First Tooth!

Just in time for the new year....Fiona has her first tooth poking through.
more later, love louise

That's gotta hurt!

Fiona learning to walk-- we don't need no fancy walker!

Fiona's 1st Christmas

Santa left a heap of prezzies here for Fiona, We had a wonderful day here with John and Vicki. Lots of good food, a warm fire, mimosas for breakfast. This is Fiona in her fancy strawberry hat from our good friend Dina (which came in equally lovely wrapping paper) and her "Santa Rocks" shirt from her grandad Ken. Well post a video shortly of Fiona figuring out the bipedal thing christmas day. She's been pulling herself up well for a week or so but moving forward is new again.

Hope everying is well,
Love
Louise

Where do you keep your giraffe?

As you can see Fiona is doing well, She's figured out how to bring her giraffe along wherever she goes. It's been cold and we have been avoiding lighting the fire beause the wood stove is too enticing for fiona but we invested in a "Fiona proof fence" so we can now leave the room for brief stretches and know that she can only marvel at the fireplace from a distance. We're looking forward to Fiona's first Christmas. John and Vicki will be up from Pacific Grove, we have a pear tree as a christmas tree this year, hopefully we'll be able to have a couple of pears from it next autumn. We hope all of you are warn and well, wherever you are and we'll post a christmas message on the day.
Love
Louise

Crawling Video

Dancing

Well we found the camera, These things can take a little while, so today as promised i will post the crawling video. We're as stoked as ever in Casa Pearse...Spent the morning, before nap-time, dancing in the living room. Fiona loves to dance!

Forward!

Hi All, I still haven't found my camera but as soon as I do I'll get a video of Fiona crawling forwards. She's getting better and better at it by the hour. It is amazing to be able to watch her learn the moves she needs and to see what sort of things excite her to go forward. My shoes are high on the list of tantalizing treats. She occasionally gets turned a little sideways and crawls more like a crab than a baby. Watching her little self crawl just makes me want to pick her up and cuddle her for being so wonderful, but I know she needs to practice.
Love
Louise

December already!

Well before we even realized it we have rolled into the middle of december. We are all doing well, Fiona has started to crawl forward a little. She is still much more efficient going backwards but despite this makes heartwarming attempts at forward motion. We still spend a lot of time just watching and playing with her. I have temporarily misplaced the camera and once I find it will post some photos again. Were looking forward to a lovely christmas here in Santa Cruz, a storm is brewing today and the fire is blazing in the fireplace. Devon is looking forward to a big ocean swell due in tonight.
Oh, I almost forgot, Fiona is now eating the occasional "cheerio" (wheat free organic of course), and today munched on some chunks of banana herself. She's pretty good at getting things to her mouth but a piece of slippery banana can put up a good fight.
Take care,
love
louise

Boxcar movie

Here is the movie to go with the last photo of Fiona...Driving around the living room floor with her dad in front of a warm fireplace.

Boxcar Baby

Hi All, back to still pictures for a little while: Devon and I both remember making cars out of boxes when we were little. What fun to drive Fiona around the livingroom!!!
She's still only crawling backwards but around here we take what we can get.
Love
Louise

The Dummy Trick

Here is Fiona showing her dummy placement skills, usually if you put two dummys in front of her she gets caught in a loop exchanging one for the next, of course when I try to catch it on video she needs a prompt. Check out the "almost crawling!!"

Multitasking

As you can see Fiona is Jumping and giving attention to the written word as well.

Video

fiona learning to reach out

I'm branching out and giving moving pictures a try. This is Fiona last month working out how to sit and play she's better at it now, I'll post another video soon. If it works and y'all can view without trouble I'll keep posting them as well as photos. Let me know how it works (you'll have to play your own theme music because this is a silent movie.
Love
Louise

Forward Progress

Hi All,
We are enjoying our first rainy weekend of the season in Santa Cruz. Indoor life isn't too bad though. Fiona is getting more mobile by the day, At the moment she sits up and jumps along on her bum which propels her forward. She also makes a little extra forward motion by bending and straightening her legs alternately while sitting up. She almost never does face plants from sitting anymore, she even caught herself mid fall this morning with her hands. She still thinks that clapping is done with your feet, It mat be a shock when she learns the rest of us use our hands.
As you can see by the photo she has a lot to keep her busy in the sun by the front door. She is content to play by herself for long periods until something is too far out of reach and requires parental assistance. Mostly, we are equally busy watching from our tasks and marvelling at how lucky we are.

