Cheesecake!

What's a family of three to do after 48 hours of driving rain? Go out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, of course! The wait was surprisingly short, an unexpected bonus for sure. When the host gave me the buzzer, he said about 20 minutes...but lo and behold, it went off after only 8! How can I be so exact you ask? Well, my watch has a timer and since I usually complain when the wait at a restaurant goes way over--I like to be specific when I fly off the handle :) Dan will also tell you that I have "padded" the given wait time in the past so that we can stay instead of having to go somewhere else. I'm not a good liar, but when I have a food craving, everyone must wait it out!

Finley slept through the short wait and conveniently decided to wake up right after we ordered. Arg. We used to go through entire meals with appetizers and dessert without a peep from our precious boy, but he's more aware of the world now and doesn't want to miss out. Double arg.

The good news is, he will sometimes just sit on our laps and look around pleasantly at all the people and lights. He did that for a while, but later we had to take turns holding, bouncing, and eventually walking him around the restaurant. Ah well. During one lap around the host's table, we stopped to drool over all the cheesecakes in the pastry window and a man came up and asked how old our little man was. We chatted and he told me that he was a stay-at-home-dad to 2 boys for 12 years! Kudos to him! Finley turned to look at this nice fellow and for the first time (to my knowledge), Finley smiled at someone who isn't in his face all day everyday! What a proud moment for me...though as he grows up, making nice with strangers will be need to be frowned upon :( I'll take it for now, though!

We could not pass up having dessert since it is the place's namesake, so we ordered a slice to share and hoped that Finley would accommodate this mealtime extension. He was willing to pose for a few photos while we waited, the camera's always a great distraction! Too bad, the table across from us was a better one :(

Our Wild Blueberry Swirl cheesecake (with white chocolate mousse on top!) arrived and we dug in. Dan's an expert at bouncing Finley while eating, so we were both able to devour it at an equal pace. Fair is fair, even when it comes to cheesecake.

We finished it in record time while Finley enjoyed holding onto a straw (forget expensive toys). As we licked our lips (and forks), Finley reached out to see if there was any left.

Sorry, buddy!

Wilson Farms

It's becoming a regular weekend activity for us to pack Finley up in the Becco and walk to Wilson Farms. It's about a three mile loop from our place and I mean the word loop literally. We do live in Arlington Heights afterall. It is always a steep hill coming back, but we are pretty used to it and it's a great workout :) On Saturday, it was sunny and in the 40s--basically spring like, so we couldn't resist making the trip. Finley's a pretty good sport by now about getting bundled up, but I had to pause and take a photo of him in his adorable new shirt that his Grammy bought him. Quite fitting, huh?

I buttoned up his bear suit and while I was sad to realize how tight it is getting on him, it didn't diminish the cuteness factor in the slightest!

You may notice the mittens he is wearing. One of many useful hand-me-downs we have received, I wouldn't have thought of getting mittens without thumbs (I probably would have just used socks).

We headed outside. It's been nice that Finley doesn't fall asleep instantly when he's walked around in the Becco anymore. He actually looks around and takes in the sights for a at least a few minutes! As the three of us walked along, we thought about how exciting it will be when we do this another couple months from now and can push the little guy in his sweet new stroller. He'll probably be looking around a lot more intently and "talking" to us about all that he can see. Sweet.

We got to Wilson's and there's nothing more refreshing than walking in and seeing every color of the rainbow reflected in fruits and veggies. Winter disappears when you walk in and all the free samples appear!

Finley woke up at the perfect time to check out the spread at Wilson's. He got a lot of attention from other shoppers and only one woman asked whether he was a boy or a girl...I mean, come on! We picked up some good stuff, had our fill of free samples, and made our way to the cashier. Dan put all our goodies into his backpack and offered to trade Finley for the backpack, but I refused :) We headed home and continued to enjoy the wonderful weather and sunny sky!

If anyone ever wants to join us for our weekend walk, just let us know! Sadly, this weekend looks a big dreary...good thing we have a car :)

P.S. A shout out to Finley's Grammy (my mommy dearest), Happy Birthday!!

Assorted Pictures

Not much to report this week, no fun playdates and a heavy snowfall kept us inside more than usual. Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks that just haven't made it into the blog yet. Enjoy!

Babies aren't allowed to sleep on their fronts at night, so we try to give Finley the chance during the day.

Finley was Super-Bowl-Ready...too bad his team wasn't :(

Finley in his dad's arms with an up close shot of one of his many sleep grins, adorable!

Looking pretty serious here during tummy time, it's hard work!

