Finnegan Wakes

We've had a great time celebrating Halloween with the boys this year. On Friday, we met up with a bunch of the parents and tots in my mom's group for a group photo/costume appreciation party, and then we all headed up to Lincoln Ave. for the yearly costume parade and trick-or-treats at the local shops. Dad-o joined in the fun this year, and escorted San Jose's smallest but most earnest luchador while I carried our little lion Henry around in the sling.

This evening Dad-o took Finny around to the neighbors' houses for some trick-or-treating while Henry and I stayed home and started doling out candy to the early bird ghosts and goblins. Then John and Finny manned the front steps to hand out candy to the hordes of kids coming down our block while I got Henry to sleep. Then we swapped and I doled out candy in my Lucy Ricardo costume while a super-pooped Finny chose to bypass his nightly bath and bottle in favor of just getting quickly into bed. Once both guys were down, we handed out the rest of our candy, ordered a pizza, and collapsed on the couch! We counted over 300 trick-or-treaters, and only have about 3 pieces of candy left in the cauldron.

Here's a little gallery (HTML) of Halloween pics and a few other assorted shots from recent days, including a visit from MrsW ("Hoot's mama!"), provider of quality luchador-wear.

[Super Mega Bonus Edition: It's fun to see pix of Finn at Halloween just a year ago (HTML), as well as to see a clip of his penguin-clad toddling! --J.]

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 11:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Finn gets to be a funnier, wackier dude as the days go by:

• Lately he's started pointing at (seemingly) random things and excitedly declaring, "Imp! Imp!" Presumably he's not seeing lots of lesser demons running around, so we're kind of puzzled and charmed. In particular he identifies the little thermometer strip in Henry's tub as "Imp."
• Speaking of that tub, Finn and I (and now Mom-O) like to play a game with the little valve in the bottom. We'll unplug it, and I'll reach through with two fingers that make a little biting motion. Finn yells "Coyote!!" and braves its maw with his fingers. The coyote celebrates success by howling (despite its mouthful of finger), much to Finn's delight.
• In an old episode of Star Trek, the human captain yells "KeeBLAH!" ("Goodbye") at his Klingon crewman, who gruffly replies, "Goodbye, sir." Well, you can guess what exchange Finny and I have been having lately, especially on his changing table. Audio file to follow. :-)

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 09:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

When it rains, it pours... gourds, that is.

Margot learned of another great pumpkin patch in our vicinity, so yesterday we packed up the Ocho & headed south. Finn, who's now officially a huge fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, got a kick out of the "leetle train!!" (particularly the water tower) and the random forklift that kept passing by. Henry was resplendent in pumpkin paraphernalia (check out the stem!), and Finn loved his "Boo shirt." Here's our gallery (HTML).

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 10:51 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Ah, and here we thought that with two young boys on hand, we'd never get to use our exercise equipment again. Okay, we were kind of right (in that we rarely exercise), but now through Finn rides, the "(E)lliptical!" and Mom-O's Pilates machine have new leases on life. Checkitout:

We've recently made our basement a tad more tot-friendly ("Now with 90% fewer rusty nails and sawdust piles lying around!"), and we're looking forward to taking things further (maybe disguising/disarming the metal poles as trees, etc.). Onward & downward.

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 11:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Auntie Laura was here for a visit last week while John was off to the dusty desert with the guys (Hoot! Matt! as Finn would say.)

Since John, our resident photographer and blog-post illustrator/gallery maker was away, my post did not have any of the photos or video footage from her visit. So I'm pleased to announce that at long last, we have photographic proof of her visit, and here is the gallery (HTML) to prove it :D.

And here's a fun little video of Finny and Auntie Laura singing the "Banana" song. Finn is obviously very pro-banana unification!

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 12:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

You cannot handle the cute. :-)

My favorite part is possibly Finn's enthusiasm for yelling out totally factual non-sequiturs: "TV room! Living room! Lion!" Oh, and just to defend my cardiovascular fitness to Hoot for a moment: yes, we'd been running laps like this for some time prior to my picking up the camera (pant, pant...). :-)

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 10:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

During my mom's little visit this past week, we enjoyed introducing Finn to Hershey's Kisses ("Choco-boca dudes!"), playing with Doh, scrubbing down Henry, whipping up cookies (which now dominate Finn's consciousness--"Mo' cookie jar!"), and reading a new book from Grandma. Here's the gallery (HTML).

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 10:16 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

While Grandma Nack was here this week, we visited a local pumpkin patch with the boys. Henry was asleep for most of it, but at least he was dressed festively in his orange hat :D. Finn, on the other hand, was quite alert, and really enjoyed the small petting zoo that was set up at the patch. He was pretty taken with the turkeys, goats, piglets, and bunny rabbits. Here is a little gallery (HTML) of the afternoon's proceedings. We ended up with four pumpkins, two large and two tiny, to be our family doppel-gourds on the front porch.

