Finnick's 1st Christmas

Finnick is 9 months!

Cutest little Christmas baby there ever was.

he is eating about 2 meals in his highchair. he does a pretty good job at picking up his food. and is getting way better with not gagging on everything. you would never know the kid has 8+ teeth! he is still a horribly light sleeper. but we know now it's because he hears us move around at night. because he slept in my parents bedroom while they were out of town and he did awesome! he still woke up once a night a couple times but went right back to sleep after feeding him a bit. i didn't really have to let him cry it out. when he's in our room he thinks its time to play. we got a white noise machine that i need to set up..hopefully it works. even after being a stinker all night i see his face in the morning and pretty much forget.i've said to him in the morning- "you're not as cute in the dark finnick!"

he's got a face that can pretty much get away with anything! :) just look at it.

grown up Christmas

this year was a different than the usual. most of mine and steven's family went out of town for christmas. since no one would be in town i planned out all the cooking and it was definitely a different kind of christmas. i miss those christmases when i was a kid and you didnt have to worry about cleaning or cooking..just playing with your new toys. but now its my kids turn and there's no running away from being a grown up! :) other than that our christmas weekend was really chill and relaxed. the 23rd-Camille, Chris and Jet came to visit for a while. it's always fun with them! then on christmas eve we went to the track in the morning and then hung out the rest of the day. i cooked baked ziti and fococcia bread. and some coconut cake i found on pinterest that i would never make again. we let the boys open gifts they got each other at the dollar store a few days before. they were really great at keeping the secret of what they had gotten for eachother! (i'm glad i thought of that last minute because they loved picking out gifts for each other even though it was from the dollar tree. steven waited in the car with all of them while i took turns taking them each into the store. it was really fun! ) they also opened their christmas jammies they got from grandma. steven and i dipped a bunch of twizzlers and pretzels in mik and white chocolate for the boys stockings. i got the idea from nicole who had told me her family made those every christmas. next year i think i will just stick to milk because that was the favorite. i'm a red vine fan myself.but no one else is! we also sang some Christmas hymns. finished up our 25 days of Christmas books. I loved that tradition..i tried to find a lot of Christ centered Christmas books at the library. a few of those books were so sweet. bastien looked at me funny when my voice became funny trying to make it through the rest of the book. we also watched the new Christmas video that they showed at the devotional. it was a good Christmas eve. Christmas morning after opening presents and going to church i made christmas breakfast/lunch. after that i was so dang sick of cooking i totally forgot about my plans to make home made pretzels. oh well.my plan for that tradition can start next year.this year was figuring out which traditions we want to start. i might do things a little differently next year. But- It was a really good weekend and it hasn't ended! Steven has all of this week off. it's been full of watching Vampire Diaries until 2 am. steven letting me sleep in until 9:30 a couple mornings (SO nice!) since i wake up for Finnick. and going to the track in the mornings since we ate so much junk over the weekend. Oh- Vampire Diaries! I'm so glad i waited so long to watch it because we have had all these 2 seasons to watch nonstop. we finished the 2nd last night. and have half of the 3rd on hulu to watch. what will we do with our nights when it's over. i cant imagine any show being as good. New Years Eve we have plans with all our family over so it will be fun! i missed them at Christmas!

Finnick and Jet

chocolate covered twizzlers and pretzels for their stockings!

christmas jammies from grandma

santa's coming! i know him!

christmas morn

embry's reactions to opening his batman figurine

opening embry's dolphin house

geomag blocks from gma

after church

my christmas boys

bastien playing with steven's remote heli

hope you had the merriest christmas!

this is what losing your mind feels like

I had all these Christmas things planned this week but we only managed to do Bass Pro Shop. The line for Santa was nuts. but they had a free carousel. This week I have definitely not been myself. Finnick has been..well awful at night these last 5 or so nights. He wakes up too many times at night and cant seem to stay asleep. even though he is acting delirious he will fight it..even though i rock him to sleep, rub his back, hold his binky in. he'll fall asleep, then wake up like 5 minutes later. This is all happening from around 1am-5 am. insane right? Steven took him Thursday night and some of Saturday night. and told me " I know the craziness you feel now" But Friday night was the worst. I took an excedrin at 8 pm and i guess that was too late to have caffeine because i couldn't fall asleep also a mixture of anxiety knowing Finnick was going to wake up any second made it harder. Finnickdid wake up around 2 and finally was able to get him back to sleep at 6am. the good thing is we both slept til 9am. But, 3 hours and none of it being at night..made me feel like a zombie all weekend. I dont know what made him like this except maybe him just being in our room over time, knowing that i will get him out of the crib and not letting him cry himself to sleep. He did have a stuffy nose all weekend. but wasnt what i would call sick. no fevers or anything. my other boys have slept all night through much worse. I think we just have a case of the spoils. My parents are going out of town this week and i am very excited to get this crying it out thing over with. we will use my parents bedroom and not have to worry about my parents having to suffer through a couple nights of crying. hopefully it works when he has to come back into our room! They dont go out of town for a few days so until them i will be day dreaming (since i dont actually get to dream) of the times when i used to be able to sleep at least 6 hours of undisturbed sleep.

