Expanding the Patch....

Over the past few months, since renaming this blog "The Pickle Patch," Erick and I have been troubled by an inconsistency. While a "patch" implies multiple pickles, our patch has just one (that would be Fiona). We have been scouring our brains for a solution: how to remedy this? How to make life correspond to the title of our blog?

I'm delighted to announce that we have hit upon a solution:
Baby Gong #2. Coming to a pickle patch near you in July 2009.

Happy Birthday, Amanda!

Last Monday was the birthday of our dear friend (and neighbor, and devoted blog-follower) Amanda. Amanda and her husband Eric invited all 3 Gongs out to breakfast to celebrate the joyous event. This was a HUGE treat for us, since it's challenging to go out to breakfast when your baby wakes up ravenously hungry at 7 am. Thankfully, Eric and Amanda were okay with an early breakfast.

Perhaps because Amanda and Fiona share a zany sense of humor (not to mention very expressive faces), Amanda is one of Fiona's all-time favorite people.

Perhaps it's also because Amanda lets Fiona maul napkins to her heart's content.

Eric's not so bad, either.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMANDA!

Christmas in McLean, Part 3: The Big Eve/Day

Now we come to the portion of Fiona's Christmas 2008 that actually deals with Christmas! Fiona had her very own Christmas tree in McLean, a living spruce that her grandparents planted a year ago to celebrate her birth. This year, Fiona actively participated in trimming the tree, as you can see above and below.

On Christmas Eve, she enjoyed the tradition of reading "The Night Before Christmas" and the Christmas story with Nana and Boom.

Fiona actually slept in on Christmas morning -- probably the last time that will happen for another 15 years, and a sure sign that she didn't quite realize what lay ahead! Once she finally made it downstairs, she was amazed at the number of gifts under the tree.

She received some wonderful presents.

And after all the unwrapping had occurred, she enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus -- or at least, she enjoyed the chocolate cake that followed the singing!
The festivities continued on the day after Christmas, as we visited the Botanic Gardens in Washington, D.C., to check out their Christmas train display. It was too crowded to get a picture of both Fiona AND the trains, but as you can tell from this photo, Fiona and Boom were both awestruck!
This is our last Christmas installment. A huge thanks to Nana and Boom for making Fiona's Christmas in McLean so memorable and special!

Christmas in McLean, Part 2: Pal Zoe

Once we arrived in Virginia, Fiona was quickly reunited with her old friend Zoe. For those of you who followed the blog this summer, you will recall that Zoe is: 1) the daughter of our friends Aaron and Jessie, whose grandparents live next door to Fiona's grandparents, 2) two weeks older than Fiona, 3) possibly cuter and definitely sweeter than Fiona.

Zoe came to greet us the first morning of our visit. Fiona, still adjusting to East Coast time, had slept in and was still in her pajamas. The two girls picked up right where they'd left off, with Zoe giving Fiona things (in this case, her glove) which Fiona was only too happy to take.This also happened to be the day of Christmas Eve, which in our neighborhood means one thing: luminaries. For those of you fortunate enough to have escaped this particular holiday tradition, luminaries are paper bags filled with sand and a candle, placed along pathways (or driveways in this case); I believe the significance is to light the way for Jesus on Christmas Eve. The effect when they are lit is beautiful, but achieving that effect involves spending a good hour in the cold stuffing bags with sand and candles. Because they are cute and useless, Fiona and Zoe escaped all the hard work and convinced Boom to take them for a joyride in the wheelbarrow instead.

Then they spent some quality time exploring the yard.

Once darkness had fallen, we returned outside to light the luminaries. Here is a blurry idea of how they looked -- very lovely.

Fiona, again playing up her cute uselessness, enjoyed a solo ride in the wheelbarrow. Although Fiona was tired out by all the festivities, it was a swell Christmas Eve.

Christmas in McLean, Part 1

Happy 2009! We are back in Berkeley after a wonderful Christmas week spent in McLean, Virginia with Fiona's Nana and Boom. Although this was technically Fiona's second Christmas, it was the first for which she was actually conscious of all the excitement. Because the week was so eventful, I'm going to have to tackle it in installments.

For the first installment, I'm going to focus on all the new learning experiences that Fiona had over the course of the week.

She learned how to subdue a large stuffed bear.

She learned how to wear a scarf with panache -- something she has not yet had to do in California.
Perhaps most exciting of all, she learned that vacuum cleaners are endless sources of fun.
Finally, she learned how to nearly break her two fully-grown and fairly competent parents through ceaseless wiggling on a 5.5 hour cross-country flight. Next time, we are definitely plying her with Benadryl.

Fiona's Christmas Crush

This might well be the last post on this blog for quite some time, since tomorrow we embark on the first leg of our trip across the country to spend Christmas with Fiona's grandparents in Northern Virginia. So, I'll try to make it worth your while!

Today we attended a Christmas party/carol sing at the home of our friends Steve and Emily. All of us had a wonderful, festive time. Particularly amusing were the interactions between Fiona and the son of our hosts, Luther. Luther is about 2 months younger than Fiona, and they have met quite a few times before. But at this age, every meeting is like the first time.

So Luther and Fiona were re-introduced.
Luther attempted to express him warm feelings towards Fiona, who sadly did not seem inclined to return his affection.

It was only once Fiona realized that Luther shared her passion for chair-banging and yelling that the relationship seemed to gain some footing.

The two continued to bond over an attempt to steal a pack of apple juice right from under our noses.

Ain't love grand?

Fiona and both of her parents wish you a joyful Christmas!

Fiona's First Christmas Party

This past Saturday, we attended a Christmas shindig at the home of our friends Willis and Lauren (you might remember that they visited us this Fall with their children Carter and Aspen). Fiona had the time of her life. Willis and Lauren live in a large house in San Ramon filled with various toys, which afforded Fiona plenty of room for running around in endless circles.

One of the highlights of the event was a Secret Santa gift exchange. Fiona had a large package....

which turned out to be a large stuffed giraffe!

Perfect for a little girl to ride on.

At the end of the evening, we gathered all the children together for a photo shoot. Fiona, the youngest child there, was given over to the custody of a couple of "big girls." All seemed fine at first....
...but the big girls couldn't hold Fiona back.
In the end she was standing in front of the whole group, awash in a sea a flashbulbs, very pleased with all the attention "she" was getting.