One small step for Fi… January 19, 2008

(Jan. 5th) And along with a tooth comes her first solid steps. She is officially a walker now…days before her 11 month birthday. No wonder her sleep was so bad…a new tooth and walking all at the same time? She is very proud of her new ability. I am learning what comes along with this freedom. We were in Toys-r-us doing a little shopping and she wanted down to walk…with in seconds she found a goldfish cracker on the floor and had it in her mouth.

Walking also brings a whole new world…OUTSIDE….everything is pretty wet so I haven’t really let her down outside for a while…but today we went out on the patio and walked around. Fiona loved it so much i couldn’t get her to come back in. When I finally brought her back in she threw her arms up against the slider doors and cried. Needless to say we went outside again  =)

First Tooth! January 19, 2008

(Jan. 5th) I kept waiting to see the drool. Every baby I’ve seen teething has come along with a bucket of drool. Her sleep was all messed up but I attributed that to the holidays and her wanting to walk. Turns out…she was teething! No red gums, no drool, no need to bite (anymore then she already does) but sure enough there’s a tooth there now!

Happy New Year / Cabin January 19, 2008

We decide to go up to the cabin for a week over New Year’s. Because of lil’ miss no one has really been up there all winter and we were met with record snowfall drifts all around the cabin. Luckily we could get in through the side door and didn’t have to dig ourselves in…but once we were inside you couldn’t see out at all….

We came up Thursday night and Friday morning my brother Alan and sister-in-law Val came up to spend the day and Alan and Greg were going snowmobiling. It was perfect timing for them to show up because my brother volunteered to help Greg shovel snow before they went and played! We actually really like shoveling snow…it’s an incredible work out…but because one of us always needed to be in with fi (guess which one of us that was…) it made the process a bit slower…. Fiona had a great opportunity to try on her new snow clothes and while the shoveling was going on we got outside to explore the winter wonderland.

We also confirmed that we have a small speed demon on our hands. Fiona LOVES sledding…and she prefers to go with her daddy because he goes SO much faster then her mom. She would squeal and laugh all the way down the hill…it was a ton of fun!

By that afternoon the snow started falling again…and continued to fall non-stop until Monday morning. Greg’s dad came up and stayed over the weekend and helped Greg try and keep up with the snow. We figure we got around 3 to 4 more feet just while we were there, it was the most snow either of them could remember having at the cabin.

The cabin has traditional been a place of rest for us. We play hard during the day, eat and crash in front of the t.v. and sleep in. We learned this week that that tradition has been put to rest (at least for a while) by miss Fiona Rose. There was nothing relaxing about being cabin bound with a 10 month old who wanted to walk, was coming down from the excitement of the holidays and (unknown at the time to us) was teething for the first time. Fiona was up ALL night long, every single night. Greg actually had to sleep on the couch in the living room because it was just to disruptive for him to be in our room. And then during the day because of the heavy snow we were mostly cabin-bound. It was HARD. I was going a bit stir-crazy. We would go out and walk for a while but she couldn’t  really get down and it was too cold and wet to have her out there for too long. We brought several toys with us but it’s not like at home where there are many things to do and if all else fails you get in the car and at least drive. Nope, we were there, with our handful of toys. OH>…and we couldn’t find a sitter for the cats so they were there too. They also really wanted to go outside but weren’t allowed….it added an extra bit of “fun” that we just couldn’t believe =)

Monday the clouds lifted and the sun came out. Our friends Ellie, Chris and Jackson came up to visit us and Jackson and Fi played and sledded together. It was SO nice! We had a great time and everything was so much easier just having a distraction.  That night was new year’s eve and greg and i were in bed by  10 ish. Of course Fiona did me the favor of waking up around midnight so I was actually awake when the new year came in. The next day we packed up and headed home.  It was SO nice to be home again =)  It was a trying trip. I know that soon the cabin will be fun again. Fiona will be excited to be there, she’ll love waking up with the snow and eating pancakes then bundling up and going out to play.  Coming in for some hot chocolate now and again and at night settling down to watch her favorite movie with her parents and popcorn.

As you can see our other little girl loves the snow now….she could sleep out there all day if we let her. (note  how much snow there is,,,that was taken from the window and normally that spot is about a foot lower then where I was standing….

First Christmas! Part II January 19, 2008

(Dec. 25th) Christmas part 2 is at my parents house in Enumclaw. It was another great day. Fiona did really good – we were a little worried that all that stimulus two days in a row would send her over the edge (flashback to easter…where she cried for a solid 4 hours by the time we got to my parents house) but she was a champ. Again we spent the day opening tons of gifts and eating way too much food. Note the lovely picture of daddy sleeping with his beer on the high chair =) one for the memory books! Even the dogs were exhausted by the time the day was over!

First Christmas! Part I January 19, 2008

( Dec. 24th) We are very lucky people because our families live so close and are so flexible with holiday plans. Christmas Eve we spend at Greg’s parents house. There are always tons of gift and great food. We started early this year and good thing we did because it still took till 8 that night to open all the gifts and finish stuffing our faces. Because Fiona is over there twice a week anyway it’s no big deal for her to spend the day there and nap there. Another great plus to having the grandparents so close. Fiona didn’t really pay much attention to the gifts or the gift wrap, i thought she might be more into the tearing of the paper…but no…apparently that’s only really fun it it happens to be a magazine article that her parents haven’t read yet =) Her favorite part of Christmas at G’2s is her Grandma Norma’s Chex Party Mix…the girl can’t get enough of it!  Here are some photos of her with her gifts and of her and her daddy playing with their new toys !