Last night we had our 2nd annual Ugly sweater party at The Scotts. Its turning into more of an Ugly Christmas apparel party. I found a red lacy little girls looking (but big:)type dress that was just too hideous to pass up. I wish i had put more time into ugly accessories but i think the dress was ugly enough. I forgot my camera so you'll just have to use your imagination. I stole this picture of Mike and Tasha off facebook since i didnt take any pics. Michael wins the Chester award every year. i think its the slim white pants he wore and last years super short shorts that make him look extra creeptastic! We always have so much fun at these parties and there are lots of laughs! it was a nice way to end a sleep deprived week.

Bastien's Christmas program

Bastien was so super cute tonight! He has some really cute kids in his class, too. I love when i get to go in and help with his class every few weeks. I loved the snowman rap song they did. Some kids got really into the dancing. Kids are the best! My mom and i took the twins and Finnick to see the afternoon assembly and Embry and Jasper were still napping (a late nap!)when it was time for Bastien to leave to his evening program. I didnt want to wake Embry since he had croup last night and went to bed late. So I left them sleeping with my mom and Steven and I went with Finnick. The benefits of living at home! After the program we took Bastien to Chilis and let him get dinner and a dessert.

It was fun to have a little night out with him! Bastien is an awesome kid.

He is my blonde haired beauty! ha! :)

Later that night he found a picture of him and his friend Gunnar from a while ago at the zoo in my stuff and asked if he could have it. He glued it to a piece of paper and said

"Its so I can remember Gunnar"

family fun

nothing new, we have a zoo membership. we went.

we decorated sugar cookies for family home evening and before jasper could even eat or sprinkle up his first cookie..he made himself sick on the frosting. later he said "i never want to eat frosting again, mommy"

last Christmas we took the boys to the Polar Express near the Grand Canyon. we didnt have any plans this year for anything. i saw a groupon for a play at Childsplay called "Lyle the Crocodile" It was at Tempe Arts Center, that place is really pretty! The boys sat through the play and didn't act like they were bored..like Steven and I were (ha! :) ...until maybe the last 15 minutes for Jasper. TAC is right on Tempe Town lake ..and i just love this picture of Jasper's face. even if he does need a haircut badly.

Steven and i have been watching Jimmy Kimmel again regularly thanks to Cable on demand at my parents house. we used to back in 2008 when we had DVR but have never had cable since. He did a "I gave my kids a terrible present" challenge. which is similar to the "I told my kids I ate all their candy" videos. Steven and I decided to do it last minute. and went to walmart and got them each a small-for real-present. because unlike the halloween candy one, where the parents didnt really eat it. for the horrible present you have to end it with actually giving them something legit right? we had them open up burritos! with a bow on them. This morning i got an email from someone at Kimmel to sign a release form and send it to them. I'm still not getting my hopes up but hopefully they make it in the group of videos! watch every night this week with me! :)

thanksgiving weekend

steven and the boys spent Thanksgiving morning building this awesome cave! it was super relaxed this year and different..we didn't eat until 6:30 pm at my sisters house. I had fasted all day for it and was going to yell at someone if we didn't say the prayer already! i could tell most of them had eaten a big meal earlier that day. then we did another dinner with Steven's family that Saturday. it was kind of nice spacing it out. but i like it all crammed together more i think. it just seems like thanksgiving that way. Friday we went to the park and had a picnic. Finnick had fun eating the grass! he wont eat food, but he'll eat grass..hmm.

finnick langford is 8 months.

thats what i call him a lot. finnick langford. it has a nice ring to it? seriously he's 8 months?! and i'm still fat?! ha..jk but not really.

this little boy has been such a joy. we all love him to pieces! he is always ready to smile and make a silly face.

-he was the worst sleeper for a while. waking up all the time. and i had a really stressed out attitude for a couple nights. i know he's waking up because of oursleeping situation. he sleeps right next to our bed in his playpen and now that he's older and more aware that i'm right next to him, it makes him a very light sleeper at night. sometimes i hear steven wiggling around in bed, he's suuuch a wiggle worm! its crazy! and then i'll hear finnick stir and i'm like shut the h up! i turn beastly when awoken from a cozy sleep. but after feeling awful for a couple nights i realized it affected me too much. like i cant really do anything about the situation we are in now. he cant have his own room to sleep in for the next few monthsso i should just be happy. so the next night i told myself. "i am going to be so happy when i hear finnick cry tonight!" it helped! this is way too long of a story. so to make it short. now he wakes up every night anywhere from 2-5am. so i just lay him down by me and he falls back asleep and wakes up a few times..i basically sleep with one eye open (you know how sleeping with babies is, esp a crawling baby) until i have to wake up at 6:45am to get Bastien ready for school. things work out so much better when you change your attitude! 8 hours of undisturbed sleep, who needs it?

