Finley, at seven months

Stats: at 6.5 months, Finley was measuring at 19.8 lbs, 27 3/4 inches long (90th % for both)

Nicknames: Finn, Finners, the Finnster, Fin-finnery, Finners winners chicken dinners, Fifi, FB, BeeBee, Beebs, the Beebster, Mrs. Justin Beiber (no more Fats- she's slimming down considerably as she never stops moving)
BeeBee is what G calls her.

Activities- crawling like a flash (she's so fast!); pulling her self up to standing; standing flat footed; cruising EVERYWHERE. She's even started letting go and standing solo without assistance (but only for a moment, before she crashes on her fat booty). She's definitely going to be walking in the next month or two at the latest. Oh, climbing up stairs, that one's not so fun.

Likes- her brother, her brother's toys, her brother's sippy cups, her brother, her brother. She is hell bent on following G around like a puppy dog and doing whatever he's doing. Unfortunately, not a lot of what he does is baby friendly. Even more unfortunately, he shows his displeasure with her interference by yelling "NOOOO BEEBEE" and occasionally backhanding her across the face. He spends alot of the day in time out. She also likes eating finger foods, hanging in the baby bjorn, pattycake, peekaboo, and dance music!



Dislikes: Her crib, sleeping, sleeping in her crib, being near her crib, being put to bed, naps. Also hates being strapped down in anyway, from her high chair to the carseat to the stroller. Hello, mini Graydon. We had some full on wars trying to get him to stay seated in any of these things- looks like Finn is following in his formidable footsteps. Sigh.
She also dislikes it intensely when I try to leave the room. Separation anxiety anyone? That's fun. I have to tote her into the bathroom even or she'll flip her wig.
She and I share one major dislike- teething. She has two teeth that are poised to pop at any moment, and between them and the no sleeping she is unbearably cranky these days. Poor kiddo. POOR PARENTS! :P



Quick G update- he starts speech therapy on Thursday, hooray! Apparently he has an articulation disorder that the county is confident will be rectified with some therapy. Fingers crossed!

hell

JC and I are sitting here listening to Finley scream, and sob, and cry so hard that she chokes and sputters... we are on like day 12 of sleep training and it has gotten worse, not better. I don't know why other people's babies seem to sleep with no problems and it's like defcon 5 with my kids. It's total hell. It is making me sick to my stomach to listen to her. She just won't sleep. We have tried cosleeping, going in to her, rocking her, nursing her and now letting her scream. Nothing works. Nothing. She gets up eight or nine times a night EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. She had one night where she slept from 9 to 5. ONE. ONE NIGHT. In SEVEN months. I am on the verge of losing my sanity, seriously. She was at least napping semi-regularly before our trip to Michigan but now that's out the window too. I have read every freaking book there is and nothing seems to work. She is getting teeth right now but we are medicating her and it's not making a lick of difference. No one has any advice to give. I don't know what to do, if this keeps up I am going to lose it.

i love this picture

detroit rock city

This past weekend we went to Detroit for JC's grandma's 80th birthday party. Although travelling with two small children is nothing that I want to do frequently (or ever again:), it was definitely nice to see all of JC's relatives and have them finally meet the kids. The only damper on the weekend was miss Finley, who absolutely refused to sleep anywhere but her crib (which was in VA) and so we were basically up both nights all night long with our stubborn insomniac. Sigh. Sleep training is starting TONIGHT!!! :)

Here are a bunch of snapshots from the weekend:

G hanging with his great uncle Tom and his two cousins, Justin and Matt. I think it's safe to say that Graydon is totally smitten with Justin and Matty and thinks they are the bee"s knees. He followed them around all weekend and they were so sweet and nice to him- they're great kids.

Grady and his great uncle Al, who was so nice and played with with G all weekend. Oh, and gave him a huge set of lincoln logs which are currently strewn all over the house!

Finley wasn't too sure about Michigan at first. We learned that she's pretty much a homebody- she point blank refused to sleep while we were away. JC and I finally resorted to pushing her around in her stroller at 4 in the morning in a desperate attempt to get her down. We start sleep training TONIGHT! Pray for us!!!

In her new Tigers bib courtesy of Uncle Al:

With Grammy at Great Grandma Jules' 80th birthday party:

G quickly migrated over to his buddies' table:

The guest of honor and great-Papa Alfred and her brother:

Finley meeting her cousin Reese for the first time. Finn and Reese had the exact same due date, even though they eventually emerged two weeks apart. They had a few skirmishes over toys but were soon fast friends.

The family:

Great Grandma Jules:

The only photo where either one of these babies is remotely looking at the camera:

JC's cousin John was quite a hit with the ladies (under two):

Great Aunt Barb and Finley:

Big Daddy

Grammy and Grandpa:

G and the other two year old at the party, Donovan- G was trying to convince Donovan to run up and down a steep hill with him. Donovan wasn't so convinced that this was a good idea. The two of them were hilarious together.