Finley // 12 Months

Finley, we celebrated you turning ONE! I canNOT believe how fast this year has FLOWN by. Seriously don't blink is the truth. It's absolutely crazy how fast time flies by even more with a little one. This has been one amazing year and we are so blessed by you and the joy you bring.  Your personality is shining full force more and more everyday! One of my favorite things is to hear you belly laugh hysterically! It just brings so much happiness in my soul. 

I have to confess it was pretty challenging to get these pics of you in your chair. You are just over it! 

HEALTH

We go to the doctor for your 12 month checkup tomorrow so I will update after that! I'm NOT looking forward to you getting shots. Always tears me up. Daddy is home right now, so I'm hoping he will be able to go with us before he leaves for his next tournament. Besides the occasional low grade fever at random times (which has only been recently and I think is due to teething) you are such a healthy baby! The only concern I have for the doctor is to ask him about allergies? Me, your Dad, and you all seem to have runny noses and sneezing at the same time.. also the hay was cut behind the house recently and we all got a little messed up around that time.

update: We went to the doctor today and you got another perfect report! God is good! You weigh 21 lbs (50-75%), your height is 28 3/4 (25-50%), and your hc is 18 1/2 (95%).  We seem to be doing everything good as far as your eating and milk. You did get your finger pricked because Dr Setia wanted to test you for lead since our house was built before 1978. You also got 2 shots and we opted to get the 3rd on next Monday. I couldn't really handle it all being done in one day and from now on, we will be splitting your shots up. You came home and took a LONG nap and when you woke up you were grinning and were totally fine!

EATING

It's safe to say that you love food! And you certainly are not a picky eater. Sometimes I wonder if you are a bottomless pit. But then you will slow down or not want as much the next time so I think it's just when you are going thru your growth spurt. I don't think that we have recently ran into anything that you haven't liked.. You do love watermelon these days and you have started eating peaches. One thing that has changed is us feeding you with a spoon. I gave away all of your baby food because you like to feed yourself. So instead of buying prunes in baby food form, now we buy the solid prunes and cut them up. Which I don't know why I didn't do that before when you were already eating other solids??

One night, I realized that you didn't have anymore formula.. so after asking around for info we went ahead and gave you regular milk. I thought that you would notice the difference and really like it but you really didn't seem to care either way. It messed your stomach up pretty bad and you were having runny diapers almost everyday that you drank it. So I bought a small canister of formula because I didn't want your tummy to be so messed up and then did a little more research on regular milk and almond milk, etc. I introduced almond butter in your meals with apples or bananas and you LOVED it! You didn't break out either so when the formula ran out, we switched you to almond milk. Honestly, by the time all that happened, you had already started showing disinterest in your bottles. Sometimes you seem to want it and sometimes you could care less and there have been nights and mornings where you didn't want it at all. Time to nip it in the bud??

SLEEPING

You are a great sleeper and great early morning napper. There have only been a few nights where you have wanted to get up and play. I don't know what it is about the late afternoon nap but sometimes you just don't want any part of it. I'm so thankful for how great you do sleep during the night! There still have been a few nights where you cry out because you can't find your paci but once you do, you are right back to sleep. And then there have been nights where you can't find it, and it's woken me up to where I get up and find it for you. It may be because of teething, but you've really gotten an attatchment for your paci all of a sudden.

One Saturday afternoon, me, you, Gigi, and Mimi took off to Frances Meadows in Gainesville. You had just woken up but you perked up and loved being in the water! It has been a pretty HOT, humid summer!

blowing kisses!

Mimi Kim got you this walker and you have really enjoyed it. You had just started showing interest in walking and it occurred to me at work that we hadn't gotten this out yet for you. So I came home and put it together and you just wore us out going back and forth from your room, thru the foyer, to the living room, to the kitchen and back again.

We had a play date at Whitney's one afternoon. You love love the water and had so much fun splashing around! You got so tired in the afternoon but would NOT take a nap. I even tried taking you up to the house and getting you down for a nap but you weren't having it so we just packed up and left. You were passed out before we could even pull out of the driveway.

When we can wear a new outfit, Mommy just has to get a picture! They are getting more challenging in your chair. You are beginning to be NOT a fan of it.

