The "Finnster, et al."

Somewhere, someone is frantically snapping pictures of flying pigs. There is no point to this post. I just wanted to capture and document Finn actually enjoying tummy time.

Finn had green beans for the first time tonight. To no one's surprise, he didn't like them. He made the worst/cutest face after taking his first bite. He immediately pushed the bite back out. For the second bite, I tricked him by saying, "bite?" When I give Finn oatmeal, I say "bite" and he opens up wide and leans into the spoon. Well, I put some green beans on the spoon and said "Finn, bite?" Just like always he opened up, leaned in and devoured the bite, spoon and all." He looked so stunned that he had mistakenly taken another bite of beans. He made an actual spitting noise and blew the beans out of his mouth with some pretty impressive force. I can't really blame him - that stuff smells awful. But on the bright side, the beans matched his shirt. After the bean fiasco we gave Finn a bath. During this particular bath Finn discovered the water coming from the faucet . He tried so hard to wrap his hands around the stream of water

This weekend Finn graciously opened up his home and more specifically his room to seven (7) sixth grade girls (for a more detailed explanation see below). I think that if he had known exactly what he was agreeing to he would have footed the bill for the Ritz Carleton. He was skeptical at first, but quickly grew sure that he did not want all these squeally girls in "his" house. All the noise scared him a little bit and every time the girls would get really excited Finn would cry. So where did Finn sleep this weekend . . . . . . . Finn shacked up with his old parents. We moved the pack-n-play and all of Finn's toys into the little sitting area in our bedroom. I was worried that he wouldn't sleep a wink, but even despite the fact that I thought the floors would cave in beneath us, Finn slept very soundly. I think that we have found a new place for the Finnster to play. We can sit him in the pack-n-play without worrying about him bouncing his face off the hardwood.

Proof that this boy will chew on anything. Instead of saving my child from a vicious attack, I run and get the camera. Finn is almost snot free. I can still jar a little snot loose when I bounce him on my knee, but for the most part he is getting much better. Today was pretty much normal day - nothing particularly interesting to blog about other than the cat attack. Finn was laying on his belly (pitching a doozy of a temper tantrum) and when I finally helped him roll over his arm landed on Kodiak. Kodiak thought Finn was playing and went after his arm. Luckily Kodiak is declawed. Finn is no worse for wear. In fact, I don't think that Finn noticed at all. Finn has also taken a liking to drinking bath water. During his bath he will grab his wash cloth or terry cloth turtle and suck all the water out of it.

Well its official, the Finnster is sick. He has enough snot running out of his head to start his own " gak " factory. The worst part is he doesn't mind having snot all over his face. He cries real tears every time I wipe his nose or use the suction bulb. It drives me nuts to have snot dripping, so I assume it has to drive Finn nuts too. Nope. Just check out all of that snot. Finn and I didn't go to church today because he was feeling so poorly. So what did we do all day long? Well folks, you're lookin ' at it. We either sat or played or napped on the couch all day long. Finn and I woke up around 7:00 and then fell back to sleep around 8:00 and slept until 11:30. Then we took another three hour nap. Snot and spit - YUMMY! Either Finn has discovered his hands or he is boycotting the blog. I can't say I blame him. I too would boycott any blog that posted pictures of me with snot running down my face. After taking two long naps, Finn was out again by 8:0

I think that Finn is sick. He woke up this morning with a runny nose. Boy does he hate having his nose wiped. Even thought Finn was a bit under the weather, the two of us went to Sparta for my cousin Shane's baby shower. After the shower was over we had lunch at my Papa and Granny's house. Later that night we went downtown for Chelsea's birthday party at the Spaghetti Factory. Since it was nice outside we parked on Charlotte Avenue and walked over to Second. It was so much fun. We put Finn in the stroller and strolled through downtown Nashville. Finn was a little scared of going downhill in the stroller. Me and the Birthday Girl. Our little Family at the Spaghetti Factory. Finn and I at War Memorial Plaza.

Today at around 11:00 Victoria called me with some great news . . . that new being that Finn had a bowel movement. Thank Goodness! He did it all by himself too. I was glad that we didn't have to give him a suppository because I really wanted him to "earn" this stinky achievement. In the battle of constipation, looks like the Finnster emerged victorious. As for the rest of the day, the three of us had dinner with Chase and Lindsey at Zaxby's . While there Finn was in a spirited mood. A table behind us asked if we could keep the noise level down. Everyone at the table except for me realized that they were clearly joking. I, on the other hand apologized profusely. Later, I felt silly.

Finn has not had a bowel movement for three days. The pediatrician told me to give him water mixed with dark Karo syrup or diluted prune juice. Sounds great in theory but for the fact that Finn won't take a bottle from his dear ol ' mom and dad. Earlier today Gran was able to give him some Karo water in his bottle. He wasn't crazy about it, but he tolerated it. Thankfully, Michael was able to give him a little more water before putting him to bed. He held the bottle on his own and drank a good bit of it. Near the end he was just chewing on the nipple. It seems to help his gums feel better. We put the bottle in the bed with him tonight and he sipped it for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep. As for the constipation, I hope the water will do the trick - heaven help us if it does (we put a pad down in his crib just in case). If not, we will move on to more invasive measures . . . the suppository. The Face of Constipation

