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

10 months

Wow there were so many changes this month and a lot going on too, very exciting!   We had a great Christmas and were lucky to get to see most of our family in Colorado this year!  That, of course, gets its own post!  As for Fiona she got better at crawling and learned how to go up the set of two stairs that separate our rooms downstairs.  No going down yet though, she does just try to keep on crawling over the edge like she won't tumble down them but we will work on that ;)  She was doing a funny thing for a little while too where she'd crawl then straighten her back legs as if she wanted to just stand up but that's as far as she would get.  She got some walkers for Christmas and is working on getting around with them, she is doing well!  She is seeming so much more grown up these days!  She is 17.2 lbs and still 26.5 inches long.  She's had a crazy appetite lately, girl is wolfing down food, she doesn't always chew though so she ends up with a mouthful and little chipmunk cheeks!  She's found a new love for greek yogurt and meatballs.  But really she's a carbs girl.  She gets excited to see cheerios :) To help out with all that eating she finally got her front middle tooth on the right side and the one to the right of it on January 11.  I can see the middle and left tooth to match on the other side coming also but they haven't broken through quite yet. Other things Fiona has started to enjoy are lift the flap books, touch and feel books which she has always enjoyed but she really loves Pat the Zoo.  She enjoys looking at the balloons in the grocery store, they hypnotize her.  As always her brother is her favorite entertainment and she loves laughing at him, just seeing him always brings a smile to her face.  She's had fun watching Logan and daddy play football and wrestling together.  When she gets excited she starts waving her hands up and down and makes an oooo oooo sound, you can see it in her face that she likes what she sees haha.  Fiona has been babbling more and more lately, she's got the baba, gaga and yaya sounds down now.  Some silly things Fiona has fun doing these days are finding stickers or tape on things and spending all the time in the world picking at it until she gets it off.  Well now I know a cheap way to keep her busy ;)  She also loves stinky socks... yes the old worn socks that the boys take off and leave on the floor, she will crawl excitedly to them and pick them up like it's a prize, and yes sometimes that prize ends up in her mouth ew.  She also has fun playing peek a boo, pretending to talk on my phone- she will lift it, or anything that could be a phone, up to her ear and smile.  And if you ask her how big she is she will lift her hands over her head as you say So Big.  She is such a doll lately and she is still always just so happy and easy going!  It's been fun as she is growing up to see her little personality start to develop.  She is keeping us busy and always making us smile!

ring ring, hello!

Fiona matching the doll Grandma Ruby sent

cuddly little thing!

Fi and her favorite book

playing with magnets

omg, yogurt is awesome!!!

9 months

Little lady is 9 months old and a lot of changes have been happening it feels like.  Here's some quick facts:  She is very ticklish.  She mainly sleeps on her tummy now (although she still rolls all around in her crib all night).  She likes to do a snorty scrunched up face now for some funny reason.  She likes to make a wawawa sound with her hand against her mouth (like an indian noise).  She started babbling, mainly "baba" and "gaga" sounds, although she is not a chatterbox all the time.  She has gotten waving down.  She's getting better at standing while holding on to things although she hasn't figured out how to pull herself up to do so and that she can move while standing yet.  She has started getting close to crawling, she can scoot a little while sitting up or slither like a snake while laying down, she can put herself on her hands and knees but doesn't know what to do next so nothing that gets her very far yet.  She still only has the bottom two teeth but the two right next to those and the top fangs look like they should be coming soon.  She has started noticing smaller things and trying to pick them up, she is also interested in what we are eating so we started her on some finger foods.  She was skeptical at first but now she has got it down.  She likes puffs, buttered toast, cooked carrots, cheese, peaches and bananas.  Although the slippery ones she still has a hard time picking up, she's motivated :) She still refuses the bottle and hasn't figured out any sippy cup I've tried yet, so that's made things a bit difficult, but it's managable.  Fiona is now 16lbs 8oz which is the 21st percentile and 26.5 inches long which is the 12th percentile, looks like she's still following the petite trend.  Her noggin on the other hand is in the 81st percentile at 17.75, although she doesn't have the bobble head look like Logan did ;)

Love these two!

