Christmas #5



Christmas #4



Christmas #3



Christmas #2

Christmas with Cody's Dad

 



Christmas #1

Finke Family Christmas

 



let's go swimmin'!

Kaden was actually more interested in Diego on his swim diaper :)

He was brave enough to go down the slide...

you can't tell by the look in his face, but he really did like it!

 



lovin' our first snow!



what do you think of this little man?

The other morning, Paxton was up early to eat and as his wide eyes gazed up at me, I knew he wasn't planning on going back to sleep. So because I needed to get in the shower and start getting ready for work, I put him back in his crib with some toys. He was very content.

As I'm in the bathroom I hear a crash....

my heart sunk, I thought --oh my gosh, he just flipped himself out of his crib, what am I going to see when I walk in there, I don't know if I can go, what should I do, I don't hear any crying, is he still moving, is he that hurt, what should I do, could he really flip himself out of his crib, no he couldn't have just flipped himself out, what the heck was that then, oh my gosh did he really just flip himself out of the crib---

ok, so I know you're thinking that's a little over the top, but honestly that's how my anxious freakish mind works these days (it's a little out of control, but we're working on it). 

I walk into his room, and there he is standing up in his crib. Thank the Lord, he's still IN his crib. But what the heck! He's standing?!? How is my baby already pulling himself up to stand??  How is this happening??

He had reached over and knocked down the lamp on the side table next to his crib.

And oh was he proud!

our gift from God

 



 

We celebrated Paxton's baptism over Thanksgiving weekend. What a beautiful day it was. We kept it small. Because my sister and her family are currently living with my parents, my mom was just slighly panicked about having people over to the house. So we just had our immediate families and grandparents. But it was nice. Of course our little man was a rock star!

 



a 6 month old?

 

Who can believe we have a 6 month old in our house already?  Not me! Where has my baby gone? Because he certainly isn't a baby anymore, by any stretch of the imagination :(

 

6 month well baby check:

Weight: 20lbs. 12oz. (91%)

Height: 28" (91%)

*still eating rice/oatmeal cereal but now eating a variety of fruit and veggie purees. cries when his bowl is empty. i usually have to dish up some more.

 

*started eating gerber puffs. he doesn't always get them to his mouth, but he sure gets excited when he does. they also occupy him just enough that i can get his dinner ready without a fit.

 

*poor sleeping habits. short naps. likes to nap in my arms. often wakes up screaming. wakes throughout the night. we're trying the cry-it-out sleep training technique but with little success.

 

*wearing size 3 diapers

 

*wearing 9 month clothes

 

*crawling EVERYWHERE! trying to baby-proof with two 2 year olds in the house is like shoveling snow when it's still snowing!

 

*just started pulling to stand.

 

*doesn't care for his jumperoo much (not like the other two did). i think he's too confined and would rather be on the go.

 

*has 2 bottom teeth and chews on everything

 

*loves taking a bath. still uses the infant tub and splashes like a wild man.

 

*loves his brother and sister and will follow them around the house.

 

 *he really loves any attention and gives the best smile when you talk to him.

 

 

Other than some difficult nights...Pac-man is the best little baby. I don't know how we got so lucky!

Love you to the moon and back little man :)

 

 

I find it interesting to compare him developmentally to the twins. He is meeting milestones FAR AHEAD of both of them. While it's fun to watch, it makes me a little very sad. He's not supposed to be doing these things already. I feel like he's growing up on me way too fast :(

 

                          (sorry, not sure why these videos are so large)
 

                      *Paxton crawling at 5 months

                         *Paxton crawling at 6 months

wrap your head around this

What do ya think?

Triplets?

 

 

You do know they were all three "conceived" at the exact same time, right?

So wouldn't that make them triplets?

 

It messes with your mind a little to think that they are all "technically" the same age, but that little Pacman was frozen for a year.

 

Crazy right?



you know you're a parent of twins when...

I found this on Facebook and thought it was too cute. I'll share the ones that I felt we could relate to :)



YOU KNOW YOU'RE A PARENT OF TWINS WHEN...


...you must have two of everything or it's World War III.

...you do EVERYTHING twice.

...you've fully delivered a baby and they tell you to push for a second time.

...you take just one out with you and you feel a little lost, but shopping becomes a whole lot easier!

...it takes an hour to get 3 things at the grocery store because everyone stops to see the babies.

...everything takes twice as long.

...you count heads.

...going to a store it takes longer to get out of the car than the actual purchase, if you even do it at all!!

...you become A human jungle gym... and end up with more bruises than the babies.

...anytime you look at a price tag, your mental math default is "double that"

...you think you just might go a little nutty on the next person who says, "WOW you really have your hands full!", "Oh do twins run in your family?" 

...you have an appointment at noon and you start getting ready at 8.

