Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Another Video!

Finley is starting to try rolling over. She especially likes the help of something to pull herself onto her side. We think its really cute! Also her Grandpa Kenneth got her this really fun new bouncy toy. She loves it and has plenty of room to grow into it!

CLICK HERE

The Flyball tournament RV experience

We recently got ourselves an awesome new travel trailer. We spent months searching for the one with the best floorplan and other features that met our needs. Like I mentioned in an earlier post we decided on the Keystone Outback 301BQ. We were very excited to learn that it fits in our driveway and will be stored there and maybe even will be used for extra beds for overnight guests.

We took it out on our first trip to Canada this past weekend for a flyball tournament. It was such a different experience. I loved not dealing with checking in and out of a hotel. I also loved waking up and already being at the tournament. It is surprisingly comfortable with plenty of room to relax and sleep and even adequate room for cooking. Our favorite things about the floorplan: the main bedroom is pretty big and has a door, the dinette is huge and can seat lots of people and there is a bunk room for the dogs and Finley to sleep. This is going to make traveling with Finley so much easier. The only complaint I had was the noise. I didnt realize that flyball people party so much! They were up late! Maybe someday when I dont have to go to sleep at 9pm with Finley, I will join in.

We had a great time at the tournament, despite being shorthanded. Finley was held by lots of new people when Ben and I had to run our dogs at the same time. Indy and Epic were on an all border collie team, which finally broke 17 seconds. Also Epic got himself into the top 10 fastest border collie list for this racing year with a 3.800 second time in singles.


This is a view from the front door with the main bedroom in the back

View of the bunkroom and kitchen. The bathroom is to the right.
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Finley resting on our bed


The dogs sleep in crates on the bottom bunk

This was Finleys first indoor tournament. She was not bothered by all the noise

She wore headphones for a little while to protect her ears from the noise



18 weeks

Thursday, August 26, 2010

4 months already & a sheep dog trial

Finley had her 4 month well child visit yesterday. She weighs 14.5 lbs (75%ile), 25 inches long (92%ile), 5th %ile ht for weight. She is still tall and skinny! She is on track with her growth and development, which makes us very happy. We talked about introducing food, but we are planning on waiting until she is 6 months or until she seems interested. We also talked about sleeping. The Dr suggested that we start having her sleep in her crib to avoid a bigger struggle later. Our compromise is to see how it goes with naps and then wait to stop co-sleeping. We are going away this weekend again for another flyball tournament. She is going to be a traveling pro!


17 weeks


Last weekend we went to Portland to get generators for our trailer (more about that later), visit Brooke and Ari, and to watch a big Sheepdog trial. We had so much fun. We had a great time with Brooke, hiking with the dogs and relaxing at her cute little house. And of course its always good to see our old buddy Ari, who is SO MUCH HAPPIER. I actually feel bad that we had him for so long. His mood went downhill slowly. The more dogs we bring into the house, the more unhappy he got. He now reminds me of himself when he was a puppy.

The LaCamas sheepdog trial was fun to watch! We saw a few friends dogs run and some famous dog/handler teams. It is amazing and reminds me of why I love border collies so much.


This is Deltabluez Lucy (bad photo) handled by Monique. We are considering getting a pup from her, so I can have a dog to train for herding. Yes we are crazy.


Remember those apricots and plums from Leavenworth? I made jam with them. Apricots always look good, but are always mealy. They taste so much better as jam. Last night I made a glaze for chicken with some of this jam, mustard, brown sugar, shallots, salt and pepper. It was good!


Thursday, August 19, 2010

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

More Changes & First Vacation

Finley has been changing like crazy! She still sleeps with us, but rarely wakes up crying anymore. She also doesnt like to suck on a finger as much, which is nice for us. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, she just wants a little bit of comfort to get back to sleep. We usually hold her hand or rub her back. The past two nights she slept without waking at all from 10:30-6 am and then back to sleep until 8:30! Our next big goal will be to skip the 6 am feeding, but she can take her time with that. She is still sleeping in our bed and we havent decided when to transition her to her crib. We will probably give it a try when she is 6 months old.

