Mr. Finch

With all of the excitement concerning baby bird #2, I forgot to give an update on my growing little man, Finch!! A couple of weekends ago, my little Finch, my best little buddy and partner in crime became a six month old baby boy.

Eek! Did I really just say six months??? I mean, wasn't it yesterday that I was throwing up and dying during my pregnancy for him? Wasn't it just a few hours ago that I held him for the first time, and maybe twenty minutes ago when we took him home for the first time?

This totally just happened, didn't it??

It feels like that and even the many nights we have spent waking up and feeding/diapering him and the many hours of loving service we have shared with him seem like they have just barely happened. I'm not ready for my sweet little man to become a little boy so soon. But, alas, as all children do, they ignore their mommies and grow up anyway.

So in commemoration of his six months, I want to share the fun and wonderful quirks of my sweet little boy.

1. Finch is the happiest kid (and probably person) I know. He always greets me with a smile, and always smiles at anyone (especially, women, the little flirt!) around him. Until you take him away from me and then he stops smiling and starts crying and squealing instead.

2. Finch is very sensitive and intuitive. Whenever anyone is sad or crying he immediately hones in on them and tries to touch them to see if they are okay. He loves to look at other babies and gets so concerned if one is having a hard time. It's pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

3. Finch is so so curious. He is always looking around at everything and observes as much as he can around him. Now that he rolls and scoots, he is grabbing onto things I don't even realize are there and tries to eat them. It freaks me out. When he starts to crawl or walk I am in big big trouble. This kid is going to give me real grey hairs.

Finch, eating leaves....

4. Finch loves water! Giving him a bath gets wetter and wetter for me because he has learned how to scoot to the bottom of his bath chair and then slam his feet into the water so a huge splash goes everywhere. He thinks it the greatest thing since sliced bread and does it over and over until I finally take him out of the water because a) I am soaked through, b) I am afraid he'll suddenly propel himself into the water like the water baby he is, and c) most of the water is out of the tub anyway.

5. Finch loves to sing. I am the assistant ward choir director for our church and Finch loves to sing along with the choir. He squeals and babbles along and has the biggest smile. He loves it when I sing to him, and is so responsive to music. IZ's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is his favorite song and he stops everything he is doing to listen to it. He loves primary songs and "I'm trying to be like Jesus" seems to be his favorite one at the moment.

6. He loves phones. He always wants mine so my mom mailed me an old phone I used in high school and Finch tries to eat it. Whenever he hears familiar voices on the phone (especially his daddy's) he gets so so excited.

7. Finch loves his Daddy. Ben is seriously his best friend and they have so much fun together. They speak the same language and I love to see the friendship those two have.

8. Finch is a "Mama's Boy" and I love it. I enjoy it as much as I can now because I know eventually I will have to let go so he doesn't end up living in my basement when he's 35 taking care of all of my cats. But for now, it's totally fine and okay for him to be my little shadow and to want to snuggle with me and to be held by me whenever it is possible.

9. Finch loves bedtime stories. Reading a story before bedtime is a huge tradition in my family and we have a library of childrens' stories in our house for him. (Go to thrift stores, we got ours for like .25-.50 cents each.) He especially loves, "Where the Wild Things Are", "The Gruffalo", "Georgie the Ghost", "There's a Nightmare In My Closet", and "Alligator Pie". "Alligator Pie" is the funnest one to read as a parent.

10. Finch loves to eat his hands, and toes, and enjoys applesauce. He hates squash, and tried carrots last night and survived. Sometimes when I am naughty I will dip his pacifier in my ice cream and he loves it. Sorry but I'm not sorry. If you see Finch, you'll see that he loves food. He's 18 pounds now and we couldn't be prouder, especially since he had a hard time gaining weight for the first couple of months of his life.

11. If you are ever having a hard day, come see us. Finch will love you until you feel better. I have never felt such a pure and Christlike love like the love Finch has. He is so forgiving, so tender, and so kind. He lights up any room, and when I am having a hard day and don't feel well or I feel like being pregnant is too hard to handle, we snuggle and he helps me to find hope again.

12. He is dramatic. Finch definitely got my flair for being an awesome person until we are freaked out, upset, or unhappy. We get dramatic. We crack up whenever he gets upset because it is very unique and creative and I don't look forward to the temper tantrums we'll have in the grocery store. I guarantee he will reenact a Shakespearean soliloquy and then fall "dead" because he hasn't gotten the cheerios he needs to live. You think I'm being dramatic, but I have found one to take the cake and his name is Finch. We love it though, and I guarantee we will have many years of laughing, crying, sighing, and blushing faces. I can't wait :)

I dub thee, "Sassy Finch"

13. He is a chatterbox. He talks and talks and talks. I love it. He has so much to say and so much to share and I know that he will have so many incredible things to share when he can express his ideas and share his world with me. I love seeing the emotion he has even now when he tries to talk with us, and I look forward to all he will say when he can.

14. He likes monkeys. If you ever want to get him something he likes, he is a monkey man. Oh, and he likes blankets. He likes them all over his face. It freaks me out a lot, but apparently his father is the same way so I guess I'm off the hook, kind of but not really.

15. Finch is super ticklish and has the greatest laugh. It is enough to make you happy and smile even if you have made a contract with the devil to never smile again for a million bucks. You'll smile. We always do :)

So there you go, that's a glimpse into the fun life we share with this magical little person. We love you, Finch, and can't wait for all of the adventures we will share with you. Thank you for making me your Mama, I couldn't imagine a better way to spend my days :)