5 Months

What a difference a month makes!  This seems to be the biggest leap as of yet for Fiona, I feel like all of a sudden she grew up quickly.  She is now  13.2 lbs. (less then last month but maybe bc I'm using my bathroom scale) and  25.5 inches long.  There have been a few changes we have had to make since last month and she has taken to them all very well.  She was sleeping every night and nap being swaddled but she started to break out of it during the night and it would wake her up once her hands got anywhere near her mouth.  So we stopped swaddling and crossed our fingers it wouldn't be too much of a setback in the sleep department.  And of course she did better then expected, because she's Fiona and she's easy!  God bless her.  She only cries some of the time to fall asleep at nap time and her 2-3 hour nap has now turned into only an hour but that just means she takes more naps which is ok right now too.  Being the second child she has learned to nap wherever we are, it's not always easy but she usually just passes out.  The other change we made was starting her on solids.  Yes she is already that age, wow!  She started rice cereal and didn't really know what to think of it at first but once she got the hang of it, she got all excited when the spoon came out and she'd start kicking her feet in the high chair.  She has since tried peas (not a fan, it's ok, neither am I!) and sweet potatoes (ahhh that's much better!).  Logan likes to watch and pick out her bib and sometimes he likes to help feed her.  I keep telling him how Fiona is eating her veggies and he should try too...it hasn't worked yet haha.  Fiona has been enjoying sitting in Logan's old "car" walker and he loves pushing her around the kitchen in it.  She hasn't figured out how to move it yet, but it's a nice place she can hang out while I am busy in the kitchen.  Little girl has found her voice and has been talking and cooing and screeching a lot more now.  She also has this little moan she does for awhile to warn you that she's about to cry over being tired or hungry or needs a change of scenery.  Logan is good at making her giggle and Dom and I have succeeded a few times too but nothing compares to big brother!  It's always heart warming to watch them continue to interact and see how it evolves as she grows up.  She's become a wiggly worm and she kicks her feet and rolls side to side and somehow moves around a lot that way.  Mostly in her crib at night but she's started doing it while playing on her mat now too so Logan has been warned many a time about keeping his Lego's out of reach!  Before we know it she will be on the move!  She is working on sitting up too, she still needs assistance every time but she's getting more stable, so she should be there soon.  Can't believe how fast she is growing, time is flying by!

trying out her first tastes of rice cereal with big brother helping

 practicing her sitting up

 smiling for mommy

 celebrating our 8 year anniversary

 Love this one of them!

 Logan just loves to snuggle her!

Besides all those leaps for Fiona, we have been really busy the past month!  We got to go to the Renaissance Festival in Castle Rock, CO with Erick about an hour or so away from us and it was so nice to go when the weather is nice and you're in the mountains instead of a dustbowl!  I'd say it was smaller then Arizona's but much more enjoyable since you aren't sweating your butt off in an AZ February! 

 Auntie Dre was in Denver for a weekend visiting a friend so we got to see her one morning for breakfast in Boulder and a little play time at our house.  Lauren was also in Denver a different weekend so we got to meet her for breakfast in downtown Denver. We always love seeing the Roussel family no matter how short the trip!  

We celebrated Independence day a day early at our neighbors house.  They had a big party and Logan loves playing with their daughter so I practically didn't see him the entire night since he was having so much fun.  We had fun drinking with the Valania's, Erick, Jenny and our neighbors.  It was nice to be able to go home and put Fiona to sleep and then be able to go back to the party and not worry about her since the baby monitor worked still ;)  Logan got to stay up late and watch fireworks (that start after it gets dark so about 9:30pm here) then he went off to bed too and Erick and Dom kept the drinking up until I dragged them home about 12:30.  We had a fun time and it was nice to relax and drink and have fun neighbors around our age!  Although I'm not sure how fun it was the next morning for Dom and Erick!  I "forced" them to go out to breakfast the next morning too ;)    

happy 4th!

watching fireworks!

We joined Jenny and Bo at City Park in Denver for Jazz in the park one Sunday.  There were sooooo many people, wow!  We had a picnic and sat on the grass and enjoyed the music and company.  Fiona thought dancing with Logan was the best thing ever and she was giggling like crazy, so cute!  It was fun and anytime we can do something outside in the middle of July it's a great reminder of why we love Colorado!

