The "Finnster, et al."

Last night after dinner Michael and Finn started the first fire of the year. Finn helped his dad put stick in the fireplace. He was more interested in the sticks than the fire. Next we got Finn ready for bed. Finn's bedtime routine is as follows: 1. Finn turns on his fan, 2. Finn turns on his turtle, 3. Finn turns on his cd player, 4. Finn hops in the bed, 5. Prayer and kisses, 6. Inevitably Finn asks if I will hold his hand, 7. Expecting the answer is no, Finn lays down and we tell him that we are going to sit right outside his door. Step 7 is new. Usually we sit in the doorway. We are trying to get Finn to be okay with us kissing him goodnight and closing the door. I guess we closed the door too quickly last night prompting Finn to hop out of bed and run to open the door. Unfortunately he ended up locking the door "from the inside." We had no way and he had no way out. He was terrified. You could hear him panicking from the other side of the door. It was...

Finn is learning to adjust to his parent's lifestyle.

On Halloween morning Finn decided that he didn't want to eat breakfast at the table. I made Finn's oatmeal, set it on the and sat him in the chair. Then I walked into the bathroom off the kitchen to blow dry my hair. When I walked out of the bathroom I saw this . . . BUSTED! I picked Finn up around 4:30 and then we got ready for trick-r-treating. Before we left for the big night Finn opened his Halloween present from Gran, which include "Thomas" toothbrush and toothpaste. Then Finn put on his costume - really, did you even have to ask. He was not too keen about my drawing on the eyebrows. When we showed him his new look in the mirror - the most peculiar look crossed his fact - for a minute I thought he was going to cry. Then he decided looked pretty good and wanted to look at himself the rest of the night. After the first house, Finn asked to eat his piece of candy. We told him that he could eat once he got home. He immediately asked to go home. We co...

After the Pumpkin Patch we all went home and took a nap. Once we were all refreshed we started carving the pumpkin. This was both mine and Finn's first time to carve a pumpkin. First Finn and Daddy washed the pumpkin. Then they cleaned out the inside. Finn thought this was pretty gross at first. After the gunk was out, I carved the face. Finn was pretty proud of the finished product.

On Sunday Finn and I kissed Grandad and Gigi goodbye and then met Daddy just in time for lunch at Shane's. Finn brought his "Gordon" train into the restaurant. At one point he dropped his Gordon in what we thought was the huge garbage can. Finn was devastated. It took me forever to get him stop crying. He turned around immediately, threw is arms around me, laid his head on my shoulder and cried his little eyes out. It was heartbreaking. Turns out he only dropped the train behind the garbage can so it was pretty easy to get the train back. After lunch we went to Shuckle's Corn Maze - or as Finn calls it the Punkin Patch. When we got there Finn headed straight for the farm animal cut-out board. He really liked this and spent a good deal of time here. l Next we went to the actual pumpkin patch where Finn picked out a pumpkin to carve. Next we played a family game of corn hole. It was about this time that Gran came to hang out with us. Next Finn found the...

Today (Friday) I had a few cases set so Finn spent the day at JT's house. I had to be in Nashville at 7:00 to meet with a client's psychologist. I had to leave the house at 6:00 which meant I needed to be up at 4:45. Around 5:30 I was standing with my back to the door digging through my panty hose drawer. Out of nowhere I hear "hi mommy" in a very loud and excited voice. I jumped a mile; he scared me to death. After picking Finn up from JT's house we met Daddy at the Streets for dinner at Qdobas. Then we went took Finn down to the breezeway to let him run. Finn thinks the breezeway is a tunnel. Next we went to Barnes and Noble to play with the train set. After about an hour a five year old little boy came over to play too. Finn was inordinately pleasant and sweet to this little boy. He shared, spoke and played with him. When it was time for Finn to leave I asked him to give the Spencer train to Rhett (little boy) and he did. I couldn't believe it....

Finn had a big day on Thursday. He started the day at daddy's office while I went to the OB to check on Sam - passed my gestational diabetes test with flying colors. Later in the day Finn went to the pediatrician's office for his two year appointment. We learned that Finn is doing great except for one small thing - he has gained a little bit more weight this year than he should have. They like for kids between their first and second birthday to gain about 4 pounds. Finn gained 7.5. We were told that we can start with skim milk, that we should switch to lowfat peanut butter and that we should nix the nighttime raisins. She has always given us great advise so I trust her judgment. I felt like such a bad mother sitting there listening - I wanted to cry. I have always struggled with weight issues and I don't want Finn to do the same. At the end of the appointment Finn got a finger prick to check his lead levels and then he got flu shot - he screamed his guts out. He ...