A New Chair

We purchased Fiona a new chair today. The other day, both Jeff and I were cooking in the kitchen and Fiona was in her bouncy chair. I looked over and she was half over the side of the chair reaching for the Air Fresh sitting on the floor just out of her reach. Then, last night I had her in the bouncy chair to feed her dinner (she's still a little too small for her high chair) and she kept reaching over the side to get at the newspaper on the floor (even after it was moved way out of her reach). Thus, the bouncy chair has been retired. This new chair will be good for the next few years (up to 40 lbs) and give us a place to feed her until she fits her high chair.
Luckily, she really likes this one!

Fiona's First Christmas

We decided to spend Fiona's first Christmas at home, especially as we know she wouldn't really understand it was Christmas. However, we did drive down to my aunt and uncle's house in Brown County for Christmas dinner. This allowed my cousin Jessica to finally meet Fiona. And hey, it meant I didn't have to cook!


Fiona's first Christmas Tree. We went for a smaller one that's in a pot so we can plant it outside in the spring. The branches wouldn't hold any lights which was too bad as Fiona enjoys looking at them, but with all the baby stuff and toys in our living room we didn't have room for our slightly bigger fake tree. Maybe next year!
Fiona looking at her first present from Santa. Of course she enjoyed pulling the paper off and putting it in her mouth (as seen in the next two pictures).

Playing with her fishbowl.

Following Emily's lead, I will post a picture soon of all the new things she received for Christmas. First I have to round them all up!

Christmas Eve

Here are some pictures of us all ready for Christmas Eve Mass.
Fiona's modeling a dress made by Grammy. It's a beautiful corduroy with snowflakes embroidered on it. She looked so pretty in it and was a very good girl at church. Unlike the slightly younger boy sitting across the aisle from us, she didn't burp immediately following the Consecration. It was the children's Mass, so the children's choir sang. Fiona sang along with them. It was really cute to hear her go lalalala, too. After Communion there was a surprise guest. Santa came in, went over to the nativity, said a prayer and then we all said a blessing over him. It was a really neat way to combine the two traditions. The kids, of course, were super excited to see him. He said not a word but waved to everyone and then left to begin his busy night.

Here's Fiona with her stylish and handsome DaDa.

Fiona and Mom.

I finally couldn't take my long hair anymore and got it chopped off on Christmas Eve morning at Great Clips. I love it! It's even got some wave to it which it's never had before.

Every Christmas Eve we go over to Tom and Laura's for dinner. Fiona had a blast playing with Mary Grace and Olivia until she got too tired and we had to get her home for bed.

She also had fun playing with Cousin Nathan. I think he had a blast, too.

Fun

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. My baby is growing up way too fast.


What happens when Mom insists on feeding Fiona more carrots when she doesn't want anymore.

My beautiful girl.

Slowly she's learning how to drink out of a sippy cup.

My big girl sitting up by herself (only for short periods of time) in front of our Christmas tree. We're looking forward to our first Christmas with her. She's at such a fun age. She's playing more and more with her toys, laughing all the time, and getting into a better napping schedule. She's actually sleeping more than 20-40 minutes at a time now, which is good because she needs it. Now if only she'd start sleeping through the night! She got up 4-5 times last night (I lost count). Either she's teething or she's going through a growth spurt. I'm not sure which one I'd like it to be. I love my sweet baby girl.

Christmas celebrations

It's been a crazy few weeks. First Fiona got the stomach flu just before Thanksgiving. Thankfully she was over that in time for us to host Thanksgiving at our house. Almost all the Humphreys came, including Jeff's cousin Andy. Then, this past weekend we were up in South Bend celebrating Christmas with the Taghons (Jeff's mother's family) on Saturday and with Jeff's immediate family on Sunday. It was a wonderful weekend full of family and fun. Unfortunately I came down with the stomach flu on Monday and finally am feeling back to my normal self today. Anyway, here are some photos from our fun, snowy weekend up north.

I love you, Jack!

