Finn is mobile

Christmas Tree Lane

That's what we used to call this street when we were little. All of the houses (except for 2 this year) have gotten to together for many many years to put up lots of lights and decorations. After being at my Grandma's Christmas day my Dad would drive us down that street to look at the lights. This year we took Finn and walked it.

Mr. Chubby Man

This little chubby man who loves being naked, like most kids, got his first 2 teeth this week. They should be more visible in the next week so I can get some cute shots. Just in time for Christmas!

Alice and her yellow raincoat - a story

First of all, I LOVE YELLOW...every since I were 2 years old. The color has always drawn me in. Aqua came along later (I'll tell the story someday.) In high school my mother found me the perfect yellow raincoat that I had been searching for. The boots followed later. I wore it often (even though it doesn't rain much in California.) I took it to college where it received several strokes of paint from painting class. My friend Kristen bought me a hat to match in college.

About a year after college (2003) I loaned it to a friend (who we'll call Sally) one night. Well that night Sally mysteriously misplaced it. She tried to replace it with another yellow raincoat but it just wasn't the same. I couldn't get mad at Sally because I really liked her. She was a cool girl. Every once in a while I longed for my yellow raincoat which was the perfect length and had the perfect sheen. I longed for the evidence of the memories I had with it. I longed for those random pieces of paper or BYU creamery chocolate milk caps that I never removed from the pockets.

Flash forward 6 years to about a week ago. My friend Kimball, who I used to watch Seinfeld with and just hang, I've even jimmyed his car door open with a coat hanger for him after he locked the keys inside...anyhow, Kimball met up with Jared one day at work. Later that afternoon I got my daily afternoon call from Jared and he said, "I have your yellow raincoat for you."
"WHAT!" I exclaimed, "WHY? Wait, does it have a bit of paint on it?" Making sure it was THE yellow raincoat.
"Yeah, Kimball gave it to me," replied Jared.
"HE'S HAD IT THIS ENTIRE TIME?!??!?!" I almost yelled with excitement.
"I guess," said Jared probably wondering why I was so excited.

I guess it makes sense, Sally and Kimball are good friends and maybe she left it with him asking him to return it to me.

Lets just say that when Jared (my hero) returned home he received lots of love and hugs and kisses for returning my long lost raincoat to me:)

Copycat

About 3 years ago I sat in the art class that I taught, because yes before I was married or a mother I was a HS art teacher, anyhow while my students were creating I sewed random buttons onto a hat that I often wear.

Then while checking out blogs on my google reader I saw that Anthropologie (one of my favorite stores) has this hat. That's annoying, I feel like I'm being stocked.

Finn on Jared's shoulders

I love how Finn holds onto Jared's ear when he's on his shoulders

Carrying Finn

I carry Finn around a lot every since he was born. He's just getting used to being in the back. It makes it easier to switch the laundry (which is in the garage out back) when he's awake.

Saturday night date

Saturday evening my brother Sam and his girlfriend Emy came down from the city and "watched" Finn so we could go to the ward Christmas party. (The red eye was impossible to get out on this one. I am still missing my lens SO BAD!)

Academy of Science

On Saturday we went to the California Academy of Science. The last time we went I was pregnant. We thought Finn might enjoy it. Plus our friend Fabian was in town and needed to be dropped off in S.F.

Finn was delighted with the place. Most of the time he just had this curious look on his face.

He was also delighted to be in Jared's arms.

Highlights included Finn singing with the birds int he rainforest and him trying to grab the giant centipede through the glass.

There were so many fish on the floor of the tank, Jared was like, "what is it, fish nap time?"

I know this photo isn't very good quality (I CAN'T WAIT TO GET MY CAMERA LENS BACK) but I love Finn's smile in it.

Aqua and yellow fish. I'll have to get one:)

And the classic albino alligator.

My little lumberjack

Peppermint Boulders

I made peppermint bark the other day. Jared called it "peppermint boulders" because the chocolate was so thick.

Nursing to sleep

I love nursing Finn to sleep. His little hand stroking my hair (or sometimes grabbing my mouth) or clutching onto my shirt. I figure since he's my first child and I don't have others to attend to that I can nurse him to sleep. My favorite is in the middle of the night, his heavy head sleeping on my shoulder before I put him back into the crib. I love it when I kiss his squishy cheek and he makes sleep smiles. It's a great time to meditate in my great-great grandmother's rocking share, or just think up recipes.

