(Quiet) Weekend at Home

Leading into the weekend, Fiona had a rough couple days.  I think her teeth are starting to bother her again as she is gnawing away on her pacifiers and desperately trying to put my fingers and Tim's in her mouth.  Given her mood, we weren't expecting much from the weekend.  

Fi did pretty well though.  We had some nice morning runs.  Fi seems to enjoy being bundled up on these crisp fall mornings.  Here she is in her fleece bear footies. Now that she is bigger, she fits in her jogging stroller facing out (versus in the car seat facing us), which she absolutely loves.  There's no more napping during stroller time since she can look around.  Fi also had fun playing with Tim.  He had her squealing up a storm with tickles tonight.  

Of course, as I write this, she has started crying so must be brief.  She has been trying to resist sleep even though she is rubbing her eyes: her tell for being tired.  Hopefully, her teeth don't bother her too much this week.

Five months old!

I know you are asking yourself, "Two blog posts in one day?"  That is because in addition to having a big weekend to recap, Fiona is five months old today!  As my parents say, Fiona has logged some miles in her short life, and they'd like to see her odometer.   At five months, she has now stayed overnight in five states (but traveled through eight).  Also, this five-month-old has further discovered her lips; not only does she blow raspberries but she enjoys sucking and smacking her lips.  And I swear she grows inches every day.  Here is our long-legged lady holding her 5-month old sticker.  We didn't even coax her to do this!  She's quite ambitious.

Boston Bound

To celebrate Tim's 30th birthday and our anniversary, we headed to Boston for a long weekend.  Amazingly the trip went really well considering that I was terribly sick on Tuesday and only somewhat recovered on Wednesday, which was the day before we left.  During our train ride from New York, Fiona was our typical good traveler.  She slept for most of the ride and enjoyed looking out the window from around New London, Connecticut through to Boston Back Bay.  

 

 

When we got into Boston, we only had time to eat and relax before our evening of baseball.  The main purpose for planning the trip was because Tim wanted to see a game at Fenway Park.  Since the Orioles play the Red Sox frequently, we managed to time our trip to see the O's.  The O's didn't win, but it was fun to see the home team win and the fans around us were all super nice.  And while we missed innings 3 to 6, Fiona made the big screen for a short moment in the 8th inning during Sweet Caroline (it was long enough for us to flip her around to face the camera but not long enough for me to snap a photo).  Oh yeah, and she really liked watching the big tv in the outfield versus the actual game...sigh.

 

We spent the other two days in Boston just strolling around town.  We stayed near Copley Square so we spent a lot of time in that area and browsing Newbury Street.  We also took the Freedom Trail, which is a self-guided walking tour of the major historical landmarks like Paul Revere's House, Old North Church, and the site of the Boston Massacre.  And what vacation is complete without visiting a winery or brewery?  The obvious choice was the Samuel Adams Brewery tour, where I think Fiona got the best compliment ever.  A guy about our age approached Tim to tell him that his wife thought Fiona was so good and adorable that she is ready to have a baby.  It was such an oddly personal and endearing comment that still makes me chuckle.

  

Our train left Boston late Saturday night, so we stayed with Aunt Mary that night in Bronxville.  It worked out fantastic because Fiona got to visit with Aunt Judy who was in town from North Carolina.  We didn't get to visit long since we needed to get back home, but Fiona got to give her some cuddles in thanks for the piano book she has been enjoying this week.   Maybe her little piano fingers that everyone points out will be put to good use.

Fi's first sleepover

Nate and Ashli got married this weekend in Lancaster so Fiona slept over at Nana and Papa's house two nights in a row.  Fortunately, Lancaster is close enough to Nana and Papa's that we were able to spend some time with the little lady during the day on Saturday before the wedding.  Sleepovers are a pretty big milestone, but I really didn't sweat it too much.  It probably would have been a different story if I hadn't seen her for 48 hours straight.  Fi was in good hands though, and she got to spend Saturday night with Nana AND Cousin Janie.  The two of them were chatting Nana's ear off apparently.  Here is our gal upon arriving home after the big weekend.  She had just woken after napping in the car.  This is her typical stretch and grumpy face post-waking.  Even her grumpy face is pretty darn cute.

Busy mommy = few pictures and postings

I had a very busy week, hence the lack of postings.  On Sunday, I had a "day" trip to Chicago for work.  The day began at 4:00am and ended at 1:30am the next day, after nearly missing my flight and getting a flat tire on my drive home.  Super fun.  Tim had Fi to himself all day, and in his words, "she took it easy on him."  After a day of recuperation and tire repair, I headed to Maryland with the munchkin so that I could attend the Association of Children's Museum symposium in DC.  She spent the days with her grandparents who were delighted to have her, even if she did wear them out on those long days.  My photos from the week are pretty limited, but here is our little Fiona in my new favorite pair of footie pajamas (thanks Emily!).  Given her length, we broke out the 6 month pajamas, and she seems to enjoy the extra foot room!

Longer, Leaner, and Quite the Screamer

Chewing on Sophie's ear

After her 2-month check up, I wrote that Fi is long and lean.  Well after her 4-month appointment I can say she is longer and leaner!  Fi is 25.5 inches long (in the 82nd percentile) and 12 pounds 2 ounces (in the 11th percentile).  The doctor says she is just fine though (for those of you worrying that she is too skinny), since she started out around the same weight percentile and has exceeded her birth length percentile.  Fiona did not handle her shots as well as she did last time though.  She was a little wiggly and fussy leading into the shots, and then came the blood curling scream when they stuck her.  I think the pain from the shots plus pain from teething put her over the top.  The doctor said she can't feel her teeth yet, but she doesn't doubt that Fione is hurting.  Tim came home with a Sophie giraffe to help ease her pain since it has lots of different smaller nobs for her to chew on like the ear and legs.  She seemed to be taking to it well.  Tim and I were initially skeptical of Sophie.  As Tim said when he was taking the package off: "Oh my God, I just bought my daughter a $25 squeeky toy."  But if that squeeky toy makes our Fiona pup happy, I think it was worth it. 

Taking full advantage of the long weekend

Tim had off on Friday and Monday so we had a nice long weekend to have fun with Fiona.  Tim played stay-at-home dad on Friday while I did some work.  He took Fi for a run, played alongside her on the activity mat, and made her giggle a lot.  I had some fun with her too, lending her some hair to help us imagine what Fi will look like when she finally gets those luscious locks we hope she will eventually have.  This photo is Tim's favorite.  I think Fi looks absolutely deranged though.

 

We headed to Philly Friday evening for a sleepover at Patrick and Erika's. We got in so late that she really didn't get to hang out with Claire and Janie much, but she still had an explosive time (drum roll for the bad segue) ... In that she had a bit of a blow out around 2am.  After four wipes, a clean diaper, new outfit, and fresh bassinet sheet, Fi was back to bed to get her beauty sleep before heading to the shore.

 The rest of the weekend breezed by.  She had fun hanging out with her cousins and particularly Grace (who has decided that Fi's goofy hair on the bottom part of the back of her head looks like a mustache).  As always, we spent a lot of time on the boardwalk and beach too.  On this trip to the beach, we finally put her in a bathing suit and dipped her toes in the water.  She seemed to enjoy just hanging with Tim and watching the waves roll in as well as sleeping in the stroller.  It was a great weekend that we are capping off by watching Sixteen Candles and listening to Fi blow raspberries.  Not too shabby.