very long time.....indoor winter activities

Fiona's newest favorite winter activity is walking....up and down the stairs,  her sister takes her....She has two teeth and says 'mamma' and waves as she says, 'ba, ba'.  It is VERY hard for us all to believe that one year ago she was not with us yet in the flesh.  Her birthday is coming up on Feb 27th.  Her sleeping habits have improved of late, much to her parents' relief. Though that does not go for every night; she woke on the hour pretty much every hour last night, for instance.  but we take baby steps, so to speak. 

I just took this one this morning at breakfast, with both girls in their jammies, just after Cecelia requested that baby be put on her lap, and just before baby fell out of her lap.  Didn't capture that moment.  Cecelia is very sweet with her little sister. Today in the car when Fiona was crying, Cecelia reassured her, "Almost home, baby, no worry." 
One of their little games.  Motherhood is just starting to get easier, with the girls more able to play with each other, or at least occupy each others' interest, for longer stretches of time.  I promise to post more often! 

Christmas card efforts and cookies

This is one of nearly one hundred photos JIm and I took in a vain attempt to catch both girls smiling and looking cute for a holiday card.  (we did eventually succeed, or more precisely, my friend Lannie succeeded.  But you will have to wait for your card to see that photo! )  This one here was about the best I could manage.  Most were one baby giggling and the other one facing the opposite direction or about to topple off a chair. 
Here is miss Cecelia decorating Christmas cookies with godmother Shelley.  She got the knack of it after 5 or so cookies and several tablespoons' worth of icing ingestion.  Suffice it to say, there was a lot of running and running and screaming done last night after this activity.
Cecelia waiting for her closeup. Doesn't she look all grown up here?  The 'terrible twos' I had thought was a misnomer, now I am starting to think it is an appropriate label if a few more adjectives were thrown in.  Exhausting, hilarious, adorable, monstrous....

Bath time

October festivals

These are in reverse chronological, as this first one here is from last weekend's Harvest Festival. We had a great time. Cecelia loved the hay maze, above, and fortuneately it cost only one ticket and the ticket taking person lost track of her running out the exit and in the entrance. We spent the afternoon on a beautiful, windy fall day with cousin Eileen and her brood of 3 boys, Eamon, Declan and Seamus (can't tell we are Irish.) Rachel and John and Grandpa David rounded out our group.
Here is the previous weekend with Granny Jane and Far at Hancock Shaker Village. Cecelia didn't quite know to make of all the animals, at least when my camera was operational.
And here is Ms Cheerful playing on the chair. As long as she is well rested and fed and is a mellow pleasure. 7.5 months now and soooooooooooo close to crawling. She does scoot forwards in her own way.. gets her to the staircase, I discovered this afternoon.

Godmother and Fiona's new moves

Sorry this first pic isn't so good of Cecelia, she is constant motion and hard to capture sometimes.  She is seen here playing with her godmother Lannie, and with her horn, birthday present from Grandma Jane and musician Far.  Cecelia is speaking in full sentences these days, saying such profound thoughts as, "I pus baby dow" (I pushed baby down...a comment usually NOT true, though she has her moments), " I poop on the floor" (also not true, thankfully, though she is learning how to go on the potty and is close to getting out of diapers), and, my mother reported hearing yesterday, "What happened there?" 

Fiona is SOOOOO close to crawling.  At the moment she is at the scooting backwards phase that Cecelia went through, and she finds it equally frustrating.  She backs herself under the couch and gets stuck.  Or she sees me and wants to come forward to me, but ends up pushing backwards to the wall. Poor girl.  She is a very happy creature most of the time now.  Definately a mommy's girl, not social and attention-seeking like her older sis.  

Cece Rose's 2nd Birthday and fun with sister

Oops, I didn't notice the birthday girl was picking her nose in this one...it was meant to demonstrate that she and Anya were burying the latter's long suffering brother in pillows.  I had thought we would play lots of fun games in the basement, but that proved to be dark and a little cramped so we moved upstairs to the living room/ piano/ king size bed to jump on, kitchen for ice cream and cupcakes, etc. No pool party because it started to rain at 3, party, sorry, 'Paw-dee' start time. 
I love these shots!  They like to play on the bed together.  Well, Cecelia likes to play on the bed and Fiona likes to smile and Mom likes to help Fiona avoid getting a direct hit on the head from a flying foot or other sharp object.  
We had a good kiddo turnout for the pawdee- 11 all told.  Here are Mateo and Amiel as Cecelia tells them that the little music box with duckies is, in fact, "MINE!!" 

Sorry it's been so long...

This first pic is remarkable mostly for Cecelia's outfit...which was mine in the early 70's. You can best appreciate its polyester quality up close, but this will have to suffice.....Here is Auntie Rachel with Miss Finona. Rachel is now living in Great Barrington and we get to visit all the time.
So our post is going to have to change titles to reflect Fiona's photogenic-ness and general appeal. She is close to crawling now, has scooted backwards a couple of times...almost there!
This is her full on happy smile. She made music with her 'piano' and was pleased with herself. She is such a delight. Much more mellow than Cecelia was/is. She can entertain herself on the floor with toys as long as she isn't too tired or hungry. Much more to follow, I promise. Coming up next: some of Cecelia's newest sentences! full sentences!