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

Well, we're home again.

Our summer in Alaska was a busy one for the whole family. Nick and I were busy with our work and Finn was busy growing out of the little baby stage and into the toddler one. He is 100% boy and is never content unless he is exploring, climbing, getting into mischief (silence is the telltale sign of this one) and learning new skills.

He has mastered crawling and is now practicing his hand at walking. He can stand up from a sitting position on his own and has taken one tentative step on his own if he is moving between objects. Although I have no experience in such things, I would guess he is mere weeks away from walking by himself.

Since our return, he has been mimicking us and animatedly tells us every word he knows when the known object appears. He started saying baby versions of Dada, Mum-ma and Inca while we were up in Alaska and since getting back to our cozy home near Boeing Field, he has learned 'airplane' (it comes out as air-day). Fortunately for him, an airplane flies overhead about every second and he is very quick to let us know. It is the first word he says and the last before he falls asleep. Today he was working on 'chicken'. Poor kid is attempting the hardest multi-syllabic words in the English language, but I suppose it is fitting-- the more of a challenge things are, the more engaged he is.

He is also reaching the stage where he wants to help with everything. I was folding clothes with him the other morning and was missing a sock that I had unknowingly dropped. I held up one half of the pair and asked him to find the other one for me, thinking it was merely a diversion tactic so I could finish the laundry. Shockingly, he crawled purposely away and came back a minute later with the sock I was missing. It goes to show that these little ones are far more observant than we expect.

Besides learning to talk, walk and fetch, Finn has remained an incredibly outgoing, happy baby. He is known to contentedly wander off with the waitress at a restaurant, reach out to smelly fishermen and wave and smile at just about any person in the world. He has recently acquired a little bit of mommy-attachment, but if someone else is doing something more exciting, he will eagerly join the fun.

Overall, Finn is a joy to parent and life is good. We'll keep updating more regularly now that we're home.

Lots of love to all...

Sour!!!