I'm A Big Girl Now

Does anything scream "you're an adult" more than hosting your first holiday dinner? We're having Kyle's side over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and I've got a list a mile long for Kyle to complete this week. Hmm, maybe this working full-time thing isn't such a bad gig after all. If I was home I would have to do it all. :) Just kidding. I've been working diligently this weekend to chip away at the stuff that can be done a few days ahead of time. Aidan's toy room is picked up and organized (for the moment), the windows have all been washed, the table is extended to seat 8, and the grocery shopping is done.

In my spare time I made a meal for my friend Gayle and took it over to their new house in the hopes that I could get some quality cuddle time in with her new little peanut, Grace. Grace was born on November 8th and is the tiniest little baby I have ever seen. Weighing in at just 5lbs 11 oz, she is the perfect size for cuddling in one arm. Of course she slept in my arms the whole time I was there, but that's what new babies do. I'm looking forward to having my own little baby girl that just wants to hang out in my arms.

Speaking of Baby Girl (no, we don't have a name picked out yet), her closet is quickly filling up thanks to Grandma Michele and my friend Carrie who generously loaned us some little girl clothes. (plus maternity clothes, THANK YOU, Carrie!) I don't know what I'm going to do with all MY clothes, but she will fill up her own closet, I'm sure.

Aidan got to feel the baby kick this week while singing bedtime songs. At first I just thought he was being giggly. I then realized that every time he was laughing, the baby was also kicking him in the back. Too funny.

Faster, Longer

The weeks seem to be going faster and my list of things to do just keeps getting longer. I took a little "me" time on Saturday to get my hair cut and shop for some maternity clothes at the Mall of America. The hair cut turned out nice, the shopping trip was a bust. Why is it that when you know exactly what you want, you can never find it? I want a maternity button-down cardigan and a light-weight turtleneck sweater. Apparently these things do not exist in the world of maternity clothes. I went to Old Navy, Gap, Motherhood Maternity, and A Pea in the Pod. No luck at any of those stores.

Of course, since I spent Saturday doing "fun" stuff, that means that not much got done around the house. Today was filled with window washing and starting to cover the windows in plastic. I'm exhausted and it's not even 2 o'clock yet. Thankfully Aidan is down for a nap and Kyle is watching the Vikings beat-up on the Lions. I can at least catch up on my blogging.

Aidan keeps getting funnier and funnier. Lately he has been hiding himself behind things and then popping out to say "hi". Over and over, with a big smile on his face. It makes me laugh every time. He's also figured out how much fun it is to lay down on the floor and roll around.

Kyle starts varsity hockey try-outs on Monday. Hello hockey widowhood. I haven't missed you. Thankfully Kyle is ONLY coaching varsity this year, and not attempting to also help out the PeeWee team. I can at least count on him being home by dinnertime except on game nights.

In my own little world, this is the last week I'm teaching Non-Violent Crisis Intervention. Two more 11 hour days this week and then I can get back to a normal schedule. Thanksgiving break can't get here fast enough. Mama needs some rest.

Big Boy Stuff

Aidan started "school" on Monday. By "school" I mean daycare. He absolutely.loves.it. Kyle and I were very anxious parents Monday afternoon and decided that we both needed to pick him up. (more to ease our curiosity than an actual need to both be there) We needn't have worried. Our little guy was outside playing with the cars and popping toys, having a good 'ole time. In fact, he started crying when we tried to take him home because he wasn't ready to stop playing! That made us both feel MUCH better.
Aidan's teacher told us they're working on using a spoon and drinking from a cup without a sippy. My sister warned me that Aidan would have to use a spoon in daycare because forks can be used as weapons. : ) Other fun things Aidan has done at school this week...watched a puppet show featuring "Mary had a little lamb", played outside in the Little Tike's Cars (going from one to the next for the entire time the class is outside), and eaten an enormous amount of food. He had a third helping of green beans on Tuesday, on top of the fruit and chicken/rice dish that he had already eaten. Maybe he'll finally make it past the 20th %-ile for weight at our next doctor's visit!

Family Visit

Uncle Kyle and Aunt Kali trekked up from Madison on Friday for a visit. We packed some fun action into the weekend. What's a visit to MN if you don't visit the MN Zoo? (especially when you're a member and it's free fun?) On Saturday we went to the University of MN vs. University of Illinois football game in our brand new stadium. Aidan stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Finn so the adults could actually enjoy the game, and enjoy it we did. It was such a beautiful day. Sitting in the sun, eating a hot dog, sipping on a fountain soda, and watching college football eleven rows up from the end zone...ahhh, it was great.

This leopard paced back and forth right in front of Aidan, but he didn't care in the slightest.
Aidan was too busy watching the other kids.

Aidan's personal chauffeur. aka: Uncle Kyle

Aunt Kali and Aidan watching the sting rays

Outside the stadium. Do you think we're related?

New stadium

It's a Girl!

