9 months: road trip, influenza, ER, relatives

Lots of news and events for Fiona in the past month. First, to start things off, we had my lab over for a pumpkin carving fest & Fiona had a chance to show off her Halloween costume (a giraffe!). Dad not only carved a fine pumpkin, but he tried mightily to ride a unicycle...

Jeff took his board exam later that week, followed by our next family adventure: a road trip to D.C. I was there to serve on a grant review panel for NIAAA, and Fiona & Jeff came along for the ride. We met up with Dad's high school friend Mark Yarnell for dinner one night, and with Grandpa Cooney the next night. He was coincidentally in town for a meeting and was even in a hotel not too far away. After my work was done, we spent a couple of hours checking out the National Zoo with Grandpa before piling back in the car to drive home.

Back at home, Jeff interviewed for the UNC Neurology Residency program (very successfully!), and one by one, we fell to what was most likely H1N1 flu. Fiona went first, and her duration was shortest, likely because she was the most immunized. She did unfortunately end up with pneumonia though, so we spent a not very fun Sunday in the ER, where Fiona "enjoyed" her first chest x-ray. She responded quickly to the antibiotics and we're all pretty much well now. Jeff's folks came out from Colorado to the Hampshire Ct. infirmary, and then Auntie Kim and her beau Juta came down from Boston to spend Thanksgiving. In addition to having to make the usual efforts to avoiding a 5 pound weight gain over the holidays, they also had to evade swine flu!

Here is Fiona at 9 months. Her big new skills these days are pointing at things that catch her attention, standing independently, waving bye-bye, and fishing snacks out of her "snack trap" cup. She even says "buh-buh" when she waves bye-bye, which we think is intentional. She can also climb up whole flights of stairs, but we're trying to avoid letting her do that... More photos of this month's adventures are here.