Finley's Five

Happy Birthday to my sweet Finley Patrick. Lover of all things superhero, legos, bugs and swimming.


Finley, you have my heart. You made me a mom, something I always wanted more then anything else in the world. When you exploded into our lives, you were immediately so loved and so rejoiced over by me and your dad. And while I got the hang of the mom thing and the sleepless night thing, you were there with me. We would spend hours a day lying in bed together. Nursing, snuggling, and when you were older I would pull you in bed with me in the morning and hand you a spatula and you would happily chew on that next to me and kick your legs while I woke up slowly.


Almost everytime I nursed you as a baby, I would pull a giant blanket or quilt around us and make a sort of cocoon that we would be relax into. I wanted you to feel the most safe and loved you could feel.


I remember the night before your first birthday. I was just gripped with this fear of you growing up. I rocked you to sleep that night and held you for the longest time, like an hour and a half, just snuggling you and praying over you, and asking time to stop. I didn't want that first year to be over.


We were on a blissful high, your dad and I with you. You were a little third wheel. We went on walks to downtown salem street most nights. Showing you the train, giving you a taste of icecream. You never slept great at nights but after awhile, that was just our new normal and it was ok. We were best friends, the three of us and it was such a sweet time.


And now you're five. And we had a party to celebrate. Five years of parenthood, survival, learning on you and loving on you.





We're still best friends. You make me laugh so much with your quirky old man humor, your insights into things that we just assume someone your age is oblivious to. Your dad and I have to spell out some of our conversations (which we won't be able to do much longer) but you hate not knowing what we're talking about and you'll instantly ask us, "soooo, what did you just say?".














You are loved by so many. Your family, your friends, your Sunday school teachers and Y workers. Everyone seems to get a kick out of you. While you do have some sass that popped up this year that we're trying to help you restrain, you have the sweetest heart towards younger kids and your baby sister. I hope your heart always stays this tender and innocent and I know God is going to use your softness for His good.





Every year you get older I want you to know this. You.Are.Loved. You were wanted and you are a child of God. And He already knows his plans for you and I'm guessing they're pretty big.








As you start school this year, I want you to learn and grow but I also want you to look out for others. For the kid that no one really plays with, for the one that is quiet and shy or homesick. You are a natural leader and I pray you learn how to make the kids feel included when they're feeling akward.











We love you son. We are proud of you and I think this is going to be a great year for you. When I asked you what you were most excited about turning five, you said, "I just think I'm so big. Like I'm just so huge and big now." You are, but you are still my baby Fin.
Love,
Your Mama

Lilah's Four Months

Sweet baby girl is four, almost five months old now. We had her four month appointment with Dr. Steele and the short version is that she's not starving to death. The long version is that she is 19 lbs, 12 oz and has grown 6 inches in 4 months so she's now 27 1/2 inches long. Shes off the charts in everything. In the last month though I have noticed her losing some of her chubs. I hope she doesn't thin out too quickly though because right now she is head to toe kissable with her soft baby rolls.


Right now she rolls over whenever she is naked. She loves her playmat and her bouncy seat and her all time favorite things are her linkydoos. They hang in her crib, on her mat, bouncy seat and car seat.



She lights.up. when she sees her daddy and if she even hears my voice she will crane and flip her body everywhere trying to see me. We are best friends. She smiles at any and everything and has shown no temper whatsoever. She is easily entertained and honestly is just the most easy going thing to take around with us everywhere. If she gets sleepy while we are out she just takes a quick cat nap in the stroller or carseat and is good to go again. She loves being worn in the carrier and rests with her head on my chest just looking around at everything while I sniff her baby head a million times.
Here she is scratching her brothers head. Fin cuddles with her all the time.


Her one achilles heal is she gets up in the night now, whereas up until 3 months she slept through the night. I can't say I'm surprised, she is a Stephenson baby after all. It doesn't bother me too much but it has made it a little harder not being grumpy in the mornings when I wake up weary from not a lot of sleep. Overall I'm surprised at how normal I can feel and function with so little sleep and I know this is all temporary.
This girl has all of our hearts. My favorite is when I scoop her up and she puts her little soft baby hands around my neck and nuzzles into my neck to smell me. Or when I'm lying next to her in bed in the morning and she is just bursting with smiles at me and twisting her whole body to snuggle closer to mine.
All of my babies make my heart burst with gratitude for how blessed I am. Nothing makes my heart overflow more with pure thanks to The Lord then when I'm nursing Lilah and she's asleep curled into me. God has truly given me my dream.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Round here

Since the wedding we've been doing summery things like hitting up the Y a lot, finally paying off our library tab so we can borrow books again (*sigh* yes mom it's true), and still hitting up the pool a ton.


