The Finke Family

Here are some pictures of Gabriel in his latest favorite toy – goggles!

“Goggoo”?!?

Chanhassen has a 4th of July carnival each year which includes a parade and fireworks. This year, we decided to check it out for the first time. It was great having Gabriel at the parade because people gave him candy. (Which of course we didn’t let him eat; but somebody had to eat it. So, you do the math).

There was one of those giant slides that Chris went down with Gabriel. I wasn’t sure if he would be scared, but he had a smile on his face the whole way down. I should clarify: Gabriel had the smile, Chris was a little scared.

My camera was set on some weird setting, so think of these photos as “artistic”:

They are at the top of the slide on the right.

And here are some pics of Gabriel in his shades. He loves putting on glasses. He has a pair of safety glasses that came with his toy workbench. He calls them his “goggles”.

And here’s a picture of my dad and Gabriel in front of a tractor (of course) in the parade:

On a completely unrelated note, Gabriel is finally getting his molars. One has broken through and I can feel the other three under his gums. So tonight has been fun… They only seem to bother him when he is trying to get to sleep.

A few days ago, I posted about how smart Gabriel was because he could access my iPhone’s apps. Today, we had to give him an unplanned bath because, after his nap, he pulled off his diaper, pooped in his crib, and played with his own excrement for at least half an hour before letting us know he was awake.

I bet Einstein’s parents didn’t have to deal with stuff like this…

Gabriel loves his potty chairs. We have two potty chairs in the upstairs bathrooms and a potty chair insert that fits over the regular toilet seat downstairs. My mom taught him to grunt when he sits on it, so that’s always entertaining. He knows when he’s pooping and says “poop”, but we have yet to get him to the chair before it actually happens. We’re not actively trying to potty train yet, but we’re getting him used to the idea.

The other day Gabriel picked up his rolled up diaper that I had set aside to put in the trash and carried it to his potty chair. He said “poop” and “potty” and then he dropped it in the bowl and shut the lid. I guess that’s one way to get the job done…

He hasn’t quite figured out how to get himself on the potty correctly. Also, we do not ordinarily keep the potty chair in the living room.

Today we took Gabriel to his 15 month wellness visit. Here are his stats:

Height: 32 inches (75%)
Weight: 22lbs 14.5 oz. (30%)
Head Circumference: 47.7cm (70%)

He is healthy as can be and following along his growth curve. He had to get two shots (HIB and PCV13). He recovered quickly when I told him we would go find a ball. We were a little concerned because a couple nights ago he was running a temp of 104.1. We gave him some Tylenol and called the on-call nurse. She said to bring him in to urgent care. So we went and by the time we got there, his fever was down to about 102. They looked him over and just found that his throat was a little red. They did a strep test which came back negative. The doctor figured it was some kind of short-lived virus. By the next day, he was back to his cheerful self.

We had some time waiting for the doctor so we took the opportunity to take some pics:

Playing in the waiting room.

'They're gonna give me a WHAT?!?'

'Get me outta here!'

Playing with his stacking cups (we bring the three littlest ones everywhere because they keep him occupied for quite some time)

Clapping for himself after getting his cups stacked correctly.

A little hydration.

This spring I started getting excited for bike rides on some of the many trails in our area. I was trying to decide what kind of bike carrier to get for Gabriel. I started keeping my eyes out for pull-behind ones at garage sales and I also thought about getting one of those that attaches directly to the back of your bike (so the baby sits level with you). But then I talked to someone who said their husband would never get one of those because it wasn’t very safe. And that got me thinking that if the bike tipped over or we got hit by something, Gabriel would be way less likely to get hurt in the pull-behind carrier.

So anyway, we were on a walk one day and I saw this older gentleman taking a picture of one such carrier in his driveway. I had the thought, “I wonder if he’s going to sell that on Craigslist?” As we walked by with Gabriel in the stroller, he yelled “you guys aren’t in the market for a bike carrier are you?” What a coincidence! We most definitely were! So we stopped and looked at it. He said they had gotten it for their dog to ride in but he wanted none of it. It’s an older model but works great. So we bought it from him for $35.

It pulls pretty well and Gabriel seems to like it. There’s a mesh cover that you can pull over the top to keep the rain or bugs out. Here are some pics from our first ride:

Hmmm, something's not right here.

Here’s a couple pics – just because.

From June 24th to the 26th, we went camping in Cannon Falls, MN. We have gone camping with several other families every summer for as long as I can remember, and now there are more families as the “kids” grow up and bring their own families. We try to go to a different campsite every year – we usually go to state campgrounds, but this year, we went to a private campground that had a heated outdoor pool. This was great, because I think a lake might have still been a little chilly for Gabriel. He enjoyed climbing up and down the steps into the pool and throwing his ball around. As he was going down the steps backwards, he didn’t realize where the water started, and got a mouthful of water several times. He didn’t seem to mind though. He got frustrated with being held and wanted to go off on his own in the water (I’m sure you can guess how that went).