[Just for fun, here's the gallery from last year's visit. What a tiny Finnster we had! --J.]

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 08:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Grandma Nack does her trademark finger-walking game with both Finn & Henry in this action-packed installment of As The Nacks Turn ;-).

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 10:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Mom-o's sister Laura is visiting while Dad-o is off with the boys on a trip to Death Valley (an annual pilgrimage to partake in all things macho and dusty). We are having a good time with the boys, cramming in some girl-time after the guys go to sleep.

Auntie Laura is a big hit with Mr. Finn. She has been showering him with gifts--Thomas-related toys handed down from cousin Charlie, Halloween costumes from Charlie and Patrick, and some fun Spider Man plates, utensils, and a placemat to make eating even more of an adventure :D. Finn's favorite toy so far is the "Jungle Blocks!"--some jungle-themed plastic blocks that come with their own plastic waterfall, and most importantly, their own CAVE! ("Kinda Dark!" exclaims Finny, while putting the lion and monkey in the cave.) He has dubbed some of the cylindrical blocks "smokestacks" based on his recently acquired knowledge of steam engines.

We are finally catching a break with Mr. Henry when it comes to naps. Yesterday he had 2 really long naps, after over a week of 30- or 40-minute ones. Whew. So he's better rested, and Mom-o is a little more relaxed as well.

Laura and Finny are in the backyard "fixing" the Cozy Coupe with Finny's ever-present toy pliers while I catch up on some domestic stuff--like dishes and blog entries!

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 09:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, fair warning: this is one of those videos where Nothing In Particular Happens. Having said that, it's fun to see little Henry testing out his singing abilities (something he's been too quick to stop when I've reached for the video cam), and to hear Finny opine that it's time for his attention-getting brother to take a nap. :-) As Finn would say, "Checkkitout":

Posted by The Nack Daddy at 01:48 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I can't believe I'm writing this because it seems impossible for it to be true, but get this: Henry has two teeth breaking on through to the other side! He's not even three months old! He's been working so hard at grabbing things and aiming them towards his mouth, and he's really been chewing on his fingers (and ours) a lot the past few days. Both John and I thought we might've felt something sharp in his mouth over the weekend, and today I confirmed our suspicions. I took a peek at his lower gumline, and lo and behold, his two front center teeth have started to emerge!

So, no wonder he's been having trouble sleeping and has been more enthusiastic about getting things into his mouth. Teething in addition to a growth spurt has gotta throw a little guy for quite a loop. Once I discovered the teeth, I gave him some Baby T (Tylenol) before his nap, and it seemed to work--he actually slept for about an hour and a half, by far the longest nap he's had in several days.

[For those playing along at home, note that Henry has beaten Finn to the tooth-punch by a full month. Of course, I'm acutely aware of how ridiculous it is to suggest that this is a contest of any sort, or that the timing of these developments means anything. On the other hand, well played, Goonie. :-) --J.]

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 08:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

"G-Man-upon-Chest"

With two squirrels to look after, it can be challenging for Dad-o to find quality face time with Henry. So when the weekend rolls around and the opportunity presents itself, the guys really take face time seriously! Since Henry's got to do some "tummy time" as part of his exercise regimen, Dad-o makes it a lot more fun by being the human playmat underneath our little guy. Here is a little taste of wee Henry and Dad-o doing some double tummy time.

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 09:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Henry has embarked upon his 12-week growth spurt with a vengeance, and he is taking me along as prisoner...figuratively shackled to his hungry mouth and growing little pot belly, slave to his wakefulness. We are on day 2 of innumerable and frequent feedings, and (I kid you not) exactly 37-minute naps. About four 37-minute naps per day so far. Ugh.

I've abandoned trying to do anything productive until we're through this phase since I only get short breaks every couple hours. So far the good news is that his night sleep is still good so I do get a break then. And I happily admit that he is becoming much more animated and alert when he's awake. His little hands are busy swatting at nearby objects, and his eyes sparkle when he starts cooing and making conversation with us.

I'm glad he's a healthy little guy and is interested in being a more participative member of the family. I'll just be glad when we're back to decent napping so Mom-o can regain her grip on things!

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 07:43 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Henry really knows how to turn on the charm. After a long, tiring day, I was somberly changing him into his PJ's, and when I looked at him, he cracked his biggest, sweetest grin at me. How could I not melt?

He's really perking up these days while he's awake, and we've recently captured a handful of fun pictures of him in action. A little tummy time with Dad-o, some "singing" with Mom-o, and some smiles from his big bro. Here's the gallery (HTML).

Posted by The Notorious M.O.M. at 08:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)