Puppy Love

As most of you know, our first child was really Oliver, our 2-and-a-half year old West Highland White Terrier (Westie).  While he has adjusted as well as can be expected with the arrival of Finn, (moreso since Finn started eating food he “drops” that Ollie can help clean up) he definitely works to insert himself into photos and Finn-centric situations whenever possible.  Most of these were shot after the M’s game on Father’s Day, but you can be sure that most pictures since Finn’s birth have been a veritable “Where’s Waldo” of Ollie putting himself somewhere in the photo frame.

Lexi’s parents don’t have pets, so they were pleased to see that she doesn’t seemed phased by getting a Westie Wet Willie.

  is that a hint of sweet potato i am getting back here?  delicious.

And in case you wanted live action:

Luckily, Ollie is pretty much Finn’s #1 favorite thing, so he doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight.

  

And earlier this week, in an impromptu photo shoot in the yard…

reclaiming his rightful place, front-and-center.

BW’s B-Day and First Father’s Day

Brian had a big couple of weeks – his 37th birthday & his first Father’s Day.  He was out of town on his fishing trip for his “actual” birthday, so we had a mini-family celebration the day before.  We first took Ollie to Bellevue Park, which has a couple of hours of unofficial off leash time in the early evenings.  Finn loved watching the dogs play and sitting in the sun.

 Then we were off to the Cheesecake Factory, which we picked for a couple of reasons – 1) we had a gift certificate and 2) we figured it would be loud enough for Finn to verbally express himself without disturbing the entire world.

i hear the menu here is absolutely delicious.

The weekend after Memorial Day, Brian’s mom cooked up a birthday feast, and Ollie enjoyed a little bit of birthday limelite.

Brian was actually holding Ollie because the backyard isn’t fenced in, and he had seen a squirrel and really wanted to go chase him.

A week or so later we pulled out all the stops to create a few more “first” memories for Brian’s First Father’s Day.  Brian has recently really gotten into running, training for a half-marathon.  Sunday was one of his shorter training runs, so he decided to take Finn along. 

Afterwards, we met up with the Taylors to take the men out to an afternoon Mariners game – Finn’s first!  The event was fun for everyone, but I know it was especially great for the guys, who took their parental roles very seriously by bearing the Baby Bjorn carriers  for the day.

thanks to our friend Gregg (father of Max)

for helping us get kick-butt seats!

 

    finn and lexie getting up close and personal

(we had to edit out the picture that followed this one)

he got lots of compliments on his Dino hat – Thanks Crows! 

my two favorite faces.

Memorial Day at the Farm & Fun at the Park

Brian has spent the last few Memorial Day weekends fishing with a bunch of friends in Northeastern WA, so Finn and I decided to go spend the long weekend at my parent’s place in Oregon.

While there, Finn got his first taste of a booster seat (vs. a high chair), which he loved for two reasons:  1)  he could sit up straight and tall and 2) this particular booster seat came with all sorts of action on a removable tray – all his favorite rainforest friends that matched his infant seat in fact…

wheee!  eating is fun!

This was also the trip where he was introduced to what our friend Brian Medlock aptly coined “Baby Crack”… Cheerios.   At first, he had a hard time getting the O’s from tray to mouth, but just a week or so later he was an old pro.  Now, two months later, he can grab multiple Cheerios in his left hand then dispense them one-at-a-time like a PEZ dispenser into his mouth.

This was also his first bath without a baby tub.  He was still a little shaky at sitting up, so we improvised with the Bumbo.  As you can see from his expression, Finn approved of this activity…  He absolutely loves baths and in fact protests loudly when it’s time to get out.

The following week, Finn spent one of the week days (as is a fairly regular tradition) in the loving care of Grandma & Grandpa Dub.  They took him on his first park visit and swing experience.  Being a pretty typical boy at this point, Finn likes anything fast, high and new, so of course he greatly enjoyed this particular experience.

look ma!  no hands!

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…

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

Cool guy with Cousin Cody… 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.

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…

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