Rubber Duckie, You're the One!

You make bathtime, lots of fun. Rubber Duckie I'm awfully fond of you! Here's Finley at bathtime with Grandma Brenda. She's using Sadie's oh-so-handy bath chair, which makes playing with her bath toys much easier. She still loves her bath as much as when she was a brand new baby, which makes the nighttime ritual all the more pleasant.

Finley was able to show off for 2 Grandma's, a Grandpa, and an Auntie this weekend. Grandma and Hannah came to play while Grandpa and Dad went to the Gopher game Saturday night, and Grandma Julie came to visit on her way through from Duluth. After Finley's brief illness, she was successful at passing it along to her two loving parents, so the company and help was much appreciated. Finners is getting so adept at pulling herself up on furniture, people, whatever is in the way, you would never guess she's only just 7 months old. Her favorite way to wow the crowds is to let go of whatever she's holding onto and balance. She seems to forget she can't walk - which is how they learn, the g-parents tell us. She also loves to use an overturned laundry basket as a "walker". She's so talented. She's also growing linguistically. Every 3 days or so, she adds a new sound, it seems. She started with "da da da" a few days before her 7 month birthday, and has since added "goo", "ga", and "ba". Sadly, there have been no signs of "ma". She also loves to play games, now. Grandma played "I'm gonna get you" with her and she crawled to me so fast it was like her diaper was on fire! I've also seen her play it with cousin Sadie, which is so adorable.

Poor, Sick Finley

Here's poor Finners, at her best (ha ha). She had her first sick day on Thursday. After a week of getting notes from day care that said, "She wasn't quite herself today," she finally broke down with a fever and the runniest nose I've ever seen. She was running a slight fever, and I was a bit fed up with my students at school anyway, so we decided to take Thursday off and see if some rest would help her. She spent a lot of the day dripping snot all over me and the furniture, so we snuggled her up for story time early and hoped a good night's rest would help make Friday a better day. Unfortunately, she spent the ENTIRE night crying and it didn't matter what we did, so, after only 3 hours of sleep, I called in sick again today. She only took one short nap all day today, so here's to hoping she'll sleep through the night tonight! Isn't that a recurring theme throughout these blogs...?

This picture deserves its own blog. Have you ever seen more beautiful, wide eyes...besides her father's, of course?

Naughty Finley

OK, so first of all, this is the first time Dale has held Finley, as far as Cam and I know! We were in the basement for a tornado watch and she kept getting into everything, so Cam threw her into Quail's arms. He didn't seem to mind one bit.

As you can see from the pictures, Finley is causing mischief wherever she goes. We can't seem to contain her anymore. She climbs over everything we put in her way to get to cords, remotes, phones, and anything else she really shouldn't have. She also loves to pull out all of the baskets and take out all of her toys. She doesn't really want to play with them - she just wants to make her anal retentive mother crazy! One of the more rewarding things about this phase in Finley's life, though, is that she is now very good at making several consonant sounds. "Dada" is a favorite - not only for Finley, but for Cam, too, for obvious reasons. We're working very hard at "mama", as well, but that's not going as well :)

Now that Finley's a pro at pulling herself up, we always have to be 2 steps away from her at all times, which means we don't get a whole lot done. Luckily, Finners stayed with Grandpa Tim and Grandma Belva this weekend while we went to an Ani Difranco concert on Friday night. I got my first full night's sleep in I don't know how long and we steam-cleaned the carpets in the entire house while she was away. The amount of dirty water I poured down the sink was disgusting and I feel a whole lot better about letting her explore the house now. God bless Grandparents!

Where's Finley?

Thursday night, I was home alone with Finley while Cam was at Dart League. I was in the kitchen, trying to get some stuff done and I had left Finners in the living room with the gate closed. I hadn't heard anything in awhile, so I stuck my head around the corner to see what Finn was up to. I couldn't see her anywhere and I almost panicked - then I heard a little sound like rabbit scratchings. I looked down and saw my little Finley, smiling up at me through the leg hole of her exersaucer. What a sweetheart!

Up and Running...

A few days shy of her 7 month birthday, Finley pulled herself up on the sofa chair in the living room twice. These pictures are from a few minutes prior to the big moment when she practiced on my leg. Here I go...Almost there...Yay!!!

Korean Finley

Here's Finley in the most adorable little wrap-around top from Korea. Auntie Annie brought it right after Finners was born. Finley fit into it for the first time the other day, but I don't think it will fit for long because she's growing SO FAST! All the ladies at daycare loved the shirt, too.

I'd Rather Eat My Foot...and other stories

Wouldn't that be a great title for a book?! I doubt I'll be writing one anytime soon, however, because by the time I get my stuff done at work, pick Finners up from daycare, and get home through traffic, I'm so exhausted and hungry that I would almost eat my foot rather than have to cook, and writing a book would just be too much! This is exactly why the blog hasn't been updated as of late.

As you can see from the pictures, Finn loves to listen to her Daddy play the guitar and she is getting really good at getting up on her feet. We've missed many photo ops of her pulling herself up to stand on my body and her Daddy's leg. I wouldn't say she's technically pulled herself up, but she's VERY close. The house is all baby-proofed now, in preparation for what's to come. The ladies at daycare always tell me how happy she always is, so she must be doing just fine without us all day. I guess we'll keep her - even if she still isn't sleeping through the night... What a magical day it will be when I can finally say her good night's sleeps aren't just flukes!!