ZOOT ZOOT ZOO

We've had a few sunny Saturdays so a few weeks ago we went to the St. Louis Zoo. I think everyone else had the same idea because it took us about 45 minutes to find a parking spot. But it was definitely worth it - we got there mid afternoon and all the animals were energetic and awake. Last time we went all the animals were resting or totally asleep. LAZY. Anyway - we had a good time being out in the sun for the first time in months. It makes it feel like Spring might actually be coming at some point, probably after all the tornadoes make their way directly through St. Louis. We've seriously had tornado warnings almost everyday for the past two weeks. It's a bit scary waiting around your TV with your shoes and raincoat on just in case you have to make a run for your life to the basement. Brad and I were even discussing who would grab what if we have seconds to make a dash (me: Finley and our camera. Brad: hard drive and journals).

But besides sunny Saturdays and tornado warnings we are getting ready for Finley's first Easter and getting Brad ready for externships and applying for residency. Its a bit stressed around these parts to say the least so it was good to get some stress out at the zoo. Finley didn't really pay much attention to the animals but she loved sitting on dad's shoulders - I think she's still a few months away from appreciating fun actives.

TEN MONTHS

Our chicken noodle is ten months old. And this month more than any other has made me emotional. The other day I boxed up her winter clothes that are forever too small for her and it made me genuinely sad that her babyhood is winding down. There is less than two months until she is a 1-year-old and no longer a baby. Soon I'll stop tracking her age by months and she'll be walking and saying her first words. And I'm so not ready! For a long time I was preparing for a baby but I don't think I've been adequately debriefed for a toddler yet. Maybe someone should throw me a toddler shower - I think the gifts might help. Just kidding. Anyway. We just rearranged our entire house in an attempt to make it more child friendly and we are currently shopping for a more spacious car. My oh my, how quickly a baby upends your entire life. Good thing she's adorable. And so totally worth it.

She has recently developed some strong preferences so this month I'll go through the list of her loves and dislikes.


Loves going on walks but dislikes being strapped into the stroller. Actually she hates all manner of confinement: car seats, diaper changes, high chairs... it sometimes makes me feel like my profession is alligator wrestler.


Loves supper time but hates getting her face wiped afterward. Side note - Brad hates messy face pictures. And usually I do too - but check out that double chin. Fantastic.


Loves to play with all manner of toys but dislikes this soccer ball at Ashley's house. You can see how the rug bunched up after she quickly scooted herself back in terror.


Loves to crawl into her office (under our desk) but dislikes when we take away her CDs and pull her back out.


Loves to read Brown Bear Brown Bear but dislikes when I don't let her hold it while we read. Interesting fact - I actually do think this is her favorite because it's the only book she doesn't chew on. Although maybe that's just because it doesn't taste good.


Loves napping on the way home from church with her leg up over the side but dislikes waking up still buckled.


Loves to visit Dad at school but dislikes when he goes to school with out her.


Loves having two new teeth to chew with but dislikes growing them, the process was so painful that she hardly slept. All better now though and she has six teeth showing.


Loves to make messes but dislikes clean them up.


Loves to help me cook but dislikes following an actual recipe.


And finally, loves to help me clean the dishes but dislikes when I stop her from crawling into the dishwasher.

DID YOU HEAR?

If you haven't read Hunger Games then you probably don't care. But for those that have, this is big news. The three leads have officially been cast. I'm not sure how much Gale will be in the first movie... but if they make the other two books then he has quite the meaty role ahead of him. I probably shouldn't care this much about a movie that will be aimed at the 16-year-old crowd but I don't care. I'm still not ashamed of my love for Twilight or Harry Potter or American's Next Top Model or Zac Efron or I should probably just stop. Anyway, here are the leads:

Gale Hawthorne - Liam Hemsworth
Katniss Everdeen - Jennifer Lawrence
Peeta Mellark - Josh Hutcherson


I think the acting might actually be good. But they look nothing like I pictured. Jennifer Lawrence is not scrappy/athletic enough. Josh Hutcherson seems too small - but maybe that's because I think of him in Little Manhattan. (Haven't seen that movie? So cute. Watch immediately.) And I just pictured Gale different. Oh well. Evidently the studios didn't bother taking my notes on casting so I guess I'll just have to live with it. In all honesty I think this could be good. I'm more excited than I have any right to be.

Anyone else excited? Just me? Okay.

