cute overload

The Finnster continues to impress me with the myriad of ways he can make me smile. I will try and list some of them below:

His babble talk at 6 months is quite impressive. He uses different sounds and inflections for different meanings. I swear he has said "mama" and "dada" multiple times. Either he is really smart or the construction of the words 'mama' and 'dada' were taken from early speech patterns. Regardless, it makes my heart skip every time he does this... or panic when he is crying. As in. "Maaaaamaaaaaaaa".

We dressed him up as a monkey for Halloween this year. He looked adorable, but his time in the costume equaled about 2 full hours as it is still hot in PHX and once it had cooled, it was getting late. We went to a few doors, but people were perplexed as to what they should give him. I thought it would be a fun treat for those giving the candy but apparently it is just confusing. We had a great time at the Leffs, enjoying a wonderful meal outside on the driveway. Finn continued his 'swan song' for the family's entertainment, and then we packed up and went home.

Today I voted. So did Finn. He charmed the pants off of all the ladies working the voter booths. The first time that I checked in I did not have enough ID. So, I had to return again with the goods. When we entered the room, all of the ladies shouted "Finn"..."There he is..." You get the point! He loved all of the attention.

We have had a breakthrough in sleeping. Night time is still painful but his naps are improving. Tain had the idea to put him in the crib when he is still drowsy but awake and keep one hand on him until he falls asleep. This is miraculous. He now gets 1.5 hour naps in the crib...vs. 20 - 45 minutes, and that is with me walking him in the stroller or co-sleeping. This is monumental! Because he is starting tho learn the concept of self-soathe, he even goes back to bed after waking from time to time. I just put him down for an afternoon nap, but this time he "danced" and sang his self to sleep. It was so cute. He was in his sleep sack, moving and arching his way across the crib while singing. And then he fell asleep!

What else... in the solids world he has ventured into pear, carrot, and banana land. So far, he seems to dislike carrots but tolerates them. I get to see his face wrinkle up in disgust with every bite... what a trooper.

He is on the verge of crawling... excited and terrified!

Oh how time flies

Finn's First Feeding

Phew...

He is down for a nap. Life is crazy right now and I wish that I could stop it for just a bit so that I could hold onto Finn a little longer (yes, separation anxiety will be occurring on my side). We just started solids. He seems to be handling it quite well so far. I am sticking with rice cereal for now and will move to veggies and fruits when he is 6 months. It is strange to nourish my baby with a spoon and not my body. I am both excited and a little sad at the thought of this. Granted, he is still nursing, and will until he is 1 year old, but the solids start to supplement his intake.

He has been rolling over since 4 months and loves to show off his new skill any chance he gets. He is just so much freakin fun that I don't want to lode this time - this moment.

In other news, the online class I am teaching for NAU is going very well - super smooth since all of the work was upfront. I just agreed to teach adjunct for Collins College one night a week. This should help us out financially. The class is upper level and less didactic than I am used to. It should be awesome. The only setback is that it runs from 6 - 11 pm... 5 freakin hours - oiye! He still is prone to waking up at midnight, then 2, 4, etc.... so coming home at 11:30 will be rough. Though it is only one night a week... I should heal.

We are on the brink of 6 months and more immunizations :( I am going to ask the doc to spread them out this time.... A little freaked by the number of them all at once. And, no more tylenol for the little guy.

I have to run......

The golden... months

Ahhh.... time is fleeting and it is already midnight - acht!

The little guy is growing up so quickly. He is almost 4 months already. He has gone through so many different phases that I wanted to quickly write them down before I forget...

He has moved from cooing to shrieking because he loves the sound of his voice... though, he is back to cooing again.

His love for books has turned into an impatience and would rather hold, hit, and eat the book then listen to me ramble about the story.

• He rolled over!
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• He looks up and smiles at me sheepishly
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• I love it when he wakes up in the morning and I prop him up on my stomach so that he is looking down on me. He giggles and laughs... and looks like a big giant with his 2 feet in front.
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• He loves his reflection in the mirror so I try and find as many mirrors when we go places.
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• He now notices the cats and watches them intensely... or yells at them.
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• He loves to grab his toes and roll around on his back.
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• He can hit the 'musical cat' to make music when he wants to
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• He can transfer one object from one hand to another
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• He wants to put everything in his mouth... including my face
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• He drools like crazy and I think is teething
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• He is such the cutey!

