Sun and My Favorite Things

So it's true, even though it's April in Seattle, we've actually had some sun, so Fiona has gotten to spend some time lounging outside on the deck, soaking in some rays - not too many rays, mind you, but some fresh air is good for everybody, right?

It's ironic really because earlier this week I started thinking about posting my favorite things about being around Fiona (as an aside the irony has nothing to do with the sun and that was a terrible segue, but hey, it's my blog until Fiona gets old enough to type it up herself). Like:

My favorite thing is watching her sleep next to me.
My favorite thing is coming home from work and watching her notice me and break into the biggest smile and immediately reach for me.
My favorite thing is watching her fall asleep in my arms in the evening while I read a book or watch some inane tv show or movie.
My favorite thing is observing my husband when Fiona snuggles up and falls asleep on his chest (HIS favorite thing).
My favorite thing is watching something catch her interest and she reaches for it as if it's the only thing in the world...as soon as she gets her hands on it, it goes straight into her mouth, as fast as she can get it there.
My favorite thing is listening to her giggle.
My favorite thing is her adventurous nature, she isn't afraid of anything (yet) - even if it doesn't work out in a pleasant way, she's still game to try it again and again and even again...

It's so hard to have just one favorite thing (I censored my favorite potty things, I hope you're all happy to know it).

And then comes Tuesday night when Fiona would NOT go to sleep (not even her usual nap when I came home from work, so we KNOW she was tired, she just wouldn't give it up), then when I finally got her down, she woke herself up - sneezing - and spent the next 45 minutes screaming her head off. Even after I finally got her back down, I couldn't sleep, afraid that she would wake up any moment and be a hysterical mess again. Then Wednesday night she was fussy and wouldn't go to sleep. Then Thursday night, more of the same, except this morning she also woke up bright and early and wouldn't go back to sleep until I was nursing her just before I left and she nodded off just long enough for me to almost miss my bus (I had to run for it and the bus driver actually tried to close the door before I was all the way on the bus - jerk).

It's interesting that a lot of my favorite moments revolve around her sleeping (of course, that's usually what she's doing when I'm around), so of course it goes to follow that when she's not sleeping well...it's not my favorite.

I've been so lucky that even though she "wakes" up frequently throughout the night to feed, it doesn't much disturb me and we usually both drift right back off to sleep - even the dog has started to figure out that the middle of the night is NOT a good time to potty. I've been getting a reasonable amount of sleep - not really deep sleep, not very comfortable sleep (you try to shoe-horn yourself between a sleeping baby and sleeping dog for 8 hours and see how comfortable YOU are), but I'm reasonably rested and ready for my day by the time it rolls around. So it may not be reasonable to complain, but all it takes is the loss of a little sleep and I turn into...well, anyone who's spent any amount of time with me knows how I am when I don't get enough sleep - it isn't pretty.

Anyway, it's been a bit of a tough week (cuz let me tell you, everyone else in the house is sleeping while I'm walking Fiona and feeding her and singing to her and trying whatever I can to get her to sleep).

But even on the "bad" days, I still sit at my computer at work and wish I could be with her. She's so scrumptious, I could just eat her up.

(So in case you missed the irony - it is that I started out wanting to write about my favorite things, but instead she made it one of my least favorite weeks...that's what I get for thinking about counting my blessings.)

Recently, I've started giving Fiona sips of water from a glass. Dave's aunt, Ginny (like my mom, but different), started this process with her son (Dave's 22 year old cousin, Peter) when he was 3 months old. Whenever she had a glass of water, she would give the last few sips to Peter. By the time Peter was 1 year old, he could drink out of a regular cup by himself (of course they were living on a sailboat, traveling around the world at the time, so they couldn't just pick up some sippy cups, you know?). I figured, why not try it anyway - even though we live outside Seattle and could pick up a sippy cup any time we wanted to.

It's so funny. We have these cool blue glasses that Fiona loves to look at when someone is drinking from them. She's started to reach for everything. So as soon as I let her grasp my glass, she takes it with both hands and just brings it up to her mouth as quick as she can and she starts sucking on the edge, like it's a bottle or a nipple. I help her tilt the glass up, so some water gets in her mouth. She immediately stops sucking, like - what was that?! Then she chokes on the water, so I pull the glass away to pat her back, but as soon as she's done choking, she reaches for the glass again right away and the process starts all over again. It never seems to dissuade her that the contents of the glass makes her choke. As soon as she can breathe again, she wants some more. I hope that soon she'll figure out that the liquid is like milk and she shouldn't breathe and swallow it at the same time. Such a cutie.

So that's all for now, this weekend will be spent with Grandma and Grandpa Conner, Uncle Josh and Great Aunt Ginny and what does that make cousin Peter - this family tree business is pretty confusing for a girl who tended to just disown family members instead of trying to figure out how they were related. Grin.