Finnian

You may notice there's a theme to this post. It was totally not intentional, but when I uploaded the photos to the computer, I had to laugh, since almost all the pictures of Finnian are of him in his highchair. Just by looking at this post, a person could assume he spends most of his life eating, but this is not the case. Lucky for me, the majority of his time is still spent sleeping, which makes him a happy baby during the time he spends awake (and in his highchair!)

Yay for his new skill - and yes, I am being sarcastic. Finnian is a monkey just like his older brothers were at a year of age, and anything less than a five-point harness is easily escapable. Shopping cart seatbelts seem the easiest to escape for him, which is embarassing for me since strangers lecture me on the importance of buckling him into a cart. I kindly point out that he was buckled in, but can wiggle free from the device in the time it takes me to pick out a head of broccoli.

His favorite foods these days is anything he can pick up by himself.

He loves his bottles!

I had to include this picture for my dad and sister, Delta - looks like he's inherited the Holte pinky finger gesture!

Quartered grapes were discovered last night and thoroughly enjoyed. In fact, the Ritz cracker that he had been eating before I put the grapes on his tray was enthusiastically chucked over the side when he saw the grapes.

January Storm

In the middle of January we had a snow storm. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we hardly ever get snow, and when we do it's usually really wet and doesn't last long. The snow that fell two weeks ago was a completely different kind of snow than normal - and it stayed around a lot longer than I would've liked.

Beautiful to look at, but a pain to drive in. While I am undoubtedly an excellent driver, other drivers can be idiots, so the boys and I stayed home all week! School was cancelled as were the boys' swimming lessons.

The view from the kitchen window was wonderful, but I was sure happy when it warmed up enough to venture outside again!

Happy 1st Birthday Finnian!

We celebrated Finnian's 1st birthday yesterday with a family party. His birthday isn't until the 24th, but we had to have it early since Daddy will be in Argentina on a business trip on the actual day.

The birthday cakes! I went with a Winnie the Pooh theme since I found plates, napkins, a banner etc so everything co-ordinated.

Daddy and the Birthday Boy checking out the balloons.

After lunch was time for presents!

Can't believe he's almost a year old already!

Time for cake and the big mess that comes with it on a first birthday. He was cautious at first, and stuck his fingers in the icing - after licking them off and tasting the sweet buttercream...

...he dove headfirst into cake. Why use your fingers when you can go directly to the cake and cut out the middle step!?!

Auntie Delta & Finnian

Entering the sugar daze phase

Happy Birthday Finnian! Good growing!

Life according to Ronan

We are currently going through potty training with Latham. He's pretty much got it, except for the occasional accident when he isn't paying attention. He's even dry in the morning, and bursts into our room every morning at 6:45 am (like clockwork) yelling that he's got to "go pee!" Anyways, this afternoon he had an accident and I was changing him and reminding him that he needs to pee in the potty, not his pants. Ronan said to him, "Ya Latham, you need to pee in the potty so that you can go to school and learn lots of fun stuff, and then you're a grown-up and you get your own kids!" Very succinctly put, Ronan!

The Gun Range

The day before Daddy went back to work after the Christmas/New Years' holiday, he, Ronan and I took a trip to the gun range. We had a babysitter for Latham and Finnian since they were too young to accompany us, so Ronan got some special time with Mommy and Daddy.

He was really excited to try out his new cricket rifle that he got for Christmas.

Daddy gave him some pointers on how to line up the target in the sights and how to handle the gun properly.

Don't worry, he was always closely supervised.

Collin got this great picture of the flash!

Fun day at the gun range!

Merry Christmas 2011

Christmas is so much fun with children! As the boys counted down towards the "big day" they got more and more excited for the mysterious packages under the tree.

They were up bright and early, but Mommy and Daddy were up even earlier than they were! We opened gifts as a family in the morning, and Collin's father, sister and niece came later in the day for Christmas dinner.

The older boys opening a present for Finnian, who could care less about the gifts under the tree.

The boys helping Daddy open a present.

