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!

Giving Thanks for 2 Months (and more)

On this Thanksgiving morning, I am sitting in the early morning quiet (I need to put the turkey in the oven in 30 minutes - no sense going back to bed) thinking of all the things we have to be grateful for this year.

Most of all, we are grateful for our little family. Mike and I continued to grow as a couple throughout our pregnancy experience and have truly enjoyed being a team in this parenting gig. We are grateful for our sweet girl, who has had so much to deal with in her short life, but continues to excel and shower us with giggles and smiles. We are thankful for our sweet puppy, who has been fairly accepting of the new addition and the wood floors that we sprung on him.

And we are extremely thankful for our extended family and friends, who have stood by us through all the ups and downs this year. It's truly a day of thanks for us!

In other news, Fiona is TWO months old already. We can hardly believe how fast it is going. Here are a few of the things that Fiona thinks at two months:

• Spit bubbles are wicked cool. If you blow them all the time, you can get some pretty good slime on your chin before Mom or Dad get to the burp cloth.
• Hands are also extremely cool. You can put the entire one in your mouth. It's almost as good as a pacifier.
• Smiles are fun. Mom and Dad go crazy over them.
• Jingle Bells is the best song EVER. It makes me laugh every time.
• The Bumbo chair is pretty fun. It's almost like sitting up. Still hard to hold my head up for too long, but I'm learning!
• This sleeping through the night thing could work. And it makes Mom so happy when I do it.
• Rolling over from tummy to back is old news (although Mommy has yet to get it on video ... I'm very very sneaky). I'm trying to roll from back to tummy now - but that's hard work.
• I can follow Mom and Dad across the room. I like being able to see them more.

I go back to work on Monday. For Fiona, that means ... GRANDMA! It's going to be a good month of December for her as she is spoiled by Grandmas, aunties, and maybe even cousins, before daycare starts in January.

And last but not least, here are the latest pictures of our girl: