9 months old!

Fiona is 9 months old today!  She is becoming such a little mover and shaker.  She has mastered the art of pulling herself to standing.  It often starts with her sticking her butt up in the air with hands on the ground; she then walks her hands up you until she is fully upright.  There isn't tons of progress in the crawling department, although she is starting to get the backward motion off of her knees.  It is so nice to have a house now for her to move around!  Fi continues to be a good little eater.  New development is that she seems to have outgrown some pureed foods.  She still likes her pureed applesauce and mango but doesn't seem as interested in pureed dinners.  She totally rejected her yummy meal last night in favor of eating chunks of chicken, green beans, and rice.  Looking forward to see what changes the rest of 9 months will bring!

Thank you!

It was a busy day 3, 4, and 5 of homeownership and we have a lot of people to thank for helping us prep the house and move!  On day 3, thanks to Fiona for being such a patient baby.  We switched the cable and internet to the  house and set up a play space for Fiona where she could watch Sesame Street and the Goodnight Show (in the buff at times).  She wasn't so good at napping at the house (see her on her knees in the pack n play--we lowered it after this picture), but Fiona toughed it out at the house almost all day.  She had her nighttime bottle and fell asleep leaving us time to get a lot done.  When Fi woke around 10ish, I took her back to the apartment to sleep in her crib.  I boxed up odds and ends while Tim and his mom managed to put the first coat on our bedroom.  It is a big room so special thanks to them for getting it done!  They didn't return until after midnight.  Also, special thanks to my Uncle Jimmy who helped my dad pack the truck full of the odds and ends left at my parents (there were lots of odds and ends!).  

Day 4 thanks to the movers (Tim, his dad, my dad, Chad, and Uncle John)!  This is a super duper huge thanks to them because it turned out to be what I would call a quintessential Pocono winter move.  They had called for accumulations of less than an inch, but we woke up to that much and it continued steadily during at least the first truck loading.  It stopped by the afternoon so not too bad in the end.  It was shocking to see how much stuff we had in our apartment.  I know Tim is efficient at using space, but man oh man!  Day 4 thanks also goes to Nana who finished painting our bedroom.  I didn't think it could be done!  Thanks also to my mom who kept Fiona happy and safe from the chaos of moving.  Apparently she got a kick out of everyone coming in and out, but that didn't stop her from napping well on the couch.  And thanks to Aunt Mary Jean who brought some amazing meatballs and ziti for dinner.  It was definitely what we needed at the end of the day.

Day 5 thanks to our parents.  They helped us sort through the chaos and bring in the new fridge (will pay the extra money to have it delivered next time!!!).  We got so much accomplished in so little time, and we couldn't have done it without family.

Homeowners - Day 2

Tim, Nana, and I tried to hit the ground running today in order to paint Fiona's room.  It really got done thanks to Nana who trimmed and rolled all the walls.  I was pretty much useless most of the day aside from some packing and unpacking because I was tending to Fiona.  Fiona really enjoyed watching recess across the street at the elementary school.  I think she's going to like her new home. Here she is in her room.  What was lavender is now cotton grey.  

Homeowners

Some of you already knew that this was in process, but we are officially homeowners as of today!  It was a quick process although it felt really slow at time.  Essentially, we decided to look for houses in Stroudsburg, looked at two houses in the only neighborhood we were considering, loved the second house we saw, made an offer the next day, the seller countered within two days, and we agreed to the terms! 

The house is a Victorian built in 1902.  The outside needs a little love, but the inside only needs some minor work.  It is a corner lot (so maybe a little extra shoveling in the winter) right across from an elementary school so Fiona has her own playground.  We were supposed to settle last Wednesday so this week has been extremely painful, but we are boxed up and ready to move!   We are excited to share the progress making this very cool house our home!  Ignore my mom jeans in this picture.  I am in my working cloths.  But Fiona is excited!

Not a Baby Anymore

 

Over the last week, a reoccurring thought has been: "Fiona is not a baby anymore."  She is trying so hard to stand and walk (not really into crawling though).  If I sit next to her on the floor, she often turns toward me and tries to pull herself up.  Sometimes, she just pulls herself up to watch TV or talk to me, but the point is, she wants to be up.  The saucer, a big toy that lets her stand and play with toys all around her, isn't satisfying her anymore either.  I think she dislikes the lack of risk--no opportunity to pull herself to standing or chance of falling over.

She has also become quite adept at feeding herself, so we broke out the snack cup last weekend.  But, whereas last weekend she was reluctant to put her hand inside of it, and when she did she wasn't successful at getting puffs out of the cup, now she pulls out the puffs and scarfs them down surprisingly rapidly.  Here she is with her hand deep in the cup.    She is also skilled at using those two teeth of hers. She beavered off a few big chunks of pickles when we were out at dinner last night and even turned those teeth on the wooden table.  Expecting more teeth?  Maybe so.

Part Sedentary, Part Uber-Active

Fiona has been funny this week.  Turns out that she sprung another tooth, which in retrospect, sort of explains her funny behavior.  What was funny was that she'd go through points of extreme calm, quiet, and plain old laziness, to tearing into everything in a mischievous way.  Case and point, look at these photos.  The first one is little miss couch potato.  She was just hanging out watching the boob tube with pacifier in place.  I was sitting in the chair next to her snapping photos, and she paid me no mind whatsoever.  By contrast, the second photo shows sneaky Fiona.  I'd just put her down for a second to put something away.  I turn around and there she is pulling herself up on Tim's bag.  I love the little grin she is giving in this photo.  What a stinker. 

Post-Christmas Relaxing

The week after Christmas has been a blur.  Fiona hasn’t been feeling fabulous—I’d say she shoved one too many shared toys with all their germs in her mouth during Christmas (see photo).  Her nose is all stuffy, but she is still pretty happy.  At bath time last night, she was laughing hysterically for no reason.  The normal back scrubbing set her into giggles.  She has also been eating up a storm.  Tim pureed a whole bunch of new food for her including a chicken, leeks, carrots, and peas, which she has been scarfing down.  Plus, over the holidays, she has had a lot of “real” people food including: raw red and yellow peppers, standing rib roast with mashed potatoes and broccoli, rosemary chicken with lemon and mushrooms, and beef stir fry with peppers and mushrooms.  What a culinary week!

 

After the Christmas visit with the cousins, I think Fi realized that she really wants to be more mobile.  In the last few days, she has been pushing herself up on her knees in front of her toys and toy basket, which has ended up with a few bumped heads.  She has also enjoyed walking holding our hands and behind her walker.  I have enjoyed watching the process of learning to walk.  She seems to look down and check her feet before picking them up to move them.  I love how pleased she looks in the picture on the right.  She looks too little to be standing up!