12 months

Our baby is 1 year old now!  She is getting SO close to walking, Feb 25 she let go of the couch and took 2-3 steps to me and since then she decides sometimes to stand there not holding onto anything and take a step or two and other times it's like she says "hmmm I'm good at crawling, I'll just do that".  The other day she took at least double the usual to get to me and I keep thinking, any day now!  A few days after her first steps she ended up with an ear infection.  Her first one surprisingly considering how many Logan had when he was a baby!  Although she didn't have any fever or pulling at her ears, she was just acting really clingy and wouldn't even let me sit her in her high chair to eat, that's definitely a sign from her that something is up, Girl loves to eat!  She's been super talkative lately and finally pointed to me and said Mama (March 6), woohoo finally!  She just recently started to say Maya too, but she says it for everything, sometimes for the dog and sometimes just because she's blabbing.  On March 7 we went up to Estes Park to the cabin to stay one night for the first time with Fiona.  It was a nice sunny weekend even though there was still plenty of snow on the ground.  We needed a break from a stressful week and Estes Park is always a good place to unwind!  Inside the cabin were a lot of pictures on the walls of bears and Fiona loved them, anytime she looked at them she'd make her growling sound (she started doing this for lions, tigers and bears...oh my!).  While we were in town we walked the down town for a bit, ate dinner and went back to the cabin and to bed early (at least I did ;)  The next morning we drove through RMNP to check it out in the snowy winter, we usually are there when it's nice and warm and green.  We got lucky and spotted a bunch of elk so Logan, Dom and I got out to take some pictures and watch them for a little while.  Fiona was asleep in the car the whole drive, but a good nap for her is always a nice thing.  The park was beautiful snow covered and it was a nice drive.  On the way back to the cabin we also saw some big horn sheep grazing on the side of the road, I was excited to see those since we have never seen them there before.  After the park we checked out of the cabin, headed to downtown for a bit then drove home to get ready for Paige's birthday party.  It was at the community pool (indoors!) and Fiona's first time swimming.  She LOVED it.  She was just talk talk talkin the whole time and very excited.  Plus she got to try out her cute new swim suit she got for her birthday.  Logan enjoyed splashing around the shallow end and going down the slide they have there.  He still is NOT a fan of water splashing him in the face and stays away from going under the water that sprays down from the fun splashing part.  But he had a good time!  March 15 weekend Dom went to Tucson to help celebrate Nancy's 30th birthday and me and the kids stayed home.  Saturday both kids woke up with fevers so we stayed at home and played and rested.  I let Logan stay up late and watch Big Hero 6 with me (it was so cute, I loved it!) and we ate cake :)  Then Sunday they both woke up fever free (yay)  Logan still has a cough but otherwise they were good to go, so I took them out on this beautiful sunny and 70s plus degree day to go for a short kid friendly hike.  We hiked Pines to Peak trail and it was only about a mile loop so the perfect length for Logan's little legs and me alone with them both!  Fiona rode in the front carrier and she was happily talking to the trees along the way.  Some parts were really snowy and Logan was slipping and sliding around while other parts were nice and clear.  It was a good hike and a perfect day for it!  Afterwards we ate outside on the patio at Turley's and enjoyed some more sunshine.  After naps we headed to the Orchard to walk around and play on the new playground there and explore the toy store.  Fiona kept teasing walking while we were at the play ground, she's just so close!  We had a nice weekend together and are ready for daddy to come home!

Since Fiona is 1 year, I wanted to list some of her favorite things so we can remember :)

Favorite foods:  peaches, cheese, yogurt, meatballs, scrambled eggs, turkey, pizza and strawberries
Favorite songs: if you're happy and you know it (she will clap along and put her arms up in the air for 'hurray'), itsy bitsy spider (she tries to do the motions for this too) and Welcome to New York by Taylor Swift (thanks Logan) she loves to "dance" to this in the car, it always makes her move along.
Favorite toys: baby dolls, balls, things that make noise when you shake them, her farm puzzle pieces to just carry around the house, anything of Logan's.  Things that aren't toys- stinky socks, shoes, tupperware, Logan's kid silverware, mommy's phone.
Favorite books:  Pat the Zoo, Bobby Bunny, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Animals picture book, A bug counting book.
Favorite things to do: give hugs, open mouth kisses (these just started this month), standing at the back door and watching Maya outside, loves seeing Logan come into the room she always gets excited, sleeping on her belly (she's FINALLY consistently sleeping through the night now, woohoo!  the daytime naps got way thrown off after her ear infection but are on their way back to being longer and consistent), holding her breath when she cries, doing her "no" sign (shaking her arm back and forth in front of her in a hurry I'm upset fashion haha) and telling you what she does not want, screaming when you take things away from her (she's starting to get sassy ;)

*pics to come

Happy 1st Birthday!

