a lovely fall day…

Finley and I took advantage of the beautiful weather today and went to the park. Finley loves reading her book about ducks, so it was a real hit when we ran into these guys at the pond. Apparently, I have a hidden talent…duck calling. Because I said a few “quacks” and we were swarmed.Having fun crunching the leaves.
Getting a little sassy…Cold, red nose.
Is there anything prettier?I can’t believe that I’m posting a video of me singing, for a second time. But I thought you should see that our sweet girl is already praising the Lord. She’s on her way to trying out for the worship team…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AerZJ74VOMA&hl=en&fs=1]

harvest day

This weekend we celebrated fall by having a harvest day. We made scones for breakfast, went to the pumpkin patch, ate yummy homemade soup, carved pumpkins, roasted the seeds, played games, and watched football. I love this time of year! There are more pictures from our day in the 12 month album…





1 year update

Finley on her birthdayWeight: 22 lbs 11 oz (76%)

Height: 30.5″ (90%)
Head: 46.5 cm (87%)
Development:
-Walking-it’s such a precious waddle, and she can make it all the way across the room!
-talking- mama, dada, papa, night-night, uh-oh
-signing-all done, more, eat, book
-“tricks”-waving bye-bye, blowing kisses, giving kisses, so big, clapping, hand motions to wheels on the bus, praising Jesus (lifting hand up), identifying nose, eyes, and ears.
-does not have the faintest idea of sharing-she wants whatever toy her friend is playing with
-has 12 teeth, including 4 molars-doesn’t that make her seem so old?!
-drinking cows milk and loving it
-facing forward in her car seat
-sleeping great at night and taking two naps
Finley loves:
-helping me unload the dishwasher
-horsing around on the couch (it was a sad day when she learned how to climb up on it)
-reading books, especially flip up books and touch and feel books
-taking baths
-cuddling with her blankie-the ladies in the nursery have reported that she is very territorial with it!
-eating string cheese
-feeding herself with the spoon (which is only an option when I have an extra 10 minutes to clean up the mess)
-playing with legos
-when papa comes in the door at night
-animals
-musical instruments
-unloading the diaper bag
At her well-baby check up (which i foolishly scheduled for 8 am)



one year ago…

-we finally got to meet the little baby growing inside me.
-we were able to put a face to the daughter that we were already madly in love with.
-we laid awake watching our baby sleep because we couldn’t take our eyes off her.
-we sat in awe, amazed that God had blessed us with this child.
-we experienced love so deep, that it cannot be described, even though I try.

Don’t worry. That’s not my attempt at being poetic. Those are just the thoughts that come to mind when I think about what we were doing exactly one year ago. And while I can’t say that we still lay awake staring at her, I can tell you that we love our daughter more than we thought possible. We delight in raising her, and we thank the Lord for her. And, yes…I’m getting a little teary looking at these pictures.


celebrating our sweet girl

This weekend we celebrated Finley’s first birthday (a few days early). Thankfully, it was a beautiful, crisp fall day, and we were able to entertain both inside and out. We ate, she opened a ridiculous amount of gifts, and then we all congregated around her for the highlight of the night…cake time! Proving that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, she thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of her cake. Eventually, she grew tired of playing in the chocolaty goodness and fell into a sugar trance. We gave her a bath, put on her special birthday pajamas, and she gave a goodnight kiss to every single guest (probably not the most hygienic idea). Three hours later she awoke with a fury that I can only assume was from ingesting many MANY more calories than her little tummy is accustomed to. I think we’ll lay off the baked goods until next year. Aside from that, her first birthday went off without a hitch. Not a single meltdown or tear shed, and that’s saying a lot for a one year old, hopped up on sugar, with 40 people vying for her attention. We are so thankful for the outpouring of love, kisses, and gifts from our family and friends. Thanks for helping us honor our sweet baby Finley.

Check out more pics in the birthday album.


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

first words

So, I’ve had a hard time discerning Finley’s first word. She’s been saying “mama” and “dada” for months. But it’s more of a general babble as opposed to her identifying us, so I don’t count either of those as words yet. About a month ago she started saying “night night”, but it was sort of prompted. At bedtime I say, “It’s night night time”, and then she will say, “night night” and wave bye bye to whoever is watching. So, I kinda count that as a first word. Her new word, that she says completely unprompted, is “uh oh”. She says it anytime a toy falls to the floor and makes a loud noise. She even sticks out her bottom lip while saying it! We don’t like to encourage her to drop or throw her toys, but I just had to catch it on video. You can kinda see the pout in the beginning of the video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7g49INrCoU&hl=en&fs=1]

Yesterday, I was feeling around in finley’s mouth and I was shocked to discover that she had a molar in. Wait. A. Minute. She was teething? We called papa immediately to tell him the news. This is so exciting because she got a tooth in and we didn’t have to deal with any fussiness, sleep issues, etc! If you aren’t a parent of a child who has gone through teething you might not understand why this is noteworthy. If you are, then you know that this is almost as exciting as winning the lottery. Well, not really. But close. Such a trooper, that daughter of ours!