I swear he has real toys....

Let me assure everyone that the multitude of toys that Finn Carpenter has is obscene. OBSCENE. I don't know how they all got here. All I know is that my once tidy home (wellll, that's stretching it a little) has become a 1600 square foot toy box. I know what you're thinking.....it's only going to get worse.  But despite all the exciting and educational toys we own, Finn is mostly entertained by items that are not made for children's amusement. Here he is enjoying himself!

With highlighters:

This game involves very serious concentration

And a funky hairdo

 With grass:

 With pots and pans:

And Finn's all-time favorite, with random items out of a cabinet or drawer:

And when these items become boring, his own carseat:

Ok, well this is an actual toy.....but look at those funny teeth!

Beach Baby

I'm a little late in posting these, but we went to the beach a few weeks ago in Charleston and took Finn for the first time. He did NOT want to wear his hat (or wear the 165 SPF I was attempting to slather all over him) and was letting me know it with this look:

But soon he warmed up to it all, and with so many new things to see and touch (and eat), he was quickly distracted. He wasn't too sure about the water....and it was kinda cold still.

 When we put him down on the sand, his very first reaction was as follows:

 Wow, this is neat!

 I'm gonna pick it up!

 I'm gonna taste it! Wait, she isn't letting me!

She is so mean!!!

I'm going to eat it anyway when she's not looking!

And I will yell at her when she tries to stop me!

 Don't I look cute with a sandy beard???

There was a perfect little tide pool that had formed and the water was warmer there. He had a great time splashing and watching the bigger kids play. 

It was such a fun day. And Finn was worn out. We thought he would fall asleep right away once we got in the car, but he waited until we stopped at Arby's and he had at least one french fry....then he passed out.  :)

A big swing with a little baby in it

We went to Augusta to see Matt this past weekend. It had been 2 whole weeks since we had seen him! That is tooooooo long! Finn was of course happy to see him (and his furry siblings) and Matt was super excited to see us too. We had a great weekend. I have been dying to take Finn to a park that has baby swings. He had never tried one and I thought he would like it. We were in luck because the park right down the street from the house had one and when we went it was unoccupied! The swing looked huge and I was worried at first that he would fall through the holes. But it was perfectly fine and he ended up loving it! Matt is indeed wearing a bathing suit incase you're wondering....he wears it 80% of the time that he isn't in school. He says it's because it's comfortable and has a bottle opener attached to the pocket. How can I argue with that?

At first Finn was like, "Yeah, this is dumb....what does it do?"

But then Matt showed him what swings are all about and he was warming up to it quickly!

He is a tiny guy so he kept sliding down.  :)

Soon he was DIGGING it!

This was pretty much the highlight of our weekend and I was thinking to myself how times have really changed. Friday night we looked at all the pictures on my computer from when Finn was really small until now. We both came to the same conclusion: that we are really blessed.

New Adventures

I knew time was going to fly once I had Finn, but what I wasn't prepared for is how quickly he changes. It seems like every day he is doing something new. When he was born I thought it would be forever until I had to baby-proof everything. NOT! He is on the move now and into everything. His little personality is coming out more and more too. He is a sweet guy and loves to put his head on your shoulder when he's sleepy. But he's also a ham and a huge flirt! He hasn't met a grocery store cashier yet that he hasn't laid it on thick for. 

Here he is in action. With this new-found mobility we've already acquired quite a few bumps and bruises. I know it's just the beginning, but it always takes my heart a few seconds to start beating again after a big tumble. I guess that won't change!

He can pull up on just about anything, but this little bench at my mom's is one of his favorite things so far. He spent literally hours working on his "form".

Here he is with cousin Jess. She came to spend the weekend and we had a great time. I had to check her bag upon departure to make sure she wasn't trying to pull off a baby-napping. We love her!

I really want Finn to eat a variety of foods since Matt and I will eat just about anything. So, we are trying to expose him to lots of different things in hopes that he won't be picky. His favorite thing so far has been this baby corn! He cried (real tears) when we took it away from him. And I don't blame him...it is delicious!

This past weekend we went to Summerville for my sweet friend Melissa's baby shower. She is finally having a girl after 2 boys. Yay! Here she is. Doesn't she look amazing???

Finn had some really good time with his Nana who undoubtedly has spoiled him totally rotten already.

I also got to spend time with my BFF Tiff, and Finn got to hang out with his BFF Austin!

 Austin was so sweet to share with Finn and didn't even get mad that Finn only wanted to eat the cars!

 This guy is going to make a great big brother!

We also took Finn to the beach for the first time. He loved it! And I have the evidence that he did....we took 162 pictures. Oh yeah, you read that right. So, needless to say I haven't sorted through all of those yet. That's gonna have to be a separate post!