It’s week two with Henry on the scene, and we’re all settling in to our groove as a foursome. Henry and I spend a lot of time on the couch, or in the rocking chair while he nurses or naps. We’ve set up the playpen/bassinet in the living room so we have a drop-off spot for him that is both Finn-proof and centrally located so we can hear him from the kitchen or other rooms.
John and Finn have a really good routine going these days. They spend a lot of time outdoors exploring, going for Cozy Coupe rides, or Bob-ing their way up the street to the park. Finn has really taken a shine to the various slides, as well as the swings. There is a public pool at the park, too, which is open every afternoon, so the boys have been swimming a few times in the past week. Finn loves it, and John mentioned something about how great it is to be a dad when it comes to playtime and pool time with Finno. We also found out that the big carousel at the Guadalupe River Park is free one Tuesday a month, so John and Finn took a spin on the various animals last week–I think a wolf, zebra, and giraffe were involved–see for yourself (HTML)*!
John and I get some quiet time together in the evenings after Finn goes to bed, and Henry settles into his nighttime sleeping pattern. He conks out after a couple of closely-spaced evening feedings, enabling us to enjoy the quiet and the descending darkness.
*The image quality of the last shot here is, as Finn would say of milk being microwaved, “Nottoohot.” 🙂 Still it captures the feel of the scene, and it’s not too bad for a $3 souvenir. Finny was kind of freaked out by the ride at first (“Down down down!”), but he became an addict almost immediately. In the end it was woozy Dad who had to call a break to all the riding!
Author: The Notorious M.O.M.
Kidney Update
Our visit to Dr. S. on Tuesday resulted in some positive news. All is well with our little guy overall. Dr. S. thinks that the hydronephrosis (fluid on the kidney) issue is mild enough that it will most likely resolve itself in the next several months.
While the pediatrician at the hospital felt that further testing would be necessary (involving catheters and radioactive dye–yeesh!), Dr. S. thinks that is too much to pursue given the small degree of fluid shown in the ultrasound we had at the hospital. Her recommendation is to continue the antibiotic dose as a preventive measure, and do another ultrasound at 6 months to see how he’s doing.
We are to be alert for any high fevers, as they might indicate a kidney or urinary tract infection. Knowing that, we’ll be super conservative if/when he gets a fever, and get him checked out accordingly. The best news is that we don’t have to subject our tiny guy to a bunch of unpleasant procedures that would likely result in no further action from the doctor.
Double Squire Goings On
I know I’m supposed to rest when the baby rests, but now is one of those instances where I’m absolutely wide awake, and it’s too warm to sleep, so it’s just not going to happen. Thankfully Henry afforded me a couple of really decent naps today so I am not as desperately tired as I could be. And John is doing a wonderful job with Finny–they are pretty much keeping their own schedule and Henry and I drop in for a visit as often as we can (when we’re not napping, or he’s not nursing). Right now John’s got Henry snoozing on his lap.
Finn’s starting to relax about Dad-o having some Henry time. He’s not bursting into instant tears or whining every time he sees Dad holding the baby, and we are trying to explain that Henry gets to spend time with *all* of us, not just Mom-o. He’ll get there in time.
We visit Dr. S. tomorrow for our first check-up. We’ll also talk to her about the results of Henry’s kidney ultrasound, which showed a bit too much fluid on his left kidney. This means we have to take him in for some additional tests, because the risk is urinary or kidney infection if the duct from his kidney is not working properly. There are degrees of seriousness to the condition–it may resolve itself, or it may require surgical intervention to place a stent in the duct. We’ll know more in the coming weeks. Right now he is on a preventative dose of antibiotics to fend off any potential infection.
