Puppy Party!

We celebrated Fynn's first year with one of his favorite animals: dogs!  His clancey was the only real dog there, but the theme was fun.  We had...

Hot dogs, of course,

Puppy Chow,

"Pup" corn,

"Pup" Cakes,

and "Leashes!"

Fynn loved his decorations, too.  His eyes got all wide and he kept pointing to everything.  And, as expected, the baloons were a hit, too.  Such fun celebrating his arrival into our life!

One Year Old!

I'm a whole year old!  My birthday was on the first, but we celebrated on Saturday because we had some other stuff going on.  Poppa told the mine he wouldn't work so he could celebrate with us!  Some of my friends came over for my Puppy Party.  I sure wish I could have had everyone over, it was so much fun!  This is what it looked like.

So here's what's new with me:

I've taken a few steps, but am pretty shaky still.  I get around great with crawling!

I love to toss ball back and forth with Momma, play with trucks, play the piano and guitar, take things in and out of containers, and love to ride on my rocking horse, Copper.

I talk a lot, but my most recognizable words are Mama, Dada, cat, dog, fish, and chicken.

I want to eat whatever Momma and Poppa are, and enjoy spitting my food out as much as I do tasting it!

Most of all I love being outside!  I cry whenever I have to go in.  The only bad part is the mosquitoes.  I'm building up a strong tolerance.

 P.S. here's my birthday present:

Discovery

I just love this season of discovery we are living right now with Fynn!  It makes everything new for me, too!  Most of the snow is gone now and new treasures are being revealed daily.  Since we've returned from our trip, here are a few of the things that have caught Fynn's eye.  Or hands.   Or mouth.

The geese, ducks and swans at Creamer's field where we go to walk sometimes.  He calls them all ducks, or at least that's what it sounds like he's saying.

The dirt and rocks in our driveway.  On our walks from the house this week he's noticed the pussy willows, a butterfly, and running water in the ditch.

The chickens out in the run.  He says ccccchhhhhhhhh...ken.

Snow and rain

And then there's the opening and closing of cupboard doors...so much fun!

What will today be?

Nine Months

It's Fynn again, back for his quarterly update as I'm now NINE MONTHS OLD!!!

Last month began a lot of changes for me.  So I mentioned before that I hate riding in the car.  Well what I couldn't get across to Momma and Poppa was that my long legs were all scrunched up against the back of the seat!  The doctor told Momma that I am now big enough for a forward facing car seat, and now the car rides are almost fun!  I sit and can see out the window and kick my free legs the whole way!  So much more room!  I've always hated being restrained in any way.

I got all four of my front teeth at the end of January and am working on a fifth right now.  I decided this means I shouldn't have to eat baby food anymore.  Whatever my folks are eating is what I want.  My favorite taste right now is when I get a nibble of cheese, but I'm more concerned about being able to feed myself than what it tastes like.  And I must touch my food before it goes in my mouth.

Also, I can now MOVE!  I crawl forward, backward, round and round.  I love to walk with a little help and can pull myself to a stand (I even stood without touching anything for 2 seconds yesterday!).  Look out critters!

Some of the things that make me giggle are Clancey being goofy, watching Poppa start the snow machine or Momma scrape the ice from our steps, and when tickeley snowflakes land on my face.  I get so excited when Poppa gets home from work and when it's warm enough to take a walk.   I also love watching the moose from my nursery window.

My average day still just consists of napping, eating,  playing, and helping take care of the animals with the occasional run into town to do errands.  I still like to help Momma cook, but am becoming more interested with staying on the ground so I can practice moving!  It's so exciting I don't even want to sleep at night.  One day, I'm going to catch those cats!

Some of my favorite toys right now are not toys: empty bottles, cooking utensils, boxes, etc.  But I do really like balls, blocks, and stuffed animals, too.  I really like my books, too.  Momma says my favorite is the one called "God Gave Us You," but I really like them all.  And more than anything I really love my family, my friends and my critters.


Well, just a couple more months now and I'll be back to tell you how my first birthday party went!

A New Beginning/ Ham and Cheese Bread bowl

I love the fresh feeling of a new year!  While I'm not one for once a year resolutions, I think it is always wise to be evaluating myself frequently to acknowledge the changes that have occurred as well as the areas in which I will strive to improve.   So this year I've learned a great many things: how to change the exciting diapers, how to make a baby laugh, how to bake baby hats, and how to do a great many things one-handed. I've begun to learn how to be a wife and momma, but I think that's going to be a lifelong lesson.  Leading in to one of my biggest constant goals, to be a better wife and mother as well as daughter, friend, co-worker, etc.  What a blessing it would be for me to be a blessing to others!  Still more important to me, though is to improve my relationship with God, more consistently in prayer and His Word.  Then, of course, there's the less important things like weight loss, finishing Josh's painting for the stairwell, and about a gazillion other projects around the house.

