six moths of fiona marella!!

((Fiona turned 6 months old on September 3rd! We celebrated by eating rice cereal with peaches. Yum. I promise you, sweetest one, that some day soon we will celebrate with cake! But you need teeth first, and you don't have any, yet.))

I guess I shouldn't expect to post more than once a month... we're just so darn busy around here... I can hope that someday I will be able to share more of what's going on around here, but I fear time will only start moving faster, especially when Fi figures out how to crawl.....

Luckily, we're not there yet. She is on the verge, last night she almost moved forward of her own volition... she has already accomplished moving backward. But backward isn't near as much fun as forward.

Recently her grandma and great-grandma came for a visit. The ever so talented J came over to shoot some photos. Here are a few:




















Yeah, she's a cutie alright! Photos above with all four generations, some with dad too... and Fiona all wrapped up in the blanket I knit for her. Back when I had free time, to do things like knit. And she's in the dress I made for her, again, when I could do things like that. (I know, M - I have to carve out those 10 hours a week for "me" things. It will come, it will come... Fi is going to outgrow that dress soon...)

Sorry Grandma...

Okay, time slipped by again. Working, wifeing, mothering, cooking, cleaning, organizing, etc, etc, etc... I'm exhausted. You'll notice that sleeping is not on the list. That's because F has moved into a new pattern of only two (and at most three) hours of sleep at a time. It is making me a little bit crazy.

Also, I recently had to travel to Burbank, CA for work. Three days down, two days home, three days down again. Then, the following week, I went to SF to visit my bestest friend, M. At least for the SF trip I took F with me...

So here are some pics from SF.

Oh, before photos... let me just mention...

F is sitting up. By herself. And holding a bottle. By herself. She's actually been holding that bottle for weeks, but the sitting up completely by herself is a new thing. (She was a little wobbly for the last couple weeks, but not anymore!) She also has a notion about that whole object permanence thing... she was playing with a toy, it fell out of her hand, she looked under her chair for the toy, looked under her chair from the other direction - she most certainly grokked that she had a toy, now she didn't, and where the heck was it now?!? - and was happy once said toy was returned to her. She is the most awesomest baby ever.

We started her on some cereal, since she was seeming to be so darn hungry, was reaching for our food, has tremendous interest in our chewing. She gobbles it up. Here she is, enjoying her first cereal experience:



Oh, and then G gave her a piece of cantaloupe last night in a little mesh holder thing- I think it was one of these. She enjoyed it tremendously.

It's true. My sweet baby is growing up, fast! Already we are into the foods, and she's only five and a half months old. It's too bad that I can't tell her to just relax, chill out, enjoy the babyness... she is already in a hurry to learn and focus and taste and touch and move and... and... and...

Enough talk, photos already!!

Here she is balancing on Tia's knee, looking out at the amazing city view...

And then looking at mom:

The light was so awesome we did a photo shoot in M's living room:

Should a five month old be making these eyes?

She should definitely be making this face:

And this one:

Just a generally happy baby:

Especially when she can munch on her cat, her favorite toy:

Okay, seriously, how cute is this? She gets so excited that she scrunches up:

Delectable cat...

Helping Tia do the dishes...

This is what M and I had for lunch at Bakesale Betty's. If you are in the Oakland area, you absolutely must eat this lunch, it was amazing (coming from a psuedo-vegetarian!) Note the fried chicken sandwich, served with a jalapeno coleslaw... and a strawberry shortcake and lemon ice to finish it with. Absolutely delicious! (Yes, that is a giant scoop of whipped cream!)

We also stopped by Dynamo to try their homemade donuts... on the left, Lemon Pistachio, on the right, Glazed Maple Apple Bacon. Yeah, you read that right!
So this concludes the mid-August installment of what the heck is going on in the land of Fi. Busy, busy, busy! Hope your summers are going well, drop us a line, say hi!

july, july, july

Hi there. We're cooking quite well in this lovely July heat. Rare for the Pacific Northwest, to have temperatures consistently in the 90's... I know, all you guys down in the California heat wave are cursing me, but seriously... us pale white girls in the PNW are melting. Fi is proving that she is a true PNW baby... she does not like the heat so much. I can't blame her.