We are extremely fortunate to be getting meals delivered every night from the Moms’ group I’m in. It is wonderful to have hot, delicious food available with no effort–I would strongly recommend a second pregnancy to any of the moms in the group! So far we’re 4 for 4 on getting brownies for dessert 🙂
F-16: Waiting for Gundo(t)
July 2, 2009: Finn turns 16 months old! Hard to believe, and even harder to believe that El Segundo’s arrival could be any day now. We keep waiting for “Gundo” and he keeps teasing me with phony contractions, but has made no definitive moves towards his big entrance.
Meanwhile, Finny keeps picking up new words every day. New ones include “handle”, “eagle”, “hanger”, “ice”, “antenna”, and “Beetle” (re: our neighbor’s vintage VW bug). He’s decided he likes watermelon, and he tried a dill pickle today and surprisingly, liked it a great deal. He really hammed it up when he made his “pickle face,” but kept on asking for more!
Yesterday, Finn went on a bender about “BrokenHam!”, careening around saying it over and over, and cracking up in the process. He and Dad would take turns shouting “BrokenHam!” and giggling. Turns out, he was referring to Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham, which he’s been enjoying. How it became broken, I do not know, but it’s hilarious nonetheless.
The sprinkler and garden hose antics continue. Finn has gone through a couple outfits per day due to his interest in the garden hose and the new spray nozzle we got for it. He basically points it at his face and tries to get a drink from it, so you can imagine how quickly he gets soaked from head to toe. He’s also taken to hosing down the Cozy Coupe–gotta keep your ride clean, man!
Here’s a little compendium of photos (HTML) from the past week or two–including piggy-back rides, attempts at jumping, visits from friends, and neighborhood expeditions.
Beating the Heat
It is outrageously hot here this weekend–97 degrees yesterday afternoon, and we are expected to hit 101 today. Making it bearable is our shady backyard plus the fun fishy sprinkler mat that Finn’s Liggett grandparents bought for him. We set it up yesterday, got Finn into his swimtrunks, and let the splashing commence! As you can see (HTML), a good time was had by all, and the cool water had us all feeling a little less oppressed in the hot afternoon.
- The Happy Lion by Louise Fatio and Roger Duvoisin. We read this book several times a day, at Finn’s urging. He just starts saying “Happy! Happy!” until we get the picture. Thanks to Anne Nack for giving us this terrific book!
- “Dak-oh-Dahs” (Corn Flakes) for breakfast. This is Finn’s way of saying “cock-a-doodle-doo!” when he sees the cereal box.
- Hooks of all sorts. He sees them on the drawings of tow trucks in our Richard Scarry books, and has found a few in the back of our neighbor’s truck. He refers to them as “No Pat No,” recalling a cactus-sitting character in Hop on Pop.
- Tubes. Paper towel tubes, toilet paper tubes, straws, anything tube-like that Finn can stick objects in.
- Stroobs (our name for strawberries). He really enjoys eating and talking about them.
- “Peek!” He loves to hide behind chairs or other objects and slooooowly peek around the edge, then shout “PEEK!” when we see him.
- Pow-wow walking. When he’s being silly, he kind of crouches down and takes lots of little bitty steps, which makes me think of the Native American dances you see at pow-wows.
- Daddy blowing bubbles in the bathtub water. Finn grabs John’s head and pulls it down towards the tub until John starts blowing bubbles. It looks a bit strange, but Finny absolutely loves it.
- “Ham and DumDum”, a.k.a. our neighbor Kim and her dog Samson.
- His Chicken Shirt, which, when putting it on for the day, inspires our boy to start saying “bok bok bok!”
Binny on The Road to DaMACscus
Yesterday after Finn got up from his morning nap, he was very focused on obtaining one thing, and one thing only: “Maca!” (macaroni and cheese) He started saying it the minute he got up, and kept saying it as we walked into the kitchen for our post-nap snack. I figured we’d dispense with mere snacking and go all the way to an early lunch, complete with Maca.
As I put Finn into his hopper and started boiling the water, measuring out the milk, etc., I was explaining to him that the Maca was coming soon. He was watching with some interest as I drained, dumped, and stirred.