Our baby girl is 1!  1 year already, it really did fly by.  It's in all those moments, big and small, that made up this first year that Fiona has brought us such joy.  She has made us all complete and we had a lot of fun celebrating her on her special day!
On her actual birthday we woke up to snow, a big change from the sunny day last year when she was born, but that's Colorado for you!  It was also President's day so Logan had the day off of school.  We played and had our usual morning, with the addition of some balloons in her crib for her to play with.  Then when daddy got home from work we went out to dinner at 95A.  Fiona devoured some tater tots, pesto pasta and a little from everyone's plate.  Then we went next door to Indulge bakery to pick out a special treat for the kids to eat for her birthday.  We got Fiona a sprinkle cookie and Logan chose a cookie in the shape of lips (since it was just Valentine's day ;) and we took them home to eat.  We sang Fiona happy birthday and let her and Logan devour their cookies.  Fiona wasn't shy, it practically never left her mouth, she just shoveled it down.  I understand, cookies are my favorite too!  It was a nice day with just the family to celebrate together.  Then the rest of the week was spent prepping for her birthday party Saturday.

Saturday the 21st we threw Fiona a "sprinkles" birthday party in the morning.  We had Uncle Erick, Jenny and Bo, the Valania's, Tobin's and Christian's over with all their kids and Granny Mo flew into town that morning too!  We had lots of breakfasty desserty foods covered in sprinkles and some morning drinks too :)  Fiona loved looking at the pictures of herself Dom had taped to the wall in the shape of a "1" and watching the slideshow of our pictures from her first year on the tv too.  She was talking to them and pointing.  She enjoyed eating pancake muffins, fruit and yogurt.  The big kids helped entertain her with some bubbles from the bubble machine and she had fun watching all of them play.  We let her open a few presents, which really was Logan opening them and Fiona inspecting the gifts, before we let her dig into her cake.  Once again she got a lovely birthday song from everybody then we handed over the cake.  She was reaching for it before it even landed on her high chair but once it was there she was very lady like in her approach.  She needed a little help getting started and once she did she had fun with the frosting and sprinkles.  She was sad to see it go when she was all done.  She had fun and so did we!  She got a lot of cute clothes to wear in the coming months and some good new books too which she is enjoying.  She got a stroller walker and babydoll from Granny Mo which she had fun pushing around her baby on walks around the living room.  Mommy made her a tie blanket with hot air balloons on it and we got her a Belle baby doll, Logan picked out a purple squishy ball that lights up for her.  Among all her lovely gifts, she carried around the Doc McStuffins fork and spoon from the Valania's the entire rest of her party.  She would not let you take them away haha she was attached ;)  And a few hours after her party she was gifted another snow storm from good ol Colorado, this one lasted a few days, we say it was because Granny Mo came into town.  We will have to wait and see if this is a Fiona birthday yearly event of snowfall or not ;)  We had a great party and lots of fun celebrating this special little girl of ours.  Happy birthday to our "baby chocolate sprinkles" (what Logan wanted to name her ;)  We are excited for all the new fun moments we get to share together in your second year and all the rest to come!  We Love you!!

sprinkeled cones with fruit inside, pancake muffins with sprinkles and yogurt granola parfaits with sprinkles on top

donuts rolled in sprinkles on a stick, Logan's favorite ;)

baby girls pictures

cupcakes for the kids to decorate, sprinkled animal cookies and popcorn with white chocolate and sprinkles

Fiona's first year pics

opening her favorite gifts, the spoon and fork haha

ready to sing her happy bday!

gimme, gimme, gimme!

enjoying her cake (and her pics on the wall shaped as a 1)

frosting and sprinkles is awesome :)

yummy!

after the cake destruction

wait, you're taking it away now?!

Logan blowing bubbles for sister

note the spoon still in hand...and mouth

family picture

kids being silly ;)

with the blanket mommy made

playing with her new babies and stroller/walker

she loved watching her pictures on the slideshow :)

