July 2010, in which Fiona turns into a little girl

After the events of June, we took July pretty easy. Jeff started off his intern year with consult services, which meant very reasonable hours: yea! We made a family outing to the Eno River Festival where Fiona temporarily abandoned all stranger anxiety & went offering her water bottle & beloved monkey to anyone sitting near us. She went so far as to plop herself right in the lap of one woman who apparently looked like a good seat to Fiona.

The main theme of the month for us is that suddenly, Fiona looks like a little girl, not a baby. She gets filled with purpose and is a very busy little person. Here she is going about her business one morning before school and also having some fun playing "stuff on my dad".

Here she is posing for her 17 month portrait:

Here she is using the stairs as her personal table and chair. 

And here she is ready to go to school - in mama's shoes!
 Need more? More photos from July can be found here.

June: looking for silver linings...

June was an interesting month. It started off innocently enough with a family trip to the Durham Museum of Life & Science, where we saw a lot of cool quilts and a giant Blue Morpho butterfly landed on Jeff. We posted photos of the cool quilts (and much more) here.

Then I was off to an ill-fated trip to Verona Italy to give a talk at a meeting. While I was there I developed a sharp pain in my shoulder blade and was feeling easily winded. I chalked these things up to 1) carrying a too heavy bag around and 2) being out of shape. When I was feeling short of breath just sitting in my seat while flying home, I grew a little more concerned. Once home, I found myself getting winded going up one flight of stairs and having a worsening dry cough. Meanwhile, Jeff's parents and sister arrived for a week out at the coast on Bald Head Island. Everyone packed up Monday morning and I planned to join them on Wednesday. I went to my doctor that morning, who promptly sent me to the ER, on suspicion of a collapsed lung. I called Jeff with the bad news, went home and packed a bag and checked in to the ER, where I discovered that when a 40 year old woman comes in complaining of shortness of breath and shoulder blade pain, they think you're having a heart attack and they rocket you to a room (and even yell at each other about being too slow). Actual diagnosis: spontaneous pneumothorax (= collapsed lung for no apparent reason). Score  one for my primary care doctor.

I had a chest tube placed (which, by the way, is as painful as the final stage of childbirth, but without the cute baby afterward) and expected to be released in a day or two and spend the remainder of the week convalescing by the seaside. As it turned out, Jeff arrived that night and ended up spending the last free week before starting his internship at UNC hospital, with me, at UNC hospital. We were able to skype with Fiona every day, which helped. I ended up needing surgery - VATS pleurodesis - to ensure that my lung would stay inflated, and a few days later, Jeff went back to the beach to retrieve everyone and I was finally reunited with my baby!

One of the silver linings of all this was that Fiona was able to spend more time than she probably would have getting to know her Grandma & Grampa & Auntie Kim. She loved the beach and had a great time. It was also nice for Jeff & I to spend a lot of undistracted time talking and hanging out. Plus, he got to bug-bomb the attic...

The extended Cooneys all left town and the next day Jeff reported for his first day of orientation at the hospital. He and Fiona came to visit every day, with Fiona often helping to finish off my dinner tray. (I think her favorites were vegetable soup & banana pudding). I was finally released late the following wednesday. Thank you health insurance! I was sent home with the chest tube still in, connected to a heimlich valve (a one-way air tube). My surgeon assured me that this was not at all noticeable & no big deal. The instruction sheet I received from the nurse warned me that it might make the occasional honking sound as air escaped and the whole apparatus hung down to my knee, ending in a bloody fluid filled collecting jar. This left me wondering if the surgeon had ever seen an actual heimlich valve... Here is a nice photo found on the web that gives you a feel for it, although this lacks the second tube with collecting jar. Not at all noticeable, right? 

Jeff started his internship the day after I got home and we were very lucky that Jeff's mom was scheduled to come to town the next day. She drove me around, fed Fiona, carted her up and down the stairs and helped distract her from my off-limits tube apparatus. A lifesaver! The tube was finally removed a week later, and after going through some unexpected opiate withdrawal, I was as good as new. Better, actually, since my right lung is now uncollapsible. 

Forgive us, but we missed Fiona's monthly photos, but here's one of her goofing with grandma. We promise to resume the monthly chair photos next month.

