Night night

Matt fell asleep on the couch with Fiona. They are totally KNOCKED out, but every time she moves even the tiniest bit, he grabs on, and holds her tight so she does not fall.

Sound asleep, he watches out for her.

Love that.

Congrats Jordan!

OK OK...I am sick and tired and way too busy, but could not resist posting some pictures from this weekend.

We spent the weekend in Harrisonburg at a beautiful country baby shower for Jordan - and we got lots of Yaya and Paw Paw time in too:

Tara got Fiona the cutest peal bracelet ever made:




It was so pretty, but no one could have anticipated how it would make our girl would fall in love with pearls:





On Sunday we went to the amazing shower that Kelly threw for her daughter, Jordan.
To say is was lovely would be an understatement.

(Fiona showed off her bracelet and her dress from Aunti Lyndsey to Sandra, and anyone who would say how pretty she looked :) )

Kelly lives in an old farm house on the prettiest property Fiona and I have ever had the chance to play in.



Of couse the decorations were above and beyond:


And Tara made an amazing cake:


The highlight for Miss Fiona was hanging with the fams:



But especially with her adorable second-cousin, Ryan!





They ran around and it was sooo cute. Fiona tried her best to keep up :)

A ton more happend -- but I have to get back to work.

Loves to all,
Matt and Ali

Shoes

Our girl has a shoe fetish.
We went to the mall yesterday afternoon to kill sometime and run some errands.
I took Fiona out of her stroller to let her hold my hand and walk around bit.

We were having fun, moving slower than a snail as we windowed shopped. Then she pulled away from me and RAN to Payless, BANGING on the window and laughing as she turned to look at me. She was so exited!

She was in HEAVEN when we walked in. Pulling the brightest, sparklest (I know thats not a real word btw) shoes from the rack. She had a particular affinity for one pair of sandals that were a plaid pink - very cute, but too small for our big girl (which made me sad).

But Payless? Really, Fiona? Well I guess if she is going to love shoes this much it is good that she is a bargin shopper.

Incedently, she was equally excited by these large stuffed Hippo rides they had at the mall...to be honest, they were just weird.

Off to Harrisonburg for the weekend for fun times with Aunt Missy, GAK, Yaya and PawPaw.

Single Mom

OK OK...we all know I give Matt a hard time for not helping out around the house. Matt of course thinks I just don't appreciate what he does do.

Well the Gods have intervened. Matt has to work on the Eastern Shore all week, which means I am going to get first hand experience of what its like NOT to have an extra set of hands.

Will keep you posted.

PS Fiona pooped in her bath the other day.

AWESOME.

Loves!

Fun fun fun

Another busy Armentrout Family Weekend!
With Matt feeling better, we were all out and about.

The weekend began on Thursday when Auntie Lynds came for a visit..its worth nothing that she is the one who set Matt and I up back in 2001.



We played in the sprinkler, did some shopping and walking and eating...and a ton of catching up. It was amazing how quickly Fiona took to her. YAY.

On Sat it was off to Annapolis to for Jamie Kohlenstien (?)'s baby shower! The Morrisons were there and gave Jamie and her baby a birthday table cloth like she gave us. Best idea ever -- you bring out the same white table cloth year after year and people who come to celebrate your baby's birthday sign it and leave nice messages or funny memories.



Finally, we brought our camera to one of our hang outs with the Solomans!
Welcome to Adam and Fiona show:




Lesson: Think before you encourage your kid to "fall down" in the baby pool - Is her fear worth the minute long video clip? Adina and I think, yes!

There was swimming time:



And Daddy time:


Relaxing time:


And playing time:




And then it was going home time:

Working late

...and missing my baby. So I logged on to look at her...
And then I remembered I forgot to tell you her new words - she has added "out" and "apple" to her growing vocab...so now we are at:

• Maaaa (I picked her from daycare yesterday, and Adam had just tugged too hard on her and i heard her crying..."maaa mamama moma moma" and she crawled to the door) Enough to kill you -- or stop at the store on the way to work today and buy a lotto ticket ;)
  
• Daaaa (which she uses interchangeably with Maaa)
• Pup Pup (though its been a while since we've heard it)
• Apple which is said Appp
• Out which is "oooot"
• And, shoe which is said... "shoe"
• She also points and says "eh eh eh" whenever she wants anything.
  