Here's just some photos of our Christmas to New Years' week:  We found Mello Yello at the store the other day (I hadn't seen these in forever!), Fynn playing with his buddy Evan as we made Laura's wedding reception cards, and just a few of adorable little Fynn!

Finally, we have me trying out my new hefty tripod that Dad sent me for Christmas!  This is what I look like to run out to feed the chickens.  See we've had a bit of a cold snap and it's been hanging out between 30-40 degrees below zero.  It's just like a slap in the face when you walk out the door.  And so dry!  My hands and nose just start cracking and bleeding every now and then. Fynn seems to like the cold, he's had a couple bloody boogers, too, so I only have him out (WELL bundled) between the house and pre-warmed car.  Oh, and that's a headlamp on my hat seeing as it's almost always dark right now.  

So, our New Years  consisted of some family time at home.  Really nice, actually.  Josh woke me up at midnight to say happy new year.  But we did have a special dinner: sweet potatoes and rice for Fynn, and Mom's sourdough, ham and cheese bread bowl with iced tea for Josh and I; it's tradition.

Hollow out a sourdough loaf and save the innards for later.  In a separate bowl, mix 1 c. mayo with 8 oz Colby cheese, 8 oz. parmigiana, 1 cup diced ham (we used Christmas leftovers) 2 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 c. chopped green onions.  Press into bread bowl and cook for 1 hour.

Well, Fynn's not exactly crawling, but he seems to wiggle where he wants to go and he's getting mighty close to the computer cords, so: signing off for now!

And to All a Goodnight

What fun starting Christmas traditions with our new baby!  Josh got Friday off and we packed up sweet little Fynn and drove to North Pole to see Santa at his home.  Since Fynn got croup on Wednesday night, car rides have been even more traumatic, but he held up like a trooper on the way there.  Santa Clause's house was all aflutter and smelling of the amazing fudge, sweets, cocoa and coffee brewing.












Santa was just getting ready to go check on the reindeer out back, so we walked over to the ice park to see this years sculptures and take Fynn down a slide or two.  We pulled him out in a little sled and Josh took him down the big ice slide and I took him in the ice spinning bowl.  He wasn't real thrilled, but tolerated our photographing.

Then we went to meet the big man himself after sampling their homemade fudge and sitting by the roaring fire.  I was worried that Fynn would be afraid (separation anxiety has begun to set in), but he was just cool as a cucumber!  He actually does seem to be more okay with guys with beards than anyone else, now that I think about it!  We read a couple of the letters to Santa posted about, saw the world’s largest Santa outside, and Josh and Fynn sat in Santa’s ice sleigh.

Christmas Eve was fun, too.  Mostly just hanging out around the house during the day, then a service at church that evening.  I kept Fynn back in the sound booth with Josh to avoid spreading any of his croupy germs.  The boys got their Christmas PJs and we hit the hay.

Then it was Christmas!   Josh got up early and got all the presents set up, a fire going and chai tea brewed (so nice!) and we began to go through all the generous gifts that were given.  Fynn made a haul with a bunch of books, a tractor, a train, some CAT trucks, hats, gloves, clothes, and a bookshelf for all his books!  The cats loved the boxes, the dog loved the wrapping paper rolls, and Fynn sure loved the paper!  Again, it’s often the free things…

Josh read Fynn The Story from his Bible book while Fynn intently listened.   Then we made some cinnamon rolls and watched A Christmas Carol while Fynn napped.  When he awoke, he had so much fun playing with all his new toys.  So fun to see the joy on his face!  We (I) decorated the gingerbread house I made with candy from our stockings and later that evening, had a 6 way video chat with my folks, brother, aunts, uncle, Grandpa, and cousins in Washington, North Dakota and South Dakota.  Slightly chaotic, but it made me appreciate technology just for the ability to see everyone, if nothing else.

Dinner was super simple, but yummy: ham, mashed potatoes, salad, sparkling pear and strawberry cider, and chocolate cream pie for desert.  Fynn played with some Cheerios and ate homemade yams and rice with pears for dessert.   Fynn was pretty wiped and fell asleep quickly after reading one of his new books.  And now I’m listening to Josh pick some carols on his guitar as I write.  What a fun season, but most importantly, what a reminder to be grateful for Jesus’ choice to come to give us hope!  A merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!