Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween fun-ness started last Friday at school. Cole's class had a party and the parents were invited. I have been saying since Cole started school that I would love to be a fly on the wall to see how he is during the day. Does he listen to the teachers? Does he play with the other kids? Does he eat his boogers?? Yes, I've seen him do it once!! So when we were invited I was so excited about going! I got to observe him play for awhile, which was pretty funny. He kept playing in front of the mirror, doing some funny dances and laughing at himself. Then they worked on a craft and had a yummy snack.

"Look mom!"

I had so much fun helping celebrate his party and I know he was so excited that I could stay! After we left the party, Finley and I went and hung out with James (Finley's boyfriend) and Katie. It's always nice to have some girl time, especially because she lives down the street from me! Besides Finley molesting James in this picture, are they not the sweetest babies ever!?! James cracks me up, he looks like a little old man. Such a sweet baby, and I could just squeeze those cheeks of his.

Sunday evening our church put on a Fall Festival so we took the kiddos to that. Obviously Cole loved the bounce houses, we could barely get him out of there. However, Nick had to drag him out after he kept punching kids in the head. I guess he took his Superman costume to a new level. :)

Cole also went down some fun slides.

While Cole was having all his fun, Miss Finley was just hanging out being a good girl. She even took a little nap with all the commotion.

Me and my girl

Yay!!! We finally got a family picture!!! Maybe in about 10 years we will have pictures where everyone is looking at the camera.

Monday morning, our mom's group had a party and there were TONS of kiddos there. Probably 25ish. They had so much fun and it was funny because towards the end it was meltdown city!!!! All us mom's were laughing because it was one meltdown after another. Cole took at GREAT nap yesterday!

He hung out by the food most of the time :) And he did lose his cape somewhere along the way.

We did do a little trick or treating last night too. We took him to see Andy and Teresa because they always like the kids to come by and saw some other friends while we were there. Unfortunately on the way home Finley was zonked and I had to go put her to bed while Nick took Cole around our neighborhood. Oh well, next year I'm sure she will cooperate more :) Overall, we all had a great time and can't wait for next year!

My trip home

Last Saturday morning, Finley and I flew home to Colorado. My excuse was to see my new niece Sydney...but really I was anxious to see everyone!! :) Of course I was sad to leave Nick and Cole but I wasn't quite ready to fly with both kids by myself yet. Finley did great on the flight there, sleeping for most of it and then yelling/talking loudly the rest of the time.
My parents picked us up from the airport and we went straight to Ryan and Rachel's house. I was anxious to see their new house, which I LOVE, and to see Sydney. We hung out there the rest of the day and played with babies. :)

My dad holding Finley and Ryan holding his baby girl Sydney. Finley looks gigantic!!

Finley passed out while we chatted on the couch

The rest of the time just consisted of hanging out at my parents house, more playing with babies and visiting with friends and family.
This is me with my sweet niece

All the girls...except Finley, she was in bed :)
Me, Sydney, Rachel, Mimi and Cameron

One of the days I was there, I went to our massage guy who works wonders!! When I was in college and on the rowing team I had a lot of problems with my wrists and he always worked those problems out, he's pretty much amazing! Since I've had Finley I've been having the same problems and he worked on me while I was home. While I was there, my mom was in charge of Finley for the afternoon and it sounds like they had fun. Here is Finley "hanging" out with Mimi. :)

Uncle Ross also got to come up for one of the nights and it was great to see him. Finley loved Uncle Ross, she would just stare at him.....so cute!!

The last night there, my mom made a great dinner for everyone.
Here is Papa with Finley and Cameron.
He absolutely loves being a grandpa!!!

Cameron has become a big fan off Ross. The way she says his name is hilarious and I just thought this was so sweet. He played with her for quite awhile and I know that means so much to Cameron.

How pretty is she!?! I could just eat her up...she is such a sweet baby who loves to snuggle!!

While I was there, it was perfect weather! 80 degrees on Monday, mid 70's Tuesday. Then all of a sudden Tuesday night...this came in!! This is what it looked like when we woke up and it wasn't even done snowing at this point yet! I think they got about 10 inches. It was so pretty but VERY wet and heavy. The roads were totally fine because it had been so warm but the trees definitely got a beating!

Finley and I had to fly out that afternoon and luckily there was no flight delays. Finley even got to wear her new hat that I got her. She will totally be ready for some cold Thanksgiving weather when we go back! It's just so crazy that it was hot Monday then snowing Wednesday! Crazy Colorado weather!

Finley and I had so much fun and it was great to see everyone! We cannot wait to come back for Thanksgiving with the rest of our family...we sure did miss Cole and Nick!
Also, a big THANK YOU to Gigi for watching Cole for a few days. I know he had a great time and we are so blessed to have you around! :)
Gigi was also a huge help last night getting home and us experiencing our first throw up experience. If anyone knows anything about me, throw up is my biggest phobia EVER!!! Luckily I've been blessed with a child that has never once thrown up....till last night. Don't worry, Cole is totally fine, it was just the result of getting dizzy, coughing/gagging at once and it just came out. Yikes!!! After we got everything cleaned up, we had to laugh. Ha!!

