First Haircut

Finn got his first serious haircut this weekend. We've been trimming his bangs regularly for a while, but I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the beautiful baby curls at the nape of his neck. But he's a big boy now (not a baby) and he deserves a big boy haircut (well... at least a toddler haircut). So we trimmed (and I kept a few curls for his baby book).

BEFORE

AFTER. Don't worry, it's even. Finn would not let me brush it afterward though. He did not really like getting his hair cut.


Also, Finn's been eager to help out around the house. Picking things up, throwing things away (I frequently find his toy food in the trash) and, of course, mopping!

buying a house!...?

So, I've been keeping this under wraps because it's "fraught with uncertainty", but Geoff and I are (maybe) buying a house. I say maybe, because this has been one bumpy ride!

Today (10/30/2008) our counter was finally accepted - we have a contract! The road was bumpy because our offer was made almost a month ago!!! The offer was contingent on the sellers doing some work on the house (and that has taken a long while). Now that our counter is accepted, the seller wants a "speedy" close, and it *is* speedy - closing is set at Nov. 20. 3 weeks away.

I'm going to start packing, but I'm not sure that things will actually work out. You see, we're offering more than the house will probably appraise for, and I personally don't think the sellers will accept the likely appraisal value. We'll see... Also, our loan has to go through (fingers crossed). Let's hope it all comes out well.

I fell in love with the house as soon as I saw it (but I'm trying to pull back emotionally in case things don't work out). The house is large (4B, 2Ba + study off the master), has gorgeous tiled baths, one bedroom is in the middle of the house off the kitchen with a skylight (it'll be Finn's sunny new playroom). Here are some pics.

Living Room is big - imagine our projection screen on the Left wall. (We'll be replacing the front window with something dual-paned). Notice the crown moulding!

Our favorite room, the kitchen is very open and right between the living and dining rooms. The space flows really well. New stainless appliances, including the gorgeous gas stove, but we need to buy a new refrigerator.

The "sun" room off the kitchen (from where the kitchen pic is taken). A nice place to keep Finn's toys out of the way, but still at the center of the activity, near the kitchen, living, and dining space. Finn will love it. I will too.

A pic from the dining room looking into the kitchen.

A pic from the dining room looking onto the yard. We'll put in a little deck here where these ugly stairs currently are.

My new study off the master bedroom, it's just to the right of the dining room. I'm standing in the master to take this pic.

The master bath.

The main (guest) bath. Love the tile color.

A small but very nice yard. I see enough space for a play structure!

Wish us luck! We'll need it.

a mouse in the house

Since it's predicted to rain in our area this Halloween, we took the opportunity to try on Finn's Halloween costume early. It is CUTE.



I'm a speedy little mouse...

Who are you calling pumpkin?!

Hi everyone,

I've had a lot of requests to blog lately, but I was *really* sick 2 weeks ago with a high fever. And last week I was busy eating and putting back the weight I lost. But now I can spare a few minutes to let you know what I'm up to.

I'm a big boy now with 2 molars on the top and 2 on the bottom and I can mash my food with them - grrr! I watched a lot of TV while I was sick (uh-oh), and my favorite show is "Jack's Big Music show" and now that I feel better I dance along with the music - groovy.

Yesterday I went to Half Moon Bay and the Halloween fun there. Here are some pictures...

the hay ride!
pumpkins!
just my size!a couple of weeks ago, I got to ride on a toy pony.

BTW, I like to push buttons and play with machines just like my Poppa (Grandpa Doug). I also know that when something is not working, it probably needs new batteries. I know where the batteries are on most of "my" stuff (like the bathroom scale - it's not working right now because it needs batteries-they're on the bottom-you just need to flip it over)! I like to turn the microwave on and off and open its door, turn lights and lamps on and off, turn on the stovetop (that one can be tricky), use the remote controls, change the screen resolution on the computers... oops, I did it again, better send this while I can still see the publish button!

Bamm-Bamm

Need I say more?

