Category Archives: winter

January 11, 2014

DSC_0286We finally got some of that white stuff and super frigid temps to go with it! It was so cold out, we weren’t really able to play in the snow. Finn and Daddy did shovel the driveway the morning the snow arrived. I think they both had some fun 🙂  Later that day Debbie, Finn, and Sam played with the snow in the warm indoors – lucky, eh?DSC_0288 photo (60)Monday Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong came up to play with Finn for the day.  Finn had lots of fun playing and showing Grandma all of his skills. It was frigid out, so we all enjoyed some spicy black bean chili for dinner before they headed back home.

Finn hit another milestone this week as he put on his pants and shirt all by himself! His pants were backwards, but we’ll take it! He has really been into picking out his clothes for awhile now either in the morning to get dressed, or at night he picks out his jammies. He also has put on his shoes or boots a few times but will usually ask for help. photo (59)I attended the CENTS show this week so Kevin and I were able to fit in two date-nights this week. We went out to dinner both nights as we met up after work. Our fave was G. Michaels. I had a delicious Roasted Butternut Squash salad followed by the Vegetarian Plate which also included grits. Here it is – it was AMAZING. And I brought home tons of it and enjoyed it on Saturday.  Yum!  Kevin enjoyed Fried Gerber Chicken with braised greens, cayenne mashed sweets, kitchen sink gravy, and pepper jam.

IMG_20150108_18541436620150108_185409We also celebrated Debbie’s one year anniversary with us on Wednesday.  I left early for work all week, so I wasn’t here in the morning, but Finn and I baked some vanilla cupcakes and decorated them with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. Debbie, Finn, and Sam enjoyed them for lunch, amongst other things, of course. DSC_0289It was a pretty typical week otherwise. Painting with some new sparkle paints, enjoying tomato soup, playing with tools, walking around like a blue monster, Lily enjoying the sunshine, and making Buckeyes in preparation for Monday’s National Championship Game!photo (58) photo (57) photo (61) 20150111_201648 IMG_20150110_101326949 IMG_20150110_113840583Here’s a cute video of Kevin and Finn reading night time stories tonight.  He was pretty loopy at the end!

Finn ~ 50 weeks

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Seriously, where does the time go? I’ve been thinking these past several weeks how time is just passing way too fast. How can Finn almost be 1 year old?? He is turning in to this little man and it is so fun to watch him every day, yet I frequently ask myself how can our baby be growing so fast?

He loves to be a bit mischievous and test the boundaries at times. Sometimes when we tell him no, he will look right at us and cautiously do it again – whatever it was.  Trying to see how far he can go, that little stinker! He’s loving climbing on things, including climbing into buckets or boxes, climbing on to his rocker, or at times, climbing on Lily! She just lays there and puts up with it, usually chewing her nylabone. IMG_20140224_174835727 IMG_20140224_175359588 IMG_20140224_175517311 IMG_20140224_175721029 DSC_0007 DSC_0008 DSC_0012 DSC_0025 DSC_0028 DSC_0031 DSC_0036 DSC_0037 IMG_20140301_081934463 IMG_20140301_082038194 DSC_0234 DSC_0254 DSC_0272 DSC_0278 DSC_0280

This week Kevin finished installing a new chalk board we purchased for the basement. Despite having a finished lower level, we didn’t spent much time down there ourselves or with Finn. However, after our trip to IKEA awhile back it is a much more kid-friendly space to play! Debbie plans fun activities with Finn and Sam each week. They’ve been coloring, painting, playing with bubbles, and playing with all of the toys down there. She took a few cute photos of them together this week too. Finn continues to cruise all along the furniture and he also pushes things across the floors (including his music table across the carpet). He’s wanted to take a few steps on his own but so far he only goes about one step before he falls to his bum. He is also quite good at lowering himself to the floor very gently!photo-2 photo (1)-2 photo (2)-2 DSC_0082 DSC_0084 DSC_0090 DSC_0091 DSC_0094 DSC_0100 DSC_0104 DSC_0108 DSC_0113 DSC_0114 DSC_0076 DSC_0118 DSC_0122 DSC_0129 DSC_0140 DSC_0163 DSC_0171 DSC_0173 DSC_0174 DSC_0177

We are in party planning mode and look forward to celebrating Finn’s birthday in a couple weeks with our family and friends. My office hours officially switch to 5 pm on Monday, March 3rd, and that is just the beginning of the longer days for me. I’m not really looking forward to the late nights, but will appreciate having such a flexible schedule after the spring craze is over. Renovations have begun at my office as well and as a part of this phase I will have an office of my own! I never really thought I needed an office to myself, but I am actually looking forward to having a space that I can work uninterrupted! It’s exciting and hopefully will be complete by April 1st! Yay! Other than the hours of sunlight getting longer each day, I’m most excited that Kevin and Finn will be able to come visit me in the Spring!

