Finn is a ham. We say it nearly every day. He loves to make us laugh and is naturally a silly kid with so much character. But the age two has also brought lots of tantrums and other difficulties. Some phases, such as hitting for no reason, thankfully have ended, so progress is definitely being made. But he is sometimes incredibly stubborn, will throw huge tantrums about something ridiculous or something I don’t even understand, and still doesn’t really understand how a bribe works.

In February, Finn learned how to climb out of his crib. It was something I had been dreading ever since Eva was a baby, however she never did it and would have been content in her crib forever. But fiesta Finn figured it out and no solution seemed to work. I lowered the mattress to the floor. He still climbed out. I turned the crib around. He still climbed out. I was really worried he would get hurt, so we decided we needed to switch the crib into the toddler bed. I was such an emotional mess because I was not ready for this monumental step. He was still napping regularly and I could just lay him down at night for bed and he’d go right to sleep. I also just didn’t like thinking about my baby not being a baby anymore. I wasn’t ready for it! But alas, it had to be done.

It was quite a ride for February/March. He had this new freedom in his room so napping was a joke. I put a lock on the outside of the door to make sure he’d at least stay in there for quiet time though. Quickly I realized, I had to childproof the entire room. I took all the toys out of the room, removed anything that could be a distraction or could be a hazard, I even had to put a lock on the closet. Thankfully that helped but he still would occasionally just take off all of his clothes for no reason, which as you can imagine, sometimes turned into a complete nightmare. For whatever reason, he really only did all of this at nap times, for bed time he really was doing great in his toddler bed, so I figured out-if I wanted him to nap, I’d lay next to him for a few minutes and then he’d fall asleep. By April, he was over making the huge mess, and if he was really ready for a nap, it wouldn’t be a problem at all. So, we did it! We made it through that difficult (although sometimes hilarious because I never knew what I’d walk into when I went into his room) time!!! Hurray, me!

Other than the crib issue and the meltdowns that are normal for the terrible twos, we are still so obsessed with this kid. He loves to wear hats. He has a few buddies he loves so much, like Lincoln. He has a few stuffed animals that, at times, he wants to bring around with him everywhere. He has the funniest dance moves, mostly where he slaps his behind. Finn loves his sister so much, and if he wakes up before her, he is so worried where Eva is and really wants to wake her up. He still cuddles and will put his head on me when he’s tired, I love it so much. He finds the words “toot” and “poop” hilarious and sometimes replaces song lyrics with those words… oh boy. He can be tricked into napping if you tell him it’s not nap time, that it’s bed time. Everyday he tells me that it is his birthday. He would take a bath three times a day if I let him. He likes to be naked and is so proud of himself when he gets undressed by himself. He enjoys the pool, can swim with his puddle jumper now in the “blue water” aka the deep part of the pool. Every time his face goes under water, he screams, “YUCK!” He has the deepest voice. His favorite animal at the zoo is a cow. And last but not least, he’s convinced that his name is Finny, definitely NOT Finn.

LOVE YOU, FINNY!

Finn really wanted to wear these Crocs, but they didn’t fit in his in-step because his feet were too chubby. So, I cut the top part off and he loves them but they look so ridiculous.

“Look, I’m Katie!”

H

I can’t believe Finn turned two. These two years have flown by in some ways, and really have been so delightful. He is such a ham, tender-hearted, kind of a scaredy-pants, loves to make us laugh, a sleeping champ, has an awesome Dino rawr, and loves his “BEE-va” almost more than he loves his “mom” and “daddy.”

We threw him a little party at the park with his cousins and neighbors. The evening had great weather and the kids just played their hearts out on the playground.

When I said, “Happy Birthday, Finn,” to him that morning, he replied, “No! Happy Birthday, DINOSAUR!” He also wore his dinosaur hat all day long. But don’t let that fool you, he may act tough, but when I took him to the farm for his birthday that afternoon, every animal scared him, even the chickens and baby goats.

Finn is now down to 95th percentile for his height and weight, coming down from 97th last year. We did cold turkey no bottles (or binky) right after his birthday, so he will probably be thinning out a lot this year! I love my lil chunky hunk!

This kid loves taking baths and one night he was being extra cute in the tub.

Finn had his 18 month check up a month or so ago and we learned is in the 97th percentile. I literally asked what happens if his weight goes about the 100th percentile and we had a good laugh. But his height (I think it’s the 60%) has increased as well, so the doctor said he’s just a big boy and it’s fine!Oh, and the funny thing is, Finn had been sick a week before this and I felt like he was losing his chub a little bit. Then when we found out he weighs over 30 pounds, I realized it’s all relative hah! The bigger, the better, I think! Love this hunk!

Finny got another haircut and it looked so cute! His hair just grows straight out, so the trick is to keep it short, I’ve finally realized. The bottom (before) picture makes me laugh so hard!

Finn turned one on September 18th! I’m still a little behind on his monthly posts, so that will come another day. We had a little pumpkin theme and celebrated with cake with family and some close friends. Finn got some cute clothes, trucks, a spin and sit toy, and a bunch of new books! It’s been so nice to have some new boy toys around here! It’s been adorable to see him figure out the new toys and even make sounds for his trucks and airplane.

Well, I couldn’t chose just one picture of Finn eating birthday cake because they were all so cute, so here are like a dozen photos of Finn doing the same thing from different angles. Haha!

img_0037-2 img_0031 img_0023-2 img_0019-4 img_0018-5 img_0016-7 img_0013-7 img_0011-8 img_0008-8 img_0006-7 img_0003-7 img_0001-8

At ten months, Finn changed his look from a baby to a big boy. I think part of it was his hair. His hair lightened up a lot from being outside so much and just grew like crazy. He has had two haircuts in the past three months and already needs another.

