We leave tomorrow morning!

I don't remember being so excited for a vacation since I was really little and going to Hawaii with my family. I can't stop thinking about the things we are going to do, the sun, tuning in 100% to my baby and husband and nothing else. What bliss!

Finn had a huge appetite this morning and ate an egg, 2 big slices of cheese and some tapioca pudding. Good boy. He also has been watching Inca eat directly out of her bowl and thought he would try eating directly out of his bowl.

Some other new Finnisms:

*He is thisclose to walking
*He can say 'dog' really well now, but has stopped saying 'airplane'
*He can point out objects in books when you ask him to
*He 'reads' out loud to himself when he finds a book on the floor
*He loves water-- puddles, bowls of it, showers, pools, lakes
*He is SUPER outgoing and happy to be with just about anyone
*He has started calling me 'Daddy' but when he really wants my attention he will say 'mum-ma' (and yes, he says it with the long u, not the short a of the American 'mama')

Finn's Stats

Finn in the backcountry of Mount Rainier National Park.

We went backpacking at the beginning of the month (Finn's first multi-night backcountry adventure) and had a great time. Unfortunately, a week later I came down with a violent case of the parasite Giardia. My mom (who was with us) came down with it a couple of days later and then Nick started showing signs. We all took medication and are back to our normal selves, but I have been worried about Finn coming down with it, so we went to the doctor to get some baby meds in case he does.

Besides charming the whole doctor's office with his adorable, outgoing antics, Finn weighed in at 22.2 lbs and 33 inches long (that's almost three feet tall!!). I usually don't really care for statistics and which category our baby falls into, but he is in the 97th percentile for height and 25th for weight. Which means that, as Nick and I already know, the little bugger needs to eat more.

On another note, we have been working on sleeping through the night and last night, we had our first true success! I rigged a plastic mug to the side of his crib where he could easily see it and left him a big bottle in the plastic mug so he could have his midnight snack without waking us up. And it worked! For the first time in 10 months and 3 weeks, we woke up to our alarm at 6:15 this morning, having slept the entire night without interruption!

Needless to say, we are thrilled beyond measure. The possibilities feel endless (what? no brain-dead, sleepwalking our way through the day? think of how productive we will be! how much less cranky and more loving we will be!) And it couldn't have come at a better time... our first major family vacation is days away and I might even come home more rested than I ever thought possible!

Time capsule

Remember this picture?

And here he is a couple of nights ago. Same sink, bigger baby (who is blurry because he wouldn't hold still and was splashing water everytwhere).

What Finn thinks of Morning Naps and the rest of our routine

This is what Finn thought of my attempt at getting him down for his morning nap before I left for work:



We had a great routine going for a while. We all wake up between 530-6am. Finn and I play, eat breakfast, make a sack lunch, clean up the house and take a shower. I then give him a bottle and put him in bed at 8:30 and he is alseep by 8:45 which gives me 15 minutes to get any last minute things done and out the door to work.

By the time Finn wakes up (10:00 ish), Nick has had a full 4 hours of alone time to work. Once Finn is awake, they play, take Inca for a run, do some housework, eat lunch and then run errands. Nick waits to make all his important phone calls until after the errands when Finn is alseep in the car (what a smart Dad!).

At 4pm, Finn is awake and spends the next hour playing in Nick's office while Nick alternates between work and keeping the little artist from escaping (deck stairs are a challenge that he simply cannot resist). I come home at 5pm, grab Finn, feed him while I make an adult dinner, Nick and I eat and then we wash the dishes in one side of the sink while Finn has his bath in the other. Then bottle-blanket-bed at 6:30 or 7pm, depending on how tired Finn is.

Unfortunately, we haven't managed a good nighttime routine yet. He still wakes up 2-3 times a night for food, of which maybe he puts himself back to sleep once. The other two times he will down a huge bottle in seconds and go straight back to sleep. We have been considering the cry-it-out method but parental intuition tells us he is a high-metabolism kid who is highly active and just gets starving at night. He isn't looking for attention or cuddles, just the bottle. We try to carbo-load him during the day so he needs less at night, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Any suggestions?

This Boy is Loved

We had a very wonderful week last week.

Finn is in a magical phase right now. He is so happy, easygoing and curious about the world around him and his place in it. Nick and I feel like we are watching this beautiful, witty little personality unfold in front of our eyes and it is truly amazing.



Eating and laughing at silly parents


Kissing Daddy through the glass



Sitting in the sun after a swim in Lake Washington with mama

Coming soon... pictures from Finn's first 3-day backpacking trip around Mount Rainier

Dinner time