Love
Louise and Devon

Date Night

A special thanks to John and Vicki who came over to give Louise some rest yeaterday afternoon and to babysit Fiona for an evening date for her parents. Having them here we took advantage of a chance to duplicate a moment from 32 years ago when Devon, John, and Ken Pearse posed for a photo in the living room of our house. A few things are different in the recreation but here are John, Devon, and Fiona Pearse. Note The absence of a beer-gut, some house remodeling, the renewal of "muttonchops," and Fiona's inability to copy the pose from the original in the recent picture. Even so a good time was had by all.

self pacification

Fiona is getting better and better at putting her dummy (pacifier) in by herself. It's not always the right way up but it seems to work.

Big Pants

When Jane was here when Fiona was born she made several pairs of overalls for Fiona. I thought that they were impossibly big for the tiny baby we had then. But, here is fiona fitting into her big pants. Thanks Jane for thinking ahead.

Love
Louise

Happy Halloween

It's Fiona's First Halloween. She doesn't have much idea about it this time around. She Liked the pumpkins though, Maybe she'll get to eat a little of one of them after they are cooked.

Six months already!!!

It's been six months since Fiona was born. Half a year and we still don't know what we're doing, but were having a wonderful time doing it.

Fiona had her six months immunizations today. She weighed in at 17 pudgy pounds.

Take Care

Love
Louise

Back from So Cal

Hi Everyone,
We're back from Laguna Beach. Fiona clocked her longest car trip yet at 8 hours each way (think Fiona and Devon in the front of the truck and her mum in the back seat pumping milk and handing it forward).
It was a lovely weekend. Her first wedding, that of Brent and Jen her second cousins (we think). She did well with the ceremony but a little less well with the reception. It turns out if Devon and I want to dance we need to leave her with a babysitter, loud music and clapping aren't her cup of tea. On the bright side, she got to meet a lot of relatives that hadn't seen her yet. The whole Buchsbaum clan and Jim and Mary Jo Nathan from Chicago. She Enjoyed Laguna beach and joined her usual drinking buddy, Devon for a pint at a Laguna Brewery. As always it was wonderful to stop driving and sleep in our own bed last night. Luna who stayed home to "hold the fort" was happy to see us home and was more spritely than usual.
As she is now officially six months old, this morning Fiona had her first "solid" foo: a tablespoon of rice cereal mixed with her usual milk and fed to her with a spoon. She needs to work a little on mouth's coordination but she enjoyed her meal and we look forward to introducing her to more and more variety there is a really ripe banana waiting for her. Ready the bibs!!!

We hope that y'all are well.
Love
Louise and Devon and Fiona

getting ready for adventure

Hi Everyone,

A new sdventure waits. The family, without luna unfortunatly, will be driving to Laguna Beach in southern California to go to Devon's Cousin's wedding. We're thinking it is about a 6 hour drive, past experiences have not deterred us yet so we'll leave here tomorrow morning and try to be flexible along the way. While we're in Laguna Beach Foina will get to meet a good chunk of that side of the family including Jim and Mary Jo from Chicago. Devon of course will get some paddling in and I would like to get to see the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles. The weather should be lovely and so Fiona And I will try to squeeze in some walks.
She's not crawling yet but spends a lot of time complaining about not being able to get around when she's on her tummy, she still drools quite a bit but there are no teeth showing up, and she still loves her daddy.
Take care,
love
Louise

luna and spoons

Hi everyone. our crazy schedule marches on with all of us in tow. Fiona is doing well despite missing out on a couple of naps yesterday and driving her tired mum to the brink of daycare.

Here are a few of new pictures. One showing how Luna's life will change once Fiona starts getting around on her own. Fiona adores Luna and has mare a few moves to try to get Luna's ears into the tractor beam of a mouth she has.

Tha other two pictures are of fiona trying out her new spoons. She's getting the hang of them before we atart loading them up with real food in a few weeks. For the time being they are a delight all on their own.

Love
Louise

Big Sur

Today is Monday and we got back yesterday from an autumn weekend down on Big Sur at a place called Sand Dollar Beach. It's only a couple of hours drive from here, down one of the most spectacular roads around. Fiona wasn't the best sleeper on the trip but we all had a good time. Perhaps the memories of her waking up all night will fade and we'll just remember the beautiful smiles and walks on the beach. Anyway, Devon went surf kayaking with some friends and Fiona and I enjoyed the beach, luna had some un fettered romping on the beach as well, though not as much as she would like to have had. Notice Fiona's fancy backpack... She's getting pretty heavy, so ways to carry her that don't leave her mum and dad aching are a plus.

I hope that you are all well and enjoying a change of seasons wherever you are.
Love
Louise

Between Louise working nights, and me working days, it seems like most of what we do is catch up on sleep. This week was extra busy with our friends Claire and Chad staying with us while they packed up their lives in Santa Cruz to move, like all good friends, to Oregon. We sent them on their way on Saturday, and then went to the Farmer's Market to stock up on summer veggies to make into baby food. This is actually planning ahead, since we haven't started Fiona on real food yet, but as you can see Louise is really looking forward to not being Fiona's sole food source!

