Well, it's officially summer.  Hot, hot hot.  We've been to the city pool twice in three days (I was working the other day!).  Brianna only seems to want to go to the pool - I joined the Children's Museum of Phoenix so we would have an inddor activity this summer, but when I ask what she wants to do, it's always "let's go to the city pool".  Okay...

 

Finley is getting more and more advanced... older and older.  5 1/2 months already.  I had a patient yesterday with a 10-week old baby who seemed so tiny and, well, babyish.  It's amazing how quickly they change!  I was kind of jealous of her little baby, until she started that shrieking screaming t little babies do. Then I was happy Finley was a bit older.  :)  He slept through the night the last two nights (literally slept through, from 9:30 until I woke him up yesterday before getting ready for work at 5:20, and then this morning until almost 6).  Whew.  He sure is a great baby!

 

He is also rolling back and forth and just a pro at it now.  He won't even need to crawl - he can roll himself across the room in no time flat! :)  The other day he rolled across the room and then got himself wedged somehow under a chair.  Not sure how he did that.  I also gave in and started him on some food... he seemed kind of unhappy after eating (breastfeeding) like he was still hungry, so I thought I would see if supplementing with "real" food would help.  Both of the past two nights sleeping through were after "meals" of veggies and some rice cereal mixed in, so maybe it helped satiate his appetite so he could sleep longer.  So far he's eaten green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash.  Green beans seem to be his favorite.  Strange.  I decided this time around not to start fruit for a while, to hopefully give him more of a taste for veggies.  However, I did tell Josh that I feel bad giving him only veggies - they seem so gross and I want to give him something yummy.  Josh pointed out that he doesn't know the difference... true.

 

I'm going to post some pictures of Finley's eating and some others.  Sorry there are so many, when you have a good camera it's kind of hard to sort through and just find the great ones!  :)

I realize it's been some time since I've updated my blog.  This is due to a multiplicity of reasons, namely having two busy children, planning family activities that take us away from the house quite often, having a Blackberry that I cna't update my blog with (or at least can't figure out how), and Facebook.  Josh says mostly Facebook.  :)  However, FB isn't great for actual updates, and there are some pictures I would prefer to post here rather than there.  So here we are.

 

Finley is almost 5 months old. Crazy.  While I'm sad that we're past the little infant stage, and still not sure that I'm done with babies, in a lot of ways it gets so much easier the older they get, and I think of how nice it will be in a couple of years when both kids are weaned, out of diapers, more self-sufficient, etc.  I get tired of holding a baby all the time - though I love cuddling and holding and spending time with Finley, it's also wearing on you and I feel like my back really could use a break (hence the buying of wraps).  Brie is very helpful but he's too heavy for her and thus we have to hold him all the time.  Thank goodness for the bouncer he loves, and the fact that he loves being on the ground for at least short bursts of time (that's where he is now, practicing rolling over).]

 

Now at 5 months Finley can verbalize a lot (he loves to gurgle and talk), loves to stick his tongue out at us, can sit unassisted, can stand unassisted while holding onto something (i.e. the couch... best if it's something SOFT), can roll over (though it still seems accidental rather than purposeful), and seems to be on more of a routine for eating and sleeping.  He has always slept fairly well, so no complaints there... I think he wishes he could sleep more, since his sister is always waking him up from his daytime naps.  Finn also shows great interest in food and has loved tasting things off of my finger.  I actually tried to mash some banana for him the other day because he was sucking desperately on it while I was holding it, but when I tried to feed it to him that way he just spit it out.  I'm not sure he's really ready for "real" food yet.  I'm going to try to wait until 6 months.  However, my friend Julie made a good suggestion to get one of those mesh things to put frozen food/ice in, so I think I will try that.  He loves to suck and chew on things.  Brie wasn't into that as much.

 

While we were at Josh's parents' house for Mother's Day yesterday I was commenting on how much joy one little baby can bring to peoples' lives.  Everyone is so taken with Finley - Josh's parents, his sister, his grandparents... it really lights up everyone's faces when a baby smiles at them or giggles.  I find this when JOsh brings him to the hospital to visit me at work also - most people really love a happy baby.  Amazing what a great influence he can be on peoples' lives!

 

I will post some pictures from the last few weeks.  I hope to take more soon, hopefully some with me also!  I'm usually the one taking the pictures...