Master Finnegan is 6 months old!

Holy moly, time flies. It's been half of a year since my little darling was born. I can hardly believe just how far he's come in such a short time. He went from being my little bean to a big boy....from only being able to cry, to mostly laughing and learning. Look at him so small, the day after he was born. This is my grandmother holding my little man (my dad is filming).

I used to be able to hold him with only one arm. I noticed the other day that I now need two. Here's to the one armed days....some of his first faces.

Today, I sat him down on a blanket on the floor on one side of the room. I sat myself on the couch to pump and was checking emails from my phone. When I looked up to check on Finn, he was gone! Upon further searching, I saw him on the other side of the room on his belly....arms holding him up in baby updog position. I'm super curious how he got all the way over there without making a sound. He was literally 3 feet in front of me. I saw nothing and heard nothing. He's now rolling a lot. Maybe that was it. I haven't seen him crawl yet, but he scoots a little. He's figured out his Johnny Jumper and LOVES to jump. Check him out:

He has a growing interest and joy in our two kitties. Every time they come by, he giggles and smiles wide. Finn loves to pet them. He's actually learning to not grab them but to pet nice. It's amazing how quickly they pick things up when you teach them. He says "mama", and I know he knows what it means. He doesn't say it with me. But when he's with Eric (and let's face it. Babies love their mommies because I have the boobs and boobs = comfort) and he's crabby or hungry or tired, he says "maaaaamaaaaa" over and over. Speaking of saying things, he LOVES to talk. He has a good amount of babble that comes out of him, especially at night before bed. It's like he's getting his last words of the day in before he has to sleep. Here's a video.

What else? Favorite food is for sure avocado! He loves it. I spend about an hour every week or two making baby food for the next week or so. I throw organic veggies in the steam pot and then in the vitamix with some breastmilk, and then into baby food freezer trays and VOILA! Nutritious baby food for pennies compared to the jarred organic stuff. And it really takes very little time. In fact, I usually eat half of what I make him. Acorn squash...half for me, half for Finn! So, I'm enjoying the food part of this all.

Finn has a couple of buddies. Here are some pics taken at his friend Everett's house. Finn loves E's house. They have great toys! ( and a really nice camera. :)

Finn is 5 months

Go browns!

even steelers fans can't hate me cuz I'm too cute.

I tooted!

I love to giggle!

try not to love me

drunk off oatmeal

my new high chair came!

My little man is growing so fast, I'm already ready for another baby. ;)
Finn is doing so much these days, it's hard to keep up. He rolls over and around. He has favorite toys and loves to drop things. He believes nothing should be on any surface except the floor. He's sitting. He loves to play. He puts his arms up for you to pick him up. He pets my face often to make sure I'm still there and real. :) He talks ALOT! He's sleeping 12 hours at night and taking 3 naps during the day. He's still nursing like a champ. He's now eating pretty much anything I'll make for him, which isn't much just yet. But his favorite thing is avocado. He smiles and giggles and is such a love muffin. For all of those who haven't met him (I have a few of you in mind and you know who you are), you're missing out on a wonderful little human! We are always here with open doors. I won't say much more about what he's doing because I feel it's not fair to do so so close to his 6 month birthday. I'm a tad late on the 5 month update. Such is life!

Here's a video of him sitting. Enjoy!

Animal portraits galore!

So, I've been knee deep in work for a bit. It seems like it anyway, but I'm sure it's because I'm also full-time mommy-ing it to my 5 month old. ;) Been getting a lot of animal portrait requests, and I wanted to share these adorable pooches & kitties. Some sad stories, some happy, but all cute as can be. Portraits range in size. Sizes can be seen in any of my etsy listings at http://www.littleliondesigns.etsy.com.

Here they are!

Banjo

Hendrix

Maggie

Best Friends

Maggie

Samantha

Best Friends

BOOOO!

That is all.

I have cast you under my spell....my spell of cuteness!

my kids

I love saying "my kids". I can't describe the feeling that gives me inside. Such a proud statement. ;)
I came across this pic of Kaia yesterday and realized we have the exact pic of Finn. Can you tell which is which?

Finn and Kaia looked almost identical at birth. Finn just looks like a boy version of her. I'm in love with my family. Disgustingly in love with them. Typical mother hen. lol.

