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)

-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.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuHyJb6iGog&hl=en&fs=1]

and just because i think she looks so darn cute in her hat…

dear self,

Our yearly photo on the swings
he got yelled at over the loudspeaker for “twisting” during the ride.

In other news, Finley has finally outgrown her strawberry pajamas. These are no ordinary pajamas. She has had these p.j.s in every size since she was born. Unfortunately, they don’t make them any bigger, otherwise she’d be wearing these jammies in high school. These are the pjs that led to us calling her “our little strawberry bon bon”. It was a sad night when I dressed her in strawberry jammies for the last time. Yes, incase you are wondering…I get VERY attached to some of her special clothes. Maybe I’ll make a pillow of them them. (that’s a joke, mimi..put your thread away)
Saturday we went to Gene Coulon Park for fish n’ chips, a walk along the water, and some fun on the toys.

The last few weeks have been pretty eventful in our family. Brian has been busy working as usual, but was able to get away for a company fishing trip to La Push. He was the only one in the group who isn’t an avid fisher, he’s never even been, but somehow he walked away winning the prize for biggest catch, and most fish caught. Neither of us are big seafood eaters, but it turns out that when you marinade tuna in whiskey, brown sugar, soy sauce and olive oil, you can hardly even tell its not chicken. Speaking of Brian and work…my hammer-slinging hubby is hanging up his carharts and taking a new role in the company. You can now call him Brian Neuenschwander, Project Manager. The bad news is that he won’t be working with his hands, which he loves. Instead, you’ll find him yacking away on his cell phone with various people in the construction industry. The good news is that this job means more money and less time working. As much as we’re jazzed about the extra financial cushion, we’re mostly excited about the extra time we’ll have with Papa.

Finley and I missed Brian very much while he was away. We kept busy with playdates, trips to the park, and a visit to a special “petting zoo”. I’m slowly letting go of the fact that she’s not my little baby anymore….she’s turning into a big girl. She’s recognizing all sorts of words (book, drink, blankie, lamby, bath, phone). We say, “Where’s lamby?” and she crawls off to find her lamby. She’s also getting pretty close to walking. She’ll take two or so baby steps and then change her mind and decide to crawl the rest of the way. I’ve been getting ready for the big day coming up next month-Finley’s birthday! I got the invitations finished and am now working on a very nifty idea for the cake. There are a few more photos in the 10 month album.

So, I’ve always been sort of indifferent about baby sign language. I suppose I thought it was a lot of work, a huge commitment, etc… Well, lately I’ve been having trouble with Finley when she is “all done” eating. She starts throwing food on the floor and grabbing for the spoon. Basically, things get messy fast. I started thinking how nice it would be if she had a better (cleaner) way of saying all done. I pulled out a book we have on baby signs and brushed up on the signs that interested me (all done, eat, water, more, and book). Book is kind of random, but we read tons of books and the lazy part of me thinks it would be so nice to sign “book” and off she crawls to get us a book. I started signing these words this weekend, and it really wasn’t that difficult. This morning when I said and signed the word book she crawled to the book shelf and started pulling out books (we’re not quite to the fetching stage). I thought maybe it was a fluke. Surely she couldn’t know what it means already? I tried it two other times throughout the day and each time she crawled off to look at a book. That can’t be denied. 3 for 3 means she really gets it. I’m sure it will be quite a while before she is signing back at us, but I am just amazed at how quickly she is grasping it all. Of course I think that my daughter is brilliant, but sometimes I underestimate how much she is capable of. She is one smart cookie.

Today is our two year anniversary. I could say that it feels like just yesterday that we got married, but that would be a lie. I always joke that it feels like we’ve been married for 10 years. And I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, quite the opposite in fact. When I think back over the last two years it feels like we have come so far, grown up so much, gotten to know each other so much better, learned so much about our own depravity, and learned how to love more selflessly (still working on that, and probably always will be). We’ve gone from a young, free, dual income family of two, to a slightly older, settled, single income family of three. We’ve experienced the miracle of Finley’s birth, the physical and emotional fatigue of meeting a newborns demanding needs, and the complete joy that we’ve found in loving and raising our daughter that words absolutely cannot describe. Yes, we have definitely learned a lot about our love for each other and Christ’s love for us. I am incredibly lucky to have you as my husband, Brian. I look forward to conquering the years ahead with the same humor, feistiness, joy, and commitment that’s gotten us to where we are. I love you, bobi bear!

So, I just had to write about how excited I am to be meeting our neighbors. We’ve lived in our house for a year and a half and only met two neighbors. And both families took the initiative to come meet us, so that tells you how friendly we are. Until now. The neighborhood bible study that we are a part of has decided that since it’s summer we should just throw BBQs each week and invite all the neighbors. At first I thought it sounded like a great idea because a). i like anything involving food and b). it meant that i didn’t have to feel guilty about not doing to the weekly reading. But then the leader said “lets plan on bringing food for at least 50 people, maybe more.” I did some quick math, thinking how expensive this little venture would be. Then I wondered how selfish it would be if we signed up for chips each week. Luckily, our wealthy friends committed to bringing the meat. Anyway, we had our first BBQ last week and it went great. We met some new people, and i took a real liking to another young couple with a baby. Perhaps, it had a little something to do with the fact that the dad looked like david beckham’s twin. Point being, I had a wonderful time. Well…. this week was even better. About twice as many people came, and most of them were families with young kids! We brought a blanket for all the babies to conjure on and the moms sat around talking about usual mom stuff (what percentile is your baby in? when do you want to get pregnant again? when did he/she get teeth? yes, he bit my ta-tas too, yada yada…). I truly enjoyed meeting these people and hearing their stories. It’s totally worth the $16 that we spent on brownie mix and chips. So, if you’re ever in the neighborhood on a thursday night, pop on in to our backyard.

Here is the one and only picture of the night.

P.S. As i write, my dear husband is attempting to dig up the world’s largest rhododendron bush (to make room for our new deck). I’m not sure what sort of craziness is going on out there. All I know is that when I tried to peek out the front door he yelled at me to get back inside. I hear chains. I hear a motor revving. I hear yelling. And now Brian is calling a neighbor for help. These BBQs really are coming in handy.