Finn Augustus || One Year

Last Friday, our little Finny boo turned one! This has literally been the fastest year of my life. I'm not ready for this little guy to enter toddler hood but he is more than ready for it.

He's still not quite walking but he's right on the verge, creeping along couches and tables and crawling faster and faster each day. He's entered the climbing phase and is quite the little monkey, scaling over couches, pillows and anything we try and put in his way to corral him.

He's still sleeping like a champ, sometimes 12 solid hours a night (hallelujah!). His naps are shorter than Lincoln's were at this stage, but with the 12 hour night time sleeping schedule, that's to be expected.

He is the happiest little boy on the planet, but is starting to show early signs of those terrible twos. Throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way and arching his back. His tantrums are hard not to smile/laugh about though, because he literally lays down on his tummy and puts his head down and whines. Cute now, probably not so cute a year from now, ha!

He absolutely loves his big brother Lincoln and wants to be near him all the time. He thinks he is the funniest thing on the planet. I hope their bond stays strong throughout their entire lives.

He loves to "shake his head no." Can say "mama, dada and nana."

We're starting to try and show him his different body parts including his nose, eyes, ears and cheeks. He loves sticking out his tongue at you! He's learning quickly and loves to be included in all the things!

We are still struggling with the day care sicky ickies but he seems to be doing a bit better than before. We've had a few more ear infections but they are quickly cleared up with the drops prescribed him.

Finn brings so much light and life to our little family of four! While a year went by way too quickly, I'm so excited to watch him continue to grow and thrive over the next year. Let's just cross our fingers those two year old tantrums stay far far away!

Finn || Nine Months

Finn is 9 months old!! On Saturday actually....woops! I tried so hard to not be that mom that missed updating on time, but man two kids is real. He's weighing in at about 20.8 Lbs and around 29 inches long, but we'll get his official stats at his 9 month check up in a week or so.

Anyways, our sweet baby Finn turned 9 months old and is already crawling!!! He started right around 8.5 months and there is no stopping him. It's throwing me for a loop because we didn't need to baby proof all that much with Lincoln. He just didn't seem interested in things that were behind closed doors and always wanted to be close to me. Not true of Finn, not true at all. He is into all the things! Sticking anything and everything in his mouth, yes including dog hair and dirt and if you lose sight of him for even a minute, he's into something, he most definitely should not be. Also, why? Why, why why does he find cords so interesting and lunging off of high places, fear of heights he does not have.

Our Finny boo continues to be the happiest boy on the planet, even while having almost 6 ear infections over the past 3 months. Poor kid can't catch a break. He does officially have his referral with the ENT set for December 4th though, so hopefully tubes and healthy ears are on the horizon.

He popped through his first official two teeth this month, the two front bottom ones, so that adorable grin is even cuter these days. It's also helped him in the eating department now that he's able to chew a bit more. More finger foods are headed his way!

He absolutely LOVES his brother Lincoln. Hundred percent Lincoln is his favorite person on the planet right now and watching their relationship develop is adorable. I sure hope they always love each other this much when they're older.

We celebrated his first Thanksgiving and Nana's birthday last month so Finn got his fair share of new foods including a few Lebanese dishes thrown in. He loved all of it! He's a pretty good eater just like his brother was, but tends to be a bit pickier. He's also a fan of throwing food and his water cup on the floor which is new for us. Lincoln wasn't much of a thrower!

All in all it's been a wonderful month with our little huckleberry Finn! He's the best addition to our little family and we can't wait to celebrate his very first Christmas in a few short weeks!

Baby Finn || Eight Months

Finn is eight months old today! October was a big month for our little guy. He is eating 3 solid meals a day, starting to rock back and forth on all fours (I'm pretty sure he'll be crawling any day now), and is finally feeling better after being hit was the plague for 2 solid months.

We haven't had much weight gain the past few months because he has been so congested for so long. He is weighing in at 20 lbs and is 29 inches long. He even got hit with a double ear infection this month....one more and it's likely we'll have to do tubes. But through it all, he's remained the smiliest little dude around.

