Milestones: The Roadtrip Kind & The Baby Kind

Backyard Bathtime

 It's like a three-ring circus around here.  In this ring we have a baby who can pull herself up to stand and even cruise around the coffee table.  In this ring we have a baby who responds to words (like waving every time someone says "hi" or "bye", wiggling your fingers when we say "tickle" and waving your hand in your face when we say "stinky").  And in this ring we have a baby who gives kisses...albeit "backward" kisses...that end up more like spitting than kissing, but who's complaining?  And all of these babies are you!  You also are trying to repeat just about every one-word sentence we say ("Ouch", "Yum", "Oops", etc.).  All of your efforts sound similar.  Kind of like grunts or gurgles in your throat, but I know what you're trying to do and praise you like crazy!  You are eating it up.  You also clap now with open hands.  It even makes a noise!  Every time we say "Good girl" or "Yay, Finnlee", you start clapping away.  You can even point your itty bitty finger.  And you do it at every opportunity.  I have no intention of telling you that it's not polite to point anytime soon.  It's milestone city around here.  You must have found a copy of "What to Expect: The First Year" lying around the house and you're checking off the list one thing at a time.  Go, you!

This is my attempt to make you love your baths again.

I hope it's working.

Last weekend was kind of a big deal.  Mommy and Daddy never miss a Dave Matthews concert, as you'll soon find out.  This year was a bit different.  Kylee was going to get to see her first Dave show, and I was apprehensive about leaving you for such a long time, so we decided I would stay at the hotel and have your dad facetime me from the show instead.  We broke up the drive with a stop at Sawgrass Mall, but you handled the long drive like roadtrippin' is in your blood.  This makes me very happy.  We have some traveling in mind next year, once we buy a new car.  The trip itself wasn't without incident.  Sydney woke up sick Friday night, and I came down with a fever and migraine Saturday evening.  Why can't we just take a normal trip?  For the most part, it was an enjoyable family weekend spent eating, shopping and swimming.  And lots of rest and recuperation.  Sounds good to me!

First carousel ride.

Shopping for birthday party straws.

Great advice from a random sign.

Gelato with this cutie.

You are trying to dress yourself!

Swimming with Daddy at the hotel.

It's been crazy hot here lately, and even the beach has been humid.  That hasn't kept us away though.  We're fitting in sunsets and beach days where we can.  The school year is creeping up on us and I feel the need to make some solid summer memories before it's too late.  Time goes too quickly.  I'm starting to feel anxious about all of the things we still haven't done this summer.  It's possible that tomorrow we could end up making homemade ice cream while wearing face paint and hosting a lemonade stand beside our carwash and slip-n-slide party, after which we will take a nature walk with our cameras and check out the spot at the airport I've been wanting to see, while sitting in a kiddie pool.  Yeah, summer is just too short.

Aaah...feels like home.

You won't leave hats on anymore, and it's a shame.

Digging a massive hole

Surfer Girl

See?  Huge hole!

Steamy sunset beach run.

You and Daddy, checking out the water.

On top of not accomplishing everything I plan on doing during summer vacation, every day I have good intentions of coming here to write a post.  I really do.  I even start to compose it in my mind.  But when I look at this empty page, my mind goes blank.  I try to run through all of the amazing things you are doing and keep a better record for you.  But lately the last thing I want to do is sit down at a computer.  Keeping up with you is a full-time job.  You refuse to be contained and are into everything.  You also happen to be the cutest, funniest, most amusing little squirt.  I just want to watch you and play with you all day.  Naptime is the only time I get anything accomplished, but that's usually laundry and unloading the dishwasher and vacuuming...you know, the stuff your dad would notice if I wasn't doing.  You are climbing and scooting every waking moment (today at Target I turned around to find you backwards and on your knees in the cart, but strapped in of course, reaching for things in the back! Monkey!!).  Finding time to write a blog post hasn't been easy.  I also have been using my phone more and more for taking pictures.  I never thought I would take less pictures with my camera, but it's been happening.  I still love my camera, of course, but I don't even always have it on hand anymore.  Crazy!  I've started using Instagram as almost a daily journal of sorts to document what we've been up to.  I find that I am liking it more than I expected to.  I have no intention of abandoning this blog.  Or even neglecting it.  I just need to figure out how to reconcile my usual ways of keeping tabs on you.  One day I'll try a blog post from my phone with camera pics and see how that looks. I know...first world problems.  

You are looking "big" these days. 

Oh and teeth.  The next few weeks look promising in the way of teeth developments.  You seem to be (finally!) getting your first tooth.  It was dad who noticed the white, hard spot on your top gum.  It is suspiciously off to the side...not centered at all.  So either you are getting your teeth in a very unconventional order, or you may have an interesting smile for a while.  Or maybe it will all sort itself out once it comes in.  Only time will tell.  Also, Sydney (finally!) has her first loose tooth.  What is it with you girls and your tooth delays?  I decided to show her which teeth she should lose first and wiggled the lower two, and lo and behold, she had a slightly wiggly one already. She's so excited.  


