One Year Pics

I took Finn's birthday off of work. Mainly because I wanted to spend the day with my sweet little guy, but also because we had just moved and I was tired and had lots to do. Wes met us at Sears after work so that we could have Finn's one year pictures taken and also get a couple of family shots. Finn was happy during the pictures, but wasn't very interested in staying still. He also had out of control hair - a first haircut is definitely on the horizon. We didn't get as many good shots as I had hoped, but there were enough good ones for me to spend a ton of money on them.

Party Time!

Many people thought we were crazy, but we couldn't wait any longer to have Finn's birthday so we had his party one week after we moved into our new house. It was a long week, but we got the house presentable enough to invite people over. People were VERY generous (even though we said gifts were not necessary) and Finn received many, many nice gifts.

It's cake time. This was my attempt at a baseball cake. I made it and iced it and Wes added the seams. It turned out pretty good and tasted great. Finn liked the icing best.

Mom and Dad helping blow out the candle.

Cousin Corinne peeping at Baby Finn.

Yummy!

Love that icing!

Cousins Austin and Donoven helping open the gifts.

Happy 1st Birthday Finnegan

It's hard to believe that a year has passed since sweet Finnegan has joined our family. I can't even explain how he's changed our lives, but I know that I've never been happier or more in love. He is amazing.

We had a small family celebration on Finn's birthday. We started by enjoying a yummy Pizza King pizza (of course). We then sang Happy Birthday and helped him blow out the candle on his cupcake. He seemed to enjoy squishing the cupcake between his fingers more than eating it. We also let him open 2 presents - a book for the bathtub (Bath Time by Sandra Boynton) and a Tonka truck.

Wednesday was Finn's one year well check up. Wes had a meeting so Finn and I went without him. Of course it ended up being the worst appointment yet. Finn had to get 4 shots which weren't fun, but not that bad. He also had to have blood taken which was AWFUL! They pricked his finger and had to basically force blood out. It took at least 5 minutes (felt like an hour) and Finn was screaming. We survived and Finn didn't stay mad at me long. He's still a skinny little thing - just under 21 pounds; he didn't even gain one pound over the last 2 months (21st percentile). He is 29 and 3/4 inches long (50th percentile). Happy and healthy!

Goodbye Urbana, Hello St. Joe

Last bath in Urbana.

Final book time.
One last swing on the front porch.
It's moving day and I've got nowhere to play. There's stuff everywhere.

I know this is home because my sticker is on my door.

Moving day was LONG and stressful as we had to move not only our stuff, but Kandy's - and when I say "we" I really mean Wes and some very good family members and friends as I mainly dealt with our stuff. I was also very lucky to have Jill and Maya there to help wrangle Finn and keep an eye on him while I dealt with moving issues.

First picture with Santa

We didn't take a picture with Santa last year because Finn was still so young. This year we took advantage of the Santa at the Festival of Trees. No line and $5 for a picture - sounded great to us. The picture we got has both Finn and Santa looking (my printer still isn't hooked up here at the new house or I would have scanned it), but I love this one where theylook like they're deep in conversation. Finn didn't mind Santa at all, just a bit curious about who this person was holding him.

Thanksgiving

We were very busy this year during our short Thanksgiving break. We planned to move on Saturday so we had a lot of packing to do. We did take a short break from packing to go to Springfield for dinner. Food was yummy and it was nice to get together. We also followed tradition and visited the Festival of Trees to see Jennifer and Mom's hard work - beautiful as usual.

Austin loves bunny ears.

The boys playing cards.

Austin and Donoven love to take pictures with my camera. Here are a few good shots.

Jumping.

At the Festival of Trees. None of the boys look very excited, but they're all looking.

Finn checking out who is holding him.

On the train! I tried to pick up Finn's hand to wave, but he was holding on tight. Must have been a little unsure of what was going on.