Smiles and Food

Just a few random pictures taken this week. Finley LOVES to try to use his spoon on his own already. In fact he has chosen a spoon as a favorite toy now. On a different note, Nate comes home on Friday and will get to spend a few days at home before reporting again. He will then have the next two long weekends off and a day or two in between before he leaves for his MOB station near the end of February. We are very excited to have him home – even for the short time.

Baby Food Anyone?

First taste of Carrots!

Just look at that enthusiasm?

I haven't mentioned it yet in the blog but I started Finley on baby food last Monday. I think I was anxious on how it would go before I went ahead and cursed it by writing about it! Karma will get you!! Well, after a pretty good start, a rocky middle, and promising end; Finley's first week on baby was successful in my eyes. I chose carrots to start out- who doesn't like a carrot? FINLEY, that's who. Well, he didn't mind the first try (something new, Finley loves anything new to him). But the next few days of carrots were pretty pathetic. He even revolted against the rice cereal if it meant spoons of carrots in between. Little Stinker! Well, he warmed up to the carrots after a few days but then I started green beans and boy, what a difference? Who would have thought that mushy, pureed green beans in all their green glory would have been more appealing and tasty to a little boy than carrots? I mean, don't get me wrong. I love green beans but on comparison in baby food terms the carrots were much more appetizing!! Anyway, I guess that is neither here nor there. He is eating his green beans pretty happily and I introduced apples today. The apples are not getting the seal of approval from Finley yet but I think he will warm up to them. He did however go back to eating his rice cereal with vigor so that was good! There is so much advice out there in terms of how to start baby food and how to feed the baby but the best advice I have found is just go by "your" baby and judge how they are taking to things. I started very cautiously with carrots (5 days!!) but I decided that I think Finley can handle maybe 3-4 days on one or two foods at a time- a fruit and veggie. That is actually what the Dr. recommended if the baby showed good interest and skills in eating. Both of which Finley does. He pretty much freaks out if you eat anything in front of him because he wants it. So, here we go on our journey to solid food. Wish us luck!!

Saturday Shopping Trip with Babies

Today Finley and I met my friend Erin and her daughter Lauren at the mall for a day of shopping. Can I just say that shopping with two babies in tow isn't really shopping at all? I mean it's not the shopping I used to know. I think in the almost 4 hours we were at the mall we visited only 6 stores! We had more bottle and changing breaks than stores visited. And the stores we chose to visit? Their names included Baby Gap, Gymboree and The Children's Place, to name a few. Hmmm, apparently we enjoy shopping for our babies as much, if not more than for ourselves now? It's just another one of motherhood's wonderful privledges. To pick out adorable, colorful, tiny clothing for the perfect little models we have! We did take a bit to have lunch and that too is way different from lunchs of my past. Finley is now into grabbing at everything. He thinks any beverage of mine is a bottle and proceeds to steal it for himself, whether or not he has his own bottle at the time. It's also funny because 90% of the time sitting down at lunch is actually spent feeding the babies and the other 10% is actually spend feeding ourselves. We mom's will take an hour feeding our babies to satisfaction and about 5 minutes scarfing our sandwichs down so that the little one's don't get impatient!! You have to admire this or at least respect our unquestionable devotion to our children to act in this way! Overall shopping is not what it used to be but I wouldn't change a thing about it now. Though everything about being a MOM is hard work (yes, even shopping!) Motherhood has the best rewards ever.

Note to self... take the camera next time so you can get some pictures!! Even if it means people look at you like you are a tourist taking pictures at the mall!?

Walker Mania

I promised some pictures of Mr. Crazy boy in his walker so here they are.  He LOVES it!  If their were OSCARS for baby gear this one would have my nomination! My mother in law, Patti came up here last night and babysat Finley for a bit while I ran a few errands.  It was certainly nice to move quickly and efficiently running errands without having to take Finley in and out of the car in the cold.  Patti had fun with Finley who, despite having his roto-virus and HIB vaccines yesterday, was a happy, fun little boy. She got to see him in action in his walker. He prefers the kitchen as he can move better on the tile floor and the dogs will hang out in there with him.  He is right at their level making this whole thing much more appealing to him.  Let’s hope this keeps his attention for awhile!  I am loving being able to keep him entertained and still be able to do things while watching him (like post to my blog!!). 