May: M.D. + Maui

May 2010 was a good month for the Cooneys, as it was filled with big events, family & friends & a most excellent vacation. First, Jeff graduated from medical school! At commencement, we all learned that Jeff had been awarded the student prize for Neurology (Jeff knew, he just hadn't told anyone...). We all felt proud of him, and  I remain especially impressed by the way he really made med school look easy. Here, Fiona tries on the cap of the freshly minted Jeff Cooney, M.D.

Both sets of folks came out for the big day, and we were also happy to have another celebrant along: Juan Pablo Salica! Juan is from Argentina, but spent his and Jeff's senior year living with the Cooneys as an exchange student. Jim, Ellen & Kim visited Juan in Argentina a few years back, but he & Jeff hadn't seen each other in many years. He brought lots of nice presents and quickly won over Fiona. We all enjoyed a lovely celebratory dinner at Vin Rouge in Durham and Jeff & I were especially grateful for the extra folks on hand to manage a squirrely baby.

 
A few days later, everyone cleared out and our old friend Brian Miller paid us a visit. No pictures of that event, but we still have the cork from the enjoyable Foppiano Pinot. We're hoping for a repeat visit in August...The next day, we set off for Maui! Now, perhaps taking a teething infant with a bad cold across 6 timezones isn't the best recipe for filling oneself with aloha, but it seemed like a small price to pay for 2 weeks in paradise. Here's Fiona on the first flight, where you can see that she's in good spirits despite losing her bottle on me and herself on our way through security - she's wearing the change of clothes her well-prepared parents had packed. Unfortunately, we hadn't packed more spare clothes, aside from a jacket (?!), so when the massive volcano of projectile vomiting was unleashed later in the flight, she initially went back into those original clothes. Later still, she was down to just the diaper & the jacket, which wasn't that suitable for the airport in Maui...luckily I located a sundress shortly after our luggage appeared. Sorry little bunny!

Spirits undimmed, we arrived at our condo and settled in.  We stayed in the lovely Kihei condo of Jeanne Erdahl, mother of Charlotte's oldest buddy, Sara. The condo stay was a wedding present from Jeanne that we'd been looking forward to enjoying for the past 3 years! Thank you Jeanne! One of our first tasks was to teach Fiona to give the shaka/hang loose sign in response to a request for aloha. She quickly developed her own personal version, which engages the thumb & forefinger, as she demonstrates to the left.

 We had a fantastic vacation, and over the course of 2 weeks, we managed to circumnavigate the island, visit farms, snorkel with sea turtles, eat as much shave ice as possible (best flavor: coconut), do some hiking...and sleep very little. Except for the last thing, it was very relaxing and fun.  I think one of our favorite places was the Upcountry, which was surprising  reminiscent of West Marin County. To the right are Jeff & Fiona up on Mt. Haleakala, where we had a great hike & lunch and Fiona learned to accept wearing a hat.

Among Fiona's top-rated activities were: going to a luau (see left), seeing fish at the aquarium & on the snorkel boat, eating with sticks, playing in the sand, feeding goats and birds, and eating coconut m&m's. Cute photos and videos of many of these activities can be found here. Alas, sleeping at night and sitting peaceably while we ate were among her least preferred activities...

Finally, here's our girl at 15 months. With a smile & disposition like that, we can easily forgive a few sleepless nights here & there...

Easter egg hunt, state #10, and Fiona's first foreign country...

We started off this month with a visit from Grandma & Grampa Cooney and the concentration of Cooneys proved too strong to resist, and Auntie Kim came down to visit too. Their visit coincided with our neighborhood's Easter Egg Hunt, about which I may have been a tiny bit more excited than Fiona was.

She was pretty game to collect eggs and carry her basket though, as shown to the right. She was very excited to see the Easter Bunny although, as it turned out, only from a distance...

Our next adventure was a trip down to Charleston, SC. I went to give a talk at MUSC, and Jeff & Fiona came along for the ride. They took a ferry out to Ft. Sumter and enjoyed a horse & carriage ride around old Charleston. The next day we all went out to Magnolia Gardens, an old rice plantation, where Fiona especially enjoyed the petting barnyard. She didn't say so in words, but we got the impression that it was the best day of her life. We'll try to post the video evidence shortly. To the left she is saying hello to the goose that joined us for lunch.

Back at home, we were soon joined by Grammie Boettiger. We took advantage of the extra pair of eyes & hands to get some long delayed and much needed yardwork done. Here is Fiona "helping" out.

