Milestones and Updates

Lucy

Age: 6 months (exactly)
Weight: 18 lbs (75-90%)
Length: 26.5 in (75%)
Head: 17 in (75%)
Teeth: 1
Cuteness: Off the Charts

I haven't been posting about Lucy much because I don't even know where to begin in describing what a wonderful baby she is. I'm just trying to enjoy every moment. She is so good natured and easy going, we really hit the baby jackpot. Did I mention that she transitioned to sleeping unswaddled without a peep? And that no crying-it-out was necessary to teach her to fall asleep on her own? First night unswaddled we laid her down in her crib awake after bath, jammies and a story, and she fell asleep, just like that. And has been doing it ever since. She is happy and growing and cute and, well, what more could you ask for in a baby?

Latest accomplishments for Lucy include learning to sit up on her own (not to the point where I can plop her down on the floor and walk away, of course) and cutting her first tooth (first felt by the parental fingertip meter on October 21, 2009. For the record, it is the front right bottom tooth). On the solid food front, she has tried and liked: bananas, carrots, sweet potato, peas, butternut squash, avocado (mixed with banana), mango (also mixed with banana). We are staying away from pears and apples as they seemed to aggravate her reflux a bit, and cereals haven't gone over well digestively. By our next visit to the doctor's office at nine months, Lucy will probably be eating things like little bits of pancake and other table foods. When the doctor mentioned that, I actually teared up like an idiot because good god, my BABY can't be almost old enough for REAL food, can she??

The last week or so of photo-taking has focused mostly on Finn for birthday reasons, so I don't have much to share of Lucy. But here is a pic snapped right after I discovered Lucy's tooth popping through:



Finn

Age: 3 years
Weight: 31 lbs (50%)
Height: 37 1/4 in (50%)
Teeth: All 20 accounted for, and time for his first visit to the Dentist!
Cuteness: Ranges from Ogre to Off the Charts, depending on mood

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Finn. He went to his first Chuck E. Cheese birthday party, battled a cough for the last week, and turned 3. Social development-wise, he's been kind of a crab. Moody and cranky, and very fond of saying NO. To anything we ask him to do. To much of what his teachers ask him to do, too. All fairly normal behaviors, but annoying enough that M. had to have an impromptu "conference" with one of Finn's teachers about it. Some of it is learned behavior from watching some of the older kids in his new classroom, I'm sure. But the child clearly has a bit of the stinker in him. He still gives hugs and kisses voluntarily, but is just as likely to tell you that he doesn't like you. We're working on teaching him some tact...

In the "skills" department, Finn is learning to recognize his letters and numbers, and he is starting to write some of them, too. School is working very hard on the letter "A" with him, with some success. He can write an "F," and knows how to spell his name (though not write the whole thing). He has been quite the goofball, making up his own nonsense words and telling jokes. Some of the jokes make no sense at all, but some are actually funny. Friday was Finn's 3-year check up (and Lucy's 6 month, hence the stats), and it was the first time he was weighed on a regular scale and measured for height instead of length (standing up instead of lying down). Sigh and sniff, he's getting so big!

Yesterday marked Finn's first real birthday party. 11 kids and 10 adults all squeezed into our living room/dining room when pouring rain and thunderstorms ruined our plans to have the party at a local park. It worked out for the best, though, as it gave everyone something to do on a very yucky day. The kids all had fun playing with Finn's toys, and when it was all over the house didn't look too trashed, so I'd say it was a success all around.

Cuteness level quite high here, no ogres in sight

At a local farm. The hole was so small his head got stuck

Training it

Modeling with the stack-o-presents he received during our little family celebration on his actual birthday

A favorite new toy that M. picked out - Monster Truck

"The Snail and the Whale" by Julia Donaldson is also going over quite well

Blowing out three candles

A sweet new ride from Grammy and Bumpa. Now he just needs to learn to pedal (don't be fooled by the photo, this bike still needs parent power to move).

Finn's birthday cake. Of course all of the brand new toys he received over the last few days pale in comparison, in his mind, to the cheap plastic Mater and Lightening McQueen that came on his cake.

Singing Happy Birthday during Finn's party

Tearing into his new presents with an audience of friends

Three Years

Dear Finn,
Just three short years ago, I went from this:




To this:



You made me a mom. You made us a family.

It was the most life changing event we've ever had, and we're so grateful for everything that led up to 12:30 pm on October 20, 2006, and everything that's happened since.



You are my baby, you are my big boy. Watching you change and grow up has been such a thrilling adventure, and we can't wait to see what happens next. We are so proud of you!

Happy Birthday, Finn!

File Under Ridiculous

Or "This is What's Wrong With the Insurance Industry":

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564501,00.html

A 4-month-old baby was denied health coverage for being too fat. TOO FAT. At 17 pounds, he is at 99% on the growth curve. Of course, maybe his parents are feeding him Snickers bars while he sleeps, so this is entirely reasonable. Oh, wait, nope, HE'S BREASTFED. Eats when he's hungry, until he's not hungry anymore. Like every other reasonable baby.

I could go on and on and on about how ridiculous I think this is. Or how an otherwise perfectly healthy baby with Downs Syndrome has never been able to get health coverage for having a "pre-existing condition."

This is just a little part of why genetics non-discrimination legislation and health care reform are needed. What that should look like, I don't know. But clearly needed!

She's a Maniac

File this under "Baby Products I Didn't Know About While Finn Was Teeny-Weeny": Babylegs


OK, these are really knock-offs from Target, because I'm too cheap to buy the name brand. Target calls them "Leg Warmers." Which is all Babylegs really are, anyway. Brings back fond memories of dance class and Benetton sweatshirts. I like them because you can pair them with a onesie, and you get warm covered legs and easy access to snaps for diaper changes. Plus, if my little chunky monkey was actually crawling, these would protect her knees. Genius!

