Finley - 4 months

Finley turned 4 months old at the beginning of April and we took her in for her 4 month check up. She is finally getting on the charts for her birth date with her weight and height, although the height is struggling. I guess she will be short like her mama and both her grandmas. She has the shortest little legs! When the nurse weighed her, and then measured her she laughed when she said "she's just short". I don't think it's anything abnormal, maybe she just seemed short to her for her actual age, which is expected. She weighed in at 12 lbs. 13 oz. and was 22 inches long. She was almost the exact height and weight at 4 months as Bryson was at 2 months. She's doing good :) Poor thing had to get 4 shots, and wasn't too happy for the 3rd and 4th. The first 2 didn't even make her flinch. Our pediatrician told us that we could start on some fruits and vegetables anywhere between 4 to 6 months, so we'll be trying that out soon. He mentioned to wait closer to 14 pounds for the rice cereal, so that'll be a little bit longer. I am slowly stopping the nursing, and adding in formula, and we're almost completely on formula now. She is getting chubby and smiling more and more at us.

Last Weekend Recap

This past weekend Mike took Bryson to the airport to watch planes land and fly away while Finley and I had a girls shopping day together. Apparently there is a little area specifically for parking and doing just that. So, Bryson enjoyed watching the planes and said "bye Herb" to just about every one. This stems from another video that he's been watching. After liking the trash truck video with George in it that he liked so much, we looked to see what other videos were available from the maker, and they had a planes video that we thought would be fun for him to watch in preparation for his first plane flight coming up when we go to San Diego in less than 2 weeks now! Anyways, the pilot's name on the video is Herb, and he thinks he flies every plane, and thinks that we will soon be seeing him when we go to fly. It should be interesting when he doesn't get to really see Herb. That, or we'll be paying the pilot to say he is Herb just so there is no crying involved.
This past Saturday evening Mike and Bryson tried camping in the backyard. We love camping, and thought Bryson might be ready for it, but decided to try it out at home in the backyard first, before we try going somewhere to camp. I had been at Target earlier in the day and saw a camping Woody doll (from Toy Story), and it had a sleeping bag for Woody and also a tiny lantern that you could press to light up. I figured it was appropriate to get that toy for him in excitement of his first camping experience. He was really excited, and ended up doing really well. Finley and I joined them outside for a bit to play in the tent, and then we headed back inside for the night while Mike and Bryson had a boys night camping outside.

Mike said he curled up and slept all night. He captured this picture of him first thing in the morning.
In other news about the trash truck video guy, George, Bryson has never eaten plain old cheese like a lot of kids. He'll eat it melted on things, but no cubed cheese for him. That is until we said that George loves cheese, and that he'd be very happy if he tried cheese, and he did, AND he ate a whole piece of string cheese!! So, now when we want him to try something new, we tell him George would be so happy, and that George loves whatever it is, and it works for the most part. I really doubt George realizes that people still watch these videos, and doubt that he realizes there is some little boy out there who admires him so much (that he would eat cheese for the first time after 2 1/2 years) considering these videos seem to have been made in the 80s.

Finley has been a little angel lately. She is so content and sleeping so good (knock on wood)! She usually goes down at about 8:00 and wakes up around 3:30 for a feeding, and then again around 8:00, so I am so happy that we've gotten past multiple feedings each night. I'm hoping we're even getting closer to dropping that one at 3:30 as this morning she passed that and didn't wake up until 5:30. We have been blessed with 2 good sleepers so far after the first few months of infancy.
We hope you all have a good Easter!

But before Van Halen...it was Poison!

Lindsay and I went to a Poison concert two years ago, so I put this song on a CD for her. Not long after, Bryson started asking for "More Bop Bop!" This was taken with our old camera which could only do 30 second clips...which is why you'll see three different videos.

Might as well

Bryson has moved on to a new band. Van Halen!

MS150

One month from today, I'll getting on my bike and riding a 180 miles from Houston to Austin over 2 days to help raise awareness for multiple sclerosis research. This will be my 4th time riding in this magnificent event. I've probably sent a few of you an email asking for a small donation. If I haven't and you would like to donate to the cause, click on the link below:

http://www.ms150.org/edon.cfm?id=210329

Or if you'd like to donate the old fashioned way through the mail, just let me know and I'll give you our address.