...your entire wardrobe is 2 sizes bigger than before and still nothing fits you anymore.

...you spend more on diapers and formula than your actual mortgage.

...doing anything with one feels like a piece of cake!

...you find a super cute outfit, but leave it behind because you couldn't find one to match it.

...you use the word "singleton"

...no one can ride in your car because it's full of car seats

...you take one of your twins to the doctor because they are sick and you ask the doctor for two prescriptions

...you have one baby after having twins and you can't believe how easy it is


Happy Friday :)

anxiety

So many things lately are causing me a lot of anxiety...I mean A LOT!!  This blog being one of them.

I so badly want to document our days, but our days keeping slipping through my fingers. I have so many ideas to blog about, but then time passes by and it seems like old news.

Do you ever have so much to do, that everything seems so overwhelming, and then you do nothing?
Happens to me every.single.day!

I don't want this post to seem disorganized, but I think it'll make me feel better if I just throw it all out there in a big mish-mashed way. (mish-mash, is that a word?)  It's kind of how my brain has been working lately :)


First up...the 3 precious souls that are fast asleep in their beds.

Now that Paxton is 5 months, I'll give you the stats at his 4 month well baby check:
          Weight: 17lbs. 12oz. (84th percentile)
          Height: 26.75 inches (92nd percentile)
*This kid is rockin' life!
*We started him on cereal and he loves it.
*He rolls and scoots himself all over the floor.
*At times, he is soo very quiet and just takes it all in. Other times he is as social as they come. He loves to smile, laugh, and talk with anyone who will talk to him.
*He loves his baths (and pees 100% of the time).
*He chews on EVERYTHING.
*He's wearing size 2 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. He is soo long! I am constantly rearranging his closet, taking out the old and putting in the new. I can't keep up with the pants that more often than not look like capris :)
*He goes to bed around 8pm.
*He still gets up at least once (if not twice) a night to drink a bottle.
*He has the brightest blue eyes and brown hair that stands straight up.

He seriously is the BEST baby. I don't know how we got so lucky. I could sit and snuggle him all day. Watching him sleep in my arms or rubbing that fuzzy hair against my cheek, my heart melts. We are smitten with this little guy!

Kaden and Kenley:
*Wow! These are two crazy 2 year olds! They have developed soo much personality. I don't even know where to start.
*Most recently, we switched them from their cribs into their toddler beds. Even though they've only been sleeping in their beds for a few nights, it's definitely been a challenge but I guess it could be worse. They think it's pretty exciting so they are very wild when they climb into bed. They like to get out (but haven't yet left the room) and they like to climb into bed with the other one. Kaden is scared. When we get after them to get back into bed, he hustles his butt and feels bad. Kenley on the other hand, not so much. She will say "NO", stare you down, and inch herself further and further off the bed. It's lovely.
*They have started asking "why" to every thing we say...this is driving Cody nuts :)
*Kenley responds with "no" or "no way" to everything we ask her to do. And as of lately, she's started adding "dude" behind it. She's a nut!
*They are soo very independent. They want to do it all by themselves. We've learned to just get used to spending a little extra time to let them do things on their own, or we will have complete melt downs.
*Speaking of melt downs...we're still having them...a lot!
*They've been able to open the doors for a while now, but they have also now figured out how to unlock the doors. So there has been more than one occassion where we've caught them out the kitchen window playing in the back yard...man they're quick! What the heck!?!

Oh, how these two keep us on our toes. They make parenting the best job and at the same time make me question why I wanted to parent in the first place :) They can be so much fun or they can make us want to pull our hair out.


Onto my anxiety. Remember I shared with you that I was put on an antidepressant after Paxton was born to help with my emotions and anxiety? Well, my emotions have settled down greatly. I can count only a couple of times where my eyes have even gotten teary (this is huge people)! But my anxiety...holy cats! This still seems to be getting the best of me at times. Maybe I'll post on this topic more in the future.

My house is going under in a big way. Laundry is a full time job. I can't stay on top of the dust. The mail keeps piling up. I can't seem to get on top of anything. It takes everything I've got just to maintain.

And money. Oh my. If that isn't a stressor.  But what's new right?


Why the heck can't i get it together?

life lately

So apparently I'm not very good at keeping this blog updated :(  We started school mid-August and it seems like something is taking my time away from the computer - LIFE!

We've been busy!

 

 

rolling already?

One day, a couple of weeks ago, Paxton flipped onto his tummy. I thought it was a fluke. But he did it 3 times that day. He's done it a couple of times since then. But today, he's done it all day long!

Oh my!

(he is one day shy of 3 months old)



001 from Holli Finke on Vimeo.

taking life for granted...don't do it

(note: I've debated whether or not I should make any sort of blog post about this, as it was a personal experience for my dad. An experience I know he doesn't want to re-live and he tries everyday to get out of his head. But for me, I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop thinking about all of the people in this world that take life for granted. We are not guaranteed tomorrow and therefore, I am compelled to write about his experience.)

