Tonight was a really hard night as we said goodbye to our sweet brown bear, Hailey. This girl got me through so many stages of life over the last 14 years and 4 months. She was a constant source of affection, cuddles, kisses, and sass. She was the most loving dog with a vibrant and comforting personality. In her younger years she was a feisty and playful pup that couldn’t get enough of the outdoors. She would spend forever walking around the yard or laying on the patio.  She operated on her own schedule. She loved to lay in the grass and sniff the air. She wouldn’t get out of the pond when I took her swimming. Bear, Cameron, and Lily have always been three peas in a pod together. It’s hard to imagine life without Hailey. We’ve been on too many car rides to count, gotten treats from Starbucks together, trips to the pet store, vacations and long weekends to Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, mom and dad’s, etc. We celebrated every birthday together on August 22, complete with party hats, cake, and toys. She had no fear as she would be in a noisy work environment with saws and dust and even when we ripped out the carpet recently to prepare for Finn’s arrival she was around us the entire time just hanging out in the room while we ripped out carpet and staples. She always wanted to be around people and would follow you anywhere just to lay down next to you. She loved Finn and would often lick his cheeks and give him kisses. He climbed all over her and she didn’t make a fuss.

The last couple of months it was harder for her to get around. But she was one tough cookie and typically made it everywhere she needed to until this last week. Kevin had to carry her outside the last several days for her to go potty. She had been fighting a bladder infection over the last month or two and this week she was just not able to walk well to where she needed to go. Eventually she made it to her water bowl and her bed in the family room but it wasn’t easy for her. 

So we celebrate more than 14 years of love she gave us. All of the places we’ve gone, the laughs we’ve had, the tears she’s helped comfort, and the sweet girl that she was! We are blessed that she was our girl.

We love you brown bear. xoxoxo

Finn is becoming more independent all the time! We sat him on his rocker this week and he just had so much run rocking himself back and forth!  You can see for yourself here:

He also absolutely loves to bounce in his bouncy-chair-play-thing. We keep this in our bathroom so when we are getting ready or need to put him somewhere that he can’t get in to anything we plop him in there. He loves to spin around and his latest activity is crazy jumping and bouncing!

We started our week on Sunday with Kevin joining our church, NPC. We’ve been attending church together since before we were married and I’ve been a member for quite awhile. So it is nice to now me members as a family! It was a large membership group, you can see him in the middle left here 🙂 

We’ve had a busy week full of fun Christmas parties. Tuesday night was our Small Group Christmas Party. Finn loved being around so many other young kids. He and Caroline loved playing with each other and the glass door to the Kessler’s study!

We attempted to give Finn another minor hair cut for his 9 month birthday, we only did a so-so job this time. We are planning to make it to a real stylist soon as momma and daddy aren’t quite cutting the mustard! 

Finn absolutely loves to eat when we do. Every time we sit down to eat or get food ready when he is with us he starts to lick his chops! His newest foods include greek yogurt, purple carrots, zucchini, prunes, and amaranth – and the bad parental foods that we’ve shared of our own include mini tastes of a waffle and donut! So far he isn’t allergic to anything and he hasn’t refused to eat anything either! His new upper lateral chomper is showing more and more.  He absolutely loves to have free reign in the family room and play amongst the dogs. He doesn’t always play the most gently, but the girls are wonderful with him and tolerate anything he does!

Finn’s most favorite day this week was Friday, when he opened a most wonderful Christmas gift from his sitter, Tricia. It was an instant hit as you can see here! Tricia has been such a loving caregiver to Finn over the last 7 months. Being our first in home care giver things couldn’t have turned out any better. He sleeps so well, is happy and well cared for every day.  He smiles every morning when he sees her and she gives him the best cuddles. She will be moving on to begin student teaching in January and we are definitely going to miss her!

Despite the ugly and constant rain on Saturday, we enjoyed a nice stroll through the North Market followed by a lovely Christmas Dinner with friends at the Howards. I’m gonna sound like a broken record, but Finn just loves being around other kids and observing everything that is going on. He ate dinner with the adults and then had plenty of kiddos to watch him the rest of the evening! Kevin is modeling his white elephant gift (the scarf/hat) and his lovely gift from Mr. Howard, the boxers.