So I should soon have tales of Tooth Fairy visits and teething nightmares.  Of standing solo and eventually a first step.  I'm sure there will be much more adventurous food choices once you are able to chew.  And baby gates blocking the hallways once you are fully mobile.  Let's not rush it though.  You might be trying to pull away and assert some independence, but I am soaking up these days when you still need to be carried.  When you pull off shoes and get angry when I put them on in the first place.  When you would rather nurse than try a bite of my blueberry.  I recently read something I thought was pretty profound, and it was basically reminding me that I should not mourn the waning of your babyhood, but should realize that if you stayed little, I would never get to experience the rest of the amazing stuff to come.  I'd never see you take those first steps, or tell me about your first day of school, or wear your first pigtails, or pick out your first prom dress.  I will do my best to think of these milestones in this way.  And until then, I will snap away like crazy with my camera (and phone, apparently) so that we never forget a single detail.  Goodnight little monkey.  I'm so lucky to be able to say that we will do this all again tomorrow.

9 Months: You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

Wearing Daddy's Jersey

I feel like I just wrote your 8 month post.  What on earth is going on?  Someone please tell me that someone stole a page from my calendar.  You can't really be 9 months.  Yet here you are...all nine months of you.  One thing is for sure; you are the least content nine-month-old baby I've ever had.  Gone are the days when I could possibly accomplish something when you were awake.  You are into everything.  Climbing, squirming, exploring non-stop.  I spend all day waiting for your naps so I can shower, do dishes, or sweep.  Seriously.  Not that I'm looking forward to those things.  Well...maybe the shower.  Luckily you are cute enough to get away with this little spell you're going through.  Actually, you are crashed out behind me on the sofa right now, blissfully unaware that I'm dishing up all of the dirt on you while you snooze.  

What to do with too-blurry, but still cute, photos of us playing under the sheets?  Black & White, Baby!

We've had a pretty low-key week around here thanks in part to more rain.  Such a rainy summer!  But also thanks to a rather expensive household week.  Four new tires, a new dryer (the old one was taking all day to dry laundry), and a pricey tv repair makes me reluctant to spend money running around town.  Besides, summer is all about kicking back and enjoying mother nature, right?  So what to do when mother nature hands you rainy day after rainy day?  Well, one night we took you, Sydney & Kylee to the movies for a special feature of "Singin' In the Rain" (how appropriate, I know).  I have always loved that movie, and the opportunity to see it on the big screen was too much to pass up.  I loved being able to share it with my girls.  And the best surprise of all was that you found it to be hilarious!  You laughed at the funny parts and grunted every time they tap-danced.  You didn't fall asleep until the unnecessary "Broadway scene", and I don't really blame you there.  The next day we took Ashley to get her hair cut.  When we stepped out of the car the rain puddles were so deep they covered our toes.  Sydney started humming the melody to "Singin' In the Rain" and swishing her feet around, wanting to tap.  I love the little dancer in her.  

In other "news" I finally joined Instagram and have posted a few pictures.  I feel like I'm learning a new language though with all of the hash-tag nonsense.  I don't get it at all.  I just like the way some of your pictures look on there, so I'll continue to post there until it doesn't amuse me anymore.  Maybe someday I'll figure out how to use it properly.


And I know you've been wondering:
What Finnlee's Digging: 9 Months

• Paper: Any paper will do, but typically it's the Sunday paper sales flyers that I hand you as I flip through them.  You never try to eat them, but you crumple them and rip them to shreds.  Who needs a document shredder?  Not me!
• Noises (specifically bodily function noises...sorry, but it's true): Every time someone sneezes, burps, hiccups, yawns, etc., you try to imitate the sound.  It's so funny!  Kylee will even "fake sneeze", and you follow up with a two-syllable-raspberry sound.  
• Hats: Just not on your head.  You love them.  You really love taking them off of people.  And I can't get you to leave one on your own head for anything these days.  But you will hold one all day and put up a good fight if I try to take it away from you.
• Touchy-Feely Books: I might have said this last month also, but it's still true.  Fortunately our library has a pretty extensive collection of them.  We've checked several of them out three library trips in a row and haven't had a repeat yet. 
• Standing: Now that you can pull yourself up to stand, you are trying out your new trick every chance you get.  The only problem is that you don't realize you have to keep holding on.  I guess I need to let you fall once or twice so you get the idea.  But that sounds awful.

