Shameful

Thankfully you cannot see my shamed face right now. I am cherry red with embarrassment. I have been a horrible blog updater. The good news is that my blog has been neglected at the expense of spending time with the lovely Finley - rather than the other way around. However, for the time being, she and Daddy are happily playing, so I have snuck off to provide a few much needed updates. No doubt a lot has happened in all of your lives since July 4th - and the same is true for us. We have traveled a bit for weddings and reunions, and been busy on the home front as well. So for the sake of my sanity, I will provide a few individual blog entries to cover some of the most memorable events of our summer (Lindsay Family Reunion, Carl & Shannon's wedding, and Heidi & Eric's wedding). Before I do that, though, I will provide a few candids of Finley and a brief update on our life these days. Taylor has just begun student teaching (hallelujah!!! the end is in sight!), after what seems like an eternity of night and online classes building up to this experience. In other words - he took his time getting here! :) In response, I have taken on a very goofy work schedule, but my job has been very generous in allowing for such odd and flexible hours. Thank goodness. But in all sincerity, it is such a delight to see Taylor suddenly heading to work in his chosen field - something he is very clearly happy about. Perhaps someday (one can dream, right?!) we will both have jobs we love. sigh. until then - more updates... The lovely Finley (one cannot forget about our heroine - I am sure you did not) brings us just as much happiness as before - and perhaps more, if that is possible. She is at that stage where she wants to get moving, but can't just quite yet. We are close to crawling I think, and she'll take a couple of (very) wobbly steps while holding our hands. And rolling - she just can't be stopped. Her talking, too, is progressing at warp speed. Suddenly we get less of the shrieking and more "indoor voice" babbling. She started with the dadadadada's, moved on to the mamamama's (which i loved!), and has now progressed onto the babababa's. Along with verious aaahh's, and eeee's, etc. It really is like she is speaking her own language, chatting with her stuffed animals and the cats about the latest gossip. Dogs still tend to be the source from which her belly laughs spring forth, but we get plenty of "everyday laughs", giggles, and smiles in the interim of her doggy dates. She is a voracious eater and has been a pretty good sport about everything we put in front of her. The newest addition? - a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. So now we are up to three meals a day, plus her bottles. So to sum up - Finley has just turned 8 months old, she is a beautiful, happy, delightful little lady who makes for never a dull moment and is growing and changing by the minute. We are, as I have said before, incredibly lucky to have her in our lives.