The 5K Challenge

I have been meaning to get back to running, but it wasn't until my brother- and sister-in-law suggested that we all run a 5K on March 28th that I decided to get my butt in gear. This week was my first week in training and all I can say is OUCH! My marathoning days seem like a lifetime ago. I created a schedule for myself to ease back into the running. On Tuesday and Thursday I ran just a 5 min warm up and then a mile (not really any faster than the "warm up"). I did cross training on Wednesday and then today was my "long run" day which consisted of a mere two miles. Those two miles really did feel like miles 24 and 25 in a marathon. I tell you I feel great having completed this first week though. It will only get better from here. I have no idea how well I will do in the 5K, but I am aiming to complete it and not embarrass myself. I do have to confess, I have a secret desire to work up to the Manchester marathon in November. It will be 2 days before Finn's 1st birthday. I suppose I will focus on this first 5K and see how it goes.

Sleeping and other stuff

Since Finn was born, he has pretty much insisted on sleeping in our arms particularly during the day. He would need a nap and you could get him to go to sleep, but the minute you put him down he would wake up and tell us how displeased he was at being put down. So, we would pick him up and sooth and repeat. It never ended well and we have mainly been resorting to holding him or wearing him to get him some good nap time. Some days I absolutely love cuddling a sleeping boy, but other days I really stress over not being able to get much done. Well, as he approaches 3 months-old, we are trying to put him down more often. It is not often successful, but every once in awhile he surprises us by sleeping in his bouncy chair. I have also had a lot of success with having him sleep in his car seat. I take him for a walk in it and he falls asleep, then he just sleeps in there when we get home (which is actually where he is while I write this post).
As for nighttime, he has been better about sleeping in his bassinet. We would hold him through the evening and then when we were ready for bed, we would put him in the bassinet. Since it is right next to our bed, if he woke up when we put him down, I can drape my arm around him and he will usually fall back asleep. But this week, we have decided to be more diligent about a bedtime routine in hopes of getting him into bed a little before Sean and I crash. We decided Sean would come home and we would play with Finn and make dinner. Then after dinner, it is bath time for Finn, nurse, read a book, and rock to sleep. Seemed reasonable in our heads. Well, he decided to throw a loop into our plans by actually falling asleep in his bouncy seat during dinner (never happens). Then of course he was wide awake for bath time and subsequent routine. So, we got through our 'bedtime routine' with a wide awake baby. It took us another hour to get him to go to sleep. But, on the upside, we did put him down around 8:45 and he stayed sleeping in his bassinet while Sean and I stayed in the living room until we were ready for bed. I guess it will take time for all of us to figure out a good pattern. I think he is still too young to really get into any kind of routine, but we will keep on trying and hopefully working with his natural sleeping needs too. Moms, I would love to hear your bedtime routines!

On Sunday, I ran an errand and came back to find this picture on our camera:

One of Finn's fussy moments:

Sean got a new fly rod with a gift certificate he got for Christmas. It breaks down into six pieces so it is good for travel. Here he is putting it together and testing it out. Can you see these two along a river?

There is definitely one member of this family who is not having any trouble sleeping:

Skiing Saturday

I am happy to report that Finn and I did pretty well while Sean was gone. We had one day that was a bit rough. Finn wasn't keen to sleep and we were both overtired, but the following day went really well and made up for the trials the day before.

We are really enjoying a relaxing weekend. This morning we woke up and went out to Northwood. Finn's Nana and Papa watched him for an hour while Sean and I went skiing with the dogs. It has been a beautiful winter in New England this year and this was the first time we could really take advantage of it. It was the first time for us to leave Finn too, definitely a big step. It was really great to get out and get some exercise, but wow, I am really out of shape!

The dogs had a blast and led the way:

Lily was made for winter:

I am still working on mastering cross-country skiing:


And here is just a super cute photo:

A BIG Day!

Finn and I have been watching the inauguration coverage. I feel like a kid, giddy and filled with excitement and hope. I am completely taken in by all the people and their stories and I definitely got teary during the swearing in of our 44th president. I truly think we are on the brink of a new and brighter tomorrow and I am so glad that Finn was born into such a world where people are eager for a new kind of change. We went out walking downtown to run some errands. There were several events going on downtown for the festivities and you could just feel the happiness of people that we past.

It is also a very big day for Finn, Lily and me because we are on our own through Thursday. Sean is gone for field work in New York. He left this morning and will come back Thursday afternoon or evening. We are missing him a great deal. So far we are doing well, but I am curious as to how everything will go with our first night alone. I am a bit nervous because I have always welcomed the break Sean provided when he came home and took care of Finn and Lily. I dare say we will be fine, but I am really hoping Finn will happily go to sleep this evening. It is often hit and miss.

I shall leave you with a couple bath time photos. Here is the fun of having a baby with a full head of hair:

Breast-feeding/Pumping Article

A very interesting article:

The New Yorker

There was a good segment on NPR on the politics of pumping too. I think you can still get it on the website.

Welcome from the White House

Finn got his official welcome from the White House. New moms, you can go to the white house website to request it. Sean and I got a congrats from the Bushes for our wedding so we thought it fitting that Finn was welcomed too and he was born while GWB was in office, but man, are we looking forward to next week!


He is learning to suck on his hands a lot now. It is great that he can do it now, but at night when he starts to suck on them to self-sooth, it makes this terrible slurping racket! And now, I don't know if he is hungry or if he just wants to suck on his hands at night.

Since the day a little while back when I was so impressed he had rolled from his tummy to back (he did it three times that day), Finn has absolutely refused tummy time. Well, yesterday he was back to enjoying it. No rolling over, but a good solid effort.

