Author Archives: meghan

suggestions, please!

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We’ve been trying to teach Finley to use her spoon. A typical meal involves her dipping the spoon in the bowl a few times and bringing it to mouth. After a few bites, she starts to put her hands in the bowl and finger paint with the food on her tray. Then, she’ll tip over the bowl and pour out the contents. If I’m really lucky, she’ll run her hands through her hair.
Now, I know it’s supposed to take time. And I’m okay with the mess. I guess I just wanted to know if there’s any tips, tricks, or suggestions from parents who have been through this already. Is there some magical spoon that makes learning this skill easier?

Finley and “e-ya” having fun in the cart at Costco.

Having bath time fun with lo lo.

christmas

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We had such a delightful time celebrating Christmas with our families. However, for some reason I really slacked in the photo department. I managed to leave Brian’s dad’s without a single picture! So, if you will, just imagine us all sitting around the table with our plates piled high with the best curry EVER. Oh, and I wish I would have taken a picture of Finley and her cousin Gage playing in the bathtub with uncle Jeff.

I managed to get a few, although not great, pictures from Christmas at my parents. Our dinner plans for the day were canceled because of the snow, so we were able to stay in our jammies all day! Since Finley is too young to have any wants, and too spoiled to have any needs, we basically just wrapped some random stuff (prunes, oatmeal) so that she could have presents to open. Ok, that’s a lie. We gave her a potty which we justified buying because she is going to need it sometime in the next year, and a bird feeder. Don’t laugh. The bird feeder is a huge hit. We sit on our bench several times a day and watch the birds and squirrels eat the food. The squirrels do all sorts of gymnastic moves to dangle themselves at the feeder hole. Trust me, it’s exciting.

Finley is wearing her new tutu from Mimi. And that’s a blanket Mimi made for her (notice the strawberries)

Papa isn’t so thrilled that we’re training Finley to be a shopper. But it’s okay, she’s more into the box..
Taking a moment to praise the Lord.
Since Brian’s family is ginormous (and his mom is super selfless) we celebrate Christmas on a different day. This was the first year that all the kids and spouses have been there, and boy was it fun! I married into the best family!
Grandma made Finley and Maya matching jammies. You can’t see it, but Finley’s have a little kitty bobbly thing on them (since she loves kitties) and the cutest little ruffles at the bottom. And Gage…well, I guess he’s just being a boy.
Grandma and Finley playing upstairs.
Every year the boys exchange gifts from Value Village. Little do they know, Brian actually likes his shirt and wore it the next day.
Maya is such a good big cousin. Can you guys move back here already?

And here is a little Christmas gift from us to you..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8hxz_F-FFw&hl=en&fs=1]

our little entertainer

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Finley is the most hilarious person. Seriously, she has me laughing all day long. I’m fully aware that the following information is most likely only funny to me because a) i’m her mama, and b) i’m nearly delirious from cabin fever (on our 6th day stuck at home alone). Nonetheless, here are some snippets from the Finley show:

-her dancing. oh, her dancing! She stars as both the D.J. and the dancer. Her moves would definitely get her straight through to Las Vegas on SYTYCD. Check out the video below to see her new ballerina move.
-she burns lots of energy running laps around the upstairs while pushing random objects in the doll stroller. Some of my favorites have been her dirty socks, a string cheese wrapper, and the watering can.
-she has turned into quite the informant. if we leave out one of our glasses or mugs that she’s not allowed to touch she’ll point to it and say “uh oh”. If we leave the toilet seat up she says, “ewwww”. and don’t forget to shut the baby gate…she’ll walk by, say “oh dear”, and close it herself. today, she reached for the diaper champ, stopped mid air and said “ewwww”.
-fascination with urination. during her bath she stands up numerous times to pee and watch it come out. it’s sort of gross, because i had no idea she peed so much in the bath, but a little pee never hurt anyone, right?
-her new favorite book is the photo album of her. we’ve read a lot less books around here lately because all she wants to do is stare at pictures of herself. i can’t figure out why…but certain photos make her laugh (and her fake laugh is funny on it’s own), and she’ll give some photos a kiss. how vain!

-just call her Linus. the girl LOVES her blanket. the other day i already had her blanket loaded in the car (we have two) and i went to take finley outside. not knowing it was waiting for her in the car, she thought we were leaving without it. she arched out of my arms, grabbed the door jam, and produced huge alligator tears in record time. and it’s getting worse. today she cried when i left it in her bedroom while we headed downstairs to play. once she starts playing, she forgets about it…so i guess she just wants to know it’s nearby. but this is going from funny/cute to i think her heart might stop beating if anything ever happened to her precious blankie.

Like I said, you probably don’t see the humor in these things. And maybe you’re wondering why the heck i’m writing about my daughter pushing her socks in the stroller. I guess my point is just to say, that it’ so fun watching Finley go from a baby to a little girl that is FULL of personality.
Here are some pictures of us trying to stay sane, while trapped at home.
stuck in the snow! it’s over a foot deep!
she waved and grunted at her little car long enough, that i finally unearthed it from the large ice cube it was stuck in.
Here she is mixing some beats at her table.
And here she is taking her socks for a stroll.

This is what you get if you ask her to smile.

Here’s another video of her dancing and she’s got some different moves this time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn4coKB6UlM&hl=en&fs=1]

christmas festivities

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We’ve been really busy the last few weeks with all sorts of fun Christmas activities. Even though Finley is still so young, I love starting family traditions that we can continue throughout the years. Here’s some pictures from the last few weeks.

