what?!?! 18 months

O my goodness. We have a little boy that is closer to the age of two than to the age of one! Here is a brief update of our big boy's new skills...AKA my chance to brag him up!!

• Finnean loves animals and has really started learning what they say. His favorite is probably a dog but can now say what the following animals say: cat, lion, bear, tiger (all the same really), pig, cow (a close second fav), horse, sheep (my fav) and is working on an owl sound!
• His little vocab has just exploded over the past few weeks. He can repeat pretty much anything you say and has lots of his own words. What we hear a lot: More, MINE!, please, thank you, dog, Jerry (his fav thing in the world...more on that later), Mommy, Dad, up, help please, cat, bear, toothbrush, shirt, shooooooes, socks, hat, truck, ball...there are so many more but these come to mind and it just melts my heart when I hear that tiny little voice.
• We still teach him a few signs to help him learn the words. He picks up on the right away and uses them along with his words.
• Finnean LOVES Jerry. We come upstairs from daycare..."Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!" That is all we hear until he is distracted by a truck! We left Jerry with Travis for the week and a half we were in Bloomfield and Finnean was looking in the bathroom, under the sink, in rooms saying...Jerrrry, Jerrrry. He missed his little furry friend!
• He is FAST! Finnean is quick and has really perfected turning on a dime and loves to run!
• Finnean loves to climb. He recently found that he could use the handle from the drawer on our oven to climb up to see the top of the stove. Not a good find if you ask me!!!!
• As we have mentioned on the blog he loves trucks, balls, and any sports. He has so much fun playing hard.
• Tonight he took every pot, pan, lid, cupcake pan out of our cupboard and then got in to look out at the mess. Hope we can get a picture up soon!
• He loves to give high fives and fist bumps. If he starts giving them out he must give one to each person in the room!
• The boy can DANCE! Michael puts music on a lot and Finnean will "snap" his fingers and start busting a move. He loves music and is getting good at strumming the guitar.
• He laughs and laughs and laughs. If he falls down (most of the time) he laughs, he makes himself laugh which cracks us up and most of all he loves to make us laugh.

I am sure that he is doing all kinds of neat things that I forgot write about but I do know for sure that he is a one cute and sweet little boy. He has us wrapped around his little chubby fingers (he has put on some weight!) and we just have so much fun together. Everyday is an adventure. More independence is coming our way but he is still pretty mild mannered. Still a good sleeper and has turned into quite the eater. Fruit is his fav at this point. Hope you enjoyed a the update and hope to get some more pictures posted soon.

B-Ball!!!

This boy loves to play basketball. Loves to watch baseball-we have taught him to say sitttttttrike! Hopefully we can get it on video soon! Hope you enjoy this DUNK!

Bloomfield Adventures

We have been in Bloomfield the whole week due to my mom being in the Hospice House in Ottumwa. We have been taking advantage of being with her and visiting with family. Finnean is getting to meet a lot of people that he hasn't met before due to her being ill-so we are trying to make the best of the situation. Thank you for all the prayers that have been coming our way. We did get some good news from the doctor that she believes that my mom has more months to live. We do not know how many or what that looks like. We just want to take advantage of that time. Keep praying and thank you again for all the support.

We had a BBQ tonight and Finnean had the chance to see some farm animals up close! He LOVED the chickens but wasn't sure about touching them. He walked around like they did and made little noises. Cousin Sullivan caught one for him to get a closer look! Finnean cried when we had to leave the chickens! :(

Getting dirty!

Finnean had his first bite of homemade ice cream...and this was after all the bites were gone! He was so mad that we didn't get him anymore!

"Cow!"

Finnean LOVED that he could sit and play and the cows were right there close to him! He kept mooing at them and saying cow.

First 4-wheeler ride.

Well...not really. A few seconds after he got on he started screaming! Not too excited about going on it with Uncle Dan!

This is Finnean when the "horse!" was coming!!! He loves horses and got to see one up close!

Finnean liked to pet "Brownie" and could even say his name. BUT he did not want to ride Brownie!! (Yes-I am on the horse :)

"OOOOOO!"

He kept saying this when Uncle Dan (Finnean warmed up to him) would make a basket! Of course he warmed up because he found a basketball!

What a sweet little boy! I love his little eyes in this picture.

He kept trying to take off his hat but here he is trying to buckle it!!

Ball!

In the last week I feel like he has grown up so much. He looks so big in his little cargo shorts and polo (and just like daddy!)

Soaking up the farm life.

This was after he got to see all the animals and then played basketball for almost an hour. He was pooped!!!

Finnean and Dad resting after the BBQ.

What a funny little boy! He loves trucks and you can usually find him with one.

Books before bed with Grandma Lisa.