When Finn wakes up from his nap I often find him peaking over the bumper trying to see me:)

I love him in his dinosaur sleeper:)

S'mores at home

A couple of weeks ago Jared made a fire in our fireplace and we made s'mores. But we won't do that again because it made the entire house smell smokey including my great-great-grandparents oriental which we ended up having to steam clean to get the smell out so Finn would stop smelling like fire every time he rolled around on it.

Mail

Sometimes it takes us a few days to get to the mail. One time the pile was so high Jared was like, "this is ridiculous." We rarely go in and out of our front door (we use the side one) so getting the mail out of the way isn't a priority. Besides it's a pain, going through catalogs, shredding stuff, calling places and telling them to remove me from their list because there's no way I was ever interested in putting up wood paneling on the walls of the house we don't own. Besides, I have never shopped at or shown any interest in Eddie Bauer.

Christmas Tree 09

We got our tree. It's going to slowly get bigger every year little by little.

The giant ornaments were too big for the tree, so I chose the ceiling.

Finn is on the move

Finn has been moving more...in very hilarious ways. I'm proud of him for being so inventive.

Mishaps in the kitchen

I had this week of horrible mishaps in the kitchen.  It started with this dough for these rolls that just wouldn't rise.  I tried the recipe twice, and finally just left it for the raccoons.  After consulting with my cooking (especially with bread) expert Tanya, she suggested another and better recipe.  Well it worked.

But then I was making some pumpkin bread (something I've already made 3 times this season) and it just overflowed in the oven.  I must have doubles something on accident.  I was SO MAD!

Then I was steaming some apples to puree for Finn and the water cooked out and the juices from the apples burnt the pot.  It took me 3 weeks to scrub out.

AND THEN!!!!!!!!  I was sauteing onions and garlic (like I do all the time) and the onions all of a sudden turned BRIGHT GREEN and smelled and tasted funny.  ( I searched the internet for a good explanation but found none, if you can find one you're my hero.)

I later made some pumpkin pasta with the leftover pumpkin for the pie that I made with one of the pumpkins I got from the farm.  It was GOOD!

And this sweet potato lasagne that I made on Saturday WAS SO delicious!  Recipe later.

And I made bread again (the first time since Finn was born.)  This was my best batch yet.  Oh it turned out so well.  So I guess all is not lost in the kitchen.

Ready for the holidays

Hee hee!

Finn can spell

The most amazing thing happened the other morning, I went to go get something from my room while Jared was grabbing a bowl of cereal and when we came back we found Finn was spelling his name with these blocks. So incredible. Later we taught him how to say "I love you" and"stupendous" and how to do a hand stand. We got it on video but it happened to get erased. Oh well.

What Finn's been up to lately

Playing in a box!

With Dad!

Swinging.

Playing in (and eating) sand.

We got Finn a highchair and he LOVES it!

Sometimes after feeding him I let him play with his food which he gets a kick out of!

"Wanna do something fun?"

That's what my cousin Emily asked when she called me at 7am this morning. My reply, "OF COURSE!" So, we already have 3 Trader Joe's within a few of miles of us (I know we're so lucky) but a NEW ONE JUST OPENED 1.6 miles away! (I mapped it) This morning...at 8am! That's walking distance my friends. I used to lug groceries farther than that when we lived in Zürich. Whenever Jared suggests we move somewhere, my first question I always ask is, "Will there be a Trader Joe's nearby." We loaded the kids in the car expecting a huge crowd...but to our surprise the balloon guy was searching out people who wanted a blow-up elephant.

It seems that the kids weren't as excited as we were!

6 months...

Where did the time go?  Finn is already 6 mos!  I can't believe it.  He is HILARIOUS!  We are really enjoying this little guy...especially when he wakes up in the morning chatting to his friend Mr. Ugly in his crib.

STATS:

Head - 44cm, 58%

Height - 27 3/4 in - 90%

Weight 18lbs 13 oz - 75% (My arms are tired)

Finn loves to show off.  Whenever I whip out the camera he beams a big smile and does a push-up.  Lately he's been rolling all over the place and has been obsessed with his hands.  He'll roll around and stop only to stare at his hands and wave them around as if he were conducting music.

Currently FInn is scavengeing under the coffee table for toys.  If he can't reach something he used to just pull the blanket closer if a toy were on it, now he takes something else to swat at it, he just found a wooden spoon and is swatting to get another toy from under the coffee table.  He's actually being successful!