Pool bum

We've posted a bunch of times about swimming, but never pictures from Mormor's pool (or without a swimdiaper)... here's to the cutest pool bum ever!

A trip to Wine Country

Last week, Finn went on a trip to Napa with his grandparents and some of our family
visiting from Norway. He was a good boy and had a lot of fun.


No wine for me, thanks, I prefer grapes!

camping exhaustion

Whoever said taking a toddler camping was exhausting never met Finn... it's downright insane!
Thank God it was only for the weekend.

Finn grabs the ax (don't worry - it's super dull, and we took it away after snapping this picture - ok, a few pictures. Seriously, very dull.)

Finn fell off the picnic table a few times, fell out of the car once (he was pretending to drive and pushing all the buttons), got scratched by another camper's dog, and got unbelievably filthy (over and over and over again...) He had a fantastic time!!!!

well-baby

Well, it's been well past 2 months since Finn's last well-baby visit, and he's doing well!
He was very good for the doctor (he sat still!) and measured 31.5 inches (92% for height) and weighed just a tad under 25 lbs. He is very smart and impressed the doctor by neatly putting all the toys he was playing with in their box. He also dragged achair over to the bench in the examination room so that he could get up higher - the doc said he was off the charts!

Here he is with his new tricycle - a gift from great grandma, bestefar, mima and poppa. This is a favorite toy.

Our boy here really takes after his dad. Geoff went straight into sentences once he learned to speak, and Finn is no different. It took a while before we understood anything he was saying, but he now says "I can touch" (The first million times he said this - "a da dutch" I didn't get him at all... Now that it sounds a lot more like "I can touch" we are all excited by this new leap in communication and Finn has started to elaborate on his favorite phrase. Today he said "I know I can touch this"! Amazing. Really amazing. Geoff is not impressed however. He was expecting it.


Now Finn is developing pretty incredibly, he walks up steps instead of crawling, walks backward, and stacks blocks. He scribbles with crayons (here is some lovely bathtub art), and last week when taking his bath I noticed he spent quite a bit of time searching his entire toy collection for just the squirtie animals - which he proceeded to line up on the edge of the tub (Is he sorting by category already!!!)


Anyway - proud parents - that's us ;)

May 18: CowBaby Birthday a huge success!

I turned 1 year old last week and wanted a CowBaby birthday.

We had hay bales, squirt guns, horseshoes, a lasso and a wooden bull that Daddy made. Wanted posters abounded. It was a great party.
We had lots of great company, good food and games. I love all my presents!


(Every mamma wants her 1 year old to openly appreciate all the gifts he receives. I was very lucky in that Finn did clearly appreciate his gifts ;)

(What a spoiled boy!)

Thanks to everyone who helped out so much and made Sunday such a special day!We were purty tired after all that heehawing.
There are too many pictures for the blog, so if you want more, just click on Finn's album on the right side of this blog. I will probably add a few more in the next couple of days, so send me your party pics! Thanks!!!

Speedy delivery

Here's a quick update, since it's my bedtime...
Mommy has been sick and so have I, but I am walking a lot more (I am practicing all the time now). I also learned how to pull myself up onto the sofa (cool beans!)

My 6th tooth is coming in. Now I have 3 on the bottom (extra on my right), and 3 on the top (extra on my left) for a truly adorable and crooked little smile.

When I'm not tearing the house apart I'm thinking about tearing the house apart.

Would you believe it
The first in a new "would you believe it" segment is on the skunk that lived under the house for a few days. We got it to go away, but it sure smelled bad for a little while. I kept thinking I needed my diaper changed!!

Ball Player

I like playing with balls. Bouncy, rubber, wicker, string, cloth, plastic... doesn't matter. I have one game I really like to play with my rope ball. We have an armchair that has open sides, and I like to roll/throw my ball across so it falls on the floor again. I walk around the chair and do it again from the other side. This is a fun game, because the ball goes somewhere new every time. But one time, it didn't roll all the way, but stayed in the middle of the chair. I tried again, but it still stayed in the chair. So I picked up one side of the chair and lifted it so the ball rolled off. I think it was pretty clever of me. (I also kicked a ball for the first time yesterday! World Cup here I come!)