Heading to the pool wearing his floating swimsuit. (We took it off almost immediately because it was so awkward and kept riding up on his chin.)

We arrived at the campsite Thursday afternoon, and Chris went to work setting up our new 8 person, two-room cabin tent.

You may recall that last year Gabriel was three months old and slept in a clothes basket in our little “4-person” dome tent. This year, he has outgrown the clothes basket and we decided to bring the Pack ‘n’ Play which wouldn’t fit in our old tent. So, we got the biggest tent we could find. Chris loves it because he doesn’t have to duck his head inside, and we have lots of room to spread out our bags and food. There is a partition between the two “rooms” that can be pulled back to create one giant room.

Getting Gabriel to take naps was nearly impossible. There was simply too much to see and do and too many distractions. He took one good nap before we left on Thursday. I tried and tried to get him to nap on Friday until finally, in the late afternoon, my mom spent almost an hour with him in the tent before he finally konked out:

It was REALLY HOT in the tent, so mom turned on the little fan we brought along and also brought in my dad’s air machine to help drown out outside noises. He slept for a good two hours in this exact same position. As you can see, it’s a good thing we brought the Pack ‘n’ Play. I think he slept in it for maybe a total of 4 hours.

On Saturday, we went tubing down the Cannon River. We covered Gabriel in sunscreen, put on a life vest, handed him to his auntie Laura in her tube, and he fell asleep almost immediately. He didn’t wake up until we were nearly done with our relaxing 2 hour float down the river. The following pictures were taken after we walked back to our car, shortly after he woke up (hence the crazy hair).

Our first night, sleeping did not go well. Gabriel went to sleep just fine in his Pack ‘n’ Play around 9 or 10. Chris and I went to bed about midnight. At 1am, Gabriel was awake and crying. Chris and I took turns trying to settle him down and get him back to sleep. Every time we would lower him into the Pack ‘n’ Play, he would wake up and start crying. I tried to just let him cry for a little (which is what we would do at home), but after taking a trip to the bathroom, I realized I could hear him yelling a quarter mile away. I decided that wasn’t the best approach for the comfort of the rest of the guests at the campground, so I held him with me on my cot from about 3-5. At 5, it started to get light out, so I woke Chris up and told him it was his turn. I suggested he take Gabriel for a ride in the car to get him to go to sleep. So Chris drove him to a gas station and got some donuts, then drove back to the campground and they both slept in the car until 7. By that time, grandma was up and could take him off our hands. We both went back to sleep until around 10.

The second night I didn’t mess with the Pack ‘n’ Play; I just had him lay beside me on the ground. This approach seemed to work a little better (although not as comfortable for me). Luckily (for us), my dad had trouble sleeping that night and was walking around at 5am when Gabriel woke up. I heard my dad say “Hey little buddy”, so I grabbed Gabriel’s shoes and his milk cup and basically shoved him out the door. (I was still half asleep and not thinking very clearly.) Then Chris and I slept in until around 9. I don’t know what we’d do without the grandparents (probably not go camping I guess).

We made several different meals besides hot dogs. One new thing we tried was grilled pizzas with fresh mozzarella. (We used pita bread for the crust.)

The mozzarella was great, but next time I think we need to add something to the sauce to give it more flavor. Chris also made omelets one morning, and my mom made pancakes and bacon the other morning. We made cheesy potatoes for another meal and also chicken and shrimp kabobs.

Friday evening some storms came through. We were concerned about severe weather, so we drove into town and hung out at the grocery store for an hour or so until the worst of the storm had passed.

We left for home late Saturday afternoon. Everyone else stayed until Sunday, but I had to work due to quarter-close. We had a fun time and made many great memories that we can look back on.

Here’s a few more pics:

Eating his watermelon (or as he calls it, his 'money').

Getting carried across the threshold!

Only grandma can get away with letting him eat beef jerky and a lime.

Gabriel took his first trip to the zoo (Como Zoo) on Memorial Day with Grandma and Grandpa Tewes and Aunt Laura. I felt a little bad that I didn’t go along for his first zoo trip, but my mom said he didn’t get very interested in the animals anyway. He was to busy looking for balls. Chris and I stayed home and set up our new grill. This was the first time since he was born that Chris and I were completely alone in the house. I kept thinking I had to be quiet because he was sleeping. After the zoo, everyone came over for burgers and hot dogs. Gabriel slept great that night. I think they really tired him out.

Not to thrilled with his first carousel ride.

Gabriel sitting in our partially put-together new grill.