Finn turned 8 months old Monday and is in rare form so far!  He woke up Monday morning with a scream!  Whenever mommy or daddy walk away from him he screams.  When you take anything away from him, he screams.  Tired, screams.  Squishy tooshie, screams.  You get the idea.  Trying to keep Finn happy these days is a bit of a challenge and nothing really works.  I’ve been looking online for possible explanations of his newfound ‘voice’.  Sure enough, it’s right about time for separation anxiety and a huge mental development occurs at this stage.  So, if anyone is planning to visit our house, please excuse the mess because little Finn doesn’t let mommy get much done until he goes to sleep.  Of course, by then mommy is also exhausted!  Finn usually goes to bed around 6:30 p.m. and will make it to about 10-10:30 p.m. then will come and sleep with mommy or daddy (depending on whose turn it is to get up!).  Mommy usually sleeps with him until about 1-1:30 a.m. then can get him back to his own bed, where he will sleep until about 5-5:30 a.m.  I don’t know what daddy does, nor do I care, because I’m sleeping!  He then may have a bottle to get back to sleep…he’ll stay in bed until about 7:30 a.m.!  Then, it’s time to start our day!  Then my day is spent keeping Finn away from the TV (I just keep the damn thing off now!)  I’m afraid all my hair will just fall out overnight!

I heard a strange noise coming from Finn’s mouth and upon inspection I’ve found a top tooth!  Top left to be exact!  He’s playing with his new ‘toy’ by grinding his teeth together!  It’s like nails on a chalkboard!  Had I not heard the grinding we wouldn’t have noticed the new tooth.  Finn has been gnawing on everything in sight, but that’s normal these days!  He’s been sleeping pretty well through the night…maybe up once for a diaper, bottle and cuddle.  I’m guessing that the top right will not be far behind…

Fionbharr is walking while holding on to the couch!  It’s amazing that just a couple of weeks ago he was trying to crawl and now he’s almost walking!  He will hold on with just one hand and put his other hand out towards me as if to say ‘help me momma!’  He will take a couple of steps while holding my hand then let go and lunge towards me with the biggest grin on his face!  So please with himself!

what everyone told me about time passing by so quickly!  Finn is almost 8 months old already and overnight it seems he’s already doing so much!  What happened to the little lump that wanted to be held and cuddled all day?!  Now he’s Mr. Independent!  He’s crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on anything that he can find and letting my know he wants to try shoving food into his own mouth!  Finn also lets me know if he doesn’t like something…I tried offering him the pouches that Auntie Kristin gave him (carrots, sweet potato and brown rice, with a little bit of ginger!).  Hated it!  I gave him homemade zucchini with butternut squash that I had warmed up for him.  Hated it because it had been warmed!  Just like daddy, he wants cool food!  Finally, mommy got it right with the sweet stuff…the kid loves apple sauce!  When did he turn into such a little man?!  I’ll admit it’s awesome and scary as heck

!

Since it was so hot yesterday Brendan and I took Finn to the pool.  Although he liked the beach, you can never tell if a kid will like the pool also.  Of course, daddy just got right in while mommy prefers the one toe at a time approach.  I was holding Finn and let him put his feet in the water.  Slowly, I put a little more of him in the water since it was cold still.  Finn bent over to splash his hands in the water and we just knew he was okay with it!  He went straight into Brendan’s arms and swam around and splashed and kicked!  He won’t let me lay him flat to float yet, but I have a feeling we’ll be working on in a lot this summer!

Getting ready for the pool

SPLASH SPLASH!!!

After the pool it was time to put on his party clothes for the block party at Whoha and Pop Pops.

I don’t need clothes, mom!

Fionbharr is showing us how strong he is on a daily basis.  This extends to grabbing momma’s hair and glasses and pulling himself up on the stairs and the TV stand.  Changing his diaper is becoming something of a challenge.  He will turn this way and that, reach for the doggie’s tails and turns over to his belly in a split second!  Don’t get me wrong, I love looking at that little tooshie!  For me, it’s just further confirmation that Finn is exactly like his daddy was- a busy butt!

I can’t believe the kid likes spinach!

Unfortunately, it does this to him!

Finn and I were invited to visit Uncle Fer Fer downtown with Kristin and the kiddos today.  Uncle Fer Fer works in a nice building with a great food court on the main level.  I got a yummy sandwich from Au Bon Pain and a bottle of water because it was sooooo hot outside.  Well, I opened my water and by the time I had just one sip Finn was reaching for the bottle.  I told him that it was my water and that mommy was so thirsty.  Apparently, so was Finn.  He began screaming and throwing a fit!  I offered him a couple sips thinking that would be enough…I thought wrong!  I couldn’t even eat my sandwich because he was screaming so loudly!  If you know him you know how loud he is!  I always thought I would be the parent to hold my ground and not give in…I’ve found it to be much different in reality.  I had no idea I’d give in so quickly.  But, seriously, I felt like a terrible person for denying the poor kid water!  Long story short, Auntie Kristin was kind enough to distract Finn with the huge fountain so that I could eat.  I guess I’m going to have to learn to share!

Look what I caught on film!

I’m sooooo strong!

Oh, hey, momma!

This past weekend was the McBride clan’s annual trip to the beach!  Here are a couple of pictures of us.  Finn loved the sand, not too sure about the water because it was too cold!  It was an unusually cold Memorial Day for Ocean City, so it kept the boardwalk pretty quiet.  The Sink part of the family was showing a bit in Finn as he enjoyed two 2 hour naps a day!  Of course, now that we’re home those long naps have stopped!

We were the first to arrive Friday afternoon and decided to get some dinner.  Soon after dinner we noticed Finn’s eye weeping then we saw some gunk in it.  We thought maybe pink eye, but really thought it was nothing because it came up so quickly, but sure enough it was pink eye!  So we spent Saturday morning at the 75th street urgent care, then picking up his prescription.  Finn was no worse for wear and it certainly didn’t slow him down any!

hanging with his cuz

Did you say food?!