Merry Christmas...

 ...from the cutest little munchkin I know!

 

And from us too.

Phoenix!

Jon, Fiona and I were lucky enough to get in one more trip to Phoenix before baby #2 arrives.  Fiona loved spending time in the warm December sun with her dear cousins and would even walk in the grass by herself by the time we left...yes, quite a feat for my little particular one.  

 

I can't believe how old my little Goddaughter is getting.  

 

Okay, so maybe not that old...

 

Fiona couldn't love her Aunt Allie more and still talks often (and fondly) of Uncle Luke despite his craziness.    

Sadly, we didn't get to see much of the Burches, but we'll take what we can get.  I guess you guys will just have to make the trek out to Dallas.  Family road trip!!!

Steve and Cindy had a great Christmas party while we were there too.  We got to see their adorable new house and get Fiona prepped to spend some quality time with little Abby the next week in Boston.

It's crazy to think the next time we visit we'll be a family of four!

Jon's Birthday

It was a great day.

Nanny got him this:

He spent some time doing this:

We had a little party where Fiona and Leah got to do this:

 

And at the end of the night, he looked like this:

 

I didn't hear any complaints.

Happy Birthday, dear husband.  We love you lots and lots and look forward to many more!

Tree Trimming

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!  We were so happy Sarah and Jim came all the way to Dallas (even though we don't have any pictures of them to show for it...sorry).  Fiona got a little practice in her upcoming role with sweet little James here.

 

 

Hopefully the expression on her face here isn't an indication of how she feels about having another baby around.

 

He's such a cute little chunck!   

And we were lucky enough to get Grandma here too!  Needless to say, Fiona loved spending time with her and talked about her every day for weeks after she left. 

Of course there was good food, good drink and good company.  It could only have been topped by including the Deacons, Kenneys and Jesse.  I'm sure everyone will get together again one day but for now, we'll take what we can get.

Feeling like a slacker...

In addition to my blog negligence, it's also been brought to my attention that November was the first month since she was born that Fiona didn't get on an airplane.  This whole pregnancy thing is slowing me down. 

Sorry in advance #2.

Playing Catch-up

So I know I have lots of catching up to do.  Luckily we found the camera over Thanksgiving weekend, so we got some pictures with our guests then and have had lots of other activities that require their own post.  

But since it's so much easier for me to post about the little things...

I went in to make sure Fiona had a blanket on after she fell asleep this afternoon since she was just in a  onesie (yes, it was 75 degrees today...but she's had a cold).  Anyway, she usually falls asleep with a NUK in her mouth and another in her hand.  This gave me hope that she might be on the road to giving them up.  Either that or she's realized its much easier to breathe through your mouth when you have a cold and just not worth trying to keep that thing in.  Either way, at least I know she can do it.

Plus she kind of looked like a little angel. 

And Milestones

We've lost our point and shoot camera for the time being, so I'm not sure how long it will be before there are pictures up here again.  Luckily Fiona's talking enough now that I can post about cute things she says.

My favorite of the moment:
Fiona: Know what?  (perfectly articulate)
Me: What? 
Fiona:  Love you.  (not quite so perfectly articulate, but absolutely adorable)

Heard today while she was babbling to herself in the backseat:
One, tooo, shee, shor, shive, shix, shenen, eight, nine, ten.
Seriously?!  I just figured out that she could repeat-count earlier this week.

She'll also say her ABCs all the way through if you say each letter after she does.  But you usually have to initiate it.
Me: A
Fi: A
Me: A
Fi: B
Me: B
Fi: C etc.

This kid's memory is incredible.

****Exclaimer:  The following is about poop.****

And I finally started getting sick of wasting a diaper every morning by changing Fiona the minute she wakes up.  So Tuesday morning I let her run around in her soggy dipe while I made breakfast.  I asked her if she had poo before I put her into her high chair to which she responded, "poop, potty." Sure why not.  So I sat her on there while I finished up breakfast.  A few minutes later she walks out saying "all done."  I assumed she just got sick of sitting there so I was quite surprised to notice a foul stench as I walked past the bathroom.  I think Jon and I got a little too excited about it because after our praises she started crying.  Well, maybe a combination of that her being scared of the poo.  Which is kind of funny.  She went again that night while Mara was babysitting.  For the first day in over 17 months, I haven't changed a poopy diaper!!  Unfortunately, it wasn't magical potty-training, and she's only gone occasionally since.  But she sure likes to sit on her little potty and read books for extended periods of time. Any thoughts on how a six months pregnant lady can comfortably sit in the bathroom for a 30 minutes + reading books?

Little things...

Fiona has started calling everything she sits on a chair.  As soon as she sits down anywhere she proclaims "chair!"  Some great chairs:  floors, steps, me, fireplaces.

After Joe, Becca and Leah's stay a couple weeks ago, she hasn't been able to get them off the brain.  They have officially become part of her daily vocabulary.  I often hear Fiona babbling, "Momma, Dada, Joe, Becca, Leah, Mara, Bess, Jacob" (I wish I could spell that one as phonetically as she says it, but I'll just have to get it on video one day) all in a row.

She's been sprawling out on the floor on her belly and pushing herself backwards.  I have no idea where this came from (maybe because it's nice enough to go to parks now and that's what happens when she tries to climb up the slide?) Anyway, today she started spitting on the floor while doing it and saying "mess."  Yes, it is.  I also found it very hard not to laugh.