Grammy and Granddad brought Finley this awesome 2nd hand exersaucer and he is loving it! He's a bit too small for it, so there's a book under his feet and a pillow behind his back. Whatever works, eh? (That was for all your Vancouver Olympic watchers!)

I try to capture Fin's smile on camera, but it can be elusive. He usually gives me the face above, saying, "Come on, mom, aren't I cute even when I don't smile?" Thankfully, he soon let one slip out:

Then it was time to play. Look, he grabbed it! (and didn't let go for a while!!)

For his big finale, check this out!!

What was that chicken whispering in his ear??

A Monday Off

Yesterday was a bonus weekend day, which meant we got to have Daddy home! It was a nice relaxing morning and then we went to meet Stacy and baby Aliza for lunch at Panera. Aliza was quite interested in both Dan and Finley. In fact, she tried to undress Finley with more than just her eyes--she used her hands!

As usual, Finley played hard to get! After lunch, Dan headed off to the supermarket and Stacy and I strapped on the kids and took a walk on the bike path. Don't we look good?

I know it appears that I'm a terrible mother since Finley doesn't have a hat on, but trust me--after the picture was snapped I got it off the hood of our car and covered the little guy's head. All credit goes to Stacy for showing me her carrier, the Beco, which my sister gave us when Finley was born. We love our Beco Babies!

After our walk, we got an exciting phone call: our Bumbleride was ready for pick up! Our much thought about stroller purchase is now complete. Finley isn't quite old enough or big enough to ride in it yet, but he will be before we know it (he was 14 lbs today on his 3 month birthday). Thanks to Grandpa and GG for this wonderful gift!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, we didn't do anything fancy but it was a nice Sunday hanging out as a family (I love saying that!). Finley finally beginning to find a wonderful sleep pattern and he's waking up perkier and happier each morning, which is great! We're trying to increase his tummy time during the morning hours and here he is checking himself out in the mirror. What a handsome guy!

Dan went to play frisbee and I took Finley on a walk with our friend Moira around the Tufts campus. Later, Finley, Dan and I exchanged gifts--surprise, surprise they were mostly all baby related. Though with a $10 gift limit, it's hard to be too creative!! After running some errands, Finley's Valentine, Eliot, invited us over for a romantic dinner at her house. Finley just had to dress up, so he put on his new onesie from our Texas friends Lisa and Joe. Look closely, it says Finley!

It was a bit chilly out, so we layered up with a fleece on top. The colors certainly don't coordinate, but as Dan reminded me, "He's a boy, don't worry about it." I'll have to keep this in mind in the future :)

We got to Eliot's house and she woke up from her nap to say, Hi. During dinner, the two lovebirds sat in opposing baby receptacles. Eliot in her bumbo and Finley in Eliot's brand new Exersaucer.

Towards the end, both little ones wanted to he held and included in the dinner time conversation. Who can blame them?

It wasn't the most romantic evening, but it was fun to be with friends. Eliot's folks, Sangwha and Josh, were great hosts and Nathan (father of two boys) was the evening's child expert. He reminded us that we'll simply have to accept living with baby crap everywhere (exersaucers are gigantic eyesores and high chairs are ugly and hard to clean) and expect it to get worse as our kids get older and drag their stuff all over the place. Sangwha plans to fight it, but I can't wait!

Miles of Smiles

Finley seems his happiest right after he eats (and burps) and I put him on the boppy facing me for some singing, reading, or just talking. Sunday morning, Daddy joined us and I held the camera while we both tried to see just how happy our little man was. See for yourself :)

Here are six photos taken one after the other...if only they could be a flip book!

I'd say he's a pretty happy fellow, wouldn't you?

Grammy and Granddad Visit

It was so wonderful having my parents here! They clocked some wonderful babysitting hours both Friday afternoon and Saturday evening. After our trip to NH on Saturday, Dan and I headed off to see Avatar, don't I look great in my 3D glasses?

When we got home, my folks reported that Finley was an excellent grandson. Granddad sang and played Puff the Magic Dragon and read The Little Engine That Could to our little guy who was a very willing audience member!

While he did fight Grammy with the bottle the first time, when he was really hungry after his nap he took to it much better. I know I shouldn't worry about him eating while I'm away because if he gets hungry enough, he'd probably take milk from the UPS guy. It was nice to see Finley happily hanging out upon our return. We haven't both been away from him for any length of time yet, so this was good practice. Baby steps...baby steps...Soon it was time for bed and it sure was hard to say goodnight to this face :)

Night, night little one!