christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

please put a penny in the old man's hat!
if you haven't got a penny, a half-penny will do
if you haven't got a half-penny then God bless you!

(I love obscure Christmas carols, don't you?)

Finn has started eating cereal (graphic photo warning!).



I know. Food all over. He certainly likes to eat, which could explain why he is such a large baby. I realize he doesn't look so big in the pictures, but that's because he is proportional. Trust me, the kid is big. I don't know why I don't have hugely muscled arms yet.

We are SO EXCITED about Christmas and have been running around popping in on people, delivering christmas cheer (and often cookies). I realize that just showing up unannounced is fraught with peril from an etiquette standpoint, but our friends are used to it by now. Although I have gotten some complaints about the sore lack of cashew brittle in the cookie deliveries this year. (Did you ever see the Friends episode where Monica makes Christmas candy? and then everyone is banging on the door demanding more candy? Yelling, "Hey, Candy Lady!"? That's me. Candy Lady.)
So all I have to say is, I have a bucket of cashews and a bag of sugar on the kitchen counter, so maybe if you come to the New Year's Eve party you will get lucky and get some cashew brittle. We'll see.

My new favorite thing: Finn waking up and talking to himself in the morning and then busting into the biggest smile when I walk in the room. SO CUTE!!!!! We're smitten, kittens.

Cookies & Yodelling

Last night was our church Christmas party/talent show and so my friend Julie and I yodeled. For real. We use a CD and book called "Learn to Yodel" (I am not making this up) and we actually learned to yodel. It was great because everyone expected us to sing, and then we busted out with the yodeling. It was great.

Finn and I baked cookies today. He was happy to sit in his bouncy seat while I sang Christmas carols and baked. He smiled and babbled and was generally the sweetest thing ever. It was a good time. Then this evening we went and looked at Christmas lights and stopped in to visit a friend.
I keep meaning to take more pictures of him in an attempt to get one of him really smiling! But so far it hasn't happened. We are sure to get some at Christmas, though.
I have all the Christmas shopping finished, so thankfully that is done. I am looking forward to just enjoying the next week or so. hope you are too!

Back to work

Well, we made it through my first week back at work and Finn's first week of child care. He is at a really good place, but of course it is still hard to leave him. But, it does make our time in the evening very precious. Here is a pictures of Finn and me working on the couch (what you can't see is the laptop I have balanced on my knees as I write some ad copy). Sweet baby! Anyway, here are some more pictures of our fun evening time together:



Finn likes his giraffe, which we have named Michael Flatley in honor of the Lord of the Dance, because we like to make the giraffe dance around and I sing "The Drunken Sailor" while Michael Flatley the giraffe is dancing an Irish jig. This seems to entertain Finn greatly. And it makes us laugh too, so why not?

Thanksgiving!

This is gonna be a long post; you might want to go get a cup of coffee before you start reading. And we weren't great about taking photos this week, so the pictures are a little random!

I've been in computer withdrawal for a week. I don't know why people insist on putting passwords on their wireless networks (oh, except to keep people like me from stealing their bandwidth while traveling). Anyway, I'm posting now!

We had a great Thanksgiving! We took a road trip to Nashville and had a ball. We experienced lots of Southern hospitality along the way! And we bought gas for $1.58 a gallon, which was awesome (I have a genetic abnormality which requires me to read gas prices aloud while traveling. It's hereditary and there is no cure).

Friday night we spent in Little Rock with J's cousin, Jennifer & her husband Reagan and their kids, and Jennifer's parents, who were in town for the kids' birthday party (more on that in a minute). At dinner his cousin Jeff, his wife Erin and their kiddos joined us, which was an unexpected bonus since they were headed to Missouri for Thanksgiving. We ate dinner at a cultural phenomenon called Larry's. If Cici's Pizza served really good food, it would be Larry's. It was PACKED. They have a game room for the kids to play in and the grownups talked and ate tasty pizza (no, Finn did not play skee-ball).

We spent the night with Jennifer & Reagan and the next day, we went to their children's birthday party. Avery and Conner have the same birthday three years apart, so they had a big cupcake party, which was totally cute.

I'm not sure if you can see their darling birthday outfits in the photos, but they were adorable. We all ate cupcakes and talked while the kids played. They also had a pinata (shaped like a cupcake, of course) where you pull strings instead of whacking it with a bat. I think that is a better idea than allowing children to flail about, blindfolded, with a Louisville Slugger. So the kiddos got all hopped up on sugar before noon, and then we got on the road.

