pictures!

slow down little fella...

finn has had a lot of firsts during the month of august. he took his first plane ride. he experienced the beach, which he loved and had no qualms eating the sand! found out just how awesome the jumperoo is. plus, he officially rolls over both ways, pretty much sits up unassisted, tried solid food (sweet potatoes, peaches, squash, bananas & peas) & began rocking on all fours this past week! now if only his first teeth would finally breakthrough since those seem to be the most painful first:(

let's circle back to the solids, i wouldn't say he is the most enthusiastic eater. as of yet, nothing seems to have him over the moon excited, unless he sees your glass of water or you eating bread. yup, finn loves bread! this was a total accident as i had a piece in my hand while holding him and he literally pulled my hand into his mouth. once he tasted it, he cried when i took it away! i tend to be cautious and follow the "wait 4-5 days when introducing a new food" mentality, but finn apparently doesn't follow this school of thought! i guess i have to speed things up for him since he seems to be quite fast in the rest of his development. didn't he get the memo that mama doesn't like you to grow up!?

and while not perfect, his sleep & schedule is world's better. just in time for his brother and sister's schedule to interfere! they do say the third child learns to go with the flow, and i would tend to agree(he's chilling right next to me as i type!). he really is a good baby. he is always smiling and giggling. it has been so fun to watch him grow and change. we are all so in love with him:)

i have a lot of pictures, i just need to get them uploaded. perhaps during the next nap...

my little finn, finn...

or finnsters or finny...yup, the nick names keep on coming! it'll be interesting to see which one sticks. with daley, she had quite a lot, but doodles seems to have stuck and with jack, probably because he is the first and didn't have an older sibling who came up with anything, he seems to be mostly jack, but "jackie" to daley! i love how they come up with their own names for each other. as long as they're appropriate of course!

where shall we begin...finn is rolling over! he started this past saturday (july 27). of course, the one time i leave him, he does it! i mean seriously, i rarely go anywhere without him...little bugger!?

we have tried a little cereal, but he has only had it twice. he's recently having some tummy issues(read: constipation), so i've backed off on the solids in hopes that we can get things regulated. poor kid...he seems to have the brunt of the stomach issues in this house. actually i didn't really have intentions of starting solids this early, but sleep deprivation got the  best of me and i became desperate!! as i knew would be the case, the cereal did not miraculously solve our sleepless issues, but it was worth a try and finn certainly seems to enjoy it!

here are some pictures of my super happy little guy. he really is quite content and smiley:)

first time in the jumper-he loves it!!

4 months, baptism, happy baby

i feel as though poor finn really has gotten the shaft in so many ways. he gets shuttled from one place, then the next, sleeps on the fly, eats on the fly and then shuttled back again! i realize he is the third, and by birthright is going to have to learn to go with the flow, but my "type a self" has such a hard time with his lack of schedule. every time he falls asleep in the car, or the bjorn or while i'm holding him while the kids swim i feel so guilty. jack and daley always had their schedule and routine, and i feel strongly that finn deserves the same, but i just don't know how to get us all on the same page!?

on another note, he is such a happy little guy. unless he's hungry or has gas, he's pretty even-keeled. of course we are recently beginning to teeth and we all know all bets are off when it comes to teething!

finn was also baptized on june 22nd. it was a nice day spent with close family and friends. finn has two amazing godparents whom we are lucky to call our dear friends. everything went smoothly and we can rest assured that finn won't go up in flames anytime soon;)

finally, i cannot believe he is four months old. it just goes by way too quickly. i keep looking at him thinking he's still this small little six pounder i brought home, but in all honesty he's this chubby, smiley, bubble blowing little guy. *sigh* if only he was no longer sleeping like a newborn;)

pool time!

god parents, ken & erin

and of course this one just for good measure!

things are on the up & up!

finn finally seems to have recovered from the virus. his cough and congestion are all but gone! i am so thankful. i realized last night as i was watching him on the monitor(i promise it isn't as creepy as it sounds!), that one week prior he had been through the ringer. i wouldn't wish that experience on anyone. that said, i am so thankful we made it through without any complications.

as if that experience wasn't enough, he had his ultrasound on wednesday to rule out pyloric stenosis. i was dreading it mostly because trying to stave off a hungry infant for 3 hours is not easy, and produced a lot of tears on both our parts! of course, during the ultrasound was not much better...he was starving, the tech said she couldn't even see the pyloris because his tummy was full of gas and distended, and then we had to make matters worse and get him to drink a couple ounces of sugar water from a bottle. good times. thankfully, this too turned out to negative. in the end, my original hunch-reflux-is probably right on. nothing this mama can't handle...i have a little experience in this area thanks to his older brother!

we'll end on a happy note...finn is beginning to coo and smile more and more. he especially thinks his siblings are funny, even if they do practically smother him!

