Walking!!!

The day has finally come that Finley is walking.  She got a little bit of a late start but when she decided that she was going to walk, she stood up and walked, and walked, and walked.  In honor of her finally walking I have been playing dress up with her with all of the dresses in her closet.  Little girls look so cute when they toddle around in their too long or too big dresses and tights.

We are packing up today for our Thanksgiving journey to Park City.   It is hard to imagine that just one year ago we had a tiny baby, we lived in NYC and it was raining so hard on the two hour trip to the airport that we missed our flight.  Tomorrow morning we will wake up, feed Finley some cheerios and wear our summer time clothes and drive ourselves to the airport.  Oh what a difference a year makes!

Finley is getting really good with her sounds and associating them with objects.  She knows Dada and Mama which is precious.  She is also quite good at parroting any sound that I give her.  Today we worked on the M sound and the G sound.  She is going to see a few special people on Wednesday and we want to make sure she knows their names.  She is so cute with Pa-Pa, it might be my favorite thing that she says.  We are working on Gigi for her Grandma Gail and M for Maggie.  She is also going to see her Grandma Jane and she is especially talented at saying NaNa.

Finley loves making friends wherever she goes.  I told Todd that she is going to LOVE the airplane tomorrow as there will be so many people to look at her smile.  She will also get to wave hello and goodbye to everyone that she sees.  She is also going to love eating her first Thanksgiving meal.  I anticipate that stuffing will be her favorite and if she is good we may have to give her a taste of pumpkin pie.

I am so MAD but isn't my dress cute?

Look at me walk!

All Done.  She is getting really good with her sign language.

Honey Badger

For those of you who have not seen the honey badger video on youtube, it is a funny narration of an African animal who doesn’t care.  Todd and I have started calling Finley the honey badger because nothing phases the kid.  She throws her food so I take it away, she doesn’t care…I took her to the doctor and he said her throat is really sore has she been eating and drinking…yup, honey badger doesn’t care.  So yes, we endearingly refer to our 13 month old daughter in the same tune as an African possum who eats rattle snakes.

Poor Finley spent most of her first month being one sick.  It all started with her one year old vaccinations and the flu shot.  From the flu shot she ran 104 degree fever and her body covered in fever sores.  Following the fever she developed bronchitis, which turned into an ear infection.  When I went to check on the ear infection that is when she had the virus which caused the sore throat.  She rounded out all of her sickness with a brand new molar (bottom right, just in case I want to remember).  Having a sick baby was just awful.  I would sleep with her every night on my chest, our doctor told us that crying would really hurt her ears so we needed to do whatever we could to keep her comfortable for the 8 days of her infection.  I would be up with Finley all night and then go to sleep at 8 in the morning when I put her down for a nap.  We were on this schedule for what seemed like forever. 

On a fun note Finley is taking a few steps here and there.  Her preferred mode of transportation is still on all fours but she is capable of taking up to ten steps at a time.  She stood up in music on Halloween and walked across the room, I was in shock.  We had a really fun first Halloween in our new house.  Finley dressed as a ladybug and had so much fun in her costume.  Finley fills her days pointing at things and hugging her dolls.  She is also making lots of sounds and enjoys hearing herself.  Yesterday she talked like a pirate with a real low back of the throat voice – “Aye”.  Finley also loves her Daddy and has started to get upset when he leaves the room. 

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is this month.  It is hard to believe it has been a year since we missed our flight to Utah and spent the night in an airport hotel with a tiny baby that had to sleep in her car seat.  

LadyBug!

Costume day in music class

Trick or Treat

My Daddy is the BEST

Mommy wanted to get in on the fun

Look at me go!!!!

I am a super fast crawler 

Finley is One

We made it, Finley turned one, and we are all still alive and kicking!  The entire month of September has been very special for our family. On September 15^th we baptized Finley at St. Martins Episcopal Church.  Finley’s baptism was beautiful and we felt so blessed to have so many friends and family honor her special day.  Finley’s Godparents are people whom Todd and I have a deep respect for their religious, ethical and personal values.  We know that Finley will be in good hands as they watch over her and guide her in life.  We combined the celebration of her baptism with a little birthday party at our house.  I couldn’t wait for her to have her first taste of cake, Finley proved to be very cautious and dainty with her cake.  I wish I could say the same for the spaghetti and meatballs that she had for her birthday dinner!

