our song choices for the day

And the winners are:

1. "Deck the Halls".
2. "Angels We Have Heard on High".
3. "The First Noel".
4. "Silent Night".
5. "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful". (This one had the BIG finish and since it was the last one it'll be in my head all day long.

After hearing these Christmas songs for a few days now, maybe this is a good thing to help get Finley used to sleeping with noise. He's had a hard time in the past with creaky floor boards and squeaky doors, but if he can sleep through 5 songs blaring outside his window, maybe he'll be able to handle me typing on the keyboard while he's sleeping. =)

christmas music

You know, you used to have a choice as to when you would listen to Christmas music. You could choose to not go in 'that' store until you were actually going to do Christmas shopping. You could choose to not tune in to 'that' station until you were ready to hear all of the Christmas songs. Now, we have no choice. My quiet house has been filled...and I mean FILLED with the sounds of Christmas music. The church in town has chosen to play Christmas music each day for about 30 minutes. Now, when I said that my quiet house was filled with music, it's because at that time every day it IS quiet with a sleeping little boy. And they have chosen this time out of the whole day to play their Christmas music. Did I mention that we live 2 houses down from the church and that the church speakers are actually the town sirens? We now have no choice. I wonder if Finn will go down for his nap with ear plugs in...

the trashcan

Finley has a brown pair of shoes that I bought him about a month ago. He has never like them. They fit him and look nice with dressier clothes, but for some reason he can't stand them! I was sitting at the computer yesterday when he brought them to me and pointed to his feet. I thought, "wow, this is a big improvement!". I put them on his feet and he immediately started fussing and kicking to get them off. I put him down on the floor thinking that once he started walking in them he would like them. Finley refused to even stand in them. He melted to the floor in a puddle of tears, so upset that he still had the horrible shoes on. So, I took them off and handed them to him. I told him to go put them back and he headed off to the kitchen to put them on the rug by the back door. We've been working on putting things away (books, toys, clothes) and most of the time he gets it right. Well, later when I was making lunch I went to throw some trash away and sitting neatly on top of the trash were his brown shoes. I knew he hated them, but didn't think they were that bad!

veteran's day

Happy Veteran's Day, Grandpa and to anyone else who has served in the past or is currently serving. I appreciate you being willing to give up your life for your country and I never want to take it for granted. I hope everyone was able to pause and take a minute to reflect on the lives that have been lost and the freedom that we've gained in years' past.

the haircut

Yes, I really did it this time. I couldn't stand the shaggy hair around his ears. I was always tucking it behind his ears and you just shouldn't be doing that with a little boy. Just so you know, I only trimmed around his ears. I would like feedback though on whether to cut the back. I like his curls, but maybe a little boy shouldn't have curls???

Before pictures...

After pictures! What a handsome little boy.

misc. pictures

Finley watching the school bus go by the living room window. You can't see it because it's still dark outside, but the lights are really bright and they flash when the bus stops in front of our house. He loves to watch it.


I made some whole wheat bread that was pretty coarse; however, I put Finn up on the counter top while I did the dishes and he unwrapped the bread and started eating it. I can't believe how much bread this boy can eat!


Yes, that is the heel that he's eating off of. I won't say the inside was really soft either, but the heel??? That was definitely tough!


Finn talking on the phone to Grandma. He's so captivated by the sound coming out that he usually won't say anything.

Looks like a pro, though! =) Anything shaped anything like a phone is usually up by his ear and he's saying "Hi" into it.

another doctor visit

Finley has been having fevers for the last week and a half. Last Tuesday we went to Urgent Care and he was diagnosed with pink eye. Last Thursday we were back in Urgent Care because Finley was having a reaction to the pink eye meds. Yesterday, I took him to his primary care physician, Dr. Bell to have her look into the fevers he's been having. First off, she found out that my thermometer is wrong. She thought the batteries were dying. It has been reading high, which is a relief since I thought he was having fevers of 102. They are actually around 100.0 to 100.5. Still something to check into though. She looked him over really well, doing a full exam and when she found nothing wrong, she decided to get a urinalysis. I wondered how they were going to get urine from a 14 month old and then the nurse walked in with a weird looking bag. So I don't get too graphic, they taped a bag around him and then strapped his diaper back on so he couldn't pull on the bag. Then, it was a waiting game. They told me to give him water and then let him play in the water. I gave him his sippy cup and then I ran his hands under the faucet in the room. When nothing happened, I decided to just stick his feet in the water. So, off his clothes went and in the sink went Finley. He LOVED it! And more importantly, it worked. Here are a few pictures of the exciting afternoon at the doctor's office.

When I first put him in the sink, he was trying to drink from the faucet.


More of him trying to drink from the faucet.


And more...I promise, he does get water. I don't know why he got so thirsty.


Now he was just playing.

Trying to get further into the sink. I think he wanted to take a bath.

And he succeeded. His whole onesie was soaking wet.

So I took it off, checked his bag and when I saw it was still dry, I stuck him back in. By this time, there was about a 3 foot radius around the sink that was soaking wet.

Finally in the sink playing in the warm water...and then...success! I checked his diaper and we had our specimen.

His urine turned out to be perfectly normal, so now we wait. If he's still having the fevers through the weekend, I'll take him in on Monday and Dr. Bell will get some blood. There's still a chance that he could just be working really hard on his 1-year molars, but better safe than sorry.

Finley had kind of a rough day with fevering, but this evening he had a lot of fun playing on the floor with Daddy. We're so used to him being so happy that we really miss it when he's not feeling well. Hopefully, the fever is gone tomorrow and he wakes up a happy boy!