Family Time

Took some fun pictures today while we played at the park.  I love Sundays!

I know it's not Thanksgiving just yet, but I know what I'm thankful for ;)

Lately

Around here lately these are the things I know...


*Finn is a giant!  14 lbs 3 oz and 24 1/2 inches at his two month appointment.  Whatever he is getting to eat is NOT what Tommy got.  They will be wearing the same size in about a year!  He gained about 5 1/2 lbs in two months!  He is so happy, eating, sleeping, smiling, and cooing.  He loves to hear stories, watch baseball, and look at himself.  He can roll from his tummy to his back, and holds himself up on his tummy really well.  He tries so hard to sit up, that sometimes when I set him down it looks like he is doing stomach exercises! 

*Tommy is basically potty trained.  (Please note, now that I have typed this it will probably be completely undone.)  He hasn't had an accident in about two weeks.  He goes both #1 and #2 on the potty, I haven't changed a dirty diaper (of his) in about two weeks, either.  He wears a diaper at nap and and night, but usually wakes up dry from both!  Most importantly, he is starting to be able to tell us that he has to go, and not have to hold it until I take him or tell him it's time to go try.  I honestly, don't really know how it happened, but I am so happy.  I just saw the light click on for him in terms of controlling it and we were rolling.  Also, the funniest part is, after he goes #2, I generally say something like, "oh, good job," etc.  He replies every time, "Oh, you're welcome, Mom!"  It's super funny!

*We went trick-or-treating with our good friends and the boys had a great time.  Tommy got the hang of it and they took turns ringing doorbells, and his friend Gavin said, "Trick-or-treat!  And also, Happy Halloween!"  at every house.  It was so funny!  He had several costume options including, a baseball player, a lion, or a cowboy.  They were all costumes that we either had or could easily put together.  I was surprised that he chose the baseball player, and more specifically to be Joe Mauer.  He has a special love affair with that guy.  I use it to my advantage though, ("Oh Tommy, Joe Mauer always listens to his mommy in the store!") Anyways, Greg said that the most important part would be the sideburns.  He wore the lion trick-or-treating because it was the warmest costume, but he was Joe at storytime and also Halloween morning at the grocery store.  He made lots of friends!  Finn was a sushi roll.  (I got the idea from a parenting magazine.)

*So, this year has been kind of a...how do you say?  Character building year for us, I guess.  We made a lot of changes, resulting in some growing pains, but ultimately we are starting to feel so comfortable and happy with our choices.  I am loving my time with the boys, and we are really happy to be so close to friends and family. 

Pumpkin picking

Cutest pumpkin in the patch!

Presenting, Mr. Joe Mauer!  Also, my friend asked him, "Do you want me to call you Tommy, or Joe Mauer?"

His reply was very serious.  "You can call me Joe."  The even after the costume, he wanted me to call him Joe!!!

Tommy and Gavin, trick-or-treating buddies!

Happy Halloween!

Love it

* The first sip of coffee in the morning
* Finn's smile and coos
* Tommy being a big brother
* That smile song
* Greg and Finn always asleep together
* Scrubs, especially the musical episode
* Glee, my new favorite show
* Tommy's manners and the charm, when he chooses to turn them on
* Driving the red car
* Hanging out with my big brother
* Fall (also winter since that's pretty much where we're at)
* Singing in the car
* A minute to myself, when I can get it
* lower case letters
* When Tommy dances with his head
* The dream of my jeans someday
* Pesto (and some good gnocchi) especially from Valentini's in Duluth
* Spending a random weekday afternoon with good friends
* Being able to stay in my jammies all day if I say so
* Being present for the little moments with my kids
* Cider, pumpkin seeds, sweaters and hats
*Cloudy days with a little bit of wind (no rain though!)
* My cd's from Sheila
* A good book
*Snuggling my boys on a Sunday afternoon
*Having Greg for one whole day on Sundays
*Good coffee and a walk around Target
*When the first thing out of Tommy's mouth in the morning is, "Tag, mom! You're it!"
*Finn flapping his arms and legs while he listens to a story
*These pics...

