Favorite Picture

How can I say I have a favorite picture?  I mean, we take well over 100 pictures a month, so how could I pick one?  Well, after close to 13 months, I still have this picture saved to the memory card on my camera and I love to look at it every time I see it!  It is most definitely A favorite. 

And I know this is a yucky picture, a picture that most people don’t want to see, but this was the first time I ever saw Riley and I saw it with this picture and I remember every moment of it and my thoughts/feelings exactly.  When you have a c-section you are laying flat on your back with this giant blue tarp up directly in front of your face.  You can look to the left and to the right and that is all you can see.  So when Riley was born, they pulled him up, Todd took this picture of him and then as they went to clean, measure, weigh and wrap him up, Todd showed this picture to me from the tiny little view finder on our camera and I said “ohhhhhh, awwwww (sob, sob)….oh my god, he’s HUGE!”  I LOVE this picture, I LOVE looking at it and I LOVE this little (big) man!  (The one on the left)

Walking, walking, walking

even though he is my second child, it still amazes me to see the walking stages and how fast it goes!  the week before his birthday he was at 1-3 steps, then the next week it was 5-6 steps but when he fell down he just crawled on, then the next week it was more steps and then when he'd fall down, he'd just stand back up and keep going and now he is all over the place, hardly falls down, can turn and keep going, can bend down to pick things up and stand back up and keep going!  I mean, I know this is old news to most, but it still is really damn awesome (to me)!

 

Aquarium

We spent the morning at the aquarium with our good friends Lori and Pierson!  While is it impossible to get pictures of two children together (hence why there are no pictures on this blog of MY two boys together, lol!) , I got just one of them in front of the big screen!  And instead of seeing Depot, this time we saw the Penguin! I don’t know if he has a name or not, but Finn loved him just the same!

 

 

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Riley has been a bit of a stinker when it comes to eating.  He’s really pushing the “keep trying it” rule that every parent says….”keep trying it, and eventually he will take it”.  He is honestly taking this to heart.  But we do, we keep trying.  And today…..he ate a WHOLE banana!  Just like a big boy.  And what is funny about this video is that I have one just like it when Finn started eating a banana too!

He Shoots, He Scores!

We are all Lakes

So we’re working on spelling Finn’s name.  “F I N N, Finn”  and so today I asked him

Momma:  Finn, what is your last name?

Finn:  I don’t know (he says this I don’t know phrase all the time in this hushed tone, it is very cute)

Momma:  Finn, what is your name?

Finn:  Finnegan Lakes

Momma:  That’s right!  Finn is your first name and Lakes is your last name.  Let’s spell Lakes.  “L A K E S” and he spells it back with me.

Finn:  I’m a Lakes momma.

Momma:  That’s right Finn!

Finn:  and daddy is a Lakes.

Momma:  that’s right!

Finn:  and momma is a Lakes.

Momma:  that’s right!

Finn:  and Riley is a Lakes.

Momma:  that’s right!

Finn:  we’re all Lakes momma.

Momma:  that’s right Finn!

Finn:  we are all a family!

Momma:  awwww, yes (tear) we are buddy!

Fingernails

Finn lately has not liked getting his fingernails cut.  I try to do it while sesame street is on in the hopes that Elmo will distract him enough to let me do it.  Unfortunately last week, Elmo was not mesmerizing enough and he was throwing a fit the whole time.  A bit later we’re driving in the car and Finn starts shouting “momma, I need my fingernails put back on” and I look in the rear view mirror at him and he has his finger in his nose and can’t get a boogie out because I cut off his finger nails and he needs me to put them back on.  LMAO!

The Invitation

I completely forgot to include Riley’s birthday party invitation in with all the birthday pictures!  Silly me!  Here it is!  Can you stand this cuteness?????

The Circus!

We took the boys to the Big Apple Circus on Saturday afternoon!  I am not sure if I’ve ever been to a circus so I really wasn’t sure what to expect, and I was also a little nervous about taking Riley.  It is a small circus and we had great seats and the boys thought it was awesome, including Riley who sat in my lap the entire time mesmerized.  He kept moving his head to see around the woman in front of us every time the performers would move out of his view.  It was just such a grown-up little behavior, I thought it was adorable.

 

View from our seats (of two little Asian men in tin cans)

Finn loved the stars on the ceiling

 

And admiring the Bello “ticket” and a map…we needed to give Riley something to chew on….

More walking

yeah, I’m probably going to be posting alot of these in the days to come, but can you blame me?

 

Snow!!!

Seriously, yes, it snowed here again!  Seriously, yes, we live in Atlanta.  Where it isn’t supposed to snow!  I think we are going to need to invest in some sleds….like real ones, not the ghetto ones we made Saturday morning before heading out to play!  More of that to come.

I had told Finn before he went to bed on Thursday night that it was supposed to snow on Friday, so first thing he asked when he woke up in the morning was if it was snowing!  Sadly no.  It started snowing while Finn was taking a nap, around 1pm, and when he woke up at 2:30 I was so excited I ran into his room, scooped him up and took him to the front door to look out and asked him what he saw and he shouted “SNOW!!!!” and started giggling!  Riley was still napping so I put Finn’s coat and rain boots on him and out we went to play for a bit!  He loves to pick up handfulls of snow and throw them at me and he chased me all around the front yard!  When we first went out there was only a little bit of snow…..

We got cold pretty quickly, so we went back inside for a little bit to warm up and grab a snack, oh and to get Riley!  And then we headed back out again to play down the street with McKenna!  And this time when we went out there was a little bit more snow….and it was PERFECT for packing!  Snowballs galore!

 

 

But then the next day…..sledding!  So Todd decided Friday night that we needed to go sledding.  First we needed to figure out where we would sled and second we needed to conjure up some sleds.  Where?  Bessie Branham Park! 

Sleds?  Home-made.  Momma made her sled out of a Pampers Cruisers Box, pun not intended, but greatly appreciated.

 

 

And on one run down, it busted in half!

Cuteness!

And daddy’s ghetto sled, a giant box with a giant (dirty) tarp attached!

Up they go…

And down they come!

 

Mommy’s turn with Finn

 

Riley’s turn!

 

Snowman!

  

Side note:  You can click on any of the pictures to see bigger images of them.