It was a big week in the Armstrong house  – our growing boy is now facing forward in his carseat! We decided a couple weeks back that on Finn’s 20 month birthday (which also fell on our 2nd wedding anniversary) we would turn Finn around in the car. He has been ready for quite awhile with his legs bending while he’s in his seat. Our car seat requires them to face backwards until at least 22 pounds, which was long ago, as he currently weights 25.5! He is really enjoying facing forward, and don’t worry – he wasn’t fully strapped in yet in the photo above 🙂 . Of course, there is a better view of Elmo on the TV and he can see the ‘tucks’ much better. The second photo here makes me chuckle – it is Finn being silly and squinting while he is playing games with his eyes. He’s so funny. Anytime I say “close your eyes” he makes this type of exaggerated squinting face. 

We started our week with lots of sleep followed by another round of making chocolate chip cookies. This might explain why the scale is going in the wrong direction for me!! Finn’s bed is filling up with soft things these days – every night he goes to bed with fishy, doggie, blanket and his paci (which he holds in his hand). But lately we’ve added even more: scoopy (his blanket with a doggie head that we took everywhere in his carseat when he was a baby), yaya (elephant), and the latest is duck (his new plushy from our trip). And look at Mr. Cookie Monster himself, complete with the Cookie cup, socks, and freshly made chocolate chip cookie in hand (and lots of flour on the chair and floor!).

Wednesday we left for our short Anniversary trip to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We stayed in a small cabin in the same area we were in last year and enjoyed a couple days of a very loungy, slow-pace, with naps for everyone! We are so lucky that Finn sleeps well no matter where we are. We arrived around 11 pm and shortly after we had his bed setup and he went right to sleep in a new and unfamiliar place.  He slept like a rock every night and took a 2 hour nap everyday! We also went on a few adventures: The Dixie Stampede which is a dinner attraction, featuring horses, that had a Christmas theme. We went last year and Finn was mesmerized by the horses – and this year he was as well. He sat on my lap the entire time (1.5 hours) and ate plenty of dinner. This year we also checked out Dollywood where we met several characters including Rudolph, A Snowman, Santa and Mrs. Claus, we played in a Snow Globe, and we road a genuine coal Choo Choo train (Finn says it was “loud”, as he covers his ears when you ask him about it). It was a chilly day, but the sun was out which felt great.  This one cracks me up, I showed Finn a picture that he blinked in, so we re-took our selfie – where he re-enacted his “closed eyes”.  He really enjoyed the candy cane treat that he received after he gave his wish list to Santa.  We created a little reindeer keepsake that we got framed – it turned out really cute. We did a take-2 on his hand, as he was a bit too quick with the first one.  He loves to “peet” (aka paint).  Finn hadn’t had a nap all day, and of course, just before the parade began he fell asleep in his stroller. He was really warm and cozy in his new winter coat from the Bethune’s! And here are our photo op pictures – most of them turned out really well.  Full disclosure, we woke Finn up about 1 minute before he met Rudolph and there is a slight glare on the snow-globe but we thought it would be a fun image to have so we got it anyway. He was a bit scared of the giant snowman as he clung to my arm and hips as we got closer to him. Kevin and I asked him if he wanted to pet the nice snowman and he kept saying “no pet now, no pet now, no pet now” while shaking his head no. He is definitely beginning to show some timidness in situations he is unsure of. We watched a 50 minute show based on Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol at Dollywood and there were holographic images, one of which was rather scary and he tightened up and was a bit shaky for a quick minute. But he was such a good boy and sat through the entire show paying attention the entire time!

On our Anniversary we went to the Lumberjack Feud, another dinner attraction, this one featuring dinner in a box (featured below, lol), lumberjack competitions and labrador retrievers competing in various events. We were in the first row but even so it was pretty hard to get any “good” photos of the dogs as they were so quick! It was amazing to watch them jump 5-6′ into the air to bite the buoy and then land below in the water. They also walked on moving logs in the water – it was really neat! And of course the lumber jack competitions, which feature some real-life lumberjacks that compete on ESPN and such! The last image is Finn with our “Dawson Family” team and the “cookie” that he was given by one of the Lumberjacks. 

We enjoyed a nice view and some fall foliage colors too. Here Finn is getting familiar with our cabin and his room.  He loved the lights and ornaments on the tree and he broke out in dance mode a few times.  He did really well in the car. It is a 6 hour drive (without any stops) and as per usual he only slept about 1.5 hours!

And we fit in a super-quick trip to The Christmas Place for a bit of shopping. We didn’t get much accomplished, as we had to head to our dinner show, but it was fun to see the lights and quickly walk through the shop. And here is a silly one from the week – Finn showing Sammy a new way to wear his shirt!