Winding Down

There are only a couple of weeks left of my maternity leave.  Since the end of September it has felt like everything from that point on would be about getting Finn ready for daycare - deciding which daycare he would be going to, trying to wean him (notice I say 'trying'), doing daycare visits.  In the end, it hasn't been as much about getting ready for daycare as I would have thought.  There are actually days when I have to remind myself that it's important for us to get another daycare visit in, rather than going and doing some fun mom and baby thing....or maybe that's the part of me that's in denial!  I think that overall, I will be happy to be back at work.  I love being home with our little munchkin but I don't think I'm cut out to be a stay-at-home mom (so I say now...I reserve the right to change my mind after I'm back at work!).  The daycare visits are as much for me as they are for Finn - something I'm not afraid to admit.  With every visit he gets more comfortable and so do I.  But really and truly, I think he's going to love it there.  Now when we go in, he smiles and crawls off to play right away.  And that's just after a few short visits.  I know there will be an adjustment when he's actually there all day without me, but it's reassuring to know that at this point in his little life it's a place that's associated with fun and happiness.

Halloween

Our little monkey didn't nap well on Halloween (and he currently goes to bed around 6 p.m.) so we only made it out to a couple of houses this year.  But that didn't stop him from being super cute!

crawling around at our Mommy Group Halloween Party

Find Finn!

Finn's Fall Frolic

Last Friday, the weather was absolutely beautiful.  So Finn and I made the spontaneous decision to go out to Springwater Conservation Area for a photo shoot.  It was something I had wanted to do and I figured that the weather really couldn't get much better - warm and sunny with a gentle breeze.

Finn wasn't quite sure to make of the leaves at first....

 but after the initial 'ick' factor he decided he quite liked them! :)

practicing his crawling!

While we were there, we drank in the deliciousness of fall.  That fall smell that is a combination of leaves and cool, crisp air and campfire.  We watched as leaves fluttered to the ground.  Finn kicked around and waved leaves in the air.  I told Finn how this is the best season of all.  Because how can you resist the beauty of the colours and the feel of fresh air on your face?  It's always been my favourite.  And Springwater is probably one of my favourite places to go this time of year.  One of my favourite places with one of my favourite people.  It doesn't get much better than this!   

Finn's Solution to Teething

As we were attempting to clean up a couple of weekends ago, we came across this little massager that James got as a gift from one of his students last June (bizarre, right?).  Finn thought it was great fun - first for chasing Oscar...(please ignore our Saturday morning pajama attire!)...

...and later for giving some relief to some sore gums...

The current count is four, yes count 'em, FOUR teeth coming in right now.  And who knows?  There could be an additional two making their way in, but the little man won't let me look at the right side of his mouth

Dear Finn...

Dear Finn,
Today you did so many new and interesting things that I thought I should write you a letter.

This morning I was changing you diaper and as usual, we were talking about the lion on the wall and how he says, "roooooar".  You love it when I point to the lion, the monkey and the elephant and tell you what sounds they make.  All of the sudden you got a little smile on your face and YOU started to make a little, "rrrrrrrr" sound!  I roared back at you and you roared at me and we smiled and giggled together.  This is officially your first animal sound.

Next we went to buy groceries and when we came home I brought in all of the groceries while you hung out in your car seat and watched.  When I brought you into the house you were really interested in the baby giraffe toy that you had left on the living room floor.  I put you down so you could play with it and when I was leaving the room (to put away the groceries) you kept looking at the ADT alarm box on the wall and then at me.  I think you know that when we come home I need to disarm the alarm.  You little smarty-party.

After your big nap I thought you might like to do some Jolly Jumping.  As I was getting you set up you let out a little, "YAY!".  We've been hearing you say what sounds like, "Yeah" sometimes, but this was your first big YAY.  HOORAY!

And then, while you were Jolly Jumping I was sitting over by the computer and singing to you.  I started to sing The Duck Song.  Your eyes were jumping back and forth between me and the computer so fast it was like you were watching a tennis match in super fast forward.  Usually when you hear The Duck Song you get to watch the video on YouTube.  I guess you were expecting the video to accompany my singing.....you are just so very, very smart.  (You also like The Duck Song 2 and 3 but I think we both agree that the first one is the best.)