A Day of History and Friends!!

Today was a fun day for me, I hope Finley enjoyed himself as well. I have been glued to the inauguration coverage for President Obama (that sounds fantastic!) all day. We have been following Barack since he announced his candidacy for president and I am so pleased with the result!! I was thinking to last winter when I was about 14 or 15 weeks pregnant with Finley and Obama came for a rally in Madison. We gathered with a few friends and braved the WI February snow, ice, cold and crowded downtown streets to go see Barack speak at the Kohl Center to a packed house. It will be very cool to talk with Finley someday about this promising new era for our country and the history made and how he actually was a part of it!!
Besides the exciting news coverage all day I also had a great day with friends. My BFF Leslie had a conference to attend here in Madison this morning and afterword she thought she'd stop over to see Finley and myself. She brought over lunch and it was nice to break up a regular day for a lunch visit and just catch up. Then this evening my friend Kelli (check out her blog!!) who recently moved to Mad-town came over for a casual dinner (her treat!) and to catch up. I haven't actually seen Kelli in what seems like forever but we picked up where we left off and had oodles to chat about since our lives have changed so much. I am very excited to have Kelli here in Madison now. She has a 9 month old niece so Finley couldn't do much to scare her off though I think he tried to compete with our conversation for a good part! She's baby proof!
Finley was quite the active little bug tonight and when getting his bath ready he did some very promising crawling techniques to get to the bathroom. He seems to be very motivated by the sound of the bath water. It won't be long now before we have to secure the fort!

Where am I, what day is it and where’s the baby?

Those are the words that float through my head every morning when I am woken up to Finley rustling around on the baby monitor.  It’s been 11 days of Finley and I and we are making it, though things could always be better with Nate here with me. I have just been on auto pilot mom mode since Nate left.  I having been trying desperately to find time to post to the blog day after day with no success. I am finding that time is my biggest challenge (the rest of my challenges are a whole other post). By the time I take care of Finley, the dogs, cats, house and other tasks I am about spent or it’s just too late and I have to catch my z’s or the next day will pose a new set of challenges.   Finley is not the type of baby who finds a lot of satisfaction playing by himself. He much prefer mommy entertain him 24/7.  If not mommy then the dogs and cats will do but you better be darn sure SOMEONE is in sight at all times.   On a whim I purchased a walker for him at Babies R Us this weekend. It’s actually turning out to be great. I haven’t gotten many pictures of him in it yet so that will be another post soon.  I really think it is going to help me accomplish more while keeping him happy and entertained.  I am happy that today is one more day down. I am happy that we get to see Nate in another short 11 or 12 days but sad that too shortly after that will be the real test of my courage, abilities and sanity!!  Here are just some pics of little Mr. Finley being himself this weekend. What a face? Really, he’s starting to make some very funny faces at me .

Cheeky fellow?

A little scary actually?

Pushing those arms up

Troubled dog

I don’t know how this newspaper got around me?

5-5-5 Challenge

Tara of http://familyrowell.blogspot.com/ challenged me as one of her 5-5-5 which is taking the 5th picture from your 5th file of pictures (on your hard drive) and writing about that. When I first read her post I was wondering what my 5th folder, 5th picture would be. You see we have a TON of pictures on our external hard drive and it could have been just about anything! I was kind of worried it would be something really stupid to be honest- like one of those shots where Nate decides to make a bug-eye face just to annoy me? (Nate-love you but you know you do). Well it wasn't- it was actually a picture of our kitchen in our house before we did anything to it. Actually we had already stripped the wallpaper in this photo. What a fun job that was. My mom and I worked on that for a few days. I will paint you a picture of what the wallpaper looked like- imagine shades of brown, greens and yellowish birdcages and vegetables wrapped in one theme? Fabulous I know. The kitchen was also decked out in green plastic Homart tile from the 50's. We had to gut the room due to this. The bathroom in our house had pink Homart tile too- that actually was our first renovation project. Well, we had help on our kitchen. My friends brother-in-law actually did the remodel for us. Well worth it!
Anyway, This leads me to tell a little about our house. It is a little ranch house in a quiet neighborhood of Madison. It was gem in the rough when we bought and the market was hot (in 2006) so we jumped at the chance and a lot of renovations after looking at probably 50 homes. We actually bought the house from the original owner. The house was circa 1954 but had potential. Since then we have updated and remodeled every nook and cranny besides the basement. I think all the renovations have been worth it because we made it our house and finished things to our liking and I am proud of our little first house. It sad to think that we are outgrowing it by leaps and bounds daily but it will always have a special place as our first owned home together and the house where we had Finley.