Kevin and I began a meal replacement plan this week. I have two shakes a day, breakfast and lunch, and Kevin has one for breakfast. Then we eat healthy snacks, like cottage cheese, yogurt, hummus, tuna, fruits, veggies, nuts, throughout the day. Can you guess which one of us eats which of those foods? :). Then we make a nice dinner of salad and a protein like steak or pork. I’m really enjoying it as I don’t really eat breakfast or lunch and I snack throughout the day. So this provides some consistency and I love that the shakes can be any flavor we want. So far we’ve stuck to mixed fruit and mixed berry, but this week I’m excited to try peanut butter banana and chocolate cherry! We use any kind of frozen fruits (or fresh), almond milk or oj, so the possibilities are endless. We splurged on Saturday night as we met up with the Ackerman’s on this side of the river for dinner at Easy Street, followed by a shared bowl of ice cream at Jeni’s! And correction from last week on mentioning Finn doesn’t care for raspberries! He actually is loving them, and had more than 10 tonight at dinner.  This little man has a big tummy, we haven’t figured out where it goes, but he enjoys having a good meal with mamma and daddy. This week some of his newer foods include steak, burger, cottage cheese, melon, avacado, curried brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and Jeni’s Salted Caramel and Milkiest Chocolate ice creams! DSC_0183 DSC_0193

Finn ~ 49 weeks

49 weeksWe’ve been feeling pretty yucky around here until the end of the week but fortunately by Friday both Kevin and I were feeling much more like normal, though not quite 100%.

As you see above, Finn is getting to be more and more fun with each day. When it’s bed time and it’s time for Finn to put on his pj’s, he crawls as fast as he can across the bed in his room, crashes on the pillows, and tucks his arms under his belly. Or, in the case of Saturday night, he stood up against the wall and started patting the Family Rules print! He was so spoiled while we were on vacation. He had the attention of someone at all times. He continues to love attention and in the past few days he has started scrunching his nose and snorting to get your attention.  It’s really rather funny.  We often mimic him and all get a good laugh.DSC_0708 DSC_0709 DSC_0717 DSC_0719

He is really picking up on using sign language to communicate “more”. He’s gotten rather good at pointing to something and just plain old whining for whatever it is he wants. So we’ve begun to ask him “what would you like” and he will point at something and then clap his hands, which is his version of “more”. It can be for food, a toy, you name it he does it. For the first memorable time he has turned down a particular food, raspberries. Not sure what he didn’t like, but he shook the entire hire chair to say no and spit them out! One not so nice newer trait while he is eating, if he decides he’s done with something or he just doesn’t want it – he drops it on the floor. Hmm, not loving that, but it’s all a part of how they learn, right?  Cammie and Lily inch their way into the kitchen hoping to get in on some treats. We’re trying to not let them in the kitchen while he’s eating but occasionally when we are all done we put some of Finn’s floor samples into their bowls and they love it!

Saturday was a nice warm day, so warm it almost seemed like spring was on its way. We ventured to the zoo for a brief visit and saw lots of animals. Finn’s favorite were the gorillas. DSC_0725 DSC_0729 DSC_0744 DSC_0746 DSC_0749 DSC_0750 DSC_0755 DSC_0759 DSC_0762 DSC_0766 DSC_0767 DSC_0780 DSC_0783 DSC_0784 DSC_0788 DSC_0812 DSC_0830 DSC_0845 DSC_0850 DSC_0853 DSC_0857

Debbie and Sam have loads of fun with Finn each day. This week they finger painted and bubble-painted and did some coloring cut-outs. It’s so fun to come home to cute pieces of artwork to hang on the fridge! And Debbie is great about putting pictures in our app during the day too so it’s a nice treat to see him having fun while Kevin and I are at work. Finn and Sam get along well together and each morning I bring Finn down he instantly smiles when he sees them both. They often mimic each other and here they are having a crawling race.

IMG_20140220_165446425Hard to believe Finn’s 1-year birthday is just around the corner! This week he’s moved in to some of his 12 month sleepers, which I honestly thought would be too big, but fit quite nice. See for yourself as he empties the wipes container, a favorite past time!  Have a good week!IMG_20140221_215843856 IMG_20140221_215949346