My baaaaaaaaaby isn’t a baby anymore. He’s not even a toddler. He’s *almost* a preschooler.

Now if only I could get him to potty train. (It’s fine. He won’t go to elementary school in diapers, we’ll figure it out. I just hate the part where I can’t ever sit down because I have to walk him to the bathroom 400 times a day.)

Finnegan is a real sweetheart most of the time. He loves people after he pretends to be shy for a few minutes. He’s super brave and a bit of a daredevil, so he hurts himself regularly but it never slows him down. He has a great vocabulary but still a baby voice, so sometimes he’s hard to understand. He’s very smart and has a looooong memory. He can be a real jerk when you’re mad at him, because he’ll just laugh in your face and DGAF about your consequences.

Don’t ask when he’s getting a haircut because he’s not.

Apologies for the wind blowing background noise on the video, we did it at the lake and I didn’t block the microphone well enough.

Evan 12 months, Caroline 12 months, Lincoln 12 months

I started this on August 29th. I thought I finished it, but I went to look for my photos this week and realized even though I took them, I never edited them or posted them. Oops?

The good/bad news is, even if I didn’t document it in a timely manner, Finnegan still turned one. He insists on growing even when I don’t remember it’s happening or write about it on the internet. Although I can’t let that happen without at least a quick post, so luckily this was still hanging out in my drafts.

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This is my last monthday update. The very last one ever. My last baby is now counted in years instead of months, because today he turns one. One year ago I was giving birth for the last time, on the maternity floor where all four of my babies were born.

Finnegan continues to be a doll baby. He’s so cute and funny and snuggly. He makes a great shopping buddy. He likes his stroller and falls asleep both in it and on my back. He likes to go places and do things, see new stuff, loud noises and all foods. He often forgets that he needs me until I walk into a room and then he desperately needs to be picked up. He doesn’t mind being left with friends for a little while, but still needs lots and lots of nursies so I wouldn’t leave him overnight.

Speaking of overnight, he sleeps from 9 pm to 7 am about 2/3rds of the time. The other 1/3rd, he wakes up once or twice or four times or won’t go to bed until midnight or gets up at 4 am. It’s unpredictable, is what I’m saying. But since MOST nights I am getting 8 hours of sleep without too much work I am a happy mama.

Finnegan is wearing 24 month or 2T clothes, although I am buying him nothing because there are at least 6 bins of hand-me-downs from his brothers I need to sort. I finally started making him wear soft-soled baby shoes but they aren’t slowing him down at all. He is in size 5 diapers (the same as his 3-year-old brother) and his thighs are still fantastic.

Likes include yogurt, squeeze pouches of baby food, cereal, apples, grapes, juice, water, snuggles, nursies, rocking, his blankie, his siblings, his dog, his cat, climbing things, trying to stand on his head, rolling around on the floor, playgrounds, being worn, water, baths, tickles, and smiling.

Dislikes include being tired, being hungry, diaper changes, having his face cleaned, and smacking his face on things (although he does it so much maybe he actually does like it).

12 Month Milestones (originally from BabyCenter)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Imitates others’ activities – He thinks he’s a big kid, so he tries to do big kid stuff, like reading books and climbing.
Indicates wants with gestures – His two moves are grabbing and throwing.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Takes a few steps – Hahahahaha
Says one word besides “mama” or “daddy” – No. And doesn’t say mama either. I think it’s likely we’ll be doing speech with him too, if only to get super on top of it.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Walks alone – I feel like if there’s one thing that applies to all children I give birth to, it’s their advanced walking skills. (I didn’t even change this from Lincoln’s post)
Scribbles with a crayon – Yes! Mostly on non-writing surfaces.
Says two words besides “mama” or “dada” – Nope.

(Previously: Lincoln 9 months, Caroline 9 months, Evan 9 months – I think Finn definitely looks the most like Evan at 9 months)

Finnegan is now 9 months out in the world! That always feels like a big milestone, because now he’s more part of everything else than he is part of me. The good news is he’s still surviving mostly by nursing, so he’ll need me exclusively for at least a little while longer. I say that, but I did go out of town for 4 days this last month and everyone survived. But Finnegan still PREFERS me, which I am OK with, because he is my last baby.

