Finn's First Bath

We gave Finn his first real bath the other morning before Matt had to leave for work! We used the kitchen sink because it has more countertop space than the bathrooms and the most sunny lighting with all the windows!

Ready to get soapy:

The sink is pretty deep, and he looked hilarious all shlumped over on the big baby sponge, with his grumpy old man face, of course. I love his "grumpy gus" look and think it's absolutely adorable (love the fat belly too!):

He seemed to like it at first, especially the warm water... until I washed his face and he lost it. Like most babies he was not much of a fan from that point on!

Kenna wanted to be involved so badly and was a big help! We may need waterproof walls when he's big enough for them to have tubby time together- I see lots of big splashing and silliness in their future!

(She's pointing to the bottle brush- that's what she wanted to wash him with!)

It's not that bad, right buddy?

All done!

Hmmm... reminds me just a little of this (from Kenna's first bath):

Busy Little Brother

While Kenna is up to her big sister antics, Finn has been settling into our lives and finding his own little routine at the house. Being a newborn is hard work! Finn and I had one full day together, just the two of us at "Hotel Rex," before coming home from the hospital:
At home there are lots of afternoon naps:

Some swinging (just like sister at this age!):

Some 'photo shoots' with Mommy:

Some long, hard thinking after lots of nursing:

And keeping one eye open to watch out for sneaky big sisters:

Not perfect all the time, but pretty close.
It's a good life, this newborn stuff!

Big Sister Antics

Being a big sister is a very busy job. There's lots of things to be done as a "big helper" like getting Mommy a diaper, throwing things away, and picking out baby brother's shirts and jammies. Kenna's favorite part is "hold you baby."

Occasionally though, Mommy and Daddy are a little too distracted and you have to get a little creative to get their full attention. For example, putting on a puppet show instead of taking your nap:
And painting your face with Mommy's make-up... waterproof mascara:

Kenna appropriately pronounces it "mess-cara." Matt had to wash her off with dish soap to get it all, and she reminded me of the dish soap commercials where they wash the oil spills off the little ducks.

Little stinker!

Wordless Wednesday: Newborns and 5s

Turning 30!

Well, there's a pretty awesome Daddy around here who had a pretty crazy birthday week... what a way to celebrate by adding a little boy to our clan (Finn was born the 1st and Matt's birthday is the 7th!):
but it is an extra special birthday for him...

Happy 30th Birthday, Matt!

on March 7th our favorite husband/Daddy/best friend/bread winner/student turned 30 years old- a milestone birthday! Between all the nursing, late nights, and normal exhaustion that comes (for all of us!) with a newborn in the house, it wasn't the extravaganza celebration I would have liked it to be. However, it was sweet and full of family and love, just like our life together, which is the most important thing.

One thing that I did actually finish while still pregnant with Finn was to get an alphabet of photos with attributes about Matt printed on them, which I strung up around the living room for him to find first thing in the morning:

And Kenna helped me make Daddy his favorite homemade cake: yellow cake with chocolate frosting!
The first one fell apart when I tried to turn it out of the pan, so I made a second one which he ended up having to frost himself so that he could eat it... such is the life of a parent-of-two birthday, apparently. It still tasted good!

We also put 3 candles in a doughnut for him for breakfast, with a second doughnut being the "0." Matt now has a little crew of helpers when it comes to eating birthday treats:
Mommy mostly sat and nursed Finn all day- it's what I do these days!
Another decoration I did was to put 11 things on our mantle representing Matt, one for each of the 11 years we've known each other.
-his dissertation and master's diploma representing his academic achievements
-a picture of Kenna & balloon for Finn
-his bible at the center since he tries to keep God's word at the center of his life
-his grandfather's pipe for how he values family and the wisdom he's gained from those older than him
-ski gloves because he loves cold weather (one of the very first things I learned about him)
-a picture of us in Paris, for his love of travel and heart for the nations
-a Superman hat from when he was a little boy
-a yellow mailer, his favorite color and representing the many letters we sent each other while dating and falling in love
-his cowboy boot for his love of the great outdoors (it was supposed to be his hiking boot, but since I put this all together after a 5 a.m. feeding, I couldn't find them!)

and last but not least, his glasses for one very special reason: Matt has a rare genetic eye disorder ans was told in his early 20s that he would be legally blind by the age of thirty. He prepared himself that he might never see his children being born, might lose the ability to read and watch movies, and might not be able to care for himself and his family. According to God's great mercy and perfect plan, he hasn't! Other than these glasses, you'd probably never know Matt lives with this scary possibility. Praise the Lord!

Some other fun birthday things we did:

Matt's parents cooked us a fabulous family steak dinner and took us to lunch at Red, Hot & Blue the next day (Matt's favorite!) :
And we took Kenna to Monkey Joe's for a special big sister treat with my side of the family:

We're so proud of you, Matt! Happy birthday!

The Last Belly Pic...

(This one was 5!)

(This one was 8!)

We didn't have much of a chance to get an official last belly pic in the hospital, like I did with Kenna. Here is the very last one I took, 3 days before delivery...

goodbye belly, hello baby!