happy birthday finn

Because you know, finally posting in August about your sons April birthday is what the cool people do.  Or the forgetful ones...

Finn turned 3 on April 19th, not to be confused with tax day, April 15th which is the date I gave the dr.'s receptionist when I tried to make an appointment for him last week (where IS my brain these days?) and we threw him a Hungry Caterpillar party!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was actually one of Liam's favorite books for a long time, so it was read over and over and over and Finn grew to love it as well.  And as cutsie caterpillars are more appropriate for 3 year olds than 7 year olds, I decided to run with this theme now. 

Since Pinterest is FULL of ideas for this type of party, I didn't have to look far for inspiration and thanks to my friend Leslie, I didn't have to spend a ton on decor either.  She had already thrown her little girl a hungry caterpillar party and graciously loaned me some supplies ('pillars are popular.)

All great parties need cake, so I broke out the food coloring (the only time I use it is for birthdays) and I made a green ombre cake with my new mini Wilton pans.

Here is the finished, iced cake and the birthday boy.

Again, a huge thank you to Leslie for the awesome food labels and the paper lanterns.

I like to drive parents nuts and do a craft at my parties.  But I refrained from paint ('cause that drives ME nuts) and stuck to glue this year.  I decided to have the kids put together their very own hungry caterpillars.  I made an example for them all to follow, cut out the pieces, stashed them in individual baggies beforehand and then all they had to do was assemble.  I wish I had remembered to get a shot of the finished caterpillars, because no two were alike, they all had their own special twist.  

Next up was presents!

And here's Finn's blue steel impression...

And finally cake, which Finn had been asking for since he woke up at 6am.

(Thank you to my dad who saved the day with his candles shot.  I am clearly having trouble functioning lately and my shot was, well, dark.) 

(mine)

(Dad's)

(mine) 

If you asked Finn "what's today?" he would reply, "my happy birthday!" 

A huge thank you to those who came and made his happy birthday extra special!

finnegan patrick turns two

When we moved in to the house and all the books were unpacked, the kids were excited to see a stack of 4 baby albums.  They are the kind of memory books where you can put pictures of special moments and there are lots and lots of lines for writing down all those first words and making note of foods liked and disliked, etc.  But as the kids sat and flipped through their books together they noticed one thing.  Katie's is full of information, Evie's is decent, Liam's is ok and Finn's is practically empty.  My best intentions to religiously fill those suckers out crashed and burned.

I see other mom's who have perfect books and detail every-single-thing their kid does in blogs and I wonder how they do it.  It's not that I don't care or want to record these things, I just plain forget to write it down amongst the business of everyday life.

Since I am so lacking in the Finn memory department, I felt a blog was in order.  So for the last few weeks I've paid close attention to the words he can say, things he can do, foods he will or will not eat and today (on his 2nd birthday) I weighed and measured him for the record.  I know a short post can't begin to describe everything about him, but here is a little about Finn!

Finnegan Patrick

Age 2

25 lbs.

34 1/4" tall

Finn is our tiny guy!  Believe it or not, he can still fit into a pair of 6-12 month shorts I found in his drawer!  Though his current wardrobe is mostly sized 18 months.

Finn can count to 5 in order, then we usually skip to 11, 15, 8...

He can say over 60 words!  I have no idea if this is more or less than he should be saying at this age, but only Katie talked as much as Finn does at this time.

Some of his favorite "sentences" are:

Mommy, watch!

Daddy, look!

I love you!

OH! I'm coming!

Let go!  Mine!

He loves animals and will most often tell you what the animal is and make its sound as we drive by it or see it in a book.  His favorite stuffed animal is a monkey.  

Finn will try any kind of food.  He is always asking for bites of what Jason and I have on our plates, even when we show him he has the same thing on his plate.  His new favorite is "creamy" (ice cream) and if you get anything out of the freezer he WILL hear you and will run, screaming "creamy! creamy!" from where ever he is at.

Finn is obsessed with: Hair

He loves to watch me do my hair and is always pretending to straighten his already straight hair with Evie's toy plastic flat iron.  He carries it around with him and will attempt to "straighten" my, Katie, Evie's and even Jason's hair.  He will try to straighten the cabbage patch dolls hair.  The barbie's hair.  He loves hair.  (He also loves to hold my face in his hands and softly say, "pretty.")  

Finn is a crazy bundle of energy, always running and jumping.  He loves to explore and play and drive his trucks around.  He is a happy, loving little guy who MUST give kisses and "huggies" before anyone leaves the house and at bedtime.  

And we are blessed to have him!

5 months old

Finn is 5 months old!  I got some shots of him and the other kids as I was in picture mode.  Now... to just get all 4 of them to take some together!

3 months old

I cannot believe that Finn is already 3 months old!  He's still not sleeping through the night, but we think that's because he's a little guy.  He's the smallest of all our kids at the same age, so as soon as we get him to pack on some pounds, then maybe we can fill him up to sleep!  But other than the sleep thing, he's a good baby who loves to smile (and frown!) and is starting to "talk" all the time.

time flies...

Our serious little man is two months old!

finn's official announcement

This is what I am sending out to the few who don't really have internet and can't see my blog (or aren't on Facebook.) This is also what went in the baby book!

introducing...

Finnegan Patrick Earley!

April 19, 2011

6lbs. 10oz.

19"

(All photos courtesy of BusyB Photography)

12 Days Old!

maternity pictures

I'm only 35 weeks pregnant, but I've been on bed rest the last couple of weeks (long story, I won't explain it all now) and I've been told to come with packed bags to all of my future midwife appointments - so Jason and I thought it would be wise to get some maternity pictures done now, rather than wait since baby could come earlier than expected.

I pulled up a few web sites that had poses I liked and we did our best to mimic them.  My only original ideas were to take some pictures on our bed and they sort of turned out.  It's hard to get 3 kids to look natural and relaxed when you're taking pictures with a timer.  It was a lot of setting things up and moving furniture around and I'm sooo looking forward to having someone else take newborn pictures!  My good friend Brandie takes fabulous pics and we've already "reserved" her services once baby arrives!  You can check out her site here- Busy B Photography

Here are some of the best shots of the day....

I like how these family shots came out, except for the angle of my body... 'cause it looks like my belly is huge and hangs over my legs kinda funny....

We wanted Liam to do this, but he refused, so Evie happily took his place!

Liam did however want to compare belly buttons!

I need to re-edit this one eventually. I wanted to erase a few of the stretch marks that were unsightly and it came out looking a little too smooth!

My favorite!