Thank you to all that have donated.
Mike

Meet our dogs

So you all know about Finley and her 3 chins.

Bryson and his love of paper cowboy outfits, bowling, and Elmo.

But what about our two other kids? Ahhh yes. The dogs.

Meet Gunner. He's a 8 year old, 100lb. yellow lab. His hobbies include being jealous, keeping the neighbors up with his snoring, licking his arm, his leg, his crotch, the floor, the back door, his arm again, greeting you at the door with an Indiana Jones type whip of a tail, and not knowing how big he is. Mike brought him home in November of 2001 and he's been a really good dog. He is 2nd in command when it comes to dogs around here.








Here's Chloe. She is the queen AND princess. She is a 9 year old, 25lb. dachshund/beagle mix that Lindsay rescued from the animal shelter. Her original name was Jasmine. She didn't like Mike when they first met, but she eventually warmed up to him and Gunner. She enjoys barking at knocking sounds at the front door, chasing squirrels, being totally freaked out by the surround sound, and seeking out the softest part of the area and laying on it. Cotton ball on the ground? She's on it.


Which brings me to why were here. You see, when Gunner stayed at home while Mike went to work way back then, he had free roam of the house. A tipped over trash can was normal. However, a shredded couch and computer mouse/speakers/keyboard one day was the final straw. It was to the crate with him. I had a rough time dealing with the caging of my loyal friend since all dogs I grew up with just had the house to themselves. However, the alternative of a missing toilet or mangled wall made the decision necessary.

When Lindsay and I decided to live together, Chloe was crated as well. For the longest time they went into their crates with no problem when we left the house and even slept in them. Their crates started off in the kitchen and slowly migrated to different parts of the house. Currently they are in our bedroom. One night, Chloe decided she wanted to sleep in Gunner's crate. Not a big deal since she could fit in one 1/4 the size of Gunner's. Well, I guess Gunner wanted to do the same, so he pulled a Harry Houdini and squeezed himself into Chloe's crate. Well, what was once a sight to see has become the norm each night.

Somebody's getting chubby!

Miss Finley has put on some weight. I'm not sure how much as we don't go back to the pediatrician for another few weeks, but she has to be close to 11 or 12 pounds somewhere, if not more. She is doing great! She is working on her third chin. Her hair had been getting lighter, more like Bryson's color, but recently has started getting more and more red again. We just don't know where it is headed. She is cooing a lot, and making all sorts of sweet noises. I like to lay down with her, and we talk back and forth for quite a while. She has also found her hands and she will reach out and touch my face as we have our conversations. It is one of my favorite parts of the day right now. She is sleeping really well, working on getting naps in, and sleeps anywhere from 5-6 1/2 hours straight at night. This is heaven to us now. We had forgotten how rough it was to lose so much sleep the first few months after having a baby. I think it seemed worse to us this time since there wasn't much down time with having a 2-year-old as well.
Bryson has been doing really well with Finley. He is including her frequently in our conversations, and asks where she is if she is sleeping in her bed, and wants to go wake her up. He likes to give her kisses, and seems to enjoy the role of being big brother right now.
He had a good day at school on Tuesday, and their class was learning about cowboys. The teacher said he REALLY enjoyed making his cowboy vest and hat. He was so excited to show me when I picked him up, and wanted to wear it home. Below is a picture of Cowboy Bryson.
This past week on Friday the 29th, Leap Day, I got a call from my friend Danae that she was at the hospital 3 weeks ahead of her due date after her water had broken, and would be having a Leap Day baby. Finley has a group of baby friends that consist of all boys, so we have been so excited, waiting for her first girlfriend, Camryn to get here. We went to visit them at the hospital on Saturday this past weekend, and got a picture of Finley and Camryn together, and it literally looks like Finley could eat Camryn she's gotten so chubby :) Camryn weighed in at 5 pounds 13 ounces, 18 inches long, so she's a pound bigger and an inch longer than when Finley was born, so you can see how much Finley has grown in the past 3 months.
Finley turned 3 months old yesterday. I CANNOT believe how fast these past 3 months have flown past us!! We feel so blessed to see how far she has come, and she is starting to become a very easy going little baby. The first few months were a little rough, but I think it had a lot to do with her being a preemie, and I'm so glad to see everything evening out.