Finley's first swing experience

Last week we went to our friend Cassandra's house to play with Astrid and Jolie. They have a swing set. Finley had a great time swinging and playing with the girls!






Finley is 13 months younger than Astrid and 2 months older than Jolie.

Sick boy

Well, Finley has his first real illness. I have no idea if it is a contagious virus or if he has a bit of...food poisoning...is that possible? The other night we had our mommy get together- a Thanksgiving dinner- and invited dads. It was delightful. As I was leaving, Kam offered me the ranch dressing. It was from Chili's- Terri works for Chili's. I have a weakness for Chili's ranch and knew that I had some chips and salsa at home- perfect. Well, dummy me, not thinking about the fact that the ranch had been sitting out for- oh lets say 4 hours- I pigged out. Shortly after I started to feel icky. I just blamed it on the MSG that is surely in that dressing. I never got sick, just kinda sweaty and a weird headache. The next day, Finley had diarrhea like 4 times. Then that night he puked twice. Yesterday he was fine until around 2pm he started to get a rash. I thought maybe they were bug bites since I had Mojo inside the night before. But now I realize that it absolutely was a rash. After 24 hours with no...expels...he puked and had diarrhea at 6am this morning. At 10am the rash was gone but at 12pm this afternoon- more explosive D. What's going on? Is this all my fault? Or is it just a virus?

This picture was from the day before yesterday. He doesn't look sick. Just funny in that tiny monkey outfit. Kevin bought that for him before he was born. It was too hot for him when it actually fit. Too bad because it's really cute.

A new habit?

Finley has never really used a pacifier, but we have kept a couple of them on hand anyway. Really I only have given one to him when he was a newborn and I needed to put him down to eat or shower, a few times in the car or a few times at night when he needed to comfort nurse and I just needed some "personal space." He has never been a huge fan. Somehow the pacifier collection has ended up where his little toys are. He has recently decided he likes to have them in his mouth. But it's not just the pacifier, notice in last picture the rubber duckie. He will crawl over to what he wants, put it in his mouth, play with it in for a few minutes, then spit it out and move on to something else. It's kinda cute, actually we think it's super cute.
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How fast they grow!

Today I noticed such a change in Finley. He's certainly not a baby-baby anymore. He's moving quickly into toddler territory. Today he really figured out pulling himself up on things. Once he could figure it out he wanted to do it on everything- he would see something he could climb on, get this excited, determined look on his face, and set out! He's had quite as few bumps over the past few days, a topple here and there. He was hardly phased though. He was so tired tonight from all the exploring today but he kept trying to climb on me as he was falling asleep. He'd nurse for a few seconds, pull off and start to climb me, got annoyed and started fussing, I'd lay him down, and he'd do it again. I decided to massage his legs for a few minutes, when we walked around the house for a bit, and then he nursed off to dreamland in seconds. I'm so proud though- he's awesome! He looks so sweet in this picture!

Breakfast sabotage!

The last two mornings, my enjoyment of breakfast has been rudely interrupted by intruders. This morning I took a gulp of coffee and felt a chunk enter my mouth. I immediately knew it was a fly. Luckily I was able to spit it out before I swallowed it! Yesterday, my oatmeal had a funny taste. I tried to ignore it as I had no more left. As I took a bite of oatmeal I felt the familiar crunch, the shock and horror of accidentally placing an onion in my mouth. I almost puked. I am very funny about onions. I really hate them but have come to see them as a necessary component of many delicious recipes. The night before, my corn pudding had onions. I guess somehow the offending onion survived the dish washer, ended up on my little pan, and found it's way into my oatmeal. My breakfast was ruined since not only did I spit back in my bowl, but the onion ha left it's mark. I had to resort to finishing my breakfast with chocolate chip cookies. But I cannot emphasize enough how much I hate onions. When I was pregnant, I was eating a salad that had tiny onions in it. I was trying to pick them out, but it was impossible. Already nauseous from being pregnant (I puked 5 times a day for months!) I accidentally ate an onion. My eyes started to water and the gag reflex went off. I threw up a little in my mouth but had to swallow b/c I was at a dinner table with nowhere to expel. My friend's mother was like- "Geez! It's just a little onion, whats the big deal?!?" I don't think she knew what she was saying, which is why I didn't put dog poo in her food and say, "Geez, it's just a little poo, whats the big deal?"

GOBAMA!

Congratulations President Elect Obama! You make me proud!

Last night my friend Gretchen and her kids came over to watch the election results. I made lentil burgers and corn pudding for the occasion. We watched in excitement as Obama racked up the electoral votes. Shortly before 10pm we became antsy and bored with ABC's coverage and switched over to Comedy Central to watch Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert (should have had that on the whole time!) All of the sudden, Jon Stewart announced that Obama was our President Elect! We couldn't believe it, we had to switch the channel back to see if they were kidding! They weren't. I shed tears of happiness and we popped open some champagne to celebrate. It is such an overwhelming feeling of pride and joy, I can still hardly contain myself! Yay yay yay!!!

Did you vote?

Happy Election Day!
May the best man win!

Blueberry disaster to chocolate chip cookie heaven

I have become obsessed with coconut. I love it. I never knew! I knew I loved pina coladas but wasn't a fan of Hostess snowballs. I didn't know about the huge coconut world- oil, flower, cream, milk...it's all so wonderful! And healthy! Coconut flour adds do much fiber to whatever you're baking. It makes whatever indulgent treat you are making not so bad...right?

So I wanted to make my favorite blueberry coffeecake a little healthier. It didn't work out so well, but totally my fault.







I tried to alter the recipe I know and substituted coconut oil, coconut flour, agave nectar, and vanilla rice milk. It looked delicious but lacked in flavor and texture. After researching the proper way to incorporate the ingredients, I ended up forgetting to add baking soda and powder- duh! It was really sad since I took so much care to figure it out and plus I took pictures of everything ( love my camera!) I like the pictures because they are pretty so I went ahead and posted them. So that was a bummer, plus the agave nectar just wasn't quite as delicious as regular sugar. So this cake was not a winner.




So tonight, determined to make something yummy and to use my coconut oil and coconut flour I made chocolate chip cookies. They are the most delicious chocolate chip cookies that I have ever had. Seriously. So good!

Cookies:
Mix in large bowl:
2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 cup coconut flower
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking soda

Mix in another bowl
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 stick butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar ( I used mostly light, a bit dark)
2 eggs
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla

Add to flour. Add bag semi sweet chocolate chips.

Make cookies, cook 10 mins at 350.




Try not to eat too many. It will give you an upset stomach. I know from experience.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Ok, it's a bit late. But here is a video. Kevin had to work that night but Finley and I went to our friend Bridget's house. Finley was a pumpkin, sort of. My friend Germaine brought him a costume from Ireland when she moved back here. I took it over to B's house but it was so hot and he was kinda fussy after waiting 45 minutes for me to vote, he wasn't having it! So I left him in his onesie with pumpkins on it. I was a prisoner on work release. I just found the big orange work release shirt in my dad's storage building. Weird, I know. I think it's real but who knows whose it was!

Anyway, this video is the tail end of Finley making really funny singing screams because he is so excited to see Liam. The boy he's with is Bridget's son Liam. Finley is 20 days older than Liam.