Later on we were playing and your soother fell out of your mouth.  I picked it up for you and said, "Do you want your soother?".  Then you made a sound like, "Ooodah".  I was really starting to think I was hearing things but it was just so clear.

On top of all of this, you are finally figuring out how to crawl.  You can't move very far as of yet, but you are definitely able to move forward by a couple of wiggles before you fall on your belly.  It's taking you awhile to figure out all of this crawling business, but the reality is that you are very easy to please.  If you start to move towards a toy that you see and you realize that you can't get to it, you simply decide to play with something else.  It is only within the last 4 days or so that you have started to get annoyed about not being able to get where you want to go.  Soon enough you'll get there, my baby.

Last but not least, at dinner tonight you tried some chicken.  More specifically, it was the same chicken that Daddy and I had to eat.  This is a first.  You really didn't like the pureed chicken that I gave you awhile ago but you REALLY seemed to like this stuff.  The other night you had our potato soup and loved it.  Maybe you've been picky about what you've been eating because it hasn't been interesting enough.  We're going to try hard to give you more grown-up things to eat.  We just have to be careful because sometimes your body doesn't like certain foods and we want to make sure we know which things it doesn't like!  I'm so proud of you for eating all of that chicken tonight.  It makes me so happy to see you eat big people food and actually enjoy it.

Daddy and I love watching you learn and grow.  We can't wait to see what you're going to do next!

Love Mommy

Hives

Yes, hives.  Yuck.

On Monday morning Finn woke up from a nap with what I thought was a bug bite on his temple.  No biggie.  The kid had bug bites at the Lake and was fine, they usually disappeared within a couple of hours.  This one stuck around all morning.  And then when he woke up from his nap.....BAM!

All of the sudden they were everywhere!  I hurried down to the office and Google'd 'hives' and found pictures that looked exactly like Finn's skin.  Of course, I called the doctor's office but by 2:30 in the afternoon they didn't have any appointments left.  The nurse recommended that we come into the walk-in that night but magically the hives suddenly started to disappear (which prompted much picture taking on my part, just in case we ended up at the doctor's office with a hive-less kid).  We decided not to go to the walk-in since Finn was suddenly hive-less, only to have them re-appear around the time the walk-in opened.  Since he was a little cranky (apparently cutting two teeth and having hives will do that to a kid) we decided not to wait the long wait at the walk-in and get him some Benadryl instead.

So what caused the hives?  Your guess is as good as mine.  At this point we have it narrowed down to about 4 things.

1)  I had fed him yogurt for the first time on Sunday afternoon.  I hadn't really worried about it because he'd already had cheese and Baby Mum-Mum's have skim milk powder in them so I was pretty sure we were safe with dairy.

2)  Then on Monday morning I gave him a new cereal recipe.  I'd been searching for something inspiring to feed our picky eater on Sunday night and came up with this oh-so-simple Banana Mash recipe - 1/2 banana, 3 Tbsp oatmeal cereal, 1 tsp molasses, 2 Tbsp water.  Sounds yummy, right?  Finn would beg to differ.  He did ingest a couple of bites and molasses was something he hadn't ever had, but again, didn't really worry about it....because what are the odds that something wonky will happen with stinkin' molasses?!

3)  When I was talking to the pharmacist on Monday night, she asked if he had been on any new medications recently.  Why yes, he had - amoxicillan.  Her opinion was that the hives were most likely a delayed reaction to the antibiotics.  So even though he had finished the antibiotics on Saturday, it was still quite probable that he was reacting to them.  Our family doctor disagreed with this theory when we saw her on Tuesday (after the hives magically reappeared Tuesday morning) but agreed that we would be careful if we ever had to give him amoxicillan again.

4)  A friend of Finn's came down with a respiratory infection and had hives.  He was mouthing all of her toys just a couple of days before she had hives.  Therefore, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he picked up her germs and got himself infected.  I've since had others tell me that their own kids have had hives with different viruses.

So who knows???  It's anybody's guess as to why the poor little man had them.  We will definitely be more careful as we continue to introduce new foods but hopefully that's the last we'll ever see of them!

Sick, sick and more sick!

