Finn's first Christmas

We braved the 401 and drove back to the Ottawa area to celebrate the holidays. Finn was fabulous and slept almost the whole way to Chelsea – this foreshadowed a horrible drive home but we were too excited to think ahead. Chelsea: the cousins Samarra and Ishani were in top spirits decorating the tree and preparing for the arrival of Santa. We had a chance to meet up with some of my old high school friends and spend some quality time with Kristina, Chris and Will (now 9.5 months old). Finn enjoyed meeting everyone and engaged Will in a contest of cuteness – the results are still pending. Christmas day brought lots of presents and lots of food – sticky toffee pudding and sauce – my teeth hurt just thinking about it. Boxing day we visited with Karl, Caryn, Oliver and Adriana. Adriana talked our ear off and Oliver chased her around – as if a crawling 10 month old could take on a 3 + year old – although he is rather big for his age…… David and Maire dropped by to bask in all the baby/kid action. After an exhausting 5 days in Chelsea highlighted each night by the cousins taking turns waking us up we headed back to Guelph. We stopped on the way home in Kingston to visit Auntie E, Uncle B and fur cousin P. Finn showed off his rolls (of chubbiness) and then we were on the road again. Forgetting that people in Toronto do work, we ran into horrible rush hour traffic and in an attempt to bypass the problem exited the 401 to the 7 way too early. Finn woke up and had to be constantly amused by yours truly for the 2-hour drive home. We survived and enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

Uncle B and Auntie E

Ottawa - proper!

Dad and Adriana - show us those pearly whites


Caryn and Zoe corral the babies

David and Maire take on the Finn (Finnegan not the Finnish people)

How entertaining- or not!!

Opening presents

"Let me help"


"Thank you Uncle T for the delicious present!"


"What cute grandkids we have!!!"


"Finally I get to open something"


"Does this bow make my head look big?"

Happy Birthday Neerja!!

The cousins

"The 3 caballeros"

Here try this

A Little Elf

Our own little gnome

A little elf visits with Andrew and Samarra

Visit with Kris, Chris and Will

Wedding!!!

At an intimate ceremony held at Allan Gardens in Toronto, Nancy and Attila became husband and wife. Finn, who wore a tie for the first time ever, entertained everyone with his cuteness and met another 5 month old baby – Oscar - who is now Nancy’s step-nephew. Dinner and a party followed the ceremony at a restaurant in Nancy and Attila’s neighbourhood. Finn was a fabulously good baby and only started being really cranky around 9:15 pm. Headed back to Guelph where Finn slept very soundly!!!!

Uncle Tom

Finn met his Uncle Tom for the first time. Tom came up for a few days to visit Finn prior to heading to Toronto for Nancy’s wedding. They both seem very taken with each other. Apart from an initial unsure reaction Finn smiled every time he saw Tom.

I'm 5 months old

I still love singing with Mummy – I will calm down and smile when she sings “Doe – a Deer” from the Sound of Music.

Daddy makes me laugh when he makes pretend vomit faces (much funnier than it sounds).

I love granola bar boxes and bottles of salad dressing – really anything that Mummy and Daddy have touched.

I can sit up unassisted for long periods of time until I get distracted and lose my balance - my head is always the first to plummet.

The cat is endlessly fascinating. I am very good at stroking her gently – unless I catch her tail and then I hold on with all my might.

I love people and am always ready with a willing smile!

Visit with Santa

Last night, on what was the coldest night in weeks, a shoe store in downtown Guelph hosted Santa for a photo session - outside. Yikes - poor Finn. He did quite well considering. Santa suggested to prevent crying we avoid letting Finn see the old man himself- not to worry- Finn was more interested in the store window (decorated with anamatronic elves and skating Barbies) than in telling Santa what he wants for Christmas (his 2 front teeth of course!!!).

I roll

Last week Finn rolled over – once. We kept trying to get him to do it again so Daddy could observe it but to no avail. Finally yesterday Finn mastered the rollover and now rolls over whenever we put him on his back. The roll learning process was very interesting to watch. He had been working on the "throw the leg over" portion for over a month – I figured that the next step he needed to learn was a maneuver to move his shoulder out – or to throw his arm over to initiate a roll. Turns out it wasn’t his shoulder but his humongous noggin that was holding him back. Last week – when I thought he was working on rolling over - Finn was perfecting his head tuck and arm rolling positions. Yesterday he spent some time perfecting the head lift and then coordinated it with the leg throw over to roll. This was then followed (quite a few seconds later, which seemed like an eternity to an anticipating audience) by shoulder move and arm placement that completes the full roll. Oh – I forgot one step – the upset “I rolled and am now stuck on my belly” utterances. I sure hope he figures out how to roll to his back soon.

