the little things in life

i'm not sure what fascinates little boys (and grown men) with machines and trucks and buses and boats, but finn is fascinated. women just aren't wired the same i guess. boys though, it's in their dna to want to crash cars and play with trains and drive a bulldozer. step one though to driving construction equipment is riding public transportation. the moment finn woke up, i asked if he would want to take the city bus to visit daddy on campus, and for the next 3 hours, he asked what time the bus would pick us up and if it was the yellow bus or the blue bus. very important information in his little 21 month old mind.


we walked to the bus stop, hopped on board and he was stunned for the entire 27 minute trip. he narrated the entire thing, telling me when people got on and off, what the driver was doing, that there were other cars on the road, that he was having a happy day, that he was sitting in a blue seat on a blue bus! he was fascinated. utterly impressed. i'm glad that a free trip on the bus can completely blow his toddler mind, though now i fear the constant question, "mommy finn go ride on the blue bus?"

cosby!

i don't know if it was the extreme generational gap (bill cosby is now 73!) or the fact that his jokes were oddly reminiscent of how my dad tells stories, but days later i still don't quite understand the cosby comedy tour. looking around at the crowd of baby-boomers-parents and hearing their slightly maniacal laughter at literally every word that cosby slurred, i felt like i shouldn't have been in the 5th row of an auditorium with 6,000 other people, but instead have been swinging on his front porch listening to the far-too-long stories of the past while drinking a sweet tea after our early bird dinner. it really was an only need to see once experience for me, especially because i envision the same random story telling occurring around the dinner table when my dad hits 75 or 80 and tells us all about the life he's lived. what it boils down to is bill cosby is basically my dad.

indulgence or wishing a happy fall

when the temperature dropped below 75 on saturday, i pretended it was fall and drank a grande, non-fat, half-caff pumpkin spice latte. now that it is officially fall though, i may need to talk to josh about increasing our weekly latte budget from non-existent to $33.32, the exact cost of getting this daily mid-morning treat. happy fall to all!

farewell to summer

on monday, we forewent going to the apple orchard in lieu of something more summery to celebrate the season's last few joyous days. indeed, it was summer. after leaving the zoo, my sister-in-law alyssa called to tell me that her thermometer in her van read 90. the jeep's said 87, so apparently it's a lot hotter in her chrysler town and country. just another thing to add to the con list of getting a mini van.

finn loved it. it being the zoo, not the van, though he loves its dvd player immensely. he talks constantly about the animals and of wanting to see the ostrich, elephant, giraffe, hippo, and ... the list could go on forever. this boy knows animals. it's crazy. it's like his vocabulary went from 10 words total to including every species of mammal in two months flat. so now, when he wakes up in the morning and after his nap, he lists the animals that he wishes he could see and then cries out for aunt "syssa" to come get him to take him to the zoo. thanks for letting us in as your guests! love a free zoo trip!

pre-zoo, we got a visit from aunt diane, one of indianapolis' finest. macy and finn gave her a double-take when she walked in uniform-clad and gun in holster. sweet little macy kept saying, "you look different." let's just say that she is the most unintimidating woman in the world when attired in her normal fashion-forward clothing and accessories, but man, you give her a walky talky and a gun and she means business. i laugh just thinking of her yelling at bad guys and throwing them to the ground. she's a woman of many hats, none of which you can see in this photo. she the one with her hand on the steering wheel. thanks for taking time out of your busy day to visit!

little josh

finn has suddenly taken notice that his clothes change every day and that perhaps he could have a say in his clothing choices. this morning, that meant spending 9:30-10:30 sitting in his bedroom while he went through his clothes and told me why he wasn't going to wear said shirt or pants. finally, at 10:30, i had had enough. seriously finn, i got ready in about 15 minutes including shower just to race into your room where you make me wait. i wrestled him to the ground and put on his choices while he screamed and explained that i was mean and he wanted something else. what that something else was, i don't completely know, because he now has a sweet little high-pitched screech that he has introduced into his angry vocabulary. i believe he said something like, "EEEEK! i AHHHH wear shorts doggy BLLLLLEEEECCCCHHHH shirt blue." it's the perfect way to start each morning.

in case you were wondering about the title, no, i do not deal with josh doing this every morning, whining about what he is going to wear for over an hour until i wrestle him and force him into putting something on. it has to do with the attire that finn finally decided on that i then had to wrestle him into. if he wants to wear jeans, he says, "daddy pants." if he wants to wear a plaid shirt, "daddy shirt." apparently, if he wants to roll the sleeves up on that plaid shirt, code word is "daddy's arms." with the "daddy shoes" in place, he is officially a little josh now. uh, josh, do you think you need to spice up your wardrobe a little when even your son expects you to wear tshirts, plaid button-ups, and jeans? hmmmm.