Finley spends her days telling stories, some of which are reallllly grand with lots of inflection and drama.  She also enjoys trips to the park to swing and did I mention that she loves to go get coffee with me in the morning!  We were at the park last week and a Spanish speaking nanny was asking a little girl if she wanted “mas”  Finley looked right at the nanny and did her sign for “more”, all those months of sign language are finally paying off.

Finley spent her birthday morning having pancakes with her friend Isabelle.  It was really fun to have a little girls breakfast, I hope that we can make pancake breakfast an annual birthday tradition.

Our biggest challenge these days is throwing food.  She just loves to drop her food right off her tray and then peer over to make sure that it hit the floor.  This really makes me want to spend hours making food for her!  That being said her favorite foods at the moment are spaghetti and meatballs and blueberries.  It is amazing to me what she will eat, I keep waiting for the, ‘I only want grilled cheese phase’, I am sure it is right around the corner.  We are still anxiously awaiting her first steps, I can't wait for her to wear all of those cute little dresses in her closet.    

Editors note (for some reason I can't control the order that the photos show up...sorry)

Happy First Birthday Finley

I like to Party

This is my very special Baptism at St. Martins Church

This is my Godfather Marwan.  He is so special to me.

My Mom says living with me is like living with a wild animal

This is my Godmother Jenny.  She is a wonderful role model for me and I love her very much.

Go ahead...take my tray away, I don't care...

Almost One

We almost have a one year old!  I will be so happy when I can just say, “she is one”, rather than try to figure out if I am rounding up or down to the half month or full month when someone asks her age.   We don’t have any extravagant plans for Finley’s birthday,  I think we will just go out for Mexican food.  This will be the first year that we get to celebrate both Todd and Finley’s special day together.

Finley is constantly on the move getting into everything but her toys.  She has become obsessed with the Iphone.  She can spot one from a mile away and do whatever it takes to get her hands on it.   She has also started standing on her own, she can get up from a seated position and stand for a few seconds and then she will seat herself back down.  Walking is right around the corner.  Finley is getting better and better at eating.  She loves spaghetti and meatballs and goldfish crackers (just like her daddy).

The past few weeks have been filled with lots of travel.  Finley is great to travel with; she enjoys airports as there are so many people to smile at.  Todd was pushing her in her stroller and noticed as we walked everyone was smiling – she was putting on a show in her stroller.  Getting to the destination is the easy part, when we arrived she got so excited that she didn’t want to sleep – at all.  Our first trip was to Park City so Todd could play in a golf tournament.  Park City was fun because it was a trip filled with family.  Finley got to spend a week with both her Grandmas and her Papa. She also got to play with her cousins Andrew and Piper.  Our next trip was to NYC and to East Hampton.  It was so much fun to take Finley to the beach, she loved eating the sand, lots of it!  Finley got to play with the dog named Finley which was lots of fun.  When Finley sees a dog she gets physically excited and her whole body shakes with glee.  On our way back to the airport we rode the Hampton Ambassador bus, there were about five people on our bus one of which was Hoda!  She was so friendly and looked right at Finley and said now that is a cute baby!!!

This past week we have been playing with the twins.  Oh the big girls are SO much fun.  Finley loved going to the museum, swimming and out for lunch with her girlfriends. I also got a chance to hang out with my girlfriends as Allison and Nicole both came over for a sleepover.  Five baby girls later we still know how to have a good time, even if it was a Sunday night!

Watching my Daddy play golf

Piper is teaching me how to swing

Just hanging with my Daddy

I got this exersaucer for Christmas and it is still fun 

Me and my Grandma Jane

This dog is named Finley too!

What is this stuff - I wonder how it will taste

This is my family

Ten Months – Gecko Eating

In the past month Finley has started babbling and getting into pretty much everything.  When she started to learn how to crawl I had a really hard time keeping up with her because all that she wanted to do was to practice crawling and I would have to chase her from room to room.  I didn’t know how I was going to function for the coming months.  Well, now she has learned how to pull up so she pretty much stays put in one room and goes up and down and up and down.  Our days continue to be very scheduled, both Finley and I function very well on a regular schedule.  She wakes up has her bottle, then we walk to the coffee shop so I can have my milk!  When we get home we empty the dishwasher, this activity will keep her busy for about a half an hour. 

