It's Been a While

We're not holding Finn hostage, I swear. We've just been so busy that I forgot about the blog for a while. Also, I've been writing more on The OakFin. If you haven't visited my new site, please do! I write about Finneas on there as well. 

Finneas is 9 months old. 9 MONTHS OLD ALREADY! He's crawling, cruising furniture, clucking his tongue, understands "Momma, Dada, Kitty, No, Come to Momma, Bye Bye and Kisses." He babbles Mama and Dada but only once in a while uses them in a way that makes us think he actually is talking about us rather than simply enjoying the way those sounds feel as they come out of his mouth. His Baby Led Weaning diet has expanded to include so many foods from fresh figs to soba noodles, tofu, balsamic roasted veggies, aged mature cheddar and many more. He loves lima beans, lentils and black beans. He adores broccoli and melons, asparagus, brussels sprouts…okay, he loves everything we put in front of him. He has a healthier diet than most adults I know!

 I plan to write more about BLW on The OakFin because there isn't much about it online or in books. However, it has not only been a truly rewarding way to feed Finn, it has also helped tremendously with some digestive issues Finn was having when we were pushing purees as our Doc suggested. He's also been sleeping better since we transitioned him to feeding himself 100% of the time. We've all been sleeping better! There are people who think I'm nuts, because this sort of feeding allows Finn to wean from the breast when he wants and for some reason, people have issues seeing a toddler breastfeeding. If you thinks it's weird, I suggest reading some scientific and medical articles about the benefits of long-term breastfeeding, and you'll see, it's not bad at all. It's fantastic! Granted, I totally understand why many people do not want to let their babies choose when to wean. Everyone has to choose what's best for them, and BLW is what's best for us. So if you are interested, keep an eye out, I will have more info soon!

 Here are some pics of the past few weeks. You can see that we've been camping and having lots of fun!

Alki

Denny Creek 

Excitement!

1st time in a pool

Peaches, hummus and whole wheat pita bread

Alki

Camping

Goats, Brocoli, Baseball and More!

Here's another long one, for those Finneas fans out there!

Happy 6 Months Finny!

Finn is now 6 ½ months old! Unbelievable! Here is a long, long, but awesome video with pics at the end. Here's a little Finny profile as well...

28"

19.5 lbs

Basically, he is as tall as most one year olds and just slightly skinnier.

Likes: Papaya, Mango, Stoney the Great Old Cat, the sound of rain, his own reflection, milk, milk, milk, Ma and Pa of course, looking at the ocean from park benches, cuddling, laughing, screaming, walking on our feet, Quinoa, pretending to crawl, peek-a-boo, sputtering raspberries, reading time and splashing in the tub!

Dislikes: Dad's sneeze, the blender, brocoli. That's it. Really.

He has two teeth and is working on the third and fourth. He is near crawling, and accidentally says mama and dada often. Accidentally. We'll let you know when it's for real! He hates being in the stroller unless I'm running, so we alternate running and then walking with the front pack! I'm getting back in shape, to say the least! He can reciprocate a kiss, with lots of drool of course and as you can tell he's sweet, sweet, sweet!

Beautiful Baby

The pictures above are of the babies in my PEPS group. In baby time, they are relatively old. As these are from almost two months ago! You can spot Finneas easily; he is the giant of the group; he is also the eldest, so he doesn't feel too bad about it. Also, below are a few pictures taken by a friend, a husband of one of my momma/PEPS friends, Jeff Lynch. I love that he was able to capture a few expressions that I see everyday but have always had a hard time capturing with my own camera, and when I have they never turn out as good as this! Jeff is an engineer by day and photographer by night. He has recently incorporated babies into his photographic repertoire since he and his lovely wife  welcomed their own little sweet pea into their life. You can check out his work at www.jefflynchphotography.com .  

 

Aren't these adorable!

Finn is a little over 5 months now. He's sitting, rolling in all directions, babbling, laughing, hollering, testing his different volumes and playing, playing, playing. He is so much fun!

Also, I am writing a little less on this blog, I have started, yet another blog at theoakfin.com , which seems like a food blog right now, but is really about the things I do and make. I just happen to make a lot of things out of food these days - mostly with Finneas attached to my back. There are recipes, lots of photos, and writing. I will still be posting to this blog, but I would love for you to subscribe to the Oakfin as well. Much love!

Flower Child

The flowers made Finneas so excited, wild and waving hands kind of excited, that he grabbed the most alluring - the biggest, most open tulip, ripped the flower from the stem and proceeded to carry it around with him, like a little prince, until he tried to eat it. A very wondrous and curious moment ending with a petal covered floor, a pollen dusted baby nose, and these photos.