Once the macaroni & cheese was made, I spooned some into a bowl for him, turned around, and said “Here it is!”. The sight of the piping hot Maca knocked our boy right off his horse! “Binny” became “Finny” as the scales fell from his eyes, and he exclaimed breathlessly and excitedly, “MACAAAAA!”. It was as if he had witnessed a miracle, and he was smiling from ear to ear.
Dok-a-Dah II: Return to Birdland
Yesterday we returned to the farm park for our Sunday adventure. Finn wore his chicken shirt in order to more fully bond with the wandering fowl. We even packed a picnic lunch with chicken in it (a little weird if you think too long about it), so between lunch, the shirt, and the actual chickens, there was lots of “bok bok bok”ing and “dok-a-dah!” (cock-a-doodle-doo!) from the Squirrel.
Here’s a little gallery (HTML) of our afternoon. We visited the billy goats and cows, too, so they didn’t feel left out.
[PS–During the livestock feeding, Finnster loved talking about the cow’s “beak!” Apparently goats also feature beaks. (I was really glad Barbra Streisand didn’t walk by just then.) –J.]
Morning Constitutional
Our little hombre is able to get more and more specific about what he likes/dislikes, and what he would prefer to be doing at any given time. He’s taken to grabbing my (or John’s) hand and leading us around while providing other clues about what he’d like.
For instance, this morning after breakfast we were playing in Finn’s room, and he started saying “Hat! Hat!”. He took my hand, led me to the kitchen, and pointed to the basket where we keep our sunhats (a requirement for going outside these days). Then he pointed to the back door. We put our hats on, but since I was still in my PJs, we went upstairs so I could put some clothes on. Believe me, at this point in my pregnancy, walking around outside in my PJs is not something any of the neighbors need to see…
We then went outside and did the usual rounds–a stop off at Richard’s fountain for some splashing and gato viewing, then a walk up and down the block to explore fence gates, ants, and plants. Thank goodness he didn’t poop out until 2 houses away from home, at which point he turned to me, raised his arms and said “UP!”. Once inside, he started saying “mo mos, mo mos!” (code for pretzel bits with cream cheese…he loves them and just says “more more more!”). So we were off to the kitchen for a few pre-nap mo mos. I’m sure he would have been content sitting there stuffing his face for an hour, but Leo was getting sleepy, so I packed them both off to the crib for a rest.
Once he’s up from his nap, I will await further instruction 🙂
Viva Español
Finn is picking up the few Spanish words we use around the house just as quickly as he is the English ones…common Finn utterances include:
- Boca (mouth)
- Agua
- Coche (car)
- Ga-TO! (cat–with a lot of emphasis!)
- Queso (cheese)
- Sucio (dirty)
- Matematicos (crazy wrestlers; his pronunciation of this one is, uh, “impressionistic”)
We’re trying to limit the crazy Nack-branded Spanglish we use all the time and stick to *real* Spanish words. He’ll have enough kooky English slang to deal with, thanks to us!
F-15
Our little fighter had his 15-month check-up today with Dr. S. Once again, he blows away the competition and has gone through quite a growth spurt, to boot! He is 33 inches tall, weighs 28 lbs 12 oz, and his head is 48cm around. He clocks in at the 90-95th percentile on all counts.
Dr. S was astounded when I told her how many words Finn can say (we’ve counted about 75) and that he can even understand abstract concepts (for instance, he says “Leo!” when we’re trying to be sneaky and say “his buddy” or “Finn’s little pal”). She says that for boys, the average at 15 months is more like 15 words! Unfortunately he was dozey and not too talkative during our appointment, so she didn’t get a sampling of his skills. She did, however, get to meet Leo :-).
While we were waiting for the nurse to come in with the vaccination shots, I started whistling little tunes to keep Finny entertained, which he really enjoyed. As soon as I would stop he’d look up at me, pucker up, and start blowing through his lips to get me to start going again! (A mom can only sing the short lyrics to “Pony Boy” so many times…so whistling is a good alternative, and fascinating for Finn.)