Finnean has found all of the Little Golden books that his Dad, Adam and Ellie used to read. He loves looking at the pictures and pointing out all of the things he knows but he really loves reading with Grandma! We have been here for a few days and has really gotten comfy with Grandma and Poppa.

Iowa City

As many of you know we made a few trips to Iowa City and Bloomfield over the past few weeks. Here are a few pictures from our travels.

Steak and Shake!!

Finnean didn't want anything to do with his paper hat until his mini burger came. Then he put it on and ate like a champ! He looked so cute in his little hat!

This is one of the best view we had from the hospital. Grandma and Poppa Wagler are excited because they are hoping Finnean will love the Hawks like they do. Finnean can say hawkeye is but he only whispers it. They have been working on him to say it louder!

In our busy week we made a stop at Dad's office. His little name tag says "Michael Wagler" and he looks just like him!!

This is another little place we ate at in Iowa City. It is called Which Wich and it was so yummy! Finnean loves his little PB and J but it had so much J on it. We had to make a bib out of a plastic bag and he still got J on his pants!

Dad and Finnean in front of the Englert theater in Iowa City.

Check out Finnean's sweet mo-hawk. His hair is getting so long!!

It has been so warm this week Dad filled up the pool at Grandma and Poppa Wagler's house. Finnean was not a big fan of getting in the water but he loved to play around it.

He loves to play ball!

More baseball and basketball. Finnean's idea of a great time!!!

Look at that smile!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Finnean and Michael were so sweet to me on Mother's Day! They are always sweet but extra sweet on Sunday. Michael ran out and got donuts from our favorite place and brought home flowers. He said that he wasn't the only dad in line at Hy-Vee for flowers on Sunday morning! Finnean and I got to snuggle in bed to watch Curious George and he of course stole my donut. He has not had a donut ever...but thought it was pretty tasty. He was kind of shaking...i think it had to much sugar!!! I got to take a nap ( i love a good nap!) and then we got ready for church. After church we hit Centro for lunch with Abby and Cory and had a wonderful time. We spent the evening running errands and I got to tuck in the sweetest boy in the world. I forgot to add that somewhere in this fun filled day Finnean turned into a wild man. He was running through Target, knocking things over, just being crazy. It is so funny because it started when we put a new shirt on him that he has never worn before. He was bouncing off the couch, running into things. We took off the shirt and he stopped being crazy. I am not sure that we will wear that shirt again OR we won't give him that much sugar in one day!!

I am so thankful for my boys!!!

Check out his suit. He looked pretty snazzy for church!
(please don't overlook his must have accessory!)

Being silly after he got syrup EVERYWHERE!

What a handsome little man.

Pure happiness. French Toast with tons of syrup, milk and fruit. Please note that he doesn't get syrup at home...so between the donut and lunch...he was on sugar overload!!

peek! look at that little booty!

We sat outside (thankfully they had the heaters on) but it was perfect because Finnean could play and laugh it up while we were chatting after lunch.

Sweet boy!

I am one lucky Momma. Look at how handsome these boys are!

:)

*****

I can't resist this picture. Grandpa and Poppa surprised us with being in the area tonight. Finnean loved reading his book with them. He is really starting to stay Gr-ma and Poppa.

Science Center and Pella Tulip Time

Finnean and Dad took advantage of their day off together on Friday and went to the Science Center. Michael is so excited for Finnean to be able to DO things. I think they will be having a lot of outings this summer. I love that they get to spend those Fridays together.

*****

TULIP TIME!!

Brrrr...it was so cold and rainy too! BUT we got to see each other and had fun looking around Pella. We hope to go next year when it hopefully will be nicer and hopefully will be able to see some TULIPS! Not many left for the actual festival!

Can you find us? Ellie, Carter, Finnean and I with the giant windmill!

Finnean checking out the giant wooden shoes!

Silly boys!

This was right before he busted his nose on the bricks. :(

Taking Mom on a walk. I am not Mama anymore. Finnean says MOM. Very clear!

Finnean was so tired...

This is my favorite picture of the day. I think he actually looks like me here. AMAZING!

We were both tired and grumpy. We were cold, rained on and I didn't get a sweet treat. Well not yet anyway...they all went to the car and dropped me off to stand in line for....

COOKIES!!!!

this is why i stood in line for 20 minutes...YUM! Vander Ploeg Bakery...you must stop in Pella and get some of these! Michael got his dutch letter and we were all happy!

Carter obviously enjoyed a cookie on the way home :)

KC Trip

Last weekend we made a quick trip to KC for Bare Root Designs. Kelcee and Matt braved the 6 hours in the car with our little man...he did such a good job and really didn't get too antsy until we were about 15 minutes from home. This picture below was about that time... This is Finnean with his friends. he loves them!