Finn is enormous. I can’t wait for his next checkup so I can find out exactly what he weighs, but my guess is around 24 pounds. As Lincoln outgrows his t-shirts from last fall I am putting them directly in Finn’s wardrobe. Any pants smaller than 12 months won’t go past his knees. He is delightfully chubby and round and dimpled and squishy. It’s delicious. Being huge also means he’s finally gotten the hang of nursing sitting up or while in the baby carrier,  so taking him places is now 75% easier. It’s going to be PERFECT for our Disney trip and also very handy at the lake.

In other news, Finnegan now naps and sleeps in the crib, in what may someday be his shared room with Linc. Right now the 3 big kids are all choosing to sleep in one room, so Finn gets the nursery. We’ll figure out which room actually belongs to which kid some point in the future when they care. He still doesn’t quite sleep through the night reliably, but it does occasionally happen and he is taking at least one really good nap every day. For him. Not for me. I rarely get a nap, although I would really love one.

Likes include his siblings, his blankie, biting things, nursing, biting me while nursing, grabbing stuff, cruising, standing up, hitting things, crawling really fast, feet, naps, riding in the car, music, tickles, crackers, cheese, and splashing in the water.

Dislikes include being tired, falling on his face, the 10 seconds it takes to get buckled in his car seat, and teething.

He also dislikes sitting still long enough for his monthly photos, so these are a little…unposed.

9 Month Milestones (from Caroline’s 9 month post)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Stands while holding onto something – Excellent stander
Jabbers or combines syllables – Lots of jabbering, but not a ton of real sounds
Understands object permanence – A little bit, but he’s not that worried about it

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Cruises while holding onto furniture – All day, every day
Drinks from a sippy cup – He (like his siblings before him) prefers to drink milk straight from the tap
Eats with fingers – He can definitely get food into his face with his hands.
Bangs objects together – Yes

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo – He thinks peek-a-boo is hilarious but doesn’t actually participate
Says “mama” or “dada” to the correct parent – Can’t say either mama or dada at all, definitely not to the correct parent

{Lincoln 6 months, Caroline 6 months, Evan 6 months}

Happy Half-Birthday to Baby Finnegan! This has been both the longest and shortest six months of my life. Somehow knowing this is the last newborn I’ll have has made every day more…everything. More exciting, more exhausting, more fun, more frustrating. MORE.

There’s also so much more Finnegan these days. He’s blossomed into such a nice, sweet baby with an easy-going personality. The kids started calling him Buddy, as in Buddy the Elf, because smiling is his favorite. He loves going places so he can look at new people and smile at them. He likes when I wear him so he can look into faces, but it means he doesn’t really nap when we’re in public. He does love to flirt with everyone though, so besides the occasional crying jag in the checkout line he’s a good shopping partner.

Speaking of naps, he finally has a schedule! Well, sort of a schedule. He takes a morning nap about 2 hours after he wakes up, so if he wakes up at 7 am like he did today he needs a 9 am nap. If he sleeps until 9 am, he needs an 11 am nap. After morning nap he’s ready to play or run errands or nurse and nurse and nurse and nurse for 4ish hours until he needs an afternoon nap. Then he goes to bed at about 9:30 pm. The nighttime schedule is…less predictable. He’s finally started going 4 hours in a row without eating, but sometimes it’s the first four hours of the night and sometimes it’s from 5 am to 9 am, but since I have to get up at 7:30 I’m not getting four hours of sleep on any sort of regular basis. We DID finally move him upstairs to the master bedroom, so at least I’m off the couch. The goal for March is to get him into the pack-n-play as opposed to sleeping in the swing most of the time.

Finnegan’s current biggest problem is that he thinks he can walk. He cannot walk. He can’t even reliably sit up without putting a pillow behind him. But when you are holding him, he spends all his time lunging for things, trying to throw himself out of your lap, and sliding off the couch onto his feet. He is SO DETERMINED to be mobile. And that’s fine! Please, learn to walk! But for the love of God, if you insist on being attached to me then just LET ME HOLD YOU.

At his 6 month check up today, he weighed in at 20 pounds, 5 oz, which is 90th percentile for weight. His head is in the 85th percentile and his height is right on the 50th, so yes, he is a super chunk.