Off to work, sleep, repeat,

D

night duty

As you can see fiona is getting better at sitting and can get her feet right into her mouth. But what I don't have a picture of is how rested I feel today. Devon has had a few nights in a row of it. Fiona slept from 10 until 6 straight though last night and the night before she did the same thiong for Devon while I was at work. It is wonderful and even if it a phase she is going through we'll enjoy it while it lasts. Our schedule with me working nights and Devon on Days is a bit odd and we don't see eachother as much as we'd like to but it's not for forever and knowing Fiona is safe in her bed at night makes it possible for me to drive off to work.

I hope that y'all are rested too.

Love
Louise

Finding feet

Hi All, We survived our first week of louise working nights. Luna got the most sleep, Fiona got the second most sleep, follwed by vicki and john, coming in last, louise. But we are all well, Fiona learned to sleep in the crib at her grandparent's house. The first night was rough apparently, the last night was lauded as a good one by John and Vicki.

As you can see Fiona has discovered her feet which is much better at nappy changing time than finding her bum which was her old trick.

Thank you for all your positive thoughts this week, they really must have worked.

Love
Louise

still standing

Fiona is stillenjoying her exersaucer. Sometimes she gets frustrated at her inability to get everything in her mouth the way she want to but it still gives us enough time to prepare a meal or run to the toilet.

We're getting ready for a crazy week next week. Devon is going away for the first time since Fiona was born, and it also happens to be the week when I start working the 11-7 shift at the hospital. John and Vicki are coming to the rescue, or rather we are going there. Fiona and I are moving the show down to Pacific Grove for the better part of the week. They'll look after her on the night shift and I'll try to nap when she does. I know we'll be OK. Devon for his part is looking forward to long stretches of uninterrupted sleep and two handed time in New York.

I'll try to give a mid chaos post but I'm not promising.
Love
Louise

Miss Fancy Pants

Here are the latest digital documentations of the life of Fiona.... The family at a "summer" BBQ here in Santa Cruz (note warm hat on Fiona and my Australian rugby shirt, purchased at a thrift shop in Provo, UT). Then we have Fiona in her new fancy pants, sent by Ken and Betty. Thanks! (the shirt they sent along is still too big, but will soon fit at the rate she is growing).
Most exciting, today Louise got the Exersaucer-Mega at the baby thrift shop (that we call the "used baby store" although I don't think they sell used babies!). Fiona was beyond thrilled, and shrieked with delight, doing 360's in it until she was completely knackered. Which, of course, leads us to the last picture, taken after tanking up on mums milk and passing out with her blanky, last used by me...

love to all, D

limited text again

hi all,
just a few new pictutes (text limited due to fiona)
she had her immunizations and while loud like last time i was not pooed on and we all got more sleep.
one picture is of fiona with a cold greenbean, feels nice on the gums, another watching devon and his wine, and another showing off her sitting prowess.

FOUR MONTHS!!!

Ther has been a little break in the blogging as we have been trying to work, parent, eat and sleep, but here's an update on fiona on her four month day:



Fiona is still as wonderful as ever. She is still a little challenged in the rolling over department but we are working on that. She can sit up with some pillows for help and she has a highchair that helps her stay upright too. The highchair also gives us the ability to eat two handed meals again which is nice. She still has the occasional night when she wants to hang out at 3:30 rather than sleep until morning but we are doing well in the sleep department. She smiles, giggles, grabs things and puts them in her mouth, she watches things going on around her, she likes colourful things rather than black and white. She has been going for lots of jogs with Devon in her stroller and lots of walks with her mum. We are so happy to have her these four months have been a joy even with the rough parts. Speaking of rough parts she has another visit to the doctor for immunizations tomorrow. This time we'll premedicate her with tylenol and make sure that we are prepared with a bottle of wine for our own relief.

Looking Out

This week's milestone, facing forward in the stroller rather than sitting in her infant carrier looking backwards.

Also a couple of pictures of fiona cgewing her hand and hanging with her mum.
love
louise

Turning over

Well until recently I though that fiona might be lagging in the turning over department. Today she proved that she knows what to do, she just needs a little help geting started. I'm sure once she realizes how much fun she can have when she is in control of her own prone vs supine position she will practice a bit more. She was hanging out naked in the sun this morning to help her with a bit of unsightly nappy rash. I'm still working out how to treat it the best and trying to whittle away reasons for it. It makes me feel guilty every time I see a red patch. Enjoy the photos.
Love
Louise