Cousins in Notre Dame finery from MeeMaw

Aunt Jackie, Cousin Jack and Fiona

Humphrey cousins

First photo with Santa at the Taghon Christmas party.

Sicko

Poor Fiona came down with a stomach bug a week ago. I got home from work on Thursday (not Thanksgiving) to a crying baby who threw up soon after. She had dry heaves all night, which we spent sleeping on the couch. I tried feeding her around 5 am, but that just caused her to throw up again, so we stopped that experiment! I called in sick and we spent the day cuddling and sleeping on the couch. She finally started perking up around 4pm. She scarfed down the Pedialyte Daddy brought home and soon after was nursing again. Yeah! While the illness was short lived the after effects (?) were not. I spent a week with a clingy, whiney baby. She only wanted Mom, didn't want to sleep in her crib (or anywhere but ON me), and cried whenever I left the room. Daddy finally laid down the law on Monday night around 11:30 p.m., put her in her crib and shut the door. In less than 5 minutes she was down to whimpering and soon fell asleep. She still woke up every few hours to nurse, but at least she was asleep in her crib! She still cries a little when we put her in her crib, but she's so much better. Our happy baby is back. Unfortunately she now has the sniffles, but seems to be doing okay with that. We've elevated one half of her crib and she's sleeping and breathing okay (even if Mommy wants to keep suctioning out her poor snorkley nose).

On a brighter note, she had her 6 month check up today. She now weighs 14 lbs 14 oz and is 26 5/8 inches long. She's in the 75% for height, but only 25% for weight. Our sweet beanpole.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jeff's parents, two brothers and their families and Jeff's cousin visiting. Fiona didn't lack for love (even though she was super clingy to Mom. I got to really experience one handed cooking). Thankfully everyone understood and were a big help in getting the meal ready. Let's just say I was very glad to go back to work on Friday and let MeeMaw and Jeff take care of clingy girl! I very much needed the break. Working part time is perfect for me. I come home a much happier Mom.

Fun Times

What happens in the evenings while Jen is at work.

Sleep

Generally speaking, Fiona is a joy to be around and makes being a parent fairly easy. However, for the past two weeks, she's been a challenge. She's fought napping and going to bed at night. She's also fought nursing, even though I know she's hungry (it's like she knows if she nurses, she'll fall asleep and since she doesn't want to fall asleep, she refuses to nurse). Sigh. Slowly we're getting back to "normal." Last night she was in bed around 9:00! She did wake up around 10:00 to eat again, but went right back to sleep. This is a break through, since before she'd fall asleep around 8:00, sleep for 45 minutes and then wake up ready to play until 11:30 (which is why I was awake to hear the vandalism Saturday night).

I'm thinking some of her sleep problems stem from hunger, so I'm upping the amount of solids she gets during the day. Luckily she's really caught on to the whole solids thing and is enjoying it. Of course the fingers in the mouth after I've just put a spoonful of food in isn't a pretty sight. :-) But she looks so cute sitting in her highchair I can't get upset.

Vandalism

Hindsight, they say, is 20/20. Last Saturday night, while Jeff was off video-ing a wedding, Fiona and I were enjoying some quality time together at home. Around 10:30 p.m. I heard some banging out in our backyard. I peeked out the window, but couldn't really see anything. It was windy, so I just figured it was something blowing around on our back porch. Nope, it wasn't. This is what we woke up to the next morning.

This is what is left of our back fence as seen from our neighbor's backyard and looking towards our house. Pretty, isn't it? The vandals pushed over about 25 feet of our fence, snapped off two posts and then went on to damage another neighbor's fence (about forty-five minutes later based on the sounds I heard). I should have listened to my gut instinct and called the police (which is what they told us when they came to view the damage and fill out the police report). I even thought when I was hearing the banging that it sounded like someone tearing down our fence, as our next door neighbor had their fence broken a few weeks ago (no where near as bad as ours and easily fixable with a few nails and some time). So now we have a new view out our kitchen window which will hopefully be fixed by the time race season rolls around and our neighbor parks RVs in his backyard!

