Saturday, May 16, 2009

Too many pictures, not enough themes

The fact is we have hundreds of pictures of Finn, and not all of them fit nicely into an event or theme…  So we’ll just lump them all together here!

Grandpa Dub got a new phone that snaps some darn nice pictures.  Here are a few he shared with us about a month ago…

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Here’s little Finn in his Easter outfit, compliments of GiGi.

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Cool guy with Cousin Cody…IMG_3046 IMG_3047 my street cred would improve if i could ditch the puppy bib

Here we are with Abby Mellon and Finn’s friend Jack.  Please excuse the scraggly look of the moms – we got caught on the wrong side of the lake in a serious downpour.  Also, I noticed I look a little pregnant in this picture – I am not, I just have to arch my back to stabilize my 19lb kiddo.

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One afternoon BW put Finn on the back deck in Mission Control.  Ollie and Mr. Kitty were also out there, which made Finn very happy…

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And last but not least, a little action shot from the day… (shot by Brian from the kitchen)

Our First Mother’s Day

The boys really treated me right for my first Mother’s Day.  The day started early with a meal at our place for Brian’s Mom Louise, who was lucky enough to see both her grandkids on Mother’s Day despite Rylie living in Colorado!

Mom Walker was kind enough to snap a family pic of us, something that doesn’t happen very often. 

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After that, we laid low until Karissa came by and the two new moms headed to the WAC for some quiet, relaxing massages while the boys and kids stayed back to prepare a delicious Mother’s Day feast.  Massages were capped off with a snack of cheese and martinis and a little bit of shopping before we headed back, where the boys were cooking up a storm and the kids were enjoying each other’s company…

 IMG_3105mind if i touch your kitty? 

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 nah. these kids aren’t used to having their pictures taken.

IMG_3109nat corralling all the monkeys. 

We had a delicious pot roast dinner with great company, just reveling in the fact that our two families have been brought even closer by the arrival of our children, born only a week apart. 

It is hard to believe that just five months ago this was me and my little boy…  I am so very very blessed.

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A little bit of ketchup and a bunch of “Firsts”

We know it has been far too long between posts.  So buckle up – we’ve got a lot of ground to cover… 

Finn is now closing in on 7 months old.  The last couple of months have brought us a lot of “firsts” – here are a few…

1)  Finn, meet your long lost brothers…

In addition to taking Finn’s beautiful birth-day photos, Jodi Rosen and her boys have also played the role of backup babysitter a couple of times.  In fact, back in mid-March they were the first people outside of family to babysit our little stinker.  We learned that not only are they GREAT sitters, there are also some distinct advantages to having your sitter also be a professional photographer.

IssacFinnEliare we related?? 

HappyFinnWithRosenshehehe.  you’re funny.

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 IssacFeedsFinn the boys practicing to be great dads someday

 

2)   Finny Hang-There

When we were kids, most of us had a Johnny Jump-up.  They still have them now, but they are called “Jumperoos” and “Jump Jumps.”  The concept is the same… Put baby in, and baby jumps.

Brian found an old school version at a garbage garage sale and couldn’t wait to see what Finn did with this new jumping arrangement.  The result was less than he had dreamed, I think.   Finn pretty much just hung there, merely putting up with his over eager parents until it was time to get out and do something else.

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are we done with this little experiment yet?

 

Finny Hang-There

As a side note, we did get a Jumperoo to keep at Grandma Dub’s place for entertainment, and although he loves all the goodies, the jumping part of the program hasn’t quite caught on with Finn as much as it has with his friend Alexis.

3)  The Fun Seat (aka Mission Control)

Realizing that the Finny Hang-There wasn’t going to keep him occupied for long, and that he needed something he could stand up to play in vs. laying down all the time, we recovered our Baby Einstein Exersaucer from my parent’s house and watched as a whole new vertical world opened up for the Finn-man.

The first time was a little overwhelming – so much to see!  The sun seemed to especially perplex and enthrall him. 

 

Once he got the hang of it, he got pretty excited about his time in the Fun Seat.  In fact, it became his stage for his own Dance Dance Revolution competition.

You’ll see more Mission Control in some future posts, we promise.

4)  Solid Food, Here I Come

One of the other major milestones we’ve hit since we last visited with you is that Finn now has some sort of cereal + vegetable/fruit appetizer twice a day before bottles.  We’ve hit a few snags lately with him being sick pretty much nonstop for three weeks, but we captured the first few attempts. 

The first video was from the first time he’d ever had rice cereal.  For those of you who aren’t parents, it looks like boxed mashed potatoes that you add water, formula, or milk to and that smells a little bit like dirt.  According to Finn’s face, I’d say it probably tastes a bit like dirt as well.  This one was too long, and is mostly us commenting on his obvious faces anyway, so we didn’t include it (plus youtube was giving me grief). 

The following weekend we visited the farm where Brian and I had a slightly tardy 4-year Anniversary date that involved steak tartare and Wicked (both delicious!).  Here we added some yummy sweet potatoes to the mixture, which seemed to make it a little more palatable.  

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 why would they put rubber on the spoon if I’m not supposed to chew on it?

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That weekend also delivered a couple other really adorable pictures of my dad (Papa) and Finn.  The boys stayed home while mom and I bought out the Carter’s Outlet.  Looks like Papa and Finn bonded over some very serious sports talk.

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Later on, back at home, we decided to upgrade from the Bumbo to a high chair for feedings.  Here is a “very excited” Finn in his new seat.

 

5)  File under:  Never. Doing. This. Again.

Finn and I decided to take a solo trek down to Huntington Beach, CA to visit my friend Poppy and her daughter Bella.  The trip itself was fun but easily the most exhausting thing I’ve done  in a very long time.  We learned some things that I think are important to note before sharing pics from the trip:

a.  Finn can miss his afternoon nap, but skipping the AM nap is asking for trouble.

b.  Flying solo with a baby is not all that hard, until you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the flight and have no one to hand the kid off to.

c.  Solo parenting trips aren’t bad, they just aren’t as fun as having another set of hands to help.  They also aren’t one bit relaxing, no matter where you are headed.

d.  If one is going to go on a solo trip, make sure you are going to visit people who will take the baby off your hands once you get there (i.e. grandparents) – otherwise you’re just a single parent without any of your own tools.

e.  bring an extra change of clothes and lots and lots of wipes because a blow-out in these circumstances is almost guaranteed.

That said, we had a fun visit and both kids seemed really enthralled with each other.  It was great to see Poppy & Lindsey too!

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making faces on the couch. 

we had to throw away the monkey shirt in John Wayne Airport (see reason “e” above)

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IMG_3049 IMG_3048 girls night out.  i have never needed a martini so badly in my life.