11 months

It's hard to believe the countdown to the big 1 is almost over!  Our baby is growing up!  I wish she could be this little forever but it's always exciting to watch what comes next. This past month Fiona has become so much more interactive. She loves to snuggle on your shoulder still and just be held which is the sweetest moment. She's come to LOVE baby dolls and shows them the same affection she does to us. She'll give them hugs (lay on top of them on the floor ;) and kisses and she likes to carry them around. On feb 5 she started pointing with one finger and is able to point out on the baby where it's nose, head and belly are. She's caught on to using sign language and can do eat and more. Which what else does she need haha. She tries to do all done and book sometimes too and she seems to pat the top of her head in a way that says, hey don't you know what this means... And no, no I do not haha. Those little hands have also been busy picking itty bitty microscopic pieces of who knows what off the floor and promptly to her mouth, she has an eagle eye for anything ting that shouldn't go in her mouth. Same thing at the park, she likes sitting in the sandbox and grabbing handfuls of sand and just playing with it, but she'll find the tiny pebble in it and boom in the mouth. Game over. I've dug more things out of her mouth then I ever had to with Logan. Sometimes it's really just food too because she likes to chipmunk it sometimes and shove everything on her plate into her mouth at once. Mainly she does this with bread. Girl loves her carbs!  Some other new foods she's tried and liked are scrambled eggs with cheese, refried beans with lentils and blueberries. She pretty much eats what we do at dinner. Or at least tries it. Still not a fan of bananas. I think she has a thing about texture sometimes.  She will be able to try more foods now that her top middle tooth came in 2/4 and the one next to it 2/12.  So now she has 8 teeth total.  Another thing growing in is more hair!  it's at the awkward length now where it's somewhat mullet-ish in the back and more sparse on the top, but she will be rocking some barrettes soon :)  Fiona has been doing a lot more babbling now, rarara sounds and finally mama sounds feb 8 and dada sounds feb 12.  She hasn't said mama or dada meant for us yet but we are closer now that she can actually say them haha.  Fiona has been busy climbing on whatever she can find nowadays too.  Must be because of all the stairs practice ;)  No walking yet but getting closer.  She's still crawling and cruising her way around.  She has figured out how to go down the set of two stairs that separate our rooms all by herself now, we just tell her go on your belly, and she will turn onto her belly and slide feet first down them.  Hopefully that will keep being so easy once the walking comes too. Some current Fiona favorites: She likes rocking herself in the little rocking chair that was Dominic's when he was young, although she can't climb in/out it herself yet.  She enjoys standing at the back door and watching Maya when she's outside.  She stands and points at her and ooo's and aaah's.  As usual, she loves seeing Logan and always wants to hug him!  She loves when Taylor Swift's song "Welcome to New York" comes on in the car, she starts kicking and clapping and "singing" along "oooooo".  (This is also Logan's favorite song at the moment.). She enjoys baby storytime at the library once a week and is getting more into the songs, she will clap her hands for "if you're happy and you know it" and sometimes will try to do the wheels for "wheels on the bus"  she loves when they bring out the balls to play with at the end too.
 We had a fairly laid back month it seems, which is a nice change of pace after the busy holidays.  We did have a party at our house for the Superbowl with Uncle Erick, the Dilley's and the Valania's.  Fiona enjoyed watching Katy Perry at the half time show.  She was jumping up and down as I held her, clapping and going oooo.  This was the first time she actually clapped, I guess Katy Perry does it for her ;)  We had a fun time watching the game and commercials and eating and drinking, all good things that go along well with friends and football.  We also went to the Zoo in Denver on the free day they offered, crazy amount of people but the weather was perfect, sunny and 60s and we all had a good time.  This was Fiona's second time visiting a zoo, first time we've been all together to Denver zoo with her.  She had a blast standing at the windows and watching the animals and practiced using that pointer finger a lot ;)  Valentine's day was Fiona's last "first" holiday before she turns 1.  It was sunny and 60s out so we rode bikes with the kids in the trailer down to Sweets, a new ice cream shop that opened in down town Erie, and met the Valania's there.  Fiona did ok in the trailer but wasn't the biggest fan!  Hopefully she will learn to enjoy it more since we have so many nice paved bike trails around our area.  The next day was snowing of course haha and Papa was in Denver for a work conference, so we met up with him at his hotel.  Logan and Dom swam in the indoor pool, where Logan learned a thing or two about being able to stand in the shallow end and where exactly that ends.  We went to the Hard Rock and had some drinks before we said goodbye to Charles.
It was a good last month of infant-hood, our baby girl is all grown up now and we will be chasing a toddler around any time now!

getting enough hair to be effected by static ;)

 Lovin on her baby doll

 ready to play in the balls

 teething with that finger in the mouth!

 hugging/tackling Logan

 big grin at the zoo

Merry Christmas!

With Christmas here we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time with friends in Colorado and family visiting us.  Dom and I got to go to the Ball "ball" this year as his work party.  It was at the Denver museum of Nature and Science which was fun to be at without kids since we got to actually look around more.  They had food and drinks and music and we had a good time going out while Uncle Erick watched the sleeping kids.