Now we just need a ripped sweatshirt and a headband to complete the look...

Skintastic

I had to run out today to CVS to pick up a couple of things, and as I strolled the aisles and browsed to out-of-date music (Whitney Houston - sigh, what a waste of a voice...), I was brought back to memories of high school and college vacations. Given a lack of things to do other than congregate in someone's basement and watch movies (because God forbid we drive 20 whole miles to Boston to find something ACTUALLY INTERESTING to do), we often found ourselves roaming the fluorescently-lit shelves, helping each other pick out hair dye or nail polish, buying the latest People magazine, picking out the perfect "I'm bored" snack. Hm, can you tell that I didn't do a whole lot of dating in high school? Anyway, for some reason, CVS was our go-to place to find entertainment when we were bored. And on this beautiful Friday, with no real ambition to hurry back to my office, I lingered a bit longer than I had to. Because really, how long could it take to find the diaper rash cream section and grab the Triple paste (hint, it's near the diapers)?

To stretch out my errand a bit longer, I perused the skincare aisle. More for window shopping purposes than with the actual intention of buying anything. I've been thinking about switching up my skincare regimen for some time now. I've been using Proactive for about 2 years or so, but I'm not crazy about receiving a shipment of products every 3 months in the mail - I usually don't end up using it all. Probably because I never use the astringent, and I'm not very good about using the other two products regularly. Plus, my skin is still on the oily side and definitely not flawless in the acne department (see above re: failure to keep up the routine). Anywho, the whole system is based on using products with benzoyl peroxide, and it has occurred to me that I could skip the $45 cost of the Proactive kit, and find some similar, cheaper products at the drug store.

In addition, my vanity is rearing has been rearing its ugly head. Contrary to my intentions, the whole "fitness and dieting" plan is not going well. Mostly because I have not been doing it. Oops. So I've been feeling a bit slumpy/saggy lately. Leading to more intense "Do I look old? Ugly?" pondering sessions in front of the mirror (hey, I'm not proud of this, I acknowledge it's ridiculous). And while I may have a less-than traditional nose, a slightly (M., don't you dare suggest it's anything more than slightly) double chin, and less than perfect skin, I have always been able to rely on my eyes and my smile, two things I could count on to come through for me in the looks department. But alas, they are, in a combined effort, betraying me now. For what may have started out as an ever-so-slight, adorable little crease by my eyes when I smile, has become a full-fledged set of crows eyes. FULL-FLEDGED, people. Ants could build nests in the crevasses, burros could take groups of fanny-packing families on tours into the gorges of my eye skin.

I'm only 32, people, I've got many decades yet to see just how deep these suckers can grow. OR, I can try to stem the rising tides, so to speak. Which may involve never smiling again - which, curses! It's my go-to expression whenever I don't know what to say. Or, I could use some eye cream. Yes, much better solution.

So, there I was, perusing the skincare aisle at CVS. Little did I know that you now need a Ph.D. in Chemistry to shop there. Apparently one in Biology is not good enough. I can handle the collagen, the basic vitamins, soy, retinol, heck, I've even heard of Hyaluronic Acid (by the way, I love that Wikipedia refers to it as a "goo" molecule - makes me think of those sitcom-style heavy green masks). But what the hell is celluzyme? And I KNOW what an oligopeptide is, but I don't know what the hell you've put in your scrub when you tell me it's an ingredient. I mean, if you restrict yourself to the standared 22 amino acids, there's probably only eleventy-billion possible oligopeptides out there, so I guess I'm the idiot, right? What kind of marketing technique is this, anyway? Who decided that listing a bunch of science-y sounding words on lotion bottles was the way to go? I can just imagine the product development and marketing meetings: Ooh, we've got them this time, a 12-syllable word AND it ends in -inositol. Score!

Clearly, I have no idea what I am doing anymore when it comes to skincare. So I put it out to you, my dear readers. What do you use that you like? Looking for tips on cleanser, acne control, every-day lotion, eye-wrinkle-prevention cream, whatever you've got. The less they break the bank, the better. Help this poor, aging hag before she actually looks like one!

Hair, Hair Everywhere

Finn was only 5 months old when he got his first haircut. I did it mostly because, a) my mom and grandmother were overly insistent that I do so, and b) no matter how much blue I dressed him in, or how many footballs were on his onesie, we continually got asked how old our daughter was. I think you'll agree, he had quite a lot of hair:



I cut it myself, and managed not to make him bleed despite his head that moved every 1.5 seconds. But oh, I was sad to lose those curls! (though they did come back briefly when he was about 9 months old)

Before:



And after:




Yesterday, at just about the exact same age, I gave Lucy her first haircut. Now she does not, in any way, have as much hair as Finn did at this age. What she does (did) have, was a very long, straggly mullet that has been getting all tied up in knots every night while she sleeps on her back. To try and control the rat's nest that has been forming each night, I decided to trim just the back of Lucy's hair.

I'm afraid I don't have any "Before" pictures that do the mullet justice. Instead, here are the "During" action shots and a somewhat decent "After" shot:







Again, no bleeding (or crying). I imagine that Lucy will be experiencing haircuts far less often than Finn, who recently got a buzz cut for haircut #371 (or so).

Some bonus pics from this weekend:

OK, this one is actually from last weekend, but it was too cute to pass up

Sleeping in the stroller at a local park

Trying on his Halloween costume

Practicing sitting on her own

At a local farm stand, checking out the pick-your-own flowers