About an hour away from Nashville on Saturday night, I decided that I was smarter than the atlas, and so we took a "shortcut" that dumped us out in the middle of pitch-black no-where. But, thank to my mad navigating skills, we made it to Nancy's house in less time than it would had taken had we followed the original directions. Take that, Google Maps.

We had big fun with Grandma Nancy! Here's Finn smiling at her: We went to church on Sunday and she showed Finn off to evvvvvvveryone. That night, J's cousin Jason, his wife Amy and their two kiddos came over and we had dinner together, which was great. Their kids are cutie-pies— sorry I didn't get any photos!

Monday, Gram kept Finn while we went on a date, which was a GREAT idea! We ate at Red Lobster (I'm not sure why we picked that, but I was having a cheddar biscuit moment, and it was good) and saw Quantum of Solace, which was pretty good, but not as good as Casino Royale.

Then on Tuesday we did a little shopping and Finn got about two dozen new pairs of socks. I know what you are thinking...will the excitement never cease? Then we went to dinner with Nancy's friends David and Marsha and their son, and his girlfriend. I wasn't sure how we would get along with a Lipscomb college freshman, now that we are so old and, you know, liberal, but his answer to my standard "get-to-know-you" question ("so what are you reading?") was Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, one of J's and my FAVORITE novels. It was one of those pleasant moments where you realize, thankfully, that you are about to have an evening of good conversation with a minimum of awkward pauses. The food was good too.

Wednesday we cooked some, and went to a bookstore where I bought some ridiculous Jane Austen fanfiction (which I love), and then we hosted Jason & Amy and Kurt & Brenda (J's uncle & aunt) over for dinner at Nancy's house. Finn screamed his head off for an hour or so, which added a festive note to the evening.

Thursday was The Big Day, so we got up and got ourselves and the food ready, and DANG IT I forgot to turn on the parade, and instead watched someone on food network talk about how to cook a turkey. What was I thinking? I love the parade. Anyway, we made it over to Kurt and Brenda's around noon, where we were joined by basically all of the family I mentioned above plus more. We ate, talked, etc for hours until the guys finally devolved into eight-year-olds and devised one of their famous pointless competitions. Holidays past have brought us the "Stations of the Cross Basketball Tourney" and "Hotwheels Extravaganza". This year was "Lord of the (Wedding) Rings", which involved spinning their wedding bands on a glass topped table for fame and glory.

Friday morning we ate breakfast with Nancy and then got on the road. We took a shortcut recommended by Jason, which was faster than my shortcut and, I think, prettier. The leaves were really nice, and I did needlepoint, which is a perfect roadtrip activity. After stopping to get gas at a filling station I will always remember as "World's Dirtiest Bathroom, featuring the cast of Deliverance", we made it to the halfway point.

We spent the night in Little Rock at Jennifer and Reagan's house (there's more of that Southern hospitality!) A comfy bed and blueberry muffins— what more do you need? We got up Saturday morning at dark thirty and hit the road. We stopped in Texarkana to feed Finn and grab a cup of coffee, and made it home in record time. After being gone eight days, it was a sight for sore eyes.

It's always interesting to go to a place where they serve fried green tomatoes or chicken and dumplings (usually spelled "dumplin's") with no trace of irony. I also saw, on the side of the highway, a shack with a hand-painted sign offering "drive thru biscuits made to order". I wondered how long it took to get the biscuits. I wondered who made them, and whether they stayed out in the shack by the road or if you had to honk so they would come out of the house. I wondered how much they charged and whether they made enough money to bother.

Finn was a real trooper. He is a GREAT traveler. He slept the entire time we were in the car. He is the sweetest, best baby ever (in my totally unbiased opinion).Here's my view of Finn on the trip:


So we had a good Thanksgiving. We loved seeing so much of our family, and showing off our little one. And we were glad to be home, when we got here. Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

I'm feeling fine, thanks

Here is a picture of Finn with our Christmas tree. He LOVES the lights! If he is fussy we just turn on the Christmas tree lights and voila! happy baby! We may leave it up all year!

No, we never found the top of the tree, even after searching the entire garage and attic. We bent a few branches up, put the star on top and decorated that sucker. It actually looks OK, just kind of short.