Our Kitchen before


Our Kitchen Today (Literally,this afternoon)



So now I challenge... hmmm. I don't have 5 friends that blog. There are a few of my friends whom have wanted to start a blog and haven't- you know who you are. Well, I challenge Kelli C as she just started blogging. And maybe some girls on Facebook would like to post theirs up there- We will say Leslie, Trish W, Erin P and Hilary...

Another quick note that I'd like to add. My neighbor brought over a lasagna tonight! How nice was that? You see we hired her husband to remove the snow from the driveway and front steps while Nate is away. There is no way Finley lets me have an hour to go use the snowblower so this was imperative. She just wanted to help me out since she knows Nate will be away. She understands having a 2 year old son herself. I am really feeling the neighborhood coziness today! Thanks neighbors!!

5 Months Today!

Finley is 5 months old today. Wow, I can’t believe how much he’s grown in just that short time.  I know I just did a little update on what he’s been up to but as of this week he is eating his cereal like a champ.  He eats the whole serving I make (it’s only a tablespoon!) but he now eats cereal two times a day.  Breakfast and dinner.  He is now taking 6oz bottles most of the time and takes one every three hours or so. There is no shortage of food for this kid.  I talked to Nate and we are thinking veggies might be on the menu next week? Other than that Finley is continuously making progress in the crawling department.  He reminds me of an inch worm sometimes?  He also is getting “chatty”.  I had called him “sound-effects Finley” when he was littler because he was very vocal even then but now his talking sounds more real (his own special mix of baby babble)  and he just keeps getting louder and louder.  It’s just wonderful to see him discover new things everyday and watch the learning progress of this little human made by us!!   Speaking of Nate. He is doing well in Florida. Though rainy, the weather is a lot nicer than the sub zero we have here. We get to chat daily- if brief but that’s good enough by me. Just to at least touch base everyday helps.  It was Nate’s idea from now on to get a picture of Finley in the glider every month to see his growth and changes.  Well, I can say I tried my best but Finley wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of sitting still in the chair.  It’s a lot tougher with one poser and photographer.  Well, it made for a few good laughs anyway. 

Attempt #1- This morning

Attempt #2- This Afternoon…notice the costume change? Finley goes through probably 3 changes of clothes daily for various reasons.

The pants and socks have now come off.  Does that help with sitting still?

 

Nope.

But eating your socks is always looks good in pictures- in case anyone needed any senior portrait ideas. Courtesy of Finley.

Oh and I am posting this now because Finley decided that 5 months old means you should stay up past 11pm and party like a rock star. Kids these days!

Just a Good Monday

Finley and I had a good Monday today.  We met my friend Jessica and her daughter, Bree, who is 9 weeks old at East Towne for a walk and lunch.  Okay, we also did some shopping!  With the incredibly crappy weather upon us the only good place to stroll around is the mall.  The great deals on things (like baby clothes!) did catch our attention to shop.  I must say lunch with two babies in a food court is also much less intimidating because if one of the babies was to melt down no one could hear it anyway. Finley enjoyed the time doing his favorite thing… being in the Bjorn walking around looking at new things.  He even tired himself out doing this and actually took a little nap in his stroller.  After Jessica and I ran through Ashley Furniture I did a few more errands until Finley couldn’t possible handle anymore and we headed home.  We are getting some snow at the moment…I think a few inches at least and then they are calling for Arctic temperatures for the rest of the week.  Basically below zero degrees and even colder wind chills.  I plan on staying in with Finley and doing some organizing and cleaning around the house the rest of the week.  We geared up at Super Target on Sunday to make sure we had all we needed to stay in for a few days- why go out in that cold if you don’t have too?  Especially with a baby!  All in all it was a good Monday, hopefully a smooth week is ahead. We miss Nate a lot but are trying to make the most of things and hanging out with good friends always helps!!