My favorite little sushi roll

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!

Tommy just can't resist lovin' on his baby Finn

Also, can't resist his best girl, Ella.

Ahh!  The good things in life...

Things that actually happened

In the same day...

* Tommy is getting in trouble with me and crosses himself and says, "Father, soup, and something spit."  Not sure if he should still get in trouble and also a little bit unsure of my parenting skills if my son has to call on the holy trinity to save himself.

* Tommy blows kisses to the T.V. (Twins are on) and proclaims to the world his love of Joe Mauer.  Might I also add, that he regularly asks me if Joe Mauer likes to go potty.  (I told him this to encourage the potty training process)

* Tommy carried two gallons of milk from the door of the apartment to the kitchen.

Regular occurances...

* At nap and bedtime Tommy uses the fact that I will let him sit on the potty anytime he asks in order to delay having to lie down.  He never asks, except when it's time to do something else he doesn't want to do i.e. sleep.  Then he proclaims his undying love for me several times and requests hugs and kisses further delaying the impending bedtime because, lets face it folks, I am a sucker for affection.

* Tommy asks, "So...How was you day?"  Sometimes at 6 a.m., when he wakes up.  Or twice at lunch.

*  When he wants a story read he always requests that we, "talk about it" as in, we can't just sit there and look at the pictures with him or ask him to tell us what happens, this mean we have to read the book and he knows the difference.

* I give Tommy two options, the one I want and an undesirable one (for example, a penalty) 75% of the time the kid chooses the undesirable option and I know it's just to spite me.  God help us when he's a teenager.

* Finn is starting to smile and babble a little bit.  He mostly prefers to babble and smile at inanimate objects but we'll take it.

A few pics...

  Watching the planes, eating a muffin, waiting for Cara!  Nice outfit T!

For comparison...

Finners                         &                                Tommy           

They look really different to me.  Do you know which one is which? Sometimes I see similarities, but here they seem so different.

Things I love today

* the way tommy puts on a ball cap.  He's all boy ready to run off and be all rough and tumble...then he chooses footwear, his rubber frog galoshes of course...then he wants to wear my "beaufital neck-a-lis." (his pronunciation is hilarious).

*Greg, just Greg.  Especially doing anything dad related. 

*Finn.  Not much happens yet, but his hobbies include napping with dad and staring at his big brother.

* when Tommy says, "Oh Finners is crying, he wants his big brother!"  Then he runs over and hugs and kisses him.  Or when I walk by and find a little car or truck tucked in with Finn, because Tommy wanted to share.

* fighting with Tommy over cleaning up his blocks.  He has some funny tactics, I'll admit.  One of my favorites is when he has alligator arms and says, "uh, uh I can't reach them!" 

* they way Tommy pretends.  He likes to make pizza pie and drink coffee.  He asks me to cheer for him when he participates in a variety of sporting activities.  He says things like, "Hey you tree, you're gonna go in a penalty for being naughty!"

* when T "reads" his books to himself.

* the questions, including:
       What are you doing?
        What am I doing?
        What?  (this one is best if you can hear the inflection)
        Can I have some?
        What's that noise?

* that Tommy thinks there is a train and a conductor involved when his dad "trains people" at the gym.

that's all I can think of for right now...but this was refreshing, maybe I'll do it again sometime.
       

Baby Finn

So the big news...the newest member of our family is finally here. I say finally, but he was two days early so I should be less dramatic. However, I have been pregnant since right around the time we moved back to MN, so at my work I've been pg for as long as they've known me which = forever.

Finnegan John Young was born Tuesday, August 11, 2009

9:40 a.m. 8 lbs 9 oz 21 inches

WARNING!

If you are not interested in any details no matter how mild, skip this section!