So one morning we took a bunch of photos. The end of her fourth month. Here it is:

She's about to sneeze...

Sneeze complete...



Highly skilled at finding her toes...


Blurry shot of our most common nursing grip, the double fist. I took this knowing that some day, my hand won't cover her forearm. In fact, it already doesn't! She grows so fast...

(did I mention that she is in the 90th percentile for height, weight and head size? not that any of us are surprised... but at her 4 month check-up she was 27 inches, 15 and some pounds. Almost double of her birth weight! And six inches of height! yep, growing fast...)


This is my second favorite nursing position, the wringing of hands. She is trying to figure out how to nurse from both at once...


As G says, she is exploring the world through her tongue... everything goes in that mouth of hers!


She is the happiest baby...

I made some flags to decorate her room... here is the beginning of her name flags...


Then I got distracted and made her a dress...


It's lined!
And bloomers to match:

Back to the name flags...

Close-up...
Especially of the star, because I love it...

And pink flags for the girl...

And finally, a shot of Fi and our friend D having a deep moment of communication...


I should also mention that last week she creeped, for the first time. She flipped over to her tummy, and made her way across the floor. Not crawling, specifically, but "creeping" as our PEPS leader identified it... it was shocking. Then M (our childcare superstar) told me that "she's going to be a six-month crawler!" which flips me out. I thought she would be a baby for a bit longer... but no. She's outgrown her infant car seat, she's wearing 9-month clothing... she is going for broke. And she is a true W - as our family motto around here is, "Go big or go home!"

the end of June

So we went back east for a spell. We went to a wedding, visited with family and loaded up a moving van full of furniture. I flew home with Fiona by myself, and G drove the van across the country. He brought along our nephew for the ride. Then my dad and sister came for a visit. And then I went back to work. Fiona is spending two days a week with G, and three days a week in a family childcare.

And of these three weeks we have surprisingly few photographs... sorry grandma!! So here is what I have...

We had burgers at the Charcoal Pit in Delaware.

G is telling Fi all about the salad she is missing out on.


The next morning, Fi almost sat up by herself in this booster seat at breakfast...

Fi on the lawn in front of the house her dad grew up in:


Fiona on the airplane home...


and a close up...


So hopefully we'll get the wedding video off the camera so I can take some pictures again. Hopefully some good summer pictures will make it here!

we're headed out...

Sorry for the lack of photos... we are headed back East for a visit with G's family, as his sister is getting married. Wish us luck on the 5 hour flight with the four month old. Much to share once we get back.

Enjoy summer, now that it is finally here!!

oh June, so far you're a good one!

It's been blue skies and summer temperatures here for the last few weeks... so much so that I can't remember the last time it rained! And this week in particular has been pretty fantastic... Fiona has had three firsts so far... her first real laugh on Sunday, a boisterous thing, full of delight and joy. And then she figured out how to roll onto one side. Not all the way over, mind you, but enough so that she turns about 90 degrees. And today, well, I let the picture speak for itself:

Yes, dear readers, she found her feet.

In other news... the week in review:

She is a happy girl, except when she isn't...

Her first Golden Gardens kayak beachfire. She hung out with our friend B:


And, of course, with her papa...

Rhe sunset was phenomenal that night... I think it set at 9:01pm!!

Seriously, the only way this could be better is with a blended drink in hand...

Last weekend we helped our friend D install a tigerwood floor at his house. As you can see, Fi supervised.

And finally, another foot grabbing shot... it looks like a pilates move to me...
So that's our story for now. We are headed to the San Juans this weekend to visit an old friend and take in the island life.