FOOL FOR APRIL

I love April. It's my favorite month because it's the best month ever. Proof:

1. April Fool's which is also the day I got got engaged four years ago
2. General Conference
3. Weather is my favorite combo of generally warmer and rainy
4. Most of the time we get Easter
5. My birthday
6. And this year: Wills & Kate's Wedding (you know, my friends Wills & Kate?)

With so much good stuff going on it's a wonder why the entire month isn't just considered a holiday. Wouldn't the world be a better place? I think you get my point. Anyway, so in honor of the day of fools I've included one of my favorite pranks ever. I'm not a great pranskter. Case in point - I was going to wake up Brad at 7:45 telling him it was actually 8:45 and he was late to turn in a major project. He said if I'd done that he might have punched me in the leg. So I'll leave it up to the professionals. It's from a few years ago so you've probably seen it - but it's worth another viewing. GENIUS IDEA but note to self - don't ever hang out with these guys.

NOT QUITE A SPRING IN OUR STEP

We went to our local state park to hike the bluffs and realized how out of shape we both are! I guess it's time for us to revisit our exercise plans. That means daily runs with Finley for me and more ping-pong for Brad (that's about all the exercise he has time for). We were trying to fool ourselves into thinking that it was warm enough to take little chubba hiking. And for the most part it was except the last 10 minutes when the wind picked up and her little hands got cold. But she didn't complain much.

Listen to how fantastic Brad's parents neighbor is in Naperville. She is The Best Garage Sale Shopper Ever. Actually that's her official title. She is always finding the most amazing things, in fact she found us this hiking back-pack. She has great taste and knows us too well! This was our first time trying it out and Finley seemed to love it. Here's to a summer filled with more outside activities. Can't wait!

LIKE A LITTLE PUPPY

I probably shouldn't post two videos in a row, but what can you do? Finley has a few dilemmas in her life. One being: how does she follow me around the house but bring her toys with her? Well she figured it out a few weeks ago. She loves playing with her silver shoes (because they are shiny!) and they are light enough to carry in her mouth while she crawls. Problem solved! She doesn't even mind that it makes her look like a puppy. Actually that might be my favorite part, shhhh don't tell anyone.

LAUGHING

We've had our Flip camera for about a year and I've never gotten around to trying to load something on to our blog. This was my attempt at getting Finley's silent laugh on camera but of course she just wasn't being a professional so I settled for a regular old laugh. She's totally not getting her paycheck today.

But I guess she's pretty cute anyway. I love how excited she gets! Why is baby laughter especially infectious? Have you seen this video? Finley used to do that exact same thing too. Parenting would be much more difficult if babies weren't so dang adorable.

PS - It's grainy because of bad lighting not because our camera doesn't rock, because it does. We love it.

THE CHICKEN MIRACLE

(Finley at three months with Chicken)

So Finley's favorite toy is a stuffed bird named Monsieur Chicken or Chicken for short. Okay I'll be honest. He may not be her favorite but he was the first toy that she played with. He has ribbons for a tail and at about three months she became fascinated with them to the point that they are completely threadbare. And even pre-raggedy tail he's nothing fancy, in fact he was a hand me down toy from Brad's sister. Regardless, Chicken has always been attached to Finley's car seat and he's gone with us everywhere. He's seen a lot and has been loved a lot.

So it was only natural when I went to Utah last month that Chicken would come along. The first day we were there we took a trip to Ikea which happened to be Finley's first experience riding in a shopping cart. I attached Chicken to the handle so she would have something to play with, and what do you know? Later that day after a thorough search of the car I realized we had LEFT CHICKEN ATTACHED TO THE CART IN THE PARKING LOT. Cue devastation and traumatic images of abandonment! So we went back the next day to try our chances with a kind soul possibly turning it in to lost and found. But when I asked an employee to direct me to lost and found she radio-ed up and they told her nothing like our beloved Chicken was there.

I tried to move on, but that night we happened to watch Toy Story 3, my very first viewing. Have you seen it? UMM! That was the wrong movie to watch after someone has just lost their child's first toy. It was like watching Steel Magnolias and Schindler's List simultaneously. Okay that may be over the top, but you get the idea. So after imagining Chicken breaking out of Ikea's evil day care center trying to make his way back to Finley I was determined to find him. A few days later we went past Ikea again and I went in to find him, even if it meant looking through their lost and found myself. This time they let me go up to the lost and found office in person. I described Chicken to the employee, she typed it in to their database and went back to find him. A few seconds later she came around the corner with Monsieur Chicken looking very relieved to see me! They run a tight ship there, everything was categorized and shelved according to date and description. I was very impressed and very grateful.

