Christmas 2010

We knew that this Christmas would be a special one for us, being that it was Finley's first Christmas. But we had no idea how it would be made so special by all of our family members helping us to celebrate Finley's first Christmas.

On Christmas Eve morning, we had a little Christmas by the tree as a family of three. Finley received three presents from us, since that is how many presents Jesus received.


First, Finley got a little catepillar thing that is supposed to encourage crawling. Right now it likes to start making noise anytime Moses gets near it and it freaks him out. I find it entertaining.


Second, she got Fridge Phonics. I know that learning the alphabet might be a little advanced for most 4 month olds, but we feel that she is gifted. (obviously).


Third, she got some reusable baby food containers. Although she isn't eating solids yet. I plan on homemaking the baby food, so might as well have something to put it in. (OK... so maybe this gift was a little bit more for me.


I got Paul the first set of ESPN's 30 for 30. It might have been his best Christmas present yet!


For Christmas Eve and Christmas day, we spent our time with the Koutz's. We were so silly to bring Finley's bumbo thinking she would sit in that most of the day. Nope - she pretty much spent the entire two days in the arms of family members, impressing them with her abundant smiles and ability to spit up.





The 26th and 27th we spent with the Rigby's. It was fun to see the interaction of Finley with her cousins Bridget and Spencer. Finley got to read Santa Mouse for the first time.

There was definitely an abundance of presents!

On to 2011!!!

Sick Day

I knew it would happen eventually. Finley had the makings of a cold. She was snotty and her eyes were weepy, she kept sneezing... it wasn't cute. I came home from work one afternoon and she was fussy and clingy and just not herself. So I took her temperature and she had a slight fever of barely 100.0 degrees. BUT I didn't want to expose Henry (our neighbor's son who watches Finley a few days a week) to her germs. So I decided that Finley and I would have a sick day the next day.

The next day her fever was gone but she was one of the most pathetic looking kids I've ever seen. I just had to take pictures.


We also baked a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that day.


Thankfully, she's feeling much better now. The runny nose hung on for 10 whole days but I think those days are now past. We're looking forward to her 4 month check up on Thursday to find out how big our little girl has gotten.

Finley's First Christmas Tree

On a bitter cold Sunday afternoon, we drove an hour to join Paul's family for the annual tree cutting afternoon. Paul insists we have a live tree and we have paid through the roof for the last few years going to a fancy schmancy tree farm. I always admire the Koutz's tree each year and they always get a great bargain. So we decided that we'd join them for the first time this year.

When we got there it didn't take long to find the perfect tree. It was probably just shy of 8 feet tall, super-full, and really well groomed. Paul quickly got down to the ground and sawed this bad boy down.


Nick and Molly were also there and Nick made quick work of their tree as well.


I thought that I had Finley plenty bundled up to brave the elements. It was in the high 20's so I figured she'd be ok. I wasn't counting on the blustery cold wind which felt like -20 on your skin (not sure, but this is what I'm estimating :) ). Needless to say, Finley through a fit about 20 yards into the tree farm. Paul's mom volunteered to stay with Finley in the car the whole time for some bonding time.


Now unfortunately, this bargain of a tree farm (20 bucks!!!) does not have one of those handy-dandy tree binders. So Paul's dad, nick and paul maneuvered our tree on top of our car. And here you have it - Finley's first Christmas tree!


I'd like to show you the tree all nicely decorated but unfortunately, this story does not end here. As we were driving home we figured out that we had to readjust the tree about every 1/4 mile. After making it about 15 miles in an hour, we figured out it was likely going to take us another 3 hours to get home and we may destroy the roof of our car in the process. So the decision was made to ditch our pretty tree on the side of the road. As we were taking it down off the roof, Paul flagged down a stranger in a pick-up truck and offered him our tree. He was driving to his daughter's house to help her put up her fake tree and we suggested that he could offer her this real tree instead. So off he went, with our beautiful tree in the back of his truck.

We came home and put up my old fake tree. Lesson learned!

Thanksgiving Family-palooza

We decided to make the long trek out East for Finley's first Thanksgiving to have dinner with... the Finleys! We've been told that the time to travel with a child is when they are still young as they just sleep in the car. Thankfully, Finley lived up to this expectation. We left after work on Wednesday and drove 6.5 hours to Pittsburgh. There, we stayed in a hotel to get up bright and early (or maybe I should say rainy and early) to drive another 4+ hours to Mt. Joy where my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jere live.

Almost all the Finley's were in attendance, minus Grammy and my Uncle Jerry's family from Atlanta, but 22 were there that day. They made a giant table in the garage for us all to enjoy dinner and play games afterwards. We are looking forward to this summer when we will all be together again for a family vacation in North Carolina.

After Thanksgiving, we stayed in Lancaster to visit with family some more. My uncle Jon and Aunt Debbie from the Rigby-side drove up to Lancaster on Friday morning to meet us for brunch.





After brunch, we joined Uncle Jere and Katie at the train museum in Strasburg, PA. Steven enjoyed climbing on the old engine.

After the train museum, we walked around the town of Lititz, PA and were joined by Aunt Joyce and Greg for dinner.

On Saturday, Paul, Finley and I traveled up to Hershey, PA for a quick tour of the Hershey Chocolate Factory. We rode the Chocolate Town, USA ride and learned about how the importance of milk developed the now famous Hershey's MILK chocolate. I'm pretty sure Finley found it really enjoyable :)



After Hershey, we traveled back to Pittsburgh to spend the night at Brad and Andrea's condo. The grandparents got the opportunity to babysit Bridget, Spencer, and Finley as the kids took a night out on the town.



It was certainly an action packed weekend but we enjoyed being able to start some good memories with Finley and to have all of her family members get to meet her.

Bumbo Love

Unfortunately - Finley is not some super advanced baby that is completely independent at 3 months. Instead, she requires us to feed her, bathe her, change her, hold her, etc. However, the invention of the Bumbo has made this so much easier! Finley sits in her Bumbo several times during the day. She helps me to pack my lunch, make coffee and fill up bottles for the day in the morning while sitting in the bumbo. She watches me enjoy my lucky charms and cup of coffee in the bumbo on the coffee table after the lunches are packed. In the evening she joins Paul and myself for dinner while sitting in the bumbo. We call this "The Hot Seat". She sits in the bumbo on the middle of the dining table directly under the lights. That way, we can have a nice family meal. She even holds our hands for grace :)



Next up - Finley and her bumbo hit the road - to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving!

Spit Up and Smiles

Not much new to report on the home front. We're still getting into the routine of life now that I'm back to work. Finley is doing GREAT sleeping in her crib, although we're still not close to sleeping through the night.

She has become quite the pro at spitting up. When received 20+ burp cloths as gifts I thought there was no way we were ever going to use all of them. SURPRISE I use about 5 a day, so they are always in use!

Here is my favorite picture of Finley to date. She is loving smiles and will occasionally even smile for the camera.

Halloween 2010

We loaded up the car and headed to church for Trunk - or -Treat. It was INSANITY. We brought 500+ little plastic toys to give out, thinking we were well prepared. We ran out in 20 minutes. Thankfully the church had TONS of donated candy to keep our supply stocked. I would guess we gave out our toys + 20 bags of candy.

Everyone thought Finley was super cute as Winnie the Pooh.

I stayed warm as Tigger.

And Paul toughed out the cold as Christopher Robin.

I would like to say we got her all hopped up on Reeses' and Snickers but really, she just had a bottle. Either way - she enjoyed her night, and so did we.