Spaghetti and trains

What do you do when you have a really long to-do list? Avoid it, of course. Or maybe that's just if you're us. In any case, I've been ignoring my homework a little more than I ought to be lately and just having some good times with my guys, while we're still pretty able to get up and go with minimal planning.

Thursday we celebrated ... something... me teaching my first class? Me probably being done with the onsite portion of my internship until post-baby? Anyway, we went out to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory, which we hadn't realized was actually a west coast based chain, not a Minneapolis/St. Paul one. We were worried Finn would have a hard time with the spaghetti, and he did, but it was great - it took all of his energy and attention through most of dinner so we could eat in peace. Good times. This video would be more fun if I could speed up the whole noodle-eating process, but my version of iMovie won't let me do that, so just be patient with him.

Spaghetti from Katie on Vimeo.

Then yesterday we wanted to get out of the heat and find something to do that would keep Finn entertained but let me spend a lot of time sitting around, and remembered that there's a train from up in the mountains down to the beach in Santa Cruz, and it fit the bill perfectly. Here we are soon after starting out.

On the train from Katie on Vimeo.

One hour on the train, then an hour down at the beach and boardwalk, then an hour back up the mountain to Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton. You can also stay down in Santa Cruz for four hours, but we weren't up for that. Here he is getting ready for the kiddie ride he was super excited for ("COPTER! COPTER!"), but then only liked for about 20 seconds once it started moving. He was the littlest one on it by far, and they stopped it to let him out.

Copter! from Katie on Vimeo.

We had a great time - there were big trees, a tunnel, a carousel at the boardwalk, and then just when we thought it was time to head home, there were ducks to feed! The beach train's not running too much longer this year, but we're definitely planning on going back. (Video of duck-feeding here.)

Plenty more pictures at Flickr.

Tying up loose ends

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Jon!

I did not teach this summer, nor will I be teaching in the fall. As part of my job, I teach two quarters a year, and the other time is teaching-free, so that I can better concentrate on research and advising my students. It's a good mix. I have a number of projects that are "must finish" before baby number two comes. The completion of these projects were put in some doubt when I got to stay home with Finn for 3 days last week. But this week has been productive!

Finn really likes to be read to. Listening to books, and playing with Mr. Potato Head, are some of the few times when he is not rambunctious. One of his new favorites is "I Want to be Somebody New," by Robert Lopshire, from 1986. I'm not much of a fan. It features the passage:

You cannot sit in your old chair
Your new rear won't fit in there.
You're very big. You're very fat.
We do not care for you like that.

Now admittedly, the dog has just changed himself into an elephant, but I'm not a fan of the text.

Here is a fantastic photo I stole off of cousin Margaret's Facebook page. As we mentioned, he followed her around like a puppy at their wedding reception a few weeks back.

No news yet

In case you were curious, I'm still pregnant. Other than being tired and generally uncomfortable, I'm fine. Well, my brain's not working quite normally, either, but I try to chalk that up to the tiredness. I think I can manage to post a few photos, though.
First, here's a recent family photo from Alex & Laura's wedding.

Then here's Finn showing off his ISU-Cyclone-inspired bathtub art.

In Finn-language, colors are "red," "orna," "lellow," "geen," and "blue." Or maybe "bue." And then there's "back." I forget exactly how he says brown, but it's pretty close, and brown and "orna" are his current favorite colors. He has one shirt that's both orange AND brown, and wearing it with his orange shoes makes him very happy. He seems to be suffering from red-lellow color-blindness for the time being, but those are the only two he really mixes up. And as I think Jonathan noted before, he LOVES to point out "GEEN!" lights as we drive around town. Apparently that's hilarious. It certainly keeps me entertained while I'm driving.

P.S. I guess we don't have anything purple in the house, because it never comes up...

10 sentences about Finn

For Finn, Hop on Pop is not just a book, its a way of life.

He will eat raisins by the handful, avocados by the mouthful, and re-fried black beans by the giant spoonful.

Finn requests music of the Mamas and the Papas by name. "Papas."

He did his best Cool Hand Luke on Thursday by downing 3 1/2 hard boiled eggs in 10 minutes.

Finn sleeps for 11 hour stretches on top of his hippo Paula, who is approaching pancake dimensions.

Things that are bumpy are either "dumpy" or "bunty."

From the back seat of the car, he has a keen eye for garbage trucks, green lights, and bicycles.

When practicing "driving" in the front seat, he has no idea about the pedals, little use for the steering wheel, but concentrates much of his effort on the shifter "handle."

On Thursday Finn doubled his average nap with a record-shattering 2 h 35 min, which forced daddy to see if he was still breathing, twice.

He is a renewable energy source.

Finn knows there is a baby in mommy's tummy and he can say the name pretty well.

Fountain Finn from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Pratfalls

Here's a video from last weekend I almost forgot about. (Sorry, Facebook folks, I don't know why it embeds in the blog and not there.) I was trying to keep Finn away from some candles at the wedding reception and he decided I had pushed him so hard he had to fall down. Repeatedly.

Pratfalls from Katie on Vimeo.

This is far from the first time he's done this, but as you can see, he needs to work on the realism a bit if he hopes to have a real future in physical comedy.

Hey, did you know August is almost over? Ours went something like this: out of town, out of town, wedding, wedding, done. Also this week, I started school again, and we've reached that stage of pregnancy where we probably should get the hospital bag packed. Whew!

And now we're off to wine country for what looks to be another lovely wedding... Have a great weekend!

We have matching shoes.