Likes include smiling, friends, his siblings, socks, clean diapers, music, tickles, baths, rolling, the exersaucer, chewing on things, apple slices, the cat, the dog, grabbing things he isn’t supposed to have, standing, jumping, white noise, his green blanket, and me.

Dislikes include waking up alone, gas, when I leave the room, having boogers removed from his face, being tired and when I don’t nurse him the instant he wants to be fed.

This might be the last month I can get him to sit in this chair for photos, at least without bribing him with more that just Wyatt the fox.

6 Month Milestones

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns toward sounds and voices – Yes, especially if he’s supposed to be nursing
Imitates sounds – Ehhhhhhh he imitates laughing?
Rolls over in both directions – Rolly polly roller rolls everywhere

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do
Is ready for solid foods – I sure hope so, I’m about ready to start handing him pizza crusts (j/k, I gave him apples and sweet potato yesterday, he liked them)
Sits without support – We’re at that point where I keep forgetting he can’t quite sit, so he ends up falling over a lot
Mouths objects – HAHAHAHAHAHA Yes.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes, if there is one thing he is really good at, it’s fine motor skills

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – He’s pulling his knees under himself and creeping. Crawling is in our near future.
Jabbers or combines syllables – Not really
Drags objects toward himself – Yes, this is how I get things done. I put him on the floor surrounded by stuff and let him drag to his heart’s content.

(Lincoln 4 Months, Caroline 4 Months)

Finnegan had his 4-month checkup today on his actual fourth monthday. The nurse asked if I had a guess on his weight, and I said “Oh geeze, he’s really chubby. Probably 18 pounds.” Then I sat him on the scale and it said…exactly 18 pounds. That’s almost four pounds more than his 2-month check-up. He’s not technically off the charts yet and still on the normal curve considering he was huge at birth too, but he’s only average for height so the chunk is real. He comes by it honestly too, because he nurses so much. SO MUCH.

The combination of cold weather, his tendency to spit up after eating, and a 2-year-old brother who often runs away in public means poor Finn doesn’t get out as much as I would like. We’re homebodies right now. Pretty soon we’ll master nursing while babywearing (he just needs to be a tiny bit taller) and hopefully he won’t throw up on my so often and then we’ll go on a lot more adventures. For now most of his social life is his siblings and trips to Target. Which is most of MY social life as well.

Finn is wearing size 3 diapers but when this box runs out we’ll buy size 4s. He’s far too big for any 3 months clothes and almost too big for 6 month clothes. Most of his pajamas are actually 12-18 month sized because we roll the cuffs. His head is also too big for all the cute baby hats I bought so he got a nice new toddler sized winter hat from his sister for Christmas. He’s tall enough now that his feet touch the bottom of the Circle of Neglect (aka the exersaucer) flatly, so he’s started to spin himself around a little bit. It’s such a nice baby holding device when I am simply no longer capable of holding him myself. Not that I might holding him most of the time. The days when he just wants to nurse and sleep and nurse and I can sit on the couch without feeling any guilt for not getting house stuff done is going to end sooner rather than later.

He’s my last baby, and as last babies go, he’s doing an excellent job of making me both love having a baby and also being glad I won’t ever have to go through all the newborn stuff again.

Likes: Biting things, music, tickles, cuddles, smiling, meeting new people, nursies, his siblings, mommy, daddy, the baby swing, being awake at night, socks, being carried around everywhere, the exersaucer, his blankie, standing up.

Dislikes: Shots, teething, bad dreams, being alone.

The band-aids are from today’s shots, which happened only an hour before the photos so I didn’t want to yank them off. Besides, they match his 4 month sticker! The ankle marks are because his legs are too chubby for 2T socks.

4 Month Milestones 

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Smiles, laughs – He loves to do both
Can bear weight on legs – One of his favorite activities
Coos when you talk to him – He’s very vocal when he’s happy, lots of squealing

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Can grasp a toy – Yes, but often drops them. He’s working towards being able to hold things in his mouth.
Rolls over, from tummy to back – Yes, pretty reliably now

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Imitates sounds: “baba,” “dada” – No, just coos and giggles and loud noises
Cuts first tooth – TWO BOTTOM TEETH. But how is this a skill?
May be ready for solid foods – No one advises solids at 4 months anymore. He’s all milk.