Last week Allison and I were talking about caring for little people and she described her day in segments:  before the morning nap segment, between morning and afternoon nap segment, and after afternoon nap segment.  Allison likes to go to the gym and take her girls because it takes up an entire segment.  On Mondays Finley goes to music, which she absolutely loves, but it also takes up segment 2 of our Monday!

Finley has FIVE teeth now.  She has three bottom teeth and two top ones, however, not the middle ones like a bunny, she is a full on vampire!  She has started to figure out that she can chew with her gums, so when she puts food in her mouth she makes very dramatic chews.  Yesterday, she finally figured out how to use her sippy cup.  I think the fact that it was filled with delicious white grape juice may have helped.

Last week I received a call from Favi, Finleys babysitter letting me know that Finley had caught a gecko and managed to put the entire thing in her mouth, alive and moving!  I called the doctor and in all the years they had never heard of a child crafty enough to eat a reptile.

We are heading to Utah this afternoon.  We have not flown with Finley since March so it will be an interesting trip.  She is a very happy content child so I am sure it will just be one fun adventure for her and an opportunity to smile at a lot of strangers.

I love my music set

I celebrated ten months with Isabelle

I love to swim

Leggo my Eggo

My favorite time of day

Happy Ten Month Birthday Blue Eyed Baby Girl

Da-da-da-da

I am 9 Months Old Today!

This isn't the best picture of my outfit, but its pretty much my business casual look

On my 9 month birthday I had coffee with Isabelle - Mommy said she is my best friend and we have known each other our WHOLE lives

Here I am meeting my Aunt CC - Uncle Carl came too, I met them at the airport

July 9^th Finley said her first word….da-da.  Da-da-da-da-da.  Yes, it probably just is a sound because she doesn’t know what she is saying, but it sure is fun to hear her talk!  So I am going to say Da-da is her first word. 

We have been in our house for a little over a month and Finley has been so lucky to have her Gigi, her Grandpa Ron and her Grandma Jane all visit.  Finley might just be the most loved little girl that I know.   Finley loves to spend time with her grandparents she charms them with her smiles and constant giggles. 

This past weekend Finley had her first swim lesson with Miss Ellie.  The swim lesson was on a Saturday so she could swim with her Daddy.   Finley loves the water and did great with her lesson.  We had to dunk her under the water and also had to pass her back and forth between Miss Ellie, Mommy and Daddy with her lips under the water.  Finley did not mind being dunked under water; she is such a brave little girl! The first bath that she took after swim lessons she put her mouth right in the water to blow bubbles.  I think that she is going to love swimming.

Finley has mastered crawling and proves to be very fast.  They say the little ones are the fast ones!  We had to have gates installed on our stairs to prevent exploration up and down the stairs, as you might imagine, stairs are very very interesting.  She has also learned how to open and shut doors and boy is that fun.  Open, close, open, close, the shower door and her closet door are her two favorites.

Finley is eating all sorts of new foods which is a lot of fun for her Mom and Dad.  We offer her a little bit of whatever we are eating.  Yesterday she had goat cheese bruschetta she loves tomatoes!  She also loves yogurt and these tiny little cereal bars, they are so cute my heart skips a beat every time I open the itty bitty package.  Puffs however are her favorite, I think that if it were up to her she would exist on puffs alone.  We have been working on drinking out of a straw and a sippy cup, practice is going to make perfect on those two tasks. 

The highlight of Finley’s week is her music class.  She loves to make music with Miss Lizzy.  Finley is very independent in class and will craw and explore without any fear at all.  She also loves to play with other children.  She likes big kids and little kids all the same.  She has a favorite friend Liam in music class, Liam is very handsome and Finley goes straight for him every time she spots him.  This past week Grandma Jane took Finley to music.  Miss Lizzy was performing with a scarf and when she was done Finley clapped with delight.  Oh yes, clapping is also a favorite activity. She has discovered that if she claps just right she can make a really loud sound with her hands.

She is cutting her third tooth on the bottom, no top teeth just yet.  She is very proud of her teeth and will be happy to show them to anyone who cares to give her a smile. 

It has been a rainy week in Houston, Daddy is in NYC, so Grandma Jane, Finley and spent the afternoon at the Childrens Museum.  We capped off our visit with a little Chic-fil-A.  Finley loved her first chicken nugget dipped in BBQ sauce – yum!