-he still doesnt have any interest whatsover in baby food, finger food, etc. he likes chewing on those mum mum rice crackers. but he has a crazy gag reflux and i usually regret putting any kind of food in his mouth to try right now. regret it as in there is barf all over my face or lap. he is gaining and is a little over 20 lbs so i think he's good for now.

-he is full out crawling and pulling himself up everywhere. he looks so proud when he pulls himself up. his favorite place to go is the boys room to play with all of their toys, cause his are boring! he sits by their toy shelf and just stares at the toys. its cute to catch him in the middle of stuff because when you talk to him..he just smiles like he's so pleased with himself.

7 teeth at 7 months

here are some things about my little finny guy at 7 months:

-his hair is getting lighter. its just a little darker than Bastien's.

-speaking of-he has Bastien's eyes, dont you think? Besides that he is just his own little person.

-he LOVes Steven! as soon as he gets home his head is always turned looking at Steven..just waiting for Steven to talk to him. and acted so excited and kicked his legs and smiled when i showed a picture of Steven to him on the computer.

-he has 7 teeth. with a sighting of an 8th.

-every few days, i attempt baby food. all the combos-rice with apples or bananas, just the fruit. peas, sweet potatoes. he reacts the same to all of them. the most i can get in his mouth is maybe 3 bites. he seals his mouth shut. i stopped trying to trick his mouth open cause twice he has gagged himself and barfed a fountain of formula up. i'm not too stressed about it, but i just try to keep the idea of eating food fresh in his mind. i even tried the mesh feeder with apples and bananas in it. its like he laughed at me.

-he is a decent sleeper, when he's not teething. a week or so ago he was up almost every night. and i thought it wasn't teething cause it seemed like that just happened. but sure enough he had another tooth popping out. usually he will go down around 8 at night..and then wake up around 6-or 6:30am. i think he would sleep longer, but he's in our room and thats around the time Steven is up getting ready for work.

-he naps really well. On good days he takes a morning nap from like 10-11:30am, then again around 2 ish-4pm.

-He has been getting places by rolling everywhere.but a few days ago he really started scooting and getting up on all fours. he's like a little inch worm. he gets up on all fours, then scoots his body forward, then does it again. its really cute.

-he is soo lovable and squishy! we all really like him!

Halloweenish

Steven and I dressed up as Sarah and the Goblin King (David Bowie) from the movie Labyrinth. I grew up with my older brothers and sisters watching this weird movie. I was watching the making of on youtube and it was pretty amazing how they made it. They had to use their hands to control all of Hoggle's facial expressions to get it just right. that would be so hard! before the days of all the CGI stuff. The wig isnt really the same..its a Tina Turner wig :) but i wasn't going to spend 30 dollars on the blonde one. And I tried to feel out if Steven would wear those grey leggings but that was a big no. which is probably a good thing. Everything mostly came from Goodwill. But i made the broach out of stuff that I had and Joann coupons to buy a big bag of Jewels just to fish out one that matched. I also painted the vest using a stencil and some gold paint. I made Steven's boots out of pleather material. and just hot glue gunned them around some shoes he didn't like. Oh and we finally had an excuse to buy a fushigi ball! they do not float over your hands like the infomercial says. It was really fun to put these costumes together.

So, Steven bought this Enormous pumpkin that he didn't have time to carve. And i saw all those babies in pumpkin pictures. And since this one was so huge I thought maybe i could pull it off with his little head poking through a hole in the pumpkin, you know, like he'd be the jack-o lantern!? Good idea? i cut all the holes really big, but fiercely underestimated the size of Finnick. and the feel of wet slimy pumpkin made him freak out right away. so it was a big fail. also..please excuse my 6 year old in his underwear out in our front yard. i honestly didn't even notice at the time.... have i crossed over to that white trash side yet?

but froggy was the perfect fit. i came back from trick or treating to see that my mom put him in there. the pumpkin didn't go to waste after all. Halloween was saved!

jasper had already picked out his Muno costume and I was still making Embry's costume when we passed by Journey's kids in the mall and saw these shoes! It was too perfect to pass up. They needed new shoes anyway...sort of. i'm so glad Steven didn't get mad at me.

i wanted to put on a little halloween party before trick or treating. i only planned 2 games but i was very glad that i didn't do much. since most of the games just involved screaming/whining/yelling times 5 or 6 kids.

we decorated the living room with ghostys. and Bastien reminded me that spiders in fact have 8 legs. who knew?

we did some glow in the dark pumpkin bowling.

eating mummy dogs

witches brew. (home made root beer that my sister made- it was amazing!) halloween is not the same without dried ice.

Bastien and Embry were killing me with their poses.

we trick or treated in our friends Michael and Tasha's neighborhood. the kids got lots of candy just going down 3 or 4 streets.

sometimes even (yellow) Batman needs a break.

(call him blue batman and he'll cut you)