Finn started pushing his walker toy around like crazy at the end of July and walk walking around the furniture, then he took a couple steps here and there, but didn’t officially start walking until about a week before he turned 11 months.

He started slowing down in eating around ten months. Suddenly he was a little pickier about what I was feeding him, which was so strange. But on the upside, he got really good at ten months at using finger foods.

Not much else happened, but he still was the sweetest and most easygoing baby ever! He smiles at EVERYONE. Says Dada all the time and occasionally will say mama. Time is flying by!

img_0021 img_0010-5 img_0011-6 img_0013-5 img_0014-5 img_0015-5 img_0016-5 img_0017-5 img_0018-3 img_0020-2

img_0009-6 img_0001-6 img_0002-3 img_0003-5 img_0004-5 img_0005-6 img_0006-6 img_0007-7 img_0008-6

I’m so behind on Finn’s monthly posts but I have hundreds of photos and don’t want to forget these precious moments, so I’m going to try my hardest to remember how he was back in June.

Finn started crawling in June, about half way through the month. It was pretty crazy how he just started crawling and then just didn’t stop! Suddenly my little sweet infant was so curious and wanted to get into everything and anything. The pool opened in June so we also took him swimming quite a bit. He loves the water but it tires him out, he would even fall asleep on me on some days (something that Eva never used to do).

Another first for Finn in June was that he got a haircut! It was getting quite long, so I couldn’t wait any longer. It made him look like such a big boy!

Some other memories/favorites: being carried in the Ergo carrier, everything his sister does, splashing in the water, eating all food, standing up and moving along the furniture, smiling at everyone, seeing dad when he gets home from work, saying DADADA, saying “aaah duh” when he’s all done with something.

I’ve got a bunch of videos of Finn but that will have to come on another day. Finn is honestly one of the sweetest and happiest babies I’ve ever seen. 95% of the time he has a smile on his face and is just SO easygoing. I’m grateful for my happy baby to remind me of all the goodness and light in the world.

Five Weeks
>1 Month
2 Months
3-4 Months
5 Months
6-7 Months
8 Months

IMG_0001-2 IMG_0002 IMG_0003 IMG_0004 IMG_0005-2 IMG_0006-2 IMG_0007 IMG_0008-2 IMG_0009-2 IMG_0010-2 IMG_0011-2 IMG_0012-2 IMG_0014-2 IMG_0015-2 IMG_0016-2 IMG_0017-2 IMG_0018-2 IMG_0019 IMG_0020

IMG_0504

Finn is 8 months! Crazy. I can’t believe that just in a few short months, he will be one. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I love this age, just like last month. When babies are sitting up but not quite mobile, it’s the best. They’re in their prime-time chubbiness and cuteness. Their personalities show through and almost everyday they’re doing new tricks.

New tricks this month consisted of crawling! Well, it’s a half crawl/half scoot/sometimes roll. But he definitely is getting it! It’s slow but steady and I’m sure we’ll have a full fledged crawler next month. I’m not too eager because that means baby proofing will have to occur at home (he’s already pulling stuff out) but it really is exciting to see him learn!

He also got two teeth this month! He really wasn’t too fussy for them, nor did it disrupt his sleep, thank goodness! All of a sudden I just noticed something pokey in his mouth, then a couple days later, there were two little teethies! He’s got two more coming, the gums are swollen but I don’t feel anything quite yet.

Finn has stopped nursing as of this morning. It’s kind of bittersweet. I’m very sad it’s over but so grateful for the great experience I had with it this time around. I really tried harder this time, plus he was just so good at it compared to Eva. I wanted to go to a year or more but I was losing milk on the right side, pumping like crazy to try and keep up, but once the teething happened, I couldn’t keep up with demand and felt that pumping wasn’t worth my time anymore. So, it’s sad. But I’m trying not to get too emotional about it. Thankfully he eats so much solid food, he’s not drinking as many bottles Eva was at his age and soon enough we will get to switch over to whole milk and save money on all that formula!

Finn wakes up around 6:30 or 7 for a bottle, goes back to sleep afterwards until about 8:30 or 9. Then wakes up for a big breakfast (I’m talking an egg, oatmeal, and a link of sausage), then goes down for his first nap around 11. Depending on our day, he’ll take two or three naps. The first two usually are about two hours and the third is a catnap, but perfect because it’s usually when I make dinner. He goes down around 7 or 7:30 and doesn’t wake up until the morning. It feels so good to have a schedule now, I can totally tell a difference in my life because I’m not nearly as anxious and feeling so much better than just a couple months ago.

This little boy is the sweetest. He smiles at everyone and anyone. Finn has mastered the syllable “DADA”… which as you can imagine, TJ loves and I’m over it! Ha! He loves to laugh, play with new toys, cuddle against my chest before he goes down for a nap (which is amazing… Eva never did that!), be tickled, watch his sister (his ultimate favorite person), gets excited when his daddy comes home each day (so adorable!), swing on swings, splash in his bath, and be sung too. He hates changing clothes, waiting for his next bite of food, and getting back into his car seat if he was just in it (he does the arched back, it’s awful!). He’s such a content, happy boy, that is, if he’s been fed. Everyone comments about his chubbiness and little (well, big) legs. He’s in 18 month clothes somehow!

Finny Babe, you are so loved.

1 Month
2 Months
3-4 Months
5 Months
6-7 Months

IMG_0316 IMG_0315 IMG_0314 IMG_0311 IMG_0313 IMG_0310 IMG_0312 IMG_0309

IMG_0307 IMG_0306 IMG_0305 IMG_0303