(Finley at four months with Chicken - and her other pal Javier the bumblebee)

Moral of the story #1: Don't get attached to insignificant things. It can cause undue trauma.

Moral #2: If you find something that appears insignificant turn it in to the lost and found. You just might be a part of a crazy person's miracle.

Moral #3: Keep track to your stuff.

NINE MONTHS IN & NINE MONTHS OUT

In honor of Finley's ninth month here are my nine words of wisdom for pregnancy & motherhood from an inexperienced mother (because believe me I make no pretense about having it all figured out!).

1. Everyone said time would fly by, but for me the first two months felt like eternity and then the following 7 were a total blur.
2. My own child's bodily fluids and functions do not gross me out, but other people's kids? Yes absolutely and that's okay.
3. Remember you have your whole life to clean and cook, but you will never get back those small quiet moments with your first newborn
4. (Possible TMI alert - you were warned) Before giving birth I could not fathom why or how women ENJOYED breastfeeding and it didn't seem like anyone could give me a straight answer. So I was apprehensive beforehand, but it magically happened to me too, and I can't explain it either. I'll be honest - getting past the first two weeks was extremely difficult. Breastfeeding was time consuming, painful, and frustrating, but after about three weeks the thought of NOT breastfeeding made me panic. I have learned to love the relaxing snuggle time when we are both still and silent especially now that it is such a rarity.
5. No one told me the extent to which labor recovery hurts. I was injured, injured bad.
6. Desitin smells disgusting. That is all.
7. Make one goal a day then whatever you accomplish beyond that is gravy.
8. The best advice I got about mothering is this: You are the mother, no one knows your baby more than you, always trust your instincts even if occasionally that means other people think you are crazy.
9. And the biggest lesson I've learned: you can not judge other mothers because they know their babies more than you, if you think she is crazy you might just be catching her in one of those moments.


And here are Finley's nine recent advancements.

1. She can successfully pull herself in to the standing position but she has not yet mastered shuffling from one item to the next. She can also finally sit down after standing because until recently after standing she'd hang on for dear life until she fell over or we rescued her.
2. She's got the pincher action down and can feed herself snacks. Hooray!
3. She can drink from a sippy cup but finds more enjoyment in playing with it then actually taking a drink.
4. Outside of baby food and baby snacks she has tried baby sized portions of chili, strawberries, hummus, rice, cheerios, oranges, bread... so far her favorite flavor appears to be banana.
5. She has always had this funny silent laugh where she open her mouth as wide as possible and then breathes through her nose. But lately she started scrunching her face so it adds a new level of hilarity. Whenever she does it Brad and I start laughing and then she gets confused and stops.
6. Her new favorite thing is to take all the cards out of our wallets. I'm excited to lose track of our credit cards. Not.
7. She was loving bath time but suddenly she has started getting really anxious to get out as soon as we put her in - I'm not sure what that's about and hopefully it ends soon.
8. Separation anxiety is in full force when other people are around, but when we are home alone she is totally comfortable with crawling away from me as fast as possible.
9. And the cutest thing she does now is communicate. She mimics us when we say "teeth" and says "t-th," apropos considering she's a dental student's daughter. She is also learning to wave and clap. And she says "mama" and "dad," but I'm sure she doesn't really associate the words with us yet since she says them all day long.

In conclusion: I've got to say that 9 months of pregnancy felt a million times longer than the past 9 months.

PS - After reading this post I make it sound like I'm a single parent. I promise Brad exists! He's been extremely busy with school and research and I meant for this to be a mother/daughter post anyway... I promise a father/daughter post will come soon so the dad can get some credit too!

WEARING ME OUT

Lately this little chicken has been moving a mile a minute, getting in to everything and putting even more in her mouth. We are constantly on high alert - Is she chewing something? WHAT is in her mouth? Brad can you come pin her down while I pry open her jaw? And she doesn't discriminate. Yesterday she was casually munching on a large piece of red onion that I had unknowingly dropped on the floor while cooking. I should probably be more diligent, what if I had dropped raw chicken? ACK. So we've started calling her Houdini which is fun because for some reason she finds the word hilarious. If I can just catch her cracking up on video having a kid might actually start paying off.

