Week 10- Girl Cousins

Last week Finley had fun with her boy cousins and this week was all about time spent with her girl cousins!!  She got to see them 4 out of 7 days this week!  This was an exciting week for Finley's big cousin Ella who started kindergarten!!  So proud of her for getting the purple star award on her very first day for being the best student in the class.  While Ella was at school, Grace came over and played so Aunt Sarah could go get her hair done. Grace insisted that we dress up "baby Finley" as a ballerina.  "Baby Finley" is what Grace called her in the womb and still refers to her as.  ;)  Grace then read books to Finley and when I laid her on her play mat, Grace felt that Finley needed to be surrounded by books. Never too early to get her reading!!

Ella clowning before her first day of school

Grace proudly showing off her ballerina

When Sarah came to pick up Grace she for a little bit and was holding Finley and talking to her and swore to me that Finley said HI! :) I do talk to Finley all the time and she tries mimicking what I'm saying moving her lips and cooing and sometimes it does actually sound like she repeats me.  Sarah swore by it but couldn't get her to do it for me.  Later that night I was saying HI to Finley and it did actually sound like she said HI back.  Sarah is convinced that this is her first word at only 10 weeks old. ;) Aunt Sarah and Grandma Phyllis swear we have a baby genius on our hands.  :)

                                  I did manage to get a little "hi" on video along with some hiccups.

Wes's softball team, Team Grub's, had their championship playoff games this week so Grandma Phyllis, Finley and I were at the ball park a couple of nights this week.  They won their games on Tuesday night so they were in the championship game on Wednesday.  It was so miserably hot and humid!!  I almost threw in the towel and left but Grandma Phyllis had the magic touch and we made it through both games and an overtime!!  Thank you Grandma Phyllis!!  Team Grub's took home the season trophy once again!!   Patrick Woodruff, dad of baby Miller and Cole, scored the winning run!!  I got to play catch with Cole during much of the first game and he is definitely going to be a great baseball player one day, actually her already is!

Cole sporting his "I'm with Miller" hat at the championship game!!

Gram and Pop Pop came up this weekend.  They couldn't believe how much Finley had changed.  We cooked out and had the whole family over to swim and eat on Saturday.  Finley was definitely entertained by everyone and slept a full 8 hour night on Sunday night.  She was worn out!

Uncle JJ & Ella looking like they are ready for a good ole classic chicken fight

Grace is unsure about what Uncle JJ is about to do

Gram "chirping" at Finley

Gram and Ella watching a movie

Ella looks happy but Finley was reaching the end of her Saturday night of fun!

Grace being silly and Ella getting a kick out of it

Both Grandma Phyllis and Gram got to see her in this outfit on Saturday!  Dual purpose! :)

Finley got really tickled at Pop Pop on Sunday morning! 

Finley laughing at Gram!

Our big blue eyed beauty !! :)

Week 9- Icing on the Cake

Finley went to the doctor last week for her 2 month check up and to get her first round of shots. :(  She weighed in at 11lbs 5oz and now measures 23" long.  Her head size and weight are in the average percentile range when measured against other babies her age.  To no surprise to us or the doctor, her height/length is above average, closer to the 90th percentile.

The doctor mentioned the birth mark that had shown up on her head since the last time that he had seen her.  It is as we all assumed a hemangioma (strawberry birthmark).  He said that it should eventually go away but it can take a few years and unfortunately their peak growth period is between 2-6 months!  We have noticed that it is getting more and more raised but the perimeter hasn't necessarily gotten any bigger.  The doctor wanted us to go ahead and get it checked out at AR Children's.  He mentioned that the dr that is world renowned for hemangiomas had once worked there and so the staff is very well trained.  He said that they may want to give her steroid shots around it to decrease the size of it and if it doesn't go away that Children's is where he would recommend that we go to get it laser removed years from now.  We are really hoping it doesn't come down to all of that!!  Anyway, we will go for that appointment in Little Rock on October 17th.

After her standard check up by the doctor, in came the nurses who first gave her one vaccine in the form of a tasty liquid and then they tag teamed her giving her shots in each leg.  Neither Wes or myself watched but man when they called us over to pick her up she was frozen in one of those awful breathless cries followed by a blood curdling scream!!  Of course I then started crying.  I know it is something that is needed but man that was just awful!!  She is just too sweet and it broke my hurt that we had to purposefully inflict pain upon her!  Needless to say, I had to make it up to her so I went straight to the store to buy her a little Lovie Blanket.  She was pretty good for a while after the shots and slept for a few hours but then woke up later in the day crying and wouldn't eat.  I gave her some Tylenol which seemed to help and she slept and ate better that night.

Finley with her Lovie Blanket after getting her shots

Kind of a spur of the moment decision but the next day we loaded her up and went to Hot Springs for a little mini vacation.  We met Marty, Karrie and the boys there and rented a house on Lake Hamilton.  Saturday started off pretty rainy but cleared up that afternoon so we rented a party barge and went riding and tubing.  Adam and his family were in town for work so they came by the house to visit both nights.  I went out on the boat for a short amount of time while Adam stayed back at the house and kept Finley.  Thankfully she slept most of time.  We didn't let her go boating or get in the water this time but maybe next summer.

She loved visiting with her cousins, aunt and uncle!!  Grant and Griffin enjoyed getting to hold her and Grant was such a big helper!!  I was changing Finley's diaper and Grant was helping me.  He hasn't been around little girls much at all so I shouldn't have been so surprised when he asked me "why Finley's goober was so flat"?  I could have fallen out on the floor laughing but instead I was stuck trying to explain the female/male anatomy to my 4yr old nephew! :)  We just love those little boys so much and wish that we could see them more often.  We had such a great time and can't wait to meet up again!

Finley with her big cousin Grant

Grant is such a big helper!

