catching up

Not much has gone on in our neck of the woods the last few weeks. Work was slow for Brian last week, so we enjoyed having him home when we wake up in the morning, and having him pop in and out throughout the day. After I got Finley out of her bed this morning she walked throughout the house calling for dada...how sad!

For whatever reason, Finley had a horrible week of sleep. Bless her heart for coordinating it with Brian's week off! She was waking up several times during the night, screaming so hard that we actually went in to rock her. One night Brian even had to give her some milk to calm her down. It was like having a newborn again! After a few nights, I feared that this was turning into a habit. We were so exhausted that we called in Mimi to come stay with us on Friday so that we could get a good nights sleep. But wouldn't you know it, we didn't hear a peep out of her until 8 am. OF COURSE! Thankfully, she's worked herself out and we're back to enjoying 12 hours of bliss.

This weekend we went to lunch with the family that I used to nanny for. It's been almost 8 months since we've seen them and I hardly recognized them. I swear, they each grew at least a foot. And even though Henry is only 5, I'm pretty sure he went through puberty since I saw him last. Seriously, it would not have shocked me to see him sporting a moustache. Please, please, please don't let Finley grow that fast!

Brian wasn't pleased with this picture...

Finley getting a little PG 13 with her boyfriend, Logan.She loves playing with her babies!

Nothing irks me more than when she won't leave her hair alone!!!This is her new thing that she does when she's feeling emotional (when we say "no" or when someone takes a toy, or hurts her). It's so precious!

Finley loves sitting at her table and doing art. We're working on keeping the crayons out of her mouth.Celebrating Grandpa's birthday
The first time we ever spent ALL day apart.

We love playing on our deck any chance we can get. At least global warming is good for something!

Just looking cute.

This is Finley's new phrase. I guess I've passed on my old-lady verbiage to my daughter.

catching up

Not much has gone on in our neck of the woods the last few weeks. Work was slow for Brian last week, so we enjoyed having him home when we wake up in the morning, and having him pop in and out throughout the day. After I got Finley out of her bed this morning she walked throughout the house calling for dada...how sad!

For whatever reason, Finley had a horrible week of sleep. Bless her heart for coordinating it with Brian's week off! She was waking up several times during the night, screaming so hard that we actually went in to rock her. One night Brian even had to give her some milk to calm her down. It was like having a newborn again! After a few nights, I feared that this was turning into a habit. We were so exhausted that we called in Mimi to come stay with us on Friday so that we could get a good nights sleep. But wouldn't you know it, we didn't hear a peep out of her until 8 am. OF COURSE! Thankfully, she's worked herself out and we're back to enjoying 12 hours of bliss.

This weekend we went to lunch with the family that I used to nanny for. It's been almost 8 months since we've seen them and I hardly recognized them. I swear, they each grew at least a foot. And even though Henry is only 5, I'm pretty sure he went through puberty since I saw him last. Seriously, it would not have shocked me to see him sporting a moustache. Please, please, please don't let Finley grow that fast!

Brian wasn't pleased with this picture...

Finley getting a little PG 13 with her boyfriend, Logan.She loves playing with her babies!

Nothing irks me more than when she won't leave her hair alone!!!This is her new thing that she does when she's feeling emotional (when we say "no" or when someone takes a toy, or hurts her). It's so precious!

Finley loves sitting at her table and doing art. We're working on keeping the crayons out of her mouth.Celebrating Grandpa's birthday
The first time we ever spent ALL day apart.

We love playing on our deck any chance we can get. At least global warming is good for something!

Just looking cute.

This is Finley's new phrase. I guess I've passed on my old-lady verbiage to my daughter.

catching up

Not much has gone on in our neck of the woods the last few weeks. Work was slow for Brian last week, so we enjoyed having him home when we wake up in the morning, and having him pop in and out throughout the day. After I got Finley out of her bed this morning she walked throughout the house calling for dada...how sad!

For whatever reason, Finley had a horrible week of sleep. Bless her heart for coordinating it with Brian's week off! She was waking up several times during the night, screaming so hard that we actually went in to rock her. One night Brian even had to give her some milk to calm her down. It was like having a newborn again! After a few nights, I feared that this was turning into a habit. We were so exhausted that we called in Mimi to come stay with us on Friday so that we could get a good nights sleep. But wouldn't you know it, we didn't hear a peep out of her until 8 am. OF COURSE! Thankfully, she's worked herself out and we're back to enjoying 12 hours of bliss.

