7 years ago was a hot and humid Wednesday in Key West, FL.  At 8:30 a.m. I was in Ross buying an ivory colored dress and matching shoes.  I spent $25.  When I returned to my apartment I showered and put my hair into a simple bun…let’s be honest Florida in June=frizz city for hair like mine!  I looked at myself in the mirror and said “This is it!”  My friend Ildi picked me up and drove me to the courthouse.  My friend Jana was already there waiting with Brendan.  Our ceremony was short and to be honest, I don’t remember much of it, except the kissing part!  😉  I do, however, remember that it was perfect and I knew that Brendan was the one for me.  We had our reception at a juice bar on Duval St. where our friend Sylwia worked.  It was a perfect day!

Holy cow!  Finn is almost too big for his infant seat!  So, last weekend we got him a new one for daddy’s car.  How does he look?!

Finn has the diaper rash of diaper rashes right now, which means no pool!  We have been giving him baths in the sink for a while now, but more often since he can’t have the chlorine!  Of course, changing Finn’s diaper these days is challenging enough…it’s much harder now!  I clean him up then have to wait for his bum to dry before putting on the butt spackle.  The entire time he’s twisting this way and that to get away from me!  He also voices his disapproval constantly!

He does love his baths!

Separation anxiety:  a phrase used to describe a baby between the ages of 8-11 months.  This period is designed to truly test the parents’ stamina.  All of the literature states that babies this age are learning object permanence, or will have figured out that when daddy or mommy hides behind their hands, they are still there.  Not so with our little Finn.  An hour after going to bed, most nights, he will stir and need us to go in and rock him back to sleep.  An hour later, sometimes, he will get up again, just for a cuddle.  Strange enough, when Brendan goes in Finn will often not go back to sleep.  Instead, he will soak up all the cuddle time with daddy!  In an effort to save our own sanity…this ends up happening:

They are soooooo cute, right?!

Usually on the weekends the three of us venture to Whoha and Pop Pop’s or to Nannie and Granpa’s house.  This past weekend we spent time with Whoha and Pop Pop.  Finn loves to see them and play with ALL the toys!  He had a wonderful time playing with his oldest cousin Seamus and rolling around in his new walker.

Not now, I’m eating!

Dad, dad, you’re gonna make me pee!

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Brendan and I got Finn a walker this weekend and we tried it out at Whoha and Pop pops on Sunday.  Needless to say, it’s a hit!  Finn can roll around the house and not just spin in circles.  The only downfall of the walker is that it doesn’t have a brake.  So, at our house, I collapse it because he likes to hang on everything and has already taken a tumble!  He’s found other ways of playing with it, though.

Look! I can do it myself!

Oh, is this not the way it works?!

You’d better watch out doggie!

We had a BBQ with uncle Joe Joe on Saturday!

Don’t burn those brats!

Kisses from momma are awesome!

Hanging with my pops

I thought the McBride clan would get a kick out of this picture!  Does this look similar to that picture of Brendan going up the stairs?

Look at me!

Finn is still cruising around and walking with assistance.  Let’s see, what else?!  His second upper tooth finally pushed through, so he’s got four now!  He’ll sleep through the night, for the most part.  He still has nights when he wants to cuddle with mommy or daddy.  Oh, yeah, he likes to scream at the top of his lungs for no reason other than he can.  Finn loves watching the dogs run around and play.  He hates getting his butt cover changed, hates being strapped into the car seat and being strapped into anything for that matter!    So, the road trips we have planned for this summer should be fun!  We caved and bought a DVD player for the car.  Our hope is that with the TV on he’ll forget that he’s strapped in the car seat and miserable in general.  Finn continues to LOVE the pool and will splash for hours if I let him!  Unfortunately, his pale skin doesn’t allow for this!  I guess that’s it for now!

Finn has been cruising around for the past few weeks now.  He’s fallen, bonked his head, cried and moved on.  Today, however, was a little different.  Finn was holding on to the couch, trying to get around to his little toy box (a tall basket that his toys fit into) to pull out some fresh toys.  He’s gotten pretty good at slowing his falls, so I didn’t really react when he started to tumble.  He landed pretty hard this time and I scooped him up and comforted him only to see a little blood coming from his bottom lip!  He stopped crying quite quickly, mommy on the other hand, kinda freaked out!  I ran to the kitchen and wet a rag to put on his lip.  He was more mad at me fussing with him than his lip hurting!  All sorts of thoughts were racing through my head…what do I do?  Do I take him to the doctor?  Will he need stitches?  Are his teeth okay?  Once the bleeding stopped I was able to get a better look at his lip and all was fine!  Don’t worry, everyone, I’m okay!  Errrr, I mean, Finn’s okay!  😉