What Finley has been up to Lately

Kind of a lot has happened since New Years for Finley. Besides starting to eat his rice cereal he also graduated up to his highchair. Nate set it up for him before leaving and Finley does well in it. We had received one of the “space saver “highchairs that you strap to a regular chair and thus far I am very pleased with it. Finley is also doing well on his cereal- he gets it once a day right now. Sometimes twice is he seems like he's hungry for it. It is very cute that he will make chewing motion with his mouth now for no apparent reason. Finley is also sitting up better when placed in the position. He can brace himself up fairly well and when he rolls around on the ground he is getting closer to getting himself up into sitting. Also he is starting to pre-crawl. He wants to crawl very much and it you give him the right support/leverage on his feet he can make some progress. Right now he does not quite have the coordination down on his own but one thing is for sure – he is a SUPER STRONG little guy. He pushes himself into standing position every chance he gets. It’s his preferred way to be on your lap and play. Right now Finley’s main mode of getting to what he wants is rolling…. he’ll roll clear across the room to get to something. He can even change his direction by tweaking his roll ever-so-slightly. So smart and determined. It’s amazing how much babies change – in the blink of an eye really. I know Finley will be mobile in no time.

Pre-crawling… lookout Howie!!

Outranking Dad… a cute outfit the neighbors got Finley

Gotcha Cooper… Cooper’s really not that fazed.

Highchair boy

Sleeping thumb-sucker

Where Have the Last 9 Days Gone?

Well, I haven’t posted since New Years and it truly seems like it was just yesterday!  This last week was Nate’s last week home before he headed to sunny Florida for his first round of training, the same training that will ultimately take him to Iraq away from Finley and myself for a year.  We got to practice goodbye this time…and I can tell you that practice in this case does NOT make perfect. Goodbye still sucks.  Now we have conquered deployment before and came out on the better end of things.  I am a believer in absence makes the heart grow fonder, I think any military wife must have that thinking to survive and keep their sanity.  After all, deployment or not, as a Army wife I am very used to Nate being gone. Whether it’s for a few days or a few weeks it usually doesn’t phase me one bit (it’s just part of his job)  however when you know it’s going to be a YEAR its a whole new story.    

We try to limit the tears and negative for what it’s worth but believe me they still sneak their moment in the spotlight.  As we said goodbye today, well more like… see you in 3 weeks, wished ourselves both good luck  (me on a solo mission with Finley and Nate with a 20 hour bus ride with 80 of his closest Army friends to look forward to) we both knew that this is just the beginning.  It’s going to be a long year ahead but again I am certain that we will come out on the upside of things, better together.  

A few pictures snapped before Nate left today… we tried out our new tripod for the cameras.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009!  Nate and I can’t believe it’s here already.  Though we probably had the least festive, most boring New Year’s Eve in history, we still spent time together.  Finley was actually in bed by 8:30pm and I think I fell asleep in the living room at 9:30pm to be woken up by Nate at 11:00pm to go to bed.  We are officially old people with kids now!  Actually that is not true.  We have all been under the weather since Christmas… and Finley was still feeling kind of gross yesterday.  So let that be our excuse this year for forgoing the celebration.

Finley woke up better today and Nate and I decided, as we sort of planned if he was feeling better, to introduce him to rice cereal for the first time being that it’s a new start for the new year.  Nate fed him his first cereal meal and it was in our eyes a success! 

 

 

 

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Finley, Ella and myself on New Year’s Eve

 

 

 

 

Daddy’s got this feeding thing down!!