Finn Turned 1 (about 3 months ago)

So with the holiday's, the new job, a new commute and Finn's new found mobility I have had little time to blog. But instead of giving any more excuses I would like to update everyone out there in cyber world about Finn's 1st Birthday!!!

October 14th marked one full year of Matt and I being parents and Finn's first year of air breathing life. We decided to celebrate in full Rasta style with a One Love theme.

My big plans were to have a beautifully decorated house of red green and yellow. A fun menu of Buffalo Soldier Wings, Jerk Beef Kabobs, rasta colored fruit kabobs and a beautiful rasta colored three layer cake. Well, all the food came out fine except for my beautiful cake...it was not so beautiful and definitely not edible. Thankfully my Mom came through to save the day with rasta colored coconut cupcakes (word to the wise, most kids don't like coconut on their cupcakes).

My problem is that I read far too many Mommy Blogs and all their birthday parties are perfectly photographed, the food is immaculate, the decorations are swoon worthy and all the children are well dressed and clean. Apparently that is not within the realm of my capabilities. But the food (except the cake) was edible, some of the decorations were swoon worthy, kids showed up and didn't kill each other and photos were taken. So I am sure the reason you are all here are to see photos of Finn, so I will stop rambling and give you the hastily shot photos and video of the day.

Below are the few decorations I was able to throw up only due to the wonderful help of my friend Emily and my sister Mika (who by the way made those incredible palm trees)

Here is a video of the birthday boy stuffing his face with cupcake. I think he enjoyed it.

After all that cake someone needed a bath



and while Finn was getting clean, Bleu was doing some cleaning of his own

Finn participating in the car decorating activity

presents!! (I'm not ashamed to say that I took the Ewok for myself)

beep beep

After all the food was eaten (I have to give mad props to my Dad for manning the deep-fryer and making the amazing Buffalo Soldier Chicken Wings) and all the presents opened things started to wind down.

Nana with April (my niece)

Finn napping after the excitement of presents

 My parents stayed for dinner because it was also my Mom's birthday! Below are some before and after pictures. The first set is Finn and his cousin April before the spaghetti dinner and the last set are the before and after photos of my disaster cake (luckily I bought a back-up cake from the Buttery for my Mom!)

BEFORE: Happy clean children

AFTER: Full, messy children.

BEFORE: It looks like it could be a beautiful cake

AFTER: YIKES! What happened?!

No promises people, but I will try to get some more posts up, I have a ton of photos and video just waiting for me to spend hours of my time uploading them to Blogger :)

11 months

Learning to read takes intense concentration

It would be cliche for me to say the time has flown by, especially since every single mom from the beginning of time has had the same exact sentiments, but realizing that in one short month...4 quick weeks...28...okay you get it, Finnegan will be one year old really blows my mind. If I look back on the time it really doesn't seem like the time flew by. Matt, Finn and I packed so much into these past 11 months that Finn's birth seems eons ago. Even so, it is pretty surreal to be planning a birthday party for my son.

Month 11 of all the months seems the most uneventful. I think Matt and I are starting to get into our own parental rhythm. Morning snuggle with Finn followed by a hurried dash to get out of the house on time (normally because I am snuggling too long with Finn), work day, Matt picking up Finn from daycare or his Grandparents house, I arrive home around 6ish to help play with Finn and get dinner ready, a messy sit-down family meal that ends with Finn being air-lifted straight into the tub to wash off most of his dinner, and finally down for his night time bottle, a story or two and sleep. Then it all starts up again in the morning.

Although our routine rarely changes day to day there are always new revelations, stories, laughter and lessons that Matt and I, as new parents, are attempting to learn from and grow by.

Likes: opening every cabinet, drawer, toilet seat and box to see what is inside, pushing cars around the house, chewing the noses off all his stuffed animals, feeding the dogs from the table during dinner & turning on and off the lights in all the rooms but especially the rooms with fans.

Dislikes: laying still to have his diaper put on, putting on pants or shorts, tomatoes, being removed from excitingly dangerous situations such as trying to open the oven, not being able to reach items that are above his head & being strapped into a car seat.