And in case you're not up with the latest fashion, putting underwear (yes, clean) around your neck requires a quick run to the mirror while exclaiming, "pretty!" 

Happy Halloween!!!

My little helper

Fiona has started loving to help clean.  Every time I pull out the Swiffer or broom she squeals with delight and oooooos like crazy.  It's so nice to have her actually "helping" when we're getting ready for a showing rather than following behind me to take out the toys I just cleaned up, pull down the books I just put away, etc.  

As I was dwelling on this welcome change, I remembered the first time I had to hurriedly clean up for a showing.  Fiona couldn't even sit up yet, and I had to leave her wailing in her crib while I made our house presentable in the longest twenty minutes of my life.  It was terrible.  And our house has been on the market for way too long.  If anyone wants to throw some prayers up to St. Joseph on our behalf, they would be most welcome.  Or check back in a couple months and I might be giving our house away...

So much for baby proofing

Baby Abby

We were so happy to get a nice (much too quick!) visit from Steve, Cindy and Abby while they were in town for a wedding last month.  Fiona couldn't stop talking about Abby before or after their arrival.  And she still calls every baby Abby.

I can't believe how much she's grown since we saw her two months before in Boston!!  So good to see you guys!!

Talking

Sorry, these are about a month old.  I realized (about a month ago) that I never really documented Fiona's first words.  So Jon and I started a list of all the words she says.  We pretty much stopped once it got over 150.  I don't think she really had first words...she just started talking...and repeating EVERYTHING.  So here are some samples.  Enjoy.  Our poor second child.  If this is the best I can do with number one, I can only imagine how much harder it will be to keep up the second time around.  Maybe I'll be forced to be more organized.  :)

Update:  It made me laugh when I realized that Fiona is wearing the same dress/shirt she has on in this video.  And no, it's not a different one in a bigger size. I guess now she really has found her voice. 

Trash

Another favorite activity is picking things up off of the floor and telling me its trash.  Usually it is, and I ask her to put it in the trash can which she happily does and then claps for herself and says yay.  (This kid is going to lack no self-esteem.)  Mostly I really like this activity even though it does give me a daily reminder as to how dirty my floors are.

The other day while I was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch--which she refused to eat half of--she looks at me and says "mmm mmm" while chewing away.  Of course I ask her what shes eating to which she responds, "trah".  Awesome.  She'd rather eat crusty mac n' cheese (or worse) off the kitchen floor than lunch.

The game gets a little old outside when every little dead branch, leaf, crumb, rock, dirt clump, petal, etc. is picked up and handed to me as "trash".  So when she walked over the other day with her hand outstretched with her trash I was pleasantly surprised to see this.  And really happy she didn't eat it.  Or kill it...right away.

Unfortunately, she didn't really like it when I made it crawl around.  :(  Oops.

Keeping herself occupied

Usually when Fiona isn't in sight and is quiet for an extended period of time, I find her in her room reading books on the floor.  Guess she's found a new activity.  It got pretty funny as she shoved lots of stuff in with her, but then she just kept saying "stuh, stuh."  She was stuck.

Self-feeding:

Self-explanatory.

Reneging

Remember that earlier post about how much I want some carpet in our next house?

I take it back.

(p.s. Thankfully the coffee in the mug was about 2 hours old.  I have since learned to place my coffee mug much further back on the dresser.)

Next Stop: NYC!

From DC, Fiona and I hopped a train to meet up with Jon who was in New York for work.  We'd passed up the chance to go with him a couple months before, and I'd been kicking myself ever since.  I didn't plan our trip out as well as I should have, but I guess that just means we'll have to go back.  

Jon was working all day (and some nights) so Fiona and I started each day wandering around to find a place to eat breakfast, strolling back to the hotel to take a nap, finding something else to do quickly before we needed lunch (which was usually pizza), going back to the hotel for another nap, and finding something to do before dinner.  I realize our trip revolved mostly around food and sleeping, and we could do that anywhere, but we got a few fun things in.  Plus, it taught me great lessons for next time.  And I would have skipped a nap, but she (and to be totally honest, newly preggo me) really needed both.  

I also was terrible about taking pictures...especially good ones.

I did remember to bring it the morning we went to the Central Park Zoo.

Go figure, Fiona's favorite animals to see were the birds and turtles.

 

Personally, I thought the snow leopard and polar bear were much cooler.

 

On our walk back from the zoo we stopped by a street vendor to grab a hot do for lunch.  (Actually, two hot dogs.  I learned on this trip that sharing my meals with Fiona means I don't eat.)  We stopped at the fountain in front of the Plaza to eat and watch (and chase) the pigeons.  Little did I know I could have saved a few bucks, skipped the zoo and Fiona would have been just as happy seeing so many "buuuus!"

I grabbed a couple slices of pizza at a place near the hotel one afternoon for lunch and had quite a time of finding a nearby spot to park and eat that didn't involve cars driving by less than three feet away.  Luckily, I remembered seeing Bryant Park on a map and before long we were happily fed.  We were supposed to meet Jon later that afternoon in Central Park, but it didn't work out....which made me very happy we got to spend some quality time playing with fountains, people-watching and in general, lazing about.  

That night we went out the the Meatpacking District and had a lovely time at the High Line (thanks for the rec Marn!).  I could have spent forever there.  Such a beautiful park!  I guess I should probably to dig those pictures off the other camera...