Baby Finnian enjoying his new toy cellphone.

My new Ott light (craft light)! I was pleasantly surprised, as is evidenced by the look on my face.

Latham being goofy.

Funny enough, I wrapped his Finn McMissile in an old diaper box, and he was happy thinking that he got diapers! Of course, he was happier when he saw the toy inside.

Ronan had been asking for this old-fashoined pinball game from the Cabela's catalogue for months.

Once the extended family arrived, we had more gifts to open. By now, Finnian was getting the hang of it. Looking on are cousin Lauryn and Aunt Teresa.

Modeling his new sweater.

Ronan's big gift of the day was his very first real gun! He was so excited because he loves to go to the local gun range with Daddy. Latham took it pretty hard that Ronan got a gun and he didn't, but he was assured that when he is old enough, he'll get his own too.

Papa and Ronan had a good time playing with "Lincoln Logs".

Mommy and Baby Boy #2

Finnian got a walking toy, but he actually took his first steps (unaided) on the 17th of December! Watch out world!

The feast that Collin and I prepared. We prepped the evening before, and it was so easy to get it out on the table the next day - no stress!

Merry Christmas!

On the 26th we drove up to Canada to celebrate with the Holte side of the family - that meant more presents!

Bubba and Latham



Sorry Mom, this is the only picture that I have of you so I had to include it to prove you were there.

Call me weird, but yes, I did ask for a small vacuum for Christmas. I asked for a steam mop too (and I got it from Collin). Anything to make my job as a stay-at-home mommy easier, right?!?

Check out the belt around Latham's waist. Lately, both older boys have a fascination with belts and a few days before Christmas Ronan asked me, "Mommy, can you please, please, please get me a belt?" Auntie Delta obliged. A week before Christmas Latham noticed that his pants had belt loops and excitedly exclaimed, "Look, my pants have belt holders! My pants have belt holders!"

Delta and her Pam Am bag that she asked for for Christmas. I wasn't even sure that they made them, but I was happy to track one down.

The older boys, especially Ronan, were all about the Leapfrogs that they got.

Latham doesn't quite get it yet, but he'll catch on soon enough because of Ronan.

Sorry all the pictures are of opening presents (yes, we do celebrate and recognize the real reason for the season), but we didn't seem to take out the camera after the first hour of being at my parents' house. Later in the afternoon my aunt, cousins, and Lara's boyfriend came for the big turkey dinner. It was a great Christmas!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas too, and all the best from the McLoughlin household to yours in 2012!

Leading up to Christmas...

It's almost Christmas, and we've had plenty to do in the last two weeks.

Ronan had his Christmas concert at school the last day of school. His kindergarten class sang a few songs and I was so proud of my little man.

Ronan is in the back row, wearing the black and gray striped sweater. He was so happy to see me and his brothers watching him from the front row.

The whole class - I love the girl in the front row, right-hand side striking a pose!

We had our friend from Sweden, Patrik, come to visit for a few days.

The annual Santa visit. The older boys did great, but Finnian was not impressed!

After I rescued Finnian, the older boys stayed to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Ronan told Santa that he wanted a robot that did all his chores for him ("even clean the playroom!"), and Latham repeated the exact same thing that Ronan said.

Even though he was safe in his Mama's arms, Finnian had to keep his eyes on Santa.

Tonight was a late night for the older boys, and as I was rushing them off to bed, Ronan reminded me that we had to leave Santa cookies and milk. Since we had no cookies in the house - and I wasn't going to bake anymore just for Santa - we decided to just leave him some chocolate chips (a treat in the McLoughlin household) and milk. I wrote the note to Santa, which was dictated by Ronan; it read:

Dear Santa,

I love you. We made you chocolate chips and milk. We have a very good family and we have stories from the library. We had a good breakfast today. We have some tiny houses Mommy made. Please leave us lots of toys and we go to different McDonalds. Leave everybody presents and mean guys coal.

From Ronan and Latham

The little houses made by me is a reference to the little Christmas village that I painted this year - pics to come in a later post.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!