I am doing well today after having outpatient surgery on my leg this morning to remove some of the veins. I'm still a little uncomfortable so I won't be sitting here at the computer for long. But the recovery is very, very fast and I should be right as rain by the weekend. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me!

Hometown Tourists

One of our favorite things to do is to explore the place where we live. Why not? It's a lot cheaper than going somewhere for vacation. So yesterday we went out and about to take Christmas pictures and see the sites.

The Gaylord hotel is all decorated for Christmas already and GREAT for photo ops. Aside from $10 parking, the rest is free. And a very friendly security guard took our picture, and also told us alllllll about his miniature Schnauzers. I am holding off on the photos, though; in case we actually do get Christmas cards sent out this year, I don't want to spoil it for you.

Then we went to Great Wolf Lodge, which was not decorated but we scouted it out anyway. And hey, free parking! If you are looking for a Disney-esque experience close to home, this is it! A giant indoor waterpark, lots of cool things for kids to do, restaurants, a spa, etc... it is really amazing. I can't wait for Finn to get big enough to enjoy it!

The biggest surprise of the day, for me at least, was the Christmas extravaganza at Bass Pro Shop. They have Santa's workshop and a Christmas village set up, and although we were not there at the right time to see Santa, it was cool in a really fun, vintage kind of way. There was lots of fun stuff for kids - shooting arcade, remote control cars, coloring and letters to Santa... and everything is free! Plus the usual Bass Pro stuff like the big fish tank and rattlesnakes and stuffed game animals. They also have a restaurant and snack bar. It was very impressive and if you are looking for a place to see Santa before Thanksgiving, this is it! The 4x6 picture is free (and the package of photos is just $20) and everyone there was super nice. Plus, the gift shopping is a lot like Cracker Barrel, with old-fashioned toys & candies and such.

So that was our big day out. It was fun, cheap and close to home. What more could you want? Sorry but you'll have to wait on pictures, just in case we actually do manage to send out the aforementioned Christmas cards.

Funny Face

Finn has been trying to put his entire fist into his mouth; we were trying to get a picture of that but we got this shot instead. Ha! He makes me laugh so much. I think he gets that from his dad. His comic timing is impeccable: we sit at the dinner table together at night, with Finn in his high chair. Finn has decided that dinner time is the best time to have a very loud BM. We have tried to tell him that the dinner table is not really the place for that type of thing. But seriously, look at that face! How can you not laugh?

He is also cooing a lot now, which is amazingly endearing.

Several of you have asked if I have been in domestic goddess mode, baking and sewing and all that. The answer is, a little bit. I have started embroidering on some bibs and burp cloths, and tonight I made banana bread.

In the past my banana bread has not turned out well, but I found a great recipe in Nigella Lawson's appropriately named How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking. I have a collection of vintage cookbooks and love to read cookbooks, and Lawson's (which are not vintage) are a pleasure to peruse, have dependable recipes with clear instructions and mouth-watering pictures to boot. I recommend them highly. And now I'm going to go eat some banana bread.

The Topless Tree

We thought it would be a great idea to put up the Christmas tree early this year, before I go back to work. We have an artificial tree. I love the idea of a real tree, but since Jonathan is the one who in years past has gone to get the tree, cut it down, loaded it onto the car, dragged it into the house, set it up, strung it with lights, and then after Christmas disposed of it and removed the needles from the carpet, he suggested that an artificial tree would be a good idea. Did I also mention real trees make him sneeze? Anyway, we have a lovely, prelit, artificial tree.

And may I also mention that this is WAY earlier than we have ever put up a tree. Growing up, my mom never let us put up the tree until after December 10, which is Aunt Sandi's birthday, because growing up SHE never got to have the tree before Aunt Sandi's birthday. Also I think she just wanted to postpone the Christmas mania as long as possible. But anyway, Jonathan and I have always waited until mid-December. Some years (like last year) we just didn't bother putting up the tree at all. But now that Finn is here, there is no way we are getting away with not putting up a tree.

SO, Jonathan brought the tree in from the garage. We started putting it together and then discovered that the top two feet of the tree are missing. We spent half an hour searching the garage for the top of the tree, which seems to have vanished into a hole in the space-time continuum. And since it's been two years since we put it up, neither of us can remember where we put it. So there is a lovely tree, strung with white twinkle lights, in the corner of our living room, missing the top two feet. Maybe we'll just take pictures of Finn sitting under the tree, close up. Hmm. Or maybe we should clean out the garage. I must admit, I am at a complete loss. And I don't think you can go buy just the top part of a tree. Maybe we'll start a new trend! It certainly solves the problem of what to use as a topper.