Last night we had a little impromptu taco night with our pals Tom & Sarah, their daughter Harper (11 weeks), Huez* & Alex, and their son Miles (3.5 mos). Here is a little gallery (HTML) of shots from the evening, starting with the touchdown of the cute tots in our backyard. Finn was mad for guacamole and chips, so many thanks to Alex for letting us keep the leftovers!
* Pronounced by Finn as “Oot!”
Avuncular Stylings
Now that we’re past our blog’s technical difficulties, we have some catching up to do!
Last week, Finn’s Uncle James was in town for his long-awaited first meeting with our little squirrel. James was traveling for business, and was spending a day in Menlo Park, a town nearby. It was a perfect opportunity to pit stop at Casa de Nack for some Cinco de Mayo tacos, beer, and goofing around with a cute 1-year old. The guys got along great, and we snapped a couple photos (HTML) to commemorate the occasion. We were so excited he came by and got to meet his nephew.
And speaking of nephews, today is our nephew Charlie’s 4th birthday! Happy Birthday Chooch! (James’ visit also enabled us to send Charlie’s present home with his dad.)
A Tiny Bite of Domendite!
Finny really knows how to bring on the hilarity! Every day it’s something new and totally unpredictable.
We’ve known that Finn is very into toes (touching them, purposefully stepping on our feet, “sweeping” them with a paintbrush), but today he added an entirely new angle to his repetoire. One of his current favorite books is Dr. Seuss’s Hop On Pop. His favorite page in the book is “HE ME. He is After Me!” wherein a goofy tiger/lionish looking creature with big teeth is biting an equally goofy-looking kid on the toe (see image).
As he and I were goofing around, barefoot, on the couch this afternoon, he spontaneously leaned over, bit my big toe, and growled, knowing that the appropriate response would be to holler “No!”, which is what we say when we read the book. I delivered a good yelp of “No!”, and started laughing hysterically because it was so unexpected. This encouraged Finny to bite the toe several times and wait for my soap-operatic reaction. He was super surprised when I grabbed his toe and did the same thing!
A Cheekful Sequel!

We got another good look at El Segundo this week via ultrasound. The doc wanted to see exactly how big he is (since I’m the size of a barn already!). After the ultrasound tech took the requisite measurements, we got to take a tour and see our little guy in action. The tech remarked on how big his cheeks look–just like his brother’s!
Seems as if our little guy is playing tricks with the time-space contiuum…although I am supposedly 30 weeks along, he measures up closer to 32 weeks! Maybe this means he’ll come a little early (please!), or maybe it just means he’s going to be *huuuuuuuuge* by the time he gets here. Either way we’re really looking forward to meeting him! Until then, here is a little gallery (HTML) of ultrasonic glamour shots.
What Happens In Vegas…
Oh, how I wish what happens in Vegas would stay in Vegas! We 3 Nacks had a good time seeing our pals Adolfo, Romina, and Brunito, but man we were fighting some tough circumstances during our stay.
Wandering around in the Las Vegas heat while 7 months pregnant with a raging head cold is, well, not ideal. What I thought was just allergies is actually a nasty cold (which John also got during our stay), which I am *still* getting over and which has now passed itself to Finny. Trying to keep a little guy fed, entertained, and not-too-sleep-deprived is a tough order when all you *really* want to do is blow your nose and rest in a dark room.
And then Finny had his own sleep issues…he was so *not* interested in the crib we requisitioned from the hotel. He slept there one time (because he was probably too pooped to complain much) but the rest of the time it was in the bed with mom and dad and their stuffy heads. Naps, nighttime sleep, all of it. And waking up when you’d leave the bed to go to the bathroom or get a drink. Yeesh.