Contrary to my motherly intuition and Kyle's predictions, we are having a baby girl! We had the 20 week ultrasound this morning and everything looks great. My due date is still March 24th, and it's looks like the Finn family will finally get a little pink bundle of joy. You would not believe how excited I am. Here's a picture a our little girl. She was moving non-stop, so we couldn't get a good picture of her. She's all smashed up against my insides with her hands tucked under her chin.

What Do Giraffes Say?

If you have a happy giraffe they might say trick-or-treat. But, if their mommy tells them they're going to see grandpa and grandma, and then tries to take pictures, they say boo-hoo.

Much happier after making it up to Grandpa and Grandma Finn's house

Obviously Aidan dressed as a giraffe this year. We worked on "trick-or-treat" but Aidan only said bye-bye after he got his candy. He sure knew how to take the candy and put it in his bag though. We went out for about an hour and made it to five houses in the neighborhood. Whew, what a slow process that was. I even carried him back down the street just to save some time.
After we got home I handed out candy to 30 little princesses and action heroes while Aidan sat in his highchair and ate his spoils. The people in our neighborhood were great! Instead of candy bars, they gave out mini-bags of teddy grahams, goldfish, and oreos. All things that Aidan can actually eat. He was entertained for close to 45 minutes just eating his "candy". Then I ran out of candy so I turned the light off, gave Aidan a bath, and enjoyed last week's Brothers and Sisters. Ah, what a nice Halloween.

Pumpkin Poser

Aidan has become such a poser for the camera. You'd think we take his picture all the time, which just isn't true. But, the minute he sees that camera come out, boom, cute pose and then he runs over to see himself on the display after the picture is snapped. It's really quite funny to witness. Here are our "posed" pictures from Grandpa Finn's 62nd birthday dinner on Friday night. Grandma was kind enough to chase Aidan around the house while the rest of us carved our pumpkins.

Posing with his trusty broom

Helping Grandpa blow out the candles

Aidan's pumpkin, before

Aidan's pumpkin, after

Note that mommy carved this pumpkin,
and then her own, which = sore hands!

Mine, Aidan's, Kyle's, Grandpa's

Yes, Kyle decided to carve a pumpkin sporting the Geico logo.

Did You Hear That?

Babycenter.com tells me that Baby #2 is starting to hear what's going in the outside world. I already figured that out because it kicks and rolls around whenever it hears Aidan laughing hysterically. I'm hoping that's a good sign and the baby LIKES hearing Aidan be his loud self. Baby #2 also gets wiggly during Aidan's bedtime when we're reading stories and signing lullabies. Could be that Aidan's sitting on the baby and squishing it, but I like to think it's responding to the stories and songs.

Another new development in baby land is the need for maternity clothes. I suppose it's that time. Next week I'll be halfway done with this pregnancy. I guess I should count myself lucky that I made it 19 weeks in regular pants. No more though. Even the Bella Band is getting uncomfortable. Time for over-the-belly maternity pants.

Ready or Not

Ready or not, here he comes. Aidan will be starting daycare part-time in November when Kyle starts hockey. I initially fought tooth and nail against this switch. Why pay for Aidan to nap? Do they even do fun learning activities in the afternoon? I know Aidan will love playing with other kids, but I have a mental block against daycare. Kyle made me realize that we don't have a whole lot of options, and it's only 15 hours a week from mid-November through the end of February, minus 2 weeks off at Christmas and any other days off that I have from school.

Kyle and Aidan visited our local KinderCare on Thursday afternoon during nap time to see how it works. This is the same center I visited last spring with Aidan when we were looking into daycare. The center was well-kept, clean, and bright. I was concerned Aidan wouldn't sleep and they would try to make him nap for 3 hours on a mat. For those of you that know him, he is not a quiet or inactive child. Kyle said when they were there a little boy wasn't napping and they had an adult quietly reading a story with him. That made me feel better. They also do not nap for 3 hours. More like an hour and a half to two hours. When they wake up, the kids that are only part-time get to do the crafts and stuff that the other kids did in the morning, and the morning kids get free choice time.

Okay, I'm starting to feel a little better about this. Aidan will be going 3 afternoons a week from 11am-4pm. The bonus is that Aidan's teacher is the mom of a goalie that Kyle has coached for several years. It must be fate. She knows Kyle, we'll see her at hockey games, she can't abuse my child, right? And, since we know someone that works there, we get 3 weeks free of daycare. Double bonus. (I asked Kyle if we could use those 3 weeks after the new baby arrives so I can transition from being a mommy of 1 to a mommy of 2) The downside is that Aidan is going to have a snotty nose all winter from the new germs he will be coming into contact with. Yuck.

Family Pics

We attended my cousin Kara's wedding this past weekend back in IL. It's rare that we're all together and looking nice, so we took advantage and snapped lots of great photos.

The Finn family

Kyle/Kali, Papa/Nana, Kyle/Aidan/Courtney

Aidan with Great-Grandma Mosher (she's 93!!!)

Great-Grandma, Nana, and Aidan (who was done taking pictures at this point)