7 weeks

i would have to say that finn's 7 weeks of life were far more eventful than either jack' or daley's, and not in a good way! i kind of miss the days where we did have to go anywhere, and if we didn't get dressed until lunch time it was no big deal. unfortunately our schedule has us out the door by 8am each day, with little to no wiggle room.

along with having older siblings come the perils of germ exposure, and sure enough my worst nightmare came true this past thursday night. finn had contracted the cold that j & d had two weeks prior, and i was hoping the cough/congestion was all he would get, but that proved not to be the case, and thursday evening his fever appeared. so we made the call to the dr., and she confirmed what i was praying would not be the case-he had to go in. off we went at 11pm to the pediatric er(thank god for my friend/neighbor who came right over to stay with j & d). we checked in, and when the dr. came in she began to elaborate on what exactly we were in for. newborns don't have their vaccinations or the same immunities we do, so they are highly susceptible to infection. they take a fever very seriously, and finn had to get an IV, catheter, spinal tap & x ray. it was the most awful experience i've had as a parent thus far. you cannot imagine what it was like to see him in such pain, or watch the nurses restrain his arms and legs, but seeing the tears in his eyes and his little body sob was probably the hardest for me. thankfully, all his tests came back negative, but if i could've gone through this for him i would've a thousand times over.

of course we have one more hurdle this wednesday when he has an ultrasound to rule out pyloric stenosis. i am praying he doesn't have this because it will involve surgery. i can't even wrap my head around that possibility yet.

on a happier note, finn is a very content baby. he loves to look out the window or lay on his play mat. he is smiling and reacting to faces & sounds-especially his brother and sister who absolutely adore him!

2 week check-up:)

so cute!

 first bath...he stopped crying shortly thereafter and loved it!

brothers. easter. little feet:)

 

poor little guy was wiped out after all the procedures. it was just a waiting game at that point.

*disclaimer: none of the pictures were edited. i'm lucky i even got them uploaded!!

more pics:)

i found some more pictures from the hospital. i have some others i'm working on retouching and will share them soon.

on another note, finn has become very alert. he loves to look around and his eyes immediately focus on you when you talk to him. he is looking more like jack each day, but with blonder hair. i'm so intrigued to see who he will look like and what his personality will be like!

introducing finn...

welcome to the world finnegan john....we have been waiting for you!!

and what an entrance he made...i checked into the hospital at 6:05pm, and he was born at 6:17pm!! i had been having contractions since the night before, but they weren't consistent. at one point they woke me up at 1:30am, and i began to think this was it, but every five minutes eventually moved to every 10 minutes, and by morning they were fifteen minutes apart. unfortunately, we were in the middle of a pretty ridiculous snow storm and I-93 was practically undriveable. with that in mind, we headed into boston around 11am after my parents got here. of course when i checked in my contractions had spaced out and were really inconsistent. not only that, my progression hadn't changed from what it was the day before at my appointment. i rolled my eyes at mike b/c you would've thought we were rookies!? so off we went. tim met us with the keys to his apartment. we grabbed lunch, and decided to wait it out in boston until 4pm or so and if nothing was happening we'd go home to hang with the kids. between the time i was discharged (2:30) and 5pm, things began to pick up pretty quickly. at 5pm or so i decided to take a quick shower and call the dr. by the time i got the midwife on the phone i could barely talk through my contractions. mike ran to get the car out of the hospital garage and was going to swing around to pick me up. tim was just about home from work and hopped in to take the car and park it. when we arrived at mass gen, i couldn't even walk. i was "that" girl being wheeled into the hospital in a panic. thankfully, labor and delivery were waiting for me when i got there. they helped me into a gown. the first thing out of my mouth was "i want an epidural!!!" they prepped me for one, but alas it was too late. the midwife checked me, said i was 9 cm dilated and as they began to wheel me into the delivery room my water broke. i couldn't even move to the bed because i needed to push! the dr. barely made it into the room. one long push later, and finnegan john was born! he was absolutely perfect. six pounds eight and a half ounces, eighteen and a half inches. it was the most amazing and scary experience of my life. i wouldn't change it for the world. he is absolutely perfect, and we are all so in love:)

so here he is...and he couldn't have two more proud older siblings!?

37 weeks!!!

i am officially full term--eek! i'm feeling pretty good. definitely slowing down and tired, but i've spent the entire week prepping. all the clothes/blankets are washed, gear has been set up, car seat and stroller purchased...ready or not this baby is on his way!

on another note, one not surprising given the previous 2 pregnancies, i am measuring small. so we have begun weekly ultrasounds along with my appointments. i am confident he is healthy and thriving, i think i just make small babies for whatever reason. i bet you he'll surprise us all and be the biggest one yet;)

and for fun, i just took this pic...

34 weeks!

i have been horrible at updating this poor little guy's blog. but let's be honest, it's the third time around and most of the time i can't even remember how far along i am! not to mention that being pregnant and running around after two very busy children has pretty much left me exhausted. it certainly doesn't help that a certain little person keeps me up a lot of the night with his gymnast moves in utero.

it is a bit nerve wracking and exciting to think that in less than six weeks he will be here! so far all looks good, i had a growth ultrasound at 30 weeks and he was measuring perfectly. i have another growth check at my next appointment on the 14th, and then we go to weekly appointments after that!? at my last appointment the dr. asked if i was all set...ya know do i have the car seat, etc. i kinda laughed and said sure i suppose...when i reality i don't even have the car seat yet--eek! i suppose i better get on that because i hear they won't let you leave the hospital without one-lol.

i will say while i'm anxious for him to get here, and i'm really not enjoying being pregnant, i'm also not exactly ready to enter the craziness of the "newborn" phase. ready or not, he will be here soon!!