Otherwise we finally started baby-proofing. I know we're a little behind, but I think we were in denial. Or maybe just lazy. Goodbye easily accessible power strips and electrical cords. Hello baby gate. Which by the way I hate, but it's a necessary evil. She loves to make a run for it while I'm cooking and then stuffs as many stray particles into her mouth as possible. And as much as I love a good game of "please don't bite my finger" while I try to retrieve non-edible items from her , I've found keeping little Houdini contained a whole lot easier.

RAISE YOUR HAND

... if you wish you could be Hailee Steinfeld. Because, seriously? Beyond the fact that she is:

nice
cute as a button
well spoken
one frickin talented 14 year-old

... she got to wear this dress. To the Oscars. Where she was nominated. Sigh.

What was I doing at 14? Oh that's right, jumping on my trampoline and listening to Natalie Imbruglia.

Yesterday's winner Melissa Leo was first nominated two years ago which means to be in Hailee Steinfeld's same place Melissa had to wait THIRTY FOUR more years. Ouch. But I guess that's better than my statistics for potentially being nominated for an Oscar.

Sidenote - Here's another fun fact that blew my mind yesterday. The first movie Jennifer Hudson was in, she won an Oscar. The first album she ever recorded, she won a Grammy. That would be fantastic and all but I would be seriously paralyzed by my own standards. What is there left to do but go for the EGOT?

YOU ARE MY FAV

Today I needed a few good hours to work on some things for church and the only way to get everything done plus keep Finley alive was to keep giving her new things to interest her every ten minutes. I got a little desperate until I finally started giving her non-toy items. And you know what pre-occupied her the longest? A ribbon, a hair diffuser and some blank cds. Oooookay kid, whatever.

So for a good 30 minutes she played with these:


Instead of any of these:


Or these:




Dear Fin,

Remember this day. You have just set yourself up for years of really interesting Christmas and Birthday presents. But good news! You are gonna save mom and dad tons of loot! Thanks a heap.

Love, mamma & the dad

PS - When you are 16 and instead of a car you get an empty coke can and a crumpled piece of paper, no complaints. Remember, they are your FAVORITE!

CURRENTLY LISTENING

I've been listening to this on repeat all morning - can't get enough. SOOOOO GOOOOD. Right now my favorites are: Rolling in the Deep, Turning Tables, and Set Fire to the Rain. But they are all fantastic. I think for the first time ever an album lives up to the hype and is unbelievably better than her previous album 19. I'm so excited to have good new music again, lately I have been in quite a musical funk.

EIGHT MONTHS

Our little monkey is 8 months old and getting more personality every day. She has learned to squawk, squeel, and squirm to get her way - a trait she uses to her advantage constantly. If only she weren't so darn cute then I would be a good mom and actually teach her she can't her way every time. Oops. Oh well. I've already come to terms with the fact that she will be spoiled rotten.

She takes bathes in our tub but sometimes when she's really fussy we go check out the wonder that is the sink. She loves sitting in it and playing with the faucet. On this particular day Brad had been gone all evening at a church function and sometimes you just do what you gotta do to keep the baby happy.

She has made big advances into the forays of crawling. She can pretty much get wherever she wants to go with the speed depending on how badly she wants to put something in her mouth. Often she ends up with her arms and legs completely extended so it looks like she's doing push ups. Or she'll get really excited when she's crawling and rocks back and forth until she realizes she actually needs to move her limbs to propell herself forward. This new mobility adds another level of sadness to my day because she'll use all her energy to follow my around the house just to have me move again. She hasn't quite mastered the definition of, "I'll be right back don't waste your energy following me." Poor child.

I don't normally let her play under the desk with all the electrical cords ready to zap her to death, but she found her way under there when I was folding laundry and then complained until I turned her around. She just couldn't figure out how to get back out.

I got a BOB stroller for Christmas and I L-O-V-E, adore, and cherish him. If me and the BOB could be BFFs and braid each others hair and gab about American Idol, we would. Can't say enough wonderful things about him. Fin is just big enough for him and when the weather is nice we go running. When it's not (which is more often these days) we find an excuse to take the BOB to the grocery store or library.

We sometimes wonder if we went home with the wrong baby. How could we have gotten so lucky with such a happy cute one? Maybe I should read that last statement on the days when it seems like she won't stop crying and pooping. Ha! Funny because it's true. Either way, through the good and the bad we love her more and more every day.