Phin's first beach.

I did UPS the box ahead but I have been here for 3.5 days before I actually GOT the box. SO, we bought a couple disposable (film) cameras and used them for the first couple days. This is Phin's first beach experience. He liked the water and the sun and I liked his hat!

Lost pictures from May

These pictures got left behind in the camera.
This is a picture that daddy took. He let Phin fall asleep on the floor and he snapped a picture.



This other picture was of Phin standing against his Daddy. This is one of the first times Phin was standing! (note how he looks a little scared).

Happy Father's Day!

Phin likes BIG stuff!

THIS is my little boy. When he has an option of something small (that is appropriate to his size) or something large (that is too heavy for him) - he always goes for the large thing. Once he has the large thing over his head and he drops it onto his face, he cries and then darts right back for that big heavy thing. Probably all little boys do this, I don't know. I do know that this is Phin's way.

Phin is standing

with support from things around him.
I found him standing in his crib. I did not place him there...
THIS is what I found when I went to wake him from his nap.

Bushwacker Days

Grandma Susie rode in a float on the Bushwacker Days Parade.
She rode with the Rinehart Christian Church "He's still working on me" children's float.

Phin and I watched from the sidelines.
And, as it turns out, Grandma Susie's float WON in their division!
Go Go Children!

Phin's first parade:

farm work.

While G helped Grandma Susie make the meal, Phin worked on his crawling...

cousins

My memories of playing with my cousins - as a child was less than endearing.
The good news is that I am certain that Phin will have the opposite kind of relationship with HIS cousin Given.
Already, they are good friends. I think they will have even more fun together as they both get older. Go cousin GO!

It took my breath away...

I took this picture and then forgot about it until I put the card on the card reader. Um, when I opened the file, it kinda took my breath away... so I wanted to share it with you...

Martha had a little lamb...

who follows me around - everywhere I go. He wants to keep me in his line of vision. More though, he wants me to be touching him. He will almost crawl over - just to touch me. Mostly, he wants to stand up with my steadying him.
Phin is at the beginning of his toothy grin with just the top of his first too peeking out of his bottom gum. He is getting bigger and taller in every single way. Phin even is finding his own way to entertainment. The childcare provider at church told us how Phin seems to love books. He happened to be the only "baby" in the "baby room" and she watched as he pulled out each book and looked at it. She said she felt like she didn't really so much because he was entertaining himself and was quite content the whole time.
He has a game he likes to play with his daddy. Dan will pile up 7 or 8 wooden blocks and Phin will cruise over and KNOCK THEM DOWN and then crawl away. Dan will set them up again, in a different arrangement and Phin will immediately cruise back over to do another demo. The boys have quite a bit of fun with that game.
The parents as teacher educator was interested as I told her about Phin's social skills. You see, throughout our whole marriage, Dan and I have made a habit of talking in the car. I was telling the educator that when Phin and I are driving around town from place to place, Phin will chat me up. Sure, he's babbling and it doesn't make sense. However, he's talking in an appropriate environment social situation for our family. He will also break in to our conversations with loud babble while we are talking in the living room. It's really quite cute.

Ten months old. I have to say I am not so much happy about it. Every single day I cradle this baby in my arms. I shower him with kisses each time I strap him into his car seat. We sing "This old man" any time he's upset and I hear him cry when he wakes up, when he gets a booboo and when he's hungry. Every other day since we brought him home from the hospital, I have been washing his diapers. Even with all of these things it's really gone way too fast.

Just this afternoon Dan was cuddling Phin up for a nap. Phin's long body fit into the curves of Dan while his little head was tucked down and his eyes were closed. I picked up his big ten month old baby foot and admired it's growth. I looked at his fingernails that need to be cut, yet again. While staring at his big boy eyelashes (like his daddy's) I wondered how it is possible that I lived for so long without this boy. I mean really, I don't know how it's possible. Yes, I jump up in the middle of the night to calm his screams caused by teeth pain. Yes, I chase the dog out of Phin's toys and often take Maggie's toys out of Phin's mouth. Even as a germaphobe, I deal with poop and spit - things I refuse to deal with from my pets. I am always fighting this kid to keep his hands off of my remotes and power supply to the computer. But still, my life has never been so happy and full of meaning. I am very clear about what I am doing right now. It's called "mothering" and I am loving every moment of it.