I finally got to meet my best friend Jenni's little one Amos who has the cutest belly you ever did see. Save this one for the wedding slideshow. I"m calling it.


We have the sweetest old man lifeguard named Ed who lets the boys help him check chemicals at break time. Cole thinks he is the coolest thing ever.


These two have a special sweet connection. Fin would kiss on her all day if I let him. Cole's relationship with her is a little more formal. As in most times he sees her he goes up to her and says, "Hi Lilah, I'm Coley bear". Apparently in his mind she has Alzheimer's.


Sidenote: My niece Kate is the cutest little pixie.


There's a deli/bakery by our house that Pat took us to one morning for breakfast. So so yummy. I smell a tradition...


What happens when Pat's in charge of the baby while I bathe the boys...



Two brothers in a sleeping bag. Grandma gave them one and they both love it so much that Cole sleeps in it for naps and Fin sleeps in it for night time. This is contested every.single.day.


We are so sad as summer winds down that Uncle Will went back to school. He's in highschool now which is a joke because last time I checked, they do not let two year olds in highschool and in my mind, Will is still two years old. That kid is GOLDEN around small children. Biggest help ever.


We aren't wishing away summer at all, especially with as much rain as we've had. I'm still embracing the heat although I'm not gonna lie...I've been day dreaming about skinny jeans and pumpkin patches lately...

When Kiersten got married...

Three down, three to go :) Kiersten got married this past weekend and it couldn't have been a more beautiful time with our close family and friends. My favorite thing about these family weddings is getting to see the Long Island crew and family from all over.
Friday was the bridesmaid luncheon. Lilah and I got all dolled up and headed to my parents for that.


Afterwards we got our nails done with the bride.


When I got home I gave the boys their ring bearer gifts. Lucky me, two more nerf guns were introduced into the house :) you can guess who was hunted with those.


Friday night we were sooo blessed that Jamie and David kept the boys for us while we headed to the rehearsal dinner. Of course we had to dress the cousins alike in outfits from Colleen. Here's Kate (8 weeks) and Lilah (4 months)


Saturday Jamie and I headed over to my parents house for a lunch for everyone and then Jamie did an amazing job on my, Sarah's, Caits and Anna's hair for the wedding. It was fun to all hang out before the wedding craziness. My sisters dubbed Jamie an honorary Keegan now, although her blonde curly hair might give her away.
Lilah caught some beauty sleep on the way to the farm.


Cousins hanging out and cooling off before the wedding





Lets get this party started...


NC State garter for the groom as a surprise :)











Pat taught the flower girls and ring bearers a little game called, "hit Uncle Will with the cornhole bean bags".


Bride and groom with Fin and Emily.


Daddy daughter dance


Cole and Cait in love. I hate that I didn't get a pic of the boys in their bow ties before they took them off because they were edible cute. But I saw the photographer take like a bajillion pics of their cuteness so I'm sure to see some soon :)


Dance party


Um love this pic. We stinking love Mrs Lostrito.


Daddy's tie.


Day after exhaustion at brunch. Missing the Mrs.


Lilah passed out on Nanny at the wedding amidst the loud dance music and cake eating. Such a sweetie.



The boys were some of the first to hit the dance floor and the last to leave. Fin and Emily made every song a slow song and danced to them in a hilarious "do they know they're cousins?" kind of way. We ended the weekend fried and happy. So blessed to see the love between Kier and Sam in such a sweet country wedding.

Kidisms

Oh these boys...


They totally keep me on my toes. They talk from the time the wake up to the time they fall asleep and the stuff that comes out of their mouths is HILARIOUS (and sometimes sassy). I just figured every kid talks as much as they do but I asked my mom this week if all 7 of us growing up talked this much and she said no. So...I guess I'm the lucky one with the bleeding ears :o)