Our next adventure entailed driving to D.C. with Fiona and my mom. I attended a translational science meeting while they visited the zoo and various monuments & museums (Jeff was back at home doing his final med school rotation in the MICU). Somehow I have no photos of the DC trip, but our next adventure was much bigger: Fiona, Grammie & I flew to Montreal. While I attended the CNS meeting, they did things like exploring Montreal and watching french cartoons (left). By the end of April, the two of them were pretty well bonded, which is nice for everybody.

Finally: here is our sweet girl at 14 months. More photos of our month's adventures are here.

Butterflies, brews, and the arrival of Spring

Fiona kept getting presents for weeks it seemed after her big day. Shown to the left is a particular favorite: her awesome teapot from the Mannings. The whole tea set is recycled! She likes to pour tea, complete with "ssshusssh" sound for pouring.

We finally got ourselves over to the Durham Museum of Life & Science and after visiting the barnyard animals, butterfly house, checking out the bears, and riding the steam train, we were sold. The photo to the right is one that Jeff took in the butterfly house.

 

Fiona was fascinated by the butterflies and birds and tropical flowers and was content to sit on a bench for quite a while just watching everything, as shown to the left.

A big event (with no photos!) this month was that Jeff matched to the UNC Neurology program. Fiona & I attended the match day ceremony and we all had a nice lunch afterward. Jeff won't set off on his path to his new vocation for another few months, but he decided to get started on his new avocation: brewmaster! He's shown to the right hugging his first batch of beer in active fermentation (a bock style). We've sampled a bit since and find it's not bad. He's eager to get his next attempt going: this time a hefeweizen!

Springtime weather arrived before the official start of spring and we took the opportunity to take Fiona out to Duke gardens to run around. We've been imagining her running around on this big lawn since before she was born and it was really fun to experience that idea becoming a reality. She is very social and we had to herd her away from stealing the flip-flops of the Duke girls sunbathing and the balls of bigger kids playing. Luckily everyone finds her cute!

And finally, here is our girl at 13 months. She's getting longish hair and looking more like a little girl and less like a little baby all the time. More photos of this month are here.

And now she is one!

February was a pretty low-key month for us, punctuated by the excitement of Fiona's first birthday. The photo to the left is from her birthday morning, capturing two of her current great loves: her monkey & books.

After school/work we came home, had a little dinner and then the cake and presents-fest began. We Skyped with both sets of grandparents, burned Fiona's yearly candle, ate carrot cake, and opened presents. For those awaiting the cake-smeared face photos, I'm sorry to disappoint. When it comes to cake, at least mama's carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, Fiona takes care of business: the cake goes in the mouth! She ate nearly all of the slice shown in the photo, which seems like a lot of cake for a little baby, but on the other hand, she remains in the 90th+ percentile in terms of size...

 In the photo to the right, we have captured how she was immediately transfixed by her new play phone. Not shown was her second move after punching buttons: holding it up to her neck. Also note the ubiquitous monkey.

 And finally: here's our sweet girl at one. For more photos, follow this link.

11 months: Seattle and walking, walking, walking!

The second half of our winter vacations brought us out to Seattle, where we enjoyed introducing Fiona to Charlotte's home turf. Our first stop was with Auntie Gail and Uncle Fred, where we were treated (as always) with fine wine, fine food, and wonderful hospitality. We celebrated New Year's Eve with four generations of Boettiger/Cooneys, and had a great time even though we didn't quite make it until midnight. (I later found out that my 97 year old grandmother had beaten us all, and had managed to stay up to ring in the New Year!)

Charlotte's family also hosted a wonderful reception for us later that week, which gave us a chance to catch up with many friends and family in the area. In addition to meeting many new people, Fiona also had the chance to see some of Seattle's many attractions, including Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. She was a great traveler as always, and we're hoping that her love for new foods such as seafood bisque (as evidenced by her wide open mouth in the photo below) suggests that she won't become a picky eater!

Highlights from the rest of the week included staying with Sara and John, where Fiona got to play with Katy and Jack (and their dog Boone!), then staying with Michele and Andy, where Fiona enjoyed playing with Linus and Ramona. Her walking skills were improving steadily the whole time, and although she was only taking a few tentative steps when we left North Carolina, by the time we were ready to head home she could walk around the airport with us. There are far to many photos to post on this blog, so be sure to check out the whole album at this link.

Finally, here is Fiona posing for her 11 month photo. We probably took 60 photos before we got a decent shot, since Fiona decided that getting out of the chair as fast as possible was a great game to play with Dad, but as always we're happy to have such an energetic and sun-shiny baby!