Bringing Home Baby

I know the posts have become less frequent, but we’re still here, I promise!  Finley just turned 14 months old the other day!  Can you believe it?  I feel like just yesterday I was in the delivery room waiting for her arrival.  She is a ball of joy and a terror all wrapped into one.  The other week a friend of ours who happens to be a day care provider said, “wow, she’s really into everything.  I’ve never seen a child that busy.”  That was very telling for us and basically confirmed that we weren’t going crazy.  She’s a tornado!

Uh oh. Here comes trouble...

Finley’s the complete opposite of Katelin in many respects.  With Katelin, we didn’t have to worry about much at this age.  With Finley, well….

Recently, she came around the corner with a handful of those so-called “baby proofing” outlet covers and a big grin on her face.

It was almost like she was saying to me, “look at me dad.  Did you really think I’m that stupid that I can’t figure out how to pull these things out of those holes?”  She showed me.

Here’s one I’m sure many of you experienced with your children (hopefully).  The other day she came into our living room with toilet paper in her hand that she had dragged all the way from the bathroom on the other side of the house.  Have you ever tried to re-roll toilet paper?  Take it from me, it’s not fun.

She apparently loves dog food too.  There’s been a couple of times where we’ve turned around and there she is popping some IAMS niblets into her mouth.  Luckily, we’ve stepped in before she’s swallowed any.  A little dog food won’t hurt anybody, right?

Enough about the terror and on to the joys of a 14 month old.  She’s talking A LOT now.  She’s been saying dada, sissy and “kk” (for Katelin) for quite some time, but now she’s added a few more words to her vocabulary.  Finley was in her highchair last week and Jen was around the corner when she heard Finley repeating the word “ookie.”   So Jen came back into the room and there Finley was feeding our dog, Rookie, with the contents of her tray of food.  She’ll chase Rookie around the house yelling his name.  She’ll also get down and give him big hugs and kisses.  It’s very cute!

She’s also saying ga-ga for grandpa, ga-ma for grandma and ba-ba for a bottle.  Every once and awhile, you’ll hear her say ma-ma, but the “m” sound is still a little difficult for her.

If Jen’s childhood or mine for that matter is any indication of what Finley is going to be like, we’re in big trouble.  We were both very strong-willed kids.  Our parents say it’s payback, we say not fair!  And to think, the terrible two’s are still 10 months away!!!

I know I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I have been trying for a few weeks to cram in all that has happened in the last 2 months and it is too difficult!  So bare with me as I attempt to seperate my thoughts!

First up - the lovely Finley Mae just celebrated her one-year-old birthday on January 5th!

Happy 1st Birthday Finley Mae!

I can’t believe how fast this past year has flown by!  I have caught myself reminising a lot lately.  It’s mostly been about how much this little wonder has brought to our lives.  She’s filled our hearts with so much love and laughter.  Watching Katelin throughout the year embrace sisterhood and become my second little mother has been so fullfilling.  Our first Christmas as a family of four was perfect in every way.  And we have had some very big milestones recenlty.  First and foremost - she’s walking!   Look out world.

It’s amazing how much trouble they get into when they are that mobile.  Finley will either jet toward the stairs (of which we cannot seem to find a gate that works…) or heads to the refridgerator as soon as someone opens it.  She’s trouble - in the most wonderful and funny ways.  Katelin was the kind of child that would never get into anything.  With her, we never even had to baby proof our house because she just wasn’t that interested in exploring.  With Finley, I would wrap the whole house in bubble wrap if that weren’t also dangerous for babies.  She is a little terror…and we love it.  (most of the time…)

Finley is also talking up a storm.  Here’s the list of words we have actually been able to translate so far…”Dada,” “Mama,” Sissy,” “KayKay,” (for Katelin) “Hi There!” “Cacker” (cracker) and a whole bunch of other things that I’m sure mean something in her language…but don’t quite mean anything in mine.

She’s also got a mouthful of teeth.  Six to be exact.

Four of them all came in on the same week right before her birthday.  For those of you who have experienced a teething baby, you can imagine how *fun* that was.

The other big milestone is that she is FINALLY sleeping through the night.  Can I get a Hallelujah?!?!   There was a moment of panic that first morning when Mike and I woke up and realized neither had gotten up with her.  Once we peeked in to see that she was fine, I was filled with such a feeling of elation, that I almost started doing cartwheels around the room.

Sorry (again!) for the delay in posts.  Life is crazy…and I love it.

“Actually, she’s a girl.”  I find myself correcting people a lot lately.  What I have come to discover is…people don’t look at the clothes a baby is in…they look at the top of the head.  So no matter how pink and frilly the outfit - Finley Mae’s bald head leads people to say “look how big HE’S getting.”  For the record, she probably does have the baldest head you’ve ever seen on a little girl.  And to be clear, it doesn’t bother me at all when people make the mistake because I have actually done that to other people’s babies!!

