just a few

Through the night

It has been two nights in a row now when we have woken up in the morning to say, " Did we get up in the night?"

Fiona has slept through the night 11:00-5:30 for two nights in a row. It seems like a good pattern but I don't want to jinx it. Hopefully she'll keep it up because our lives are getting a bit more complicated this week as I start work. We may all need a bit of extra sleep around here.
Love
Louise

Camping With Fiona

To celebrate Fiona’s arrival at the ripe ld age of three months we went on a camping trip. Her first, our first as parents. All off us loaded into the truck, dog included and set off for the mountains. Devon was going to squeeze in some kayaking and I was just going to see if it could be done.

We had a couple of errands to do on the way. We wanted to pick up a baby carrier at a baby store on the way. It was stinking hot in the valley as we found our way to a huge baby store we found a scrap of shade in the parking lot for Luna and then ran into the store out of the heat. We found the carriers and were happily comparing models when we looked down at our smiling child to see that she was kicking around in a puddle of her own poo. So we chose the carrier we were holding darted through the checkout and had our first tailgate nappy change.

Strapped back into the truck we continued to the mountains and seven hours later (the drive home only took us 4 ½ hours) found a lovely camping site overlooking the river Fiona really did well in the truck for all that time. We stopped for a couple of feeds along the way and Fiona entertained herself with toys and sleep most of the way.

Our first nights in our tent with Fiona were fine. She slept well and didn’t mind the change of scenery.

Next day rather than the big hikes that Luna and I usually do we hung around camp and went on a couple of short walks while Devon kayaked. We waved at him when he went by but I don’t’ think that Fiona could see that far.

Other camping feats, Fiona learned to nap in the back of the truck and she had her first taste of mountaineering with Devon and I on a short but high altitude trail. We pointed out the snow that Luna enjoyed to her, but again I don’t think that she could see that far So it was a taste of our previous life flavoured with the joy of having Fiona along with us.

Love Louise

Holding On

Hi Everyone,
Well, Fiona has been overcome with the need to put things in her mouth. She's still not very good at it. The hand-mouth coordination is quite good but the hand- thing coordination is still poor. This ball was an easy catch. She seemed to have no difficulty getting it in her grabby little hands, but then she was frustrated because it was a little on the large size to put in her mouth.
As you can see she's still sitting up with the help of pillows. She prefers to sit or stand, neither of which she can do on her own, so like the suckers that we are we indulge her and prop her up.

We're going to go camping this weekend. First time for Fiona and a little daunting for us. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to document the event. Hopefully the first of many wonderful adventures.

Love
Louise

Giggling

Sorry for the delay in post for all you who have been waiting.

This weekend Fiona hit a new milestone. She giggled. It was marvelous. I don't know whether it is inate (I think she did it once when she was sleeping at about three weeks old) or she picked it up from us but it was wonderful, and had Devon making all sorts of motions for her to keep it up. She giggled at Devon first and then the next day did it at a drink can. I don't know what this means about her sense of humour.

love
louise

Dummy Love

This picture doesn't really do justice as to how Fiona feels about her dummy. We have 5 of them:
one white, two green, one pink (shown), one blue. We usually only know where one of them is at any given point in time. I think that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle left out the part about knowing where two dummies were at the same time. They were so caught up talking about particles that they didn't get specific.

Anyway, back to Fiona. When she is upset the dummy usually fixes the problem. If she is still upset she gets, swaddled, her nappy changed, cuddled, fed, bounced, sung to, and cried back at*-- so as to achieve a peaceful baby state again.

*Not necessarily in that order

Drool

Devon and Fiona can expect to see a bit more of louise around as she has finished nursing school and passed her board exams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







Maybe this will give me more time to wipe up Fiona's Drool

Love
Louise

All of us here send a birthday hug out to Fiona's Uncle Jonathon in Melbourne.

