Toddling down the hall...

loving the arm action!

I hope this video works. Blogger seems to be having some glitches with videos lately. Lets hope its a go. If not I'll have to switch to youtube...

An Update...

A rare shot of Fiona and Mama, self portrait style since I'm usually the one with the camera (hint hint Papa!)

An action shot! She's a walking fool these days! Things really clicked for her these last couple of days. She's officially walking more then crawling around the house. I love those wobbly steps!

New shoes! These are so cute! I am totally in love with them. Soft Star shoes are handmade in Corvallis too! I think she needs a few more pairs! She loves them and says "shoe shoe" while signing shoe when we put them on her.

The sun came out today! It has been so long overdue. I've definitely been feeling pretty grumpy lately about the rain. It felt so good to walk today without the rain gear layer. No boots, rain pants, rain jacket, and stroller rain fly for us today! The sun was shining and reminded me of why I like living here. That's good because lately I've been forgetting a little bit! February is such a long month in Kodiak! Next year I'm heading to the tropics... Anyone want to join me?

A Nest for Fiona and Calling in Sick

Fiona has a new bed which we affectionately call her nest. Its a twin mattress tucked in next to our bed. It's so cozy with her lamb skin and her special blankets. The pink and purple one was made just for her by her Aunt Tanya and the white one was made just for me when I was a baby. I don't mind sharing! She takes her naps in her nest and starts her night off in it too. As you can see, she loves it!

We called in sick this week as the crud is working its way through the house. Brian is back at work and seems to be over it the quickest. Fiona and I are on the mend too although we have been taking extra naps and feeling just plain tired (and maybe a bit grumpy!) throughout the day. Last night we actually had a good nights sleep. I spent several mornings (4am!) running a hot shower to steam up the bathroom to help loosen up Fiona's clogged nose. It was nice to be able to skip that routine last night and know that we are indeed getting better. We also decided not to wear our pajamas all day today as a sign of our improved health! We are glad to be over the worst of it.

Steps!

This little cutie is beginning to walk!

It's like Fiona said, "Ok, I'm one now, lets get to it!" This past week she has been taking her first steps! It's so much fun to see these wobbly first steps and the look of pride on her face. She looks at us with a huge smile and seems to be thinking, "whoa, did you guys just see that?!" I can see her getting more and more confident each day. Last night was her all time high of 7 steps in a row! It won't be long now before she's walking instead of crawling to move around the house. Good Job Baby!

Table Manners?

We thought Fiona's Grandmas would enjoy a peak at her table manners!

Fiona licking the table to get more peanut sauce

Kicking back with her feet on the table

Look Who's One!

Oh my we have had quite the year! I still can't believe that she is one! How did that happen so fast?! This has truly been the most amazing year of our lives. I feel so blessed to have our sweet Fiona Aileen. I enjoyed putting together a slide show of Fiona's first year. I hope that you enjoy it too!

At one year old Fiona is...

• 16 pounds, 7 ounces and 29 inches... she's a little peanut!
• Always teething! She has 10 teeth now.
• Talking a lot! She says about 20 words now! She seems to be adding new words every few days. Her latest favorites are baby, water, and night-night. Most of this talking is done for Mama, Papa, and the daycare kids. She's pretty quiet around other people.
• Signing a lot! She uses about 10 signs regularly and also seems to be adding more quickly. Its really fun to see her communicating with us and the other kids this way!
• On the verge of walking! She loves to push her wagon all over the house and walk holding on to one of our fingers. She's just not quite ready to let go just yet.
• Always charming people with her smile! She won't talk with them but she is quick to flash that smile of hers to strangers and friends. I always love the reactions she gets out of the gruffest looking fishermen! She turns them into putty!
• Into everything in the house! She loves to eat paper, pull laundry out of the baskets (and put Mama's underwear on her head!), pull the tupperwear out of the cupboards, push buttons on the phone, and unroll the toilet paper.
• Really into music! She's a dancer and a music maker! She loves to listen to music and play with her instruments. I've been taking her to a baby and toddler music group once a week and she loves it! The song for the slideshow is one of her favorite Ziggy Marley tunes.
• A book lover! She loves being read to as well as reading her own books. Almost every morning she crawls over to her book basket and pulls books out to look at. She turns the pages and reads using a combination of baby talk, real words and signs. She's looking at a book right now and just said "kitty" when turning to the page with the cat.