A little of this, a little of that....

Newport Aquarium

I haven't posted recently because we've had a rough week as a family. Sadly, Jim's brother passed away last Saturday. I won't get into personal details, but if you could, please send some healing thoughts Jim's way (and also for his family). 

Jim's been off this whole week taking care of family matters. We thought it would be a good idea to take a break from the heaviness of the week and 'get out of the city' (this is one of Jim's sayings... he got it from Balki from Perfect Strangers). We thought Finley would really like the Newport Aquarium, so we headed down towards Cincinnati yesterday for a day of family togetherness.

Getting ready to go! 

We left our house when it was time for Finley to take her morning nap. She slept most of the way down, so she was refreshed and ready to go once we got there. We got there at lunchtime, so we had lunch at Tom & Chee. They specialized in Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. I was excited at the concept- they had gourmet grilled cheeses and then make-your-own grilled cheese (choose from eight different breads and then choose from a dozen cheeses). They also offered classic, chunky and cramy tomato soups. Despite being excited over the concept, I wasn't that excited over the food. It was all just OK. 

After our lunch, we walked over to see the river and then headed into the Aquarium.

 

I had checked the Aquarium's website before we left and I'm glad I did. There are some days they don't allow strollers (usually on the weekends). They do let you borrow a backpack child carrier, but that would've stunk if we had to ditch the stroller once we got in there. 

Finley was super excited at first, 'oohing and aahing' and pointing at every fish.

Here's a funny (annoying) side story: I was watching a lady with a camera trying to take a photo of a giant pufferfish. She took about six photos, with the flash ON, of this fish. Each time, tapping on the glass and telling the fish to "look this way". ??? Some people just crack. me. up.

Once we got through the bottleneck of people at the beginning (and those trying to take portraits of the pufferfish), it really cleared out. By this time though, Finley was getting tired and didn't seem to be that interested in the fish. She was only interested in getting down on the ground and taking off on her own. 

I was most excited to see the penguins and was excited to see what Finley would do when she saw them. She did nothing. It's like she didn't even see them. I even took her up in front right next to the glass. The penguins were dive-bombing into the water and the swimming like a rocket right in front of us, but she didn't care one bit. All she wanted to do was climb the up the three steps nearby and take off. She did show some interest in the penguin statues, but not much.

Jim and I were fairly disappointed in the Aquarium this time. I thought it was ridiculously overpriced- $23 for an adult. Kids 2 and under were free, thank goodness. They did have a sign notifying us at the admission desk, but there was a large part of the Aquarium closed and under construction. It also seemed like the Aquarium had gone downhill. We saw several places were they were using duct tape to hold down peeled-up carpet. Plus, all of the glass on the tanks looked dirty and scratched. 

We headed back to the car and decided to head to Ikea, since we were in the area. We could then also avoid driving through Columbus during Friday evening rush hour.

If you're ever looking for a non-busy time (I didn't think such a thing existed) to go to Ikea, I'd recommend going on a Friday early-evening. We got a parking spot right up front and there were hardly any people in there! It was great. We had dinner and then walked around.

We thought Finley would sleep the entire way home, but she was awake the entire way. Awake and super cranky. :( We had to stop a couple of times to give her a snack and change her diaper. She fell asleep literally 5 minutes from home.

All things considered, we had a good day. It was nice to give our minds a break from this week and spend some time together as a family.

 

Wassup...

I've been posting a lot of crafty stuff lately, but haven't really posted a lot of anything else. 

Finley happens to be fourteen months old today, so I thought I'd post a few photos and catch everyone up on what's been going on around here.

Serious playtime...

Just a few notables for Finley:

1. She needs another haircut already. 

2. She's been quite a handful lately. Her new favorite bad thing to do is to stick her little fingers in the vents on the floor and pull them out of the carpet. I'm afraid she's going to either cut her little fingers or break one getting it caught in the vent. Last night she pulled one out of the carpet and before Jim could get to her, she'd fallen down into the hole. We were panicked, because we were afraid she'd cut her leg on the metal. We didn't know if she was crying from getting in trouble, or from being hurt.