You are definitely seeming "bigger."  Sunday you started saying "Da-Da" along with some "b" sounds as well.  So funny, because those were all of your sisters' first consonants.  You are your own person, and I love it.  Just when all of the books and magazines tell me you should start experiencing some separation anxiety, you actually are starting to come out of your shell a little bit.  You don't burst into tears at the sight of me walking out of the room any longer, which is a great thing.  However, your unfortunate combination of fearlessness and lack of coordination makes my trips out of the room few and far between.  At least you don't cry every time someone tells you how pretty your eyes are in the grocery store anymore.  And while in some ways you've grown by leaps and bounds, there have been a few steps back lately also.  Suddenly you hate your bath.  I moved your tub into my shower lately for practical reasons.  I don't know if it's the acoustics or what, but you now scream all through your bath.  I don't know how to make it stop!  You are also become choosier about your foods.  That doesn't keep me from feeding you the ones you turn your nose up at.  But it definitely makes meal time more of a challenge.

I've been trying not to panic about summer whizzing by.  The department stores are trying to trick me by posting back-to-school specials already.  I'm torn between wanting to be prepared and refusing to acknowledge them until I'm ready to think about school starting.  I see plenty more park days, beach days, sunsets and lazy days in our future.  Hopefully we do something more interesting than the "nothing" we've accomplished lately.  This weekend, we are off on a quick road trip for the Dave Matthews concert.  Now this should be interesting.

Moves Like Jagger

I know.  I know.  I've been a terrible blogger.  I can't seem to stick to any sort of a schedule with this whole blogging thing.  I hate letting days go by and then trying to cram too much into one post.  But here goes anyway.  


You are on the move.  Over the weekend, you decided you no longer would sit around and watch the world pass you by.  You wanted in on the action.  It's like you woke up one morning and had somewhere to be.  You contort into all sorts of crawling and rolling positions when we put you down.  You push off of us when we carry you.  You dive head-first off of the couch (don't worry...I am always right there to stop you).  You pull yourself up to your knees, and sometimes your feet, at the coffee table.  And you scoot around on the floor, sometimes backwards, when you see something you want (which is always).  

Proof that you can no longer be contained.

In some ways, this summer has been pretty typical.  Lots of rainy afternoons.  Lots of big ideas of things to do, not nearly enough time or willing children to do them with.  In other ways, it's been anything but typical.  Your oldest sister will be moving out in a month.  You will be moving into Sydney's new room.  I'm beyond excited about finally putting together your bedroom.  I've also kicked your party planning into high gear.  We have roughly three months until the big day!  It's time for shopping and list-making and decoration-crafting.  Your dad thinks I've lost my mind.

In the meantime, we've had Ashley's 18th birthday.  My birthday...but we can just let that one slide.  And your very first 4th of July!  It wasn't exactly our typical Independence Day celebration.  We usually throw a small get-together and have some friends and family over.  But your allergy to mosquito bites has kept us indoors more than I would like this summer.  We even contemplated skipping fireworks, but settled on a favorite viewing spot (a parking lot across the street from a park that shoots them off).  It turned out to be a good decision.  Our view was great, and we avoided all of the traffic that makes the beach fireworks unbearable.  Daddy and I took turns holding you and oohing and ahhing over the fireworks, just hoping you wouldn't be afraid of the noise (like Sydney and Kylee always were).  Clearly, noise doesn't bother you.  You waved at the fireworks every time one exploded.  Adorable.

Nutella cupcakes after a birthday dinner.

A birthday sunset on Mommy's birthday.

Your very first fireworks.

Making sure mom thinks all of this noise is okay.

Loving the lights and colors.

We also had our first brush with hurricane season this year.  The next best thing to having a tropical storm or small hurricane is being sideswiped by one.  The waves at the beach are amazing we get some great breezes and much-needed rain.  But Tropical Storm Debbie kind of wore out her welcome here.  After five or six days of nonstop rain, we were all itching to get outdoors and go anywhere, really.  We found ourselves at the park, and ended up running into good friends who also had cabin fever.  Great minds think alike.  Even though we got caught in a gazebo during a torrential downpour, and I spent the majority of the time protecting my camera from the water, we had a good time.  

Loving the wind and rain!

Good thing we remembered a bathing suit!

Holding hands with our friend's newborn baby.  You were so gentle.

Other firsts you've had recently are meeting your great-grandmother for the first time.  I took some amazing pictures that day, but I won't post them out of respect for her (she doesn't like to "be on the internet.").  You also went swimming in the ocean for the first time just last weekend.  Seems hard to believe considering how many times we've been to the beach with you, but the gulf waters have been pretty rough the last few visits.  Saturday the water was as smooth as glass, though.  

First dip in the Gulf of Mexico.  Incidentally, also your first taste of salt.  Oops.

You have been very into sand lately.

You particularly enjoy smearing it all over your face.

Professional beachgoer.

I have lots more to add.  However, since I feel like I'm in a contest to fit the most pictures in one post...I think it can wait for another day.

The End.