This Boy

Despite the fact that I'm having a difficult time sitting in this chair because of the weight that is in my abdomen and pushing into my lungs, it is hard for me to believe I am going to have another baby. Finn seems SO much still my baby. I don't know why its so hard to believe. String Cheese wasn't even 22 months old when Deedle was born. Deedle was only 21 months when Loumy came home (they are less than a year apart). Finn will be two in only three more weeks, so it high time for him to become a big brother. :) But we have sure loved having him as our baby and there is always some kind of wistful sadness that comes with displacing the baby of the family. It wasn't there so much when Loumy lost his spot because he was already four and I kind of just group them (as does Finn) into the "kids" category.

One reason he is the baby is because we all treat him that way, still. The big kids have lost some of their patience with him at times, but mostly they still dote on him. If they are home when he wakes from a nap, they rush to be the one to get him out of his crib. They never complain about helping him into his highchair to give him a snack. Loumy will take him outside and play on the trampoline with him for long periods of time. SC will completely bathe, diaper, and pj him if he needs it at bedtime. At dinner, the entire family will be looking at him as he says or does something. We will all praise him at once for doing so well at drinking from a cup with out a lid. He really makes us all very happy and he definitely has his own special spot in the family.

Perhaps one thing that keeps Finn feeling more like a baby than the others is that he's taking his sweet time with language. I have no concerns. He's just going at his own pace. At his age, SC was saying things like, "Mom, can I feed the baby her bottle? Mom, can I play with the baby? I want to go outside and play, Mom." Finn is just putting a few words together, but not forming sentences. But, as with all of the kids, I am delighted with how much he is learning and growing every day. He is constantly mimicking big words, especially in the tone they were said. The other day in the car, he had the entire family laughing when he threw out his arms and shouted, joyfully, "America!" He wasn't mimicking anything that was recently said, so we all found it quite charming.

Sometimes Finn babbles, but usually he is quite deliberate with what he says. The only time he really strings words together is when he puts "Mommy" or "Daddy" at the end of every request. His requests are more of a statement than a question:

"Canny (candy) mommy."

"Cookie mommy"

"Bath mommy"

"Bunny mommy"

"Juice mommy"

"Peace (please) mommy"

"Color mommy" etc.

I wish I would video Finn more often so I never forget what his voice sounds like or the way he speaks now. When he does string words together, it is usually with a pause between each one. When he is ready for bed, he is ready. He will kindly request. "Bedt. Mommy. Bedt. Now." If you ask him, "Are you ready for bed?" He will beam. If you ask the follow ups, "Do you want your bunny? Do you want your blanket?" He will melt into you with joy. He does not like it, however, if Ah-way (Loumy) is not going to bed at the same time. A few nights ago Finn was ready for bed but the rest of us were still playing a game (or as Finn pronounces it "a gwame") for Family Home Evening. He reached sadly towards Loumy and cried, "Ah-way! Ah-way! Bedt. Now. Ah-way." He is also very concerned if his beloved "Ah-way" is not there in the morning when he wakes up.

This afternoon I had to lean over while in the car and write with one hand just to record the magic of Finn-speak. It rained this morning quite hard for several hours, then this afternoon the skies completely cleared and the weather was a brilliant 82. Finn walked out to get into the van with no shoes on. Once in his seat, he was quite dismayed to discover grass and mud all over the soles of his feet.

"Feet! Mommy! Feet! Boogersss!"

"No sweety," I said, wiping them gently, "There are no boogers on your feet."

"Mommy! Feet! Dooty (dirty). Boogerss. Stinky. Boogerss. Mommy. Feet."

He probably moaned the word "boogerssss" about 28 time until I was able to stop, get out a wet-wipe, and clean the soles of his chubby, little feet.

Having thus conquered the boogery-feet, Finn went on, "Bone. Now. Mommy. Bone." He used to say "phone" but then just decided it was easier to say "Bone" and won't change back. So that sentence meant, "I'm ready to play with your cell phone now, mom. Please hand it to me." He sticks his arm out straight, stretches out his fingers and moves his hand in a tick-tock motion while he waits for me to fish it out of my purse.

Then I hear this:

"Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.

Shooossss. Shooossss.

Hewwo! (hello!). Bye! Hewwo!" Then deciding this word would make a lovely song he goes into a high pitch and begins to sing, to a tune all his own: "Hewwo...hewwo. hewwo. hewwooooo! hewwoooo. heeewwwooo."

Next he dialed Chancho a few times on the speed dial.

A few minutes later, he was handing the phone back to me, twisting it the same tick-tock way in his hand and saying, "Hanss, mommy! Hanss (hands)!" This is to mean that he would now like me to put away the cell phone and hand him the "kid-safe", foaming, hand sanitizer bottle so that he can pump it all over himself.

And that is a typical car ride.

Because Finn is typically so easy-going and loving, one might not guess that he is extremely stubborn. Once he makes up his mind about something, there is NOOO dissuading him. Say for example he is done eating and you want him to have just one last, tiny bite of chicken (which he really likes). Nope. Not happening. He will not touch it. No amount of coaxing, bribing, or pleading will get him to change his mind. I am glad he has a strong spirit. The terrible twos are sneaking up on us and this stubborness is sometimes difficult to handle (he just ignores me completely if he doesn't want to hear my request for him to put away my makeup, for example), I hope that I can channel that strength into good things as he gets older!