This weekend we went to lunch with the family that I used to nanny for. It's been almost 8 months since we've seen them and I hardly recognized them. I swear, they each grew at least a foot. And even though Henry is only 5, I'm pretty sure he went through puberty since I saw him last. Seriously, it would not have shocked me to see him sporting a moustache. Please, please, please don't let Finley grow that fast!

Brian wasn't pleased with this picture...

Finley getting a little PG 13 with her boyfriend, Logan.She loves playing with her babies!

Nothing irks me more than when she won't leave her hair alone!!!This is her new thing that she does when she's feeling emotional (when we say "no" or when someone takes a toy, or hurts her). It's so precious!

Finley loves sitting at her table and doing art. We're working on keeping the crayons out of her mouth.Celebrating Grandpa's birthday The first time we ever spent ALL day apart.

We love playing on our deck any chance we can get. At least global warming is good for something! Just looking cute.

This is Finley's new phrase. I guess I've passed on my old-lady verbiage to my daughter.

I don't usually pipe in on political conversations because a) I don't like to be controversial or offensive, and b) I fear sounding like a complete idiot. While you may read this and realize how little I know about politics, I hope I don't offend anyone in any way. Yesterday at church our pastor gave a sermon on faith and politics. I'm so thankful that this was one of those mornings that we were able to get out the door and make it, because it was very thought provoking. Let me preface this by saying, I love our church. I love our pastor. I loved his sermon. He said many things that got me thinking. But, one comment that he said sort of bothered/confused me. Being pro-life, but against having government legislate it (for several reasons that you should read about on his blog), he referred to the abortion as a "matter of the heart". I agree that abortion is a matter of the heart, but I don't see why that means that we still can't outlaw it. We outlaw all sorts of "matters of the heart": murder, rape, child abuse, etc. With more than 1 million babies being killed each year in the U.S. alone, it seems like we NEED the government to step in and say, that we will not tolerate it, in the same way that we won't tolerate other similar crimes. I know that there many reasons that people are pro-choice. I see validity in some of the arguements. I too, fear the dangerous lengths that women will go to if abortion is made illegal. But, to say that it is a matter of the heart, and therefore should not, or could not be outlawed seems a bit off to me. Call me naive, but I just don't understand why abortion is treated so differently. I admit that I don't know what the best solution is to ensure the safety of unborn babies and and also of the mothers. I just can't buy into the belief that abortion is a heart issue that should not be interfered with.

I don't usually pipe in on political conversations because a) I don't like to be controversial or offensive, and b) I fear sounding like a complete idiot. While you may read this and realize how little I know about politics, I hope I don't offend anyone in any way. Yesterday at church our pastor gave a sermon on faith and politics. I'm so thankful that this was one of those mornings that we were able to get out the door and make it, because it was very thought provoking. Let me preface this by saying, I love our church. I love our pastor. I loved his sermon. He said many things that got me thinking. But, one comment that he said sort of bothered/confused me. Being pro-life, but against having government legislate it (for several reasons that you should read about on his blog), he referred to the abortion as a "matter of the heart". I agree that abortion is a matter of the heart, but I don't see why that means that we still can't outlaw it. We outlaw all sorts of "matters of the heart": murder, rape, child abuse, etc. With more than 1 million babies being killed each year in the U.S. alone, it seems like we NEED the government to step in and say, that we will not tolerate it, in the same way that we won't tolerate other similar crimes. I know that there many reasons that people are pro-choice. I see validity in some of the arguements. I too, fear the dangerous lengths that women will go to if abortion is made illegal. But, to say that it is a matter of the heart, and therefore should not, or could not be outlawed seems a bit off to me. Call me naive, but I just don't understand why abortion is treated so differently. I admit that I don't know what the best solution is to ensure the safety of unborn babies and and also of the mothers. I just can't buy into the belief that abortion is a heart issue that should not be interfered with.

