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.