 Snow white

 trying on some cool glasses ;)

this is the snorty face lol

We had another busy month, October is usually our busiest it seems, but maybe because it's my favorite and there's always a lot to do.  We went to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins with the Valania's.  We got to carve them with the Dilley's and we trick or treated with the Tobin's so we had a very neighborhood-y Halloween.  Logan wanted to dress up like "orange Boba Fett" from Star Wars, he was insistent there was an orange one (I could never find one online) so we just made it work!  Daddy went as Darth Vader "Logan, I am your father"!  Fiona was a little Dalmatian while I was Cruella De Vil.  I guess the parents were on the "evil" side this year ;)  Logan had fun trick or treating and he lasted a long time!  Him and Patrick and friends ran from house to house like it was a race and Fiona tagged along in her stroller.  The weather was cold but not as cold and windy as last year!  It was just a normal cold ;)  Fiona made it a little past bedtime with trick or treating then had to tap out early while I took her home, Dom finished up trick or treating with Logan.  He was very excited about all his candy!  He's already mentioned about five things he wants to dress up as for next Halloween ;)

 Logan chose to carve a Boba Fett pumpkin with daddy's help

 go Broncos!

 Logan drew a scarecrow on Fiona's pumpkin for her

 "orange" Boba Fett

 cute little Dalmatian

 Cruella and Darth Vader

 trick or treating with friends

 check out all that candy!

November brought a trip to Arizona.  We flew to Phoenix early in the morning on a Thursday and the kids did good, not the easiest of flights but they did well.  We stayed with the Maes' and hung out at their house, Ashley got to come over Friday morning and play with the kids for a little until we left that afternoon for Tucson.  We went straight to Nancy's house and got to see her and Mark for a few hours before we went to the Kelsey's to have dinner and meet up with the Cicchini's.  Logan had a blast playing with Stella, Cleo, Aurora and Jake, while the adults had fun catching up.  My dad came over for dinner too since I told him we'd be in town, he came up to see us.  We all had a sleepover at Will and Laura's and the kids actually slept :)  So cute, Cleo and Stella on the sides and Logan in the middle of the mattresses laid out on the floor.  Saturday morning we all met Melanie for breakfast which was really delicious and went to watch her clog for a bit.  The kids had fun dancing along.  The Maes' drove down that afternoon and we gave them the kiddos while we went to Jenny's wedding.  It was beautiful and she looked amazing and I cried.  It was in our old church and we remembered just how much we liked it there compared to any place we have been here.  The reception was across town in a pretty outdoors venue, the weather was great.  I just had to make a trip back to feed Fiona for bedtime since she won't take a bottle and then I got to enjoy the reception too without kids.  We had fun with all our friends dancing and drinking.  It was a great wedding!  Sunday morning us and Dom's parents and Will and Laura all met the Roussel's (who were in Tucson for a different wedding that weekend, what a coincidence!) for breakfast at Beyond Bread.  It's always nice to see them, no matter what state!  From there we headed for a trip down memory lane walking the UofA campus and going to the bookstore for a few souvenirs.  From there we headed to a BBQ with Dom's old Raytheon coworkers.  My dad and the Maes' came along too and we all had a good time chatting and eating while Logan had fun playing with all the kids.  After that we drove back to Phoenix for the night and left early Monday morning to fly back home.  The kids did great the entire trip, they hung in there even though naps were missed and there was a lot going on, they are nicely adaptable!  The flight home was more difficult since Fiona was tired but didn't fall asleep.  The last 20 or so minutes of the flight we hit a lot of turbulence and Fiona passed out, she was the only one that enjoyed it ;)  When we got back to Colorado it was freezing!  The snow was coming and we got a few days of snow after our trip, so long 80s!  Now we are learning how to dress a baby for the freezing cold!

 Mr. and Mrs. Tatum

 game night group

 fun night :)

 getting a lift from Papa at UofA