Today Finn and I took our first decent walk since I sprained my ankle. We hit the bakery (fresh bread, yay!), the park, the library (three books, yay!) the hardware store (stepstool that allows Finn to use the kitchen sink - so far, a mixed blessing). We were hindered by the fact that my hips and back have fully caught on that I am REALLY REALLY pregnant, but helped by the fact that we now have matching shoes, which makes us super awesome.
Saturday night we went to Alan and Margaret's wedding celebration. Finn got a haircut and some new duds for the occasion, so he looked pretty snazzy, and he had an absolutely wonderful time. Haircuts always make him look so much older.
He loved having Grandpa Jon here for the weekend, too, but apparently we didn't get any pictures of them together. He says "Grandpa" something like "Banta," and was very confused to see Banta at our house at first, and was NOT happy a couple days later when Banta got out of the car to go get on the plane.

That's about all our news, except that Jonathan had a pretty horrible flu on Sunday, and we've pretty much settled on a name for Finn's little brother. Any guesses? More pictures at Flickr.

Finn's new cousin Wyatt

As an early present for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and my mom's 60th birthday (double yay!), Becky and Justin (well, Becky) gave birth to Wyatt Jon Fortney, 7 lbs, 14 oz, Thursday the 13th, at 3:48 p.m. Here is the happy grandma with her newest grandchild:

Here is Finn examining the very small person. Now, before you watch this video, and charge Finn with cousin abuse, please note that he was merely trying to push on Wyatt's seat buckle. He was NOT trying to squish his stomach. As far as I could tell. At the time. Big sister Jamie is supervising.

Baby Wyatt from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Vehicles

Finn is a little boy. Apparently there are things that little boys often like. Through no encouragement of my own, Finn likes vehicles. Cars, trucks, and especially tractors. "Tractah! Big!" We visited the tractors on the farm in Iowa at least twice a day. I bet he would have slept out there. Boy, I should have let him.... He clambered up the metal ladder by himself, and had a great time with the various pedals and levers. My knowledge of what all these levers things do is probably no better than Finn's.


My brother Justin's daughter, Jamie, gets to benefit from Justin's likes and dislikes. I think the fact that he never got one of these little plastic cars when he was a kid still pains him, so Jamie has two. She drove Finn all over the yard. It was like our Gator rides down on the farm, past the cows and corn, but at a slower speed. And I think that Jamie nearly bumped into the house. She's 3.

Home Alone

You'll be happy to hear I haven't gotten any further injuries since getting home Thursday night. In case you're wondering, I do NOT recommend spraining your ankle in your third trimester; pregnant women and crutches are not a good combination. (I missed a deck stair and rolled my ankle pretty bad on Saturday, then visited the emergency room in the middle of the night - did we mention that?) Fortunately, it seems like this is a pretty mild sprain, and after spending most of Sunday and Monday on the couch, I had pretty much abandoned the crutches by Wednesday. The main reason was that it didn't feel too bad to put weight on my ankle. Another factor was that I wasn't convinced I wasn't going to hurt myself worse in some bizarre crutch accident. And then there was the fact that whenever I picked them up Finn went into complete hysterics, pointing at them, crying, and screaming, "Ow! No! Mama! Ow!" So limping it is.

I'm trying to enjoy my solo weekend. I've had super fun girls' nights out both Friday and Saturday. I've slept in as late as I could (8 am!) yesterday and today, because I'm 35 weeks pregnant and who knows when sleeping in is ever going to happen again. I'm treating myself to dinner wherever I want tonight, once I figure out where that is. Mona's getting plenty of quality lap time as I try to keep my ankle elevated. But... it's kind of ... quiet... around here.

Finn and Jonathan sound like they're having fun back in Minnesota, and they come home tomorrow. I hear Finn's been to the pool, and the zoo, and is partying his little heart out. Here he is with his cousin Jamie last Wednesday.
He also has a BRAND NEW COUSIN, Jamie's little brother Wyatt, born Thursday afternoon. Welcome to the world, Wyatt! Sorry I missed you, and can't wait to see you at Christmas.

And here's Finn feeding deer at Osborne Center in Iowa last Tuesday. My favorite bit is at about the 30 second mark, where he decides the bear is boring and he wants to go find the deer again.

Deer! from Katie on Vimeo.

Wish the boys luck flying without me, and check out more photos on Flickr.

Iowa!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of any posts so far this month. It's going to be hard to keep up our previous pace. We're at Katie's Mom's place on the extreme outskirts of Randalia, Iowa. Not too far from Maynard. Yes, we're here on the farm. And Finn LOVES it.

"Tractor! Big!" "Cow!" "Big!" "Tractor. Tractor! Big!" "Hotta." The weather has been hot and humid or cool and stormy. They have a John Deere "Gator" here, which is a 6-wheeled vehicle with a little truck bed in back. Finn likes being driven all over to look at the cows, and see the sights. Indoors is good too, as there is a 1950/60's era horse for ridin'!

We had a big BBQ on Saturday with many of Katie's friends and family. Finn was a big hit. But who was a big hit with Finn? Katie's cousin Ashley, who is 9. He love LOVES LOVES her. And there was a hayride. And there was a kiddie pool. And there were his little cousins Brandon and Jacob. It may have been his favorite day ever!

Today we went to a farming museum in Independence, IA (just a quik trip from Oelwein if you blow through Hazleton). They have quite a few farm animals, old classic cars, and a variety of hands-on exhibits. Finn's favorite, by far, was the "cow" milking. Here he is going to town. I think we would have stayed there all day. He shirt was soaked after about 10 minutes.

Katie has sprained her left ankle, and can't put much weight on it, but overall we're all doing well. Rhubarb custard pie helps that.