MN Wild

Kyle's first day of hockey clinics was yesterday, and when he got home he was filled with excitement. The varsity coach, Yanni, trains one of the MN Wild players, so there were 3 MN Wild players at clinics yesterday skating around just to get some time on the ice. One of them happened to be Kyle's favorite Wild enforcer, Derek Boogaard. Kyle asked Boogaard if he would fight him...Boogaard said "yes" with a serious face and then skated away. Kyle was in heaven. My favorite quote from Kyle when he got home was about how huge the Wild players were. He said, and I quote, "I could look them square in the nipples." Fair enough.

Derek Boogaard looking scary. I certainly wouldn't ask this guy to fight.

Homemade with Love

I had my first foray into baby food making this weekend. Since baby food is at least $1 per little container I decided to just buy fruit that is in season, use the food processor to puree it, and then freeze it until Aidan is ready for it (probably not until Sept. or after). So far so good. I've made peaches, plums, blueberries, and mangoes. Unfortunately the mangoes are going to be used by Kyle for his smoothies because apparently babies can't have tropical fruit until after they're 1 year old. Who knew? I've also got some organic pears, but they need to ripen a little more before I puree them. In case anyone is wondering how much fruit it takes to make baby food, here is what I have found...
(all cooked and pureed)
1 peach=1 cup
1 plum= 1/2 cup
2 pints blueberries= 1 1/2 cups

In other news from the Finn household, Kyle was contacted by the Burnsville varsity hockey coach. He asked Kyle to help out with summer and fall clinics. This is the last week of summer clinics and fall clinics will probably be in September. Kyle is SUPER excited as this is a big step up in the hockey world. He has been coaching PeeWee B1, but a move up to varsity is what he has always been hoping for. Congrats Kyle!

Not too much else new over the weekend. Kyle and I went out to dinner on Friday night and watched Juno. Good movie, I enjoyed it. Saturday I did a little garage-saleing and bought Aidan some 3-6 and 6 months clothes. Then yesterday we went out for my (pre-) birthday brunch with Kyle's parents. A nice relaxed weekend...I even got a nap in on Sunday afternoon which is unheard of. :)

4 month check-up

Aidan had his 4-month well baby visit this morning which included 3 shots and an oral vaccine. He let the nurse know he was NOT happy after the first shot by screaming at the top of his lungs, but had finished crying by the time we were ready to leave. All the screaming wore him out and he was fast asleep by the time we got home. (which is only about 5 minutes) :)

I was pretty surprised by his measurements. I figured he would be longer and weigh more than he does right now. I was basing my assumptions on the fact that he has finally outgrown his 3 month clothes (lengthwise) and I'm moving him into 3-6 and 6 month clothes.

4 Month Stats:
Weight: 13 lbs 3 oz---25 %-tile
Length: 25 3/4 in.---85%-tile
Head: 16 1/2 ---50 %-tile

Growth from 2 month check-up: gained 2 lbs and grew 1 inch

Kyle was a little disappointed to see that Aidan is now only in the 85 %-tile for length. After being at the 95 %-tile last time, Kyle had high hopes Aidan would keep it up and turn into a 6'4" hockey player. He was happy to see that Aidan moved up on the chart for weight though, since Aidan was below the 5 %-tile at his 2-month check-up.

The doctor told me to wait on solid foods until closer to 6 months as they like to see birth weight double before solids are started (or at 6 months). I'm fine with that since I hadn't planned on starting him on solids until the end of August anyway.

You caught me!

I just love this picture! About once a week for the past month I have been putting Aidan in his Bebe Pod (the little green seat) to see if he is able to sit on his own yet. Yesterday was the best he has done so far (but still not quite ready as you can see). I said his name as he was wiggling around in the seat, and that is the look I got as I snapped a picture. Priceless.

Thank you to Carrie and Keifer for the adorable outfit he is wearing. It is the perfect size, which is not easy to find for long skinny babies.