In the past I've just done Finisms but Cole has totally come into his own and is stinkin' hilarious. He has such a strong, vibrant personality and while he's easy going and so happy, he is very expressive as to his likes and dislikes. He loves his older brother and looks up to him so much but he's the first to correct him or echo me correcting him ;o)
-The other day we were in the store and Fin was lagging behind per usual. Cole turned around and yelled at him, "Fin!! I told you three times, COME ON!". Lol, I wonder where he hears that all the time?
-Also I was correcting Fin in the car about yelling and while I was mid-sentence, Cole leaned over an inch from his face and said, "Yea....Don't.Do.That.Anymore". Needless to say this is NOT appreciated by Fin :o)
-Cole always tell me about a dragon in his room thats from baby Einstein. The vent was blowing his curtains one night and he kept shrieking that there was a dragon breathing until I finally figured out what was scaring. The dragon always say, "Bleh" and usually shows up after he's been put to bed and told to go to sleep ;o)
-Cole has a weird thing about noticing bigger people. One day we were walking out of the Christian bookstore which is right next to a plus-size store. A lady was walking out of there and Cole ran right up to her and waved saying, "Hey big lady!!". I'm sure she felt great about herself that day. He also gets very nervous around the bigger people that walk out of the gym as we are walking in. If a chunkier person is walking out, Cole will typically shriek, "I"M SCARED" and grab my hand. Honestly it's 50 % mortifying and 50% hysterical.
-Cole is definetly our extrovert in the family and he loves everybody. Everywhere he goes he waves to people shouting, "Hi worker! Hi lifeguard!". At a restaurant once he left our table without Pat or I noticing (parenting fail) and joined a huge family party. I got to him right as he climbed into a chair with these strangers and said, "Hey guys! What're we talking about?". It's a good thing he's cute :o)
-The shallow end at the pool is his domain and for some nutso reason he calls it his "Chicken house". He invites people to his chicken house and if you try to get him to come into the deep end with you he'll say, "No thanks, I'll just stay in my chicken house. But you can come into MY deep end" and he'll gesture towards the steps :o)
-One time Pat was correcting Cole's behavior and he said, "Cole, that is unacceptable!". Later Cole did the same thing again on purpose and looked at Pat and asked, "Daddy, is that unsuseptible?". I think he liked the word :o)
-He's very affectionate and has lately started to randomly come up and ask, "What can I DO for you?". Normally he asks this with his blankey on his head as he's telling me he's Joshua from the Veggie Tales movie. The kid is a sucker for Veggie Tales and Baby Einstein. Baby Einstein is a verb to him. If he likes something, the highest compliment he can give is, "That's SO baby Einstein". My family thinks it's so funny.
-He has been very into calling himself the "Big Brother" and he typically calls Fin "brother" and Lilah "Sister". If he does something he's proud of, like climb out of the tub without slipping, he'll throw his hands in the air and say, "I'm a big brother!!". The cutest.
-This morning I was dressing Lilah on the bed and Cole kept hurling himself into the room and crashing on the bed. I told him to stop because he might jump on Lilah and he looked at me with a hurt look in his eyes and said, "But mom! I'm playing a game! It's called, "Jump on Lilah"." If that sweet girl makes it to toddlerhood, it will be a miracle with these crazy brothers.




There are a million more things I could say about this kid but for the record, I think 2 years old is the most fun age. I've seen nothing terrible about it, first with Fin then with Cole. The stuff that comes out of their mouths is just so stinking hilarious.




While I've mostly just recorded Cole-isms lately, Fin has his own strong personality. Four years old for us as come with some sass and with him exploring and thinking about things on a deeper level. He asks us questions about God and the Bible that seriously blow my mind.
-Like one time all in one conversation he asked How God chooses what babies are born sick and what babies are born well and If God is in charge of everything then why can't he get rid of Satan. Talk about challenging! He's a thinker and I try to give him as many thoughtful answers as he is asking thoughtful questions.
-Fin wrote an invitation to Pat yesterday to wrestle this morning. It said, "Let's eat cereal, have a little fun, and then meet to wrestle". He then signed his name "Fin the slave" and had Pat sign his name on a line if he agreed. Pat signed it "Macho Man Daddy Savage".
-Fin's sassy personality cracks Pat and I up. One day he was playing soccer with Pat and he had the soccer ball. He said to Pat as he kicked around the ball, "You think you're going to get this? Well let me tell you about a little boy named Fin. A little boy named Fin who's not going to bed early tonight. That's right he's staying up!". SERIOUSLY. Who says these things?? And all while dancing around a soccer ball.
-Pat often takes Fin to the pool with him when he swims laps and lets Fin watch Pink Panther on his phone. He was swimming and noticed Fin looking confused so he asked if Fin needed help loading the show. Fin said he was fine. Pat swam a few more laps and then asked him again. Fin shouted back across the pool, "DAD!! Why are so worried about the pink panther??? You can swim your laps, I am fine!". Stinker.

While their talking can be exhausting these kids give me so much joy and entertainment on a daily basis. I will say, once they've talked themselves to sleep at night (literally), the sound of silence is a beautiful thing :o)