Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you and yours the most joyous Christmas yet!
With love,
Em, Liam, Finn, and Duncan O'


{ Merry Christmas 2010 and 2009 }

It's Monday?

Here's what's been I've been up to in the past two weeks:

1. Forgetting that I have a blog.  I didn't post a weekly Finn picture last week for the first time in 38 weeks.  I did take one, however, and it's Christmas themed. Stay tuned.

2. Realizing that Christmas is quickly approaching and perhaps I should buy some gifts?  Thank God for Amazon Prime.  As of last night, this, this, this, and this are en route to my house.  Duncan the mailman-hating schnauzer is going to have fun this week.

3. Baking FOURTEEN dozen cookies in preparation for the two cookie exchange parties I attended yesterday.  Nothing like a deadline and an unrealistic goal to suck the fun right out of baking.  In less dire times, it might have actually been fun, because these turned out quite delicious: Cookies 'n' Cream Cookies.

4. Sleeping.  And thanking God for the invention of the sleep sack and readers who tell me the right one to buy.  Since the very first night with the Dee Dee Sleep Sack we have been enjoying ten, eleven, TWELVE hours of baby sleep at a time.  It's all going out the window tonight of course since I just told you about it, but this is too good not to share.

5. Seeing my prenatal yoga buddies for the first time since we all popped out our kiddos.  We all got together last night and had some much needed cocktails and time away from our kids where we OF COURSE talked nonstop about our kids.  It was great.  Also it was fun to tell each other over and over just how skinny we looked.  Funny how that happens when you're no longer carrying around a child.

6. Trying to distract you all from this scrambled and random attempt at a blog post with some cute baby pictures.

 

Take, er, Week 37

The higher the week, the longer it takes to get a photo for Finn's weekly pic. I think I picked the blocks up off the floor roughly 23 times this week.

And the winner is...

Dear Santa: Baby Wish List

I think I was the only one who admitted to planning on buying a Christmas gift for my baby this year in one of the mom groups I'm in.  No one has every accused me of being practical.  So yes, Finn will be getting a couple of small things from Santa this year, and at nine months old, here's what's on his list.

B. Parum Pum Pum Drum Finn loves to bang his toys together or on the floor, and the ones that make a fun noise when he does that are definitely favorites.  Also, he always tries to grab his dad's guitar, and like typical first-time parents, we've taken that to mean that he is destined to be a musical genius.  (Can you say the name of this toy without the Drummer Boy song getting stuck in your head?  Me neither.  Now that we've got a nice holiday soundtrack going, let's move on.)

Fisher-Price Little Superstar Sing-Along Stage Again, just trying to nurture his obvious talent.  That and my kid loves to look at himself in the mirror.  I'm just hoping this is sturdy enough for him to pull himself up on... because really that is his number one favorite activity these days.  {Edited to add: Lynn says this isn't strong enough to pull up on... so it's out!  Thanks Lynn :) }

Fisher-Price Go Baby Go! Poppity Pop Musical Dino Did you know that it's illegal to be a baby in 2011 and not have a ball popper toy?  Well it is.  I picked this one because it reminds me of that Hungry Hippo game.  I've been warned that I will now spend my life chasing after these little balls, but apparently the fun factor of this toy is worth it.

KEEN Coronado Canvas Lace-Up WIth Velcro Keen shoes for a baby.  Be still my heart.  Finn's dad has a pair just like these (sans velcro for the 30-year old).

Olive, the Other Reindeer Not just the punchline to my favorite Christmas joke.  This is an adorable story and you can never have too many Christmas books.

Llama Llama Holiday Drama Nope, never too many.

Personalized Land of Nod Chair Santa had a leftover gift card to the Land of Nod due to a shipping mix-up way back when Finn's nursery was decorated.  This will be appearing underneath the tree this year as the big unwrapped Santa gift.

The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook Finn is such a considerate baby, he put this on his list just for me.  We are loving baby-led weaning and looking for some new ideas.

Diaper-Free Before 3 Another not-really-for-the-baby item.  Just starting to research this.  My friend Nina did an awesome job with her daughter and I'd love to start this process as early as possible.  Plus I think I earn a lot of extra hippie-mama points just for having the words "elimination communication" on my blog.  Win!

Baby Spring Float Sun Canopy Back to the baby stuff.  We're taking a warm-weather vacation this winter and I think this could come in handy.  It says "colors may vary" which is code for "we're sending you a pink one".  It's okay, Finn can rock it.

Earlyears Baby Farm Friends Bowling Animals.  A ball.  Throwing.  What is not to love.

Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bag I'm not totally sold on this one.  To me it seems a bit expensive, but it has awesome reviews.  I think Finn is waking up sometimes now because he's cold, and I'd like to get a sleep sack that will last us awhile.  If you have a better suggestion I'd love to hear it! {Edited to add: DeeDee recommends this one instead, and it looks great so Santa added it to his cart sleigh.  Thanks DeeDee!}

Okay, your turn. If you were nine months old, what would you be asking Santa for? And don't say no more naps; Santa's tired.

Santa!? I know him!

Stay tuned for Finn's Christmas list.  What are you asking Santa for this year?