3. Her appetitite is starting to change a little. Now she doesn't like bananas. She now LOVES mac and cheese. She still loves cheese and mandarin oranges. 

4. She now "talks on the phone". She'll hold her hand up to her ear (or any toy in her hand also doubles as a phone) and babble. It always sounds like she says "Yesh?".

5. She's sooooo active. She's always getting into something.

Jim and I have been keeping busy (see #5 above). In January, we had three weeks where someone in our house was sick, so that was a drag. We've also been trying to simplify our lives/household and we're trying to clean out and get rid of some stuff. We've been listing stuff on Craigslist and eBay. It takes awhile to take the photos and to create the listings, but we've made good progress in listing everything. Now hopefully things will sell! 

I've also been keeping up with making crafty stuff. It all depends on what I feel like making at the time, but I've been working on scrapbooking, button monograms, cards, and holiday decor items. 

We've got a busy weekend coming up- Jim's birthday is on Sunday, so we have some birthday festivities planned. Mom and Granny are coming up tomorrow to babysit. They'll get to experience #2 through #5 first-hand. 

 

Finley's Frame Wall

I've been working on creating a frame wall for Finley's room for a few weeks now. I've been trying to find the right frames and getting everything printed or made to go in those frames. It just took a little time, which was hard for me. I like to start a project and get. that. project. done.

Too bad that stupid vent is in the way, but at least it's painted the same color as the wall! :) I also put Velcro on the bottoms of the lower framed pieces, so just in case Finley bumps them, they won't fall off of the nail and come crashing down. 

Here are a few of close-ups...

On the left, you can also see part of the Button Monogram 'F' that I also recently made for her. I made her name frame using My Mind's Eye alphabet cards. I ended up cutting each one down and then corner-rounding every other card.

I got them awhile ago, so I don't know if they're still available. I should've bought more than one pack. :(

I finally got Finley's Birth Stat Poster printed at Office Max! Don't forget, if you like the Birth Stat Poster, my friend Leslie designs and sells them!

I wanted to make one of those silhouette images of Finley's head and put it in the frame where her birth announcement is. I tried to make it, but it didn't turn out so well. It looks like a silhouette of a little melon-head girl. I think I'm gonna wait until she gets a little more hair.

I have some other plans for Finley's room. I ordered this mirror for her room....

It will go above her new bookcase. I also am going to hang tissue paper pom poms (the ones I made for her birthday party) over her crib. 

I have big plans to make this too...

I already bought the pattern (it's McCalls #M5827) and the cushion. The pattern includes a pattern to make your own floor cushion, but I really liked using a Papasan chair cushion. I found THE PERFECT one at Pier One...it's pink and ruffled!

The canopy will go in her room where we currently have a chair and ottoman. Her room is pretty small, but everything should fit in there nicely (even when she gets a big girl bed!).

I wanted to share a couple of sources of inspiration I had for Finley's art wall.

From Young House Love. They also did the silhouette of their daughter Clara (you can see it in the upper middle of the collection). You can see their tute here.

I also got inspired from our recent visit to meet baby Paige. Leslie has a frame wall in Henry's room and I immediately wanted to rush home and put up a bunch of frames with fun stuff in them. Leslie doesn't have a current photo on her blog of Henry's frame wall, but here's the beginning of it (there's about 3x more frames on it now)...

You can see details of Henry's framed pieces here.

That's all for today. Better go and get dinner ready (it's homemade Vegetable Soup!).

Finley's Play Class...

I still take Finley to Play Class once a week. This past week, Jim was able to go with us so he could see her in action!

One of the activities was to put Finley on her belly and hold her by her ankles and let the ball roll forward. It's an activity to strengthen her stomach muscles. The teacher said some toddlers will try to 'back up' with their hands. Finley was the only toddler that tried to back up. 

