For the Record

Finley has reached the double digits! She had her 2 month check up yesterday and tipped the scales. Here's the stats:

Weight: 10 pounds 12 oz (40%)
Length: 21.5 inches (40%)
Head: 15.5 inches (75%)

So she is growing well! Her growth has improved since her first few weeks and she is right where she should be. We also got scolded for not developing good sleep habits with her. (She sleeps in her bouncer). So we are now dedicated to getting this girl to sleep right! She will only sleep in her crib from now on and we're working on a routine.

It was awful to watch her get four vaccinations at this appointment. The first was a liquid that she had to drink. Apparently she was hungry because she guzzled it down, no problem. That was followed by a sequence of three shots. The look of terror in her eyes as she screamed broke my heart. I felt like she was looking at me saying "MOM!!! Why are you letting them do this to me?!?!?!"

I'm not sure if it was the new routine or sleepiness from the vaccinations but she slept the best EVER last night! A stretch of 6 hours with a quick feeding at 2:30 am followed by 5 more hours of sleep! We could get used to this :)

Trip to the Johnston Farm

Finley was able to participate in the annual tradition of a trip the Johnston Farm. Our friends Bryan and Julie Johnston invite us all out to Bryan's parents' farm each fall for an autumn extravaganza. This year Finley joined in the fun.

The girls took a shopping trip and we put Finley in her umbrella stroller. She didn't quite make it through one store before screaming bloody murder. So she made it through the rest of the stores in her moby wrap.

We took a trip to the local orchard and Finley enjoyed the ride with Paul in the Moby wrap again.

We rounded out the evening with Finley's first hayride!

The following weekend, Finley made it across state lines for the first time. We went to Cleveland for a friend from high school's wedding. It was nice to have her meet some of my old time friends and of course for her to get her groove on on the dance floor. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures this weekend.

Finley has her much anticipated 2 month check up on tomorrow. Paul and I are pretty sure she's over 10 pounds by now but we'll have confirmation tomorrow.

Hotel Koutz Has Closed It's Doors

During my maternity leave, we have had a plethora of visitors. In addition to the multiple visits from the local relatives, my BFF Julie and her daughter were here for a week, Paul's brother and wife were here for a few days and just last weekend, my brother and his family were here for a few days.

I have affectionately referred to the days of Brad's family's visit as Rigby-palooza. It was pandemonium! They arrived early on Friday morning, with 2 year old Bridget and 11 month old Spencer in tow. We spent Friday just catching up, going for a walk around the neighbor, having Steven over for dinner and wrangling kids.Spencer and Finley bondingSpencer playing with Moses

The Rigby cousins

On Saturday, my parents joined in Rigby-palooza for a trip to the apple orchard. It was beautiful 70 degree sunny weather. We enjoyed a walk through the corn maze, picking apples, a gander through the pumpkin patch, playing in the corn box and many helpings of cider and donuts.Finley's apple picking

It was a fun, action packed weekend.

Finley and I have spent the rest of this week just relaxing and getting ready for me to go back to work. I am excited to have adult interaction again but it's also a little bittersweet as I won't be spending my days with little miss Finley anymore.

Up this weekend - annual trip to the Johnston Farm.

Not quite BFFs

Moses and Finley started out their relationship on rocky terms. Moses pretty much thought that we abandoned him after leaving him in his crate for 2.5 days and then we come home with some other living thing that we OBVIOUSLY love more than him. We've tried really hard to get them to be BFFs.


But in reality, Moses would rather be basking in the sunlight

and Finley would rather be staring at her favorite picture(I'm not lying.. she fixates on this picture for long periods of time)

In other news, Finley has successfully conquered her first cold. After 10 days of snot, coughing and sneezing...

She is back to her jovial self.

Looking ahead - Finley gets to meet the last of her aunts and uncles, as well as her COUSINS this weekend.

Like a weed...

Well she may have gotten off to a slow start, but little miss Finley is certainly growing now. I took her in for a weight check at three weeks to make sure she had regained her birthweight and she was at 7 pounds 4 oz... woo hoo!

At one month she was 20.5" and 7 pounds 15.5 oz - so I think she's continuing in the right direction. She has her next doctor's appointment at two months so we'll get more official weights at that time.
Finley has brought many new visitors to the hood. Aside from the numerous visits from the grandparents and local relatives, Julie, my BFF from high school, came to visit for a week and brought along her 1 year old daughter Lily. Although Finley wasn't much of a playmate for Lily, Moses certainly loved the attention. Finley had her first exposure to daily shopping and was a trooper... most of the time.

Uncle David and Aunt Caroline (along with canine cousin Scooter) came up for Aunt Molly's wedding. We tried to go apple picking but it was too windy, so she just got a tour of the orchard's barn. But we did get a bushel of apples for applesauce and apple butter.

All dolled up for Molly and Nick's wedding

In two weeks, Finley is excited to meet the last of her aunts and uncles when Uncle Brad, Aunt Andrea and cousins Bridget and Spencer come out for the weekend. Hopefully the weather cooperates a little better so we can show them a true Michigan fall orchard experience.

New Kid on the Block

Just two short days after my last post, where I hoped for our baby to wait until her due date, we welcomed our daughter into the world.

Finley Joy was born two and a half weeks early on August 19th, 2010. She was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long.

We've quickly acclimated Finley to the 'hood. I try to take her for a daily walk up and down the cul-de-sac and usually she gets to see a few neighbors each time. Moses is getting used to the idea that there is a new girl on his turf. He doesn't really bother her much, but doesn't love her being here either.

Finley had her 2 week check up today. No shots - thank goodness but she still is quite the peanut. She hasn't quite regained her birthweight yet and was only 6 pounds 13 ounces. I'm not quite sure how this is possible considering I feel she feeds ALL THE TIME! But we're just going to keep working on it and take her in for a weight check next week.Needless to say, some of our house projects have gone by the way side. We still have a few last minute decorating things in the nursery, Paul's man cave is coming along nicely and the craft room is a disaster area. Oh well... I've got maternity leave to figure it all out and get all the details in order :)

Patience is a virtue

For all you loyal readers out there (or maybe this is just for Ron....) I promise I haven't forgotten about the blog. It's just amazing how busy life can get when you're trying to make new construction home-y and preparing for your first child!

We've decorated all the rooms we're going to decorate and have just a few finishing touches on the nursery. I've decided I want to rearrange the furniture in the nursery, so its a good thing I didn't hang anything on the walls yet. Once we do this, I'll take some pictures and post them on here.

Paul has been working diligently on his "man cave" and it is turning out AWESOME. I am so impressed with the skill and craftsmanship he is putting toward this project. I hope to be able to include pictures of this area as well.

As a family, we are anxiously anticipating the arrival of our little one who is due in just three short weeks. Unlike many pregnant women, I'm not at the point where I am just done being pregnant. In fact, we want her to stay baking until AT LEAST her due date so we can mentally prepare for our parental duties. We'll see if she complies.... We have had FOUR showers for this little girl and she was definitely showered with gifts. There is very little that we still need, and even those are really NEEDS just more desires. I plan to get those taken care of this week.

Here's to hoping I'll update sooner than almost 2 months apart!!!