Hello Hands - Twelve Weeks

Chunky Monkey

This week Finley has discovered that she has hands.  She has no idea what to do with them or how to control them, but occasionally she will pull them together and get them into her mouth…delicious!

Finley turned twelve weeks on Sunday and somehow things in our family are just starting to click.  On the night of her birthday she slept from 9pm until 5am.  Todd and I are also starting to understand her language; we can decipher a hungry cry from a tired cry from an attention getting fuss.  It is very comforting to finally understand what she wants and how to provide for her needs.  A few days ago I looked at Todd and said, “We sure have come a long way from the night she pooped all over the walls of her nursery!”

I would say so far three months is a great age for a baby.  I love that Finley will smile and talk to us, especially first thing in the morning.  She is also getting much easier to schedule, so I get a little time to myself to blog and visit with my friends.  My favorite part of her is that when I put her down somewhere I know she will be exactly where I left her when I come back.  I am trying to cherish my stationary baby, as she will be mobile before I know it.  She also still loves to cuddle and sleep in our arms.

This week we put up our first family Christmas tree.  We had a visit from Gigi and Papa who stopped by on their way to Denver to see Jenny, Madeline and Ally.  We also had a visit from our cousin Cami who couldn’t keep her hands off of Finley!! Christmas is only a few days away; Todd and I can’t wait to celebrate with our darling little girl.  The holidays will always be more special with her around.

Hanging out in my Bumbo

My Beaver onesie - Thanks Uncle Jeff

Going for a walk in my Baby Bjorn

Party in my crib

Finley is a great baby, however, she is notoriously hard to put to bed.  I think she gets the late night party syndrome from her father, as I like to be in bed by 9pm every night.  For the first four weeks of Finleys life we had Miss Margaret our night nurse to help with bedtime.  Margaret had our little girl on a strict bedtime of 6pm – lights out – no excuses.  I swear, the day Margaret left Finley found her lungs and started what is known as the witching hour.  Many babies have this, it is where they are extremely fussy from 6pm until 10pm or later.  Both Todd and I were wondering what it was that Margaret did to put Finley to bed, as all that she did for us was scream.  Luckily we had a doctors appointment very soon after Margaret’s departure.  Our wonderful pediatrician suggested that we do whatever it takes to put the baby to bed, in our case that meant keeping her in the living room with us and letting her sleep in her nap nanny.  For those of you who don’t know a nap nanny is a baby lounge chair that looks extremely comfortable to me!  Our doctor told us that we could do whatever it takes to put her to sleep but at 12 weeks we need to start developing a proper bedtime routine.  This week we have started bedtime and Finley is sleeping in a crib without too much fuss.  Some nights she will sleep as much as 7 hours and others she will wake every 3 hours, but I feel like we are on the right track, hopefully in another month or two she will be in bed by 6pm, just like Miss Margaret would like.

On a more fun note we are blessed to be spending December in Park City.  The weather here is beautiful, I love the  mountain chill, the crisp blue sky and warm sun.  Todd is wonderful with Finley, he plays with her constantly and works with her on her motor skills like tummy time and grabbing for toys.  Todd took a trip to Houston this week for two days, I always knew that I appreciated his help and company, but after 48 hours of being alone with Finley, I can’t tell you how anxious I was for his return.  I have endless respect for single mothers who spend hours and days on end with their children with no help – they are amazing people.

I plan to spend the week cooking and exercising.  Finley will be working on her kicks, giggles and blowing bubbles and drooling.  Some pictures from Thanksgiving...

Finley and GiGi

Who weighs more - Finley or the Turkey?  

Kicks - 9 Weeks

Finley has started kicking and man does she love to kick.  She kicks all day long.  She is also fills her days cooing and smiling.  I don’t have anything to compare her to but I think she is a pretty happy baby.  I have started playing a game with her where I will stick out my tongue and she will copy me.  This is definitely something that is only fun for the two of us – I have to refrain from calling my friends without children and saying “guess what I have been doing this afternoon…..”

We also tried out our bumbo chair this week.  Finley has started to love to sit upright and take in the world.  I think we are going to be spending a lot of time in our bumbo chair.

I love my bumbo

On Friday Finley had her eight week shots, it was really hard for me to hear her cry a real cry.  Up until now she just cries when she is hungry, so hearing her cry from pain was really awful. Todd held her through her shots and when they were finished he offered her a bottle.  She was really fussy when we got home but Tylenol made her feel so much better.

Im starting to look like a little girl

Turkey Time

My Thanksgiving Dress - Aren't my tights cute?

Our first trip to the airport with Finley turned out to be quite an adventure.  We left early for JFK which was about 3 hours prior to our flight, however, due to holiday traffic and rain we missed the cut off to check our bags by ten minutes.  A very helpful Delta employee was able to put us on the first flight in the morning, which meant that our little family was off to the Sheraton Airport Hotel.  Finley had a lot of firsts all at once - her first trip to the airport, her first missed flight, her first taxi ride and her first hotel all in one night.  I have to say that she is VERY easy to travel with.  She slept the entire flight to Utah and the car ride up to Park City.  When we arrived in Park City we were greeted by grandparents, cousins and an aunt.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious.  Susan Brewer held Finley all through dinner so I was able to enjoy an uninterrupted meal - a first for me in a very long time.

Our trip home was less dramatic however, if you think security lines and taking your shoes off at the airport are annoying, you should attempt to change a dirty diaper in an airplane bathroom!   Ahh do I miss the long flight with a bottle of $7 wine and a relaxing movie on my ipad.  We did have a special visit from cousins Tim, April and Beckett - so that was worth the whole trip home!

My Snap and Go - An airport must have

Ready for Takeoff

When we returned home from Utah we had a visit from Cousin Beckett

Finley is eight weeks old today.  I can’t describe the past two months as anything else but life changing.  My inspiration to blog a virtual baby book for Finley comes from two of my friends in Portland, Allison and Heather.  Both women write blogs that I follow.  I followed them through their pregnancies, the births of their children, and now I anxiously await a weekly update from both of them.  Being far from friends and family is difficult, but it is especially difficult when you have a child.  I have found blogs to be a special way to stay connected with my friends and to fall in love with their children from afar.

Finley can smile now.  This sign of affection started about two weeks ago with the occasional ‘I might be passing gas grin’ and has grown into a full on smile because ‘I think my mom and dad are either funny or ridiculous’.

Since I am starting this blog 9 months and eight weeks late we have a lot to catch up on….

Finley is a very loved little girl.  In her first two months of life she has had so many special visitors.  Most importantly, she had the opportunity to meet all of her Grandparents and her Uncle Jeff, who came all the way from Portland.

GiGi and Papa came to visit after their vacation in Spain.

Gramps and Uncle Jeff came the end of October

Grandma took time off of work and spent three weeks with us.  We had so much fun every day, we would walk the Westside Highway and then we would go to lunch!  It was so much fun to have my mom here and to see her love on Finley.  I hope that she will come back again very soon.

Finley and I have a pretty busy schedule.  On Mondays we go to our treehouse class.  Todd refers to this class as AA for moms – “Hi my name is Christina and I am a Mom”.  It is actually a great resource for me to meet neighborhood moms with children Finleys age, it is a lot of fun.  On Wednesday we go to strollercize which is an exercise class for me, with an instructor who goes around and makes sure all of the babies are sleeping soundly in their strollers.  We also have karma kids yoga and a few other activities that we will talk about soon.

This week will be our first airplane trip to Utah to meet Aunt Jenny and cousins Madeline and Ally.  We will be spending Thanksgiving with the Milligans, Finley will probably never be put down – it will be a good week!!!