The quirks, bits, and snippets...

It has been awhile since I last posted with life getting increasingly busy. The Finnster is asleep in his car seat with fresh curries in his pants but I don't want to wake him from a much needed nap in order to change him..... am I a bad mother?

I just wanted to jot down a few quirks .....

He has recently been sucking on his bottom lip. It is so cute and makes him look a bit perplexed like he is troubleshooting something. Often he throws in a Connery eyebrow, adding to the quizzical look.

He has been using his hands so much more now. He grabs at my skin and clothing when I am feeding him and does not stop moving the entire time. He loves to look at his hands moving across different textures....often his legs are kicking as well.

His voice is becoming louder and more frequent. He coos and "abroos" in what sounds like Icelandic. We regularly have conversations back and forth.

He loves to smile with a flirtacious grin

Strangely, he has been going through some separation anxiety. It seems that nobody can hold him longer than 15 minutes before he starts to cry for his mommy.... this seemed to start when I stopped co-sleeping. I hope this phase will work it's way out. It has been difficult now that I am trying to work as well as take care of him and leaves me only the time when he sleeps to work - and I am usually exhausted by then.... He is still such a good little baby and so much fun! I just wish Tain could have more of this experience as well.

We recently took a weekend trip to San Diego for a friend's wedding and he did wonderfully well. It is a long trip - 6 -7 hours in the car. He slept the whole way there, but we had to stop a few times on the way back as we were traveling in the day. He loved the ocean and fell asleep once we hit the sound of the waves. It was a wonderful experience and a much needed day of relaxation before we headed back. Both T and I melted in the sand and agreed that we will try and make it back as much as possible. I can't wait until he is walking and I can help him run up to the waves. At the wedding he struggled a bit because he was tired and it was loud and everyone wanted to hold him. We had to leave early from the reception - but we were exhausted as well so it all worked out.

Tain has pictures from the weekend on his phone and I will post soon!

sleep fail!

Oiye! So, I did get the beasty to sleep for a nap 3 days in a row, but his nighttime sleep has gotten worse. He had one 3 hour cycle and then he was up every hour last night with about 45 minutes spent putting him to sleep every time... help.... I worry that it is because he is not on the boob. I gave in around 3 am because I was literally stumbling while holding him and thought it safer to co-sleep than to do this..... Oiye. I read about 10 hour sleep cycles for 3 month olds and wonder if I am doing it all wrong... or if it will ever get better.

But, it is raining now! That seems to make it all better.

Amazingly, in the mornings he wakes up all fresh-eyed and always gives me the cutest smile when he sees me... sometimes accompanied by a coo or a squeal. I love this!

naps

Tain knows how to put the Finnster to sleep!

So, it has occurred to me that little Finnegan may be sleep deprived....

In general, I let him fall asleep when he needs to but often overlook the signs of sleepiness and have not been helping him go to bed. Finn is a fighter of sleep and would rather stay up and get all of that yummy stimulation - which I love giving to him. But, he often has bags under his eyes and I think it is from lack of naps during the day. We have been good about trying to get him to bed around a certain time, but his naps are sporadic. So, today I am shooting for a 10 am nap. The only way I can get him to sleep during the day is in the swing. He is asleep now, but he fought it like crazy. His eyes will droop until he screams a little scream to wake him up... and then repeat. I think he is finally out.

The hardest part is finding an answer to my questions. The "every baby is different" dilemma can make it hard to prescribe a plan of action for the little one. There seems to be 2 schools of thought; let the baby rest when he needs to and get that kid on a schedule. I think I have been rolling with the former. Tain is better than I about getting him to sleep. He can shush him to sleep at night when he is still alert....me? I resort to the boob.

In other news, I think that NAU is going to let me teach that class online and my interview with the Art Institute went very well yesterday. The AI has alot of hoops I have to jump through and alot of mentoring, safeguards, and a little redundancy added to the teaching process but they are on top of it. The infrastructure for online teaching is super tight and I believe it will only help the process. Of course, my main concern is making time for all of FInn's needs while doing my best... I just hope they don't collide.

Adventures in poop

So sweet... but has a great aim!

