Little Person

Finley has been all about pretending to be a big person. From helping Dad fix the icemaker to helping mom "clean" the carpet (with wet wipes), she's been nothing but a big copycat. Because she loves being "one of us", I got her a mini patio chair, which she has been thoroughly enjoying.

Spring is Here!

Oh, we've been so busy playing outside since the warm weather returned. The daycare ladies tell me everyday how mad Finley gets when they have to come inside. I told them, I know, because she throws the same fit when we make her come inside. They also told me that she acts like the big kids when she's outside and she has no fear. Her favorite thing to do is to try to walk up the slide. They always have to take her cute shirts off because she plays so hard. I love that she is so adventurous and not afraid to get down and dirty. They have also been teaching her all sorts of tricks. On Tuesday, they said, "Finley, what does an elephant say?" and she put her one arm up and made the elephant noise. They also taught her how to pound fists. The other night, she was sitting in her high chair and I started playing peek-a-boo with her. I turned around to get something and she said, clearly, "peek-a-boo". She's not very consistent with her words, but I know they are in there. Oh, and she has been really excited by my sunglasses since the sun came back, so I bought her her own. She actually wears them and it's so funny because she tries to walk, but it makes everything look pink, so she gets kind of confused. She's adorable!

Out There Having Fun in the Hot California Sun!

As most of you all know, Cam and I just returned from San Francisco, where, as usual, we had a FABULOUS time. We left Thursday night, with Finley in Auntie Megan's capable hands. We almost got stuck in the late spring snowstorm, but, thankfully, we made it out only a bit delayed. Right away, we went to a Speakeasy where you needed a password to get in. We came home and went to bed fairly early so we could get up the next morning and enjoy the entire day. When we woke up the next day, the sun was shining bright and it was really warm - even in the city where it's usually quite cool. Paige and Natalie made us a big breakfast, we put on our casual dresses (well, Cam didn't) and headed to Sonoma to go wine tasting. We went to two places and really loved the second one, mostly because our wine guy, Tito, was hilarious and super cool. He gave us extra wine and took us on a tour of the wine cave. I think Cam fell in love a little bit, and not with me, or the wine for that matter. Anyway, after enjoying two bottles outside in the sun (over a long period of time and at two different places, mind you!), we moved on to Santa Rosa where we took in a great Ani concert. I think Paige and I had sunstroke because we fell asleep on the ride home and went straight to bed. Sunstroke, yeah, that's what it was... Well, we were lucky we went to bed early again because Saturday was just as great. We went down to the piers where Paige and Natalie treated me to a one-of-a-kind necklace for my birthday. Then, we hopped on a ferry where we had a fabulous view of Alcatrez, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Bridge, to Tiburon. There, we met an old college buddy who has been teaching art in Mexico for the past several years and recently moved to the area. We ate lunch on the patio where we had a fabulous view of the city and the Bay. Dave gave us a ride back to the city in his art car (it's decorated all with neckties - outside and in) where we went to the "Top of the Mark" and enjoyed a coctail and a 360 degree view of the city. After that, we changed in the bathroom and went out for a fancy birthday dinner at a great restaurant called "Myth". We dropped a few bucks there and ended the night in Kerouac's old stomping grounds at a bar with a front window view of the city. We left pretty much right when we woke up on Sunday, sad to go but VERY excited to see our little Finners.

Finners, while we were away, was very busy laughing in the bathtub hysterically with Sadie and hanging with Grandma Julie, Great Grandma and Grandpa Laven, and Great Uncles Scott and Tom up north. She was very excited to see Cam, but punished her mother for the rest of the night. She had forgiven me by Monday morning, but cried and chased me out the door when I left her at daycare, making me feel extra guilty for leaving her.

Cow! Mooooo!

Finley said her first word - after mama, dada, and uh-oh. She was suffering from some residual diarrhea from the stomach bug she caught Monday and had had a blow-out. I was changing her and said, "Holy Cow!" Clear as day, she looked at me and said, "Cow". I said, "Yes! What does a cow say?" and she pursed her little lips up and said, "Moo." It must have been all the work Dale did, reading her the animal book on the way to get our taxes done the other day. That, or all the playing she's been doing with the animal puzzle Scott and Danielle gave her for her birthday. Or, probably most likely, the recent trip Finley took to her Grandpa Tim's farm. Anyway, it's so fun to see her learning. With the warm weather we've had the last two days, she has done a lot of exploring outside and testing the waters. This summer is going to be fun!

Happy Easter!

Well, we've had a busy and eventful last week and a half! It started out with the start of Mommy's spring break beginning with a major bout of the flu. Luckily, Grandma Julie was on her spring break already and was staying at our house. Thankfully, she stayed with Finley while Mommy battled the fever and aches for 24 hours or so. Then, Auntie Hannah came in from D.C. and was able to play with Finley while Mommy continued re-couping. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Bernhardt's for the weekend and drove a LONG way to Great Grandma Joyce's and Grandpa Bud's for the actual holiday. Finley and Sadie looked so beautiful in their special outfits and they had a blast looking for their eggs from the Easter Bunny. Can you believe the shot of those two Easter princesses?! It's better than a professional shot, if I do say so myself. Well, Mommy and Finley got to spend the whole last week of March at home and Mommy got lots of home improvement projects done. While Finley napped, I put a new floor in the laundry room and painted and decorated Dale's bathroom (his girlfriend! is very happy about it!). I also got a new bedspread for my birthday from Grandma Brenda, so I painted a new green in the bedroom to match it. The house looks pretty darn good! We also got a new fridge, washer and dryer from craigslist and a guy at Cam's work so we are slowly moving up in the world - out of the 70s and into the 2000s! I went back to work on Monday and had planned to stay at Megan's since we were going to celebrate one of our friend's 30th birthday. We went to Sadie's swimming lessons (she's a fish!) and then met the gang at Bonfire. We had a busy blast and went home to bed in the late March snowstorm. Finley woke me up at about 12:30 with a yelp and she had puked all over! I ran up to Megan to see what I should do. We bathed Finners and she threw up a few more times. We were up for 3 hours and did 3 loads of laundry until Finley started to drink some water and seemed to feel better. She finally went back to sleep. I took the morning off while Cam made his way to Savage. By the time he got there, Finley was completely back her to her normal self, so we took her to daycare and went back to work. I know it was just a minor bout of illness, but it was so exhausting and made me terribly sad for all the parents in the world who have chronically and/or severely ill children. It's hard being a parent! I'm definitely looking forward to Cam's and my mini-vacation next weekend to San Fran!