One special thing about this boy is that he LOVES his daddy! He missed him terribly while we were still in Utah and would talk to him pretty much daily on the phone. He was very clingy to Chancho when we finally were together again. And he still pretty much is. Last night he woke up around midnight, upset about something and was wailing, "Daddy! Daddy!" so sadly, even though he was only half awake. He loves to snuggle with Chancho, sit on his lap for a short TV time (he's really not interested in TV), or sit next to him while he works on the computer. He loves to wrestle already. And is usually quite sad if he's awake when Chanch leaves in the morning for work. This morning he was snuggling next to me in bed when C finished getting ready. C came over and gave us both a kiss goodbye. Finn then climbed down from the bed and ran to grab C's hand with his chubby right fist. With his left hand he tick-tock waved to me and said, "See ya!" He was none too happy that he couldn't head out the door with C. Last week he had one very sad morning. He tried following C out the door and I had to pick him up. He cried and cried. He wasn't trying to get away from me, he just seemed heartbroken. He rested his head on my shoulder as he mourned his father's departure. Then he looked up at me and with tears in his eyes said/asked: "Daddy. Back. Soon."

Well, this was a long post and perhaps not interesting to any of you, but it will be to me. Tomorrow he will learn more words and pack on a few more pounds. Soon he will put sentences together. Some day he won't cry for me when he goes to nursery. Some day soon he'll be embarrassed when I kiss him goodbye as he goes in to his first day of school...yikes! The time slips by so quickly. Oh...and in a few weeks he is going to be a big brother!

The Surprise Vacation

Last week we heard word that an Arctic Storm was going to be blowing into town. Kids went to school last Monday and all was fine. Monday night the storm came rolling in. We got a call at 5:30am that school was cancelled. There was snow on the ground, which was actually more just like snow cone ice (that was its exact consistency) and thick sheets of ice on the road. Temperatures dropped and the roads were so icy that the schools were closed again on Wednesday. Thursday I thought for sure school would be open. Nope. Still closed. The kids cheered. I shrugged. Chancho worked from home on Tues but went in on Wed. He was one of only 4 employees that showed up. There were wrecks and cars slid off the road all over the place. He went back to work on Thursday. That night we received another call that school was closed on Friday as well! I was pretty shocked. But by the time we were in bed, thick snow was falling and there was a deep blanket on the ground in the morning. This was real snow. Like Utah snow! Chancho worked from home again and the kids and I went for a walk with the Morphis fam in the snow.

Morphis Family:


The kids then played games with the Morphis clan for the next several hours while I napped and baked cookies. It was a very happy, nice, and surprising break. Not even any of the lifelong Texans that I talked to had ever had four days of school canceled like that. I'm sure its something that we'll talk about for a long time in the future (and the kids will say, probably every time it threatens precipitation in the winter, "Remember when school was closed for FOUR DAYS? Maybe it will close again!!!") We're new to Texas so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Making a House a Home

We have been in Texas for about 7 weeks now and I am happy to say that most of the boxes are unpacked and I am starting to recognize our house from the outside (but not totally, I usually look for the neighbors cars because our house still looks like everybody else's to me). I have not done a ton to really make the house feel like home...its mostly just home because we're here. I'm not sure how much energy I will put into making this space feel like it is mine because...well...we may not be here more than the next 17 months and I have limited time and energy...so I don't know how much will be spent on that.

I did need to make one space feel much more mine. That is the front room. Originally it was kind of a brown color. When we walked in the first day, Chancho said, "Nice pink walls." And indeed, they were quite pink. I tried to pretend they were fine...but they started to feel very oppressive. One morning, after getting the kids off to school, I dropped onto my bed and began to cry because the walls in the stairway and front room were...MAUVE. I guess they weren't really mauve. Just tan with a bit of red undertone, but I just hated it for some reason. I decided I would have to paint, despite our lease agreement (and luckily the homeowners said they were actually fine with it).

Then I bought some crazy Willy-Wonka couches off of Craig's List (more on them later) that I thought were just a nice neutral khaki but against the mauve walls, everything just looked like puke. So I decided I absolutely had to paint and it had to be blue. After using some of Catherine's left over paint and 3 trips to Home Depot for paint samples, I had 5 blue patches on my walls and made a decision. Now it is done and I am so happy. I love blue. And green. Some are afraid of these colors on walls. Chancho would prefer a nice cream. Perhaps a tiny hint of blue. But I need color. Colors affect me so much. And this blue makes me feel peaceful and happy. The change is pretty dramatic, but was quite simple. I painted, hung some linen drapes, made some pillows, recovered the piano bench, and hung up some of our stuff and now I have a room that I really like.

So, here are some pics.

Pillows went from this:

To this:
And this:To this (much to Deedle's dismay. She asked, of the hotpink pillow, "Mom, WHY why WHY would you buy such a beautiful pillow and then just destroy it?"):

And, because my sisters say that want to be able to "picture" what the rest of our space looks like, here are some more photos. If you look out the front door, you will see this street (the Morphis's live 3rd house on right) and if you are super lucky, you may be able to see Deedle painting her toenails: Or, Finn pushing around this old car that Aarison let him use (and which he adores): Turn to your right (west) and you will see this:Turn to the left (east) and you will see this: Turn back into the doorway and look to your right and you will see this: Turn to your left and you will see this: Walk straight back and you will come into the kitchen and another living area (more photos later). Turn back around to see the front room again:
Then go up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, turn right and you'll go to the master bedroom (sorry no pics). Turn left and you will come to a hall that first has this room:

Then this one:Then this one:

So...this is our place. I hope you enjoyed the little tour. We would not say this is our dream house, but at the same time, we are very happy and have so much more than we could need, so what is not dreamy about that?