Saturday Night Fever

Now, don't worry....I don't have a fever and nobody is dressed like this:

But, it is Saturday night and we are spending it in typical Barry fashion (i.e, at home and my parents are preparing to watch a rented movie that they missed in the theatres.) I have been a "little" bit of a pain today and I prefer not to share why (hey, my parents read this and they are STUMPED as to why I was in rare form for most of today so I am not letting anyone in on my secret.) However, I must say that I am writing this from the comfort of my crib and they put me in here 20 minutes earlier than my normal bedtime without a peep from me, so I am clearly not myself.

We are all looking forward to the New Year and have made some resolutions. Mommy decided, among a myriad of other things she will be working on this year, that she needs to watch her language...she isn't raising a sailor for goodness sakes and she can cuss with the best of them, but she decided to focus on sharing some of her other strengths with me instead. She definitely enjoys writing and has decided to help me build on my vocabulary. My newest words from the last couple of weeks are Doctor, Animal, Tammy, Moose, Blueberry, Cracker, Ernie and Pancake. Let's also clarify that they don't necessarily sound exactly like you would think (for instance, Ernie sounds like Oooh-Neeee), but it's consistent and I am definitely talking about Ernie of the Ernie and Bert fame when I say it. Hey, the "R" sound is hard for some kiddos!

We are looking forward to our visit to meet the newest member of our family in January. Baby Evan was born just before Thanksgiving this year so we will be taking a trip up North to visit the Bartow family and meet the new addition. Also on the agenda for this year are bridal showers, weddings, birthday celebrations, hopefully a vacation, spending more time with family and friends, making memories and sharing lots of laughs. One of our family resolutions is to have more fun and appreciate all that we have because we are so very lucky...we are starting NOW! Hope you all are well and thanks for checking in with us!

Peace,

Finn

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We had a great, yet germ-filled holiday this year thanks to the upper respiratory virus making its rounds this winter season. Daddy was the most affected and ended up being sick through Christmas Day, but he was able to rest and recuperate at Papa Danny's house and finally felt better. We opened up presents at Papa Danny's house with the Flemings and I perfected saying Amber's name...it sounds very distinguished with my pronunciation - "Ahhmburr". I have also named Auntie Erin, Nuna, and nobody knows why. This one is still a mystery to us all!



Mommy and I attended Papa Danny's annual Chinese Food Christmas Eve dinner (nobody knows how this originated) and we were joined by a fun group including Charles and Catherine West and the Prahsers. What a fun event! Mommy showed everyone how I know how to "cheers" with my sippie cup and I got so excited at one point that I threw my sippie cup and it knocked Mommy's glass of chardonnay over, spraying Jim's nice shirt, Mommy's plate and my diaper bag. Nothing spells good parenting like a diaper bag smelling like Chardonnay, right?

I was much more interested in eating Puffs and a bagel than I was in opening my gifts on Christmas morning, but thankfully Amber was very helpful and I got most of my gifts opened. It did take 2 days to open everything because I got a little overwhelmed with all the stimulation, but I was really spoiled this year. Some of my favorite gifts included the Doo Dah (DUH), a broom set, Doodle pro, puzzles, a ball that lights up when you throw it hard enough (AWESOME), bath toys, matching squeak eggs game and some board games for when I am bigger. I told you I was spoiled!

Mommy and Daddy were able to take advantage of Papa Danny's offer of FREE babysitting twice while we were down at his house so they saw a movie (Up In The Air, which they REALLY recommend) and enjoyed a Finn-less dinner out at a real restaurant one evening. What a treat!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday this year and wish you all a happy, healthy and fun-filled 2010.

Peace,

Finn

Mystery of the Doo Dah - SOLVED!!!

For some time now, I have referred to a vacuum cleaner (and a broom and surprisingly a wrapping paper roll) as "Doo Dah". I LOVE the doo dah and can't get enough of it. This is a good thing for our condo since it means that Mommy vacuums more often due to my fascination. But, due to my limited spoken vocabulary, I couldn't explain to my parents WHY the vacuum is called a Doo Dah.

Fast forward to Christmas when I opened my very own "Doo dah" made by the wonderful people at Fisher Price. I was so excited by this present that we even brought it to Auntie Sheila's house with us for dinner so I could 'take care' of the carpets at her house. Once we arrived at Aunt Sheila's and I was set with the Doo Dah, Mommy noticed there was a song that was playing when I pushed the vacuum around. She utilized all of her technical skills to turn the volume up (this took 3x longer than it would have if Daddy were with us, but he stayed behind at Papa Danny's house nursing an upper respiratory infection) and was shocked to find the song lyrics say "I'm gonna clean the house today, DOO DAH, DOO DAH!" She immediately called Daddy to include him in the findings and they figured I must have played with this very toy at a friend's house.

Cheers to the mystery of the Doo Dah being solved...what a Christmas Miracle!