Hola de México

Greetings from south of the border! We've ventured to Puerto Vallarta for our first family vacation, and I must say, the little girl is quite the traveler. I thought I'd write a real quick note about our trip so far. I'll put up some pictures, next week.
We weren't sure how she would do on the plane, but we were prepared, just the same. Prior to our departure, Heather and I put together little bags of goodies for our fellow passengers. The "gift bags" consisted of ear plugs, mints, gum, aspirin and a granola bar and included a little note that said: "My name is Finley and I am 9 months old. This is my first trip on a plane, so please be patient with me and my parents. My mommy and daddy would like to offer you these treats to thank you in advance. Have a nice flight!" It was a good move.
Finley was actually very good. Our first plane left early enough in the morning and we were lucky to be able to get an empty seat in our row where she could lay down and sleep a bit. It was pretty much the same on our connecting flight from Dallas to Puerto Vallarta. She had a bit of trouble with her ears on the landing, but it didn't last very long at all. She gets that from her daddy.
Once we landed in PV(as the kids call it), we made our way to our resort, the Grand Mayan. Our rooms(Heather's mom is joining us on the trip), which are huge, are connected by a main living room and kitchen. That living room is now under the rule of Princess Finley. We threw together some cushions and other pads to create a play area for the little one. She spends her time going back and forth, crawling and climbing on anything she can get her little paws on. And as much as she likes that, she loves the pool even more.
We haven't had the chance to get Finley to a big pool, yet so we weren't sure how she would do. It was a little cold on her feet and legs at first, but once she got in she absolutely loved it! We bought a little infant pool floatie that she sits in. It allows her to float safely in basically an innertube with netting. You would think it was the greatest thing she'd ever done. The best part is the "lazy river." This is a water path that's 2-3 feet deep and goes in a meandering loop around the resort property. It has several air jets along the way that shoot up from the floor and create a constant current. You can grab an innertube and just go around and around if you like. It's not super fast, but it moves pretty well. Finley is crazy about it.
The first time we took her in it, she just cackled the whole time. She can kick and splash and zip along next to momma, poppa and nana. AND, when she's done, she's so wiped out, she nods off for a few hours. So, we've all been enjoying the sun (lots and lots of baby sunblock!) and fun and really enjoying relaxing away from home.
We miss all of you, but you understand if we don't come back right away! I'll have much more in my next blog, but I thought you would like to hear how things are and how well Finley is doing on her first big trip.
From our little sunny part of the world to yours, we hope all is well and we will see you soon!

Thankful

Well, it’s nearly that time of year where we make like a Turkey and stuff ourselves. For me, Thanksgiving has always been about spending time with the folks you used to spendevery day with. Heather and I are both lucky enough to have immediate family members within a few driving hours of us, so the holidays aren’t the only time we get to see family, but they are still very enjoyable.

We usually have fairly small, family Thanksgivings, because both of us have uprooted families. My parents left the dusty panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma for the clean Washington rain. Heather traveled in a Navy gypsy caravan and wound up going from Pennsylvania to Whidbey Island just in time for her high school years. So, for both of us, Thanksgiving was about immediate family… Mom and dad and the siblings. And as time has gone by, the parents who left a family behind now have a larger family, here. Which means Finley is fortunate to spend her first of many Thanksgivings with Aunts and Uncles and cousins.

So, in the spirit of being thankful, I would have to say the first thing on my list I am thankful for, is my family. I know that’s a pretty basic one, but it’s important. Without my family, I wouldn’t be the person I am. I wouldn’t have done all the things in my life that lead me to these past few amazing years. And there’s nothing that can compare to my life with Heather and Finley. So, thanks to my family for getting me here.

Which leads me to my girls. One of the things that makes Thanksgiving a little extra special around our home, is that it was about this time a few years ago that Heather and I “officially” started dating. I remember having Thanksgiving with my family and telling them about my “new girlfriend.” Of course, my mom needed to know every last detail, and I obliged. Fast forward, and now we’re on the verge of celebrating our first Turkey Day with our own little turkey. And that’s the second thing on my thankful list.

I can’t think of anything that feels more like a gift than the day that little girl arrived. Heather and I both knew I was in trouble from the moment we found out she was going to be a she. And it’s so true. Finley has her old man wrapped around her finger and I’m gladly wrapped. Whether it’s seeing that first smile of the day or kissing her forehead, gently, as she lays down for the night, there’s only one thing in my life to match the love I have for that little girl. And that’s the love I have for that little girl’s mommy.

