14-15 months

I have friends with young kids that have told me that "they just get more and more fun" and they couldn't be more accurate.  I'm sure at about age 11 or 12 I will probably think differently, but for now it is true.  Finley makes us laugh daily and of course everything she does is soooo cute to us!!  A favorite thing that she and I do when I get home is check the mail.  She opens and shuts the mailbox all on her own.  You would think she was getting a check in the mail when you see the excitement on her face when there is actually mail.  Only if she knew the majority of the time it is bills that need to be paid.  She also loves getting the newspaper with daddy in the mornings.  She drags it all around the yard and down the side walk and driveway.  A favorite weekend ritual is our morning wagon rides in the wagon that she got from Gram and Pop Pop.  We pick up leaves, stop and watch birds, dogs, rabbits, etc.  Recently it has been cool enough for evening strolls which she loves because we often listen for and then find the ice cream truck.  Although mean mommy won't let her get ice cream just yet!

Getting daddy's paper and pointing to something.

She has become a human sponge and says all kind of new words like water "wa-er", wow "wowwww", what's that "wasat", cracker "ca ca" and several others.  We can say "let's go change your diaper" and she goes to her room to get changed up.   When we ask if she is hungry she goes to her high chair if so or keeps playing if not.  She gets really excited about new shoes more so than toys!!  Total girly girl!  She could play with shoes, jewelry and anything dress up for at least 30 minutes, which is good at this age. Her latest most impressive moves to her proud parents is that she is winking and whistling.  She winked at the Walmart cashier and we thought it was a one time thing but now she does it pretty much anytime we say the word.  She is mocking me whistling.  She shapes her little mouth in an o shape and sucks in to whistle.  It's pretty cute!

Modeling her new outfit from Grandma Phyllis and trying to sell vitamins?? I couldn't get her to put those down!

Wes and I went on vacation to Cabo San Lucas last month and the whole village pitched in with Finley!  She spent a couple days with Aunt Sarah, a couple with Gram and Pop Pop and then the last 4 days with Grandma Phyllis.  Her Great Aunt Janice came up and got her twin babies and a stroller and she LOVES them.  She sleeps with one of them nightly.  Needless to say, I think she was pretty spoiled and constantly held and fed while we were away!!  She looked like she had gained 5 lbs and grew a couple inches.  Thanks so much to everyone that helped.  Wes and I had a blast even though we were home sick, or Finley sick, after a few days.  Only a couple of days after being back we did learn that Finley is allergic to kiwi of all things.  Pretty scary experience when she broke out in hives and started having trouble breathing.  Daddy came to the rescue with Benedryl and after about an hour she was doing better.  No more kiwi for Finley!!

Loving her broccoli and green beans

Pushing her new baby and stroller

Last weekend Uncle Marty, Aunt Karrie, Grant and Griffin came up.  Grandma Phyllis kept the boys one night so we could go see John Prine.  Grant and Griffin are always good helpers with Finley so I'm sure they were "okay", I don't know if I'd say that the three of them were angels as Grandma Phyllis described.

Grant putting Finley's bow back in

Even as I post this I am about 3 months behind on blogging.  Trying to find the time to fit it in now days is really tough!  I hope to post more soon because Finley is full of all kinds of tricks and words now days.

Birthday girl

We celebrated Finley’s first birthday on the weekend of June 9th.  It is so hard to believe that she is already one year old.  It brings tears to my eyes to witness just how fast time flies.  All of my life I’ve heard others say “my how time flies” and “cherish every moment of it”, but not until being a mother did I realize the truth to those two simple statements.  Our baby is no longer a “baby”.  She is toddling around, getting into cabinets and has started to repeat more and more words that we are saying. 

Finley's birthday cakes

All the little girls and Miss Martenique

Loving her new Dora couch from Grandma Phyllis

Gary, Grandma and Finley

Car that she got from JJ and Russlyn

Happy about her big day

Loving on Gram

Laughing at Aunt Sarah's fun tricks

Time with Uncle JJ

Lots of gifts for such a small party

Excited about her cake and her cousins

The week prior to her party was monumental in the baby world.  Tuesday, June 5^th, she took her first steps.  I had been working really long hours at work that week and Wes kept her up until I got home that night.   I had been leaving for work each day before she woke up and I was getting home after she had already gone to sleep.  But this night they waited up on me.  Wes and I both were playing on the floor with her and she stood up and took two steps towards us.  We clapped and cheered, we were both so excited.  She looked at us like we were crazy of course.  I was just glad that we both got to witness this milestone.

(Going to insert walking video here)

This month she has been full of new words and you can tell that she actually knows the meaning of the words that she is saying.  She now says “uh-oh” when she drops a toy, or purposely throws something onto the floor from her high chair.  A word that I wish she never had learned is “no”.  She uses that word frequently.  She was pretty much stuck on it the other night.  Any question that I asked she replied “no”.  So I started asking her if she wanted some cotton candy or cupcakes, simply things that if she knew what I was asking she would say “yes” to.  I got to “Do you want some cheese”, a favorite of hers, and she did not say no but instead took off crawling to the kitchen.  It was pretty funny.

One cute thing that she has started to do, or at least we think it is funny, is when she doesn’t like something that we have put on her high chair tray to eat she hides it beside her in her chair and acts like she ate it so that she can get more of the things that she does like.  Sneaky!