My parents took a three week vacation a couple of weeks ago. They drove to Colorado, for my Aunt's wedding, and continued their trip heading west with a final destination of sunny California. Las Vegas was one of many stops along the way. About an hour outside of Vegas, they were a little unlucky...or maybe I should say, they were the lucky ones.

a cloud of dust
a horrific accident
my parents were the second car on the scene
the first car was a group of college aged boys
running for water, running for fire extinguishers
the car started to smoke and then went up into flames
intense heat
no one could even get close
they tried, they tried everything they could
but there was nothing that could be done
the flames and the heat were too intense
they could see an arm out the window
but the worse part, was the screaming
a child
a child was screaming inside the vehicle
they had to listen
the complete and utter helplessness as the screaming continued
a highway patrol was the first emergency vehicle to arrive
there was no way there were going to be survivors
my dad had to walk away, he had to get out of there
he walked back to the car crying
he says he will never forget that horrific sound
that screaming will be forever embedded in his head

He read the next morning that it was a father and his 6 year old son in the vehicle. Both died. How do you continue a vacation, how do you have fun??

In an instant, lives were changed. Life is too short and you never know what any moment will bring.

I've been having a lot of anxiety over this. It seems to affect me every single day and especially when I get into my car and especially when I have my kids with me. I pray you cherish every moment of every day. For me, it puts things into perspective. What we think are big issues are really nothing compared to what some people have to live through.

And we have no reason to complain.

well baby checks

Last week, all three kids had their check-ups with the pediatrician.  Here are our stats:

2 years:
Kaden:
     Weight: 28.12 (60th percentile)
     Height: 34 inches (44th percentile)

Kenley:
     Weight: 34.2 (98th percentile)
     Height: 34 inches (68th percentile)


2 months:
Paxton:
     Weight: 15.0 (88th percentile)
     Height: 25 inches (99th percentile)


I made all the appointments at the same time, so we could do it all in one shot. I thought it would be easier for Cody to take time off and only have to go in once. Yikes, we were there a looooong time. And the longer we were there, the smaller and hotter the room got! But I must admit, all three of them were amazing troopers :)

Paxton got his shots. Mom couldn't wait to pick him up and snuggle. A case of the post-immunization-crabbies also gave mommy some more snuggle time.

We have three growing, healthy, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, kids on our hands!

047 from Holli Finke on Vimeo.

fun?

This last weekend was Brewster Fun Days. On Saturday, they have food and activities in the park as well as a parade in the afternoon. It was about 130 degrees, humid, and a little rainy. Yuck! My sister and niece came to visit for the weekend, we thought the kids would enjoy the parade together. We walked up to main street in the rain but then parked ourselves right under a big ol' tree in order to stay somewhat dry during the parade. Kaden was a bit terrified at the beginning with the "scary man in the puppy costume" as well as the loud sirens from the fire trucks. It took him some time, but before long he was down picking up candy with the girls.

After the parade we walked to the park to get some lunch, Indian Tacos, YUM! It started raining again, so we huddled ourselves and the strollers under a tree and attempted to eat our tacos. You know how it goes....a styrafoam plate, plastic fork and knife, messy, no table, cutting through your plate, spilling meat down your chin, baby crying, sweat dripping down your back, kids in strollers eating freeze pops dripping juice all over....this is FUN days right??

paxton ~ 9 weeks



workin' the potty

I've started encouraging the kids to start thinking about using the big potty. Some days are definitely better than others. Some days all they want to do is sit on the potty and other days we don't even make it into the bathroom once.

I purchased some incentives in hopes that would entice them enough to want to use the potty. This was a bag of suckers that Kaden desperately wanted to get into. I told him he could only have one if he went potty. He sat on that toilet and worked and worked, but never did get the job done. He so badly wanted one of those suckers!   poor guy :(

so i'm just getting to them now, but here are a few snapshots from our camping trip to Lake Herman over the Fourth of July

our saving grace

Our little pac-man finally has it figured it out. He's such a good little guy. We went through a period where he wasn't content unless he was being held. Thank the Lord he is over that. He is typically happy, only whining when he is poopy, hungry, or tired. And only screaming when his older brother and sister get a little too rough.

It hasn't been without the help of this, though. We invested in the mamaRoo and it has been our saving grace. Paxton loves it!

she did it

the other morning

i was laying in bed

and woke up to the sound

of a little girl pounding

on her bedroom door

she did it

she climbed out of her crib

i honestly can't believe neither of them have done it before now

we've been thankful for that

she hasn't done it again on her own

but she waits until i give her the ok

and out she goes

he can't quite get it done

and that's ok

BUSTED!