Photogenic

Check out our sweet Finley on the website of a photographer who took recent 3 month old shots of her. She's on the homepage and in the babies section. See the link on the right side of this page.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Robin (one of my best friends since high school) and Chad! Kaitlyn Claire was born today at 2:59pm weighing in at an impressive 8 lbs. 5 oz! Check out photos on the Gardner Family Blog.

Lots of "Firsts"

Here's a great but sad first-- I'm rolling over. Mommy took me to baby school one day and one of the other mommy's asked her if I was rolling over yet. She said "nope, not yet"... and my teachers looked up and said "Finley?! Yes she is!" Yikes. SO sad, mommy missed it... but did get to see it at home since then. The teachers felt bad later-- they said of course "ALL firsts happen at home in front of mom and dad".
And... Finley and Daddy had their first overnight without mommy. Chris had Finley while I went to Orlando for a Girls night/Bachlorette party for my cousin who is getting married in a few weeks. Well, last minute I decided to stay the night so I wouldn't be driving at night on I-4. And, Chris did SO great. Finley and daddy did awesome-- that was a great 1st!

I'm starting to blow "raspberries"... daddy and I do that back and forth.

My personality is really starting shine... I have great expressions.

I am starting to babble and sometimes it sounds like I tell mommy "yeah" when she asks me something.

I'm also grabbing and holding onto things with both hands... I've even gotten ahold of my toes and got them in my mouth!

Dr. Dekle told us we had to take the bumper out of the crib and stop swaddling now that sweet girl can roll. She's been doing great in her new big bumperless crib with free arms-- she has woken a time or two over the past few nights but has also gone back to sleep without too much effort. (Though she was pretty mad the first night trying to go to sleep without the swaddle-- but did great the second and third...) I hope it continues. Dr . Dekle joked that we better not talk about how good of a sleeper she is too loudly-- that babies tend to have a sense of humor about reversing the things we think we have mastered :).

4 months old!!

"Mom, seriously? We're going to do the basket thing EVERY month??!"

I can't believe it... our sweet "Finnie" as we've begun to call her is 4 months old! She was a champ again for her next round of immunizations and got the "she's perfect" from Dr. Dekle. She is still a peanut but growing well at 11 and a half pounds (10th percentile) and 24 and a half inches (50th percentile). Our only issue thus far is that she has blocked tear ducts so we're hoping they resolve on their own, otherwise we're headed to opthalmology at 6 months as they may eventually need to surgically probe them open so she'll have normal tear production. Its pretty common in babies, so we've been really really blessed she's done so well overall. She is an amazing baby. So happy, so good, so laid back. We've had some new firsts since our last post... so I'll post those next.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun 4th of July by the pool with Nana, cousins Hayden and Parker, and friends and neighbors. Finley and I spent most of it under the shady umbrella but did get a chance to dip in the pool too. Here we are under the fountain watching the water come down...

Cousins

Cousin Mason turns 1 and is not sure what he thinks of his "smash cake"

But the party sure is fun...

Cousins Hayden and Parker are visiting for the summer from Mississippi... fun!

Ok ready?! Get all the kids in the picture... now smile! Oh ok nevermind... good try :)

3 months old

True to myself, I am late on almost everything (with the best of intentions of course!)... so here are some photos taken on the day she turned 3 months old in the basket and PJs she wore at 2 months old. Her toes are trying to bust out of them so its about time to retire this outfit. She's growing longer and longer and not so much wider... but she's also so much more alert and playful. Her little personality is certainly starting to show. She's a really great baby-- so laid back and happy. She has started to laugh and now "talks" (coos) a lot. She is trying to roll over... she can roll herself belly to back but I think is on the verge of back to belly too -- she gets on her side and is all proud of herself.

Speaking of being late with things... I also recently ordered her birth announcements even though I'm pretty sure most everyone we know heard the "annoucement" either via phone, email, this blog or all of the above. But still, something I wanted to do. I found this website www.Doodlebugdezigns.com and the customer service has been great! (FYI for my many preggo and mommy friends) Hopefully we'll get them out before she turns 1!