I wonder what a shrink would make of her psychological profile given that info? We've got a love of food, going out, people and desire to get what she wants and well.... shoes. Hmmmm...

Spinkler

Oh, and we got a sprinkler during our excursion to Buy Buy Baby...this picture isn't the best, but needless to say...Fiona really really liked it.

Long Weekend

There are many a health issue plaguing our family these days.

Grandpa had to get his kidney removed last weekend, so we figured what better way to make him feel better than to spend sometime with his amazing granddaughter. But, then Matt got really sick and could not come. So the bean and I took off for our first solo road trip (with Matt freaking out the whole time making sure I was driving safely).

The trip up was great! Fiona slept the whole way. But then I was confronted with my first hurtle - i had to pee (reminiscent of our first train ride together alone). Do I wake up a sleeping baby 1/2 through a five hour drive just so I can pee?

I can't very well leave her in the car while I run in. Stress. Had to pee. Sleeping baby. I kept on keeping on. Then I noticed I needed gas. We pulled off. Gas. Check. Still have to pee. Bathrooms sooo very close. Sleeping baby.

Then I did what any good mother would do..I found a corner of the parking lot (that was lighted, but vacant) and dropped my drawers. Sleeping baby. Check. Within my eyeshot...check. Pee. Check.

And we were back on the road.

Even though we were supposed to go to NJ to help out, we actually ended up having a great time!

Grandpa played with his darling grandbaby (to the best of his ability)


We had a busy day on Sat, we began by playing with water on the deck with breakfast:


Then it was off the coolest park I have ever been to. Grandma said she used to bring me there when I was little. They have all these play grounds that age appropriate, so they had a baby one (which Fiona thought was lame), one for two to four year olds (where we played) and one for big kids (where Fiona liked to stand at the bottom of the slide and watch the big kids come down).





They had a rock wall for the big kids (Daddy would have been proud to have witnessed Fiona's interest in it). Indecently, Matt stopped at a baby store the Friday prior (all by himself) and picked out the outfit Fiona is wearing in these pics).


Then we went to the zoo (sorry no pics) that was at the same park. Which, obviously Fiona loved.

Then we went on a train ride.




Sunday it was back in the car for the marathon drive home. I tried to leave during Fiona's nap time, but 2 hours in she woke up. We took a pit stop at a Buy Buy Baby we found so Miss Thing could run around for a bit, managed to spend $100 and then got back on the road again.


Fiona entertained herself by learning to put her feet on her head, in her ears and nose. I mean for hours..she cracked herself up at the absurdity of putting her feet where they did not belong. ADORABLE.

Oh how you've grown

Last night Fiona and I took a stroll down the street. When it was time to turn around, Fiona wanted nothing to do with it. So, I did what I've seen tons of moms do, and I turned around and started walking away. I looked back and said "bye bye."

She looked at me, waved "bye bye" and then blew me a kiss and kept on her merry way.
Hhahaah..my baby is getting so independent.

Getting Caught up

OK So I've slaked again.
But we lost our camera for a while.

So here is what we have been up to:

Fiona had her birthday party, and I never posted pics, here you go:


She got lots of presents (thanks everyone!)


Yaya made her some yummie cakes:


We were so lucky to have so many friends and family there. The Grandparents, the Fallons, Missy, GAK...it was really awesome.

She loves to brush her teeth. Also she tries to put on my makeup when i get ready in the morning. Its so sweet:


We love to go swimming with Adam:



Fiona has gotten way more picky about eating, but she loves corn on the cob




We made a trip home to NJ to help find Grandpa who was lost at sea - but we found him



And Fiona got to go swimming with Grandma at the local Y:


And we also went to Harrisonburg a couple times (Father's day pics to come) and Fiona got to play with YaYa and Co.


Now, I have to download the pics from Matt's big camera, 4th of July weekend, and we will be up and running again.

Phew