Visitors

We have been fortunate enough to have some out of town family visitors to help out and visit since Helaina was born...

Aunt Sophi and cousin Lilah

Cousin Lilah

Grandma Terri

Grandma Terri and Grandpa Ken

Gran Patty

Recent pictures

Play doh time for Finn

Story time with Daddy

Finn's "binoculars"

My mother's day crown made by Finn with help from Daddy

Sweet Helaina

We are all in love with Helaina at our house. She continues to be a mellow baby for the most part and actually slept for five hours in a row last night.
Finn has been a wonderful big brother, asking to hold her frequently and being gentle, with helpful reminders from mom and dad. He will talk in a high pitched baby voice to her saying "oh Helaina, you are so tiny". He also on a daily basis asks me "will Helaina ever be able to play?" or "is Helaina big enough to play yet?" I am sure it won't be long and he will regret wishing for a playmate when she is wanting all of his toys!

Helaina is growing quickly and at her two week check up was already a pound above her birth weight. I think today I am just starting to see the beginnings of some intentional smiles which warms my heart.

Finn had a rough week at daycare this week with two separate minor head injuries. One tripping over a rope and landing face first on the concrete and then pulling a plastic toy garage down onto his head. He is wearing his war wounds proudly and doesn't seem any worse for the wear. I am tempted to take him to daycare in a helmet next week however! Finn did receive his "report card" from daycare this week with glowing remarks. He is a quick learner!

Baby Helaina

Another little video.

Click link below.

Helaina in Swing

Finn Plays Ball

Finn continues to take an interest in baseball. Asking Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa Ken and Grandma Terri to play. Invariably he needs to be the batter and whoever he can convince to play will be the pitcher. If you invoke the "everyone needs to share" rule, you may get to bat a few pitches yourself.

There are a few rules to iron out to align with your typical idea of baseball but Finn's version is pretty fun too.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWPLPtHoD6U

I'm trying to direct link the web address above but if that doesn't work try to copy and paste the link into your browser.

Finn's big sister Helaina arrives

After much anticipation we finally welcomed baby Helaina Alice to our family. Born Tuesday 7:40am at Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin she joins her brother Finn. Weighing 6lb 9oz and stretching out 20 inches she stayed with mommy two days while Finn held down the fort at home with Grandma Terri and Grandpa Ken.

We are all home now and trying to redevelope the newborn routine while maintaining the 2.5 year old routine.

I'm feeling a bit nostaligic remembering back to Finn's first few months and then seeing how big he is already reinforces what everyone says about enjoying this time.

The hours aren't the greatest but the moments are.

roast beef, baseball and babies

We have had a busy couple of months trying to prepare for our new addition and trying to do our best to help ease this transition for Finn. We have days where he seems excited about the baby and talks to my belly telling the baby he will be a good big brother and play with the baby and other days where I hear "I don't want a baby", fortunately these are few and far between. He does stand by the name "Leroy the dinosaur" for the baby but does waffle between whether it is a boy or a girl. He does take pride in helping me put cream on my feet and also my belly...usually talking to the baby at the same time.
This is a big week for him. Today he told me Grandpa Ken, Grandma Terri, the baby and the Easter Bunny are all coming this week! How exciting for a 2 year old!

Finn recently planted some flower seeds at his daycare. That evening at dinner I asked him what it takes to grow a flower...his response..."seeds, dirt, water, roast beef and sunlight". Ok, seems reasonable, right??

Finn has developed quite the imagination. He has a pair of striped pj's that whenever he wears them he becomes "stripey" the tiger and will only respond to this name. He will crawl around on his hands and feet and paw at us. At other times he pretends to be other animals and we are the mommy and daddy version of those animals. For instance, the other morning he woke up as a baby bunny and hopped out of bed letting me know that I was his mommy bunny.

Now that spring is here, Finn has baseball fever! We have spent the last two weeks playing baseball every morning and every night and if possible during the day as well. He has a short little plastic baseball bat, nerf-like baseball and little glove. Typically daddy is assigned the role of pitcher and Finn is the batter. I usually get the role of people in the stands and once in awhile he will throw the ball to the "people" and also at other times he tells me to clap for him. When he hits the ball he will run in a random pattern and eventually fall down, his version of sliding. He will yell out "single" or "double" or "foul ball" or sometimes even a "home run". It is pretty cute to watch.