The Wilson Universe

Alright, I suck as a blogger. In my defense, life is a little on the ridiculously crazy side these days. Finley is growing like a weed and is the world’s most amazing little boy. Corey and I are having a blast with him.
As for me, the job in Newport ended back in September and I went on to take a job in Lafayette with an Orthopaedic Surgeon. While it has been interesting, it hasn’t been the best fit for me so I am currently looking for something different. One of these days, I’ll figure out what I’m supposed to be doing.
Here’s my plan to catch up. Over the next week or two, I will write a post filling in on Finley pics and details for every month since the last post. Trust me, I have plenty of pictures.

To tide you over…

It’s been a little hectic in the Wilson Universe the last few weeks.  Our trip to Texas was a success.

Finley met, and subsequently charmed, his Great Grandma Corey as well as several other Texas relatives.  He enjoyed all the attention and was a very well behaved baby most of the time. The trip down and back were a little stressful for him.  I decided it was because he was stuck in the carseat for such long stretches of time, I think his poor little butt just got numb.  I found myself wishing for the days of my childhood, where carseats were optional and riding on Mommy’s lap was completely acceptable.  Besides that, he dealt with it fairly well.  He did have a couple of diaper changes perched on Mommy’s lap while on the side of a highway, but that will make good stories for when he is older!  I think his Great Grandma was trying to figure out where she could hide him so he could just stay with her.

When we returned from Texas, things got very busy for Mommy.  My time working at Newport will be drawing to a close at the end of September.  While I’m looking forward to no longer having to be away from Finn and Corey for 24 hours at a time, it did mean I had to begin the job search again.  I was lucky and found a position working for an Orthopaedic Surgeon in Lafayette.  I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working on paperwork and trying to figure out just how much I know about Orthopaedic Surgery.  I will officially start that job on October 1st.  I’m looking forward to it but I’m also terrified.  On the upside, it is Monday through Friday, no nights, no weekends, no holidays.  It has better benefits and better job security.  However, it will be far more challenging than any other job that I’ve ever done and while I’m not afraid of a challenge, it does make me very nervous.  It also presents more of a challenge as far as taking care of Finn since my schedule won’t be as flexible any more.  But as we have done thus far, we will figure it all out as we go along.

Finally, Finn has done a lot of growing up just in the last couple of weeks.  He is very chatty, he is interactive and playful and has recently discovered his hands and feet.  He’s still not entirely sure about eating baby food but he is intensely interested in what Daddy and I are eating.  For your viewing pleasure, a few of my favorite recent pics of him.  Enjoy

This is Finn with a teddy bear that Great Grandma Dreher sent him.  He posed himself, I just sat him up in the chair with the bear.

I wasn’t home for this one.  Corey had stripped him down before feeding him his carrots since he was going straight to bathtime afterward.  Apparently, he became fascinated watching a bad sci fi movie then dialed up the adorable afterward.

Check out the photo album (there’s a link in the Photo tab on the right) for more pics from Texas and the full series of pics with the teddy bear and after eating.

Yesterday marked the 4 month anniversary of Finley Theodore’s unexpectedly early arrival into this world.  I don’t think anyone would have guessed how far he would come in four short months.  As completely unbiased observers, Corey and I think that Finn is far and away the most exceptional baby on the planet.  Okay, so maybe we are a little biased, but we can say that he is completely on track for his age and he has quite the following of family and friends that believe he is very sweet and adorable.

We had his 4 month check up today.  He weighs 16 1/2 pounds which puts him between the 75th and 90th percentile.  His growth chart doesn’t so much curve as go straight up.  He is 23 1/2 inches tall which is in the 10th percentile.  I have already apologized to him for that.

His doctor is very pleased with his progress.  He is meeting all of his milestones.  He holds up his head, he smiles, he reaches for things.  His umbilical hernia has almost completely resolved as well as his hydrocele. He has had quite the appetite lately so we are going to begin introducing solids now.  I think he is excited about that!

To celebrate, we will be leaving tonight for Finley’s very first trip out of state!  We are heading to Texas so he can meet his great grandma.  I’m excited to have a few days to enjoy with my boys not worrying about houses, jobs and bills.

I’ve uploaded some new pics of Finn as well as a few more of the house. I’ve also added links to albums of turtle pics and our wedding pics, just for kicks and grins.

Just a quick update, no new pics but check out the link to the right often. We saw the doctor yesterday because we were worried about the decreasing number of dirty diapers lately.  While I don’t mind the lack of poop, we were concerned.  The doctor examined him and didn’t find any obstructions or anything.  Turns out, he just doesn’t have anything to move through.  2 1/2 weeks ago at his 2 month check up, he was in the 25th percentile for weight.  Yesterday, he was in the 75th percentile.  He is apparently entering a growth spurt and absorbing absolutely everything he eats.  As long as he is in no distress we don’t need to worry.  When he reaches 4 months, we will start fruits and vegetables to increase his fiber.  In the meantime, we are left with very little poo but LOTS of stinky gas to make up for it!

