A New Friend!

Finnegan Finds His Shadow

Yesterday was VERY sunny. In the winter, in the Puget Sound region, sunshine does occur, but it's only a few days during the season. "Finnegan Crawling Boy"(his native name) found his shadow against a wall in the dining room. We couldn't have kept him from it if we'd wanted to!

As Promised...

Here's some pics from Finnegan's First Christmas!

Such a Good Eater.... or how about just plain MESSY!

Finnegan and I decided today that it was time to let him discover the true disaster of "feeding himself". Not much food actually went in the mouth, but it did find it's way onto and into many other parts of Finnegan's head and face.
He's actually gotten very good at eating crackers and baby biscuits{shown above}, but we've got a ways to go until he gets the hang of using a spoon for more than just a noise maker/food catapult. He did however have a ton of fun today with his new found freedom.

Brandon and I have discussed babyfood options in the past, and I thought I would make everything. I AM SUCH A HOUSEWIFE. (hahahahahaha yeah right) But I didn't actually start this endeavor until today. It was really quite a bit of fun for me too. Finn sat in his highchair and slung food every which way, and I washed, and chopped, and boiled, and blended up new concoctions for Finn to try out and make more messes with. We'll see in the near future if I can keep up with the baby food makin, and even more importantly see if Finnegan improves his self feeding skills to the point where at least a little bit of food is actually ingested. Yeah! Fun!

Busy Christmas!

Another Christmas has come and gone. However, this one was a bit more exciting in the McG house, because it was Finnegan's first Christmas! Three night's, starting on the eve of Christmas Eve, Three parties, three LATE nights for little Finn. He was such a good sport, and he outlasted Brandon and I each night, not allowing us to go to bed when we were SO ready. Here's a pic of Finn partying Christmas Eve in his Kilt and Prince Charlie Jacket...




So many presents, A ton of clothes, and a million toys! Thanks to everyone, and we hope that everyone we didn't get a chance to see had a WONDERFUL holiday!


I'll post more pics tomorrow, when I find my camera cable!

Never a Dull Moment!

It's no wonder that Finn takes 3 naps a day! Whenever he's awake, he's on the move! I wish sometimes that I could remember what it felt like for everything to be a new discovery. Finnegan's favorite new toy is a long wooden spoon from my kitchen utensil drawer. Absolutely Loves It! He loves to wave it in the air. He loves to bang it against the floor. He loves to hit Mommy, Daddy, Darby, and even himself with it. This spoon is amazing to him. It should be called super spoon, and wear a cape, because on occasion, it will fly through the air. Not far (yet), but airborne it has been!
Finnegan's other favorite toy(and we all knew this was inevitable) is Darby-Dog. No, this is not a stuffed animal, although sometimes she does just lay there and resemble one... Darby is our beloved pet, and Finnegan's new best friend. This is however, at present moment, definitely a one sided relationship. The game goes like this... Darby's in one corner of the living room, Finn's in the other. Finnegan uses his newly acquired skills to crawl across the living room to Darby's corner. As soon as he gets there and lifts a hand to reach for the fur, Darby bolts to the far corner of the room, usually the one Finn was just sitting in. Finnegan proceeds to turn around, and replay the previous sequence over and over again, until Darby begs to go outside, or finds another hiding spot!

Other happenings...

We faired the Big Storm that swept over the pacific nw last week pretty well. Given the power went out at about 10pm and continued to stay off until about 3 or 4 pm the next day.



We stayed at home and slept, and realized that wrapping Finnegan like a burrito didn't keep his hands or face warm. We spent the next day at Brandon's parents' home. Their power was out also, but they have a wood stove, and propane for the kitchen stove, and hot water. It actually turned out to be a pretty fun day!

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Finnegan Crawling Boy!

December 5/06 Finn's decided it's time to move!

He's Crawling!!!

After much anticipation, Finnegan has figured out how to use his arms to move forward, and our house and our belongings will never be safe again! We've captured the event on video, but until I figure out how to shrink the file, it wont be visible unless you get a chance to come to our house and view it on the computer. But no worries, anyone who sees Finn in person now should be able to experience his crawling talents first hand!

It Snowed Today!

Finnegan's first snow ever, and I'm too much of a controlling mother to bundle him up and take him outside. Maybe we'll try tomorrow.

I've decided to continue the blog and to try my darndest to keep up with it, so.... more tomorrow....