Strange encounters of the Daddy kind

"Pow, pow, pow"- baby as machine gun?

"Ouga chaka, ouga chaka - I can't stop this feeling...."- really, that's what Andrew is singing while getting Finn ready for bed. So much for a calm bedtime ritual!!

4 month well baby

After waiting for an hour to see Finn’s doctor (who was apparently still in Costa Rica) we saw a replacement and found out that Finn is still in the 90-95% for height and weight. His head is apparently average size- the doctor couldn’t believe it and suggested that the nurse probably measured it wrong – “are you trying to say my baby has a big head?” Anyway-Finn is now 18 lbs 3 oz and 27 inches long. Finn was not impressed by his shots due in part to exhaustion (remember we had to wait to see the doctor for more than an hour). Poor baby – two big needles one in each thigh = 1 very sad baby.

Visit from Nana and Gramps

Finn and second cousin Ella lounging around

Nana and Finn try out his new linkadoos

Gramps eats Finn's toes

This past weekend the grandparents came to visit their favourite grandson (he better be – he is the only one so far). Much time was spent giggling and oogling the visitors. Gramps (who would rather be called Poppa- but that just hasn’t caught on- sorry Doug) even managed to join Mum and Finn in their Mother Goose Rhyme group while Nana and Dad went shopping at the Farmers market. Sunday we went on a road trip to the town of Erin to visit Finn’s second cousin Ella who was born just a month after Finn. What a fun and exhausting weekend. Can’t wait to see you all again at Christmas.

I'm 4 months old

Diaper changes are getting increasingly challenging for Mum and Dad as I love to kick my legs and squirm around- sometimes one holds my legs while to other changes my diaper.

I love to giggle- sometimes, when I get really worked up(especially around bed time), my giggles become supersonic and I scream like a woman in distress- my parents love this.

I am getting better and better at sucking my thumb – but still haven’t figured out that my long fingers stuck down my throat make me gag.

I still hate to nap in the afternoons but will fall asleep being carried in my front pack under my parents’ special babywearing coat – Mum and Dad are logging a lot of walking hours.

I am becoming increasingly interested in watching people eat – hmmm bacon?

I like to spend time amusing myself in my exersaucer – not just bouncing but also investigating all the bells and whistles. I am really good at spinning things and shaking my maracas.

Will's visit

Saturday Will came to visit us from Ottawa and brought his parents Kris and Chris along. We missed Will on our last trip to Ottawa as he was home sick – poor little Will. He recovered nicely and was in fine form for the trip to Guelph. Hard to believe that Will is now almost 8 months old- last time we saw him he was only 4 weeks old. Finn is almost as big as Will – although Will’s head is a much more normal size and is covered with beautiful blond hair. Finn is really working hard in the hair department but still has only a few wisps.

Finn’s first Halloween

Last night we dressed Finn up in his bear suit for Halloween. It is technically not a Halloween costume - but a pram warmie given to us by his Nana –it was sooo cute we thought he should show it off. Andrew and Finn had been rehearsing Finn’s scary bear growl for almost a week – so when people confused Finn for a cute bear Andrew insisted that I make a nametag that spelled it all out (I am a scary bear).



We didn’t have too many kids at the door – and half of them we had to remind to say trick or treat. Finn seemed rather non-plussed by all the extra people but did manage a smile or two for our next door neighbour who gave him a toonie for his piggy bank. We had a preview of what next year might be like when our next door neighbour’s grandchild Sophia came trick or treating. She is 1 year and 2 days older than Finn. Extremely cute in her Tinkerbell costume over her snowsuit – but not very eager to participate in the door to door thing. All in all an excellent first Halloween – can’t wait ‘till next year when we can “sample” Finn’s take.