Our Christmas card photo (and yes i know finley looks like a boy, but it’s the best we could get)

our fun afternoon with jaime and travis and their new doggie


at the botanical gardens in bellevue. i don’t recommend going on a saturday night!

at snowflake lane.
brian’s work party
all dressed up to go see the evil and scary santa (i will post that pic when i scan it)
i’m sorry but i just think she is the cutest thing ever. I LOVE HER!
This would be her saying “up”. It’s much better than the grunt she was using before.

All bundled up to play in the snow. We got over 7 inches!


She touches the snow as says, “brrrrrrrrr”. so cute!
having fun with papa
i won’t lie, we’ve spent the last few days staying cozy in our p.j’s all day long.

Here she is dancing with her barnyard friends on baby mozart

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkEaS7Tgnk&hl=en&fs=1]

just some photos

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her fake cry. it’s so hard not laugh.
just on her way to a business meeting in her business skirt.

can you believe i have a 13 month old that isn’t interested in the christmas tree?

this was bought for finley, since she is soooooo into birds.
don’t mind the tape. we’re supposed to paint the door…if we ever get around to it.

i’m too tired to think of a title.

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I don’t typically like to complain on our blog, or write about negative things. But I just have to document this as the worst week EVER! Half of Brian’s family came down with a 24-hour bug after our early Thanksgiving celebration so I figured that’s what Finley had. Oh no. We should be so lucky! We had some super strand virus ( vomiting, fever, runny nose, sore throat, earaches and cough).
It was manageable for the first few days while only Finley was sick, but then when I got it, things went south fast. In short, there was: lots of puking, many loads of laundry, sleepless nights on the couch, numb arms from holding a baby for 5 days straight, lots of tears-from both of us, lots of pouting about all the fun plans that we had to miss out on (especially Thanksgiving dinner!), a trip to the doctor, over a pound lost in 4 days-not by me:( , many pathetic phone calls to Brian begging him to come home, and hours and hours spent watching baby mozart. Whew. I can’t imagine having multiple sick kids. How does Kate Gosselin do it? Anyway, Finley is feeling better, and as I type she is napping in her own bed! Hooray. Okay, pity party over. I guess I better go and shower for the first time in (I’m not telling) how many days…
Here are some pictures from the last few weeks, and there’s more in the 13 month album.visiting pops

at our favorite park-a few minutes later a bird pooped on my head.

My first ever pie. Pops said, and I quote, “now that’s a pumpkin pie!”

Cousins holding hands, at our early Thanksgiving celebration.

Having fun with her favorite friends…her pumpkins.

One of her happier moments in the stroller with Isabella. The girl does not like to be confined.

Sick, on the couch. None the wiser that I twisted out from underneath her.

I knew she was feeling better when she got up from the couch for a little dance with with the animals.

catching up

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Not much has gone on in our neck of the woods the last few weeks. Work was slow for Brian last week, so we enjoyed having him home when we wake up in the morning, and having him pop in and out throughout the day. After I got Finley out of her bed this morning she walked throughout the house calling for dada…how sad!
For whatever reason, Finley had a horrible week of sleep. Bless her heart for coordinating it with Brian’s week off! She was waking up several times during the night, screaming so hard that we actually went in to rock her. One night Brian even had to give her some milk to calm her down. It was like having a newborn again! After a few nights, I feared that this was turning into a habit. We were so exhausted that we called in Mimi to come stay with us on Friday so that we could get a good nights sleep. But wouldn’t you know it, we didn’t hear a peep out of her until 8 am. OF COURSE! Thankfully, she’s worked herself out and we’re back to enjoying 12 hours of bliss.
This weekend we went to lunch with the family that I used to nanny for. It’s been almost 8 months since we’ve seen them and I hardly recognized them. I swear, they each grew at least a foot. And even though Henry is only 5, I’m pretty sure he went through puberty since I saw him last. Seriously, it would not have shocked me to see him sporting a moustache. Please, please, please don’t let Finley grow that fast!
Brian wasn’t pleased with this picture…
Finley getting a little PG 13 with her boyfriend, Logan.She loves playing with her babies!
Nothing irks me more than when she won’t leave her hair alone!!!This is her new thing that she does when she’s feeling emotional (when we say “no” or when someone takes a toy, or hurts her). It’s so precious!

Finley loves sitting at her table and doing art. We’re working on keeping the crayons out of her mouth.Celebrating Grandpa’s birthday
The first time we ever spent ALL day apart.

We love playing on our deck any chance we can get. At least global warming is good for something!

Just looking cute.

This is Finley’s new phrase. I guess I’ve passed on my old-lady verbiage to my daughter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fIL4r8VcaU&hl=en&fs=1]

halloween

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From very early on her life, Finley was was nicknamed our “little strawberry bon-bon”. We’re not really sure how it came about, or why it stuck…but I guess there’s worse things to be called. There was no question when it came time for picking her first halloween costume. And what a darling little strawberry she was. She even left her “stem” on all night. We decided not to take her trick-or-treating, since she can’t eat the candy anyway. Plus, we think it’s more fun to stay home and hand out candy. She was thoroughly entertained checking out all the costumed people that came to the door. I say “people” instead of “kids”, because we had quite a mature crowd stop by. I’m not talking about the awkward high schooler, who really shouldn’t be trick-or-treating anymore. I’m talking about 50 year old men, sporting pot bellies and gray mustaches underneath their costumes. However, the winner of the night was the fellow who starting cussing me out because I only gave him one candy bar! I guess he didn’t feel the need to show respect to his elders, since it’s quite likely that he’s older than me… All in all, we had a great night with our little strawberry. I had a hard time narrowing down which pics to upload because she was grinning all night. Check out more pics in the album…