At 2:13 a.m. last Monday morning I heard Finn sneeze.  And I knew.  I knew that he was sick.  It wasn't his regular little sneeze.  Sure enough all day his nose just oozed and every time he sneezed it was, well, gross.  He also had thrush....again.  For the second time in a month.  Bah.  Tuesday, the grossness continued along with a fever and by Wednesday we decided it was time to take him to the doctor.  I fully expected to leave the doctor's office that night hearing that he had a virus and it needed to run its course.  Nope, he had an ear infection as well as thrush AND a yeast infection in his belly button AND a potentially yeasty diaper rash (not to mention the cough and congestion that was still hanging around).  The poor little guy!  And of course, through it all he remained relatively happy.  He was not a fan of tummy time or going to sleep lying down but otherwise he was still full of purpley grins.  He is still on antibiotics and not completely himself, but he is most definitely on the mend.  In the meantime, we're pretty sure that he is working on a tooth or two.  Why not?

A Few of Finn's Favourite Things

Finn has always had preferences about a few things - toys and books he likes, books he doesn't like.

Here is our current list of his top 5:

#1.  His soother (well, any of the Avent soothers that we own) - this one definitely belongs at the absolute TOP of the list.  We don't leave home without it.  But for Finn, it's not only a soother - as in that thing you suck on to soothe yourself - but also a toy.  He stuffs it under blankets and pulls it out again.  He throws it away from himself and then he leans over to reach it or gets up on all fours to try and get it back again.  He shares it with us (which he thinks is hilarious) and Oscar (which we do not think is hilarious) and more recently, other babies (instead of them attempting to steal it).

#2.  A close second is probably the soother strap.  You know, the thing that connects the soother to a baby's clothes so that it doesn't hit the floor when it pops out of his mouth when you're out in public?  As soon as he sees it he gets excited - smiling, arms waving, grabbing at it, crying when we won't let him hold onto it.  Again, it's not just a soother strap for Finn.  He loves to try and pull it off of his clothes (and is often successful) and then wave it around in the air.  The only problem with this game is when he hits himself in the head with the metal part that clamps onto clothes....that only ever ends in tears.

#3.  The book 'Totty'.  This is a book that one of my nieces picked out for Finn.  It's about a baby turtle digging up through the sand and making his way down to the sea.  It has been a favourite of his since he was a newborn.  Initially I was convinced it was because all of the turtles have really big eyes that are black and white.  While he is well past the point of only looking at black and white things this book is still sure to put a smile on his face.

#4.  The drumsticks from his Bee Bop Band set.  It doesn't really matter which one, and again, this is a thing he has loved for months now.  He loves to wave it around in the air or tap it on the floor.  It sounds best when it hits hard flooring....just in case you didn't already know.  ;)

#5.  A pair of Joe Fresh pajamas.  Finn and I were perusing the baby boy clothing section at the Superstore when I saw a pair of pj's that looked awfully cute.  They have all different trucks on them and there kind of a funky texture - like velour, but not really (because velour kind of icks me out).  Finn loved them at the store and I thought that since he needed some pj's in the next size up anyway, we might as well buy them.  When we got home I hung them on the doorknob of the linen closet in the hall outside of his room (not sure about the logic, but nevermind!).  For the next few days, every time we walked past (which is quite a few times between diaper changes and naps) he would see the pajamas, smile and reach for them.  Now they're in our bedroom to be used as a toy when we need him to be entertained while we are getting dressed or brushing our teeth.  A pair of pajamas.  Who needs real toys???

Cheerios

We are currently in the stage of life where we find Cheerios everywhere.  Not just in the high chair after meals or the occasional Cheerio on the floor (Oscar is not a real dog and does not seem have the greatest sense of smell), I'm talking ev.ery.where.  Finn and I were at the doctor's office a couple of weeks ago and as we were waiting I suddenly noticed a Cheerio on the floor of the waiting room.  Hmmmmm....the other baby was just two months old so I was 99.9% sure that he didn't bring Cheerios into the office.  No, it was Finn.  A couple of rogue Cheerios had found their way into his onesie and they were now finding their way out.  First one Cheerio, then another.  Slightly embarrassing and amusing all at the same time.  And despite the fact that it means mushed up Cheerio on my kitchen floor from time to time - I love it.