I got to go to Jenny's bridal shower last weekend at a delicious crepe restaurant in Cherry Creek.  It was nice to go out sans kids and do something with adults!  We played a game where the winner had the craziest stuff in their purse and I had grabbed my purse that I used with Logan before Fiona came along and had never cleaned it out, so I won a bottle of wine for having a pair of underwear in my bag...it was Logan's ;)  After the shower I headed back home and found a wonderful surprise in the driveway.  Waiting for me was a new 4runner and a kayak on top!  I've wanted a 4runner for awhile and ended up with the CX9 instead in Tucson but now that we live in a place with snow and mountains and things to be explored, we were wanting something with 4 wheel drive :)  and I've always told Dom that I wanted a kayak when we moved to Colorado, back when Colorado was just a dream we had, and now believe it or not it's all here (which is the inspiration for naming the kayak Ripley)!  I was very excited and surprised that Dom managed all that with two kids!  Luckily Erick was there to help out with Logan (he even came armed with chocolate donuts and a toy haha he knows what works!) and Fiona was a sleeping little angel so everything went smoothly.  After checking out my new toys I was told we were going off roading with Mike in Nederland.  So off we went!  Logan thought it was the best thing ever taking the car off road (he wants me to just drive off in the grass all the time now) and watching Mike splash his car through some massive puddles.  We got to see some great mountain views and spotted some good camping spots too.  The next day we went to Brainard Lake with the kayak and had fun testing it out.  The lake was beautiful and not very crowded, we had great weather and the kids did great.  But by the end of this busy weekend of adventures they wanted to be out of the car!  Dom has went into more detail about the fun we had on his own blog that will be all about our off roading and kayaking and mountainous adventures, www.maesadventurecolorado.blogspot.com.  So I will leave it at that!

the beautiful bride to be

surprise!

view from off roading in Nederland

taking the little guy out on the kayak for the first time

Brainard Lake

taking a ride together while Fiona napped and Mike watched her

We had a lot of fun this past month and we are looking forward to another busy and fun month ahead including a trip we didn't think we were going to be able to take, to Arizona for a wedding and to see our friends and family!  We are super excited...even though it will be August.  In Arizona.  Please send rain to cool it down so we can survive!

Summer Camp

We officially have a preschooler on our hands!  I know technically Logan has been a "preschooler" since he turned 3 but this summer he went to preschool for 2 weeks for a summer camp so now I consider him a real life preschooler ;)  Right after we came back from our Texas vacation Logan got to start summer camp at the Wee School in downtown Erie.  It's small and cute and the teachers are too sweet.  I was skeptical that Logan would part with me so easily but we had been talking about what a big boy he was and how much fun he was going to have at school.  Since he has so many older friends that are already in school I think that helped seal the deal that school was cool.  And so he had a successful time leaving mom and dad, every time actually and that made me happy!
The first week of summer camp was a western theme.  Logan came home everyday with some super cute project he made and a story of what snack they ate that day.  The school provided them with a themed out snack too.  Hopefully that will get Logan to try more foods...although from what he told me he didn't eat anything new, oh well!  I asked him to learn the friends names that he likes to play with and in the beginning he kept saying he didn't know but eventually came home to tell me he likes to play with Emily.  Of course we were not surprised to learn that she was a girl and almost 5, that seems to be who Logan is drawn to...probably because they are the ones that talk just as much as he does haha.   Since these weeks of summer camp were everyday from 9-12:30 Logan was not so crazy about being home over the weekend, he wanted to go to school!  The second week of summer camp was a pond life theme.  Again he came home with the cutest projects and stories about what they had for snack. He had so much fun he wanted to do school at home.  So he chose a week of Dinosaurs, ocean life and a week of food so that has been fun too.  He likes to learn everything he can about the things he is interested in (lately he's been obsessed with Tornadoes!) and it's crazy how much information he retains!  He turned the corner in the last few months of being a 3 year old and turning into an almost 4 year old.  It blows my mind he will be 4 soon!  He is so grown up!
He starts preschool again in August but is only signed up for the Tues/Thurs afternoon class, so only a few hours twice a week.  I'm hoping space opens up in the Mon/Wed/Fri morning class but I'm sure he will have fun either way.  Until then he is doing swim lessons with daddy at the pool this summer and a gymnastics class every Thursday for an hour, it's a gym class in an old bus with a trampoline attached to the side, how cool is that haha.  He's been having fun playing with our neighbor, 6 year old Paige and whatever kids end up at the park when the weather is nice, oh wait it's Colorado, that's almost all the time ;)  We go to the splash pad at the Orchard shops too and he's getting better and better at being ok with splashing water in his face, baby steps for Logan, baby steps.  We spend one day a week at the library too picking up books for whatever his new thing is that week.  Last week he chose books on kayaking, scuba diving and jeeps ;)  He keeps us on our toes and always makes us laugh.  He's so inquisitive and talkative and smart he's going to be schooling us soon!