I thought it couldn’t get any better, as I stood on the beach in Mexico, trading vows with the love of my life. I thought things were pretty great. I had this fabulous woman. We loved all the time we spent with each other. We had nothing but time. Then the stork came by and dropped off a package. And it just keeps getting better.

I like to think I’m a pretty good Daddy. I can be left alone with the girl for several hours and the house doesn’t burn down. I can change a diaper with the best of them, and I don’t get as wet at bath time as I used to. But when it comes to parenting, I am nothing compared to Heather. Everything I am as a dad comes from watching her. And you know what? It makes me love her even more. Last on my thankful list, but first in my heart… Heather.

I didn’t know what would happen after the baby came. I didn’t know if everything was going to be baby, baby, baby and no us. But somehow… because of Heather… it has never been an issue. There is baby time… which is 98% of the time… and then there’s us time. And all of it… Every single second… is great. I’m not saying we live a perfect life. I’m not saying we don’t argue or even drive each other batty. But there’s no one I’d rather be batty with than her.

It all comes together at the end of the day. I sneak into Finley’s room and lay a hand on her back and feel her little body breathing. Then I crawl into bed and wrap my arms around Heather and feel her breathing. And every night, I feel the same… it takes my breath away.

I Can’t Stand It

So, looking back at some of the blogs, I can see how Finley has developed over the past nine months. It’s really amazing how quickly it seems to all have happened. But the past two weeks or so have seen quite spurt in ability for our little miss.

As I mentioned last week, Finley has figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position, which is great developmentally, but a bit crazy for us. And as each day goes by, our little daredevil is becoming more and more confident with her newfound ability.

More and more often you can find her looking for the next tall thing to help hoist her up to her full 2’-5” frame. It’s just a quick crawl to a nearby barstool and with one hand grasping, she pulls herself up to her knees. After the obligatory look around for the parents – We haven’t decide, yet, if this is to see if we are watching or to see if she can get away with something – she grabs with the other hand and ever-so-slowly pulls up to her feet.

More often than not, her legs are a part quite a bit, so she has to think about her next move. Watching her face as her little brain processes what to do next is interesting; she knows she has to do SOMETHING to make this situation more comfortable, but what is it? And as if she is a rock climber on a sheer face, she slowly moves her leg to a better position then looks to see what her next move will be.

This is where things get a bit precarious. Without a net, the Amazing Finderella lets go with one hand and swings back to see if we are paying attention. And before she can lose her balance, she grabs right back onto the leg of the stool.

A few moments later, after she’s caught her breath from that first tiring routine, she lets go with the OTHER hand. Once she is met with parental approval, the hand deftly snatches the safety of the barstool leg, again.

But, this last move has tired her out and she begins to realize that she has neither the leg nor hand strength to keep this up. Her legs begin to give way and she clutches even tighter to the leg. Panic begins to set in. She looks down. The ground is at least a foot below her heavily padded bottom. A whimper of fear and then, PLOP! It’s a safe landing on the seat of her Huggies™.

Of course, there are the times where it’s not quite a perfect landing and she ends up on her side or face-plants the carpet. There is usually crying involved but I think it’s more because it scares her than that it hurts.

Most of the time she’ll gaze up at the lofty heights at which she just descended then slowly lay herself down on her side for a moment of rest and reflection. Then it’s over and up for another try.
Each attempt becomes a bit more daring. This weekend at the home of some friends, she worked her way up the side of a toy and proceeded to figure out that if she put her weight into the toy, she could let go with both hands. And as long as she kept her balance, both hands could be used to play with the top of the toy. Getting down still seems to be a bit of a concern. But once she figures out she has such a short distance to go, I don’t think that will be much of a problem.

The most interesting thing of all about her ascents is how she is learning to move her legs and feet to help with balance and position. This is making her legs stronger and, in her little way, teaching her what her legs are for. Up until the past few weeks, they were either part of some random yoga move she invented, the things that got her toes to her mouth or the place the doctor likes to stick those mean old needles.

Now, like the arms and hands before, her legs are developing into a critical part of her body. Once she learns to work all of these limbs together, she will be able to properly run away from us.

