Uncle Jay's visit to Seattle

We had a great time when Jinnah's brother Jay visited from Indiana last Saturday. His son Mike, who's stationed at Ft. Lewis came up too. Finn and Mike are best buds, so Finn was really happy to see his cousin again. Finn really took to uncle Jay too. They had that Pinto connection. We went to the new Mioposto for an early lunch and had dinner at our place later in the day. It was a good time. Jay has a sweet Ipod loaded with all sorts of Pixar shorts and complete seasons of Monk, that Finn enjoyed. So far the only shows he gets to watch are Little Einsteins, Charlie and Lola, Clifford, Jakers and Sesame Street. Now Jinnah and I have the Ipod bug and it's the new thing we got to have. And by "we" I mean me.

Rip Van Winkle?

It's been a long time since I've last posted. I guess life has been keeping me busy or my busy life has me kept. Whatever, it's been a long time. We have much new to tell.

For those of you who don't already know. I've started a new job working for a solo practitioner. We have a great office near Pike Place Market with a wonderful view of Puget Sound and the aging Alaskan Way viaduct. It's a huge improvement from my last job. Without a doubt. The market is such a great place to explore and there are so many good mom and pop type shops that I enjoy being a regular at. Drop me a line if you want any good lunch suggestions.

Also, Finn has started sleeping in a toddler bed this week. He was very excited from the moment Jinnah and I brought the bed home. He exclaimed, "Yea, yea, yea!" Oh yeah, he's talking up a storm these days. His vocabulary is impressive, but the best part is that we can understand each other when we communicate. He asks for things he wants by name and even says "please." Anyway, about the bed, he helped me set it up and put it together with his little plastic baby tools, while I used the real things. He turned imaginary screws and tightened imaginary nuts and bolts with great determination and pride. When the frame was together he got his blanket off his crib and laid it out on the wooden frame. As soon as the matress was in place he hopped on and streatched out with a hug satisfied smile on his face. It's almost as if it unlocked some psychological door to "the next level" and he walked right through it.

Back Home

We got back from Hawaii last week and were welcomed home to Seattle and its winter weather. It was so cold when we got off the plane. Not really, but it definitly wasn't appropriate to wear shorts anymore. So we threw on our fleece and picked up our incredibly heavy luggage and went home. Finn finally got to bed at about 1am. The trip to Hawaii was a great sucess. Finn got to meet and bond with his grandmother, aunt and three of his cousins. he really enjoyed the visit to Oahu and when we got to Maui he was really missing them. But we had lots of fun in Maui too. The beaches there were great and the sites were fun. I haven't been that relaxed in a long time. Vacationing with Finn made the vacation more relaxed in that we weren't able to do too much. We did one special thing each day in addition to goin got the beach, which in it's self was a treat. I will miss Hawaii.

Hawaii

Dudes! One day till we leave for Hawaii. Mooka laka iki! We are pumped. I am worried about Finn holding up during the flight. We borrowed a portable DVD player from Kim and Chad. THANKS GUYS! Finn will either like that or hate it. Will I be chasing him up and down the fing aisle the whole time? God I hope not. It's a 6am flight. Maybe he will sleep the whole time. HA! I really hope we get a bulkhead seat . I'll need the leg room. You know people are getting bigger throught the generations and airplane seats are getting smaller. What's up with that? Also Seattle bus seats are made for midgets. Anyway ALOHA!

T.O.T. for TOTS

Finn went trick or treating as a bear. It turns out George Lucas got the idea for the Ewoks while taking his son trick-or-treating who happened to be dressed in a similar bear suit. The plan was for us to meet up with Leo and his mom and dad for some door to door fun and then settle down to a home cooked meal. The evening started out great. All was well except for the staple that Finn picked up and got stuck in his mouth. It's just that he is really into picking up little bits and putting them in his mouth. This time it was a sharp metal staple and it stuck him good. Don't worry he got over it very quickly knowing that we were about to embark on some halloween fun. After a couple of glasses of wine we suited up and headed out. We handed Finn his trick or treat bag and a flashlight and he took hold of both with a mighty grip. I carried him to the first house and then momma did the same for the next, but quickly Finn noticed a pattern and took great interest in this strange ritual. He was driven. He went with little help, to the next house and slapped the door and when it opened he grabbed a piece of candy and dropped it in his satchel, nodded with eye contact to his host and was off to the next house. A great time was had by all.

