The Fair

We went to the fair this summer.  Nothing particularly remarkable happened, we just had a nice time mostly looking at the animals.  They were handing out the cowboy hats for free so we snagged a couple.  The picture of Cian with the turkey is the only one where he is looking at the camera and not at the animal, or I would have picked one where he seemed like he was having a good time.

Chuck E Cheese

The boys also got their first taste of Chuck E Cheese's this summer for their twin cousins' birthday.  I thought Cian would freak out, but he couldn't get enough of that mouse.  Fintan didn't seem to care one way or the other, but at least he didn't scream and cry.  Then again I didn't make him get close, that may have had something to do with it.

Fintan's First Haircut

Fintan has stick-straight hair, so he needed a haircut much sooner than Cian did.  By the time I forced myself to take him in, he had something dangerously close to a mullet.  He behaved better than I thought he would, but did not want to sit down once she got started so I only got one picture.  It seemed more important to hold him so he didn't go flying out of the little Jeep chair.  Apparently I did not take any after pictures once we got home, unfortunately.

Summertime

These pictures show what we did pretty much all summer...

 

Lots of playing in the backyard and splashing in the water!

Three Years Old!

Cian turned three a week after Fintan's first birthday.  He understands parties now so it's even more fun.  He was excited ahead of time this year, trying to tell strangers about his birthday.  He gasped every time he opened a present and was enthusiastic about his cupcakes.  He says funny things (that I have neglected to keep track of here), and can actually carry on a conversation so that's been interesting.  Although he already ignores us when we ask him a question sometimes, so that gets tiring.  He is still a pretty picky eater, he will sometimes eat a little bit of banana and once I got him to eat some green beans because those fried onions were served with them.  Otherwise it's all carbs and other not-as-healthy stuff.  His newest trick is winking, he figured that one out not too long ago.  In the first picture below, he's enjoying his chocolate cupcake at his party.  The second picture was taken on his actual birthday.

One Year Old!

It's hard to believe Fintan is a year old now!  At his one year checkup, he weighed 23 lbs 8 oz (50-75%), was 29 inches tall (25-50%), and had a head circumference of 47 1/2 cm (75-90%).  We were able to switch to whole milk instead of formula, hooray!  But we have not gotten rid of bottles yet, boo.  He is constantly into everything, as you'd expect.  He points and asks about things he sees now.  He also recently began waving.  And the variety of foods he can eat is increasing, which is nice.  We had a joint birthday party for him and Cian, and he enjoyed the presents, but didn't understand what the big deal was about the cake.  Maybe he would have been more into it without an audience.  He did like the Dairy Queen we got for his actual birthday though.  In the first picture below, he's enjoying the drum set we gave him.  The second picture was also taken on his birthday, apparently mom used to make that face too.

We miss you, Bowser

On the morning of Fintan's birthday, we very suddenly and unexpectedly lost Bowser to heart failure.  He was only four, so we had looked forward to many more years with him.  His one floppy ear was his trademark, as was his tendency to believe that licking solved everything.  He was a good boy and we are so sad that he's gone already.  This is one of my favorite pictures of him.