The Wednesday Weekly - Week 20

It's hard to believe that we are at 20 weeks. That just blows my mind! Little or I should say not so little Finnley is growing, smiling, and had a bit of a rough week, but I think we've rounded the bend and she's on to a better attitude. 

Week 20

Eats: y'all I am <> this close to wanting to start feeding her solids!! (actually I tried an avocado the other day...she just spit it right out) but I know that we will probably start a bit sooner than we did with Ellie, here's to hoping miss thang starts sitting on her own pretty soon.  She is still just on formula and taking in around 24 ounces or more a day. She is more of a cluster feeder and can go pretty long stretches between feedings but then wants to eat a lot while other times she just wants a light snack, it's hard to gauge what she wants.



Sleeps: naps were totes off this week and it was awful.  Girlfriend regressed to taking 3 or 4 naps lasting only about 45 minutes each.  It may or may not have had something to do with her shots she got at her appointment on Thursday, but I am hoping that she will get back into the groove we had before.  Mama loves naptime!! Despite her lack of napping she is still rocking the night sleep of around 10 hours so I suppose I can't complain too much.




 

 Does: Finnley loves to put weight on her legs and stand up, she is playing with her toys and sticking lots of them in her mouth.  She is super observant and watches everything that is going on.  She gets extremely entertained by the dogs and is the queen of smiles.  She is still crying like a banshee and spits up at least once a day, hopefully she's almost grown out of that.



Loves: the puppy dogs, Ellie, Mama, toys, singing songs, and going in the Ergo or Solly.  Finn has also become fascinated with my phone case cover which has come in handy for taking pictures.



Goes: we went on many adventures this week.  Nanny and Papa put an offer down on a house in the middle of our state so on Saturday we made a road trip over to check it out during the inspection.  We went on the swings at our nanny house, made a trip up North to the American Girl Place and to the Botanical Gardens right next to where we got married! Ellie had a blast pushing Finnley around in the stroller and we enjoyed just being with our girls. We also made a trip to watch Dada coach tennis practice and Ellie got a couple of hits in...Finnley was totes content just watching but I'm sure is looking forward to participating soon!!

Of Note: girlfriend had her 4 month appointment on Thursday and she is getting huge!! She measured in at 27 1/4 inches, and just for comparison sake Ellie was 28 inches at 12 months!!  So needless to say she was off the charts on her height, and she came in around 80-90% for her weight at around 15 pounds.  She got her shots and an oral and did fairly well.  Like I mentioned above her napping has been off but I'm hoping that was just a side effect of her immunizations and that she'll soon be back to a better nap schedule. Most of the time she is pretty chill but she has her parts of the day (usually between 3-5pm) where we cannot set her down...I am hoping it's a phase and she grows out of it, like yesterday would be nice.   She is also having some strange moments with Thomas in the evenings, she loves him and smiles all morning and day with him but when the witching hour comes only Mama will do.  It's actually kind of comical because she will be crying with him and the second she gets in my arms she gets a huge smile, or if he's holding her and she cries he tries to calm her down and then if I say anything she starts crying again.  We know its just a phase and she will probably get over it in a few days.  It's only been happening since Sunday so it hasn't been too bad.

 

Mama: I am seriously soaking up all this time I get to have with my girls.  I was thinking the other day how I didn't get to have this time with Ellie because I was teaching and how grateful I am to be home now.  Finnley is totally a Mama's girl and secretly I love it!  It's probably a good thing too because I'm with her all day so she better like me, but it's just the best. The girls and I had a special Mama and Daughters Day, we went to the mall without a stroller and I had to carry both of them.  It was so fun getting to have that day together and I am looking forward to many more MADs days and even MADs trips in the future!!
 

Sister: Ellie is still in love with her sister and it is adorable.  I just love watching these two together and Ellie is super ready for Finnley to start being more interactive.  She keeps telling Finnley "You need to crawl" so I am pretty confident that they're going to become the greatest of friends. Also this week's photo shoot was full of so many great shots that it was super hard to choose just one...so enjoy the highlights!!

♥ Ashley

previous weeks

one two three four five six seven eight nine ten

eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen

Ellie at 20 weeks

Hey Friday!! the last one in August

Y'all I can't believe that today is the last Friday (and weekend) of August. Quite simply that makes my stomach turn because this summer went by way too fast and our deck still isn't finished!! (Not to mention the other 1,200 projects I had)  but I digress, let's get onto this weeks five. 