We're back

It's been a bit crazy around here. I haven't been able to post for a while because I've been either studying or attending to Fiona. I took my board exam yesterday, so now I can put away the books that I have been tied to for a long time. For those of you who have been looking forward to more Fiona Pictures...here they are.

The picture of her bed shows that we have moved her cardboard box that she sleeps in into her bed and so she sleeps there now still in her box. She is still sleeping well, though sometimes she wakes up and wants her dummy (pacifier) back in her mouth. We are waiting for her to learn to do that on her own and will adjust her allowance accordingly when that happens.

Fiona and her book is an illustration of just how advanced she is as a reader. Some of her friends in New York sent it to her. I did get her a copy of Where the Wild Things Are and read it too her. She looked at the pictures and I dont' think she kept up with the plot, but it was fun for me to get to read it to her. I still remember it by heard from reading it to Chris and Alex years ago.

Thank you for all your lovely comments by the way. I love to see that people actually look at this.
Love
Louise

We're back

It's been a bit crazy around here. I haven't been able to post for a while because I've been either studying or attending to Fiona. I took my board exam yesterday, so now I can put away the books that I have been tied to for a long time. For those of you who have been looking forward to more Fiona Pictures...here they are.

The picture of her bed shows that we have moved her cardboard box that she sleeps in into her bed and so she sleeps there now still in her box. She is still sleeping well, though sometimes she wakes up and wants her dummy (pacifier) back in her mouth. We are waiting for her to learn to do that on her own and will adjust her allowance accordingly when that happens.

Fiona and her book is an illustration of just how advanced she is as a reader. Some of her friends in New York sent it to her. I did get her a copy of Where the Wild Things Are and read it too her. She looked at the pictures and I dont' think she kept up with the plot, but it was fun for me to get to read it to her. I still remember it by heard from reading it to Chris and Alex years ago.

Thank you for all your lovely comments by the way. I love to see that people actually look at this.
Love
Louise

Sleep-Sleep-Sleepin!

Yo, Devon here,
An event this big requires that I add my first note to this blog-- Fiona slept though the night! And by "through the night", I'm talkin' passed out before 10 and didn't move until we got worried and woke her up to feed at 6am. Do the math, thats 8 hours of blissful silence. She didn't even seem particularly anxious to wake up! Now we (the parents) are giddy with wakefullness, well at least I am. Louise and Fiona are fed and changed and back asleep, while I with my coffee am fired up and ready to go. I doubt this will be repeated on a daily basis, but just knowing that it is possible occasionally is pretty great.

Fussy or a Banshee

I have no picture of last night this description will have to suffice:

So the Doctor said that she might be "fussy" after her vaccines and that if she needed it, a warm compress on her leg might help....Later that night immagine Devon and I taking turns with a violently screeching Fiona until we were crying too much or too frazzled to cope. She needed to be held but was SUPER SENSITIVE about any movement of her leg, and if she could feel any pain at all she launched into the fiercest loudest screaming. It was as if we were poking her with fire. This pain was no match for her infant dose of tylenol. She was too upset to nurse and at one point ended up lying on top of me in tummy to tummy, neither of us moving a muscle, that is, until she decided to poo. Keep in mind that I had put her nappy on loosely so as not to push on her leg. Anyway, the poo missed the nappy altogether and trickled out onto my tummy. Hell if I was going to move though. That would move her leg and cause pain. So the two of us were stuck with eachother and the poo until i figured she had had a reasonable rest since the last screaming episode. We finally got changed screamed a ltiile longer and went to bed. She slept through the night and woke up hungry and smiling. She still has a litte temperature this morning but is OK. So what part of that could be described as fussy?

love
louise

ps her weight 11 lbs 14 oz and now 24 inches long.

Vaccinations!!!!

