That's just how he rolls

I can't believe how fast everything is going with Finn. With Maggie it felt like the first year lasted about three years, but Finn's first four months have gone by in a flash. Just in the last two weeks he has started rolling over (front to back and back to front) and now he reaches and grabs things. We put him in his Exersaucer (what a dumb name!) and he actually PLAYS with his toys. Sometimes he grabs hold of them by accident but it's nearly always on purpose. He continues to be about the sweetest-natured, most easygoing baby I know. He also has a very intense side (he must get this from Grant) where he furrows his brow and looks at you as if he's trying to understand why you are the way you are. You can see that a bit in this photo (although the open mouth does decrease the overall intensity). Make sure you notice his furrowed brow.Today when I was driving Maggie to school we drove by a house that had been toilet papered. I pointed it out to Maggie and explained what happened and that it was a thing that teenagers sometimes did. She said, "I don't EVER want to do that. Do I have to do it?" I wish I had been able to record it to play back in about 12 years.

Maggie continues to be as sweet and charming as ever, but she has developed a trait of which I am not particularly fond. Before I tell you about it, let me just reiterate that she is 95% Grant in looks and 96% Grant in personality (a very scientific analysis, of course). I always joke I am basically an incubator for Grant's babies. Anyway, this new quality is one of the few things she gets from me, and it is that she always has to be right. It's one of the things I hate most about myself (although I am usually right, ha ha). Here is a partial list of the things she has insisted upon being correct about:
1) They do not sell school supplies at K-Mart.
2) Her average-sized folder will not fit in her average-sized backpack.
3) They do not speak Spanish in Mexico.
4) She is older and bigger than her friend Ben (yes, he is older AND bigger than her).

I could go on and on. The funny thing is, she is usually right, but, obviously, she is occasionally wrong.

She is awfully sweet most of the time, so I'd rather focus on that. A few weeks ago I took her dress shopping with me. Before Finn was born I wouldn't have even tried this as I thought it would be crazy and difficult. After his birth I have realized how many things are easy with only one child as opposed to two. We were in the dressing room and as I tried on dress after dress she kept saying, "Oh, mama, that dress looks BE-YUTIFUL on you!" I've decided I'm going to take her shopping with me every time from now on.

Houston, we have a thumb sucker

With Maggie we tried halfheartedly to get her to take a pacifier, and she wasn't ever really interested. We tried about as hard with Finn, and he would take it but only if you held it in the whole time, which really doesn't seem worth it to me. A few weeks ago he started sucking his thumb which I find to be SO CUTE although I've been warned that it's even harder to break this habit than the pacifier habit. In a way, though, I'm a bit glad about it as it's pretty hard to lose your own thumb in the middle of the night, unlike a pacifier. And, let's be honest, the cute factor weighs pretty heavily in this one (although it's not like I can make him NOT suck his thumb at this point).
By the way, we had another appointment with Finn's geneticist and he got another great report. He weighed in this time at 15 lbs, 8 oz and 25 inches long, which puts him at about 65th and 55th percentile, respectively. He seems huge to me and everyone always comments on his size, so I was surprised he was actually pretty average (of course I mean size only, not cuteness or sweetness, or intelligence, obviously).
Here's another photo of Maggie at her last swim lesson. She's staring wistfully at the water, wanting to get back in.
This looks more like typical Maggie at her swim lessons:
Yesterday I was driving her to school and as I was getting on the interstate I realized I had left my phone at home and exclaimed, "Oh no!" Maggie asked what was wrong and I told her.
"Oh, mama," she said calmly, "that's what life is all about."
Not sure I was hearing her correctly I said, "Excuse me? What did you say?"
Sure enough, she repeated, "That's what life is all about."
I asked, "WHAT is life all about?"
She replied, "Well, that's just how life is."
I love it when she's casually philosophical.

Nonsense Stuff

Grant and I were talking today about a mutual friend's status update on Facebook. At a pause in the conversation Maggie said, "Mama and Daddy, can you please stop talking about this nonsense stuff?" I'm sort of just glad she DOESN'T know what Facebook is! I'm betting it'll be extinct by the time she's old enough, with something equally addictive taking its place.

Here you can see her working on one of her magnificent art projects. Her favorite thing is taking a granola bar wrapper or a receipt and cutting it into a million pieces, and then moving them around the house, dropping a few bits here and there along the way. Let's just say it's not MY favorite art project, but who am I to stifle her artistic endeavors?!

Kisses and cuteness

I know it looks like Finn doesn't want me to kiss him, but he really does. He was probably thinking about the time to come when he's 14 and doesn't want me to kiss him anymore. Thank God that's ages and ages away! I'm sure it'll seem like five minutes before that time is here, though. I have to say, as nervous as I was about having a boy, I am totally loving it. I'll admit he isn't doing too many boyish things lately (have you heard him squeal lately? so high-pitched), but I just love putting him in blue and thinking about the day when he'll eat a bug or roll around in the mud. Dear God, please let him marry a nice girl who won't take him away from me! (Sorry, Carol, to take Grant so far from you!)
But back to the kissing. I mean, give me a break. How can I help but kiss this guy?
Here's a photo of Finn with my dad, a man who raised three girls before FINALLY having a boy (19 years after the birth of his first girl!). He does great with little girls but luckily has two grandsons so far.
Wow. Finn looks really chunky in this photo. Love it!
On another note, does anyone know how to coach your child to have a natural smile instead of this fake, coat-hanger thing she's been doing lately? It looks like she's asking me to check if she has spinach in her teeth.
Have I mentioned lately how happy I am? I'm not saying it's easy, but I am just feeling so much gratitude and contentment with my life. I have a husband with whom I'm madly in love, two beautiful children to spend time with every day, the friendship and support of my extended family, and so many amazing friends. I'm just so lucky. I hope you feel that way, too.

Profiling

My mom took this photo. Do you know how I know? Because she loves my children's profiles! Let me know if I'm correct, mom! But guess what? I love my children's profiles, too! So I took this one the other day when Maggie was having her nails painted as part of her flower girl prep. Here's another one from the actual painting. She had her finger AND toenails painted, but no filing or anything like that. The whole time she kept giggling and saying, "I LOVE this, Mama!" Afterwards she showed her nails to anyone who would look.