Catch up - Part 2: Nine and a half months

Last wednesday Finn learned how to clap his hands. I would often clap them for him, but then just out of the blue he clapped them together, completely unprovoked. It started out pretty awkward, but he quickly got the hang of it. I think this is the first skill he's learned that he is truly aware of and it makes him so happy. He'll just do it every now and then and get this great big smile on his face. Awesome.

Last Thursday began R's week off from work. We didn't have a major vacation planned, but wanted to have time to both work on our major house project (more on that later) and to do some fun little outings as a family. On Sunday, we went to the Midwife Center family picnic and talked to one of the midwives who has an 8 1/2 month old about our babies' lack of teeth. Well, it was later that day that I discovered something sharp poking up through Finn's lower gums. The only real sign that I saw was a runny nose, but that also coincided with the sudden fall weather and my reluctance to turn the heat on in September. His naps, however, have been pretty short, which makes getting things (major house project) done during a nap very difficult and frustrating. I am grateful that he hasn't been too crabby otherwise.

Along with the sprouting tooth, he's started sticking out his tongue. In a couple years I may not be a fan of this behavior, but right now it's cute.

His other new activity is what I will call "The Marcus", named after Annie's son who has an amazing talent for launching himself into the air from a sitting position. Finn has started to do this, only he get's so out of control that he usually ends up falling backward or on his face. And he's never gone completely airborne, so maybe Marcus should give him some pointers.

No time for a photo...maybe next time, along with more on the so-called vacation week.

Catch up - Part 1

I know I've been MIA for a while, so I thought I'd try to get in a little catch up post if Finn will allow it. I've been busy working and playing and working. Two weekends ago we spent some time in Morgantown visiting some friends and their son, Eli. We weren't able to make it to Eli's first birthday party the week before, so it was nice to see how he's grown and see him and Finn interact. Finn got to know their two large dogs, Sasha and Buckley. It's been a little while since he's been around a dog, so it was like a new thing to him again. He was frightened when we first arrived as they were very excited to check him out, but soon the tables were turned and Finn wanted to check them out. While we were there I was lucky enough to take Eli's 1 year photos. Here he is, with one of his favorite items...



Now it is back to work...stay tuned for part deux.

Baby update

Finn turned 9 months last week. He is almost 20 pounds and is 29 inches long. We visited family over Labor Day and he has officially outgrown his 13.5 month old cousin, Annie. His hair is also growing. Here's a recent picture of him upon waking from a nap with an exceptionally cool hairstyle, no product needed.



Cute, huh?

His new favorite thing to do is crawl up the stairs. He tries to do it when I'm not looking and then as I approach, he tries to go faster to get away.

Still no teeth. I think they start to come through and then those little chompers recede back into his gums. Is that possible? Probably not.

I'm finding it hard to believe that his first summer is coming to an end. We've been so busy, yet it seems that there are lots of things that we didn't get to do. Luckily we'll have many more summers to come.