Lesson learned: When Jen is home alone with the baby and hears strange noises outside, call the police.

Five Months

It's hard to believe my sweet baby girl is already 5 months old. She's such a joy (most of the time). They really do grow up fast!

Happy Halloween

Fiona playing with her Halloween bear, compliments of Daddy. Mommy didn't even think of getting her anything. Kudos to Daddy!

Our little lobster (lots of legs to chew on!)

Quirky as always

Halloween in our neighborhood

The Magic Box

I'm not a big believer in tv for babies. I won't allow Baby Einstein in the house. However that hasn't stopped Fiona from loving TV, especially watching football with Daddy. I think it has to do with the bright colors and all the action. This weekend she discovered the key to the "magic box". Fortunately she hasn't figured out what to do with it (other than drool on it).

Over the River and Through the Woods

We spent this past weekend at Jeff's parent's house in South Bend. For the most part Fiona travels well, especially if we leave in the morning when she takes a longer nap.

She didn't do so well on the way home. She got tired of being cooped up in her carseat, got overtired and hungry. It was a relief to get home!

MeeMaw got a chance to feed Fiona cereal, gave her two baths and lots and lots of hugs and cuddles! Fiona just ate it all up (pun intended!).

On Sunday we took Fiona to pick out her pumpkin and I couldn't resist the photo op. As you can see from the hay on her pants, she took a face plant into the hay (I'm such a good Mom). However it didn't phase her and she sat patiently (with a little help from Mom) while we took a ton of pictures. Doesn't she make a cute jack-o-lantern? She even has the open mouth grin down! However, for Halloween she's going to be a big, red lobster. Pictures of that to come later.

Walking In Sunshine

Even though it was cool outside, yesterday was too beautiful to remain cooped up inside. So, Fiona and I went for a little walk. Here are the before and after shots of our journey.

I'm all bundled up and ready to go Mom!








I think we need to get her a smaller hat as this one kept sliding down over her eyes. Notice that even in the stroller she assumes her sleeping position!



Usually when the stroller stops moving, Fiona wakes up. This time she was so sleepy that she stayed asleep so I was able to park her on the back porch and work out in the garden for awhile.

Assume the Postion

This is how we know Fiona is tired. She places her right hand up and turns her head so her cheek is resting on the hand. Her eyes tend to roll up, too. Too cute!

Busy Baby!

Fiona and Grammy

We've been super busy the last few weeks. My mom came out to visit both her sister and of course Fiona. My aunt lives down in Brown County so Fiona and I spent a few days down there, leaving Jeff to hold down the fort in Speedway. It was the first time Fiona and Jeff had been away from each other at night. Needless to say, they both missed each other. Fiona was very glad to be back in her own bed and to see all her toys again.

Fiona has learned to roll. It all started October 11th when she flipped from back to stomach for the first time. She'd semi-rolled before, but each time her arm remained stuck under her belly. This time she completely flipped over and then looked around surprised to be in that position. That night all she wanted to do was practice, practice, practice. She was so tired she was crying, but kept working at it and wouldn't go to sleep, but continued trying to roll when I placed her in her crib. She finally wore herself out. Then this past Saturday while I was working, Jeff had her on the floor while he read the paper. She was being awfully quiet so Jeff looked over and she'd made it to the front door! Since then we've had to keep watch over her. Our days of putting her down on the floor while we try to get stuff done elsewhere are over.

Luckily we now have an activity center she can go in and she loves it!

I've spent the last few days trying to get the garden ready for winter. It's been sorely neglected over the last year due to pregnancy and Fiona's arrival. The lilies and irises all need to be separated which is a BIG job as we have a lot of them. Sigh...luckily Fiona likes being out and about and spent some time yesterday helping me.

We even saw a praying mantis. I felt bad disturbing his habitat, so I left some of the plants up.This is the second one I've seen in the garden this year. I guess not doing anything to the garden (weeding, pruning, etc.) made it a haven for the bugs. There's still a ton of work left, but it's satisfying and the compost we get from all the leavings will only enrich the soil and hopefully make even prettier flowers next year.

