oh, no she didn't!!

Oh yes she did!! This afternoon, Fiona decided she wasn't taking a nap. She was up playing and talking in her crib for awhile having a grand ole time - or so I thought. While I was indisposed in the potty, I hear a little thud - I wait for the cry, but nothing. Then I hear what sounds like little footsteps. And as I finish up and go running up the stairs who meets me halfway? FIONA!!! The girl has never even tried to climb out of her crib nor does she have much luck in opening the doors. But today - luck was on her side. She climbed out of the crib, opened the door and started coming down the stairs. What is so funny is that she totally acted like this was nothing new, just what she does!!

So we have a big weekend ahead of us to Child proof her room, convert the crib to a toddler bed and hope she stays in bed when we put her in there!! Amazing, I thought I had another year or so before we needed to do this!! What's next? Potty training? Talking in full sentences? School, Prom, College Graduation, Marriage and grandkids!!!!!!!!YIKES!! Ok, maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself here. But my baby is growing up, what a crazy combo of emotions, pride, joy and sadness all rolled into one.

Uh-oh and your time is up

Fiona's new word that she started on Tuesday is "Uh-oh"! Not sure really where she got it, we don't say it that much but its hilarious. She just started while I was walking the aisles of Michaels and she would say "jibber jabba jib Uh-oh!" over and over again. Now when she wakes up its the first thing out of her mouth, Mike and I just crack up!!

So my attempt to try and keep the house under control is going well, we have our ups and downs, but overall I think I am hitting an 85% average here - thats pretty darn good. So one of the tricks I have been employing is an old trick Mom used to do with us as kids. She would set the timer and see how much we could get cleaned up in that time. So I do little tricks like that now with myself. A minute and a half to heat my tea every morning = top rack of dishwasher emptied. Half hour of Handy Manny = downstairs picked up and vacuumed and powder room cleaned. One DVRed show = laundry folded and put away or kitchen cleaned up and dishwasher loaded after dinner. I find that I often get a little overwhelmed by all the stuff, so when I break it down to little chunks of time, its much more manageable and it doesn't take me nearly as long as I think it would. I love it cuz when the time is up, my chores are done, too. Do you have any tricks like that? If so, please share!!!

Pictures to come. been a little busy reorganzing my scraproom to become a little more user friendly and to house all my crafts and such. That Organized and inspired scrapper book has got me inspired and motivated and I understand what works and doesn't work so much for me. I am loving it!! One thing I realized is that my storage containers must be able to withstand Fiona dumping - the cool ribbon storage idea I had no longer works so we spent all afternoon yesterday redoing my ribbon storage - you should have seen all the spools and ribbon everywhere - Fiona was in heaven running around with ribbons saying "oooooo!" I think I am creating a monster :) I should have taken pictures but I was a little tied up with the ribbon. LOL!! ok bad joke...

Fiona and Mommy day!!

Dad (Mike) is out of town, so Fiona and I had a whole fun day together. Playgroup this morning. Its is always such a gas to get all the kids together. There are usually 5-6 of us who get together and all the kids are within six months of each other age wise, but boy do they all have such different personalities. And thanks to Miss Elenie (sorry if I spelled it wrong!!) Fiona's new name is Onina (pronounced: O-nin-nah). She started it the other week and now Alex calls her Onina now too. I LOVE it!!

We came home and grabbed a nap (mommy did too) and just played and had a good time!!

So with the new camera, I tried out some of the self timer funtions - disasterous with a 20 month old who doesn't stay anywhere for 10seconds while the timer is going off. Then I tried some unique angles off the mirrors in her playroom - again disasaterous. So I just starting taking pics of her and me with the camera at arms length - much better result, but she didn't smile.

so back to the good ole taking pics of just Fiona. Well she did the funniest thing. She started playing with the tripod was pretending to take pictures - telling me to say "Cheese" and turning all the knobs, just like Mommy!! I just about died laughing!!

I did get one of me in the mirror - don't I look cool and pensive and artsy?? LOL!! And the one with the camera in my face - That is how Fiona thinks her mother looks all the time :)

New feature to the Hyland Blog

Hi everyone,

I have added a new feature to my blog - a little gallery of my Project 365 Scrapbook album. It is located on the right hand side under our Family picture. Click on the picture and you will be able to go to my gallery and see the digital pages of my album. Right now there is only one, but keep popping in to see more.

Also feel free to leave us a note or comment after we post. There is a little link under the post that says 0 (or what ever number) comments. Click on that and leave us a note.

Hope everyone is having a great year!!

The Sound of Music

...has returned!! Since Mike is taking a break from graduate school this term, he is focusing some of his new found free time back to learning to play his guitar.

I remember when Mike and I first started dating, he used to play all the time, and truth be told, I have really missed him playing me his silly songs with the lyrics he makes up on the fly. They always elicted a good laugh, my favorite being "The Overbearing Claw," which described Riley's bad habit of clawing us when she wanted attention.

Fiona loves to dance and always rocks out when Daddy is practicing. It helps of course that he is trying to nail down Old MacDonald - a song Fiona loves!!

Here is a pic of Daddy practicing and concentrating on learning his new chords.

Had to make it black and white and all cool and rocker looking :)

Happy New Year

We had a nice and restful sleep to bring us into the New Year, and I think we needed it. Fiona is so active these days, its a joy and exhausting, LOL!!

Here is what I am talking about - you turn your head for a few minutes to empty the dishwasher while she is eating breakfast and this is what you come back to:

"Look Mom, we don't need to go to the spa today - I already had my oatmeal facial!!"

Lets try little more here...

The O-Face has returned with the sweetest OOOOOOHHH sound this is usually preceeded by her doing something she shouldn't have done. In this case, the oatmeal mask, as good as it is for the skin is sticky, and I want it off now.

"Ok, Ok, I get it, its cute and funny, just wipe it off already, Mom!!"

But then the next day she is just as sweet as can be - took about 150 pics and over half I love! Here are a couple of my favorites:

Apparently the key to Fiona's happieness and content is a Santa Pez...