Anyway, today my babysitter can't come, so Mommy and I are going to the zoo later. Maybe she will bring the camera. Here's pictures of me eating a lemon slice at a restaurant last week. I chewed on that thing on and off for an hour. Seriously though, you guys like this stuff?

March 21: First Steps!

I know it's been almost a week since Finn took those beautiful first steps, but we've been very busy.

It was very typical. Seeing furniture very near by, Finn felt brave enough to take a 2-3 steps over to it and I think he was surprised when we all started whooping and clapping. He quickly became excited himself, screaming, squealing and rolling around with fun :)

Now, he has done it since, but not as often as we would like. Instead he walks with his walker/push toy (one handed!) looking very much like a "big boy" :)

Overdue update

Hi all, Mommy will be blogging for Finn today, there's so much to say and he's a slow typist. :)

Talking
Finn seems through with babbling, and has been jargoning these past few weeks, which is like he's talking in a foreign language all his own. He'll say something... maybe I'll catch the word kitty... and then he'll laugh uproariously (while I just stare at him uncomprehending). But I know it will get better as each of us learns the other's "language".

He consistently says Hi, bye, Momma, kiggy (kitty), and now Dadda. It turns out he was calling Geoff something all his own (sounded like "Gegaw"), but we didn't catch on. Now his d sounds are better and we can hear the "dada". Kiggy sounds more like kitty too.

And in addition, he has (on single occasions) said doggy, up, momo (mormor which means grandma in Norwegian), no, and tree (that I can remember).

Well-baby
It's been a few weeks since his last well-baby visit (sorry!), but at last measure he was about 23 pounds and just shy of 30 inches long. He mostly wears his 18 month old footies (by Carters), but he can still fit into some of his 12 month ones. (Isn't it crazy how Carter's runs soo small!) He also has two more teeth for a total of 5.

Walking
Finn didn't take his first steps on his 10 month birthday like we thought, but we believe it is from lack of motivation and nothing more. He can stand by himself for long periods (especially if he has forgotten that he is doing so), stand from sitting without the aid of furniture, and squat pick something up and stand again without holding onto something. It seems to me like he could take some steps, but he has fallen so many times (a goose egg a day keeps the doctor..) perhaps he is just being cautious.

Eating
Finn has gotten much better at feeding himself (he has to, as he rarely lets anyone feed him), and has mastered the putting of spoon or fork into food and then into his mouth. Unfortunately (for us all!) the food rarely makes it there :(

Fun
Finn is such a happy boy, and he likes to sing and dance :) His activeness is sometimes more than we can deal with however. Now that spring is here, we'll have to take this boy outside to get more air and exercise.

A few weeks ago we went to the zoo! We had such a good time we got a membership and went back the next week. Finn's favorite animals were the elephants and the tamarind monkeys (I think).Giraffes!
Meerkats!

Tamarinds!

We also go to the park and Finn tries to eat the tan bark. He is very stubborn about this and tries over and over again to eat it. It's cute how he'll turn away from me so I can't see and then put it in his mouth super quick. :) After a while I get tired trying to stop him and we play in the grass instead.Playing cards with Grandpa...

Family
Finn loves the family portraits, pointing to them often until we lift him up and name everyone. He really likes the McCool family portrait even though he doesn't see them (in person) very often! Finn especially loves Grandpa John and when with him insists on sleeping on his chest. They share many delicious and unusual foods (one of Finn's favorites is persimmon (dried and fresh)).

mmm... num nums

Sick :(
Anyway, he has had a bad cold and cough this week, so sleep is eluding us all (poor baby). I think that's enough for awhile, until I remember something else cute he's done...No I still don't see it Tante Mikki...