A Mommy Finley Adventure

Last weekend, Finley and I had an adventure downtown.  A childhood friend was in town for a conference and we were only able to see her on Sunday morning so after going back and forth with Dan about kids meals, naps, etc--it just made more sense for Finley and I to go and Dan and Dagny to stay home.  I was quite thrilled since I rarely get the chance to hang with the little dude on my own these days and he was equally as thrilled since we were going downtown to eat at a hotel across from the airport and then going to the Children's Museum.

We made our way to the Hilton Logan and Finley waited patiently for Keri to get off the elevator.

It was great to see Keri, a childhood friend from TX, and we all enjoyed the hotel's buffet.  It was kind of surprising that after surveying all the delicious options, Finley opted for only a bowl of cheerios and some blueberries to pour in.  I think he was taken by the cereal dispenser - such an engineer!  Finley did go outside of his social comfort level, though, by taking the bill and our credit card across the restaurant to the waitress all by himself! Amazing!  We said our goodbyes to Keri and wished her a safe flight (Finley asked if we could take her to her plane but with today's security measures, that wasn't an option!). 

We drove over to the Children's Museum and I couldn't wait for Finley to get inside since we hadn't been in quite a while.  We used to go quite often when he was 1 and nearly 2, but not since.  To my surprise, he didn't remember much of it at all and each room was a new discovery which turned out to be totally fun.

We even popped into a music class for a while.

He'll never do this in real life!

Some water table fun was up next.

Up on the third floor was the highlight of our visit for Finley.

We had a blast and I truly treasured the chance to be with Finley without any other distractions (sorry, Dagny).  It was really neat to see him be so much more independent at this museum than he ever was when we had been years back.  He chatted about it ALL the way home and then conked out for a great nap.  I hope we can have more mom/son adventures in the coming weeks, it was great!

Sibling Silliness

Slowly but surely, we are all adjusting to a world where two kids are on the move and getting in each other's way.  Finley may be taking the longest to adapt this this novel situation, but he's trying.  Most of the time, Dagny just wants to be in the middle of the action and sometimes that means things get destroyed, relocated, or packed away but some toys are perfect for both kids.  Like puzzles :)

One of the new favorite household activities is Dagny crawling after Finley who is driving his rescue truck.  They tend to do it when Dan is supervising so I haven't gotten to see it in person (go figure), but the shrieks of joy and laughter that I can hear from upstairs are pretty awesome.  Yesterday, I got a taste of these shenanigans when Dagny was finishing her dinner and Finley was riding around on his truck.  Each time he rounded the corner and Dagny could catch a glimpse of him--she lit up with a big smile and starting kicking her legs. See for yourself!

First, the proud big brother--who adores having a captive audience in the kitchen.

It's not always this fun with the two of them, but when it is--I love it!  What a different world from having just one child who you have to entertain all day by yourself!!

Finley at 3 years, 4 months

While Dagny is growing like a weed and seems to changing from day to day, Finley is basically staying the same size but becoming more and more of a unique, fascinating person that we can't get enough of.

Here he is wearing my sunglasses when we were out to lunch with friends.  

Earlier today, he asked to wear my sunglasses as we walked from the car to Trader Joe's because it was so sunny.  I obliged, but note to self--get this kid a pair of his own ASAP!

We have been trying to take more family walks and with Dagny in the stroller, Finley has found a new mode of transportation.

He should probably be pedaling more on his own at this point, but at least he's practicing the motion, right?

Finley continues to love all things construction.  He likes when repairmen or workers come to the house and he is quite curious about they are up to and what tools they have brought.

He could talk your ear off, and often does, but I feel like I haven't ever been able to capture it and the other day while Dagny was napping I attempted to get him to just chit chat with me on camera but I wasn't getting anywhere.  Eventually, we thought about what he would like to tell the camera about and he chose trains.

It sounds a little more scripted that I had hoped to capture, but at least it's him being himself :)

Much like an elephant, Finley never forgets.  Never.  We have visited a new supermarket a few times and two times ago, it was raining so when Finley asked to ride the little merry-go-round I put him off saying we couldn't because of the rain.  When we went last week, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, he says, "Mommy, remember it was raining last time so we couldn't do the merry-go-round?" "Yeah," I said (knowing what was coming). "Well, it looks sunny now, can I go on it?"  Off we went!