The teacher put a ball on the floor so Finley would stretch out to get it...

The signature activity in Finley's Play Class is the "Air Log Push". Up until two weeks ago, Finley could never do it. Now she can keep walking and keep pushing at the same time! She gets so excited!

It was then time for Finley's favorite part! BUBBLES!

Finley loves to catch a bubble on her finger.

And then eat it.

The bubbles they use are glycerin based, so they're safe for kids to eat.

Every week, I'll tell Jim we need to cancel her play classes, just because of the cost. But then after every class, I see how much fun she had in class and then reconvince myself it's worth the money. 

 

Gettin' her hair did...

We took Finley to get her first haircut this evening! The front of her hair was getting so long she was looking like a shaggy dog.

But an adorable shaggy dog, nonetheless...

(this is the 'before')

Finley did great sitting in the little airplane with the cape on and letting the girl wet her hair down.

And the 'after'...

Looks a little too straight, but at least it's not hanging in her eyes. She also got the back trimmed up so it would grow out better.

If anyone is looking to start a lucrative business, I'd suggest a children's haircutting place. It literally took the girl four minutes to cut Finley's hair (no shampoo, no drying, no styling) and it was $15.50. Say what!? Oh well, beauty ain't cheap, I guess. :)

12 month notables...

1. Finley had her one year check-up on December 29th. She weighs 21lbs., 2oz. and is in the 50th percentile for weight (at nine months, she weighed 18lbs., 10oz and was in the 45th percentile). She's now 31" long and is in the 95th percentile in height (she was 28" and in the 70th percentile). In one year, she's over tripled in weight (she weighed 6lbs., 10oz at birth) and has grown a little over a whole foot! (she was 18 3/4" at birth). 

2. She officially started drinking whole milk Thursday night. She only drank about an ounce, versus her normal six ounces. Friday, she didn't drink much more than that. Friday evening, she was whiny and I know she wanted her milk. I gave her her bottle and she still didn't drink it. I ended up giving in and warmed her milk up and that little firecracker guzzled those six ounces down in no time flat! Oh boy, here we go again with her refusing to drink a cold bottle! I need to nip this in the bud stat! 

3. She just got over her second cold. She's still such a good baby...even when she's sick, she still is so active and in a good mood. She has her moments, but she's a trooper.

4. She currently has 6 teeth. The 6th tooth just came in today. Now she's got three on the bottom and three on the top.

5. Once 'grown-up' food hits the table, she's done with eating her baby food. We still give her jarred baby food (Stage 3). We try to get her to eat one 6oz. jar and then we'll give her some of our dinner. She LOVES bread and cheese, just like her mama. She still eats her Yo Baby yogurt each morning and still eats her oatmeal mixed with fruit for her lunch. She still loves her puffs too. We give her about 2 ounces of pear juice (mixed with water) every other day or so. She loves to drink from a straw, except she'll bite the straw and won't let go. She thinks it's so funny.

6. She loves to play Hide & Seek. Jim and I will take turns putting a blanket over our heads and hiding from Finley and she goes crazy. We'll put it over her head and she'll just kick her little legs because she's so excited! Her latest thing is to lay face-first into a blanket or a pillow and then yell for one of us to 'find' her. It cracks us up.

7.  She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She'll sit and watch 75% of the show.

8. For the most part, she still takes two naps, each one being about two-hours. One in the morning and one in the afternoon.

9. She loves Target and Meijer. She always gets so excited when we're going into one of those two stores. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's because we go to those two stores so often.

10. She got so many new toys for her birthday and for Christmas. She got a new Activity Walker (thanks Randolph family!) and we get the biggest kick out of watching her push it. We call it her little mower!

11. She still loves the most taboo items- our cell phones, remotes and laptops. She gets so excited when she gets her hands on one. Jim was letting her look at his phone...