Finn the turtle

I know you've all been waiting to see what Finn's Halloween costume would be. Well, wait no more!
Finn the turtle was a huge hit. It was also nice because he was pretty comfy! No complaints from him about the costume.
We had a good Halloween day... I finished up the costume and made some sugar cookies (yum!) and Finn did his eat-sleep-poo usual thing. Jonathan forgot it was Halloween and kept wondering why there was a pirate wandering around Barnes and Noble on his lunch break. Then for Halloween night our home group had a party over at Jay & Kathy's house. Their neighborhood gets LOTS of trick-or-treaters and so we gave out lots of candy. I expect to hear the final count from Jay tomorrow.
Then we stopped by the Holland house to see them & the Chranes, although most of the boys had already changed out of their costumes.
Props for costumes go out to my friend Riley, not picured here but who always dresses as an obscure literary sci-fi character (he is in elementary school). Riley, in a few years I expect to see great Boba Fett or Tie Fighter Pilot costumes. Also to my friend Donjalea, who looked awesome in her Batgirl costume (better than Alicia Silverstone did) and to Lisa, whose Phyllis Diller parrot costume was pretty darn funny. I also heard Jude's highway costume was good although I didn't get to see it in person.
But now, for the coup de grace, here is a gratuitous beaver shot:
This is our friend Jack, who wanted to be a beaver for Halloween. Bless his parents for actually finding a costume online! It was HILL-AR-EEE-OUS.
So, Happy Halloween to you all! We had fun - hope you did too.

Happy Halloween!

OK, this is a day early, but I wanted to make sure everyone got to see Finn in his Halloween onesies, which are of course different from his Halloween COSTUME, which I'll post pictures of this weekend. Poor little guy, he cannot quite figure out why I keep changing his outfits and propping him up to take pictures. I just can't help it. Yesterday I was thinking, "hmmm, maybe I should buy a seamless backdrop for pictures... yes, excellent idea!" These are taken against a sheet which just doesn't quite do it for me.

By the way, you can tell when Finn is napping well because those are the days I get to post pictures! He is the sweetest baby. He coos and smiles at us and we just get all oogly-googly. We love it!

reading with Daddy

Here is Finn sitting in his Bumbo seat and reading with Jonathan. He is such a big boy! Although he has a time limit on how long he likes to sit in it, as you can see below.
Note Finn's outfit, which includes a bib with vegetables (happy carrot, sad tomato) embroidered by me, and the Puma sneakers which Jonathan brought home one day. I didn't think it would be fun to play dress up with a boy, but it is.

We went to the doctor today and got shots (no, we didn't DO shots, we GOT shots). Finn has grown 4 inches and gained 3 pounds. He is in the 97th percentile for height which means that (drumroll, please...) he's tall. Surprise! Isn't everyone surprised that he is tall? I knew you would be. Yep, big surprise there.

Actually, it's a good thing because all his warm clothes are 3-6 month size and it has gotten cold here! It finally feels like fall. It was actually down in the 30's one night. So we'll be getting those out for him to wear. Which means... MORE PICTURES COMING SOON!

Finn's first smile!

Finn has been smiling for a week now but catching him on film has been a little tricky. Here is his first smile on film! He is really smiling now, not just gassy. It makes us just giddy to see his happy little face!!! We are big suckers for this little man.

Finn in a monkey hat

This needs very little explanation, I think. Cute boy + monkey hat = hilarity. I mean, if you had a monkey hat, would you not put it on a baby? I think you would. He caused quite a stir at church. I think monkey hats are going to be all the rage next season.

The problem with pants

Finn is having a little trouble with his pants, as you can see below:

Yes, these are supposed to be pants, not capris. When he was born his feet didn't even stick out.

The funny thing is that the newborn size pants still fit him around the waist but they are all way, way too short. The 0-3s are still ok (so far). Poor little guy. I guess I never thought he would be short but this is hilarious.

I'm not sure how long he is. We go back to the doctor a week from Monday. It is a little tricky to measure him, he is very wiggly!