Finley or Lex Luther??

By the way - HELLO AGAIN!!  I know it has been a very long time since we have posted anything new.  I was convinced that no one was really interested in our blog anymore.  But a few of you have e-mailed me recently, wondering what happened to the updates, so I thought I would post a few pictures and catch you up on life in the Thompson household lately.

Finley Mae

Finley is now 10-months-old and my, oh my, do we have our hands full!!  It’s amazing how fast they can get around when they become mobile.  She isn’t walking yet, but she is crawling at a lightning fast pace.  One second she’s right in front of me, the next…she’s trying to put her hand in the toilet water.  Don’t laugh - that actually happened.  (since then we have invested in toilet lid locks - so no worries)  She loves to crawl to the patio door and look out the window and every once in awhile…a familiar looking baby will come to visit that she’ll try and kiss.

Finley kissing her "friend"

In addition to the crawling, she is also pulling herself up and walking around all of the furniture.  Now and again she will lose her balance and come crashing down, resulting in a lip quiver - or worse…a bruise.

Finley has also shown she has the ability to curl her tongue.

Apparently it is a genetic thing.   Either you can or can’t do it - and she can…all…the…time.  Seriously, half the day the girl crawls around with her tongue out.  It prompted Mike to say the other day “maybe her tongue is too long for her mouth…”

Also, it is amazing how vocal she has become.  I wish I had the ability to understand baby talk.  I often wonder what is going on inside that little head of hers as she is yelling at the top of her lungs, “Da bah da na na da.”  Huh?  “Bah ba da na na ma.”  Gotcha.

She is eating a lot of people food now.  She was recently introduced to mandarin oranges and gobbles them up faster than I can get them on the tray.  (Did your kids have a favorite food?  I would love to get her some variety, so let me know if you have a suggestion.)

Katelin Rae continues to be the greatest big sister ever.

My beautiful Katelin Rae

She loves to pick up Finley and carry her around.  Katelin can still make Finley laugh louder than anyone else.  They had a blast on their first Halloween together.

Our little Butterfly

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I posted anything.  Leave a comment if you are still interested in these updates.  I’ll post more often if I know there are people out there that still want to follow along in our baby adventure.

Thanks for checkin’ in and here’s a few more pics…

Jennifer

Sisters

Katelin Rae, Oct. '09

Finley Mae is growing like a weed.  If you’ve lost track, she’s now 7 1/2 months old!  She uttered her first words several weeks ago.  Yep, you guessed it.  Dada.  It’s very cute.  Of course, I must be everywhere then since she says dada whether she’s looking right at me or playing with a toy monkey while I’m at work.  She’ll also make the “b” sound, but so far no ma-ma.  Jen spends hours a day trying to teach her to say it, but she’s just not into it.  Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration.  To be honest, Finley is becoming somewhat of a momma’s girl.  Whenever Jen’s in the room, her eyes will follow her wherever she goes.  She’ll also cry sometimes when Jen leaves her sight.  I guess she knows who has the food, right?

It’s so interesting to see how babies continually develop and how they’re little minds are expanding each day.  You never know what they’re going to do next.  She’s also just days away from crawling.  Boy, is our life going to be different!  Hello baby proofing the house.  Might want to get on that!  She’ll get up on her knees and push forward and then kind of collapse.  Oh so close.  We’re having so much fun with her, it’s hard to believe it’s been as long as it has.

Mike

Finley Mae is now 6-and-a-half months old.  Time really does fly when you’re having fun - and are we sure having fun lately.  Finley has started dabbling in baby cereal.  Well, she’s mostly dabbling a little on her left cheek and then dabbling a little more on her chin and then dabbling a little on the floor.  Every once in a while she does manage to actually keep some in her mouth.

She is such a happy baby!  She is always giving off these huge toothless grins.

Speaking of teeth…while she still doesn’t have any, we are bracing ourselves for one to pop through any day.  She has all the signs of teething.  Drool EVERYWHERE.  Minor fever.  Unusually fussy at times. Chewing on anything she can get her hands on.  Runny diapers.  (to much info???)

But still no tooth.

Another first this month:  her first big belly laugh.  Katelin has this talent of being able to get Finley to laugh SO loud.  I’m working on uploading some video so you can see for yourself, so check back for that soon.

Oh and a quick update, remember that one long hair I told you about last month?  It fell out!  I was so sad when I noticed.  It lasted 5 months and 3 days.  Now she’s just bald and beautiful.

Here’s one more pic that I took of both the girls.

Have I mentioned lately that life is good?!