My Dad came from Texas for a visit. In the short time he was here he was able to meet Fiona....
Spend some much overdue quality time with Zoe.....
Got to hang out with me and my brother....
And even got some good family shots in between!
(this shot is a favorite of mine because I haven't had my parents and brother in the same room in many years!:)
We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving this year. Uncle Dave and Keith's friend Larry were our only official "guests". We had tons of great food and of course tons of thanks for a great year and our new addition!
We have to make sure Fiona gets not only special Mommy time and special Daddy time, but also special Mommy AND Daddy time. We found that in the beginning when Zoe was born , we were swapping off baby duty and she never had us together as a family. So we started making special effort to do things together. Now we try to do the same for Fiona. When Zoe is sleeping, that's when Fiona gets both of our attention together!
As soon as we brought Fiona home, Zoe was insistent on sitting in a big chair, not her high chair. She now has a booster seat that she is very proud to eat in. She still tries to just sit in the regular chairs at the table, but she can barely see what she is eating that way, so it's not too hard to coax her to her booster seat from there:).JPG)
We love our new baby and are so excited to have her here! She has already shown herself to be sweet, adaptable, smart, and easy going! Fiona is the perfect addition to our happy family. We weren't sure that we could love someone as much as we love Zoe, but we now know it is possble at least this one more time!
So far, Fiona has been a decent sleeper. But of course I know I will probably jinx myself as soon as I say that!!! A few nights she has gone to bed around 11pm and not woken till 4am...I'll take that from a newborn any day! Of course there was one night where she didn't fall asleep until 4am though! She sleeps better in bed with me and especially in the boppy, which I know is setting myself up for having to break a bad habit, but we're doing what we can to get through the night here people!:)
Papa and Gramma moved near us to be close to Zoe, and never knew they were going to be lucky enough to be close to another baby they would love so much! With most of our family spread across the country, the girls are lucky to have such loving grandparents so close by!
Obviously a lot of attention needs to go to the new baby in the house in the beginning. We have to take extra special care to give Zoe her fair share as well. In this picture, Uncle Dave and Daddy are giving Zoe her favorite kind of attention which she refers to as "Rocky, Rocky". She looks pretty happy!.JPG)
Fiona came home from the hospital today and met her big sister. Zoe was very interested and was quick to kiss her and want to hold her ( "Zoe hold it!", she would say). She calles her "Mimi" (Zoe's word for baby) or "sister" or "Fi" or "Fia". Can't wait to see them grow up together!.JPG)
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Fiona is finally here! I went into labor on Tuesday evening and by Wednesday morning at 8:46, 7 lbs. 14 ounces and 20 1/2 inches of Fiona had entered the world. She is beautiful and wonderful and we love her so much!
This program is the coolest ever! They have every large vehicle a kid could ever dream of (fire trucks, helicopters, tractors, school busses, etc) and they can actually get in them and play! Zoe was in heaven! She LOVES "beeg tucks" and just kept saying "in, in , in , in!" And she could actually go in this time. There was also a moon bouce, which she went in all by herself in and loved - and it was very hard to get her out of! And then there was the piece de resistance....a motorcycle (her favorite)! She also had popcorn for the first time which was just the cherry on top to her perfect morning. And people think little girls only like princesses and dollies!
Zoe has finally expressed and interest in coloring. Well, more specifically, crayons. She can "color" on a paper with the crayons. She preferes, though, to bite off the ends, mush crayon under her nails, or dump them on the floor repeatedly. It's a start to my my budding artist - she is interpreting her own forms already!
You have to stay true to your roots, right? Since Keith is a born and bred Massachusetts boy and I claim Mass as my home (even though I was technically raised up the entire east coast), by default Zoe is therefore a fan of the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins! So this shirt is a perfect fit and she is even wearing her Daddy's Red Sox hat! Go team, go!.JPG)
As I have said before, we started talking about the baby in my belly for a little while now. We finally got a big sister book for Zoe, and have been talking about the baby's crib, and the baby's toys, and how it is all different from Zoe's things. I've given her the "talk" about how she is my favorite girl, and how a new baby is going to come and be her "sissy" , and how we are all going to be a happy , loving family (not that she has any idea about what I am talking about, but I felt that I had to say it all out loud to her). We are officially due Novemeber 5th, but I have to say , I had been expecting this baby for over a week now. Each passing day is harder and harder to deal with. I'm pretty comfortable (so far) for being so pregnant, so I'm not complaining about that. It's just that I know the next few months are going to be tough figuring things out and getting on any type of sane schedule, so I just want to get on with it, so we can get past the tough parts and on to living again! I am excited to meet this baby and see who she is going to be. I'm very interested to see how Zoe will deal with it all as well. We hope all of our family and friends will be able to come and visit our new addition soon!
Today we went to the beach with Gramma and Papa John. Thanks to Gramma for running after Zoe the whole time so I could rest my very pregnant self! Gramma has been a great help these past two years....all the way from my being on bed rest when I was pregnant with Zoe..till the welcoming of baby number two! She has given up so much for us - time with her wonderful husband, her career, her home, her privacy, her life....and sooooo much more that no one even knows about. She is an amazing woman and we are lucky to have her! She truly understands the meaning of family and we appreciate her everyday. We could do this all on our own, but it would be a lot harder and a lot different without the love and support of such a great Gramma. I definitely know where she learned all this from, and my children are so lucky to have a grandmother in their life who is as great as mine was! I know we don't say it enough, but thank you Gramma for being such a great part of our family...we love you so much!