Now that we’re back he’s struggling to readjust to sleeping and napping in his own crib. Yesterday afternoon and last night were not too bad but this morning’s nap went nuclear for about 45 minutes until he just plain pooped himself out. I tried staying in his room and patting him but that didn’t seem to help at all…and leaving him on his own had the same effect (more crying). Finally he gave up the fight, and hopefully this afternoon’s nap will go a little smoother. I think replacing his rancid, dirty “Leo” with a clean one threw him off his game, too, but I worry his mouth’ll rot out if he keeps sucking on something that smells like a hamper full of dirty socks!
Funky Ducks!

Finn has been *really* interested in ducks lately. Pretty much any kind of bird that appears in his picture books gets called “duck.” Even things that have nothing to do with birds get the duck treatment! We thought it would be fun to take Finn to a park where he could see real live ducks, and make the connection with what we see in his books.
We were sort of successful, in that we did see at least 3 actual ducks. Mostly we saw Canadian geese, though. Since Finn’s not old enough to split hairs on ducks vs. geese, we just called them all ducks. (I even had to explain to John that the little black duck-like birds we saw were terns, not ducks.) Anyway, here are some pictures (HTML) from our onshore adventures at the park.
Lucky 13
Finn is officially thirteen months old today! Just in the last week, he’s hit a few more milestones. For instance, he now says “Mama” directly to me, quite frequently. It’s unspeakably rad!
He is also very interested in some new characters in his story books. He is fascinated with the yak in our animal alphabet book, and wants to skip right from “Ape” to “Yak” so he can say “Yak” & “Moooooo”. We also have a book where the main character turns into a big bug who is slurping some kind of goo, and Finn *loves* to skip to the bug page and make slurpy noises. Oh, and his current favorite book is a hilarious one called “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!“–we must read it at least 3 times a day.
[Oh yes, and Finno and I love to play “Sproingy Doorstopper.” First we party on the actual sproingy doorstopper, making it waggle & chatter. Then I stick out one index finger, pull it back with the other, and then make it go all sproingy doorstopper, complete with surprisingly good sound effects. 😉 Finn is fascinated. –J.]
Finny’s Liggett Grandparents arrived on Wednesday to spend a week with their youngest grandchild. Finn instantly warmed up to both Grandma and Grandpa, and has been having some high times (literally!) the past few days. Since John was in Boston for a Photoshop show this week, it was good timing for me–extra hands and extra entertainment for the little guy.
Finn has become Grandpa’s little shadow, always making sure that he knows exactly where Grandpa is, so he can be sure to get in lots of good lap time, cuddles, and horseplay. In fact, Grandma and Mom have taken a bit of a back seat to the dudes! Happily, Grandma has gotten in some good storybook reading and lap time, too. Here is a tiny gallery (HTML) of recent adventures.
And here is a little clip of the aforementioned “high times” with Grandpa:
Molar Mania!
We know Finn has been teething like mad lately, and the big ol’ molar bumps under his gums are hard to miss. This morning while we were playing, I got a look into Finny’s upside-down, wide-open maw, and saw that he’s got 2 new molars emerging–one on either side of his upper jaw. You can just see the white pointy parts above the gums.
Whew–no wonder he was having trouble napping, and eating, and was just generally fussy there for awhile. Those chompers are BIG! The ones on his lower jaw are getting ready to make their move, and I expect we’ll be seeing them pretty soon. I’m sure Finn will be thrilled to be able to grind down tortilla chips and other crunchy stuff just like Mom and Dad!
Cougar Party
Finn was lucky enough to score a VIP invite to an older woman’s birthday party this weekend…We thought perhaps a May-December romance was in the offing, but everything ended up purely platonic. That’s good, considering Anja, the birthday girl, is only two, and Finny is only half her age! (Anja attended Finny’s b’day party earlier in the month, and her dad Bruce offered the following commentary: “Two year-old at a one year-old’s party! Cougar’s on the prowl!”)
Here are some pics (HTML) from the party.