First day of summer camp!

 Our little cowboy after western week

Texas Vacation

Oh sweet sweet vacation.  We definitely were ready for a vacation come end of May when we flew to see my mom and stay at her house on the river.  We had an easy time all through security and the plane ride to Dallas, both kids did great on our "early" flight (9am) and both fell asleep on the second leg of the plane ride...yes let me repeat that, Logan fell asleep.  On a plane.  In the morning.  All by himself.  With no prompting or bribery.  Miracle.  Although he was never the one I worried about on the plane now that he is older.  Fiona's first plane ride was easy, no problems with her ears or anything, ugh she's just so good sometimes. 

Our little pilot

 Sleeping on the plane

We got to spend a week at my mom's and her house on the river was a lot of fun.  Logan was busy from morning to night riding anything and everything that had wheels.  He had his own little mini tractor car to drive and he became a pro at that real fast haha.  He helped Craig drive the real tractor and the boat, helped Granny Mo drive the golf cart, helped daddy drive the jet ski, rode on the tube with daddy and mommy, got to sit on the motorcycles and tried out the plasma car toy.  When he wasn't doing one of those things he was versing us in what animals lived in Granny's yard (armadillo, fox, fire ants, and a lesson on poison ivy ;), swimming in his own little "pool" aka the hot tub, fishing with Granny Mo, playing with all the new toys Granny Mo got him to have at her house, it's a miracle and a blessing that he would actually stop and take a nap everyday!

Logan loved going fast on the jet ski!

 the wind blown look while driving the boat with Craig

 The big kid tractor

 the little kid tractor

 

Showing granny Mo and aunt Kas how to drive the golf cart

 tubing on the river with daddy

Fiona was busy being entertained by Granny Mo and various relatives who got to meet her for the first time.  She was like at a baby hotel the way Granny Mo prepared for her and she was a sweet baby still, just a little problem going down for naps some days.   She gave Umpa some giggles and she was smiley and ready to be held by everyone that came around.  Granny Mo was nice enough to babysit for us one night so Dom and I did a double feature (Xmen 2 and Neighbors) and she got to give Fiona her bottle and wrangle both kids into bed.  We also burried Fiona in the 90s aka all our old beanie babies haha.  It was fun to look through them again and remember, Logan had fun playing with them too and even got to take a few home with us.  Spammy and Umpa also wanted to take us to ToysRUs to spoil Logan and Fiona, Logan had fun picking out legos and Fiona got some cute clothes and teething toys.

Meeting Great Grandma Spammy for the first time and Fiona's namesake, Harriet

 Meeting Great Grandpa Umpa for the first time, she loved to giggle at him

 snuggling up with Granny Mo

 Uncle Erick even got to hold the baby ;)

 Great Aunt Kas loves her babies

 so relaxed she fell asleep at Spammy and Umpa's house

 getting a ride from big brother ;)

 cheese baby!

 enjoying some tummy time

 my baby in the beanie babies

Dom and I had fun doing nothing!  haha we did a lot of fun things too but when you have two kids to look after 'nothing' is something you rarely get to do!  My nothing consisted of reading a book during daylight hours and finishing it in a few days, small miracle.  We watched hgtv and all those silly home shows for no good reason.  We sat on the porch and listened to music and drank beer.  I got to take a shower whenever I wanted not just when the timing was right so that every child was asleep or safely entertained.  It's the little things right!  Oh and I ate a crap ton of sweets my mom made and all her delicious meals she had planned.  So yes, all the above in itself was a vacation for me!  But for the fun things we did, I got out on the tube with Logan and Dom (Logan was somewhere between horrified and exhilarated) then got to go with just Dom which meant I held on for dear life so as not to have to fall into the river...I know what lives down there ew!  Went on a few jet ski rides with mom and Dom and rode on the boat cruising with Craig, Uncle Erick, Dom and Logan.  We got to go to a place called the Homestead and enjoy some yummy lunch and walk around to some cute shops.  We also had fun getting to see my moms side of the family and hanging out and drinking Uncle Colt's home brewed beer.  We went fishing our last morning there and I caught a few plus a river house record catfish, thing was huge!  I also got a surprise visitor in our bedroom upstairs the first night we were there...while sitting on the floor and taking off my shoes, I look over to my left and under the table I see a snake.  I thought it was fake at first (Logan had just gotten a fake snake toy earlier that day) but then I realized that it was in fact alive and oh so real and I could reach out and touch it, I quickly vacated the area to see who was the best snake wrangler in the house (I knew it wouldn't be mom haha) and so Craig came up to save the day but when I went back in the room the snake wasn't there (ahhh!) so I jumped on the bed faster then I knew I could and then peeked under the table from there and saw that luckily the snake had just retreated farther under the table, phew, I didn't want to wait around in that room and find him again by accident!  Craig got the snake in a bowl and took him outside and far away.  Still a mystery how the snake got into the second story room...  

