The "Finnster, et al."

Today Finn made me so proud.  He walked bravely into Mr. Oliver's office, walked right up to Mr. Oliver and "gave him five!"  Last year at this time Finn would cry at the very mention of Mr. Oliver's name.  This year he answered all of his questions and didn't hide in my legs at all.   How far we have come.  He did however, get a little nervous when I asked if he wanted to give Mr. Oliver a hug. We also made a stop at my friend Samantha's office where Finn talked the secretary's ear off.  When we entered the building the secretary asked me what my name was and I responded.  Finn immediately said, "my name is Finn and I love my Daddy." Today was a much better day for Finn.  We only had one little episode this morning.  Finn also worked out with me. I gave him a little "one" pound weight and he did curls with me.  Finn's  counting cracked me up.  He counted 1 through 20 and then after 20 said, "30, 40, 50."  I guess l...

Saturday morning was rough.  Michael and I stayed up way too late watching the movie so we took turns napping until Hank's birthday party.  If either of the boys did anything cute, no one was awake to see it, much less document it. Saturday was also Hank's first birthday party.  We all went to Em's house to celebrate.  The party was great.  The food was good, the cake was great and Finn had fun playing in Cooper and Hank's "Dreamatorium."  I call it the dreamatorium (a term that I did not make up, by the way) because it may be the best playroom north of the equator.  I am sure that Hank received lots of great presents.  I missed that part because I was feeding Sam.  Conveniently, I did not miss the cake.  Neither did Finn. During the party Sam figured out how to suck his thumb. He didn't have the mechanics down perfectly, but I expect to have a son with a fantastically awful overbite soon. When we got hom...

First, let's thank the "Nard-Dog" for that little gem of Americana.  Second, this post, more appropriately, should be entitled "Happy 31st Birthday Michael."  However, given how most of the day unfolded, I believe the given title to be a more accurate representation of the day. Friday was Michael's 31st birthday.  Finn and I woke up and cooked him a big breakfast of french toast, eggs and turkey sausage.  Finn had a great time cooking breakfast because he was able to crack several eggs.  He also discovered that french toast is almost as good as pancakes. After breakfast everything went downhill, way downhill.  Finn was so awful that I hardly recognized him.  He had at least 8 meltdowns.  I was so dissappointed in him.  At one point I had to go into the bathroom and pray to calm down.  I called Michael to let him listen in on Finn's fits and he was shocked too.  He got home in time to catch the tail end of o...

Tonight Finn shocked me at dinner by eating spaghetti.  I don't make spaghetti often because he won't eat it and I end up making two dinners;  one for me and Michael and one for the pickiest boy in the room.  On this particular night I made mine and Michael's plates and set them on the table.  When I looked back I saw Finn sitting in my chair eating spaghetti off of my plate.  I immediately grabbed his bowl and filled it with spaghetti.  He inhaled the first bowl and asked for seconds.  He was a complete mess when all was said and done, but I am happy that he is at least trying new foods. After supper we all went outside and rolled cars on the new patio. It isn't completely finished yet - we still have to stain it, but we can tell already that the patio is going to be the hot new place to hang out.   Finn loves rolling his cars on the smooth concrete. For the past few nights Finn has woken up wet in the middle of the night.  ...

This morning Grandad came to visit the boys while I made a quick trip to Lebanon.  Grandad came bearing gifts - I kite.  After dinner tonight we took the kite outside and gave it a whirl.  It wasn't bad.  Finn had a ball.  He was pretty good at it.

Sunday was a big day for Sam - his first day in the nursery.  This got me thinking about Finn's first few months in the nursery.  I was called to come get him every Sunday for three months.  He was awful in the nursery; surely Sam would be bad as well.  During the service I kept waiting for my number to flash across the screen; it didn't.  When I went to pick up Sam I found him sitting in a swing, wide awake, just chillin.   As the nursery worker handed Sam to me she said, "he is the best baby . . . he is so content."  I guess my days of watching the sermon from the lactation room are over.  While I was getting Sam Michael when to pick up Finn.  His teachers said that he went down the big slide all by himself.  After church we ate lunch with Chelsea at Firehouse.  After Finn was finished eating he got up from his seat, walked up to the nearest stranger and handed her his trash.  I could not believe it - I was mortified....

Today Finn went into the kitchen and grabbed a pot holder and took it up to his kitchen so that he could get some food out of the oven.  So practical. When I went downstairs to get the camera I came up to find Finn taking Sam's order. Even though it is Saturday I had to meet with a client. Michael was in Chattanooga helping David and Sharon move out of their apartment so the boys went to spend a few hours with Gran.  When I picked them up I found them all in the den watching Veggie Tales. Finn did everything he could think of to stall - he didn't want to go home.  We put together puzzles and read books.  Finn even had a great trip to the toilet so Gran gave him a Roaul Caroul car. When we got home Finn took a two and half our nap.  Sam and I ended up snuggling together on the couch and caught a nap too. Kids say the darndest things:  1. On the way to Gran's Finn was lamenting about the scrape on his knee. I asked him if he needed a Band-Aid. T...

Or as we American's call them "flip flops."  This year for Easter Gran bought Finn his first pair of flip flops.  I got them out yesterday (Friday) and prepared to put them on Finn's feet.  Finn grabbed one and in his most excited voice said, "this is for outside!"  His expression quickly changed and somewhat unassured said, "I think?"  I laughed pretty hard at that one. After we all got ready for the day we made what was supposed to be a quick trip to Wal-Mart.   We ended shopping for around an hour.  While there I bought Finn some more Play-Doh as his was already hard and crusty due to the fact that I lost the lid.  On the way home I stopped at Sonic to get a drink and ordered Finn a grilled cheese.  All day he had been singing the song from Madagascar.  I tried to get him to sing it again while waiting for our food.  He told me that "we don't sing while in the grilled cheese space."  (Finn calls the slots at Soni...

On Monday Finn went to hang out with Grandad and Gigi at the Opryland Hotel.  This is the third year that Finn had attended the Tennessee HOSA convention.  Oh the things that Finn gets into when mom's not around.  This picture in a precious reminder of how old Finn really is.  He looks like such a little boy.  I have no idea why I can't capture a smile like this one.  This is the Finn that I am more used to.  Dancing at the Wild Horse - this prove there was a mix up at the hospital! (Meaning, I don't dance). I wasn't there to see it, but by the looks of it Finn had a great time.  I picked up a little after 9:00 on Tuesday night.  He jabbered the whole way home.