Happy 4 month birthday!

Wowie Zowie! Finn is 4 months old today. And just like the little bugger he is, he waiting until today to grab his feet for the first time. Heck yeah! I've been trying to get him to do this for a long time now. I talk into his feet, and he loves it. Giggles and giggles.

Tried to get a photo of him grabbing them, but he never cooperates with that. So, here's in between grabs!

Little dude is now, hmmm, I really don't know for sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say 14 lbs. He's not super chubby, but has some chubb. He's not a huge eater. He's more of a grazer, which is a little tough through the night, but at least he's still good at nursing. I know he'll only be little for so long, so I try not to complain about waking up too much.

We've definitely noticed that he's very opinionated. He's his mother's son. lol. His favorite toy is his sunshine that Auntie Jen (not my blood "relative" Jen, my earth relative Jen) got him. He loves to suck on the rays.

Finn and Mr. Sunshine

Finn's got the funniest hair. It's short in the back but long right behind his ears. And I mean, super long! Like 3 inches long. We call him our little Hasidic Jew. You can't see it really good here (and this was over a month ago when he had more back hair and shorter side hairs), but I love the back of his head.

Finn loves to type on the keyboard. 

Today we got a new washing machine. I know this isn't the most exciting new to everyone out there, but, trust me, if you lived with the washer we're using now (you can hear it a block away. I'm not kidding) then you would be stoked. We got a LG front loader steam washer, which is going to clean our diapers so so much better than the old washer. There's a load in now, in fact. :) Not to mention the energy efficiency of it. It's eco-friendly! Hooray!

We have a big Christmas planned with Christmas Eve at the Urban's, Christmas morning at our house, afternoon at Eric's sister's house, and Christmas night we'll drive to PA to spend time with my brother (can't wait to see him!) and my dad, stepmom, stepsis & her man, and my nephew. We have definitely seen our fair share of blessings and miracles this year. There is definitely peace in our household, and I hope it's in yours, as well.

Love & light!
The Urbans

We are a family of four.

Peace on earth.

VA Beach

Finn had his first real road trip. We trekked it to VA Beach for my cousin's wedding. Finn did amazing in the car and LOVED socializing with everyone. We've come to learn that Finn has a rough time sleeping (meaning he just won't do it) if there is ANYTHING at all going on around him. He's got to be in the action at all times.

My cousin was in the Navy. So we found it appropriate to put the little sailor outfit (that the Troubadours bought) on Finn. Here's a pic.

attention!

 

how cute am i?

With my pops!

Finn got his first picture at the ocean with his Grandpa Randy.

Then we walked down to the beach where daddy held him tight.

How sexy is he?!

He also took his first swim! Here's a pic and youtube video. He loved it and even kicked and did frog legs. :) His little arms were doggie paddling. I was so proud.

I even have a cloth swim diaper!

Here's the video:


It was so great having the family together. It's not often that I get to see all my aunts and cousins and grandma too! It wouldn't have been possible without my Aunt Jodi getting the amazing beach house...well....any Michael and Nicki getting married. ;) I love you all! Hugs to my amazing family!

tiny footprints

Look at these. I finally did it. Finnegan's hand and footprints....

I meant to do this when he was first born, but, let's face it, NOTHING gets done when  you have a newborn. A good friend of mine, Galen, sent a wonderful little gift package for Finn. She makes some really amazing things for kids and some pretty nifty adult invitations and such too. Check out her etsy shop. One of the things she sent in her package were these adorable little note cards. There are 4 different designs, but these two worked best for hand and footprint cards. I'm going to mount one on a fabric covered canvas and hang one by ribbon in Finn's nursery. :) The other three go to Finn's grandparents. I'll post a pic of the nursery art when it's done. For now, here's the cutie hand/footprints.

tiny footprints can make some big steps

Finn is 3 months! (and has been now for a week)

Swimming on the bed.

HOLY MOLY time flies! Finn is 3 months old, and I feel like I have a toddler already. I'm sure those with toddlers are saying, "you just wait, woman." But he is SO BIG. He weighs almost 13 lbs and is like 8 feet tall now. ;) I am so amazed each day by how much he learns. He literally wakes up every day with a new talent. I swear he learns them in his dreams. Sometimes he wakes up and looks different. Overnight! That's just crazy to me.