And don't worry, I won't let him go naked. We have enough clothes for an army! The 3-6 month bin is bursting at the seams, so when he is ready for that it will be no problem.

On Becoming Babywise

Finn slept through the night last night! At 7 weeks old! I will spare you a video of me dancing around the house in glee. You will just have to imagine that. He just slept right past the 3am feeding! What a blessing! He may not do it consistently for a little while (or that's what the book says, anyway), but I am so excited that he is sleeping so well. He is taking a nap right now (and it sounds like he is actually sleeping, so everybody shhhhhhh!).
"The book" is On Becoming Babywise. It's one of those 'love it or hate it' parenting philosophies. Basically you feed your baby and put them down for naps on a schedule. Interestingly, this is what the nursery did with Finn while he was in the hospital, so I felt like that was a good sign. Some people love doing the schedule thing, some hate it. As for me... I have a schedule. Jonathan has a schedule. Even our dogs, Fred and Ginger, have a schedule. To have a baby with no schedule would make us craaaaazy. And besides... he slept through the night last night! That's good enough for me.

More Family!

Most of you know that I have a sort-of-adopted little sister named Ashlyn. She and David are the same age and, while not legally adopted by my parents, she may as well be! Ashlyn and her husband Billy and their two girls, Audrie and Trynity, came to visit us on Sunday. While they were in Dallas they also saw Billy's brother's new baby.

Sorry these pictures aren't better. We were just sort of snapping them really quickly. They are a really cute little family. And by "little" I mean "short", ha ha!

OK, that was a low blow...
get it? Low? Cause they're short? I just crack myself up.

My brother David and I have to tease Ashlyn sometimes for being the short one. I guess she just takes after my mom. ;) We really are glad they came by, it was great to see them!

Jane Austen and Finn and me

If you've been following my Netflix queue, you may know that I've been watching a LOT of Jane Austen movie adaptations lately. You may wonder why motherhood has prompted such behavior. Well, I'll tell you. It's because I had been falling asleep during Finn's middle-of-the-night feedings and waking up in the chair just in time for the next feeding. I just don't like spending my precious sleeping time in a chair. It gives one a serious crick in the neck (and a numb bum).
So, I've been using our portable DVD player in Finn's room and during those late night feedings I watch Jane Austen adaptations. We own a zillion DVDs but I don't want to watch anything too suspenseful or dark or scary, and since I've studied Austen so much, all of the characters feel like old friends. And it's nice to have a friend to sit up with me in the night. Not that Jonathan wouldn't do it, but since he has to go to work and be mostly awake for that, I let him sleep through the night shift. SO it's me and my good friend Jane, along with Elizabeth and Darcy, or Edmund and Fanny, or whomever.
I've thrown in some Oscar Wilde and Henry James as well. Any sort of comedy of manners or period romance will do, really, but Austen is my fave.
I promise I'll let Finn watch some more manly stuff as he gets older, but I don't see any harm in him learning from Austen how to behave like a charming and well spoken gentleman, do you?

The new normal

Finn is now six weeks old. We finally feel like we are able to get into a routine and find our "new normal". It has been so nice to have Jonathan home on paternity leave. I wish the three of us could just hang out all the time, but that would make it difficult to pay the bills, I think.

Finn is not sleeping through the night yet but he does sleep at night - he only cries when it is time for a feeding and then he goes right back down. I only have to get up once between 11:30 and 6. He is a good baby! One of the keys is to keep him awake for about half an hour after each daytime feeding. He usually wants to sleep instead. So, I sing "I'm a Little Teapot" loudly and move his little arms into the teapot shape and sing it with him. He does NOT like to be a little teapot. That usually wakes him up nicely.

I need to take some new pictures but till then - here are some more from the arboreteum.

getting dressed for church

Sunday was our church's 50th anniversary celebration so we did dress up a little. Here is a picture of Finn in his madras blazer and matching hat. It was almost too warm to wear it (still! in October!). But he was just so darn cute.

our little pumpkin

Jonathan is taking some of his paternity leave this week, so we went to the arboreteum today to see all the fall gorgeousness. The weather was beautiful! and we took the cutest pictures ever of Finn. I was impressed at how stroller-friendly the arboreteum is; if you need a place to go with a stroller or wheelchair, it is great. There were a lot of kids there and I think it looks like a good place to go with your kiddos since they can run about freely. It is really beautiful and Jonathan took some great pictures!