Finn Turns 2!

Another tradition begins! We decorated Finn's door so that when he woke up on his borthday he would know it was a special day. We plan to continue this tradition yearly. I don't know how we did it without waking him and Mia up as we (and when I say we, I mean Wes) kept stepping on a very loud creeking spot in the floor right between the two doors.

And here's the birthday boy trying to figure out what was going on.

When daddy got home from work it was time for cake and presents (after Pizza King of course - a tradition started last year).

"I did it!"

Every time we asked him what he wanted for his birthday he requested a sucker so I made a special trip to the candy store in the mall to get him a huge sucker.

Sucker face!

And the other traditions...marking his height,

and the yearly picture in the Sandy Koufax jersey.

Happy birthday sweet boy! We love you so much! You are such a kind and funny little boy and have already proven yourself to be a great big brother. You love to sing and dance and read books. You have also become quite the little junk food junkie, always requesting cookies and suckers. Everyone also comments on how verbal you are, such a chatty little guy. You often surprise us by speaking in complete sentences. You also love trains, trucks, and sports. You often want to play football, basketball, golf, and soccer and you've perfected hitting a baseball off a tee. You have just started to be able to hit a pitched ball which has prompted us to move our game of baseball away from the tv. We can't wait to see what year 3 brings!

Time for a Break

A potty break, that is. We are not pushing the potty training, but Finn has shown some interest so if he asks to sit on the potty, we put him on the potty. We have had 2 successful attempts (mainly due to our good timing and reading his "signs").

Holiday Traditions (Day 2)

Time to finish those cookies.

We put Mia in this chair in the dining room while we were decorating cookies. Finn wanted to sit with her and jumped right up.

Sweet girl!

And time to decorate the tree.

And with that a tradition has begun...

Holiday Traditions (Day 1)

Wes laughs at me because I always talk about starting traditions for our family. I think he finds it endearing and that is why he laughs - let's hope that's it. For Christmas, I wanted to start the tradition of making (and eating) cookies on the day we put up and decorate the Christmas tree. So, since we picked out our tree, I decided we needed to make cookies before we decorated it. I found a sugar cookie recipe and here we go...

This was the only picture we got with Finn looking at the camera - hence the goofy smiles we both have.
Licking the spoon.

And the tree is up! Time to add the lights.

Since I decided to make sugar cookies from scratch, we had to leave the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours - nothing like the roll out Pillsbury sugar cookie dough. This meant we actually didn't finish the cookies until the next day. We were all exhausted anyway from hosting Thanksgiving and decided to just relax the rest of the day.

Time to Get a Tree!

Off we go to Goff Tree Farm!

That one! We got the one behind him.

Where's Mia? She's sleeping in the warmth of the car (within view).

Cousins!

Just love this pic! Maybe it's the hair.

Thanksgiving 2010

For the first time, we hosted Thanksgiving. Wes was in charge of the turkey and corn. I made mashed potatoes and baked macaroni & cheese. The rest of it was potluck. Betty Jo brought sweet potatoes and made the gravy. Kandy brought cranberry salad and stuffing. Amanda broght pies. Everything was delicious! I think our first Thanksgiving was a success.

Happy family!
Silly Corinne!

Bath Time

We've gotten into a good evening routine where both kids bathe at the same time. Finn in the big bathtub and Mia in the infant tub placed on the sink counter. It's nice when both Wes and I can be there to "man" a kid, but I was able to do it even when he was gone. Finn is good about playing on his own while I take care of Mia and then Mia doesn't mind hinging out looking at lights while I wash Finn.

Little froggy...

BIG froggy!

Flying Solo

Wes departed for his annual hunting trip on Wednesday. In years past, he has either gone a day or two late or left early, but he decided this year that he was going to stay for the entire length of the trip. That meant six days without daddy. One thing I knew for sure was that there was no way we could stay holed up in the house for six days. We went to the library so that Finn could play with the train and all the toys. His favorite thing to play with besides the train is the play food and dishes. he's really good at pretending and imaginary play. We also went to the indoor playground on the west side of Champaign. Finn was there once before, but he was only about 3 and a half months old so he didn't really get to enjoy it.

Off to the indoor playground.

They have four of these big towers that have Legos and Mega Blocks in them. Finn fit right inside.

Finn loved this little ticket booth. I would come up to the window and order something and he would turn around and get it for me. I ordered all kinds of things like ice cream, popcorn, broccoli, hamburgers, etc. Finally, Finn wanted me to go inside the ticket booth so that he could order. What does he order? One of his favorites? Chips? Suckers? Cookies? Nope. He ordered bacon!

Helping mom clean.

Taking care of Mia. She was crying and he thought putting his hat on her would help. It actually did make her stop crying for a few minutes.

It was also nice enough one day for us to walk to the park. It had rained the night before so Finn wore his boots so he could splash in the puddles.

Daddy's home! And he brought Finn a present.

We survived just fine without Wes, but we sure missed him!

Two Months Old!

Mia is 2 months old today. What a wonderful 2 months it has been. She has become a super smiley little girl. She's still eating about every three hours during the day. She goes to bed at about 7:30 and sleeps until at least 8:00 with 2-3 night feedings. Luckily, she is like her brother and eats in about 10 minutes. I have had much more success recently with laying her back donw in her bassinet after eating. Previously, she had such strong reflux that she would cough and choke if I laid her down even after a good burping. Now she still makes some noises, but they are less intense and pass more quickly. This means mom gets to sleep in a horizontal position rather than leaning on a back pillow with Mia on my chest. I am missing that extra snuggling.

Her 2 month stats are: length - 23.25 in (79th percentile) and 11 lbs 3.5 oz (62nd percentile). She's continuing to grow steadily and gain weight.

Brotherly Love

Finn loves smooching up his sister. It is so sweet to hear him say, "Kiss Mia?" He is a big help, too. He'll bring us her diapers and wipes and lets us know if she is crying. He also tries to comfort her - "It's okay Mia." She loves him too and gives him big smiles whenever he comes around.

Cheeky is right! Look at those pudgy things. So sweet!

Mini Roadtrip

We headed north to East Dundee to visit Wes's buddy Corey, his wife Caroline, and their daughter Eliza on our way to a family wedding in Schaumburg. The Janisches were VERY hospitable to the little circus we brought to town. It was great to finall meet Miss Eliza and we enjoyed playing referee between her and Finn as they fought over toys. I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures of our visit with them. :(

The next day we headed to Tanya and Derek's wedding. Tanya was BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately, I don't have much to report about the wedding itself or the ceremony for that matter. I spent most of the time in the hallway with a fussy Mia. Neither her or Finn got much sleep that day because we were out of our routine. I got to sit through the ceremony long enough to watch everyone walk down the aisle and that's about it. Then I headed back out into the hallway for the announcement of the wedding party and bride and groom. I also missed the toast and cutting of the cake. The food was good! At one point Finn laid down on the floor and asked for a blanket. We decided it was time to go. We were sorry to miss the rest of the celebration, but were happy to just be there. Congrats Tanya and Derek!

What is Finn and Mia looking at?

Voting Day!

We loaded up the kids and walked the 4 blocks to our polling place. It was a nice fall day, not too cold.

We made quite a ruckus in the polling place. Wes made a mistake on his ballot and had to redo it. Meanwhile, Finn is playing with stickers and his ball. Of course, as we were leaving he thought he had lost his ball and as I was trying to help him find it, Wes was trying to get the stroller out the door. I guess every polling place needs a little excitement on election day.