ONE

Snapchat. I'm obsessed with it...mainly the filters. But also getting peeks into some of my favorite bloggers lives! Be sure to follow along (@Alifeonthefarm). I wasn't planning on going here, but I haven't even tried out the IG Stories because I heard there is no filter. Info check out the stories and really it's not a big deal to me...to each their own. The plus side is if you choose just to do IG all around you're saving storage on your phone by having one less app - that way you can take so many more pictures.

TWO 

Now that we're back to nannying we get to frequent the house that my nanny kids live in. The girl has quite the collection of baby dolls and has sparked Ellie in her love for baby dolls again!! She plays with them, wants a car seat for Bitty, naps with them and now wants to bring Bitty with us everywhere, including Finnley's Doctor appointment for a check up. 

THREE

Ellie has my old iPhone 5C since they wouldn't take it in for a trade in (no problem there!!) and since its my old phone the two are synced up, so when we both get on wifi I find gems like these on my camera roll...

FOUR

Our big project of the summer has been finishing up our deck. It has been a much more in depth process than I thought, but of course isn't that how every house project goes?? When we moved in the deck was half the size and the previous owners painted it orange!! Over the years we let the paint chip away, get peeled off and sand off. Then last year we finally decided that it was time to start making our back yard an oasis, so we doubled the size of the deck and build a cover for it, but left the old deck still standing. This year we replaced the boards of the old deck, pressure washed, swept, sanded, swept, stained, sealed, painted and added in the railing. Which was basically the longest project ever!! But y'all the light is at the end of the tunnel!! I just have to do some touch up paint on the railings and then styling and we are good to go!!! [until we decided to build the step on this end...#williteverend??!!] don't worry I'll share a whole post for the reveal! But in the meantime follow song on IG because I'm sharing on there all the time!

FIVE

We were at Target the other day and I got so inspired by all the fall clothes that I'm thinking we're going to have to have family pictures done pretty soon and I'm thinking that the girls need to wear these outfits. Then I need to find some color coordinated outfits for me and Thomas. What do you think? So cute right?!

Mushroom Blouse

Yellow Skirt

Maroon Skirt

♥ Ashley

linking up here

The Wednesday Weekly - Week 19

Another Wednesday already? I swear I just wrote a post yesterday ;) We've been keeping busy on ye old farm and Finnley is keeping up and blending in seamlessly.

Week 19

  

Eats: still exclusively on formula and she's eating at least 24 ounces a day maybe even more. We did walk down the baby food aisle at Target the other day and I told Thomas that I can't wait to get her some puffs. So maybe this girlfriend will get started on solids earlier than big sis did. Also we are encouraging Finnley to hold the bottle herself, which I'm sure some people would disagree with but it works for us. 

Sleeps: I seriously can't get over how lucky we are with her sleep!! She is still sleeping 10 hours at night and it is glorious and I have to mention that her naps are becoming more consistent too. We are getting a couple of shorter naps throughout the day and then usually a 3 hour one around the same time as Ellie's nap and I'll let you know that it is amazing!!! 

Does: we are working on building up stomach muscles and having the babe sitting up. She can last about 30 second in the nippy but in her walker she can chill for about 10+ minutes which is a win in my book. The other day I laid her down on the playmat on her back while I fed the farm animals and when I returned she had rolled herself into her tummy, no crying and she spit up all over in her celebration. 

Goes: we made a trip to the zoo, to ikea,  the bike store for Dada's bike and since Thomas had to work this week Finnley was finally able to go to the house I Nanny at! 

Loves: we are digging the playmat, the ergo, infant lounger and baby walker.  We've gotten a lot of use out of these items as well as some baby toys.  Finnley is really into grabbing items and she loves to hold onto a blanket, we love these lightweight muslin blankets and used them with Ellie too.

Of Note: girlfriend rolled over by herself a couple of times so now we know it was not a fluke.  Also she has her 4 month appointment tomorrow and hopefully she will do well for that...big sis is pretty excited about getting to go to the doctor, so there is always that ;)

Mama: I cannot tell you how happy I am that Finnley is making strides towards her development.  Rolling over is huge and I am really hoping that by the end of next month that she is sitting on her own because that is a huge game changer! I really cannot get enough of both of my girls and I am pining for Finnley to give us more giggles and laughs because those are just the best. 

Sister: Ellie is just as obsessed as ever with her baby sis.  For a while she wasn't insistent about holding Finn but now she is all about it again.  Also she is constantly singing Finnley her song and is seriously the best helper with Finnley...maybe I can get her to change the diapers?? haha j/k I won't even let her wipe her own butt ;)  But really though it is my hope that these two become the best of friends.

