!

And because I know you all mostly check the blog for pictures of Fiona, here is one of her playing with her Christmas present "George the elephant." More pictures from Christmas coming soon.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Fiona had a lot of stories to tell tonight when Mike and I got home from work on Friday. Dad almost missed dinner because they were having such a good conversation.

This video clip does not do it justice, but you can see a bit of the fun we are having with our chatty girl.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

But this smile will warm you right up! If I do say so myself, she's pretty cute!

Fiona will be 3 months old on Monday (Daddy's birthday). Time is flying since I went back to work. She is having a blast with Grandma Johnson this week and had what Grandma called a "perfect" day yesterday.

At three months, here are some of the awesome things she is doing:

• Recognizes Mom and Dad's voices and tracks us across the room without missing a beat
• LOVES her hands. They are a new staple in the mouth. And did you know that they can grab things and bring them to your mouth too!?! Wicked cool!
• Giggling. We haven't really got a repeat of the laughs from her photo shoot, but she loves to do single giggles when she is really happy.
• Starting to get ticklish. Big smiles when we tickle her belly.
• Standing. Must be standing on our laps at almost all times.
• Talking like crazy. Stories are getting better and better every day - and some even have happy endings now.
• Asserting her will. Mike turned her the other day to stop her from watching TV and she practically did a back bend to get her face where she could see it.
• Playing with Yogi. She is starting to talk to him and put her hands on him on purpose.
• Doing sit ups. Our new favorite exercise while sitting on laps or playing on the floor.

We are loving this stage and are so proud of her.

Jingle Bell Walk

One of Fiona's new favorite things is standing. She loves to "stand" on you and look around. She's also started to try to walk. Yesterday, she climbed up my whole chest. It's fun to see her challenge herself and continue to work on things - even though she can get frustrated.

We had a good second week of work. Fiona had a day with a dear friend of mine - Mary, a day home with Daddy, and three days with Auntie Em. I'm grateful that she had so many people ready to love her and snuggle her. But I'm glad to be home with her for a few days now. We're planning to nestle in as the snow flies outside!

Here is a short video of Fiona's walking adventures

Santa Baby

Fiona went to see Santa tonight. She patiently waited in line and was happy to sit on his lap. And she wasn't at all greedy - couldn't think of a thing to ask for!

She also helped decorate the tree on Sunday night and hung the very first ornament that went up.

Too Fast

Fiona is growing up so fast. She will be 11 weeks on Monday - where has the time gone?!

I started back to work this week, so am acutely aware of how much she is changing day to day. She and Grandma Nash had a great week together and she sent me to work every day with smiles! We like to believe that she is very happy to have both Mom and Dad home for the weekend.

Today really showed us how quickly she is growing. We had professional pictures done at Target this morning and she started laughing - not a single laugh, but several wonderful giggles put together. This was a first for us and was just wonderful to hear! We were wishing for a video session instead of a photo sitting at that point.

While at Target, we broke down and admitted it was time to move up a diaper size! We can still make the size 1 diapers fit, but blowouts are a constant fear.

And I just finished moving the 3-6 months clothes into the dresser. We can still wear the 0-3 mos, but are on the brink.

Here is a picture of Daddy making her a unicorn with her pacifier.

And here we are showing off in our Bumbo chair!