46 Weeks

Happy New Year from my favorite son, husband and Blue Bear...














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We are pink eye free now, although not before it spread to the other eye and looked like we had given Finn a black eye. The doctor said it wasn't technically pink eye but would be treated as such, leaving us with the fun job of giving him eyedrops in both his eyes 4 times a day for 7 days. You can imagine how much he loves that.



Fortunately he is no longer contagious, which is good since we are invading Rachel and Eric's house tonight for New Years, and I am sure they don't want their kids to end up with it as well. And when I say invade I do mean invade, complete with pack and play, Rock Band and 10 days worth of clothing.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Christmas Eve was celebrated at our house, with my parents, Lee's parents and sister, Cris, Landon, Wes and of course the three of us. Fortunately for us we have a big enough dining table. Not enough chairs, but a mish-mash of chairs went with the mish-mash of fondue that we had for our Christmas Eve dinner.

We opened a gift each, ate lots of cheese, and played with toys. Finn loved his first Christmas present, and I loved that we had a house full of love, laughter and family. It's exactly as I had hoped it would be.

Finn breaking into his very first Christmas gift

He seemed a little unsure at first...

But once he realized it was his he was nothing but excited!

Landon loved his gift, which promptly broke by the end of the night...

And Wes enjoyed his game, which was couldn't let him play out of fear that Finn would eat all the small pieces...

My mom and Lee's mom opening up their gifts, framed photos of Finn that we had professionally taken...

Setting up the dining table with every spare chair we could find

The 'holding' area for the gifts, our undecorated tree in the front of our house

And the real tree in our family room, where the boys didn't want to leave from to eat dinner. I mean, food or toys? Toys win out every single time!

Finn and his first Christmas Eve fondue meal

The Thomas and Botham clan, minus my brother who made it later that night

After a yummy meal of cheese and cheese and more cheese we finished the night and waited for Santa...Christmas morning to come tomorrow!

As a total aside, any suggestions on how to take pictures without a flash in a room that isn't greatly lit? Cause I am so disappointed with my Christmas pictures this year and short of taking a photography class and restaging Christmas morning I am not sure how to change my photo skills!

So Much Excitement...

So little time to update. I have Christmas photos; Boxing Day photos; photos of lots of people playing Rock Band; and Blue Bear photos.

Sadly we have been battling illnesses for the last week, culminating in what we think is probably pink eye for Finn today. With a doctor's appointment soon I will find out if we need to become recluses or if we are free to be around others.

So until I have time to upload all the photos and document how great this past week has been, I will leave you with this. Cause it's my blog and my son and I totally pimp him out whenever I can.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah, from our family to yours!

45 Weeks

Well, I pretty much dropped the ball on the whole updating the blog more regularly thing, huh? Although in my defense we had a lot going on, including a visit to the Pink Pig with our buddy Wyatt, an Atlanta tradition for like a gazillion years; Lee's family arriving in town for a long-awaited visit; a holiday dinner with old friends; and, unfortunately, an illness that snuck up on us and hit Finn like a ton of bricks. I think it is pretty good we have made it 10.5 months without having to call in the after-hours at the doctor, but we finally had to yesterday when we were on day 2 of an increasing fever and very little sleep. Luckily it is clear he is on the mend today, full of his usual energy and zest and need to get into everylittlething in our house.

So our 45 week blue bear pictures are lacking in both smiles and quantity, and, well, blue bear himself. Poor little guy did the best he could!

Uh, daddy? Where's BB?

Huh? Why is he up there?

Can he fit in my cups?

BB, come here!

Ahhh, there you are my friend!

Wheee, I can hang you upside down, I love it!

Quick, let me take a bite!

Daddy, I am going to put BB behind you, okay?

BB look, it's my blue cup! That's my favorite, next to my purple one. And green one. And yellow one. Well, maybe they are all my favorites.

What? Like you don't all want to bite BB's nose?

Oooh BB lookie! It's the non-fat cat!

And look BB, with the purple cup you can bang bang on daddy's head!

He loves it, see, we laugh and laugh and laugh!

I'm gonna bite you daddy!

BB, what should we do now?

Maybe we can play with more cups! Or balls! Or blocks!

CupsCupsCupsCupsCupsBangBangBangCupsCupsCups

BB, how did you get the green cup on your head?

Come here BB, give it to me!

BB, I don't feel so good. Mama said I've had a rough few days.

Aw BB, I want that green cup too! Who knows what next week will bring, mama said something about presents and Santa and more cups and toys, I will share them with you!

Changes Abound

I have a room full of Christmas gifts to be wrapped.

I have dishes to be put away.

I have food to make for Finn.

