Nothing sweeter...

Can't get enough of these sweet chubby cheeks, big round blue eyes, little sprouting pigtails and little blonde curls in the back...

Sweet girl, we love you so much.

Welcome Home!!

On August 22nd we surprised and celebrated Rory, Kim and Dylan returning to the states (Ror has been stationed in Japan while in the Navy) and also Rory's 30th! It was an awesome day! And having them home seems like everything is just a little more "right" with the world. Years ago we dreamed about the day our kids would get to "grow-up" and play together. Who knew that day would come so soon. Seems like just yesterday we were in high school nervous about which dorm placement we'd get at U.F.!

Below are Finley and Dylan warming up quite nicely with each other (going in for a smooch!)

Finley and her handsome Daddy enjoying the party.

Finley smooching on Trey this time (then running away with his football). The girl has motives...

Finley, Trey and Dylan playing together.... so sweet.

Toilet Paper Discovered

Recently Finley figured out that if you grab some of the toilet paper, it just keeps coming... luckily the roll was almost gone when she decided to try it out.

"Here you go Mommy"

So I asked her what she wanted me to do with it??

Precious girl you keep us "on our toes" and we love it. How do you like the daycare outfit?? (If you look closely you'll see that the "shirt" is actually a one-piece outfit for a much smaller kiddo. Oops-- time to bring some clean clothes to school.

4th of July Vacation

This year for the 4th we took a little vacation to Chris's mom's timeshare on Ft. Myers Beach. We arrived on the 4th and Finley got to see her 1st Fireworks. She LOVED playing on the beach and in the ocean and sand. She also loved that she could step outside and decide between ocean, pool, or sand.

She did not even want to wait for us... here she is racing off to find the sand...

We love being out at the beach. It's so relaxing and beautiful. Chris and I have spent July 4th's there on and off since dating in high school so it's also nostalgic. We were thrilled to be able to bring Finley this year and let her enjoy the fun.

Dining "in" or "out"?! Well it's just perfect whatever it is.

Finley enjoying her 1st popsicle.

Daddy and Finley digging and making sand castles

Finley's 1st Fireworks Display... We weren't thinking she would stay awake for it, but she did (she was nearly asleep towards the end so we watched the finale from just outside our door). She loved watching all the kids do small "pre-show" fireworks almost more than the actual "big" fireworks. She loved it all though. She kept saying "BOOM BOOM!!"

It was a great time. She ended up getting a cold/fever and pretty bad diaper rash towards the end so we came home and checked in with the doctor a day early, but we had an awesome time.

Tampa Aquarium

Friday July 3rd (yes, I'm still quite behind on blogging but am trying to catch up!) We went to the Tampa Aquarium. Finley loved looking at all the fish and even got to see a penguin and owl up close. Chris and I loved it too. I think Chris and Finley had similar expressions as my cute husband looked like he might run to grab a fishing pole at any second...

Surgery

On June 16th Finley went in for a Probe and Irrigation of both eyes due to blocked tear ducts. We had hoped for a long time that as she grew, it would resolve on its own, but it didn't. Her eye(s), especially the left one would constantly water and have goopey discharge and we started having more issues with infection. These pictures are from when we were in Holding waiting to talk to anesthesia and our opthamologist. When we were in the waiting room prior to this I was reading her a book about a ladybug. As soon as I read the word "bug" she started saying "Eeeewwwww" "Eeeeeewwww" really dramatically. We cracked up. It was the perfect diversion for our nerves.
As for the surgery, she did absolutely awesome and it only took about 15 minutes from the time they took her away until they were saying she was headed back to us. They wheeled her back to us with her screaming but she went away with the Anesthesiologist no problem (which shocked me). Her eyes have been great since the surgery-- no crusted over eyelids when she wakes up, no more red circles under her eyes and excessive tearing. You can see in the picture below the watery haziness especially in the left one.

Everyone was great and since we had it done at All Childrens (where I work), I was comforted by knowing our anesthesia and nursing team really well. One of my colleagues (Sybil) also came down to visit at the exact right time (when the anesthesiologist was taking her from Chris) and distracted us during the procedure and even went in to check on her once. My dad and step-mom Jody also came up to sit with us which was awesome. Add to that, that the day before I got the idea (through some friends at work) that I should ask our Opthamologist if he'd put Finley's earrings back in while she was under anesthesia. They were only out a few days (after one of them was lost at daycare) before the holes had grown over too much to put them back in. We were looking at having to repierce them which really upset me. I think I put all my anxiety about the anesthesia into being anxious about having to take her back to pierce her ears! So... our doc was AWESOME... he put our new screw-back pair in while she was under and she came out (screaming) with pierced ears and open tear ducts. :) Yay! It was a stressful morning for all of us but it went great and I'm so happy we did it.

Sprinkler Fun

Prior to his 2nd birthday celebration, Grandma brought out this early present...
They had so much fun playing in the water and squirting each other (and themselves!)

Mattison, Mason and Finley enjoying themselves, but the water was cold!