Feeding Time

At Fiona's 4 month doctor's appointment, the doctor gave us the go ahead to start giving Fiona cereal. I had planned on waiting another month, which the doctor agreed was fine, especially if Fiona was sleeping through the night. Well, after the appointment, Fiona stopped sleeping through the night and has gotten up at least once every night since (usually at 2 am, though last night it was 4:30). So, I decided to try giving her some cereal. Needless to say, thus far she's not a fan. More of it ends up on her face than in her mouth. She doesn't seem to like the texture,

and makes the most disgusted face. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon so I can get all my beauty rest! :-)

Grueling day

The things I go through for my parents.

Mommy had an early morning staff meeting today so I had to be up and ready to go with her at 7am. What does she think I am, some 2 month old? And it was bad enough that I had to endure the pre-sunrise car ride, but you'll never guess who the guest speaker was...Daddy! Like I don't have to put up with him for enough hours on Tuesday nights. The topic was something along the lines of blah, blah, blah. I didn't really pay much attention since I was being passed around by the fawning masses. I remember that everyone clapped after he shut up. I know the feeling. All that did was wake me up.

After visiting all of the library people you'd think I could go home and rest. But no, we had to go visit Daddy's work. More fawning, but I was a hungry girl longing for my crib. We stayed long enough to say Happy Birthday to Chelsa, then mommy finally took me home.

All and all, I was a pretty good girl if I may say so myself. But as you can see in the above picture, I crashed around 5. It sure is tough being me.

Four Months!

It is hard to believe our sweet baby girl is already four months old. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. She got a glowing report at the doctor's office today. Her new stats are:

• Weight: 13 lbs
• Height: 25 1/2 inches

So, she's gained almost 2 lbs in two months and 2 1/2 inches. I'm not surprised she's so long. She went through a growth spurt last week and must have put on at least a 1/2 inch to an inch in a couple days.

She got four shots today and was quite the trooper during it all even though she was very tired (nap time was delayed because of the appointment). She's now peacefully sleeping in her crib.

As you can see from the picture, she's found her feet and spends much of her waking time with them in her hands or in the air kicking at her toys. She's curious about everything and likes to watch what's going on around her, which becomes a problem when I'm trying to get her to eat! But, she's still our sweet, happy girl and that makes up for all the challenges. We are very blessed.

One year ago today

Jen and I were up in Mishawaka to attend my Aunt Marge's funeral. Jen was feeling a bit green in the morning, heck most of the week after returning from a short vacation to St. Louis, and commented to me "I think maybe..."

We bought a pregnancy test that morning but with all that was going on that day we had to wait for Jen to get home from work that night before taking it. The instructions say to wait a few minutes, but the positive result was instantaneous. Speechless stares, a hug and a kiss, and Growing up Fiona was officially underway.

Anyone saying "I'm totally ready for the ride of pregnancy and parenthood" is full of it. That's not supposed to be such a negative statement. Reacting to the twist and turns is frustrating in the moment. Getting through them and waiting for the next stage, at least for me, has been enjoyment beyond anything I ever imagined.

Especially when I come home to this at the end of an exhausting, crazy day at work, transitioning into my 6 hour shift of father-daughter only time...

Finally

Three months after Fiona's birth and six months after we purchased it, we FINALLY got her crib. It was worth the wait. Luckily we had a cradle (borrowed from Uncle Shawn and Aunt Leslie) to use until the crib arrived.
Fiona loves her crib. She has lots of room to move around. And move she does, usually in circles. We never know what position we'll find her in when we go to get her. She thinks it's pretty funny and grins when we find her head where her feet should be.

It's hard to see, but in this picture she's half asleep with her eyes rolling toward the back of her head. Sweet sleepy angel.

Sailing Time

I'm ready to go sailing, Uncle Dave. Is your sailboat still in the water?

Whee!

Going...
Going...
Gone!