The "Finnster, et al."

p Today Finn had his one year check up for his head. Thankfully, Finn's noggin is perfect! I spent the rest of the day with him and we had a ball. First we went to visit Daddy to tell him the good news. Then we all went to Arby's for breakfast. Afterwards Finn and I went home and played cars. Finn rediscovered his little John Deer tractor and has not put it down all day. The first thing he said to me when I went to get him out of bed was "play with tractor." He even took it with him on our walk today. He has just been so wonderful all day today - I am so blessed to have him.

On Saturday JT came to spend the day with Finn while his entire family helped his sister Sarah move into her college dorm. The first thing we did when JT arrived was take a walk. I loaded both boys into the jogging stroller and we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. They seemed to have a great time together talking about rocks and butterflies. Next we took the boys outside and let them swim for a while. JT is a natural waterbaby. a Finn on the other hand is a natural sunbather. t After a long swim the boys had some lunch and then a long nap. JT slept downstairs on the loveseat with Michael while Finn and I took a nap in my bed. They spent the rest of the day either watching Mickey Mouse, playing big trucks or chasing each other around. Later on that evening, we met Chase, Lindsey, Brandon and Carissa at Olive Garden for a a nice relaxing dinner. Finn was quiet, cooperative and sweet the entire time. At some points in the night I almost for

This week has been a tough one on Finn. He has molars coming in which is causing some tummy troubles which in turn has caused some bad diaper rash. I think we have it under control now but Finn would scream and cry for at least five minutes after each diaper change. Finn is finally starting to build towers with his blocks. Usually when we play with blocks we build tunnels for Finn's truck to drive through. But over the last week or so Finn had started stacking. Not too shabby. Finn has also started working out with me. When I lay in the floor to do my exercises Finn will lay on the floor too and raise his legs up and down.

Yesterday in Sunday School Finn learned that God made Lions and Butterflies. Its so sweet to think about Finn sitting nicely in SS coloring. At least that's how I like to think about it. He could be a holy terror the entire time. Showing off his artwork. Just recently Finn has started lining his cars up. Sometimes he lines them up like a train. Other times side by side. Sometimes he will even line them up smallest to tallest; although I am sure that is by accident.

Finn has developed his very own way of asking a question - and it always starts with "maybe." For example, "Maybe Mama play toys", "Maybe Daddy go fast", "maybe Finn eat somepin." It is so strange how everything he says now starts with "maybe." Last night I walked into the bathroom and saw this . . . He was pretty proud of himself. Today (Sunday) when Michael went to pick Finn up from the nursery Finn said, "good nursery." I guess he had fun.

As promised, here are the pictures from Finn's big trip to see the big trucks with Gran, Pa, Joseph, Turner and Walker. I hear he had a great time.

On Friday Finn and I spent the day at home. Our day started with a rousing building session. Finn has always loved playing with his puzzles, but has found a new way to enjoy them. Now he will take each piece and stack them one on top of the other. At one point he started really fussing because he couldn't get his "Cranky the Crane" puzzle piece to stay on top. I told him to put Cranky on the bottom. And guess what, he did. Funny how he listens to me when he believes it to be to his advantage. Here is a picture of Finn and his cats. Notice how sweet Kodiak is to Fannie Mae. Gosh these cats annoy me - but Finn seems to love them dearly. We have now graduated to drinking from a cup - at the table only. He is doing pretty good too. This morning (Saturday) Finn and I sat down to our " Saturday Special" - waffles - and Finn told me all about his trip to the park yesterday with Daddy. I watched Finn the first part of the day and Micheal wa

Yesterday Gran and I took Finn to Hollywood 27 to see Winnie the Pooh. I was a little skeptical about the whole thing because I was sure Finn would show interest for about 5 minutes and then he would be "all done." The first thing we did when we got there was get Popcorn and cokes. Then we went to find our seat in the theater. We were three of six people in a huge theater. That immediately made me feel like this might work out after all. Finn sat in my lap and immediately went for the popcorn. After every few handfuls of popcorn Finn would take a huge sip of my coke zero. Much to my surprise Finn did great. He watched the entire movie with a look of complete awe. He didn't squirm or fuss or try to get down. He just sat, smiled, ate popcorn and talked to the TV. Halfway through the movie I had to go to the bathroom so Finn scooted over to Gran's lap. Finn thought the "big TV" was so neat. The movie was just around an hour so it was perfec

Today after church Michael and I met Gran, Pa, Joseph, Turner and Walker for lunch and the exchange of the Finnster. It was at lunch when we learned how much fun Finn had with the boys this weekend (pictures and blog to follow). This explained the complete and utter exhaustion that Finn displayed at lunch. He was so tired that he wanted to sit with me. Later on in the day Finn took his tent outside to play. When looked out the window I saw approximately 5 little girls running through our yard - they wanted to play with the tent too. Finn was a little apprehensive, but seemed willing to share his tent with the girls. He was not willing to share his motorized lawn mower. Later on in the evening Finn asked me to lay down next to him and watch Mickey. So sweet.

This morning when Finn woke up we rushed around the house to get ready to go to the tire store. First he had waffles and dip. Then while I was getting ready Finn got into the cabinet and pulled out hotdog buns and started eating them plain. He seems to really like them and I had to wrestle them away. All was forgiven once we got to the tire store. Finn played with tires and then pulled out the magazines that had cars on the front. When my car was brought into be worked on we sat at the big window and watched. Finn sat nicely and looked very concerned about my car. He would whine a little and point at the car. I finally convinced him that everything was okay. Then he asked if I would tickle him. Seeing as how I sooner die than be tickled I thought it was odd. Nevertheless, I tickled him and he let out this blood curdling scream, followed by the sweetest laugh. He asked for more, but I thought it best that we wait until we got home. When we got home I