So, I wanted to relay this story before I forget... the other day I was prepping the Finnster for a bath which requires me to strip him down naked (always dangerous with boys). I was holding him and walking to the bath when he let out a loud "brap". At which point yellow curry literally sprayed... yes sprayed everywhere. I tried to stop the flow of madness as I made my way back to the changing table but failed to keep it from getting between my toes ( I know, gross). So I cleaned him off and held him with one hand while I bent down to clean out the Garbage Pail Kids-like mess between my toes and sandal when I felt something hit my head. I screamed when I realized it was his pee arcing up over the table's rail and landing directly on my head... my scream from surprise scared Finn and he began to cry.......

Regardless, it was hilarious and easy to forgive once I put him in the bath and he smiled up at me.

A house?

So, we are in contract with a seller for a beautiful house! It is exciting and scary at the same time... but, we are anxious to have our own space and live in a big city again. It has been an interesting learning experience and luckily we have a friend who is an agent educating us along the way. After 2 weekends of heat filled house searching we found the beast.... It is very "white" at this point but we prefer to see it as a blank canvas. With some paint, and eventually remodeling, this will fill just like home. It will be great to raise Finn in a home... until he is a teen and he curses our suburban living!

But, now we wait.....

I forget sometimes how everything will be just a bit harder with an infant. Our trip back up to Flag was a perfect example. Finn has always been the farter and struggled with his tummy, but since his immunizations, it has been even more so (plus, I had dairy over the weekend). We stopped 3 times along the way... bouncing him and trying to get the evil out of him... in all, it took about 5 hours to get home. But, he has given us stop - free treks to Phx. multiple times... I suppose we are due for one. Oh, and we had rain!!! Lots of it!!!

These next few months will be the ultimate challenge...moving, Tain starting a job, and if I get the teaching gigs, I will have a ton of lesson planning to do one handed... I am not sure how this will all work, but I suppose it will have to. I just don't want to sacrifice Finn's development. Speaking of, the little guy is sleeping in his swing....the only way in which I can get him to nap.... correction, was sleeping... gotta go!

beginning at 9 weeks...s

Adventures With Finnegan Orion Barzso

OK, so I am a bit behind but I realized that I am not writing down these experiences and I might as well start later than never.... I might have to give an itemization to catch-up....

• water broke on Sunday night (5/3/2010)
• 2 days of pitocin-filled labor followed by a C-section.
• Finn was born 5/4/2010 at 7 lbs 4 ounces and 20 in.
• Tain and I slept about 6 hours total for the 5 days in the hospital
• He was perfect from the beginning
• T and I commented on how going through this together is totally bonding
• brought him home and had 2 days of help from Grammy (thank you Grammy)
• Ran around the house for the first 6 weeks with my boobs hanging out... still do
• I finally think that I have the breastfeeding down, though he still eats every 2 hours

Begin 2 month appt with doc.....

Finn is now 24 inches and weighs 12.2 lbs!!! He had his immunizations yesterday and it was so painful to see him go through that. He took the shots like a champ, but later that night he would cry uncontrollably until he fell asleep... as his mother, there is nothing worse than this feeling... I just wanted to hold him until all of the pain went away. It finally did in the early morning, and he was as good as new.

He is an adorable beasty. He now smiles and coos and talks to me all the time. He loves books and read to him constantly with his background commentary... his favorites are Tickle Monster and Owl Babies. He loves to "run" and "dance" while laying down... I have a feeling he is going to be a runner! He is an active little guy and prefers to stay up and look around rather than sleep or take naps. He still has to be swaddled to sleep as his own arms will wake him....

We are preparing for a big move to Phoenix, trying to buy a house, and I am trying to russle up online teaching work - which I believe will happen! We are excited to be closer to family and live in an area where housing is affordable, but I will be a little sad to leave beautiful Flagstaff... she has been good to us - she brought us Finn!

Tain got a sexy job with ASU, helping to set-up their new mutli-media, motion capture, etc. program... this will be sweet for him and I very excited. But, my plans to teach in the Fall have been a bit derailed. Luckily the Art Institute finally contacted me about teaching online (I applied a year ago), and the course I was going to teach at NAU is in discussion as to whether I can teach this online as well. Talk about timing.

I am really trying to stay the primary caregiver for little Finn... I will have some challenges with getting these courses together in time to teach while handling the little guy, but I think it can be done!

This intro blog is super choppy - just trying to catch-up and get this rolling before he wakes up! I will upload some pics and sign-off, but will try and keep this going!