We had a great time visiting my mom and family and enjoying our time on the river.  We look forward to doing it again!

drinking and talking with the fam

pretending we are young again

 Craig, Mom and the kids at the Homestead

 

Logan, always cooperating with the family picture attempt ;)

 

Playing and racing with Logan's toys

 We survived the tube ride, yay!

 

although I can't say the same for Mom and Dominic haha

 the little fish in the river...

 the big catfish in the river!

 

4 months

Little Fiona is 4 months old now and growing fast!  She has thighs full of rolls and weighs 13lbs and  8oz., the  50th  percentile.  She is 24.75in. long, the   75th percentile.  And that head is    16" and in the 50th percentile, and slowly getting more hair. 

Fiona got to go on her first vacation, first airplane ride and first boat ride all at Granny Mo's house in Texas.  We had a fun relaxing week on the river and Logan will probably never stop talking about it ;)  More about it and pictures to come in a future post!  As for Fiona though, she did great on the airplane ride, can't ask for more then a sleeping baby! 
Dom had his first Colorado triathlon too which he did really well on, Fiona cried a lot as i was trying to get her to fall asleep for a nap while trying to watch Logan and see Dom at transition but we did pretty well, luckily the Valania's were there to help keep Logan entertained through the waiting to see daddy portions ;).  So Fiona is getting versed in becoming a spectator and will have another chance in August to cheer daddy on.

 

Fiona has been busy learning new things, she rolled over for the first time (tummy to back) on May 30 while watching Logan play with daddy, there was no crying and she made it seem like it was no big deal.  Then she didn't do it again until she got it down for good June 18.  Logan is so cute when he watches her he likes to cheer her on.  And she loves to watch him, whenever he's in the room she gives him a big smile and won't take her eyes off of him.  Fiona also likes to play peek-a-boo with us and wheels on the bus is a favorite as she always smiles when you move her arms to the motions.  She is good at grabbing things now, holding them and putting them straight in her mouth.  If her hands are not busy doing that, or being in her mouth, she has found she likes to rub the top of her head now.  Fiona's favorite noise she likes to make is a gurgling sound, she loves when you do it back to her too.  Other then that she is fairly quiet compared to another little baby I remember ;).  She likes to try and sit up now, so she is getting lots of practice and sometimes will sit in the bumbo for a little while too.  She has always liked bath time but lately she has really enjoyed kicking her feet and splashing and watching us pour the water and trying to grab it.  Logan loves to help give Fiona a bath, I think he has just as much fun watching her and splashing too.

  She is such a happy and easy baby still!  The only difficulty we are having at the moment is trying to transition her away from sleeping swaddled since she is rolling over now, she just really loves being swaddled and it's a bit harder to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep unswaddled because her hands just go to her mouth and wake her up.  We are only trying during her short naps during the day, hopefully she will get used to it and better at it so we can do it all the time.  She's still hit and miss with sleeping through the night but we've had more good nights then bad lately.  She goes to sleep about 7:30pm and wakes up to eat on a good night about 3am then falls back asleep until 6:30am.  She usually takes an hour nap around 8:30am then her longer 3ish hour nap around 11:30/12 and then her last cat nap around 5:30pm lasts about an hour.  The only other somewhat difficulty we are having is she is not always a fan of the car and it's not always predictable when she decides to scream the whole way and when she decides she can be happy about it, Logan will remind me when she is screaming to "turn the music up" because once it gets louder she stops crying usually.  Otherwise she is just a lot of fun and growing so fast!  It is so nice to watch her and Logan interact more now and the love they show for one other is just so heart warming. 

My babies!