Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Today was a good day: here's the scoop.

1. It's Michelle's birthday! Hooray :)
Right now she is in first class on her international flight to Beunos Aires, Argentina. I hope she has a wonderful time and I'm just a teensy (well, maybe a bit more than teensy) bit jealous that I can't be there with her and D'Arcy.

2. Jaxon got a green stamp today, which means he had zero discipline problems!

3. We organized a Mommy School for Asher and his friends. I think it will be a lot of fun. (not as much fun as eating daisies, though)

4. Tonight at my mom's house, Finley learned to crawl! He's been so close for about a week, but now he can get about halfway across a room, we're pretty excited.

5. I cleaned my house. Well, a little bit of it, the kitchen and bathrooms. Still, that's a lot for me. Many thanks to Brittany for our scheduled playdate which encouraged the cleaning in the first place.

6. Katie is having a boy! Exactly what she and Justin hoped for. It's great news for them.

Wow, I didn't realize how many good things happened today until I wrote them down. Sweet.

Slimey Fingers Car Game

On our way back from Meghan and Brandon's house last night (thanks again for letting us help you eat your 15 lb baby bassinet shaped cake!) we found Asher and Finley playing their first little "game".
Asher would reach out to Finley's carseat and say, "Touch my fingers, baby." Then Fin would reach his slimey little fingers out to grab Asher's hand and Asher would squeal in delight and pull his hand away as fast as he could. Instantly, Finley would cackle his staccato giggle and the fun would start all over again.
It was pretty adorable, and I don't want to forget it.

Funny Fin

The last in my three-part series about things I love and want to remember about my children.

I was actually worried about finding things to remember about Finley because he's still so small, doesn't move much, doesn't talk, etc. But, the first weekend in August we had our annual hemophilia conference for Arizona and he was in nanny care for most of the time. It was amazing to see how the nannies responded to him. It helped me realize I take for granted many wonderful things about him.
Mr. Square-Face
With cheeks the size of golf-balls, and with as much storage as a chipmunk's, Finley gets the most comments about them. One of the nannies said, "I could suck on those cheeks all day." True, dat. Because his cheeks are so big, it makes his face almost square.
The best part about Fin's cheeks is when he smiles. Somehow the muscles in his face have grown strong enough to lift the mass of flesh that hangs on either side of his mouth into a brilliant, enthusiastic smile. His smile takes up 90% of his face, and most of his body, too. It's not captured adequately in pictures, but everyone who met him kept commenting on his smile.

Little Birdy
When he gets excited, baby Fin will start flapping his arms and legs like a bird. I swear he wants to fly up into my arms and just sit perched while I cart him around, like his very own tree.

Bottle Lover
Breastfeeding has been a love-hate thing for me. With Jaxon, he finished nursing at 9 months, Asher was 14 months and I only weaned him because I was pregnant with Fin. So, despite his similarities to Jaxon, I was still surprised that an occasional supplemental bottle of formula became Finley's favorite thing. When he sees us shaking it up, he starts to flap and pant. Unlike when I try to nurse him and he throws his head back and cries, or worse, bites me with his 5 teeth.
So, he's a bottle baby now. He weaned himself at exactly 9 months and that's fine with me. (but, I do miss the extra 500 calories I could eat every day!)

Part of the Fun
Of course babies like to see what's going on. Fin is no different, but I was surprised this weekend to see how happy he was. He's been pretty grumpy the last few weeks, and I've realized, he just loves to watch the action. Seeing other children playing, or people talking is just delightful to him. He's thrilled by everyone that looks at him, that smiles or waves. He soaks it all in and reflects a light that's totally visible through his eyes.

Long Gone
When Mark and I went to Sunstone last week, we missed our kids so much. When Finley saw me, he looked blank for a second, then got a huge grin on his face. When I picked him up, he wouldn't stop grabbing my face, my nose, eyes, cheeks. I think he wanted to make sure I was really there.

Here's great-grandpa Starkey with Fin on our trip to Utah in July.

Here's Fin practicing his V-ups. He'll sit like this indefinitely, sill someone helps him sit up.