Fiona & Friends

Last weekend, Fiona was a social butterfly. She had playdates with many of her little friends AND Mommy and Daddy got to see their friends at the same time. The playdates also motivated Fiona a little on the crawling front because Ellie is FAST and could get to Miss F's toys much faster than she could. She did NOT like that. So, thank you, Ellie!

We documented just a few of the many cute moments of the "multiple" playdates!

Sharing the dino with Ellie

Mom - this is NOT a two person dino

Listening to Auntie C sing - it was beautiful!
L to R: Jack, Cooper, Fiona

Getting four babies to look at the camera at the same time is hard work!
Playing with the A family triplets
L to R: Grant, Fiona, Henry, Ella

All A family "babies" are adorable
Evie giving Fiona some attention

9 Months

9 months! On Tuesday, Fiona will have been out exactly as long as she was in! It’s amazing to us how quickly the time has gone by and how much she has grown and learned already.

New developments this month:

• MOBILITY: She doesn’t crawl yet, but that does not stop her from getting where she wants to go. The rolling/pivoting/scooting execution is quite the sight to behold.

• Eating people food: Last Saturday, she ordered food from the kid’s menu!! Not a baby anymore! She had grilled chicken, potatoes, and broccoli and ate it all herself. My dinner plate has become her favorite thing.

• Shaking her head: She shakes her head “no” all the time. We don’t think that she knows that it means “no” yet (soon enough) as I will ask her if she wants more food and she’ll shake that noggin while grabbing it out of my hands. She gets the biggest smile while shaking.

• Clapping: She just figured out how to clap after days of manipulating my hands to clap. She loves to do it “in time” to her music.

• Kissing 2.0: She has been giving the sloppy open-mouth baby kisses for over a month now. But she has added a new twist when she is serious about her kiss … a head butt. Her poor friend Cooper got an enthusiastic kiss/smack to the head that left him slightly confused [concussed] as to Fiona’s fondness for him.

• Playing with toys: Fiona has enjoyed her toys for quite a few weeks, but lately, she is very interested in pushing buttons, turning pages, opening and closing doors, fitting shapes through holes, etc. It is fun to watch and has sent us scrambling to the store (or garage sales) a couple times to fulfill the discovery needs.

• Reading books: Books are too cool. They have colorful pictures, you can turn pages, and you can hit them with your toys to make loud sounds. The complete package.

• Talking: She uses mama and dada correctly quite often … fun for us. She also says “nigh-nigh” in the saddest wail. It either means night-night or pacifier (the two are mutually inclusive) – we aren't sure which.

• Interacting with Yogi: The two have reached a compromise. He will lick her feet, making her giggle like crazy, and she can’t reach his fur to pull it while he does that. If she leans too close, the game is up. She also LOVES to watch him run around outside and to have Dad help her chase him.

So that’s us in a nutshell. We spend our days working, playing at day care or with the wonderful relatives who come down to watch us, going to Daddy’s softball games, and having playdates with our friends.

Pretty girl! (note the bruise
in the middle of the forehead ... glass door!)

My new rocking bug

What mess, Mom?

It Goes Both Ways

Mike and I tend to make sarcastic comments to each other. Since we both do it, we typically find it rather funny. He has learned to be careful to in no way imply that I am fat. I generally do NOT find those comments amusing. And I (apparently) need to be careful to not imply that he is old – as evidenced by this Monday morning conversation:

6:30 am, our bedroom
M: My back is sore. I must have slept weird.
S: Or it is because you played a softball game AND a hockey game last night.
M: Did you just call me old?
S: Well, you aren’t 22 anymore. (hmmm – my “apology” could use some finesse)
M: pouting

While sorry[ish] for my insult to his dignity, I stand by my diagnosis. Mike insists that it is how he slept.

Decide for yourselves, faithful readers.

**In other odd news of the week, Mike told me that one of our neighbors came over to help him mow the lawn today (before the rain started again). Mike was mowing the backyard and smelled something burning. Why?? - because the neighbor's HAT was on fire!!! Hat has a hole in it, but neighbor and lawn are fine.**

Lockdown!

We made it almost 9 months before the baby gate became essential. But this weekend, we had our first "with intent" move from the living room to the dining room. So a new fixture has appeared at the top of the steps.

Grandpa and Grandma N were lucky last week in their babysitting. Auntie E, cousin B, and Grandpa V are going to have to deal with some determined mobility. Don't mistake this for crawling, faithful readers! She is rolling, pivoting, and backwards scrawling everywhere!

(9 month blog post coming in the next couple days. Want to put a little more thought in what I'm writing)

She's not actually flying. She was drumming the floor
and my timing was perfect!

We're gunning for the stairs!

I'm trapped!

To Daddy with Love

Happy Father's Day to my incredible husband and Fiona's rockstar Daddy. I had to share this picture that I took of the two of them playing this weekend. No posing - just enjoying each other.

Happy Father's Day from Mike and me to our wonderful fathers. And from Fiona to her three grandpas. LOTS of love to the men in our lives from this house.

Bathtime Bubbles

Last night, Fiona discovered bubbles in the bathtub. She had started gingerly putting her chin in the water a couple weeks ago, but her courage surged last night and she dunked her whole face into the water. She came up sputtering, sporting a classy goatee of bubbles. I started laughing, so she decided she didn't mind the sputtering so much. Down she went again and came up with the full beard, mustache, and some side burns (channeling her inner Joe Mauer?). We played this game until the bath water got cold!

The pictures don't show the facial bubbles very well, but they are still cute. And her conveniently round tummy helps maintain her modesty!

Play Time - Fiona Style

Fiona started a new day care this week as A is on maternity leave. She goes a couple days a week and is hanging out with relatives the other days. Grandma J was here this week and we all had a great time with her.

Our little daredevil has had a fun week of day care with new kids, swinging in the back yard, playing with Yogi, and riding her new dinosaur.

Reading books

Drumming on her dinosaur

Thank you Grandma for the cool ride!

All this playing is HARD work!

[Wordless Wednesday] Swinger

**Not completely wordless, but needed to give credit for this idea to a couple of my mommy blogger friends**

Grown Up Decisions

Being a grown up is awesome! You can stay up as late as you want (10:30 last night - party on, Wayne!), you can watch whatever you want on TV (Phineas and Ferb on Disney this morning), and you have your very own bank account with your own money ....

BUT you have to use that money to fund smart "grown up" decisions. So that is why a nice chunk of our savings account has recently been applied to a new roof. We've needed the roof since we moved in almost 5 years ago and the great ice dam adventure of Winter '11 was the final straw. But it looks really nice and we are no longer embarrassed by the curling shingles.

And here are a couple pictures of my garden. Starting to bloom and look awesome. Ignore the crappy, peeling windows. Those are next on the list of grown up decisions!