winner winner chicken dinner

please ignore the wrinkled napkin and placemat which are in desperate need of ironing and be in awe of the fact that we had homemade chicken curry tonight. it may have caused extreme amounts of heartburn that 4 tums and 1 zantac had to be involved, but it was magnificent. if it weren't for the smell that lingers in the kitchen for the next 2+ weeks, i would most definitely be cooking indian food every night of the week. that, and finn nearly had a seizure at the taste of it, contorting his face and squirming for a good 10 seconds. peanut butter and jelly for him and all-i-can-eat curry for me. perfection.

23 weeks

16 and 1/2 weeks remain until this little nugget/baby bird is welcomed into the world. i feel badly calling it a nugget if it turns out to be a baby girl, because that just doesn't sound very delicate and we'll probably have caused her a complex before she is born. as i get each week closer and closer, which seems to be moving at record-breakingly slow speeds, i get the aching (in a good way) feeling that we might be welcoming a little lady into our homestead. at first, i was heartbroken to think that was an option, but i'm getting more excited with each passing day that finn would have a sister to watch out for the rest of his life. as always though, i am not going to get fixed on the idea of pink and sugarplums invading our overwhelmingly testosterone-driven toy room/baby room/kids' bathroom/world. if it's a boy, this crazy fighting, kicking, screaming, throwing, rumble-tumble life will just continue. i'm excited about that option, too.

yesterday, i asked finn if he wanted a baby boy or baby girl and for the first time, he didn't just say no. while he wouldn't make a choice and declare his desire for this baby, this is major progress. he coyly said it was his baby. i'm excited he's beginning to get interested.

and then it was a fall.

even though the meteorologists are forecasting warmer weather in the near future, i got a taste of fall. the most joyous time of the year! i get to wear scarves and sweaters and bundle up as the leaves start to turn and there is a crispness in the air that makes me want to drink pumpkin spice lattes all day long. thank you weather for making the first football game of the season feel like it belonged in football season. no thank you dad for making us drive up to south bend with the top down on the mustang.

lay off his junk!

these last couple days have been so exhausting. i went to bed last night at 10:15 with the lights on and glasses still on my face. when josh came home from his late night of work at 3am, he gently took my glasses off and i suddenly remembered what i was going to do at 10:15 the moment before i just closed my eyes for. just. one. second. i was going to check on my sweet baby boy and take his temperature. because my sweet baby boy has been sick, but we're not sure with what. that kills me, because i'm a person that needs an answer. there has to be answer, so let's just find that answer doctors and nurses and phlebotomists.

it all started about two weeks ago when finn was complaining about pain, which i thought was just because he learned the word "hurts." i figured it was just his new vocabulary that he was practicing. "mommy, it hurts." then he would run and play. but after a week, he was still saying it very specifically so we took him in to see the doctor. he couldn't figure out what was causing the pain, so he needed to get a urine sample. from a baby. which means catheter. it was the most horrible little thing i've witnessed my little man having to go through, and i spent the majority of the afternoon crying that i let them do that to him. worst of all, they didn't even get a sample, so they sent me home with no answers.

fast forward to monday, and finn started getting a fever, which always happens to coincide with a weekend and/or holiday when the doctors are out. why is that? well, we waited until wednesday to take him in, and they found that his temperature has gotten to 103.5, so they wanted another urine sample. NOT AGAIN! they spent 15 minutes trying to no avail again, all the while finn said, "mommy, this hurts" and "i all done" and "i don't like the doctor." i wanted to punch the nurse when she said, "wow he talks really well for his age." then i would have screamed at her, "GET THE DAMN SAMPLE AND GET OUT OF HIS JUNK," but i was too busy consoling finn and telling him we would eat mounds of ice cream and sleep in my bed all night while watching movies. they ended up getting a sample another way with negative results of infection, so we had to do a blood sample. guess what? negative results of infection. on one hand, it's a good thing, but on another hand, what is wrong with my baby?

i was instructed to keep an eye on him, as though i wouldn't, and monitor his fever, as if i wouldn't. also, to call if he has breathing problems, doesn't eat and drink for a day, or lays around not wanting to get up. who are these dumb parents who aren't doing these things when their kids are sick? anyways, i'm sad for baby finn. but he's not too sad. he's playing like nothing is wrong, with a fever of 101.8 today. oh brother! hopefully it just goes away tonight and he'll be fine forever more! no more germs allowed in this house please!

looks sick huh? he was actually screaming "i play with toys" while i was trying to wrangle him for a picture with me.