Things have been smoothing out a bit around the Urban household. We're establishing a routine now that is being led by Finn. We have bedtime at night in a good routine and the morning nap all set. The only thing left to work out is getting him to go down for his afternoon nap at the same time each day. I figure that will come with time. He's still not sleeping through the night, and I don't expect him to until he's on solids. I get up with him about 4 times each night for feeding and changes.

So far, we're still doing great with nursing (knock on wood cuz there were some rough times I didn't think we'd get through.) Finn is breastfed full-time right now as to avoid nipple confusion, which he was starting to get when we giving him pumped milk in bottles at night. I would say it was confusion though. It was more like "screw you, mom. I want the fast method, and I know you are going to give it to me if I freak out on your boob and scream for an hour." It took one day of only putting him to the breast, and he was back to normal. I was so proud of him. He's an amazing learner (and relearner!).

And to all those nay sayers that said we would give up cloth diapering in two weeks, I say "I told you so!". We've been 100% cloth 100% of the time, and I find it extremely easy to manage. I'm quite proud of our diaper stash. He's just now pretty much grown out of his newborn Kissaluv diapers and we're moving on to our stage 2 and beyond stash of BumGenius, Fuzzibunz and GroVias. So far, the GroVias (which I had high hopes for because they are uber cute and a righteous idea) fall short of impressing me and the Fuzzibunz are winning. We do have 3 types of BumGenius, all of which I'm super happy with. All in all, I think we are set with diapers for life....all for around $450-500 total. Sweet!

Enough of that. Let's get to the fun stuff! Here's all the stuff (that I can think of right now) that Finn can now do.

1. He smiles and laughs like crazy! I gave him his first airplane ride and he laughed and giggled so hard he could barely catch his breath. It was so funny. When he wakes up and sees me, he smiles so big, which makes it a-okay for me to wake up 4 times a night for him. ;)

2. He kinda sits up on his own now. I video taped it yesterday, because it was the first time he sat up and played with a toy. He can't do it for a very long time, but will for a few minutes.

Just the dudes being dudes.

3. He talks. He loves to have a conversation. I talk, he talks, I talk again, he talks back. He's quite the conversationalist.

4. He digs his walker. Seriously, he's been in that thing for a month now, which is insane! He loves to play with the toys that are fixed on the tray. He has always been able to move the balls from one side of the arch to the other.

Walker = fun times!

5. He holds his own bottles. No joke.

Holding his bottle

6. He can pick up objects and loves to rub his crinkle blanket in his face. Anything soft he'll rub on his cheeks.

7. He loves to hug.

8. He's saying consonants as of yesterday. They are clear letter sounds instead of just unrecognizable babble.

9. He's doing great with strangers now. He went from not tolerating other people (other than me...not even Eric!) holding him to (since Thanksgiving) loving other people holding him. He even let Aunt Tina babysit him for Eric and my first night out. :)

With the Troubadours of Divine Bliss. They came to see him when they were in town.

10. He now acknowledges the cats and follows them with his eyes as they walk by. Up until this week, he never knew they were there.

That's all for this month. Stay tuned for more Finn updates (hopefully) each month. Although I might skip a month here and there like I did for month 2. What can I say.....it's crazy busy with a baby and there's always more fun things to do than put the baby down to type on the computer. ;)

Happy holidays from the Urbans!
Steph

Finn's first photoshoot

my cutie patootie son

He's quite the model! My good friend Shannon offered to shoot him, and, of course I jumped at the opportunity! She did an amazing job! In fact, I would highly recommend her if any of you need photos for ANYTHING (she does it all!). Check out her blog http://shannonmillerphoto.blogspot.com

Just look at this amazingness! Don't you just want to eat him and squeeze him and love him to pieces? I do. Well, I do that anyway. :) I'm so blessed to know this little man. He's growing up so fast! Updates on his "can dos" to come soon!

Finn kept petting Kaia's urn, which led to this picture "We are Family".

Love

Who can resist those eyes?

Nakedness rules on soft fuzzy rugs!