Happy ten months old Phin! The first ten months have been amazing and I can hardly wait to see where the future takes us. Your father and I are so happy to know you and we can't wait to learn more about you as you grow!

Pre radio-flyer

Phin got a Radio Flyer wagon from his uncle Ron. Since he's still a bit top heavy, we have not put it together yet, but we are doing some pre-radio flyer sitting, in a plastic crate. Phin wasn't so sure about how he felt about the plastic crate...

Movie time!

Phin has an educational video set that teaches him his numbers, letters, sounds and animals who live in the rain forest, africa and the san diego zoo. I like to keep the little boy contained while he's watching said DVD series. (I prefer the rain forest to africa and the zoo) Usually, he's watching the DVD when I'm in the shower or getting ready to go here or there or maybe cooking in the kitchen.
When I went to get him today, he was hanging out, lounging in his chair. I found it to be adorable. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

One minute with Phin

Playin' with Maggie...

Phin and Mama

Phin's gym gurl friend.

We found out that Lucy and her mom were coming to Beth's going away party. Phin and Lucy were excited to get to have a lunch "out" together. Phin was having some teething pain but they were still happy to "hang" together.

Swinging Phin

Phin is curious.

he certainly does check out his surroundings.

There's always fun at Grandma's house.

This last weekend, Phin and I went to Grandma's house while daddy hung out at the air show. While we weren't on the farm long, we got a lot accomplished. Phin motored around on Grandma's carpeting.
We looked at Grandma's garden and saw the starts of food we will hopefully get to eat later in the summer.
We played with magnetic balls and cones (as shown below).
We swang on the swing set and even went out to see the killdeer (birds) and their little nest of four eggs.
It was great to see grandma!

Broccoli in May

As I stated before, when we mix the broccoli with something else, Phin is a phan. :)
We are still working on the "clean eating" though.

Maggie

Maggie loves her ball
she loves to fetch
and
she loves to lick Phin when he's "at her level."

Broccoli

At the end of April, we tried broccoli. I made the mistake of giving him the broccoli alone. He was not a huge fan. For future feedings, we learned that he's much more receptive when we add squash or chicken or SOMETHING. Now, he's a broccoli eatin' crazy man!
Anyway, this was his first broccoli (note the food in his eyebrows even!)

boy time

So, it's been a hard time

for little Phin.
He's been teething. It's not normal teething either. His upper molars are coming in. Because of where the teeth are located, it's hard for the little boy to get a teething ring in his mouth.
SO, while I am generally against giving him a lot of grains, I broke down today and got him some teething biscuits. One set of biscuits is make with rice. The other set is made with wheat.
The rice biscuits fall apart as soon as his spit hits them. The wheat biscuits are much harder and they seemed for effective for his teething.
As you can see, he was pretty happy with the wheat biscuits.


In a side note, notice the monkey by him. You can see he's definitively out GROWN it by now. We'll have to do a monkey picture soon! :)

Slacker Much?

So I guess I have been absent for a little more than a week. I can assure you that Phin is doing well. We have just been a little "extra" busy.
Since we last checked in, Phin had his 8 month doctor's checkup. They said he's doing great - and he's on target and then some! His height is still in the 25% (which even the doctor couldn't believe because he looks SO big). His weight is in the 75%, and head size is 90th%. Hopefully that means he's got a lot of brains up there!

For Mother's Day, I was at the gym all day doing a training so I can become qualified to start teaching a weight lifting class. After the weekend was over, I had a very nice meal prepared for me and I also got a beautiful blown glass necklace.


This last week, we also went to the parents-as-teachers building to take a class in infant massage. Phin was a little less than impressed. I mean, there were things there that impressed him, but it was mostly his bff next to him and her socks, or the little girl on the other side with the big blue eyes... Even at this age, our Phin is trying to be a 'ladies man'.

Okay, my baby is on the move so I've got to cut this short!
We'll try to be back sooner than another week!!!

What a lovely day!

mohawk-less

I am not so much a fan.
the mowhawk is coming back people!

Kickin' the bell

As you probably know, Maggie is "bell trained." This means that she rings a bell when she needs to go outside to potty - of if she just wants to go outside to play on a nice day. The bell is attached to the bottom of the bakers rack and about a week ago Phin found said bell. He loves it. He loves to ring it and it really confuses Maggie.
The cat tried this as well in the past, but cat doesn't get a hall pass outside!
In this particular photo, phin is KICKING the bell.

I love my boy!