I love that he loves Cheerios.  I love that he quickly figured out how to feed himself Cheerios (literally one minute I'm having to put them into his mouth and 3 minutes later I look and he's popping them in, one after the other).  I love that he recognizes the box and gets the biggest smile when he sees it.  And I love that it isn't necessarily about the fact that he is hungry so much as it is about something he can do for himself.  Our Baby Bean's first little glimmer of independence.

A Summer Full of Firsts

I realize that the title may sound a little redundant given that it is Finn's first summer, but it felt like he had a LOT of firsts.  To name just a few:

First plane ride (and first trip to Vancouver)

First time meeting his cousins Charlotte 

and Mia (and Uncle Jon...but we don't seem to have a picture of Finn and Uncle Jon together...oops!)

First two teeth!

(this is one of the only pictures we have where you can see just one tooth)

First time swimming in a pool

First time at the top of a mountain

First time on the Capilano Suspension Bridge

(okay, so this pic isn't actually us on the suspension bridge because that would be crazy to try to get a picture of, but it is on the 'Treetop Adventure' which is on the other side of the bridge)

First time with all of his Konrad cousins in one place

First boat ride (and trip to the cottage)

(surprisingly happy after a 10 hour trip in the van!)

First time swimming in a lake (and not just any lake...THE lake!)

First time meeting Uncle Donnie

First time dressing up as a pirate 

First time meeting Great Grandma...

....and her dolls!

(just a few of the 400+ dolls in this room at Great Grandma's house!)

I know there are probably more firsts that I haven't captured here....but you can't always be behind the camera!

I have to say that once again Finn was a super trooper through everything.  Two plane rides, being dragged all over Vancouver/Whistler/Vancouver, two 10 hour van rides (to the cottage and back), sleeping in numerous beds and houses that were unfamiliar, constantly getting in and out of a life jacket (there is no road access on our lake which means that any time you leave the cottage you are in a boat), swimming in the Lake (and actually seeming to enjoy it!)....he did amazingly well.  Every time we were ready to leave on another trek I would start to wonder how long we would be able to push our luck.  I figured that at some point Finn would give us a bit of a freak out after being toted around from province to province (Ontario-British Columbia-Ontario-Quebec-Ontario), especially considering that we weren't even home from Vancouver for a full week by the time we packed up and headed to the cottage.  But we never did get the major freak out.  Granted, he wasn't terribly impressed about the lengthy van ride home from the cottage...mostly he was hungry every two hours so we needed to stop so that I could feed him.  I had forgotten to pack him solid food (other than Baby Mum-Mums) as I am still getting used to the fact that he is eating solids on a regular basis.  After six hours of driving, Oscar and I traded places.  This meant that I could entertain Finn (and hopefully stretch out the time in between stops) and Oscar got (a) a bird's eye view of the highway and (b) some pets from James. I think everyone was happier!

And now we are home.  It was lovely to spend a month at the cottage.  We've never been able to do it (well, together that is...James did it all the time as a kid!) and it was incredibly relaxing to be there and not really have to think about when we were leaving.  At the same time, it is also wonderful to be home.  I walked in the door and thought, "I really love our house!".  It's nice to be in our own space and to be getting caught up on things that need doing.  We're pretty sure that Finn didn't even remember our house which is a little bit crazy (a month is a long time in an 8 month old's life!).  We would take him around and he kept looking at everything as though he had never seen it before....which was actually really interesting to watch.  It was fun to watch him rediscover his home - the family room, the playroom, HIS room.  And fun to see that the things he loved before are the things he loves now - the lamps in our bedroom (black & white with a fun pattern, perfect for babies!), the decals on his bedroom walls (animals), the mirrors...to name a few.  

So we're back, unpacked and pretty much settled back into life here at home.  Now Finn and I are looking into the fall to see what we will do to keep busy over the next couple of months - a membership at Vesta, getting together with the great group of moms and babes we met through our Just Beginnings 'class' and oh yes, getting a move on with the 30 day shred with Jillian!

Happy Canada Day!

Canada Day was pretty laid back for us this year.  It was James' first official day of summer vacation and it was all about hanging out and trying to figure out what the heck we needed for our trip to Vancouver.  I scored a good deal on a Canada Day romper at Sears so Finn was all decked out for the occasion (unfortunately he has outgrown his very cute Olympic t-shirt).

Happy Daddy Day!