Hunting Squash

Today we all went with our friends Arissa and Leo to a pumpkin patch. The place was an organic farm called Jubilee Farm about 25 miles out side of Seattle proper. We got there 5 minutes after they opened and there was already a line of people with their kids waiting to catch a hay ride to the fields of squash. They also had pony rides ($5) and a pumpkin catapult that flung pumpkins about 150 feet. Cool! I caught some good pics of Finn and Leo but our battery ran out in the s50.

It's a dog'$ life

While we have family visiting from Florida we boarded our two dogs, Bean and Lola at the Bone-a-Fide Dog Ranch for 9 days so they could be free and we could be low stress. It was a great idea, but a little pricey at $50 per day. It was reported to Jinnah when she went to pick them up that Lola, our 30lb. schnoodle was bullying the littler dogs. She was probably pissed because Bean kept eating her food. I know this becasue Bean came back looking like a stuffed sausage and Lola looks like a furry Karen Carpenter.

Finn meets his elders

Grandpa Benny, Grandma Sumon and cousin Ploy visited from Florida last week.

Swimm'n with Finn

Today I took Finn to his first swim class. It's a class with kids from ages 5 months to 2 years. There were 10 parents and 10 babies in the class and we played games and sang songs while getting them used to the pool. It's not easy trying to teach them the basics of swimming such as kicking, going under and holding your breath. Finn figured out not to keep his mouth open while going under, which is definitly a good thing to know.

What the heck?

mmm

Finn and Keegan ham'n it up.

Finn's first haircut at 12 months

Mother's Day at the Zoo

To celebrate mother's day the three of us went to the zoo. It was Finn's first trip to the zoo and he was really into everything. The great thing about the Woodland Park Zoo is that in many instances you can get fairly close to the animals. Finn really focused on some of the simpler things at the zoo, but he really liked the giraffe that got about 15 feet from him. We didn't take any pictures of the giraffe becasue we didn't want to scare it away. Finn and it were having a real moment.


Big bear.


Big bear's food(the tender morsel behind the glass).


We took a pit stop at the food court. Crows were on watch for fallen tidbits.


This beautiful wolf was just pacing back and forth. It's not exactly Yellowstone.


Finn was really checking out the gorillaz.


Finn sitting on the King of the Jungle (with a little help from Mama).

Finn's First Birthday (pictures)

Finn turned one on May 4th. We had his party on Saturday and it was great. I would like to thank everyone who came to his party and also those who sent him birthday wishes via mail. Finn really enjoyed when I read him all of his cards after the party. Finn turning one is so huge. The fact that we've made it this long is a pretty big milestone. He's still alive and well and we are still functioning on a fairly high level. It's also good because now Finn is sleeping through the night. Interestingly enough, it only started on May 4th. Before then he would wake up at least once a night on a regular basis. I must say that he is the man! So onwards and upwards and thanks again for all the birthday wishes.

Yoda's blog

Made with this sign maker

Finley's first birthday is almost upon us

In just one year we have nurtured a little boy from a bean. He can feed himself (using his 6 teeth), wander the house by himself, he can turn the pages of books by himself, he can push his toy car around and park it under the TV cabinet for safe keeping and check back on it later to make sure it's still safely parked and all kinds of stuff, but best of all he can laugh in a way that makes the crappiness of any day disappear. I truly never knew you could love someone so much until he was born.

Sleep

Finn's sleep patterns have been pretty consistent and we are happy about that.
He wakes up at 7am, takes a nap at around 11am and will occasionally take a 2nd nap but this is becoming a thing of the past. He then goes to bed at around 7:30. He does tend to wake at least once during the night to "feed" but J is trying hard to ween him. However the fastest way to get him back to sleep is to give him the boob so it's hard for her to ween. Anyway I thought I should post this info as a kind of recognition and appreciation after reading about poor Ben and his wife.

Tricks of the Trade

This site is choc-full-o useful info. Fascinating. Now if I can just remember these things when they would come in handy.

How to Forward Gmail to Your Phone

Linked from Lifehacker.