So of course I decide to change my blog. What better way to spruce up a gloomy, bizarrely warm day than a new blog template? Thanks to this blogger I have my new purple layout, and I love it! Maybe a change is the impetus I needed to get this blog back on track?

Ask and Ye Shall Receive!

Ah, how I missed these posts. You know why? It means I don't have to rattle my sleep-deprived brain to come up with a blog idea!

So my sissy Alice wanted to know:

Finn: What are you most excited about doing your first Christmas? What traditions are you starting? What did you think of Santa? Do you know how totally adorable you are??
Christmas? Is that why we have all these sparkly lights in our house and all those things dangling off the tree that mama and dada won't let me touch? Mama keeps telling me I will love my gifts, but I think she really knows I will love the wrapping paper and the boxes and playing with Landon and Wes! Santa is a funny man, he just read from this paper and told me that I wanted a lot for a 10 month old and we kept staring at each other cause I wasn't sure why mama made me sit in his lap! Mama said it is a family tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve - aunt alice what is an eve? Mama tells me I am cute every 2 seconds so I guess that makes me pretty adorable, right?

Lee: What should I get my husband for Christmas?? I know you don't really know him - and all you know about me is that I threaten to eat you and Finn with spoons...but help a new wife out! Ideas? Suggestions?
So I have discovered American football. And you know what? I really enjoy it, even if Andrea thinks, in her words, it is a bunch of fat sweaty men tackling each other in tight pants. In other words, knowing how much Ervin likes football, anything football related would be good. Or beer related. Maybe a beer of the month club? If you wanted something more romantic you should probably ask Andrea!


My friend Nicole wanted to know:

My question to both boys in your life is: what do you want most for Christmas this year (intangible or tangible)? (I will let Finn answer this one) - I really want my great-gran to get better, so we can go see her again. I really want to see my nonna, so I am glad they are coming all the way from England to spend Christmas with us. I want to play with Landon and Wes, I hope they let me play with their Christmas toys. And I really want Kota the dinosaur. Okay, maybe mama really wants it for me but I think I would like it too! And some blocks. And balls. And books.

And to Lee: what British traditions will you bring to y'alls first Christmas together in America?
I want to try to make Yorkshire Puddings, but I can't think of any British traditions. Although I am sure my mum and my sister will fill me in on traditions when I see them on Saturday!

Shari asked:

To Finn: Besides Blue Bear, what's your favorite toy?
Shari, mama has you fooled! I don't even play with Blue Bear, he bores me, they just pull him out once a week and make me pretend to like him! I would rather play with the cats, I love the cats. Why don't they love me back? I love our Christmas tree, but they won't let me play with that either, but Grammy and Papi do so I like to go to their house and pull all the ornaments off! I love my books, I read all the time. And I love anything that I can bang together!


To Lee: How are you settling in America?
I think stop signs are useless. Do no Americans use their blinkers when they turn? And why can't I buy a bar of soap without buying 8 bars of soap? If I could figure those things out it would be much better! No, really, life is good here, I love our house and all that is missing is a job!

44 Weeks

I think I shall call this the week of very little Blue Bear and a lot of Christmas trees...

Hey Mama! I really like these penguins and this tree and this snowman, cause they dance and make song noises and the tree jingles. I think I want to show BB, okay?

Oooh, lookie, my special cup! I can get the bunny love out of the cup all on my own. BB may have to wait...

Bunny love I love bunny love yum yum bunny love

Okay BB, here's the deal. This thing is magic. Mama and Grammy touch it and it just goes. I love it!

Maybe if I touch it then it will go? BB help!

What grammy? BB can't touch it cause he just has paws? Okay, I guess we won't let him do it then!

You sit here and look pretty BB while I try to figure it all out.

But first I need another bunny love!

Ha ha mama, I am all the way in grammy's kitchen, you and BB can't get me in here!

What's this? Grammy and Papi's tree? And I can crawl right up to it?

Uh, dada? Where's BB?

Let me just check under the tree, okay?

Mama, I love that I can chew chew on straws, chew chew chew!

Grammy, what are you doing? What are you teaching me over there?

So I just stick my tongue out like this?

I can do it! Grammy, you are so funny!

You people make me laugh!

Uh, what's with the hat mama? I hate things on my head!

I won't look, I won't do it I tell you!

Okay, one look, I know you love the hat. But if it disappears don't look at me!

Hey guys! Someone put one of those trees in another room in our house! And this one doesn't have a gate around it! But where are all those fun things that hang off of it that I like to pull?

This is the tree you always keep me from. This is the fun tree!

Psst, BB - how did you get in there? Mama and daddy won't let me in where the fun is!

Fine, if you won't tell me I won't let you stay in there! You need to come out with me!

BB, should I eat you or steggy? Hmm, decisions, decisions.

BB you win, you are safe this week!

Merry early Christmas from blurry me!