5 Months!

5 MONTHS ALREADY!!! This month has gone by faster than any yet. I hope this trend won't continue, but my suspicion is that it will. Here are the pictures:

Finn loves to look at himself in the mirror. He finds himself very entertaining and will carry on a stimulating conversation. Tonight he was laughing so hard at his reflection that he actually made himself cough! It was hysterical. An added bonus of taking his picture in the mirror is that I got a few of us together. Since we are here by ourselves during the week, it's usually just pictures of him alone, but I have noticed that some of my favorite baby pictures of myself are those taken with my mom. Excuse the "work hair."

 Screeeeeaming!

 And now coughing....

I love that little hand holding onto my shirt

I went to speak to the 1st graders (ALL of them) at Godley Station Elementary today for Children's Dental Health Month. They were a little wild, but in their defense it was the end of the day and I was speaking on a very interesting subject....well, to me anyway.  :)  I basically just shared the importance of our teeth and how to take care of them. I let them ask me a few questions at the end and two of my favorites were "Is fried chicken bad for your teeth?" Answer: I sure hope not! And "Does Sprite have any calories?" Answer: We're not talking about calories today, but....I'm not sure. The school is brand new and so nice and just feels so....safe. But of course then my mind travelled to the school shooting in Ohio. How sad. How disturbing that something we usually take for granted, the feeling that our children are safe at school, has once again been shattered. And why? Why? Why? Why? That's what we all want to know. Unfortunately, we may never know. I do know that I hugged Finn extra tight today when I got home and told him I would always do my best to protect him from what I can.

A nice long weekend...that was really short!

I can't believe today is the last day of this nice long weekend that was supposed to last forever! Where did it go??? I looked forward to it for several reasons, not the least of which was being off of work. Also, 4 nights spent with Matt = big time bonus! We also were heading to Summerville for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (the largest event of it's kind in the U.S. with fine art, conservation exhibits, and demos for sportsmen all centered around animals). If you've never been, plan to go next year!

Matt came in Thursday night and on Friday I somehow convinced him and Finn to join me at the mall. Matt did, however, time me in Belk's and that was the only store he let me go to. BUT, I got what I needed....new jeans! Then we went and ate BBQ at a place we hadn't ever tried downtown. Of course Matt wasn't impressed. He is such a meat snob. In his defense, I have yet to try any pulled pork that is as good as his is. It's prize-winning you know.  5th place in the 2011 St. Patty-Q in Dublin, GA. Anyway, then we came home, packed, and headed to Summerville. We took my car since the Tahoe was getting its 100,000 mile tune-up. The 6 Carpenters were veeeeery cozy for the 2 hour ride.

The weather threatened to ruin our big SEWE plans for Saturday, but just like I knew it would, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. Tiffany and Austin went with us and we had a great time! Finn went to his first petting zoo. Don't worry, we didn't actually do any petting, just looking. Petting zoos always make me feel sad for the animals though. Put yourself in their shoes....umm, hooves....how awful would that be? We also saw the dock dogs and reminisced about Myrtle's non-jump last year.  :)  We stayed downtown all day and were exhausted Saturday night. Finn had some really good "Nana lap time" and the dogs of course didn't miss out on that treat either.

Isn't Austin the cutest???

Watching Dock Dogs

On Sunday we went to visit Kelly and her new baby Maddox. Little Maddox is special kind of healing blessing for his family. Last January Kelly was full-term when her baby girl was stillborn. A tragedy in it's truest form. They will always miss that little life (I know). It sounds strange to miss someone you really never even knew, but I think what you miss is the chance to get to know them. To find out who they would have become. God didn't send Maddox to replace what was lost but to be his own little soul in this world. Hopefully he can help his parents continue to heal. He is absolutely adorable!!! Seriously, even though I am admittedly biased, look at this sweet face!

On a funny side note, Myrtle's new thing is to go into Finn's room with me at night to put him down and then she stays until he's asleep. In a few minutes I will hear her toenails clip-clopping out of his room and she comes and joins us wherever we are in the house. It is very sweet.

It was dark in Finn's room when I took this picture, that's why she has glowing alligator eyes! :) 

It was a great weekend and it has definitely left me asking "when's the next 4-day???" 

4 Months Old!

A few weeks late, but here are Finn's 4 month pictures:

Isn't he the cutest??? 

He had his 4 month check-up and he is now weighing in at 13 pounds 15 ounces....the 25th percentile. I can't remember exactly how long he was but it was the 65th percentile. He is growing! The doctor said he looks great. Then the mean lady came in and stabbed him in both legs with the longest needles ever invented but he barely even cried this time. I was relieved because of course I was dreading those shots! 

We started cereal this weekend and it was pretty funny. The first time I waited until he was too hungry. Bad idea. He was crying by the time I got him into his seat and got the cereal mixed up. When I put it into his mouth he looked at me like "Are you kidding? What the heck is this???" and continued to cry. I gave him some of his bottle and then tried again and it worked a little better. At first he just held his mouth open after I gave it to him and then sort of spit it out but the next few times he actually swallowed it. By tonight he was telling me "I could get used to this mom!"

We went to Augusta this weekend to be with Matt. Cleo also came to get her "Finn fix". We celebrated my birthday and had a wonderful time! The birthday fairy had found me in Augusta and really went all out decorating. Matt got me jewelry (a ring pop) and cooked a perfect dinner. That husband of mine is a real catch. 

The dogs thought their cuteness was really adding to the decorations. 

The boys enjoyed some good bonding time too. Finn loooooooves his daddy! I think the feeling is mutual. 

It was hard to leave Matt today. A little harder than usual because I brought all the dogs back too. That just makes his house all the more quiet after we all leave. Knowing he will be lonely this week is tough. But this coming weekend is a long one so it gives us something to look forward to. 

I know I say it all the time but here I go again: WE ARE SO BLESSED!!!

Here's the Roly Poly!