3 AMIGAS

They love giving you kisses and you are wanting to pet them more. BUT if you are trying to walk and they get in your way, you will let them, and US, know that you want them to move. You've heard us say "no" to them so much that when we say "no no", you shake your hand/finger at them.

You and Kyli have continued to be great buddies. She just loves to lick you in the face and you get tired of it sometimes. There have been times when I couldn't find her and I have found her in your room while you are sleeping.. like she is guarding you. And, when you wake up crying, she will run back and forth from your room to us until we get you. (Which isn't long at all but I guess it's still not fast enough for her.)

One morning or afternoon, I looked in the monitor and she was sitting on this lamb, facing and staring at the door because I hadn't gotten to you yet. She has certainly taken over the protective role.

You still love to nap with your Daddy and he misses us so much when he is on the road.

Love this little cheesin' face!

This has become your little spot in the living room. You love to play here and in this basket. You just seem so content and happy most of the time!

One Sunday after church.. you had just woken up and we were saying hey to Daddy! I love this dress! I really thought we were going to have to go on a big shopping trip to get more clothes for you and the last couple times I've thought that, I've found a huge stash in your dresser that I've seemed to not know was there. God is so good and He is constantly showing he is providing for us.

We went to La La's Mom's house for the 4th of July! It was loads of fun and people were bragging on how good you were. The fireworks didn't even phase you and you were in awe! You actually almost fell asleep in the middle of it.

Daddy was home for the actual 4th and we visited him at the pond.

WHAT FINLEY IS UP TO

We got your fishing pole out one afternoon! I just had to since it went with the outfit.

I got your lamb out of your toy box and you just loved on it. It's SO soft and you will just lay down on it yourself like ahhhhh this is so nice.

Love your sweet cuddles!

We had a wedding at our house exactly where we were married (post coming soon) and you were just not having Daddy's attention anywhere else but with you. He was in the middle of a conversation and you just started kissing on him. Melt my heart.

You love playing in Mommy's jewelry while I'm getting ready..

You look so big here! Mommy had this shirt made for you to wear to the ball field but it's just been way to hot to take you... so we had Daddy's coach's and their wived/girlfriends over for dinner one night, so you wore it then. The last heart on the shirt has baseball stitches on it. So cute!!

This was the morning of your birthday!! You were so happy!

We've also been to Home Depot to pick out paint for a mantle we used at your birthday party.

You've started showing interest when we brush out teeth so we got you your own! This is the first time you used it and you seemed to know exactly what to do with it!

POSTPARTUM

Well, I finished up my personal training sessions last week unless I get the go ahead from Shane to keep going. We measured about a month ago and there was a lot of progress that was made and it was super exciting to see the numbers on paper. I weighed myself this week and I am one pound under my pre pregnancy weight (or the weight I was when I found out I was pregnant) While that's great and I am able to fit into more of my clothes easily there is still several that I'm not back into.. and there is still a little more fluff than I like in my lower back, stomach, and upper thigh area. After talking with Amanda this past week, I didn't realize how much good carbs I was leaving out of my diet. So I'm going to add those back in a little and see if that makes a difference.
The stretch marks I got on my stomach have extremely little to no color in them and I only notice them when I turn a certain way in the light and just see the indentions. And of course, I can feel the difference when I put lotion on. I honestly feel like using the Frankincense oil made a huge difference in them not having any color.
Working out has never made a Mama feel so much better! There is just something about an endorphine release. I'm just going to keep trucking with my nutrition and workout the best that I can. It has certainly been challenging with Shane traveling this summer. I started doing Hiit Max, a program I found thru IG that I could do at home.. I got thru 2 weeks and I woke up one morning and my knees almost buckled underneath me. So needless to say I do not do that everyday anymore. So the gym when I can get there and have a sitter and t25 when I'm home. Gotta love some Shaun T.

Notes from Finley's journal::

7.3 / We do the Itsy Bitsy Spider and you were really trying to do it with me this day. The first time you have tried on your own
7.4 / took a few steps with Mommy and Daddy
7.6 / You took your first official steps across the living room! Mommy got it on video!

// you found a paint brush on the back porch and started 'painting'
// you know how to throw things in the trash and understand and carry out 'lets go throw it in the trash'
// you are pointing at objects in books and when you see yourself in pictures around the house you point to yourself
// you started saying mama and dada again
// you love for us to read books to you and will bring us books, sit in our laps, and you help us read and turn the pages