The Birthday Boy (with photos)

So............ Fin turned 1. ONE! One Year Old. Woooooohooooooooooo!!!!

Congratulations to the parents for keeping this living being alive and safe and well for a whole year! (17 to go...)

Time really does fly. I mean, I barely feel like I'm back from maternity leave and already we're celebrating his first birthday!

Oh, did I mention he's WALKING pretty much full time now? Ugh.........

By the way... yesterday he also went to the vet - er, I mean, pediatrician. He's 25.5 lb. and 31.5 in. I would have guessed more for both (giant!) but he's still in the 95th and higher percentile for his age. (big stinky feet!)

Here are some photos. Thanks to all who came to his Par-tay. We love you all!

Finally, a photo of the big guy.


This is going to become a habit, I can see it already.


Someone falls asleep on all his Christmas presents.


Dad's shoes are going to be hard to fill.
At least for a few more weeks.


Fin discovers his new back yard.


Chew chew!!! (pun)


Driving the invisible car.....


Cake is pretty easy to eat without help.


Did I mention it was FREEZING a few days ago?


Baby travel bed by night, playtent by day!

Still W/O Photos!!!

Man, what is wrong with me!??!?! Even I'm having photo withdrawals. I have been taking them, just not putting them on the blog. SORRY......... hope to get all set up by the weekend as we will have lots of birthday photos.

It has been COOOOOOOOLD here. There was ice on my windshield from the sprinkler. I didn't know what to do! There was a water main break which blew a hole in the road about 50 yards from my new house. Yikes! Things are freezing - literally. The nanny is afraid to take Bunky out on a walk!

Speaking of walk... he is doing it very well now. Walking, that is. He is finally getting the confidence to walk rather than crawl. So cute. He's also excellent at climbing down from things like the bed, couch, or jungle gym feet-first. He is being very cuddly. In fact, he seems remarkably smarter than just a week ago. Must be entering a new phase.

Photos soon, I promise!!!!

A message from Fin

Fin typed a message here but then he also somehow (in his wild, random pecking) figured out how to delete it. Oh well. I think the translation was something like: give me banana or the fat cat gets a haircut.

To distract him from my laptop, i had to give him a broken cell phone. It has no battery so the buttons make no noise, so it won't last long.

I don't have any photos from this laptop (i will post more soon) so I can only write. Here's a little description of some amazing developments we discovered yesterday.

He has learned to go up and down the stairs on his own. Of course, we don't let him unless we're with him, but he's pretty good about it. Going down he sticks out a toe until he feels the step below, then lowers himself.

He has learned how to get off the couch and our bed feet-first. He stops at the edge, flops on his belly, turns round, and slides down.

He climbed into and out of his little blue tub by himself. (No water, he just uses it as a boat when we're in the bathroom.) He puts his hands on either side, stands, sticks one leg over, and slowly (clumsily) gets out. Admittedly Mark held the boat so it wouldn't tip, but the kid gets it.

He climbed up the gym at the park and actually went to the slide on his own, and sat down, and tried to figure out how to "go", so we helped him, and he slid down. He fell backward so it wasn't the best experience ever, but at least he's getting into it.

Seriously these things just "appeared" yesterday. There were a couple other "appearances" but I can't remember at the moment.

He also walks, but he chooses not to. He stands a lot, and takes a step here or there, and he is very capable of walking, but it's much more efficient to crawl still, and certainly more fun to hold someone's hand.

He climbs into and out of boxes pretty well on his own. Especially box lids. We're packing, as you probably know, and it's a pain with a nearly-toddling self-centered demanding little tyke clinging to your leg. So it's going slowly. He takes lids off boxes and sits in them. He transfers objects from one open box to the other. He takes stuff out, puts it back in. He's having a blast. I'm ... not.

Soon we'll be in our new house, and I'll have my work schedule (some from home, some from office, some from classroom, some from local hotspots), nailed down, and I'll get back to regular updates on the blog. For now, be happy that we're still alive and well :)

Bunky's First Christmas! (photos!)