We're headed into the holiday season so it's going there will be a lot of upcoming first for our little guy. He had his first trip up to Greenbluff for the pumpkin patch, his first Halloween Carnival at school and his first Halloween (he was a little convict). I am a holiday loving machine, so getting to celebrate with both my little guys is always a treat.

This month Finn has been all about his brother Lincoln. They grunt and scream at one another, each trying to be louder than the other. While it can get rather loud, and I want to shut it down, because who likes to hear kiddos screeching at one another, it's just soo cute, so we let it go for a bit here and there. Finn lights up when he sees Lincoln and watches him like a hawk. He's realizing how autonomous Lincoln is compared to him, and that has him itching to start moving on his own.

Sleep is still a struggle for Finn, but we are officially trying to crib train now. We had tried to start last month and then again at the beginning of this month, but he just kept getting sick and it broke my little heart to try and crib train him while he was struggling to sleep already due to the congestion. He's been in his crib for about a week now and while we're still having to get up with him, he's making good progress.

Time always goes by way too quickly when they're this little. I'm still sad that I haven't had a chance to stay home with Finn as long as I did with Lincoln, but his personality is so happy and he's so easy going, that it doesn't seem to both him that much. He's adjusted to daycare rather quickly and while he doesn't cry when he's dropped off, he is definitely happy to see me when I walk in the door at the end of the day.

Every day, we learn something new about our little Finny boo and I can't wait to see what next month entails!

Baby Finn || Five Months

Baby Finn is five months old! He is growing too quickly for me. He is such a big boy and is already rolling over and starting to sit up by himself for a few seconds here and there. He is weighing in at 18.9 lbs and is about 27 inches long. We'll get more "official" stats at his 6 month well baby checkup.

He is most definitely teething.  His hands are always in his mouth and he is a pile of drool! Anything and everything he can get his little hands on goes straight into his mouth. Similar to his big brother, he prefers to chew on softer items like stuffed animals, blankets, etc. His little elephant lovey and a GU sock monkey are getting a lot of action these days.

It was a big month for our little dude. We got the green light on starting food with Finn and have been testing out a few things here and there. So far he's had avocado (a fan), oat cereal, bananas and carrots (he seems so so on these three), and apples and nectarines. He is a definite fan of apples, those seem to be his favorite so far! Every couple of days we start introducing him to something new depending on whats in our kitchen.

We're planning on doing a similar plan with Finn that we took with Lincoln when it comes to food. I made all of Lincoln's baby food and we started out with pureed fruits and veggies to start and then slowly moved into baby led weaning once he was 100% sitting up on his own and has the whole "chewing" thing down. I think we're about a month or so away before we'll start doing baby led weaning for now.

Finn also got to meet his Grandma Chong for the very first time! She flew in the last week of July for Lincoln's birthday and it has been fun watching them meet.

Sleep is still problematic. He refuses to nap on his own for more than 30-40 minutes at a time, preferring to be held most of the time. At night, we are still co-sleeping and while he was getting a bit better, only waking up around 2x a night, the past week or so we're back to closer to 3 and sometimes 4 night wakings. He is still eating twice a night and while we are slowly slowly trying to wean him off those nighttime feeds, he is still struggling to finish his 7 oz bottles during the daytime, which makes him hungry at night.

We also got our first ear infection, poor thing. He was on antibiotics for a good 10 days but handled it like a champ. And even though he was clearly uncomfortable, he was still all smiles most of the time. I hope his happy little disposition sticks. He is such a joy to be around and so much fun to play with!

He seems to be doing really well with my transition back to work and Kevin stepping in to the role of stay-at-home dad. It's awesome to see them get this bonding time together since Kevin had to miss so much of the early days with Lincoln. He'll head to daycare a few days of week starting in September, but for now, he's happy spending his days with daddy!

Finn and Lincoln continue to be each other's biggest fans. While we are still having to remind Lincoln to be a bit more gentle with him, most days, Lincoln is loving his little brother something fierce and Finn's face lights up with smiles when he watches his big brother play. You can see he is just chomping at the bit to join in with Lincoln and I'm sure that day is not far off.