Ladies who lunch

That's right, I can now say I am a "lady who lunches" :) Aidan and I met my friends Krista, Gayle, Molly, and her daughter, Charlotte at Houlihans in Richfield for lunch today. Aidan timed it perfectly, waking up from his nap at 11:25am so I could get him ready and be out the door by 11:40am. That meant he was a happy camper all through lunch, but who wouldn't be with lots of attention and lovin' from so many people? Gayle gave him a bottle and held him while I ate. It was like a mini-vacation for me.

My resolution to take more pictures at this weekend's wedding did not go as planned. It's not that I didn't try, honest, Aidan just wouldn't cooperate. He slept through the wedding (after laughing during the readings) got cranky/hungry after we got to the reception, and then fell asleep until 9pm. I had taken the Baby Bjorn with me, so he just slept in that while Kyle and I socialized. After he woke up I tried to snap a few pics of him, and as you will see, he did not want to have anything to do with the camera. The lights on the dance floor were much more interesting.

I did get a few cute ones Saturday morning while he was laying on the hotel bed. Which, by the way, was GHETTO! Their "queen size" bed was actually a full size bed and we had forgotten to bring Aidan's pack and play from Grandma Finn's house. It didn't matter Friday night b/c Kyle spent the night at a buddy's house doing a fantasy football draft. Aidan just slept in bed with me. Saturday night was a different story. There was no way we were all fitting in that tiny bed, so I went to Target and bought a travel bed for Aidan. It was just a rectangle with a pad to sleep on, and I was kind of nervous to put him on the floor in it. Who knows what kind of creepy crawlies were in that motel. We didn't really have a choice though, so Aidan slept in the travel bed. He didn't mind and I haven't seen any bug bites on him, so it must have been okay.

"Reading" on Saturday morning

I'm a happy baby

What is going on out there??

I wish I could dance like that!

Whoa that flash is bright!!!

Back to DSM

It's back to Des Moines again this afternoon for a wedding tomorrow evening. Aidan is going to stay at the wedding/reception with us, so we'll see how long he lasts. If I can get him to fall asleep at the reception we may get to stay awhile...if not, it could be an early evening.

We've had a busy week. Monday was the beach, Tuesday we met a former co-worker and her daughter, Keifer, at the mall and walked around, and the rest of the week has somehow flown by. Aidan and I have been going to the local YMCA every day so I can work out. (yuck) He stays in the free daycare while I workout. Each day this week when I've picked him up, I hear him as soon as I walk in the door. He HAS NOT stopped talking! Since waking up Monday morning he has constantly been chattering and squawking. It's hilarious. Whether he is laughing or charming the ladies at the YMCA with his "conversations" it's obvious he loves attention and is a social little guy. He has even started talking to his toys:



I am making a resolution that I will take more pictures at this wedding and not wait until after we're back at the hotel to snap a few. We don't have too many of us as a family, so I plan to get some family shots as well as lots of Aidan being cute. :)

A Day At The Beach

Warning: This blog may contain some adult content...my chest. Apparently my swimsuit from last year is a little too small now on the top half and my chest overflows from the suit. So, the video and pics are cute of Aidan, but be warned there is a lot of cleavage. (perhaps I can find a swimsuit top on sale now)

Why did you wake me up???

Molly and Charlotte

Charlotte and Aidan

Mommy and Aidan enjoying Bush Lake

Molly and Charlotte playing in the water

Time to go home. I'm so hungry I'll eat my towel.

2nd Annual Garage Sale

Day #1 of the garage sale was quite eventful. My friend Krista and I opened shop at 8am this morning and had a steady stream of customers until 12:30pm...when the storm of the century hit Burnsville and the rest of the metro area. We watched the sky get darker and darker, and when it started to sprinkle, I quick went out to round up the signs around the neighborhood. Just as I was almost done it started hailing. Luckily no damage was done to any of our vehicles as they were all obviously outside b/c of the garage sale, but we do have an enormous limb down in our backyard. We've got a local handyman coming over tonight to get it all chopped up and taken care of. I think we also lost a few sheets of shingles off the roof that will need to be dealt with tomorrow.
So, needless to say, the first day of the garage sale ended early. We were without power for 2 hours this afternoon, and after driving around it was clear that people would be cleaning up their downed trees for the rest of the day, not out garage sale-ing. So we decided we would just start fresh tomorrow morning. Hopefully no more storms head our way unless it's after we're done tomorrow. :)
Aidan was a champ through all of this chaos. He slept until 9am, was up for an hour enchanting all of the customers, went down for a nap at 10am and slept until 1:00pm. Since the power was out Kyle couldn't play poker this afternoon and got lots of quality time with Aidan. Here is a video of the two of them playing. Aidan was quite the giggly little boy during playtime with Daddy.

