this boy.

loves water. i don't know if it's hereditary since i love water or if it's because he was born in a labor pool or what. but it's a fact.

we bought a tiny lil baby pool & on day's when we don't completely melt we fill it up & let him splash around. he's in heaven. he likes climbing in & out of it almost as much as taking a bucket full of water & tossing it out of the pool. he throws his glorious tantrums when we take him out- but only because his fingers are prunes & he's shaking! but he's hard core- he'd fight through it if we'd let him.

filling it up & dad spraying him with the hose.

our lil nature boy.
i love these next two... our tall grass & his orange hair & smooth baby skin. his skin is still so freaken soft.



what a cutie patootie.
love this one.

and he is all boy. found his, ya know, thingamabob. and wouldn't stop playing with it.
and then after all that exhausting play it was time for lunch. he is obsessed with strawberries & organic strawberries at $4 or $5 a carton are knocking out our bank account! but so worth it knowing my boy is eating only goodness. no groodie chemicals.

this one cracks me up.
peanut butter & jelly.

the dogs are always near, just in case finn needs help!

his eyelashes are insane.
& then time to put some clothes on, we aren't a nudist colony -afterall.

he says mama now- and it's pretty awesome.
skye: come on finn. spit it out. it's gross. you don't want it. spit. it. out!
i love saturdays when we have nothing to do but hangout.

ain't nothing like card board boxes

back tracking a lil: we spent july 4th with some friends at their new house. they'd just bought themselves a fancy sleep number bed & finn was lucky enough to enjoy the boxes. he loved them so much while we were at their house that when they offered them to us we couldn't refuse.

we spent the next day making his kingdom. three big boxes & two hallways!heather, his favorite ultimate frisbee mom! (she watches him during all of our league games, at the fields for us!)

finn distracting or helping?!
we were pretty hardcore with it, reinforcing everything- duct taping any exposes cardboard edges so zero paper cuts for baby.
he kept giving me kisses & climbing over me... it was pretty cute.
high fiving as he approves of the first hallway.
bryan testing out the second room.... a little tight. but he has put on a lot of weight.
coming out his front door.
aunt melissa informed me that it should be casa de finn. woops. either way- it was intended to demonstrate my point of view on this prop "show me your papers" bullshit.

& this is later in the week... finn doesn't ever watch t.v. but i was letting him watch some sesame street while i was baking a vegetable cake for friends that just had a baby & i thought it was hilarious how zoned in he was. this child rarely sits still, occasionally to read a book- but nothing like this.
i'm having visions of him at school listening attentively to his teacher. i hope.

and now our t.v. is broken. i'm tempted to see how long we can go without one. i've been hearing some buzz around this new movement: get rid of 100 things. bryan & i did some purging this weekend. we both threw out lots of clothes, shoes, kitchen things that we never use like a food processor that's never worked. big brother's & big sister's is picking it up next week if i can be patient enough. it's overwhelming our dinner table area. it feels good. but it's made me want to do more!!! our closets are full of crap. how did we manage to fill this house with sooooo much stuff.

*this is only half of the final load!*

i'm glad i'm doing it now- because when we move maybe it'll be easier. who knows where & when that move will happen, but things are in movement at bryan's work & that will be the final decidor. is that how you spell that? hmm. he's been named acting supervisor until they formally give someone the position. if it's him -we stay. if it's not-we have some thinking to do.

happy thursday!

new mexico.

so finn & I left ohio for new mexico. one of my college roomates, lauren, was getting married. so, we bought tickets & called our other good friends sarah-anne & stan to make sure they were going to be in town. they were nice enough to offer their apt to us & their CAR so we could drive up into the mountains for the wedding! it was beautiful. unfortunately we missed the wedding, but had a wonderful time at the reception. i made a few wrong turns because i didn't understand the directions very well. damn, damn, damn.

here's finn on the plane. remember these crayons- or well, i have mentioned them yet? finn loves them. my friend kelly- gave them to finn at her wedding earlier this summer. he can sit there & rearrange them for hours- which makes this mama very happy on a plane. doesn't he look like a big kid in his own seat!?

so we land, sarah-anne & the boys pick us up in albuquerque :0 thanks babe! we drive back to santa fe, play for a little bit & then i shower & get ready. we start on the drive which should be about 1.5 hours. i took the scenic route & arrived a few minutes before 4 thinking i was right on time! but, alas- the wedding was at 3. i've done this one other time for our friend kace's birthday party. i'm blaming it on pregnancy brain- what i'm not allowed to do that since i'm not pregnant anymore? well that's just not fair.

the reception site was amazing. rourke works here. lucky guy- in more ways than just that!
there were plenty of children there for finn to play with. this sweet lil girl caught his attention.
told you!!!!
isn't this beautiful!!! my girl lauren's got some taste!
the guy at the drink counter took a liking to finn. or maybe he just had pity for me since finn didn't stop moving for like 2 seconds. i'm eating & he's playing with him :)
this is valles caldera national preserve. you're driving up winding roads in the mountains & then all of a sudden the road curves & it's this. just. pure. beauty. for miles & miles.
finn playing in the field.
he was a total ham the whole evening.

during the very last ceremony of their wedding. washing each other's hands. it was so beautiful & emotional. they were married by a medicine man. it sounded very cool!
lauren & i. & finn asleep in the sling!
what a beautiful celebration lauren!!!!! congratulations, i'm so happy for you & rourke & lil babe on the way!

& then we made our way back that night because a big storm was supposed to be coming in & i didn't want to be driving on those crazy roads in pitch black. the storm really hit once we got back into santa fe- i don't know that i've ever seen rain like that before. it was amazing- intense lightening, crazy loud thunder & the heaviest rain drops. i wished bryan had been there with us, because he would have been in heaven. finn slept through all of it.

the next morning we went for a little bike ride/walk.

sebastien loves his bike!
some of the time, then he wants to balance beam :) i love this photo.
& jump in puddles.
& then he started to realize that that meant he was dirty- so we jumped in one together so he'd know it was okay to be dirty.
finn trying out the skuut.
mama & sebastien.
this mama & finn. in a shirt that i made!!!!!! how cool is that. loving my sewing machine!
so. i had no idea that finn was watching sebastien & i earlier... he took that message a little too literal, but he had a blast!

dare me?!
baby steppin it.

precious lil baby foot prints.
oh yeah.
meanwhile- those three were staying clean in the field.

splash splash splash!

what mom?
check it out. dirt!
simon & sarah-anne.
going hiking.
finn being coy.
finn didn't sleep either nights. i don't know if it was the altitude or too bright or what- but he nursed through both nights. the second night- he dozed off & on- so that was something. then he'd sleep in in the morning- lil turd.
this looks way more violent than it was, but simon & finn loved this stool.
dad & sebastien saying goodbye as we head to the airport to leave!
this was a hard car ride- both boys screamed the whole way- occasionally a toy would distract them for about 5 minutes.
sarah-anne dropping us off! thanks guys. you all are awesome & we miss you already!!!
p.s. while i was there we did a portrait session, since the last time we did one sebastien was only a week old! here's the link to that!