politics

I have chosen not to blog about politcs thus far because 1) this is really just my blog about finley 2) i don't like being controversial or offensive and 3) there is a lot that i don't know and i fear sounding stupid. But, I just have to get this off my chest for peace of mind. At church this morning our pastor spoke about faith and politics. He also blogged about it earlier this week, if you want to check it out. Our pastor is pro-life, and cared deeply for the unborn, but he does not think abortion should be legislated by the government because it is an "issue of the heart". This really made me think. I know people have many reasons for legalizing abortion...but because it's an issue of the heart? Aren't there many "issues of the heart" that the government has deemed unacceptable and therefore outlawed...like murder, rape, child abuse, and so on. So, whats the difference with abortion? One might argue that it's different because it's a crime that one commits against themself. Yes, thats true. But it's also a crime committed against the unborn child, the more than 1 million children killed each year in the US alone. It makes sense to me, that when that many babies are killed, the government needs to intercede and proclaim that we will not tolerate it (just like they do with other similar crimes).

politics

I have chosen not to blog about politcs thus far because 1) this is really just my blog about finley 2) i don't like being controversial or offensive and 3) there is a lot that i don't know and i fear sounding stupid. But, I just have to get this off my chest for peace of mind. At church this morning our pastor spoke about faith and politics. He also blogged about it earlier this week, if you want to check it out. Our pastor is pro-life, and cared deeply for the unborn, but he does not think abortion should be legislated by the government because it is an "issue of the heart". This really made me think. I know people have many reasons for legalizing abortion...but because it's an issue of the heart? Aren't there many "issues of the heart" that the government has deemed unacceptable and therefore outlawed...like murder, rape, child abuse, and so on. So, whats the difference with abortion? One might argue that it's different because it's a crime that one commits against themself. Yes, thats true. But it's also a crime committed against the unborn child, the more than 1 million children killed each year in the US alone. It makes sense to me, that when that many babies are killed, the government needs to intercede and proclaim that we will not tolerate it (just like they do with other similar crimes).

my attempt at being crafty

A trip to Michaels, $11.00, a little hot glue, and wah lah...

my attempt at being crafty

A trip to Michaels, $11.00, a little hot glue, and wah lah...

my attempt at being crafty

A trip to Michaels, $11.00, a little hot glue, and wah lah...

halloween

From very early on her life, Finley was was nicknamed our "little strawberry bon-bon". We're not really sure how it came about, or why it stuck...but I guess there's worse things to be called. There was no question when it came time for picking her first halloween costume. And what a darling little strawberry she was. She even left her "stem" on all night. We decided not to take her trick-or-treating, since she can't eat the candy anyway. Plus, we think it's more fun to stay home and hand out candy. She was thoroughly entertained checking out all the costumed people that came to the door. I say "people" instead of "kids", because we had quite a mature crowd stop by. I'm not talking about the awkward high schooler, who really shouldn't be trick-or-treating anymore. I'm talking about 50 year old men, sporting pot bellies and gray mustaches underneath their costumes. However, the winner of the night was the fellow who starting cussing me out because I only gave him one candy bar! I guess he didn't feel the need to show respect to his elders, since it's quite likely that he's older than me... All in all, we had a great night with our little strawberry. I had a hard time narrowing down which pics to upload because she was grinning all night. Check out more pics in the album...

halloween

From very early on her life, Finley was was nicknamed our "little strawberry bon-bon". We're not really sure how it came about, or why it stuck...but I guess there's worse things to be called. There was no question when it came time for picking her first halloween costume. And what a darling little strawberry she was. She even left her "stem" on all night. We decided not to take her trick-or-treating, since she can't eat the candy anyway. Plus, we think it's more fun to stay home and hand out candy. She was thoroughly entertained checking out all the costumed people that came to the door. I say "people" instead of "kids", because we had quite a mature crowd stop by. I'm not talking about the awkward high schooler, who really shouldn't be trick-or-treating anymore. I'm talking about 50 year old men, sporting pot bellies and gray mustaches underneath their costumes. However, the winner of the night was the fellow who starting cussing me out because I only gave him one candy bar! I guess he didn't feel the need to show respect to his elders, since it's quite likely that he's older than me... All in all, we had a great night with our little strawberry. I had a hard time narrowing down which pics to upload because she was grinning all night. Check out more pics in the album...