Just Say No

Finnbar has started a new campaign against the bottle. Just say no to artificial nipples! From week 2, Finn has gotten a bottle of expressed breast milk in the evenings so that we could mix his antibiotics in. Plus I was pumping to create a freezer stash. He did really well and didn't seem to care if his dinner came from the bottle or the breast. Then, we discovered the source of some of our troubles was thrush and I had to throw out my milk stores (very sad). Then we found out that Finn no longer had to be on antibiotics (awesome). This was right before Christmas and since we were going to Colorado, I decided not to cart along the pump and deal with the bottle while we were there. So, now that we have cleared up the thrush, I wanted to start to get a freezer stash going again, and to get Finn back into having a nightly bottle so that Sean could feed him and to potentially have a little more flexibility in the future in case I needed to be away or something. Well, the past two nights Finn has refused the bottle. Apparently, those couple of weeks without it in the routine really turned him off of it. I don't know if we need to try a different type of bottle, or if he is just a breast or nothing boy. Last night he cried everytime Sean tried to give him the bottle and we finally just gave up and I fed him. It is not a huge deal since I am not going back to work or anything, but it would be really nice if he would take a bottle on occasion.

A boy and his dog

Shots are NOT fun!

Finnbar had his 2 month check up yesterday. He is looking great and weighing in at 12 lbs 15 oz! He is 24 1/4 inches tall. Height is in the 95 percentile and weight in the 70 percentile. He is getting so big. He is talking to us so much now, laughing and cooing and gossiping like crazy. He is also using his hands and arms a lot more. I notice when I pick him up he will wrap his arms and grip me. He is also reaching towards some of his toys and occasionally grabbing hold. This morning we were enjoying some tummy time and he actually rolled to his back. I don't know it that is a milestone or just back to tummy. I am terribly impressed with him.

Yesterday was also his first set of vaccinations. Oh, it was not fun at all! Poor kid, I have never seen the color red that his face turned as he screamed and screamed. My heart definitely broke a little bit, I felt so bad for him. He got two shots in one leg and one in the other. He cried for about 5 minutes until he was calm enough for me to nurse him. Then he fell alseep in his car seat on the way home. He slept there for about 20 minutes when we got home and then he woke up just frantically crying. He didn't spike a fever, but he seemed so upset with nothing we could do to help so we decided to go ahead and give him a dose of tylenol. That did seem to help. He ended up sleeping on and off throughout the afternoon and evening as long as either Sean or I was cuddling with him. He seems back to himself today. We don't go in for another 2 months for his next well check and booster shots. It seems a little crazy. I feel like we shouldn't go unmonitored for so long. I am still not feeling terribly confident in my parenting role and I like the occasional reassurance from a medical professional.

A Great Christmas

We are back in NH after a phenomenal trip to CO. I think we all did really well in our travels. Finn coped amazingly well during the drive to Boston, a shuttle to the airport, a plane ride to Dallas, a plane ride to Colorado Springs and the drive to Manitou Springs. He did great on the return trip as well. For the most part he slept during the travel. He had a few hard times on the planes, but in reality they were very short and Sean and I were more stressed about it than anyone else. We got several compliments from other passengers on what a good baby he was. One big adventure in flight is changing a baby. It turns out that Finn absolutely loves getting changed in a plane bathroom. It is very awkward for the changer because it is cramped there is no where to put anything, but Finn just smiled and laughed everytime we took him there. At one point, I stayed in there singing to him because he was so darn cute. This resulted in embarrassment when we exited and several people were in line waiting for the bathroom. I hope they were entertained by my rendition of "Jingle Bells" and "The Hokey Pokey" (side note: Finn also LOVES the hokey pokey!)

I am also proud to report that Finn and I have entered the professional breast feeding circuit. We can do it in the airport, in a plane, in a car, in a restaurant, with a sling, with the hooter hider, or even ever-so-discretely without covering (too tired to care or worry about it). This trip came at the perfect time when I think I have finally beat all the troubles we have had. Everyone told me that things could magically get better between 6-8 weeks and they really have. I didn't believe it when I was in such pain, but that is the funny thing about pain: it is all consuming when you are dealing with it, but once it is gone, it fades very quickly from memory. Two months is a long time to work through these things, but it was so worth it. I hope we are home-free from here on out, but now I know we can deal with so much.

Okay, back to the fun. We also had a grand time in Colorado. It was wonderful to see everyone and have them meet Finn. It was a great way to celebrate his first Christmas. Well, lets get to the photos....

Here, we arrive. We made great use of our sling during the trip as we trekked through airports:

Finn got a bath in the kitchen sink before we began Christmas festivities:

Finn's ready:

It has been a family tradition to go to Fargo's Pizza Parlor on Christmas Eve. Here, Finn got to meet his Aunt Christine and Uncle Wade and cousins, Zachary and Colton:



We enjoyed a relaxing Christmas morning at Bubbles and Babou's. Finn was most certainly spoiled and he did show some interest in his toys:

In the end, Finn needed a nap amongst the wrapping paper:

We went to my sister's for Christmas dinner and we had a good time exchanging gifts:


Finn enjoyed sling time when he needed a break and a nap:


He was social too:

Finn got to enjoy the fresh mountain air as we walked near the Garden of the Gods. Pretty much he just took a nap in the Moby wrap:

In fact, we really appreciated all our baby wearing wraps while we were traveling:

I think it is safe to say Finn loved the holidays:

And spending time with Bubbles and Babou:
We were