12. She's starting to learn that when she hears the garage door, Jim's home. She'll go over to the front window to try to see him. I'll knock on the window to get Jim's attention and he'll come over in front of the windows and wave to Finley. She gets so excited when he gets home from work. She can't wait for him to pick her up!

13. Jim's in charge of bed time. He always gets her ready for bed and reads books to her every night. Tonight he started brushing her teeth and he said she liked (eating) the toothpaste!

14. She's a good little sleeper. Most nights she'll sleep throughout the night and wakes up around 7 or 8am. Lately, since she's had a cold, she's been crying when she goes to bed. This may be a phase of separation anxiety. I hope it passes, because I hate to hear her cry it out. :(

15. She wears 12-18 month tops/onesies and pants. She also wears size 3 diapers.

16. When she wakes up from her nap, she'll usually start babbling. As I walk up the stairs to her room, I'll say "Where's Mommy's baby?". When I walk into her room, she'll find her little baby (she has a little baby that stays in her crib) and quickly holds it up to me. I think it's the cutest little thing.

17. Once Finley gets used to whole milk, we need to get started on having her drink from a sippy cup and get rid of her bottles. Her doctor said she should definitely be done with bottles by 15 months.

18. She's started dancing. She'll bounce up and down and move her hands. Jim and I crack up.

19. She can now clap and wave upon command. We think she's the smartest baby ever. 

20. She's made 2011 the best year yet. 

Tubby time!

It's bath night!

Jim still gives Finley almost all of her baths. When he starts to run the water in the bathtub, she gets all excited and tries to push her frog and duck toys into the water.

Right after I took this picture (above), she started looking down at her feet. I then realized she just peed down her leg. To Jim's delight, Finley still hasn't had a 'Code Brown' in the bathtub. Yet. :) 

She loves to splash and kick the water!

 

Finley's 1st Birthday Party!

We had Finley's 1st Birthday Party on Sunday, December 18th. Luckily, I finally found a place to have it- our house is too small and most places I checked were too pricey. Plus with her party being at Christmastime, I knew I had to reserve a place well in advance.

We had her party at the Community Hall, which was perfect!

I started planning her party about three months ago and worked on little details here and there up until the party. My good friend Leslie designed the invitations and other birthday printables. I thought Finley's party turned out great and everything turned out so cute! Probably 90% of her party was inspired by ideas I found on Pinterest!

The theme was 'Look Whoooo's One'!

My Mom came up early that morning to help get things ready. We got to the Hall around 10:15am to put up decorations and get the food and drinks ready. Jim stayed at home with Finley so she could take her morning nap. He got her ready for the party and brought her to the Hall around 12:45pm. Finley was ready to party!

I made six dozen Sugar Mints. I've never used so much powdered sugar at one time in my life.

Owl treat boxes for the kids.

She's goin' places!

This is my good friend Lisa holding Finley and her 9 month old daughter Ali.  Lisa was one of my OU roommates and we always joke that our girls will go to OU together and being roommates just like we were! 

We changed Finley from her party dress to her smash cake clothes!

I jazzed up her plain ol' highchair with ribbons (idea from Pinterest!).

She liked it when we were all singing Happy Birthday!

Time to bring out the cake...

She did great eating the cake, but didn't like it all over her hands. My cousin Bethany made her little smash cake and it was soooo good (I ate some of the non-smashed side later that day!).

Jim and I felt so grateful for everyone who came to the party and showed their love for Finley! 

I really can't believe Finley's one already!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Jim and I got up around 7am Christmas morning. We got ready and then woke Finley up around 8am. Mom and Granny got to our house around 8am; they came up to see what Santa brought for Finley! 

I was uber prepared and organized for Christmas this year. I even made a crock-pot breakfast casserole right before we went to bed Christmas Eve so we'd have a hot breakfast ready for us when we woke up!

Sleepy little girl ready for Christmas! 