Yes, this is a little late, but oh well!  It was James' first official Father's Day this year (other than to a dog or baby-not-yet-born) so we showered him with traditional Father's Day type gifts - these very fun Fire Wire BBQ Skewers and a much needed new electric razor.  James ordered up some blueberry muffins for breakfast so I made said muffins and instead of streusel topping I used apple crisp topping - a worthy (and TASTY) change I assure  you!


Finn and I also made him a cake and sang Happy Daddy Day - something I am sure will become tradition in this family due to James' sweet tooth!

Just because....

....he's so darn cute!

First...Swing at the Park

Yesterday Finn had a massive nap that lasted until after 7 p.m.  I was seriously considering waking him up but kept hearing, "Never wake a sleeping baby!" in my head.  So I let him sleep....but then we needed something fun to do so we went to the park so that he could swing.  We started in the very luxurious swing...

                                             (which James tried too)

....and then headed over to the other baby swing....and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't nearly as dangerous as it looked from afar.  For quite some time we've been thinking that Finn would be too small for these swings.  I thought he would fall right through the holes and James thought Finn would tip over backwards.  Both wrong.  It was perfect.

And just in case you didn't know, it's very important to hang on tight!

                               (and have some fun with your dad)

Who can resist....

....the baby bum in the air?

This was the first time we'd ever found Finn sleeping on his tummy.  And since it had taken some considerable effort to get him to sleep that night we decided we would leave him like that...he was on his back when he called for his 3 a.m. feeding....phew!

A Place to Play

As you know, over the May long weekend we (mostly James!) re-did the office flooring and added in a paint job just for fun.  We haven't moved everything back into the office yet, but we were quickly able to move most of Finn's paraphernalia into his new play space.  You know the types of things - exersaucer, jolly jumper, play mat and all of the other fun things that babies come with.  I think it's safe to say that Finn approves of his new playroom....'Frail Violet' and all.

And he's enjoying the new set-up for batting at things.

His play mat was getting a little small for him.  Once he would roll onto his tummy he would get all tangled up in the arms that held up the toys and it was just plain frustrating for everyone.  This way he can still bat at things and put them in his mouth but when he rolls he has a little more space.  We've even got his music worked into the new set-up (white triangle thing with blue straps on the blue mat) so it feels just like home. :)

Six Month Milestone

On Finn's six month birthday we decided it was time to measure him on the door.

Being a whole half a year old is pretty monumental so we figured it was time...especially since the little guy likes to try and stand these days.  Apparently our measurement was pretty accurate since the public health nurse said he's about 27.75 inches this week!

And just for the record...I'm pretty sure I could be a public health nurse at the well-baby clinics.  The idea is that you can come with all of your questions and the nurse will answer said questions as well as weigh and measure your baby.  My experience has been that the nurse simply agrees with whatever I think the answer might be.  So if I say, "We're having trouble breastfeeding.  He starts crying and pulling off and arching his back.  I think maybe he's angry because the flow is too strong."  She would agree.  If I then said, "Or maybe my milk supply is low."  She would say, "Oh, yeah, that could be...."  Then I might say, "Or maybe he's not really hungry and I'm trying to feed him."  She would say, "That's a very good possibility, it's so hard to know."  Really?!  I think I could say, "I think the sky is blue because my baby's eyes are blue", and she would agree with me.  Soooooooo not helpful!  I gave her one more chance this week.  I had lots of questions about poo.  No good answers or ideas coming from the nurse.  They are officially on weigh and measure duty only.  No more questions!

Busy Bees!

I've been thinking about how I haven't posted much lately.  And then yesterday Finn and I had the day to ourselves.  The ENTIRE day.  I started thinking how absolutely wonderful it felt...and how it felt like I couldn't remember the last time we had a whole day with nothing scheduled.  I looked at our calendar and this is what I saw:

You will notice that so far in June there is writing on every single day [except last Sunday when James worked on the flooring with the help of his wonderful father and I worked on the garden with the help of his wonderful mother who watched Finn for us!] until yesterday.  Who scheduled THAT?!  I'm thinking we'll be a little more cautious in our scheduling from now on because the last few weeks have been pure craziness!  It's not that I want to stay home all day, every day.  Certainly not.  I just like having days where nothing is scheduled and we're free to do our own thing if we want to.  It was getting to the point that I wasn't looking forward to certain things - like meeting up with other moms and babes for a walk started to feel like a chore when that is usually one of my favourite things!  So from now on - a little less scheduling, a little more relaxing and a whole lot of enjoying this precious time with the Finnopotamus.