Today was a big day for Fiona immunologically. She had her first set of vaccinations. While she is now sleeping soundly and probably has little recall of the event. I, on the other hand, have lingering emotional scars from looking down at her when she was poked. First the look of shock and pain, and then her face turned red and she screamed louder than I have heard before (even louder than when I got some of her leg fat caught in her carseat buckle--mother shame) . But this picture is from a lighter moment yesterday, before we knew the horror of baby injections, Fiona and Devon having some quality time on the floor with all Fiona's toys.
Love
Louise
PS No more needles for another 2 months and her daddy might get to hold her for that one.


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Real Tears

I don't have a photo from today. It was too sad to document really. Fiona cried real tears. Over nothing of course, but it still distressed her mum.
Love
Louise

Changing time

The best way to make fiona happy, other than milk, or her dummy (pacifier) is to lay her on her changing table. Here she is grinning about her nappy being changed and getting to get into her pink PJs . Its a simple life tomorrow she'll be nine weeks old. She may go to see another World Cup game in the morning but we'll keep you posted on that.

Another milestone, she talked with her Grandmother Jane onthe phone tonight. Well, actually it was blabbing in the background but it was a start.

Love
Louise

Koi

Fiona didn't get her vaccinations today. Her doctor couldn't come to work today, so we have to go back next week for another try. Fiona didn't waste time after that errand in getting on with her exercises. Lifting that head up takes work, having lovely koi to look at made it a happier task though.

delay because of fiona

Sorry for the delay posting, fiona is a slow typer. we're stlii doing well. We just cheered Ghana to a win inth WC on the computer. We're not getting much studying done today and we have a walk with a friend planned for the afternoon so the day will be a fiona centered one but that's fine with us. Hope yours is lovely too.
love
louise

Father's Day

It's fiona's first father's day, and she has had a full one so far. She woke up at the usual 4:30 after a 5 hour stretch and then proceeded to poo for an hour or so went back to sleep until 8:00 (we changed her nappy first of course). That is a good time for fiona, post poo in the morning and well rested, she hung out with her mum and dad in bed smiling and cooing. Nappy changed fed again and ready for a rest, she slept until about 11:00. Up fed and nappy changed then off to the pub to watch France Korea in the world cup. Some of you might be wondering why we didn't make it to the Brazil Australia one...well that morning sleep is crucial and we weren't going to mess with it. After the match we went back home, a little grumpy, ahe ate, pooed, ate a bit more. Sleept with her dad on the couch until mum picked her up and saved her dad from the wiggles. (he needed a nap too) Mum and Fiona slept for a couple of hours. Wake, poo, nappy change, feed...then hunt around for a snack in the kitchen for those of us on solid food. Fiona passes out in her little battery powered swing. And that't where we are now. An eventful day for some a complete bore for others, but for us perfect.

Bath Junkie

It's me, the bath junkie. I love giving Fiona baths. I remember when Jane was here the first couple of baths...no "dips" she had, she got a stressed look on her face at the new sensation. Since then, and a break from bathing all together for a couple of weeks, we have broached the bathing thing again and Fiona now loves it. Though it is difficult to catch her in pixels smiling I assure you she does. So it has become something that I have to keep myself from doing every few hours. I have rules, I have to wait until it is warm and she must just have crapped herself recently. I also tell myself that it is good for her armpits and neck rolls which are prone to picking up lots of less than savoury lint bits and (in the neck folds) old milk drool.
Here's a picture of fiona in the bath.
Love
Louise

Lounge wear

Fiona spent a good part of her early afternoon hanging out with her mum on the couch. We both had a good time but eventually Fiona slumped over. She's getting to be beter conversation these days but her vocabulary is mostly "goooo" and "elllllllp" which sounds a lot like "help" when she says it and makes for some amusing nappy change moments. Picture her with poo all over her bum and her legs being held out of the way...then she calls for help.
I hope y'all are enjoying the photos.
love
louise

West Cliff Drive

We had a lovely walk this morning with Fiona in her amazing green stroller. She doesn't appreciate the view much yet. She'll be 2 months old next week. CRAZY!!! Time flies when you're finishing school and learning to be a mum.
Love
louise