The boy in the box

A box never gets old

Wagon Train

Welcome to the wild wild west people...okay maybe not the wild west, just Placerville. Although some would argue that Placerville is pretty wild.

This year the whole fam jam made it down to main street to see some horses pull some wagons and to vote for the best ribs, and if you were wondering, the best ribs were made by my cousin Ricky.

Putting out the fire

Deputy in training Finnegan

Deputy Matty

Papa and Cici checking out the ribs...serious business

wagons

and more wagons

The Bestest Best Friends



Jill-bean

Matt catching some ZZZ's in the kid tent

Yeee Hawwww Cousin's are fun

This year Placerville held a rib cook-off in conjunction with the Wagon Train and if you haven't caught on yet my cousin Ricky was in the competition.

Here are the ribs in question:

Isn't your mouth watering?

Jilly approved

And here is the man himself, with his winning metal! So it wasn't first place, but he got first place with all of us.

old photos

I finally found some time to get some of my older photos taken off my camera and edited, so here are some old photos

First taste of yogurt. I believe he approved

4th of July parade

Pit stop on the side of the road on our way up to Placerville

Softball practice

Such a true statement

10 months



Month 10 proved to be a very difficult month to get any usable photos of Finn and his number card (hence the late post). I originally tried to get a photo of Finn down by the ocean, but the day I planned the photo shoot, Finn decided he didn't need to take a nap all day and was not in the most cooperative mood. The next opportunity I had was at our very favorite Taqueria, Taqueria Vallarta, and again, Finn was not going to hold the card, let alone give me a smile. The photo below was the best I could do, but I loved his messy face so I am still posting it.

What grand adventure's did Finn get into during month 10 you ask? He experienced his first plane trip up to Oregon for his second cousin's wedding. He experienced his first boat ride up at his Uncle Tom's cabin in Washington and went on his first Moose Cruise (sadly he did not get to see a moose). He has figured out how to walk while pushing his little Radio Flyer wagon (video to follow soon) and is just starting to stand independently by himself. He continues to try any food we put in front of him and has become very good at eating on his own. His favorite foods are shrimp and ribs and his favorite thing to do is blow raspberries at the top of his lungs at the most inopportune times. Matt is still trying to get "daddy" to be his first words but it looks like "dog" might beat him out. Finn can say dog and I hear him practicing it sometimes when he is alone but has not used it in the correct context yet.

I am still trying to figure out my schedule now that I am commuting 2 hours each day so my blog is one of the things I am slacking on in order to get more time in with the little Rugrat. Once I get into more of a flow I am going to try to get back on track with the posts. Thanks for hanging in there everyone!

9 Months

Hot Off The Presses!

Finn is 9 months old

July 14th marked the ninth month of young Finnegan's life. Over the course of these momentus four weeks, events took place that would change the young boys life as he knew it forever. Amid the explosions of fireworks and the din of innumerable parties the little lad discovered the advantages of becoming bipedal and all the new vista's this position allowed him to enjoy. Terrestrial locomotion in a bipedal form has still evaded the young explorer but his adventuous spirit and determination will soon remedy this set-back. He entertained many with his original compositions on the piano, and just recently began accompaning his beautiful ballads with original lyrics, reminicent of the spontaneity and vitality of the improvisational Jazz Movement.  All who have wittnessed his Mozart like talent will be eager to follow his early musical carreer. Independence has been an underlying theme leading up to the culmination of Finnegan's ninth month of life. Parade's were held and attended, fireworks were enjoyed while sitting atop the roof with good friends, beer festivals were graced with his presence and enjoyed by all healthy enough and of legal drinking age to drink and Finnegan perfected the task of self feeding while trying out new flavors and textures. He would like to report that he most decidedly did not like chicken tenders or kiwi fruit, but sweet potatoes and quinoa are two favorites. Finnegan looks forward to a fun filled and prosperous month 10 and hopes to be able to spend most of it in the company of good friends and family.

Enjoying Yogurt for the first time...yum, yum!