Finally, Finley continues to LOVE his gym class and a couple weeks back was the end of the winter session so there was a certificate presentation.  

So proud!

Obviously we're biased, but we think Finley's super cool and while he's not above the occasional tantrum or bout of stubbornness...the good times far outweigh the challenging ones and he makes us laugh with his funny antics, intriguing questions, and big smile.

Dagny at 8 Months

Before Dagny turns nine months next week, here's what she has been up to in her eighth month!

She's pretty expressive and lights up when she sees me, Dan, or her big brother.

We're working on her people food skills.  She enjoys being spoon fed just about anything (baby food, spaghetti meat sauce, yogurt, etc.) but is pickier about her finger foods.  She does adore carbs--pumpkin waffles, sweet potato fries, challah french toast--so at least we know she's related to us!  She's pretty good about trying new things...but after four or five pieces of a novel food, she tends to be all set.  Here she is at The Local Table when we went out to lunch with some friends.

 

By 8 months, I'm beginning to get the hang of dressing a girl.  Here she is debuting a denim dress and some tights.  When I picked her up at school that afternoon, I noticed her onesie was now snapped over his tights instead of under as I had dressed her that morning.  Her teachers said that it helps keep the tights up if the onesie is over it...genius!

She loves stuffed animals, much like her cousin Natalie, and Finley's tiger is one of her faves.

 And just like her big brother, Dagny LOVES her lovies.  Rocky Raccoon and Hops (the pink bunny) are always tucked right under or next to her as she sleeps.  I snapped this photo so that years from now when these lovies are slightly different colors and worn on all edges, I can show her how their love affair began.

 She rarely slept on us except for when she was really tiny, but one weekend when she was sick with a fever and an ear infection, she passed right out on me for over an hour.  Thank goodness I had my phone and the TV remote handy.

 We feel like Dagny isn't as stroller-trained as Finley was at her age, so we are trying to take more family walks around our neighborhood and last weekend she was bundled up from top to bottom and the overall look was pretty hysterical.  But she had a great time in the stroller so who cares!

Here are two videos of Dagny from this month---just a taste of her antics and personality!

A Visit from Virginia

Several weekends back, my parents braved yet another snowstorm to visit us.  Our neighbors kindly snow blowed our driveway since I was trapped inside with both kids, Dan was at work, and otherwise my folks would not have been able to make it off the street.  Finley was napping when they arrived, so Dagny had first crack at them.

 We poured out the box of duplos they had brought up, per Finley's request, and when he woke up he was THRILLED.  Granddad built all sorts of things with him and the pile of duplos was out all weekend.  Finley is already counting the weeks until he gets to see his Virginia grandparents again...and their duplos.  As if bringing fun building blocks and vehicles wasn't enough, Granddad brought his guitar and his smaller guitar for his duet partner.  The boys jammed on and off all weekend, entertaining all of us - especially Dagny :)

 We ventured out one afternoon to one of our favorite bookstores and one of our favorite toy stores. Dagny enjoyed her first rocking horse ride!

 It was very sad to say goodbye to Grammy and Granddad, but they did leave a very special gift behind: Grammy's first generation iPad.  She had recently upgraded and we were happy for the handmedown!  Here's Finley enjoying the free Mr. PotatoHead app later that week.

 We'll see them at the lake this July for our anniversary, Dagny's first birthday and the Fourth of July...but maybe we'll sweet talk them into one visit before then as well!

The Lost Dagny Files

So...in one of my longest, if not the longest, blogging drought...I will start with some cute photos that I found on our camera that Dan had taken when he was home with her on a sick day many weeks ago.  She was just about crawling and looked pretty darn cute working on it.  Since Finley was at school, Dagny had his beloved Agent P all to herself!

She certainly doesn't appear ill in these photos, does she? Well, her school claimed she had a fever so I had to pick her up early but by the time I got her home--she was fever free--but that darn "fever free for 24 hour" rule forced Dan to stay home with his tiniest progeny the next day.  She didn't seem to mind :)

At 8 Months and a Week

Well, it seemed like she was getting close these past few weeks and her teachers at school kept telling me "any day, any day" but finally Dagny is crawling!! It's a little disjointed and she doesn't do it immediately upon being plopped on the floor, thank goodness, but there is forward progress at long last :)  Stuck at home on a snow day with two kids proved to be quite productive afterall!