My last day of work was Monday, August 10th. As we got closer to the end I was getting more nervous about our decision to try and labor after ending up with a c-section last time. (Tommy = 36 hours of labor including approx. 4 hours of pushing and forceps then a c-section) The recovery was not good so I was nervous in general for any way that this baby wanted to enter the world. Monday a.m. we had an ultrasound to gestimate the size of baby. The reasoning being Tommy was 7 lbs and 19 1/2 inches (average to small), so if this baby seemed like it was going to be bigger, we'd just schedule a c-section. The results didn't really help. They said the baby was approx. 7 lbs 12 oz, BUT that could be + or - a pound. So basically this baby could be anywhere from about 7 lbs up to almost 9 lbs. We had to wait for the "official" results at our next appointment anyways, so we decided it didn't really offer us an easier way to make or change our decision.

Off to work for my last day which was going along fine, until the kids woke from nap. Someone wet their cot, another kid had a bloody nose and then I was pretty sure... then yep totally sure my water broke. At first just a little, then huge! (like my shoes were wet) A few details in between Greg takes me to the hospital. I was having contractions but nothing major. We gave it through the night but by morning less than nothing was happening. Our basic wants for trying to labor again were:

1) didn't want to pick baby's b-day

2) wanted to try because after the 2nd c-section, I won't have a choice

3) it's nice to avoid major surgery and the recovery

Basically I wanted to give my body a chance to have this baby and it wasn't doing anything and I wasn't so gung-ho about labor thing that I was willing to move into pitocin etc., so we decided to just move on and have the c-section.

Having made that decision, this time the surgery experience was really different. Last time it was a relief and I felt like everything happened so fast. This time I was very aware of everything getting numb, how heavy it felt to breathe, that Greg couldn't be with me until they were ready to start. Plus, I was freaking out about if we made the right decision. But once he cried, it was all right. I also got to see him coming into the world (or at least his butt being born).

Excuse my nose, they told me that the numbing stuff would make me itchy. They did not mention that it would be my nose itching and I would be able to stop. So it's swollen and itchy, and I itched it so much that I had to grow some new skin. ouch!

The recovery part has been way, way easier this time and Tommy has been an amazing big brother. So helpful, compassionate, loving, and patient. I keep waiting for that to change. Finn has been awesome! Super laid back, a fairly decent sleeper, hardly fussy and has gained 1 lb 1 oz in a week. (The opposite of my first experience)

getting ready to go home, practicing his future profession, hog calling champion

The thing that strikes me the most is the first time you do certain things or go certain places after a baby is born into your life. It always feels so strange to stand in a place you've been many times without a child, or being the parent of only one. It is really weird to hardly be able to remember the experience as it was before...

Before we had kids, plural. Before it was "our boys."

Back from a hormone-induced hiatus

It's been a while. It seemed like the longer I waited and the more I made the statement, "I should really put something up on the blog," the less I felt motivated to do it. Now it's just plain awkward. No time like the present I guess. Here is the quick version of all that has happened during July and August.

Me = Big, hot, swollen, and irritable. Then I had a baby, more on that later.

Greg = Working hard and definitely fulfilling the role as the fantastic guy I married.

Tommy = Awesome! He has been growing so fast. Only complete sentences for this guy, followed by tons of questions. (Most popular question: "What are you doing?") My favorite thing lately is to watch him eat raisins out of those little tiny boxes. He concentrates so hard on shoving those pudgy fingers in that little box and he is so joyful about eating them. Funny guy!

Some pictures of what we've missed.

Fourth of July parade in Forest Lake. I got hot, Tommy had a tantrum and a subsequent 2 minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, I fell grabbing him as he darted for the street, got a grass stain on my pants, If I remember correctly there may have been a messy diaper involving some time spent walking around with no pants. (Tommy, of course) ;) Later for fireworks he freaked. Happy Fourth of July.

Tommy showing off his fire fighter hat from The Taste of Shorview. He got to man the fire hose and go inside a real fire truck. A very popular activity.

Also a very popular activity, getting some loving from Ella!

Also shameful from these past few months...the picture taking of thing happening in our lives. Oh well, maybe next time.