A nautral born swimmer

Well, maybe not totally, but Aidan certainly didn't get upset when he was introduced to the pool yesterday. Molly, Kevin, and Charlotte were nice enough to invite us over to try out their new kiddie pool on Saturday afternoon. Aidan didn't know what to think of the pool, but with Charlotte showing him how it's done, he stayed in for quite a while. Charlotte's a stitch and I can't wait until Aidan is old enough to interact with her a little more. She loved touching him and pointing out his body parts, and even held his hand as we walked outside. So CUTE!!

I took way too many pictures to post on my blog, but if you want to see more you can check out my online photo album at http://community.webshots.com/album/564016081wJCmEg

Getting ready to swim

First time in a pool

That's your belly button!

A semi-happy face

Charlotte posing for the camera

Drying off with Daddy

A smile to end the experience

Happy 4th of July

Our 4th of July was mostly celebrated on the 3rd of July. Kyle and I joined some friends at Canterbury Park to watch the horse races, enjoy dollar hot dogs and nachos, and then a fireworks extravaganza followed after it got dark. The fireworks were great, and there were even some new ones that I'd never seen before, but they never played "I'm proud to be an American". How can you have a fireworks show without that song?!?!? My friend Gayle and I were a little disappointed. Instead they ended with a Prince song. Really? Prince? On the 4th of July? Oh well, what can you do?

Mick and Michele watched Aidan while we were at the fireworks, and we are going over there this evening to grill out. I think Aidan is still too young for fireworks, although there were a TON of babies at Canterbury last night. It just seems like it would be too loud for his poor little ears. He's going to have to wait until next year to enjoy his first fireworks show.

Happy 4th of July to everyone, enjoy the holiday and time spent with friends and family!

A Hairy Mess

Hello 3-month postpartum hair loss. My hair is everywhere. Under Aidan's chin, between his toes, in his fingers, all over my clothes and his. I'm shedding more than Roxie. It's ridiculous. Thank god I started with a thick head of hair or it might be noticeable!

We are officially on day 3 of Operation 2 Stay-At-Home Parents. For those of you who didn't know, Kyle is again staying at home full-time to be a professional poker player. The question I almost always get is "...and how do you feel about that?" Well, before we had Aidan I was fine with it, and even told him NOT to go back to work because he makes more money playing poker than at a 9-5 job. Now I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't create more work for me at home (i.e.-waking Aidan up from his naps, disrupting our schedule, etc.) I think we'll both have to make some adjustments so we stay happy. So far it's going okay.

In "Aidan News" he's sleeping through the night. He slept through the night after the wedding last weekend, but I just figured it was because he was overtired. However, every night since then he has fallen asleep b/t 8:30-10:00pm and slept until 5:30am. Not waking up one single time. It may sound wonderful to those of you reading this, but when you're used to waking up at least 2 times during the night, it freaks you out a little bit when you wake up at 4:30 in the morning and realize you haven't heard a peep out of your baby (not to mention the fact that my chest is aching because he hasn't eaten in hours). Aidan may have adjusted to sleeping through the night, but I think it will take me a couple more nights. I'm still getting up to check on him when I wake up. Just to make sure... :)

Happy 3rd anniversary to Kyle and myself! No extra-special plans for tonight, but we are going to walk up to an ice cream shop that opened last summer for an after-dinner treat. I've been wanting to check out this place since it opened last year and finally talked Kyle into going with me. I just had to play the anniversary card. ;)