Finley did OK on opening presents. We had to start tearing the paper and then she'd finish tearing off a piece. Each time she'd hand each piece to Jim before she tore another piece.

It's a Little People Surprise Sounds Zoo.

I got her a little Santa hat, but she hated wearing it. She'd wear it for about 1.4 seconds at a time.

A bit o' reminiscing... now and then (one year ago)...

  

And yes, I'm wearing the same shirt. I guess I should ask Santa for some new clothes.

Mom and Granny left around 10am and Finley went down for nap about the same time. Jim and I then opened our gifts for each other.

We had about 30 minutes to relax before we had to get ready for Christmas Round #2!

Once Finley got up from her nap, we got her dressed and ready. I got a Cheese Platter and the ingredients for Iced Tea Punch packed and ready. We loaded Christmas gifts and everything else we'd need for the day into the car and headed to Jim's Mom & Dad's house (about 35 minutes away).

Christmas Round #2 at Nan & Pap's....

Finley with her Auntie Deb.

Jim's sister Lisa and her husband Ed.

Finley with her cousin Kendall. Kendall is starting the Police Academy today (Monday, December 26th). Good luck Kendall!

With her cousin Brett.

With her cousin Alex. She doesn't look too happy. I think she's mad that Alex drank all of the Iced Tea Punch.

With her cousin Justin. 

The beautiful Teiga family! (Justin had to get ready and leave for work; he's a Columbus Police Officer.)

We left around 3:30pm to head to Lancaster to Mom & Granny's. Finley slept most of the way, which was good since she didn't sleep much for her morning nap. 

I'd sent our presents, plus a Corned Beef Brisket (in a crock-pot) and a Banana Split dessert all back with Mom & Granny, so at least we didn't have to worry about unloading a bunch of stuff when we got there.

Christmas Round #3 at Mom & Granny's...

Granny's great-grandchildren... Troy, Olivia, Finley and Averie.

Checking out the names on the tags.

In the middle of it all!

My 2nd cousin Nikki and her two girls, Faith and Hope; her husband Shann and her son Darrick. Oh, and my Mom (she though she was being funny by trying to sneak in the picture; she's back behind Shann and Darrick). Very funny, Mom!

Finley's latest thing is standing on whatever and trying to climb on top of whatever. Apparently, Finley thought she should try standing on top of these presents.

And how could it possibly be a Christmas without....

The Biebs. 

My uncle (Olivia and Averie's Grandpa) got them a Justin Bieber cut-out. The girls LOVED it.

We finally got home around 10pm. The ride home was a tough one. Finley fell asleep right away, but woke up about 15 minutes before we got home and started coughing. Since her little nose is still so runny, she started choking on the mucus. She coughed so hard she threw up everywhere. Jim got her calmed down, but it was a rough 15 minutes.

We were so exhausted when we got home. I don't know if we'll be able to continue to go to both families' Christmas in one day. It's a lot to manage and it was too much for Finley to do in one day. Plus, it didn't help that all three of us have colds. 

Despite the long day, it was still a great Christmas. It was so much fun for Jim and I to watch Finley experience it all. 

Merry Bieber Christmas everyone.

 

Christmas Eve...

We started our Christmas Eve family traditions! Even though this was Finley's 2nd Christmas, last year kinda didn't count. ;)

On Christmas Eve, Finley got to open the presents in her Christmas stocking. She got new Christmas penguin PJ's (I washed these a couple of weeks ago so they'd be all ready to wear!) and a Hallmark ornament.

She also got to open a couple of gifts from the Randolph and Schwartz families.

Before starting off the Christmas festivities, I wanted to get a photo of Finley in front of the tree. These next two pics were taken literally three seconds apart. I should've put the camera on fast-action mode!

  

Awww, such a sweet little girl.

Finley also got a container of Sweet Potato puffs in her stocking. I think she was trying to chew the lid off.

Christmas pics to follow soon!