It's that time again

Yes, it's that time in my life where I break out the good 'ol Super Baby Food book.

So that I can make lots of this.....

Last Friday I gave Finley her first taste of food. Our doc told us to start with anything green, but I just couldn't resist starting her on sweet potato. That was one of Cole's first foods and he loved it so I wanted to start her off with a good taste in her mouth. :)
I made all of Cole's food and plan on doing the same for Finley. I love doing it and it is SO much cheaper! Granted, it does take some extra time but I knocked these 3 foods out pretty quickly yesterday. Yesterday I made zucchini, pears and a butternut squash. Note to parents, one butternut squash makes an insane amount of baby food!!! That is a gallon size bag completely full! I also have peas and green beans that I need to puree, so I will be doing that in the next day or two. I can't say that she really enjoyed her first couple experiences with food, but she didn't hate it either :)

I told Nick that he needed to get the high chair out of the attic, because what you see below...well, we just can't have this!! First off, I don't understand how these bumbo chairs are even safe! Look at this crazy girl! Second, I wouldn't even be able to leave her alone in this for a second! Granted, I did have her on the table while doing this but I was holding her the entire time.

I just can't believe that she is already old enough to be eating food....oh yeah, and just a couple hours ago, I got to change the very first "solid food" diaper!! Yikes!!! I think she lost about a pound from everything that came out and boy was it stinky!! I will miss the days of those non-smelly diapers...never again :)

Here is a cute video to leave you with. Finley thinks our puppies are pretty hilarious and I love that they can entertain her. (If you're wondering why that bin is under her jumper, our doors are too tall for the jumper to reach the ground)

5 Months

Our little Finley is 5 Months!!!

Besides the gigantic new bow mom made you, what else is new this month??

I'm guessing you weigh at least 16lbs
Not sure on the height, but you are dang tall!
Wearing a size 3 diaper
9 month clothes, and getting close to 12 month clothes
At the beginning of the month you had totally regressed with your sleep patterns, waking up around 1:30am and then again at 4:30am but one night I was so tired that I let you cry yourself to sleep and since then you have been sleeping 10-11 hours....thank God!!
Bedtime is around 8:00pm and you wake anytime between 5:30-7:00am.
You are still eating every 2.5-3 hours
I think I might start giving you some food here soon. You are obsessed with the spoon and totally know what to do with it and I just know you will do so well with solids. Maybe after we get back from Colorado we will start. I'll probably start with some sweet potato and anything green, the pediatrician told us.
You are definitely on 3 naps a day now. You take a 45-1 hr nap in the morning (9am), about a 2 hour nap early afternoon (12:00-2:00) and then another hour in the early evening (4:30).

You have become so wiggly. You are rolling all over the place now...ok, not all over the place, but you roll over pretty easily now. You are officially rolling from back to tummy now.
You love to grab everything in sight. I love putting my face up to yours and you just grab my face and try to eat it :)
You have started doing 360's in your crib and it's funny to see how you wiggle your way up from the bottom of the crib to the top corner by morning.
You are starting to become a little scared of strangers or people you haven't seen in awhile. This weekend when Sharon was here, you weren't too sure of her right away, but you quickly became great friends! You definitely like to keep an eye on your mama!!

You think your brother is about the coolest person ever. You will watch him so intently and laugh at him all the time. He has been so sweet to you, yesterday when we were laying in bed when you both woke up, he reached over and held your hand...melt my heart!!
This is Cole trying to give Finley some "juice" out of his fancy cup :)

Finley, you have brought nothing but pure joy to our lives and we all love you so much!!

The Past few days

This past week has been pretty crazy! Hence the long absence from blogging. I wanted to start off though, with these pictures of me and my kiddos from last week. I don't take a lot of pictures with them so I wanted to post the ones that actually turned out.
Finley and I match....and I didn't even plan it that way :)

Can you believe we actually got both of the to smile at once??? Well, Finley's is kind of a half-smirk but still so cute!!!

So what have we been up to the last few days???
Thursday morning I met up with the girls at my MOPS table and we took some goodies to one of the fire stations. We took the kids with us and luckily they gave us a tour and showed the kids all the trucks and equipment. I think they were all in awe because Cole is still talking about fire trucks and I know they all had a blast.
Here are the bigger kids

They were so nice and let the kids put on some gear and take pictures. This was a big hit!! Cole especially loved wearing the boots because he's been obsessed with boots lately. His little friend Caden has some rain boots and Cole puts them on every time we go to their house. I think I need to get him his own pair of rain boots.

Friday morning I had Mops and then I had to get ready for our weekend guests. Nick and his buddy Chris Bell went on a fishing trip to Wisconsin and his wife and daughter were going to come spend the weekend with us. I was SO grateful that she came up because I absolutely hate being home alone and this would have been my first time alone with both kids for several days so having Sharon around was fabulous!
Also on Friday, my good friend Kelly went into the hospital to have their baby girl Rowan and they needed a little help with Liam. He was at MDO but needed someone to take him home so of course I offered. Gigi was around Friday to help with Cole so Finley and I went to pick up Liam. Do you think he was a bit confused as to why I was picking him up??? ha!