I’m not entirely sure what this face is, but he’s making it a lot these days.  I love how he seems to be trying to take everything in and he has an overwhelming desire to be a MUCH bigger boy than he is.  When I hold him, he will start to bounce himself as if he is trying to stand up, then gets frustrated when it doesn’t work.  And we are obviously starving him, if you couldn’t tell by those cheeks.

Over the last few days, Finn has grown more and more insistent that he be sitting up. He likes to look around, look out the window and make faces at Mommy and Daddy. We’ve been using the Boppy pillow but it is a little too reclined for his taste. He wants to sit UP. I finally decided he was big enough to try the Bumbo.

He loved sitting up all by himself checking out the world. He got a few swats in on the cat, made some faces at Daddy and generally soaked up the atmosphere.
He also had his 2 month check up last week. Mommy couldn’t go because I was back to work so it was up to Daddy to manage the long list of things I wanted to ask the pediatrician. He weighed in at 12 lb 10 oz, 22 inches long. We are going to try supplementing with a couple of different formulas because our boy is a gassy little guy and is having some trouble sleeping. He’s still getting breastmilk but we are trying a formula bottle every once in awhile to ease the gas. Other than that, the doctor said he looks good. We’ve got a few things we are keeping our eyes on but all very benign (umbilical hernia, hydrocele…) and will probably resolve all by themselves.
I have put up several more pictures. Some of them are recent, a few of them are older that I got from my mom and my mother-in-law. There is a link in the Pictures tab at the right.

It’s been a hectic week!  July 2nd Finley turned 2 months old, which I have a hard time believing.  He is now pushing himself up to hold his head up, he’s very chatty, he likes to make faces and sit and stare at things with a very intense look, like he’s concentrating very hard.  He’s working at rolling over and has gone from belly to back once.  He has a vicious combination of Mommy and Daddy’s temper and gets very frustrated when he wants to do something and can’t.  Besides that, he is so far a VERY easy going baby.  He will tolerate being held by anything, has no problem with the cats or dogs and is completely unfazed by loud noises.  He has slept through parties, thunderstorms and fireworks without so much as a cry. 

Speaking of fireworks, we threw open the doors of the new house and welcomed anyone who wished into our house for New Richmond’s 4th of July celebration.  It actually became a full weekend party due to the weather.  We learned that we could comfortably hold upwards of 15 people in our house and not feel terribly claustrophobic and still have room for the kids to run around.  The fireworks were pushed back to the 5th so we had two nights of grilling (thanks to my dad, the grillmaster).  The fireworks were awesome, although I think we will have to cut out a tree before next year!  They were actually setting them off almost directly behind our house so that was cool.

And finally, as of July 6th, I am no longer stay at home mom.  I have returned to the land of working folk.  Going back to the ER wasn’t bad.  I was close to home, it was only for 8 hours and if it got to bad, I could beg someone to bring him to see me.  Being back at Newport pretty much sucks, though.  It’s 24 hours and I can’t leave and he can’t come in.  Now, to be clear, I do not in any way think that he won’t be well cared for.  Right now, Daddy and Grandma are running the show and both are completely capable of caring for him.  What I hate is not being there.  He’s getting to such an interesting age, I’m afraid he’s going to do something awesome and I won’t be there to see it.  I’m really dreading tonight.  While it may be a perk to get some sleep without a baby in the room, I’m not looking forward to trying to deal with not being with him.

Yes, I have more pictures, I just haven’t gotten them uploaded yet.  And if Corey does what he’s promised, there should be lots more pics coming since I’ve asked him to take thousands of pictures while I’m at work.

I don’t really believe it, but Finley is now 6 weeks old. Of course, we will officially have reached his due date tomorrow so it shouldn’t be hard to believe that we have a 6 week old. In 6 weeks, we have gone from this to this
He is now holding his head up for longer periods of time and seems to be checking out the world, trying to figure things out. His appetite is growing exponentially, causing him to grow exponentially. He is now over 9 pounds! He is much more like a little person than he was 6 weeks ago. There doesn’t appear to be any adverse effects of his early arrival and given his current weight, I’m not as unhappy about him being early as I was. He was laying on my stomach earlier and I couldn’t fathom how all of that was supposed to fit inside me. Now if only we could get rid of the 3 am feeding…

We had Finn’s “newborn” pics taken today. A little late, we know, but it’s been a little hectic around here. We got some good pics and ordered bunches of prints for the family. We also got a photo CD so all of the pics are in his album on Photobucket. There is a link to the album in Finn’s page on the right.
Finn is doing exceptionally well. He’s spending more time awake between feedings and likes to check out the world around him. He holds his head up and moves it around, usually to give me or Corey dirty looks when we try to belch him. He also likes to hang out in his bouncer or swing if you get him at the right time. He will sit and watch whats going on while Daddy and I get chores done. And he still loves to cuddle!