10 Months January 19, 2008

(Dec. 10th) As you can see the photos get more challenging with the months. The couch has become a really great playground much to our dismay! At 10 months Fiona is working really hard to begin to walk. She has “cruising” down to a science and knows how to get just about anywhere in the house with  out ever having to actually let go. We are just spending our days getting ready for the Holidays. Dad leaves for Asia again for a week and some days but gets back in plenty of time for Christmas. We did make the decision to not worry about decorating so much this year. Next year for sure. A tree, a 10 month old and 3 cats sounds like more then I can handle right now. We’ve put up some things around the house and of course stockings on the fireplace and Fiona has fun pointing how where the snowflake is and where santa is. Pointing, by the way, is becoming a very big part of our day. We are endlessly amazed at how many things Fiona knows and can point out to us, it makes us a little worried =) and the reality is setting in that she has been listening to us all this time =) let’s hope she chooses her first real clear public word carefully =)

Safety First January 19, 2008

(Dec. 9th) Fiona got an early Christmas present with her first official bike helmet. Learning to walk can be risky business =) So far she like is o.k….she really likes it when dad puts it on his head!

New Phase or Just a phase? January 9, 2008

Along with walking (fi walked all around the house last night!) we seem to be in a new phase, and i’m not sure if we’re headed towards something big or if it will just last a week or two….The last few days Fiona would  have nothing to do with the bottle again. She wouldn’t take a sip out of it. She has been starting to drink more and more out of the sippy cup and in the last couple of days she really grasps ahold of it and drinks from it, not just play with it….but she also has been “asking” to nurse more. I’m not sure if she is transitioning away from the bottle to the sippy cup entirely and just nursing more because she’s not that good with the cup yet and is thirsty….or if she is regressing and wanting me more (which i don’t think will last long if that’s the case) either way it keeps us on our toes…i’m sure some day i’ll wish she didn’t talk…like when she’s 16…but for now i would just love to know what’s going on in that mind of hers!!!!

On other exciting news we went and visited a day care today. we really liked it…they only serve organic food and have an on staff nutritionist and cook. They also do yoga, music and dance twice a week. the ratios were very small, very diverse and we liked their thoughts on discipline. Everyone we talked to were really nice….we have another to visit in a week so we’ll see. We’re hoping to have Fi in a day care in the next few months (or more i suppose-depending on waiting lists) part time. Grandparents will still watch her part of the week and day care the other part. I think she will really like it since she is such a social and energetic little girl!

Walk this Way January 7, 2008

well..again, once the computer is back the pix will go up…..but this weekend Fiona took her first few tentative steps. It was just a few here and there…our little girl is very calculating and doesn’t like to do things until she’s sure she can do them right….but she took them. A couple of times to me and a couple of times going from one place to another. she looks like a short pudgy frankenstein when she walks but the look of pride on her face when she’s done is the best look in the world!

her other new accomplishment….this weekend she figured out that she is supposed to stack the rings onto the little pole…you know, the stacking ring toy that every single american child has? Well until this weekend Fiona would just suck on it and huck the rings around the room…but saturday she sat down and carefully placed the rings back onto the toy and then took them off again…..Again, the look of pride on her face when she saw that we were watching her was priceless!

HELP January 7, 2008

well, still waiting for the computer…should be another day or two….but right now, i need HELP! Who can tell me the title of that parenting book…you know the one that is undeniably right….that if you follow will for sure work for your child and will have the correct answer every time? What was the name of that book again?

Fiona has yet to sleep through the night….we have never tried any “tactics” to get her to sleep through the night because I’ve always thought she was a pretty good sleeper in comparison to a lot of my friends…but recently a couple of things have changed. Now when she gets up in the middle of the night she stays up for 2 or more hours! And it feels like it’s time for her to be putting herself back to sleep…which i know, we’re supposed to teach her…right? isn’t that what the books say? Until now my ace in the hole has been to nurse her…in fact, I have to nurse her or she gets very mad….but of course, at 11 months she doesn’t need to nurse in the middle of the night…she just likes to….PLUS she has started to bite me at the end of nursing…and i mean BITE me….she is finally starting to get a tooth and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that bite now let alone when that tooth comes in.

So…here was the plan…no more nursing in the middle of the night…only right before bed and in the morning…and try to nurse her less during the day unless she asks for it (she takes a bottle when i’m gone anyway) Night one (saturday) Fi woke up at 1 a.m. and when she realized that nursing wasn’t in the picture she cried for 3 hours…we left her in her crib to cry and would go in there every bit to hold her and but her back down…finally she quieted down and after a long time i snuck back in to cover her up but she was still awake and saw me and started screaming…finally after a few hours she fell asleep in my arms and slept till 9 a.m. a new record. Sunday night same…she woke up at 3 and I went in and held her …no nursing…she relaxed in my arms but WOULD NOT fall asleep….i suppose at that time i should have laid her back down into bed and let her cry….yes? i don’t know!! after several attempts to put her back in her crib i caved and nursed her (this was two  hours later and just a couple hours before i had to get up to go to work) and she fell right to sleep.

I am unsure of what to do here? Do I just keep nursing her at night and she will wean herself from it? Or is the nursing what’s prompting her to get up in the middle of the night still? At 11 months were your kids putting themselves to sleep? And back to sleep? Sleeping all night? Nursing through the night?

I know that consistency is the key and I failed that test on the second night…sigh….

So if you can just point me in the direction of the book mentioned above…i would really appreciate it ….