Hello, all. Sorry for the long delay in posting. I have tons of photos, just no time to post them. I have been going to bed when Fin does, because he's been staying up until 10pm most nights -- and sleeping in late, which is great for us, except that I am usually so exhausted by the time the day ends that I can't stay up much past him. Between having no time to myself and moving and juggling work and Christmas, it's been quite a challenge!

Enough excuses, here is the update you've all been waiting for. And what better revival than some photos of Mr. Bunkles' first Christmas? So here goes... and don't worry, this is just one post in a forthcoming series of posts. (If I get to it!)

Trains have been a tradition around Omi's tree for... ever.
This train takes Christmas tree trains to the next level.


Fin and his step-cousins Robert and Philip.
Moments before the chair toppled over on Fin's leg and Mommy, in my fast-thinking, fast-action reaction, tossed his orange fleece jacket on the candle on the table and set it a-smokin' (and a-meltin')... Ooops!


Omi Love!


What train? I got my own hockey stick! (and gloves! not pictured)


Let me show you how to eat turkey, Papa!


Nose... ears... teeth...
Bean was a trooper with Finny.


Papa Love.


The spoiled hockey player takes his personal train to the tournament...


Bean-dawg gets her own present.


Putting corks in a cup, one by one...


This is just too cute for words!

A "Shiny" First Christmas Party

Bunky made it to his first Christmas party last weekend... Mark's company party. It was on a little cruise boat on the harbor. Mommy learned to play craps (and got really into it! ... with faux money of course) and Daddy spent a lot of time "babysitting" as a result.



Fin had his first "Santa Claus" experience, as Mr. Kringle brought gift bags full of fun stuff for all the babies & mid-kids. Fin looks a little... curious? hahah



Fin and I danced to good 80s music and a few carols. At one point (I wish I had thought to take a video of it) Fin was standing on the bench and dancing by himself. The dance floor was a little distracting because Fin was enthralled with the flashing, colorful lights.



Fin's gift bag was full of cool stuff, until he ripped it trying to get some of it out, and then I ended up chasing bits of bag around the deck. Here he's mad because he can't get to the toy inside. Once he got it he was happy as a reindeer in a cornfield.



Maja and Anton - now a lot bigger than the last time we saw him - hung out with us. Or should I say, we hung out with them. Anton is a little cutie, and his creamy soft fuzz was soooo tempting to just pet pet pet. Maja looks great, you'd never guess she had a baby!



Finny and Daddy hang out on the top deck (that's Anton's delicious fuzz in the foreground...). Note that Fin's sweater has a hockey-playing bear on it!!!

On another note, Mark signed all the loan docs today, and we're 4 days from close of escrow on our new home. Yay!

Bunky Eats Abelskievers

Only in America do (pseudo)Danes eat abelskievers. And only in America do Americans butcher the spelling of them. They are like little spherical pancakes, or when I make them, little flying saucer pancakes. Grandma CynDee made these on Thanksgiving morning, and Bunky loved them. (He had his without jam and powdered sugar, though. They were still good.)

Look, it's yummy!


MMMMMM Soooo gooooood


Can I have another, pleeeeease?


Yummmm mmm mmm sooo mmgooodmm


Hehe, I'm full! (and cute!)


Shhh, don't tell Mom!

Finally! Some Thanksgiving Photos

Well, my camera finally arrived and we have tons of fun new photos. Of course, not all of them are worthy of showing off here, and many aren't even of Fin (ETHAN!! TOMMY!!!), but at least now I can do some updates. It's not easy to update when Fin is awake because he REALLY loves to get into my keyboard drawer and eat all the little screws that come out from his wrestling with the drawer and he loves to eat the mouse because it's optical and has the red light.


This is my dad's side of the family... so many kids!!!


Here Tommy deviously shows Fin how to eat turkey...


There was only one ham at this feast...


Fin shows Grandma how good he looks in his "throne" :)


Grandpa starts to snooze while Fin munches & crunches.