Infant massage class

Tuesday was our last infant massage class. Finn and I had a great time meeting lots of other Moms and babies. Finn isn’t really the “relax and enjoy a massage type baby”- yet. He is rather squirmy which makes it really difficult to do much massage while he is on his back. He loves to roll around so he can check out all the other babies – who all seem to be lovingly looking into their mother’s eyes and enjoying their massages. Luckily Tuesday we sat next to another baby who just wouldn’t lie still so Finn seemed less out of place. During class Finn started babbling away and impressed everyone with his Mamama babble – I am pretty certain he wasn’t referring to me as he was staring at the instructor while he said it.
After a recent few sleepless nights (please let him sleep better tonight) I went back to reading some of our baby raising books to try to figure out what could be going on. I didn’t find a solution but did discover that Finn’s holding of hands in front of his chest – which I thought was just his worried personality coming through – is actually one of his developmental milestones. Yay for Finn! He is working really hard on rolling over and has almost managed it on several occasions- mainly naked during massage class (perhaps just to impress the girls?). So today we had some naked time in hopes that a complete role-over would relieve the pent up milestone anxiety that is obviously keeping him awake. We had a great big pee and spent a lot of time with our neck craned a la exorcist so as to get a better view in the mirror – but Mum had to step in and nudge Finn over. Let’s hope he feels a sense of accomplishment and can rest easy.

I'm 3 months old

Things I love:
Sucking on my hands
Mummy singing to me
Daddy pretending I’m superman
Playing with my best friend nagenniF in the mirror
Staring at other babies in massage class

Things I don’t love:
Falling asleep
Long car rides
Daddy’s loud nose blowing
Sneezing milk out my nose

Leaving Day

Grandparents and the cousins

The cousins hang out together - if only we could understand baby-ese we might be able to figure out what Ishani and Finn were plotting....

Turkey Day in Perth

Samarra and her daadi's banana (banana's are a private joke for daadi (paternal grandmother in Hindi))

Swinging away in the sunshine while the turkey roasts

"Finn squishes his cousin Ishani" - or "What happens when you leave men alone with babies"

Samarra read her favourite book to Finn who, being restrained in the bouncy chair, listened attentively to Blue's Clues- the one book that always mysteriously disappears to the back of the closet

Happy family on the swing (Finn doesn't look happy- he was just concerned that his hair looked okay)

Saturday in Orleans

Chillin' with Adriana

Finn plays with Mummy and Oliver

Hooray for babies!!!

The whole family: Karl, Caryn, Adriana and Oliver

Finn's big road trip

Thanksgiving weekend we traveled back to the Ottawa area – Finn’s first big road trip. Trip through Toronto was awful – entire drive took us 2.5 hours longer than pre-baby. Finn did not really enjoy it- neither did his parents. On an up note – at a gas station in Whitby while filling up the tank of a car we rented, Finn picked up and shook his rattle with intent. He used a real pincer-type grip and, rather than just hitting himself in the head accidentally as he normally does, he shook the rattle several times. We were thrilled.
Spent time relaxing with the grandparents and excer-saucering in Perth on Friday.
Saturday Finn, Andrew and I traveled into Ottawa to do some cloth diaper shopping and visiting with our Orleans friends – Karl, Caryn, Adriana and Oliver. Last time we saw them Oliver and Finn got into a tussle so we were eager to see how the newly expanded Finn would fair. Turns out Oliver still has a sizable weight/height/age advantage.
Sunday was meet and greet with cousins Samarra and Ishani who last saw Finn when he was just 3 days old. He has changed significantly and is now quite the conversationalist. Yummy turkey with trimmings for all with teeth and then to bed hoping that the tryptophan would pass quickly into our milk.
Drive home was thankfully not as long (although traffic was horrendous- where was everyone going from Belleville onwards?) and Finn figured out how to play on his own so the howling was cut down to a bare minimum. All in all a great trip.
Cooking with Nana and Poppa
Finn checks out the grandparents exersaucer

Uncle and Auntie Visit

Uncle Bryan and Auntie Elisabeth meet Finn for the first time. Finn meets dog up close for the first time. Gets toes and fingers licked by Poppy- the black version of Clifford the big red dog. Finn seems interested in Poppy. Finn now learning to stick tongue out on command - of course he refuses to perform when we have company....

97th Percentile

Just got home from Finn’s well baby check. He is huge. He scored in the 97th percentile size-wise for his age. He is now 13lbs 7 oz and 25 inches long.
Yesterday my friend Nancy, her fiancé Attila and his brother came to visit the giant Finn. He entertained us all with his stomping and spitting up. He managed to projectile spit-up all down the front of Nancy’s pants – how sweet.

Finally- he sleeps


















What a happy baby!



















Dad and Finn at play

















Hmmm, finger suckingly good



















Wow- look at that handsome baby in the mirror



















Attila, Nancy and Finn