This Sunday, Finley will turn 9 months old. She’s gone from this little wriggling mass of skin to a fairly dexterous human child. In just the past month, she’s begun the first step of turning her babbles into words and is close to joining the upright monkeys in the evolutionary chain.

As amazed as I am at all of the things I have seen, it’s hard to believe there is even more to come. Finley is not only opening my eyes to the miracle of watching her develop, she’s opening my eyes to how truly remarkable being human is. All of the things we take for granted… walking, talking, eating… we had to learn. And we keep learning, whether we know it or not.

So, thanks to Finley, I get to learn as she does. She gets the basics, and I get to see the human brain and body in action. That’s a lot to learn in 9 months… For the both of us!

Upwardly Mobile

We saw it coming. We knew the day would get here, and now we’re doomed. Okay not really doomed, but life has definitely taken a big turn in the past week. And it kind of snuck up on us.

To begin with, Finley finally cut her first tooth. She’s got a little sharp one on the bottom gum, just to the left of center. This explains a little of the grumpiness she’s had and a few middle-of-the-night freak outs.

Secondly, our little angel has become quite the mobile machine. She doesn’t crawl in the normal sense… it’s more of an army crawl… but she can get around. Her balance has improved greatly, and she can now sit up on her own.

And within the past few days, she’s discovered a new ability that puts us dangerously close to walking… she can pull herself up to a standing position. All of these things happened within the last week and it’s not just a little overwhelming to us… it’s exciting to her.

You see, these new abilities are quite intriguing to the little miss. So much so, that she doesn’t want to go to sleep. No, not at all. In her little mind, there’s just too much to do and see, now that she can go places. A knob on a drawer or the heating vent are perfect things to go check out. That excitement, combined with the development of separation anxiety, makes nap time a much bigger chore than it used to be.

In fact, Sunday night she decided she’d had enough sleep for one evening and wanted to get up and play. Unfortunately, this was 3am. I was lucky enough to go check on her when she made the first sounds in the middle of the night. Usually, a few cries means she’s lost her pacifier and we take turns sleepwalking into her room, popping the binky back in, and sleepwalking back to bed. This night… morning… I came into her bedroom to find her wide awake, looking at me like it was time to play.

It got even better, later that morning when Heather went to go check on her after the wake up alarm went off. Instead of finding Finley awake and playing with a toy in bed, Heather came around the corner to see the Princess standing up in the crib, holding on to the side… She had pulled herself up. The problem was, she wasn’t quite sure how to get down. One can only imagine how long she’d been there.

Again, we knew this was coming. I personally didn’t think it would be this quickly! I figured I had a couple of more months of plopping her down amongst her favorite toys while she rolled around a gummed a doll or two. Now it’s all about keeping one eye on the baby all the time.

Of course this surveillance of the munchkin also leads to munchkin unhappiness. All of this mobility is freedom to her. And we’re the fascist government who won’t allow her to explore.

When she gets too close to the heater… it’s “No, no baby” followed by picking her up and dropping her into a sea of toys a safe distance away. Needless to say, she’s not a happy kid at that point.

And then there’s the bonking of the head. I mentioned before that her balance has improved… and it has. It’s just not complete. She tends to underestimate gravity and winds up head butting the floor or the occasional harder-than-usual toy. At this point, I think it scares her more than it hurts, but it’s all new to her.

That’s when I scoop her up, hold her for a bit and explain how there will be an untold number of falls and bonks in her future and that none of it hurts as much as getting your heartbroken and that I can’t be there to hold her all the time.

Of course, she just looks at me in between sobs as if to say, “I don’t care, Dad. Can’t you see I’m crying?” And I just hold her closer, make some funny noises and she’s ready to go challenge gravity once again. It’s a good thing that at her size, she doesn’t have far to fall.

Another good thing about being that little, is the whole short-term memory thing. I guess that’s why doctors poke and prod you right away… because they know you won’t remember the twenty shots to the legs and butt and come hunt them down in your adult life.

So, here we are, on the verge of having an upwardly mobile daughter in a very small condo. Where the rate of falls and scrapes begin to rise as the amount of naps dwindle. My only hope is that she does so much exploring during the day that she becomes exhausted at night and sleeps and sleeps. Then again, it’s much easier to pick her up after bonking her head on the floor that it is to imagine handing her the car keys. But that’s another day we’re doomed to see. And it can take it’s time getting here.