Wes brought up a very good point a couple weeks ago about Finley's age. ;) All throughout my pregnancy we counted weeks with 4 weeks being a month, so forth and so on. I had been calculating Finley's age the same way until Wes disputed that. He mentioned that according to my calculations, we would have her 1 yr old birthday at 48 weeks of her life and not next June 7th, the day that she was born. :) I decided then that we would go with his method of calculating. :) According to this means of calculating, Finley turned 5 months and 1 week old this past Tuesday, Nov. 15th.
We took a big step over this last month! With the help of Aunt Sarah, Daddy, & Grandma Phyllis, Finley is paci free! She had gotten to where she would wake up multiple times throughout the night and cry for us to put her paci back in her mouth. After about 3 nights of 3-4 hours of sleep and then working a full day at work, I told Wes that something had to give! I have learned that you can survive on minimal amounts of sleep but my mind was so cloudy that I knew we had to put a stop to the paci addict in order for me to function at work each day!! Finley did so good even the very first day without it! She now hugs her little giraffe lovie while napping and sleeps through the majority of most nights without her paci. She hasn't had a paci since!
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| Finley and her giraffe lovie |
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| Using the giraffe's ear as a paci |
I have a routine every night when I get home where I empty my lunch box, breast pump bag, wash out bottles and then it is usually time to feed Finley. Her Aunt Sarah has usually just recently changed her diaper before I pick her up, so we are able to get straight down to business when we get home. Daddy is forbidden from the room during feeding and pretty much isn't allowed to talk, because despite how hungry she is, she likes keeping an eye on that daddy!! Daddy's girl to the core! We then read 3-4 books and sing 3-4 songs. We have a little tummy time, bouncy seat while we start dinner, and a few other activities before her evening nap. I try to get a lunch packed and a few things done around the house before she wakes back up. She usually gets her night time bottle from daddy while I pump and try to get to bed early and sleep through the night! Rarely happens like that, but it is nice in theory!
I love my weekends more than ever. Every Saturday I say to Finley, "It's Saturday" and she gets a huge grin on her face as if she knows that we have the whole weekend to spend together. I love her mid morning smiles that I rarely get to see. When I feed her at 4:45am each weekday, she isn't exactly chipper! Neither she or myself. But those weekend mid morning smiles absolutely melt my heart!!
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| Loves bath time more than ever |
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| Looking cute in her frog towel that Kesha got her |
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Daddy's girl
Finley watches her dogs more than she used to and we have actually let her play a little bit more with them now. Of course there is always something going on in our dog world as well. Looks like Bertha, our 12 yr old basset lab mix, is going to be having surgery on her ACL. Poor dogs, they have taken a back seat since Finley arrived, but we do still love them!!
On the weekend of 11/12, both Gram and Cousins Grant and Griffin came up!! Wes and I worked our last Razorback game of the year and Finley bounced around from Grandma Phyllis and her boy cousins to Gram and her girl cousins. It was hard for everyone to share "Finley time" that weekend but what a great problem to have!! Thanks to everyone that contributed to allow Wes and I to go to the game. |
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| Gram and Finley lovin on each other |
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| Love their curiosity |
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| Grant playing Finley a song on her musical octopus |
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| Wes and the crew |
TID BITS FOR US TO REMEMBER:
- Finley shivered for the first time as if "a mouse ran over her grave" as our Grandma Simmering would put it.
- Favorite song right now is "If you're happy and you know it..."
- She has really enjoyed playing with her own feet lately. Grandma Phyllis caught her with her foot in her mouth sucking her big toe! We have since found a really good teething toy that hopefully will replace her feet being used to suck on.
- We have been doing Sarah and Ella's classic "Shewee stinky feet" and Finley gets a huge belly laugh when we do that! She actually snorted during one of her laughs which was really cute, but that is one of those things you hope they don't do forever but is cute now. She loves her Aunt Sarah's silly dances and laughs hysterically at her.
- She went through a growth spurt the week of 11/13 and woke to eat extra times almost every night that week.