Finley's in for a rude awakening now that she can move around, grab, crush, and destroy things he's playing with or building.  I suspect it'll be a rocky couple of weeks as we all adjust to this new dynamic!  After I taped this video, we went downstairs to play and I put Dagny down surrounded by a pile of baby toys and then Finley and I went across the room to play with not-so-baby-friendly figures and before I knew it, she'd crawled about four feet AND pulled herself up to reach into the bucket of balls and sports equipment!

I called her name and she looked over quite innocently as if she'd been able to do gross motor tricks like this for ages!

Crawling and pulling up in one week? Maybe she'll skip saying her first word and wait until she can put together an entire monologue! Mazel tov little Dagny, you are well on your way from being a baby to being a toddler and we couldn't be more thrilled about that!!  Just don't practice your new skill set in your crib at night...

Little Miss D

Miss D (aka Dagny) can really ham it up when she wants to.

But sometimes it's just how we dress her that makes her look so adorably silly.

On the eve of her 8 month birthday, I think she looked pretty dope :)

Happy 8 Months, sweet girl!  You are just about crawling, so we hope to catch your first forward moves on video in the coming days/weeks. You can go backwards, in a circle, and back to sitting from an all-fours position...forward is the only direction left :) Bring it on!

Two Aunts and an Uncle!

This weekend we were "tripley" blessed as Aunt Caitlin, Aunt Ellie and Uncle Donny came to visit us. We picked up Caitlin on Friday afternoon and Ellie and Donny arrived late on Friday night, so by 10am Saturday morning--the house was full of a decently rested, ready for fun family!  After giving Ellie and Donny the house tour (it was their first time seeing it), we headed to the basement.  We all bounded around down there for a long while (except for Dagny who was peacefully napping) before changing out of our PJs and heading out for a leisurely lunch.  We enjoyed some delicious burgers, sandwiches, and fries while the conversation ranged from Manhattan rentals rates to nap schedules (Donny's) to wedding photographers to potty training.  Dagny ate her lunch and then was happily passed around from Aunt to Aunt.

Finley slowly munched his was through his meal and then goofed around until it was time to go.

We did make a pit stop to the bathroom before leaving and Finley caught everyone's attention when we came out as he yelled, "Let's Rock and Roll!" before running for the door.  Love that kid.  Both kids went down for a nap when we got home and then the grown ups had some fun of their own with an intense game of Sorry.

After naps, the kids were up for more fun with their aunts and uncle. Finley tried out a new iphone game with his aunts.

And Dagny and Donny got along like old pals.  He nearly had her waving :)

 We said goodbye to Ellie and Donny later on Saturday so they could go visit some friends in Cambridge.  The kids went to bed not long after and then Caitlin and I headed out for a girls dinner, what a treat!  Sunday morning, after a painful night of "sleep" (thank you, Dagny), Caitlin kindly entertained Finley in the basement while I slept in a bit waiting for Dagny to get up while Dan went to play frisbee. Dagny surprised us all by sleeping until 8:45am and when we finally came downstairs--Finley and Caitlin were deep into some firefighting fun.  She's really a good sport and I couldn't ask for a better aunt/sister combination!  We had breakfast and then hit the supermarket - we ended up pushing not one, but two carts so that Finley could ride in the car-cart and Dagny could sit in the regular shopping cart.  Thank goodness Caitlin was there to push one!  We were just about done when Finley said he needed to use the bathroom, so Aunt Caitlin again to the rescue.  She took him while I finished checking out and I was so proud he went with her without a second thought!

On our way home, I asked Finley if he wanted to go to the Discovery Museum for a little while.  He gave a happy squeal of a yes from the back seat, so we popped in and Finley loved showing Aunt Caitlin his favorite room: the train room.  He donned the engineer costume, loaded up his pockets with tickets, and board the big train...for over an hour :) Caitlin took Dagny to the baby room but reported that Dagny wasn't too interested in any of the toys in the room, just the kids who popped in and out.

 We all explored the rest of the museum before heading home.  Phew, what a morning! The rest of the afternoon was a mix of lunch, short and long naps, and then a sad goodbye to Aunt Caitlin who had to go back to NYC.  She was the perfect guest and we hope she comes back soon!

Love to all our visitors this weekend, thank you for coming!