Finnegan is One Month Old!

Yes, that's right, because I don't update my blog regularly, I have had the baby, and a month has gone by and I'm finally writing about it. Although, it's not like I haven't had my hands full for the past month. I do have a healthy newborn to take care of, and I've just now finally caught up with house-work. So....
For those of you who are just oblivious, Finnegan arrived quickly and 15 days early on April 5, 2006. He was 6lbs, 4oz and 19.5 inches tall. My contractions started at 5am, we got to the hospital at 8:30am, and he was born at 12:40 that afternoon. No drugs, there wasn't time. Brandon was an amazing support. Or hand-holder, which ever you prefer. And so was the entire family, who all seemed to show up JUST IN TIME. We have wonderful families. We came home 48 hours later, and Finnegan Francis has settled in great! We've survived the hospital, we've survived the not so great first weeks of Breast-feeding, Circumsision, and even our first trip to Victoria to visit my Grandma. Yes, that's right, Finn is already an international traveller.
It's amazing how your life changes so much when you become a parent for the first time. I want to extend thanks to everyone for all of their support!

21 Days Is Not A Long Time

Well, lets see... The past few months have been a little busy. I've been working a lot more to make up for the fact that I won't be working at all after this week. My last OFFICIAL day at Sahale is March 31st, although I'm pretty sure that I'll be coming in at least 1-2 times a week until the baby arrives. Just to finish things up. I also told my boss that I would do some picture/website stuff for him from home, so that'll be something to fall back on. Grocery money at least. This summer I'll probably be able to go out on a few of the bridge sites with Brandon and the baby, but it's nice to have something to do from home too. I know... I know... everyone's been telling me that I won't have a minute to myself once the baby is born, but that's fine with me. I'd rather have too many things to do, than not enough.

For those of you who may not have heard when Brandon made the big announcement, a name has been issued to this baby of ours. Finnegan Francis McGinnis. We'll call him "Fin". We've gotten a LOT of mixed reviews on this name choice, but it's something that Brandon and I finally agreed on and that's good enough for me. It is kind of funny though when we tell someone and they respond with more suggestions. Subtle, reeeaaal subtle.

Brandon had made the announcement at our baby shower. It was a great little gathering. Not too overwhelming. Low key. My mom hosted and did a wonderful job. It was pretty much exactly what we wanted. Not too "showery". Thank you again to everyone for the wonderful gifts. They are all very much appreciated.

We have 21 days to go. 3 weeks left. I'm now on a weekly appointment basis with the midwives starting tomorrow, and will try my darndest to keep everyone updated to the goings on with "Fin". So Far, So Good.

The Countdown Begins

There is a website where you enter the due date as proposed by your doctor, and it gives you a count-down to the big "day". I checked in with this website for the first time in quite a while and realized that there is a time in your pregnancy when your over half way through. According to the proposed date, I have 13 weeks from today until I am full-term. I keep thinking back to not that long ago, when I was only 13 weeks into this, and it hits me... WE ARE HAVING A BABY.

Now I really am not that naive. Brandon and I have been preparing. I definitely know that I'm sharing my body with someone, and I know that the room we've been setting up isn't for guests to come and visit. But I think it has finally hit me that in/around 13 weeks from now, we will have a new family member. In 13 weeks, there will be dirty diapers to change, and extra laundry to do, and crying to attend to, and a newborn baby to love, and raise, and try not to screw up to horribly. At least I still have time to freak out. At least this discovery didn't hit me with 3 weeks left!

Brandon seems awfully cool and collected. I keep asking him if he's nervous, or anxious, or anything other than cool and collected, and he just says cooly and collectedly "No, I'm good." I think he's just more excited than anything else. The week before Christmas, he got to feel the baby "kick" for the first time, and that was kinda cool, just a quick little "bump". Since then I haven't been sleeping very well, and Brandon found out why the other night. These quick little "bumps", have turned into beatings, and rumblings, like this baby's doing a scene from riverdance. Everytime I reach for Brandon's hand so that he can feel what his child is doing to my insides, the baby stops. He says, "Uh-oh! Daddy wants to feel what I'm doing, I'd better stop and tease him!" Well, Brandon finally felt it the other night as we were laying in bed, and fell asleep with a huge grin on his face. It was the funniest thing to see. I wonder how much he'll be smiling when the baby is laying in his arms rumbling around.