Nothing So Sweet As This...

Early this morning, at 3:31 am, after many, many late nights, it happened. Finley smiled at me, his first real smile. Not just a little smirk, but a huge, open mouth grin, and little noises that were on the verge of ending in giggles, it was as though he just couldn’t contain it anymore. I though my heart would just melt, for there is nothing sweeter or more precious than the first time they smile. I love the way their eyes and little face light up as they find their grin, it makes my soul just sing when I see it. I never tire of their milestones, no matter how many times I have seen my babies achieve their “firsts”, it’s always so amazing, and wonderful to me. This is just the beginning for Finn, I know, and I think that a sweet little baby smile is the best way to start, don’t you?

Too Much Love Shouldn’t Be a Bad Thing

Little Gracen really loves her baby brother Finn, but sometimes it’s a little too much. I have to watch her like a hawk, otherwise she is all over him. Just today she tried to feed him a mini pretzel, and had part of it in his mouth trying to get him to take a bite. She has also tried to give him a drink of her juice on several occasions, but she ends up dousing him with it instead. She really does love her baby brother, she just doesn’t realize that he’s too little for her to play with yet. That hasn’t stopped her from trying to pick him up, or from patting him on the head a little too “lovingly” and enthusiastically while she tells me “my baby”. I do appreciate the fact that she loves him, and I am happy to say we haven’t had any issues with jealousy, so I’m not complaining. I just have to make sure I keep an eye on her, or else she will try to carry him off to be a guest at her next tea party.

Hey Little Man, Not So Fast

Six seeks already and I still can’t believe it, that went by much too fast. Finley is doing quite a bit of growing these days, and I am even starting to see a tiny bit of baby chub here and there, but he is still quite long and skinny. He was officially 6 weeks old on Tuesday and weighed in at 8 lbs. 8 oz. that day. I know, he’s still a ways off from reaching ”sumo” status, but he’s working on it.

   He’s still very laid back, and such a sweet little guy. Finn likes to be either very wide awake or very much asleep, so we get a lot of time to enjoy him as he takes in his surroundings during his awake time. And with 6 other brothers and sisters, that can be some really noisy surroundings. Luckily he takes it all in stride, for which I am very grateful. The kids still fight over who gets to hold him, his popularity hasn’t diminished in the slightest, and we can’t seem to remember a day without him in our family.

Hey, I Didn't Know That...

In talking with my Mom shortly after I had Finn, she began to tell me about the night that I was born. It turns out that when she had me, the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck three times and I was delivered looking a “lovely” shade of blue. Due to that, I was placed in the ICU for several days after my birth in an isolette, and my Mom said that whenever they took me out of the isolette, I turned blue again. Apparently I was having issues with my breathing, and I was definitely NOT a preemie, in fact I was about 3 1/2 weeks overdue (my poor, poor mother….) so I’m guessing it had nothing to do with immature lungs. How did I not know this story about my own birth? I know I have asked my Mom many times before to tell me about the day I was born….so how did this not come up in the 35 years since then? I must not be asking the right questions. I wonder what else I should know about?