Finley did really well on both the trip down there and back.  We only had to stop and feed her once roadside.  I feel that we have really lucked out with her temperament and her accepting that her parents are always on the go and her adaptability to that!  So far she travels really well and still sleeps really good even when out of her usual element.  I can only hope and pray that she continues to do so well.

My makeshift mobile for the ride home.  Daddy's belt and a stuffed elephant.

As if we hadn't done enough over the weekend, we had the Cochran's over Sunday night when we got home and cooked some fish that John had caught.  Little Addison was amazed by Finley but didn't let her amazement slow her down too much.  She is walking all over the place now, getting to be such a big girl!!  Martenique fed Finley a bottle that night and she ate about 5 oz and then wanted more.  She ate a total of 8 oz, that is the most she has ever taken at one time.  She was making up for some lost time that she spent sleeping in the car!!

Addison- sweet girl

Addison and her daddy John

Martenique feeding Finley

Finley after her Monday night bath with her crazy hair everywhere.  It has a slight bit of curl to it.

Lastly, we have finally outgrown newborn diapers.  Her daddy seems to be in denial about this for some reason but she is just at that weird in between stage. I tried telling him that she was too big for them so before he went out and bought another box I had him first try the last one on her.  He really didn't want to admit it but it totally did not fit!!  I failed to get a picture of it but he could barely get it to velcro around her.  Daddy's little girl is growing up!! :)

Week 7 & 8

As many of you know from the text that both Wes and I sent out, Finley is grinning SO BIG now!!  I'm sure several of you have seen the pic below but just in case you missed it....  This was a picture of her in Wes' lap while we both were singing some of her favorite songs to her.  She really likes "6 Little Ducks" Gram!!

She has discovered her hands this week and we have attempted to capture that in a picture but she always focuses on us and the camera so we haven't been able to catch her in the act.  She stares at her fist, until cross eyed in concentration, and then tries to direct it to bat at her mobile.  She is also obsessed with ceiling fans like her big cousin Ella was at this age.  I have been bringing her in the kitchen in her bassinet and literally turning the fan off and on as I cook and it has kept her thoroughly entertained!!  She enjoys cooking time because she can keep an eye on us but HATES the sound of foil being pulled off of the roll!!?  I scared the mess out of her with that!  It is so cute looking at her as she discovers various things week to week!!

Bath time is becoming less and less of a dreaded event for Finley.  It seems she is actually starting to really like it or maybe it is just that she can hold her head up better and her parents might be getting the hang of it as well. ;)  Some pictures below might not demonstrate our expert skills but at least we have a method down now where she doesn't scream at us!! :)

Little naked bum face down in her frog pose!!

Head propped up on a kitchen towel!

 

Last weekend Uncle JJ and Russlyn had people over for a cookout.  Chad Tims and Justin said that they "had her under control" offering to watch her so that we could go sit out & relax on the back deck.  Uncle JJ thinks he's a pro after his bottle feeding from the previous cookout! ;)  Anyway, we finally got her to sleep and I told Justin that she would just lay in her bouncy seat and shouldn't be any trouble if they were in fact going to stay inside with her.  I also mentioned to him not to get her out of the seat!  Well.... that lasted about 3 minutes.  They couldn't see me but as I looked on from the deck, I saw JJ sneak towards the bouncy seat and pull Finley out and hand her to Chad.  They were just itching to get her out.  They were literally like two kids in a candy store left alone and told not to eat a bite of candy!!  Of course I thought it was pretty funny and kind of cute so I didn't intervene until she really started fussing and I knew that it was time for her to eat.  I was able to snag a picture of their guilt with my poor quality camera phone.

Chad looks like he may need one of these!!

On a business note, Phyllis and Wes now have Learning Link open and we have all been very busy with the biz!!  Aunt Sarah, with the help of Grace and Ella of course, :) helped us by keeping Finley two mornings this week so we could get started with our first student at the learning center.  I think Finley slept the majority of the time both days but it was a huge help to us!  Thanks Aunt Sarah!!  We have all (including Finley, see pic below) been working hard to get some marketing ideas pulled together, the website updated (with Greg's expertise of course!!) and preparing for the booth that we had set up at the mall this weekend.  We had several people stop by our booth, with free helium filled balloons helping lure them in, I believe we had a pretty successful first public introduction!!  Finley stayed with Gary and Grandma Phyllis while Wes and I were at the mall and of course she was an angel. ;)  I keep telling people that she does cry and get upset but she has yet to show that side to many others.

 Finley's make shift pallet in the background!

IN THE NEWS:

•  Record high temperatures for numerous days now!!  I believe it got up to 109 a few days this week.  Hasn't exactly been the awesome summer that I had imagined when thinking about being out on maternity leave "all summer"!!  We can hardly get out in it and have to cool the car off for several minutes before loading Finley up.
• US helicopter shot down in Afghanistan killing 38 troops, the worst single incident for the US in the 10 year war.  Even as I type this it is so crazy to me that we have been there for almost 10 years now!!  I remember 9/11 just like it was yesterday.  I remember Justin calling me that morning as I was getting ready for class to tell me he loved me as we both discussed the devastation and as I watched the news the 2nd plane hit.  All of it was live on the news at the time so you saw as people actually jumped out of the building from several stories up!!   
• Just so I don't end on a sad note with what is supposed to be a fun blog...thinking back to that date reminds me that Wes and I started dating November of that same year.  It is so hard to believe that we have been together for almost 10 years!!  A decade!! A third of my life!!  And now we have this wonderful little bundle of joy that both of us stare at in amazement each day.  Hard to imagine that you could ever love something/someone so much!!  I mean both Finley and Wes. ;)

Well, we will keep you all posted on any new happenings around the Wiggins residence!!