About Us

Victoria, BC, Canada
This blog began as a modern "baby book" for our first child, Finlay, who was born in December of 2010. The recent addition of Seamus, born in January of 2013, has meant continued efforts to put into words and pictures his early years. We also use this forum to catalog our family life: two loving partners, two beautiful kids, car-free, child-centred, attachment-focused, with a love of food and health thrown into the mix!

Nine Months In, Nine Months Out


September 13, 2011

Finlay is nine months old tomorrow.

It's hard to believe.  Tyler and I keep saying, "I wish we could freeze him at this stage, I love this stage!"  But we have said that at every stage.  We seem to be embarking on a journey to a whole new plane.  He is, what I call, "a big baby."

One of our "Renee & Jeremy" lullabies has a chorus that says it all:
"It's a big world baby and you're little for a little while."

Lately, I have found myself exploring the older posts in the blog, back to the beginning, and pausing and remembering and getting pretty nostalgic.  The pregnancy seems almost foreign, like it happened to someone else.  It's hard to believe that Finlay and I were together for nine months before he was born and now nine months since he was born.  The latter nine have flown by and the last month has been the most busy and filled with change.

Finlay has tripled in size since his birth.  He was born 9 pounds, 4 ounces but he quickly lost weight, as newborns do, and was somewhere around 8 pounds, 8 ounces.  He's now 24 pounds!  The amount of growing that has occurred over the last year and a half is nothing short of amazing, unbelievable, incredible, and beautiful.

Over the last month, Finlay has gone from rarely on his tummy to rolling, going from sitting to his tummy, and from there creeping around in circles, and pushing up on his knees and rocking.  I've even seen him go into downward dog a couple of times!  He is also obsessed with standing (supported).  He likes to hold onto the coffee table, chairs, anything that is the right height.  On Monday, Tyler put Finlay into his crib and starting to put away some clothes.  I was busy too and neither of us were looking at him and then all of the sudden we looked up to see a giggling, smiling and proudly standing baby, holding himself up with the railing, and very impressed he did it all by himself!

Also, Finlay said his first word/sign last Sunday.  We were feeding him breakfast and he was looking at the ceiling fan and smiling.  He kept bringing his hand up and waving it beside his head and looking at me.  We know he recognizes the sign for fan but he was actually doing a baby variation of it!  I said fan and repeated the sign and he got excited and did his sign again and looked from me to the fan.  We think he might be trying to repeat the sign for milk back to us too, but this is more patchy right now.  Even though he has been communicating with us through his cries and smiles and other cues, it's super exciting that he is using a word and getting very specific with us.  So smart!

Another very significant change is sleep.  Finlay has gone from sleeping 7 or 8 hours a day (that includes naps) to sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day.  This means that Tyler and I are getting a lot more sleep too.  Everyone is happier and has more energy to work, play and just enjoy each other's company.  It's amazing what more sleep will do for a person.  But I think it will take Tyler and I some time to catch up.

Also, there is the milestone of teeth... and lots of them!  Fin now has three teeth through on the bottom, and two on the top and two more almost through on the top.  We are getting better at identifying when he is teething and what will help him feel better.

In this picture, Finlay has a piece of frozen baguette to sooth his swollen gums.  Yummy!

Feeling better already!

Standing is fun!

"Hey big stander" (as daddy says)

I don't what is up with the shadow in these pictures but I included them because of his expressions.  He really looks like me in some of these pics (me as a baby).

Also, THERE IS A VIDEO:

Finlay pulls up on crib:

1 comment:

Noriko said...

Wow!! Finlay has accomplished so much and so great to hear about the improvement of sleep!! They definitely grow so fast. :)