Nail in the Eye!

After spending the weekend in Leamington (Finn and I managed to sleep through the tornado), I decided it was time to cut Finn's nails.  He and James were snuggled up on our bed so it seemed like good timing....baby entertained, another adult to help hold the flailing hands....clip, clip, clip, clip - CRRRRRRYYYYYY!  I thought I must have cut his finger but when I looked, his finger was fine.  Hmmmm....as I continued cutting the remaining nails (and Finn continued crying) we noticed that Finn wouldn't open his eyes.  And his left eye had tears coming out of his little closed lid. :(  When he finally did open his eye - there it was.  A stray nail clipping.  Oh the panic!  What can you do???!  You can't exactly stick your finger in his eye to get it out...   As he blinked it started to move to the corner of his eye and I was convinced it was going to somehow go behind his eye or somewhere where we couldn't see it.  Deciding that flushing his eye was his best option, James held Finn over the sink while I poured water in his eye.  After the flushing it appeared as though the nail clipping was gone.  Of course, I was still freaked out and thought it had somehow migrated behind an eyelid or something so I did what any other freaked out Ontarian mother would do and called Telehealth.  The nurse was incredibly kind and calm - 'It's just one of those crazy things.  You can't exactly avoid cutting his nails can you?'.  She, of course, suggested that we go to the hospital to get his eye checked out, because that's what the computer suggests when something 'sharp' goes in your kid's eye.  James promptly asked me what they were going to do at the hospital - 'Look at his eyes with special baby eye instruments?'.  Hmmmm....point taken.  So we stayed home - even though it was incredibly hard to resist the urge to rush him down to the hospital.  An hour later the incredible urge had past and I just looked at James and said, 'That was really scary.'  James replied with a very wise, 'He's probably going to have a few things like that in his life.'  Oh dear.  How very, very true.

Our Little Connoisseur

Last night we tried to get Finn to sleep for about an hour and a half.  He had been fed and changed, cuddled in our bed, left to try to sleep in his own crib, rocked and walked and sung to, given Advil (in case his teeth were bugging him), changed again, all with a precious soother in his mouth.....finally he spit out his soother.  It landed on the floor so I reached for the clean one on his change table.  The instant the 'new' (clean) soother was in his mouth his eyes closed and he was asleep.  Apparently the Mam brand soother that we have doesn't cut it.  He is an Avent man through and through.  An hour and a half all for a stinking soother.  Sigh.  It was just so ridiculous I had to laugh.

Queen Vicki's Weekend

Our May long weekend was a busy one.  James and his dad cleared out our office so that James could pull up the carpet and put down the laminate flooring in that room.  This will also become part playroom for Finn. By Saturday night the flooring was finished (I think, how terrible is it that I already can't remember specifics?!).  On Sunday we decided to paint the office/playroom 'Frail Violet' (what my neighbour calls a moody purple) and by Monday night we had a brand new room - our very own version of Trading Spaces.

In the meantime, Finn was busy tasting his first food....

   avocado!  (which he took like a champ and seems to really enjoy)

Getting his first tight spiral curl in the ridiculous heat......

....and having his first swim (or sit) in his baby pool....

He wasn't entirely sure what to think of the baby pool.  Poor little guy.  I bought the pool earlier in the week and got it into my head that I was going to set it up and get him into it and he was going to have fun - whether he liked it or not! ;)  Since I've been on maternity leave I've been finding that once I get an idea into my head I almost obsess over it until I've seen it through to completion (is this because I feel a bit like my brain is going to mush???).  Whether it's researching car seats online or setting up a baby pool, I feel compelled to do whatever it is until it's DONE!  Even when it's not entirely logical....you know, since Finn can't actually sit on his own at this point it's kind of difficult for him to enjoy a baby pool (hence the Bumbo chair).  We tried letting him lay down in the water (since it was nice and shallow) but that just ended in tears.  By the time we're up at the cottage it will be perfect.  In the meantime, I will try to resist setting it up for him even though he is starting to sit independently for a few seconds at a time. :)