Here I am in my new back yard

I went to Eleanor's 3rd Birthday Party in Austin (Mommy said it was probably my first and last road trip)

I don't know if my Mommy mentioned in my blog but I get into everything

My favorite part of making pie is doing the dishes after

Home Sweet Home

The big news is that we have finally moved into our new home.  It feels so nice to know that this is where we plan to live for the next twenty years.  Thinking back over the past eight months, we have really put Finley through some challenging times, all of which she handled like a champion.  I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to put her to bed in her very own room in an actual bed.  Welcome home baby girl – I hope that we have found a wonderful place for you to grow big and strong.

Now that we have a home I am the schedule queen. Finley takes two naps a day, one at 9AM and one at 1PM.  This makes for spending a lot of time at home, but I don’t mind; the best part is that she goes to bed at 6PM.  Now that we have a home, after Finley goes to bed Todd and I have the opportunity to make dinner and to have some quiet time.  I feel like we have a really nice schedule and routine. 

Finley loves music.  She loves to listen to the radio, Todd tells me her favorite song is Postcard from Paris (how cute is that).  Last week we started a music class with other infants.  Her Gigi came to visit and took her to her first class, which was a smashing success.  Just today she started to clap, something that she learned in music class.  Finley’s other new trick is pulling up and standing up.  She can hold herself up for extended periods of time and has found the first step of the staircase in our house to be very fascinating.  Stair gates are on order!

Every day I fall a little more in love with our redhead.  However, I am starting to realize that she is a true redhead.  We had a friend over for a playdate and she was keen to pull hair and steal toys from a non-crawling friend.  Do redheads get into more trouble??…stay tuned I am sure we will find out!

Play date with Kendall - I am explaining to her how I am bigger and I will take her stuff

My Mommy and Daddy went to St. Barths and I all got was this lousy hat

Here I am at Church with my Gigi and my Daddy

Look at me, I am a big kid - I need a high chair

 

May - Crawling

Finley has been working so hard to crawl.  It started with lying on her belly and flailing her arms and legs with her back arched.  Next she figured out how to get up on all fours and rock back and forth.  After that while up on all fours she would balance on one arm.  Today she put it all together, pushed one leg forward pulled with the opposite arm, pushed the next leg forward and pulled with the opposite arm, a full on crawl.  I screeched with excitement.  I have been watching her try to figure this out for the past month or so, every day, for hours she would work on the process.  While I watched with curiosity I wanted to know how she would pull it all together. I was so proud and so happy for her at the same time.  Now wish me luck as in the next week I am going to have a fully mobile infant about the house.  I am heading to Portland this weekend to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon, it will be a great weekend filled with friends and family.  Todd and Finley will be staying home together for their first of many “daddy daughter weekends”.

This past weekend Finley had a chance to finally meet the matching babies, Milena and Francesca.  The three of them had a great time playing.  The twins were happy to show Finley how to hug and to kiss.  I wish we lived closer so that they could spend more time getting to know each other.

Finley and I took our second road trip to Bourne Texas to spend the weekend with the Raborn Family.  We had a wonderful time.  Finley had the opportunity to dine at their club; she was very proud and on her best behavior.  Finley has developed a flavor for the finer things in life J  Jonell and Aunt Charlie watched Finley and took her swimming while Price and I were able to relax pool side.  It was really a special weekend.

Finley has started doing a few darling things in the past few weeks, one of which is reaching for me.  I don’t know why I find this so endearing but it melts my heart every time she throws out her arms and says – pick me up!  She has also become very interested in tags.  She will find the tag on any object, a blanket, a stuffed animal, and even a burp cloth and spend a lot of quality time touching it and putting it in her mouth.

I almost forgot – we also celebrated my first Mothers Day.  It was a wonderful day, Todd took us out to a delicious brunch at the Backstreet Café and then I took a 2 hour nap.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more!

We move into our new home next Tuesday.  It will be a very special week.  I can’t wait for Finley to have a proper room to sleep in and a special place to call home for the next 18 years.

Watch out everyone, I am almost mobile

Just a day in the life of being me

Cool Shades Chica

Swimming with Jonell

Beautiful Hill Country

Looking for tags