Pre- nose dive Today Finn turned five (5) months old. It is so exciting to see Finn do new things, but I wish that time would just slow way down. Turning 5 months old has not been great for Finn - in fact it has been quite traumatic to say the least. First, he had to go to a Celebrate Recovery training session with his mom. He behaved for as long as he could but I did end up taking him to the nursery. When I went to pick him up I heard a terrible cry all the way down the hall. I was hoping that it wasn't Finn. When I got to his room the nursery workers told me that they didn't have him and that he must be next door. I panicked for about a millisecond until I noticed that the screaming baby left unattended in the swing in the back of the room was Finn. I felt so sorry for him, but I have never been so happy to hear him cry. Second, Kodiak ate his bath sponge. There were little blue pieces of sponge everywhere. Third, Finn hasn't had a bowel movement in two days - so I imagin

. . . just the Finnster . Finn loves playing airplane. It doesn't matter how lousy of a mood he is in, when he gets up on my feet he transforms into the happiest baby in I know. When he is up there he laughs and squeals and smiles and drools and spits up and pukes. Its great! Tonight Finn dropped a huge wad of "spit up" all over me. In case you are wondering, yes, that is spit hanging from Finn's mouth; that spit is about 6 inches long; and that same spit fell directly onto my face. :) Tonight Finn took a bath with his new bath sponge, his new bath toys, and . . . Kodiak. Yes, Michael briefly put Kodiak in the bath with Finn. The bath sponge has really worked for Finn because it keeps him from sliding in the tub and allows him to sit up. Finn really likes being in the bath. He is becoming quite proficient at splashing. He will straiten his little arms out and bang those little fists into the water as hard as he possibly can.

I do believe that Finn is smarter than I give him credit for. He has figured out that he really doesn't have to stay in the nursery - or as it is known to Finn "the seventh circle of hell." Finn is supposed to stay in the nursery for two hours every Sunday. For the past few weeks we have been called to come and get him only once. However, today we were called twice - twice in two hours. - that is complete bologna! After Sunday School was over I went to get him and I fed him for twenty (20) minutes - which is more than enough hold him over for one measly hour. After putting him back in the nursery I was confident that I would be able to stay for the entire service. David Nasser was speaking and I was excited to hear his message. When the service was about 3/4 of the way over, our number popped up on the screen. Finn has learned that if he screams loud enough for a long enough period of time he will be rescued from the nursery. Nana was right - Finn is pretty smart. As Vale

Today Finn came to visit his Mama at work. At about 3:30 Michael dropped Finn off at the office. Everyone couldn't believe how fat he is. After work we went to Dad's house to spend the night. While I was unloading everything Finn got hungry so I thought I would try my luck with a bottle. Finn, of course, doesn't really take a bottle, except for a very few exceptions - but I was hoping that maybe he would take one from Dad. Much to my delight he did and as a bonus he held the bottle by himself. WOW! This didn't last long - by the next morning he remembered that he really didn't like bottles and once again pitched a hissy fit when I tried to offer him one. This morning Finn woke everyone up at 5:30. I tried my best to go back to sleep, but I was up by 6:30. I do look forward to getting my weekends back. At breakfast Finn's Grandad rubbed some maple syrup into his gums. It was so sweet - it made Finn shiver and shake. After breakfast Finn spent the morni

Finn has learned to fake cough. He thinks it is so funny. Today while I was playing with Finn I would cough at him. He would think about it for a few seconds and then he would cough back at me. I was so impressed with him that I would clap and smile. Later in the day we showed Dad Finn's new found ability. Like me, Michael was pretty impressed until Finn started to incessantly cough. That boy coughed all night; in the car, at the viewing, on the way home from the viewing and while rocking him to sleep. He would look up at me and cough and smile. I couldn't help but laugh at him because he was so proud of himself. Now when he hear him cough, we pretty much just ignore it. This is problematic because one day he will actually be sick and we won't think anything of it.

. . . is finally full. That's right folks, those oats are really doing the trick. Before putting Finn to bed he eats for 10 minutes on one side, then he has a bowl of cereal - and then we top him off with 10 minutes on the other side. We have to give him the cereal in the middle because he is to hungry to eat from the spoon. Once we get a little milk in his belly, he calms right down and then is able to take the oatmeal. Tonight, I converted Finn's swing into a fun play station. He was impressed for approximately two (2) minutes - then Dad got home and he was ready to get out. He did enjoy his Yummy though. Yummy is his little gingerbread man. Just for the record niether Finn nor I named this guy Yummy - that was the name on the tag.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. In anticipation of the big day Finn was rip, roarin ' and ready to go by 6:30 a.m. The two of us got up and had breakfast and prepared for church. As expected, I had to leave service to go feed Finn. They were waiting for me at the entrance to the entire children's area. I took Finn into the lactation room and we laid down on the couch and watched the sermon. It really is the most comfortable way to attend church. After church, we went to Walmart to buy food for the Super Bowl party. When we got home we gave Finn a big bowl of oatmeal. He ate the entire thing! A few minutes later MJ , Zac and Coop stopped by on their way a friends house. Just like yesterday Cooper tried his darnedest to talk to Finn and Finn cried. Around 5:00, everyone starting arriving at our house to watch the Super Bowl. As expected, it was pretty noisy - Finn doesn't really like a lot of noise. Finn figured out that if he fussed enough, we would go upstairs (where it was