Logan also had a Christmas party for his preschool at the rec center.  They created ginger bread houses and then lined up to sing songs.  Logan was not wanting to line up to sing but once the songs started he sang along and had a good time whether you could see that on his face or not ;)

showing off his half eaten gingerbread house :)

Daddy and Fiona

Time for Christmas carols

Merry Christmas!

 Our first Christmas festivity was the "low key" Christmas party at the Valania's with the Dilley's.  We wore ugly Christmas sweaters and had fun doing a white elephant gift exchange between the adults and one between the kids then we all celebrated with some games and flip cup, like we were in college again ;)  We got to go to another get together with our neighbors who all have kids around Logan's age.  We brought cookies over to Brad and Kristin's and the Tobins came and all the kids had fun playing together.  It's nice to have so many nice families in our neighborhood!  The day before Logan's last day of school before Christmas break the poor guy got sick and was throwing up...all over the couch, bleck.  Luckily it was only a 24 hour bug because he was feeling better the next day but did end up missing school.  Fiona got a touch of the bug too but she wasn't throwing up so that was good, just lots of blowouts, still no fun.  Everyone was feeling better when Granny Mo got into town, hurray!  We had fun spending time with her while she was staying with us a few days.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

white elephant gifts!

These cute kids!

Christmas Eve rolled around and we went to mass and Fiona did great, she had fun waving at the people around us and laughing while Logan played with her.  On Christmas morning Logan woke up and we let him play in our room for a little while to give Fiona more time to sleep before we woke her up and went downstairs with Granny Mo to see what Santa left.  Logan got a Baymax action figure and a Boba Fett Rocket Launcher from Santa, just what he asked for.  Fiona got a busy ball popper toy and she thought it was great.  They both enjoyed their presents from Santa and we had a lot more to go! Uncle Erick came over and we all got to open the rest of the presents. Logan enjoyed opening his presents nice and slow like a Lewis ;)  Fiona wasn't so much into the unwrapping or the toys themselves as much as she enjoyed crawling around to find the little pieces of wrapping paper that were left on the floor.  The kids were very spoiled by their grandparents this year and got lots of awesome toys.  We made our appetizers and had fun playing with new toys then the Valania's came over for a little while.  All the kids had fun playing in the play pen with the balls Fiona got for Christmas and everyone enjoyed the ball pit.  Fiona got two new walkers and she did great using them, she was happy to walk around the house.  She also figured out on Christmas how to go up the set of two stairs that separate the rooms downstairs.  Now it's the going down that we need to work on :) I can't remember now if it snowed on Christmas, I think it started later in the day and snowed through the night and for a few more days after.  We had lots of snow and a fun white wintry holiday.

Fiona's first Christmas!

 Our handsome Logan!

 All dressed up for Christmas Eve Mass

 Christmas morning, Thanks Santa!

 Santa brought Logan this Baymax toy

 crawling through the presents

 little bits of paper, Fiona's favorite part of Christmas ;)

 Still happy to get anything Star Wars!

 Santa, Baby

 The best gift!

 Logan got mommy a trip with him to Elitch gardens when it gets warmer out!

 testing out the ball pit

 mmm thanks for the meatballs Granny Mo!

 Cousins and Christmas Jammies

 Granny Mo makes me smile :)

The day after Christmas Auntie Panda came and stayed with us.  We had fun going to the aquarium together, Fiona's first time and Logan's "favorite part of the Christmas break" according to him.  Fiona enjoyed watching the fish and she would grunt at them the entire time.  Mimi and Papa came the 30th and stayed with us as well.  The kids got to have a second Christmas opening all the presents from them and the kids enjoyed the process and the gifts just as much!  Lucky ducks!  We had a good time playing and relaxing with Mimi while Papa and Dominic worked on house projects, the fireplace got re-tiled, a new kitchen sink was installed and the coat closet in the living room was magically turned into the beginning of a small office nook.  They did a great job with everything, my husband is so handy :)  Fiona has two of her own walkers but had fun playing with Mimi's too, just like baby Logan used to!  She had fun teasing Papa and playing keep away with him.  We had a good time with everyone and were so happy that we got to see all of our family over the holidays!  It was a fun and busy two weeks!

 Never too cold for Ice Cream at Sweet Cow :)

Aquarium

 Checking out the fish and scuba divers

 at the shark tank...

 helping Papa open his presents

 testing out Mimi's walker

 Mimi and Papa!

And for one more comparison shot between Fiona and Logan's first Christmas'.  Fiona actually fits in these Christmas jammies Logan has on for his first Christmas, but we went with her own girly version for her first Christmas morning.

Logan's First Christmas 3 months old, 2010.    Fiona's First Christmas 10 months old, 2014