On the move

The crawl has been mastered...the climbing and bruises have commenced.

Finn and his Shenanigans

Since Finn's been more mobile lately, a few days ago he was so excited that Jared was home from work and crawled all the way across the house to him when he entered the door...real crawling...not just his army/freestyle swim crawl.

I caught him stuck under the laundry basket the other day.

Under a box in the pile to recycle.

Playing with the laundry I've already folded.

Trying to do yoga.

He loves SHOES!

His latest task has been climbing up an over me when I'm laying on the floor...back and forth.

NYC with Finn in 4° weather

The most important part of going into NYC was to see my mom.  However I was very excited to to be in the city.  I hadn't been in almost 2 years.  When I was single I visited practically every other month.  There were shops (mostly involving pastries) that I wanted to visit.  Anyhow, it was COLD.  4° cold and I had a cold.  Plus Jared and I were exhausted from traveling (we had 6 flights total over 10 days) and Finn was waking up every 2 hours to nurse.

So, we made it into the city one day and ate at Patsy's pizza then went over to my Mother's apartment at Lincoln Center (I KNOW SHE'S SO LUCKY.)  These are the only photos we got of us in NYC and Jared's not even in them.

See James Dean on the wall?  We have the same birthday:)

It took Finn a few moments but he warmed up to my mom.  I mean we do video chat sometimes twice a day, he should know his grandma.

Snow for New Years

It snowed while we were in NJ.  It was great and the kids still get excited every time!

My sister is happy to have littler helpers!

Snow angels!

Jared is getting great at multi-tasking.

And of course...a snowman.

Freezing Time

I would like to freeze this darling little 7 month old. I think Finn is at his cutest.  His personality is EXPLODING!  He's definitely a little teaser.  I love when I'm sitting on the floor and he comes and plays peek-a-boo with my skirt.  Or when I'm lying on the floor with my eyes closed thinking I can just rest them for a moment and then I feel little hands on my tummy and hear giggles...because he thinks I'm playing peek-a-boo with him.  Or when I'm cooking in the kitchen and all of a sudden there's a mouth trying to eat the elephant off of my socks.  I love that he can pull the 3 lb weights off of the coffee table, or that he loves to explore under the kitchen table.  I love that he gets SO EXCITED when Jared comes home from work.  He practically leaps out of my arms.  Oh and his latest is trying to stick his finger in my nose (what is it with kids and human orifices?) while he nurses, he smiles up at me and lets out this devious giggle.  Can I keep him at 7 months for a while longer?  PLEASE!

This is Finn playing peek-a-boo, which he loves to do after he wakes up from his naps.

The Entertainer

Since we arrived in NJ my 6 yr old nephew Johnny had been entertaining us with his piano playing.  Like my sister said..."he can't walk by the piano without playing something."  When my mother moved to NYC she shipped our Baldwin grand out to my sister...where it's been put to GREAT use.

Here he is playing the Charlie Brown theme and the Imperial March from Star Wars.

Cape Crusaders

Happy 32nd Birthday Jared!

Happy Birthday Dad! Thanks for playing with me in the morning, and reading me books and throwing me in the air and bouncing me on the big blue ball. I love you. You are a wonderful Father.

Love,

Finn

At the playground in New Jersey

If playgrounds were this cool in California...there would be a lot more lawsuits.

New Joisey Cousins

After South Carolina we headed to my sister's in New Jersey.  Hudson was wide awake the first morning and Finn was happy to see his cousins.  Hudson loved entertaining Finn and teaching him how to crawl.  Every time Finn heard Johnny's voice he would immediately turn to him.

This is my future...Jared and the boys...since I'm only having boys.

Family Portraits

When we were in South Carolina my new mother-in-law hired a photographer to take photos of the entire family.  I was shooting away not realizing that I was setting off the flashes.  I love how everyone looks like angels!

I love Finn's look here..."be done already!"

This is Oa...with a feather from her boa.  She stuck it in her hair to be like me.  I love this girl...she's Jared's sister's daughter.  She is 3 and SO COOL!  Very independent and just darling.  It took her a little while to warm up to me but we were fast friends.  Do you like her Wallace and Gromit smile?

Farm Box

Every other Wednesday I get a box of fresh produce delivered to my doorstep from a local farm.  It's called "Farm Fresh to You."  I get the mixed veggies and fruit.  On the Friday prior you can look to see what will be in the box and cancel the order if you don't want it.  This winter there has been a lot of kale, squash, pears and apples.  But in the summer there are lots of fresh berries.  I'm so excited because this week we got grapefruit and I LOVE GRAPEFRUIT!

Finn and his funny crawl

My sister said that babies learn new stuff when they're away from home.  Well she has a huge basement and a cute little son Hudson who kept crawling back and forth showing Finn how to do it.  He's getting better and quicker each day, exploring new parts of the house...crawling to hang out under the table for example, and he just discovered that he can push the stroller and pull on the Christmas tree that needs to go outside...right now he's perfectly content being stuck under a kitchen chair.

Finn's South Carolina Cousins

Finn has cousins who are just months older than him.

Here's Jared holding Julia (13 mos and much light than Finn) and Finn.  I think Finn is around 20lbs now.  Doesn't Jared look happy to have two?  Want another one lovey?

She's exactly 6 mos. older than Finn but you'd never know, except that she's walking and climbing everything.

Then there's Stillwell who is 11 mos and a solid kid at just about 25 lbs.  My sister in-law Genean thinks Finn is soooo light compared to him.  Well I think Julia is soooo light compared to Finn.

What a cutie.

*****Notice the superior picture quality thanks to my new lens!  I'm so happy with it!

Christmas in South Carolina '09

On Dec. 23 early that morning Jared and I hopped on a plane to South Carolina for a gathering of his entire immediate family, this was the beginning of a 10 adventure.  Finn was meeting his cousins for the first time.  He survived 6 flights in total and lots of attention.  I think he actually might be getting over his separation anxiety which began when he was 2 months old.  Maybe I can leave him with someone at church when I need to run to the lou rather than tracking down Jared to hold him...we'll see.

Guess what he learned how to do while we were away?

Finn and one happy husband were my best Christmas presents this year:)

Although we had barely enough sleep to function on this trip I still managed to maintain (with lots of help from Jared) a positive countenance.

Three generations.

Of course the best part is the wrapping paper.

I think this photo sums of the excitement of Christmas morning.

I love how eerie the lake was that Christmas Day.