After getting Liam dropped off, I headed home and Sharon and Reagan showed up soon after I got home. Cole was SO excited to see them and he and Reagan just played and played all afternoon and evening.
This is them jumping on my couch...yikes!!! They were acting like crazy people that first night and it was so fun to watch them!

Saturday morning, we packed up all the kids and headed to Grapevine Sea Aquarium. We dropped Finley off at Gigi's house so it could just be me and Cole and we had such a great time.
Here is Cole and his future bride....she is the cutest, sweetest girl!!

Here are a couple more pictures from the aquarium

"Cheese!!!!"

This is just a funny random picture from Saturday. I have absolutely loved having this nap nanny but I'm thinking she may be getting a little big for it. She is such a squirmy thing lately that she's flipping right out of it.

Sunday we went to church and Cole was so nice to show Reagan his Sunday school room. We didn't get called out of church so that is always a success. :)
Later that afternoon we went to a gymnastics place for Evan's 3rd birthday party. We had a blast there and it was so fun watching Cole this time. He had another party there about 9 months ago and he didn't really participate much so this time he was having a blast.
Cole and Reagan enjoying some goodies...

Sharon and Reagan enjoying some cake and ice cream

Sharon and Reagan left this morning and we were both pretty sad. Cole hates when people leave, especially his future wife, ha! He just sat at the window asking were Reagan went. They had so much fun together and it's so fun to see our kids play together. I appreciate Sharon making the long trip up more than I can express. She is such a great friend and will forever be a life-long friend, even if we live 4 hours away. She is such a great example of what a great mom is and she and Chris definitely need to have LOTS of kids because she is so good at this mom thing! I wish I had a video camera at the lunch or dinner table this weekend because Reagan is not quite 2 years yet and I have never heard anyone her age talk the way she does. Her vocabulary is amazing and every word that comes out of her mouth is so clear. She can talk circles around Cole and she's 9 months younger!! Maybe it's just a girl thing but she literally didn't stop talking during all our meals...hilarious!!!
Even though we are sad our friends left, we are getting so excited to have Nick home again. We sure have missed him and can't wait to see him tonight!

Love this age!

I know I probably shouldn't say this and I will regret it when my kids are grown...but I am really glad that we are out of the newborn stage with Finley. Don't get me wrong, she was a great baby, pretty good sleeper, happy...but for some reason, newborns intimidate me. AND, she is so much fun right now and I see so much personality coming out.
I know she looks a little small in the Bob but it says that you can put them in there without the car seat around 10 weeks. I tried putting her in it yesterday for the first time without the car seat and she looked a little uncomfortable :)

How about this stroller....does she look comfortable here?? Ummmm, doesn't look like it. ha!

Probably in another month or so when she can sit more on her own she will be more comfortable in the strollers. Speaking of strollers....obviously right now we have the single Bob stroller which we LOVE!!! For the longest time I didn't think I would need or want the double Bob but I sure am re-thinking that idea! We have the sit n stand stroller (Craigslist, $40)which is great for travel or shopping, but I love to take the kids outside for walks/jogs and I can't do that in the sit n stand stroller. With me being home more and the weather being bearable now, I want to be outside all the time so we are wondering if we should get the double. Financially, we don't want to spend $600+ on another stroller, so we are looking on Craigslist. But I also can't decide if we should get rid of the single, oh, too many decisions!!
Is my husband teaching our daughter bad habits already?? We thought it was funny that Nick put the bottle right by her and she automatically opened her mouth. He also put some macaroni n cheese up to her mouth and she opened it nice and wide. Looks like when it comes time to feed her solids, she will get the hang of it quickly :)

We took this video last night while Nick was getting her ready for bed. She really is giggling a lot now and to a parent, that is the best sound!

I realize there are no pictures of Cole in this post so I'll leave this picture. Funny story....he has really been into Batman and Spiderman lately and his friend Evan sent him a birthday party invite and it was Spiderman. He was SO excited to get it that he wanted to take it to bed with him, ha! He kept asking for spiderman all day and then he'd sing happy birthday to the invitation. What a goof!Quick update on potty training: Still absolutely ZERO accidents at night. No diapers or pull ups, just an underwearing boy who rocks at night time! However, we did have a little set back once he started MDO. He's so quiet and didn't tell the teachers when he had to go so he had quite a few accidents the first few days at school, usually on the playground. However, he hasn't had a "wet" accident in a couple weeks now and the teachers said he's getting much better with that. I can't even remember the last time he wet his pants when I was with him, I guess I just know the signs and he tells me when he has to go. We still have a couple #2 accidents but I know that comes with time. When we are home he usually does great, but if we are at the park or out somewhere, sometimes he doesn't catch it till it's already coming out...yuck! Like this morning....we went to the park, and he had an accident. I looked and it was NOT the type that could be cleaned up in the back of my car. Luckily, Katie lives across the street from the park and we used her bathroom. That underwear was thrown out!!!!!
Overall, he is doing so good and I'm shocked with out easy he was to train....good job Cole!!!