Caught the Smile!

I finally caught a teeny-tiny smile! Here's a short video with the smile; watch close it's about ten seconds into the clip. You can tell Finley tries again, but its hard to coordinate those cheek muscles. In his attempts, he has a tendency to open his mouth wide; listen too, Finley talks a little on the clip. Sorry for the abrupt ending - I know, its gross!

Please ignore my annoying sing-songy voice, I love watching the video but I almost puke listening to myself...maybe that explains the ending of the video???

Monday I watched Spencer while Heidi was at class, Patrick came straight home from work for an extra set of hands. I wasn’t worried about Spencer (he’s the happiest baby I’ve ever met), but more worried Finley would be his sometime demanding-self. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised – Finley stepped it up and was showing off for Spencer. He happily laid on his playmat – no fussing! I put the boys down together to see what would happen; Spencer in his not-yet-so-graceful-way lovingly clocked Finley a couple of times, little Finley laid there and took it. I'm sure he'll attempt revenge someday (when he gains control of his arms and hands).
Spencer showed-off his rolling skills, and it didn’t matter that Finley was in his way…STEAM ROLLER, he ended up on top of Finley! Mom-of-the-Year that I am, I grabbed my camera for a picture before I rescued my child!
Both boys tuckered out, Spencer tried out Finley’s crib and Finley (for the first time ever) fell asleep on his playmat.
There’s a chill in the air – its getting cooler out (I love it!). We even turned our furnace on one morning for an hour to take the chill off (it was 65 degrees in the house). Mr. Finley’s hands were frozen when he woke up! Here he is bundled up for a nap – no, I don’t allow him to sleep with a blanket like this at night, only when I can continually check on him. What a snuggle bug! With cool weather comes warm jammies; Finley looks thrilled to see the puppies on his feet! Can't you hear him, "But Mom, the other kids will tease me if I have puppies on my feet!"

Finley and I like to go for walks, and we really like it when we have company. Last Sunday was rainy so Rachel and Carter walked the mall with us. On Tuesday Melissa and I caught up on a walk around the neighborhood.

Earlier in the week I had a dentist appointment (ick), so Grandma Lynn babysat Finley. He was a good boy for her; they read books, played with his toys and cuddled.
Our roommate is back! No, I didn’t regress to a paranoid mom (I still am), Patrick started painting the nursery; Finley will move back after it airs out. I'm so proud of Finley, for over a week we've put him down awake and he's gone to sleep on his own - not even a fuss! What a big boy!

The nursery in progress...Stripes - I love it!

Finley and I had a few dinner dates this week, unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures... On Wednesday we had lunch with Leslie, Caden and Stephanie. Leslie is another kindergarten teacher home on maternity leave; her baby Caden was an early bird too, he was born last May. Stephanie is our favorite, she was a very big support the first few days of Finley’s life – she couldn’t believe how much he’d grown! On Friday we had lunch with the kindergarten teachers and fish with Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Jim that night.

When Finley gets overtired he can be quite crabby, (I have no idea where he'd get that from, surely not me!) One trick we've picked up is stepping outside with him. I don't know if it's the change in temperature, air pressure or what, but instantly he's quiet. Trying to be creative Patrick bundled him out and set him on our deck in his bouncy...it worked for a few minutes!
My workouts were interesting this week. With Grandma & Grandpa out east, I didn't have the luxury of leaving Finley upstairs with Grandma when I hit the treadmill. I attempted to plan my runs around nap time hoping Finley would sleep through them. He did pretty well, there was only one day that he woke up and we had an issue...3.5 miles in Finley didn't want to watch me anymore, after an attempt to console him I decided to cut my workout short. Two minutes into our ride home Finley was asleep - U Turn - back we go...I win!

Saturday Finley was sleeping in his bouncy when I heard a “pop” sound coming from the bottom of the bouncy seat…I knew exactly where it came from and what it meant. Surprisingly it didn't wake Finley up, about 20 minutes later he began to stir just as daddy came home...ha, ha, “Patrick can you change Finley while I finish getting ready?” ha, ha… Holy BLOWOUT! It was our BIGGEST one! Poop was on EVERYTHING – Patrick gagged and I grabbed the camera! Twenty-five wipes cleaned the big damage, then Finley went straight to the tub!
We had our neighborhood block party this weekend, Patrick was on the planning committee and was out setting things up on Saturday. He stopped home around 1:00 p.m. and I asked him to watch Finley so I could have breakfast (yes, breakfast at 1:00 p.m.!!). This is his way of helping me out...and the Father of the Year award goes to....
The US Navy Blue Angels roared into town this week. On Sunday we invited ourselves over to Grandma Lynn & Grandpa Jim's for cheapseats on their deck. Finley watched from the window, he didn't make a peep!

Awhile ago we'd found dachshund clothing at Gymboree. Unfortunately they didn't have the boys' sizes. Good thing Grandma is a shopper, she found it all out east, how cute is this? Thanks Grandma!

Grandma and Grandpa missed Finley this week, they both thought he looked bigger and older when they got back - I guess we're doing something right!