Finally, our little dude is already on the move! He is a determined little bugger and is scooting like crazy. He doesn't quite have the arm strength to push himself up and actually crawl, but his legs are crazy strong and he will dig in and thrust himself forward with his legs. It's amazing to watch and a little shocking to see such a young babe move like he does. I have a feeling we are going to be given a run for our money with this little dude.

That wraps up month 5! We fall more and more in love with our little guy each and every day. He is just the best! Last but not least...this month's stats:

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 18.9 lbs
Hates: He is such an all around happy boy. There isn't much he's not liking these days, although he is a cranky pants when he's tire or hungry! 
Loves: Sleeping on mama, bath time, music and smiling at people. He is loving peek-a-boo and patty cake as well! 
Head: He's got pretty good head control these days. And we are close to sitting on our own! 
Eats: Eating is hit or miss. We're really working on getting 6 -7 oz in him in one feeding so we can consolidate his feedings to daytime and wean him off his nighttime feedings. He started eating food this month as well and has had avocado, oat cereal, carrots, banana, apples and nectarines! 
Sleeps: Sleeping is not his strong suit, but I'm still holding out hope it will get better here one of these days. 

And for reference...Lincoln's 5 month update is here! 

Baby Finn || Four Months

Today marks four months for our happy baby boy! It also marks one month since mommy headed back to work. While those first couple of weeks were rough, we're adjusting fairly well over here. It's been so great that Kevin has been able to stay home with him this summer as well.

Finn is still the happiest baby, smiling at everyone and anyone. However, a bit of stranger danger has set in and he is not interested in anyone but mommy and daddy actually holding him. He's cool with you if you look at him, play with him, go all googly eye at him, but as soon as he realizes mommy and daddy aren't holding him, he loses it.

Our little guy is growing like a weed, but his weight has started to taper off and he is being stubborn when it comes to trying to get him on a schedule and increase his daytime feedings/taper off his night time feedings. He is still waking up every 4 hours or so at night to eat, but is easy to put back down for the most part. We won't start full on sleep training till he's closer to 6 months but we are trying to ween him off his nighttime feedings, slowly.

He also go hit with his first cold and ear ache this month. Poor little dude. Even through this, he's been so happy and such a joy. If he hadn't been pulling on his ear, we probably would have never guessed he had an ear infection.

We took him to the doctor because we suspected he had an ear ache and were told that he's starting to get a little lopsided/have a flat head on his right side. He's a side sleeper and prefers to sleep on his side rolled into me, and gravity, it seems, is starting to have an effect. We don't yet have to go to the extreme of getting him a helmet, but we are taking some steps to hopefully fix it before it gets worse, including forcing him to look more to his left, and build up those muscles and encouraging him to sleep flat on his back as opposed to his right side.

Everyone is still smitten with baby Finn! Lincoln has been the best big brother and is so good with him. Mostly we see him acting out toward mommy and daddy as he tries to work through not getting as much attention as he's used to. Overall, Lincoln is doing so well with him and Finn is fitting right in with our little family.

Finally, Finn rolled over both back to tummy and tummy to back right around 3 months, but has since decided he's not interested in it and hasn't rolled over either way since. We're working on strengthening those muscles and getting him to roll over along with more and more head control every day! He loves jumping around in his excersaucer too! He's also increasingly able to control his hand movements more and more everyday.

It always amazes me how quickly they grow. It's true what they say, the second time goes by even faster than the first!

Last but not least...this month's stats:

Height:  25.5 inches
Weight: 16.2 lbs
Hates: Stranger danger has kicked in a bit and while he's happy to smile at other people. He does not want anyone but mommy and daddy holding him. 
Loves: Sleeping on mama, bath time, music and smiling at people. 
Head: He's got pretty good head control these days. We're working on fixing the beginnings of a flat/lopsided head. 
Eats: Eating is hit or miss. We're really working on getting 6 -7 oz in him in one feeding so we can consolidate his feedings to daytime and wean him off his nighttime feedings. 
Sleeps: Starting to nap on his own, but still co-sleeping with us at night. 

And Lincoln's four month update for reference is here too!