The weekend after her birthday we went to North Little Rock for Father's day to visit Grandpa George.  We had a bonus surprise when Uncle Marty, Aunt Karrie and her cousins Grant and Griffin decided to come to NLR as well!  She always loves playing with them.

Griffin teaching her how to play with Legos 

Grant showing off his double snaggle tooth grin

Pushing the limits 

Riding the toy dump truck

Being held by big cousin Grant

She gets gets more and more fun in each day.  We can't wait to see what she will come up with next!

Easter Weekend

Gram came up Easter weekend and we all had a great time.  Ella and Grace's Mimi has lots of fun musical instruments at her house.  It was the liveliest Easter lunch that I've ever had for sure.

Finley on the bongos

Gram and her girls

Not sure what was in her hand, but I can bet it ended up in her mouth! 

Sweet girls

Finley has been to quite a few Arkansas baseball games now.  She's kind of like her momma, likes the people watching.  She also loves all of the music and calling the hogs!!

Rawlon talking to Finley about fun times in the outfield at the baseball games 

Finley getting some lovin from Anna

Over the last month Finley has become quite the eater.  She really hasn't rejected anything that we've offered.  She's still a big fan of sweet potatoes, bananas, chicken, strawberries and her favorite right now is cheese!!

March Madness

Finley has shown a lot of determination during the month of March.  She has gone from crawling, stretching with all her might to fish toys out of her toy basket, and is now cruising around all of our furniture.  
 


Determined to get that specific toy

Early in the month we went to Little Rock because my boss, Kesha, had surgery.  We are so thankful for her miraculous outcome!  Finley got to spend time with Grandpa George that weekend and again a couple of weeks later when we went down to Magnolia and Hope to see the rest of the family.  Finley loved cruising down Grandpa's long couch, sneaking into the kitchen to check out what was behind the refrigerator, and also discovering the electrical sockets!  We had to buy a baby gate and quickly baby proof Grandpa's den.   

Finley and Albie on our road trip 

It is always a relaxing time out on the deck at Grandpa's house, except when you are trying to keep a 9 month old from eating every stick, pollen squiggly, & leaf that she sees!  Honestly, we did have a good time as always!
 
Finley continues to do great in the car and now Albie rides right beside her which helps to keep her entertained.  I always said that I didn't want to feed Finley in her car seat because I didn't want her to think that every time that she cried meant we would pass her a snack back.  Well....we had to break that rule on our trip around the state and now we are trying to undo that habit. 

Giving Grandpa kisses

Out on the deck with daddy

Finley and her curly little tongue

While we were in Hope, Gram took Finley to visit some of her friends while Wes and I went fishing with Marty, Karrie and the boys.  It was a nice little break.  Wes and I got to play with the boys without Finley stealing any of the attention away from them and Finley got to spend some quality time with Gram.

Finley's first time in a real swing

First experience with a crawfish

Grant & Griffin checking it out

Griffin telling me to be quite because Finley was asleep

Best fishing buddy ever!

Uncle Wes and Grant

We went to her 9 month check up and the dr said that her vampire teeth, that are coming in on the top sides vs the middle, were not all that abnormal. ;)  He gave her some new medicine for her eczema that seems to be working better and she isn't itching all the time!  Her hemangioma that was on her forehead has almost completely faded.  No shots this time, they just had to stick her toe to test her iron which came back good.  

We had her 9 month photos taken which turned out pretty good considering it rained off and on during the entire shoot. 

She recently got her first pop knot from hitting her head on the concrete sidewalk when crawling around outside in the yard.  She busted her lip against the side of her baby bed and her knees/legs are bruised all over from crawling on our hard floors.  So many more of these bumps & bruises to come.  I wish I could wrap her in a foam suit of some kind for the next few months!! 

On the move

Gram and Pop Pop came to visit last weekend.  We had a great time celebrating Sarah and mom's birthdays, with the fun ranging from a night out of karaoke, Finley's first ever Arkansas baseball game,  to a laid back Sunday afternoon family cookout.  It was a very nice weekend!

Finley's first baseball game!!

Finley dressed in Gram's favorite color! 

Cookout at Justin and Russlyn's house.

All smiles with these girls and...... some crazy baby hair!

Well Pop Pop pegged it.  He said that Finley would be crawling before the week was up, and she did.  We caught a fairly decent attempt on video, as she crawled toward a favorite toy.  (I'll insert video soon) She is spotting the smallest and sometimes most dangerous things on the floor, and it is then her mission to get to that object and put it in her mouth.  Wes had to drop her baby bed down because she is starting to pull up in her bed as well.  A lot of childproofing is in store for mom and dad!!

Picture before we dropped the bed.  You can see what she was thinking!! 

Up to no good.

"Helping" Grandma Phyllis at the office.

She is also more mobile than ever in her walker.  She zooms around the kitchen and living room with specific destinations in mind, looking specifically for remote controls, cell phones, and anything else she isn't suppose to play with!!  Another funny, yet painful thing that she does, is when she has had enough of the walker she will knock the walker against our shins or ankles until we get her out.  She definitely has her own way of communicating with us.

Caught this smirk while cruising around in her walker.

Wes got home from work the other night, and when he walked through the door Finley said, just as clear as day, "hi da da"!  Her Aunt Sarah claims that she is also attempting to say Hi Ella "hi eyya" and puppy dog "puddy dog".  Grandma Phyllis believes that she is saying Thank You as well.  We just have one smart girl on our hands.  ;) Or a lot of proud family!