Getting big!

I took Finlay to the Dr this morning for his 12 month check up. He weighed in at a whopping 17lbs 8oz and has grown to 28 inches. He also got his vaccinations which he sobbed for. He was all smiles and then came the mean lady who caused pain in his little legs. He was still hiccuping a bit when I checked him out and made the appt for his 15 month check up but by the time we got to the car he was all smiles. He fell asleep on the way to pick up Ethan from school. He's doing very well right on track physically. At this time he only says 1 word (Mama) and according to the Dr most kids have 3 words by this time. She considers that slightly behind but I don't considering that his older brother only had 1 word by 12 months. She also said that he is just barely on the growth chart. He weighs about what Ethan weighed at age 1 but is 3 inches longer. He's just long and skinny but he's proportionate so she's not concerned. He is just creating his own growth curve and he is growing at a steady pace.

Now that he's 1 he's starting to use the furniture to walk and he is able to balance for a few seconds without holding anything before plopping on his booty (good thing he has some padding back there). I've started to introduce him to sippy cups as well. He isn't interested much in bottles and he is the same with the sippy cups. We've started him on cows milk but he's not a fan of it yet. We'll continue to work with him.

Happy Birthday Finlay!!

My dear sweet Finlay,
     Today you are 1. One year ago at 4:34PM you can screaming into this world. You weighed 5lbs 12oz and you were a whole 19.5 inches long. Now you are 1, crawling around, starting to talk, begging for us to share food, and starting to get into your brother's things. This last year has been filled with smiles and you have brought even more joy into our lives. We love you so very much.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!
Love Mommy and daddy

Finlay had a wonderful birthday today. He got to spend his first birthday with his daddy, mommy, and big brother. For a special treat he got to have his first ever frosty from Wendy's. He spent his morning with just mommy while daddy and Ethan went on a school field trip for Ethan's preschool. We played and then he took a little nap on my shoulder looking oh so precious. After dinner we gave him his gifts. Ethan picked out a nice little truck for him since he is always playing with big brother's cars and we bought him the Elefun ball popper which he just loves. He went to bed one happy little boy. Now he gets to gear himself up for his birthday party on the 13th.

11 months old........

Almost. Finlay will be 11 months old in just 2 days! I can't believe that much time has passed already since he surprised us with his cute little self. He is getting to be such a big boy. He's figured out how to pull himself to standing and now he's trying to figure out how to take steps. He is such a happy baby and the complete opposite of his brother. While Ethan is rambunctious and wild Finlay is quiet and reserved. He likes to take his time with things and tends to just go with the flow. He still only has 7 teeth but he is always chewing his fingers. So far Mama is the only word he has said (unless you want to count Na na na na while twisting his tougue LOL) When he says Mama it just comes out of nowhere. I can't get him to say it when I ask him too (go figure) but then when he just sitting and playing with his toys he will just suddenly start saying Mama repeatedly. I'm going to be making an appointment with Julie (the girl who handles his hearing aid) and have the volume on it adjusted. Now that he is bigger and sitting well on his own she can put him in the sound booth to help measure where his hearing aid needs to be adjusted to. I will make the appointment for a time while Ethan is in school, much easier that way.

Finlay is becoming quite the little beggar when someone has food. He will follow us or Ethan around hoping that we will share. The other day Ethan was sharing some Cherrios with him. Fin loved those. Matt shared some Kiwi with him a few nights ago. The little piggy got mad when it was all gone. Of course Fin's favorite game is to chase one of the poor kitties around until they leap over the gate. He has a thing for Peek a boo because she will let him pet her on occasion as long as she can lay in someones lap. Carmel never shows his face when Fin is on the loose he remembers what Ethan used to do to him. Although Finlay is much more gentle that Ethan was but he still likes to pull their fur. Ethan was the eye poker. Fin just likes their softness.

First words

Finlay said his first word on Tuesday. Guess what it was? MAMA!!! That so made my day. We went up to the hospital to have lunch with daddy and then go to visit Grandma Judy. As we were sitting at the table eating Fin was babbling away when all of a sudden he just blurts out "Mama mama mama" Then on Weds I was sitting on the couch playing with Ethan (he learned something new on his Mobigo) and Finlay pulled himself into standing position (yes he has mastered that) and reached one little hand up to me and said "Mama" I scooped him right up and got big smiles from him. He is growing so fast. He started pulling himself up to standing this week, I now find him standing in his crib every morning waiting with his award winning smile. It won't be long and he will be cruising around with the furniture to guide him.

Every morning I get to listen to him giggling in his room because his older brother comes in and plays with him. He loves when he gets to play with big brother Ethan. He likes to wander into the toy room and play with Ethan. This afternoon Ethan was pushing him on the swing and Finlay was laughing and just loved that his brother was paying attention to him. It was just too adorable.

On the move

Finlay has been on the move now for about 3 weeks and he is working on pulling himself into standing. He has accomplished it once so far in his pack and play. Now that he is able to move around he is always chasing after his brother. He doesn't do too bad keeping up with Ethan. He sees it as a game. Naturally he likes to chase after the cats too. They tend to run from him but he is all about catching them and he thinks it's funny.

Fin had his 9 month check up today and he is up to 15.2lbs and 27" long. He is growing so fast. He's small for his age but developmentally he is doing great. Ethan was small for his age too for about the first year. He tended to hover around the 20th percentile and then he just started sprouting upwards. It will probably be the same for Finlay.

Fin is doing all sorts of things now from crawling, to holding his own bottle, to trying to stand, and of course he always has something to say too. He likes to put in his 2 cents on things. He also popped another tooth a little over a week ago so that makes 7 teeth (4 on the top 3 on the bottom).  He is getting too big too fast that is for sure.

He's crawling!

It's official Finlay has become a crawler today. He has been on the brink of crawling for about a week or so. He has come close a few times but has been thwarted by his older brother who thinks he should just had Finlay his toy LOL. Today I put my ring on the floor to get his attention and he was all about getting to the shiny pretty. It was an awkward crawl but he got to what he wanted. He thought he was big stuff then. I guess it will be soon time to put up the baby gates and cover all chords and outlets. Soon enough he is going to be covering the room.

He had another first today too. He has started clapping for himself. It was so cute he was sitting playing with his toys and every time it played music he would clap and give me a silly smile. He can be such a goofball sometimes.

Finlay has started holding his own bottles too. He's been on and off with it for the last few weeks. He seems to just enjoy having someone else hold his bottle so he can snuggle or grab for things. He is a little stinker in the grabbing department. I call him "Grabby Gus" all the time. He thinks it's funny.

He is getting to be such a big boy having all these firsts at the age of 8 months old. He is growing up so fast. I keep telling him that he doesn't have to be in a hurry to take his time I'll be OK with that but apparently he doesn't want to take his time.

I need to post some pictures of Finlay on here but I can't move the pics from my phone to my computer for some reason. I will have to figure out another way to post those pictures of him.

Happy Mommy's Day To My Mommy!!!

Dear Mommy,

     I wanted to do something special for you on Mommy's Day. I though and thought about what I wanted to do for you. I don't have any money so I can't buy you anything. So I decided to surprise you by sitting up all on my own!! I hope you were surprised I've been working on it for a month now. Thank you mommy for changing my diapers, feeding me, and being up with me at all hours of the night. I love you Mommy!!!

     Love your very cute, adorable, sweet angel
                             Finlay