♥ Ashley

Ellie at 19 weeks
 

The Wednesday Weekly - Week 18

I'm in utter disbelief that Finnley is already 18 weeks old. This time has completely flown by and somehow this gem of a lady is already 4 months old!!!

Week 18

Eats: still going strong with our Similac Sensitive formula in the Dr. Browns bottles. Now that Finnley is 4 months old we only have 8 months left!!  We love our bottles and how easy formula is but there is something to be said for a babe that can feed them self. Which prompted us to encourage Finnley to start being an active participant during feedings.  We looked back at Ellie's 17 week update and realized that we were having Ellie help out then so it was time for Finnley to step up to the plate...our future is getting brighter.

Sleeps: hallelujah we have figured out naps!! We weren't much of nap nazi's with Ellie when she was an infant because she was such a go with the flow babe, but now that we have Ellie on a solid nap schedule it benefits us to try and get Finnley to sleep at the same time.  So far this week we have been successful to have an overlap during their naps which has been glorious (we've been able to accomplish a lot on our back deck project check out my IG @lifeonthefarm for those updates) and a much less crabby atmosphere here on the farm.  Finnley was going through a phase for a couple of weeks in the late afternoon/early evening where she was getting pretty unruly and I was so afraid of the sleep regression I've heard about but thankfully she is still sleeping through the night and we get to have some rest around these parts.  We still have her sleeping in our room in the bassinet (because I'm lazy and keep forgetting to get a baby monitor - I guess it's just not that big of a deal to me) and swaddled but we tend to find her like this in the mornings so maybe she doesn't need the swaddle anymore??

Goes: we've hit up parks, Costco, gymnastics/swimming for big sis, many trips to Home Depot and then just a bunch of hanging around the house.  We did make our way to get her 3 month milestone photos taken, just a day shy of her 4 monthday but better late than never #amiright?!

Does: we also noticed in Ellie's update that we had her sitting up in the boppy, so we encouraged lil sis to do the same and she was a big fan! Finnley is all about the smiles and I just can't get over it.  She laughs now and its the cutest thing I ever did hear.  I don't remember Ellie's first laugh, but I have a feeling that I will remember Finnley's - plus we have in on video viewable on IG @lifeonthefarm. She grabs her toes and has started to play with toys now too and its just adorbs as well as getting distracted with her hands for nearly 10 minutes.  We've been trying to put her down on her playmat more often and she is now rolling onto her sides.  

Loves: I think it's safe to say that Finnley loves her people and her puppies, she gets such a kick out of Cooper and he is the reason behind her laughs.  She is also a big fan of her Oball, this is such a great toy because her little hands are able to find a grip on it and manipulate it so now I think I really need to get out the rest of the toys.  Finnley babe loves to just hang out with us and watch the Olympics, just like her mama she loves the gymnastics!! 

Of Note: this sweet little babe turned 4 months on Saturday and she is just the sweetest pie I know.  She is a chill babe (most of the time) who loves her feet and hands, hates a paci and can cry like a banshee but makes up for it with her awesome sleep habits. I finally got down the next box of clothes we had in the attic because the 3 month size are getting quite snug so we're moving her into the 3-6 and 9 month clothe sizes and she seems much more comfortable.  I don't put headbands on her as often as I did with Ellie, and Finnley has figured out how to pull them down over her head.  So that means I just need to remember to put more on ;)

Mama: y'all I feel like I've said it before but I'll say it again...I think we've hit our stride with having two babes and it's just as easy as I thought it would be.  I'll admit that we totes lucked out with Finnley having an affinity to sleep but this transition really could not have gone any smoother.  I love spending time with my little babe and watching her grow and develop a personality is just the best.  I can't believe that we have two girls and I get to experience this whole mom thing all over again.

Sister: one of our favorite parts of the day is when Finn wakes up before E during naptime so that when it's time for Ellie to wake up we all go in and hang out in her bed for a few minutes and both girls love it so much.  Ellie is just the best big sister and still has total concern about her sis, though she no longer asks us if we know where Finnley is, maybe because she has realized that Finnley is here to stay or she knows that Finnley is somewhere in the house and is safe.  Regardless, Ellie is all about kissing Finnley's head, giving her hugs and letting us know when Finnley is making a sound.  She is just as if not more excited than we are about Finnley laughing and it's now her main objective every day to get Finnley to laugh and it just melts my heart!  This week is also the first week I was able to capture both girls smiling.

♥ Ashley

previous weeks:

one two three four five six seven eight

nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen

Ellie at 18 weeks