Family Days

We are now skilled in baby mustachery. Enjoy.

Finn's Movie Debut

I put this video together as a montage of some (of the many) new sounds Finneas shares with us.  It is long but totally worth it if you're a fan.

Slobber, Chub and Chuckles

So you can all quit hassling me - here is an update.


 Life with a three month old baby is busy. Lately, we've been trying to convince Uncle Bob and Auntie Jimena to move to Seattle from Florida. It was so much fun to have them in town and we hope they visit again soon! Also, I am now working two days a week, joining mommy groups, trying to go to the gym, and taking walks whenever the sunshine makes a debut. Finneas has been chatting, no hollering, at me non-stop for the past couple of days. He found his voice several weeks ago and each day he discovers a new sound. It's amazing to watch him contort his little mouth only to stumble upon the wide range of vocal instruments one little tot can have. His baby Poindexter laugh sends me rolling, at which time he begins to laugh at my laugh. I love that we find each other hilarious. When pregnant, I worried that I wouldn't be an amusing enough mother. My baby entertainment skills were limited to zerberts and raspberries; I had the smallest box of overly used tricks ever. But now I see that adoration and entertainment are mutually exclusive for a baby, and you learn as you go. Everything is a toy. The laundry is like the ball pit at Chuck E Cheese's, (but without the needles and dirty diapers) and my hand is a rubix cube. I can read philosophy on the high end of treble, and my boy thinks I'm singing him a song. Finn is also amused by smelling my baking extracts, and implies from time to time, that I'm his favorite dance partner.

New in development:  Finn's recent fascination with his thumb. He sucks it, bites it and shoves it as far back in his mouth as his big hand will allow. I can just picture him being in kindergarten saying to the kid one desk over, "I bet you can't stick your whole fist in your mouth, like this..." He's also gazing, mostly at me, for long periods of time. When he's done playing he just peers at me from behind his squeaking toys; it's a loving stare that doesn't beg, but lures me into scooping him up and snuggling him. Not that he has to try very hard for that to happen! Everyday Finneas shapes me into a more loving and kind person, and for that I will always thank him.

Now, if I take you past the beautiful old growth, to the clear cut, I can tell you that Finneas WAS sleeping great - one 4-5 hour stretch followed by two hour increments afterward. But now we are back to waking every 45 min - 2 hours to nurse, and nursing for an hour or more at times!!! This has been happening off and on since going back to work. Poor baby misses his mum. Adam says things like, "yea, but he goes back to sleep afterward, right?" like it's not that hard to have your sleep constantly interrupted. But it is. By the way, Adam is a fantastic dad, and even though Finny misses his mom, I can tell he loves his Papa time! Dad just has no idea what it's like to sleep like a mom.

Also, something I'm eating, or as it turns out, a bunch of things in my vegetarian diet give Finneas gas -  painful, tender tummy kind of gas. Watching him be uncomfortable makes us both miserable. I'm trying to eliminate foods that produce unwanted gas, fussiness, and other symptoms but have been left with so little of options I'm down to a rather unhealthy diet.  I may even eat meat. Okay, okay, I'll admit it... I already ate it: prosciutto, culatello, serrano, salame...!!!! Did I enjoy it? Of course. I was never vegetarian because I didn't like the taste of salty cured pork products; I did it because I love pigs, cows, goats like people love their pet cats and dogs. I can't believe I made it through 40 weeks of pregnancy, where my work environment smelled like breakfast bacon all day long to break now. That's what I get for being a slightly malnourished, breastfeeding mom, working at a specialty food store. Delaurenti - you finally broke me down! I am, though, only consuming 'tastes' that are 'on the house' for 'educational purposes.' I'm not ready to actually buy meat and cook it at home. How would I even go about that?

Truly, I will wake up for Finneas as much as he needs and eat whatever I have to so that he's comfortable. And I will try not to complain about any of the hard spots much, because one - he is my baby, and my baby can do no wrong, and two - he's kind of perfect. Also, I would rather be the one that takes night duty instead of Adam - he's working full time and is a busy dad as I am a busy mom. He would bottle feed Finneas if I asked him to, but as silly as it seems, I'm not ready to give up night duty with my baby, even with it's inconvenient timing. Babies aren't convenient.

Stats: For those that are curious, Finneas has fully recoverd from being ill over New Year's. He's a healthy 15.5 pounds in the 95th percentile (for height and weight) and is 'on track' developmentally in every way. The photograph above is of Finn when he wasn't feeling well. The one below is of Finn is the famous Lobster Larvae costume from Bob and Jimena! I hope all my friends and family are doing well! AND don't forget to leave comments, otherwise it feels like lonesome self-conversing. Much love - The Kestlers