In the past few weeks she has really started babbling. She makes the cutest noises non-stop when she is in a good mood. She also has started intentionally grabbing things, especially in her activity gym. The most surprising change is that she is trying to sit up on her own from a laying flat position. She lifts her head and neck straight up like she is doing a sit-up. She tries so hard to get up! I had to strap her into her swing today, because I was afraid she was going to sit up and roll out of it! She is a very determined, happy baby.

Feeding is still going well. My original goal was to make it to 6 months of breastfeeding, but now Im going to go for 1 year or more. My goal is to not have to use formula at all.






testing out the crib and watching the mobile


showing off her new outfit from Aunt Barbara!


14 weeks

15 weeks


16 weeks



I had to take a photo of her in this adorable outfit. The sweater vest is the best part.


Last week The Shryocks came to visit and we all went to a little vacation house in Leavenworth, WA. Despite all the stuff we had to bring for Finley and the dogs, it still felt like a vacation. With two enthusiastic babysitters, Ben and I both had much needed time to relax. It was a typical vacation for us....hiking with the dogs, cooking outside, strolling around the town, scenic drives. We were there for the perfect amount of time to see everything and enjoy being in the woods.

Ben, Finley and I had a king bed in our room and it was awesome. With Finley sleeping in our bed and our inability to stay still enough to cuddle with her, we have to take turns sleeping with her. It sucks to have to switch beds in the middle of the night. We went out and bought a king bed yesterday! I am so excited! Its going to be great for sleeping with Finley and still wonderful when she moves to her own bed.


We stopped at this little cafe in Monroe on the way to Leavenworth. Its the kind of place that everyone knows eachother and stares at you when you walk in. We had delicious tuna melts with grilled onions. Finley slept the whole way there and we enjoyed the amazing scenery
As soon as we got there we took the dogs to Lake Wenatchee for a swim and hike. The bright blue water in the Cascades will always amaze me. Too bad its always cold...it looks so tempting for a swim.


Gran was unbelievably excited to get Finley into her arms. She hiked the whole way like that.








On the way back to the house

We stopped at this little store and got some fruit and the most delicious Walla Walla Onions I have ever had. They tasted like they were dipped in sugar. They are perfect grilled in big slices with a nice grass-fed steak. Add some freshly picked zucchini and thats what we had for dinner.





On our last vacation in the winter we made smores with store bought marshmallows. We had so much fun roasting them over the fire, that we decided to do it again on this trip. This time I made marshmallows myself. Its much easier than it sounds and so much better. This, by the way, is not part of my low carb diet. I gave myself a break on vacation.

The front porch. Notice Indy staring at a stick she put in front of Frances, who is either ignoring her or doesnt know its there. This is how Indy spends most of her time

The peaches in this part of Washington are so good, Kenneth and Frances were inspired to make peach cobbler. A perfect summer dessert.
The next day we ventured out to downtown Leavenworth to check out the shops and the (somewhat cheesy) Bavarian town. Everything is _____ Haus. There was even a store called "Bling Haus".....pretty bad. I had fun checking out the European toys and food shops. Kenneth and Frances had fun making sure that everyone saw how cute their little granddaughter is!


We went out for Finleys first indoor restaurant experience at the 59er diner. The food was not great. It was typical, underwhelming diner food. They did have good ice cream, which was our dinner for Bens birthday. He had a peanut butter milk shake for his birthday dinner.





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The next day we decided to try another lake, Fish Lake, for a new swimming experience for the dogs. It was lovely and much less crowded













Finleys first dip in a lake. This lake was nice and warm. She has loved all her water experiences so far. We need to take her swimming in the pool again!




We went to this place called Munchen Haus for German food




The dogs are being good as usual on the busy downtown street

Yesterday I remembered that we have this little Bumbo Chair and I thought that maybe Finley would finally be able to try it out! We are going to start using it while we eat dinner...starting family meals early!



blueberry/wineberry scones. I tried the Cooks Illustrated recipe. They came out good, but slightly raw in the center. This recipe, like so many of Cooks Illustrated recipes, took way too long.


zucchini bread