so much

A lot has been happening in our neck of the woods. We (Cody) have been making steady progress in the basement. Not to be deterred by sickness, we (Cody) push on and move forward (we have all had colds which are short lived but rough nonetheless).

Here are a few pictures of the progress (main room, theater room, and my favorite, the playroom with the arched door and windows):

We are fully framed, and mostly wired. Here is Cody installing a can light: Doesn't work? Take a hammer to it!! (just kidding - that's my way of fixing things, not Cody's)We (Cody) now must finish wiring the can lights, and put up all the insulation before the drywaller comes on Monday. His name is Jackum and Finn was so excited the whole day he came to measure. He kept asking "is Jack coming?" I'm not sure what he expected, maybe Jack Scarrington from Nightmare before Christmas which he had been watching quite a bit. But he thought that "Jack" would drive a purple car, and have a blue shirt and purple pants on. Luckily, none of those things were true.

Since it has been getting colder, Cody bought Finn some movies. After a hard day's work, he they are: Cody bought The Polar Express which is probably Finn's all-time favorite movie. We've Tivo'd it for the past 2 years, so he finally broke down and bought it. It also came with a 3-D version and glasses. Finn kept the glasses on the whole time and was alternatively on the edge of his seat and hiding as far back on his seat as he could get. Another new development: Burgundy can stand for up to a minute without support. She will stand up with something in her hand, then she lets go of her support to further inspect said object and just stands there unsupported. I cannot believe that she will be 1 year old in less than 2 weeks.
She is also talking a lot more and just keeps adding "words" to her vocabulary. She has been saying mamamama and dadadadada and bye bye (with wave) for some time now. Every time I put her in her bed I tell her night-night. It took only a couple times before she was saying nynynyny. And now I can ask her if she wants to go NyNy and she will affirm that by repeating it. Pretty cool. She is also using sign language for hungry and more and she occasionally says baba (bottle). She is definitely very good at mimicking and at least attempts pretty much every word I say to her. It will be nice to have an early talker this time!
And Finn has been having a great time riding his bike in the basement and helping daddy with the work. He now loves both preschool and gokee gym (my gym) which is great and really relieves some of my stress. You don't realize how much stress you get as a mom taking your kid somewhere that they are unsure of and feel like you are forcing them for their own good. But, as is Finn's way, he has come to love it all in his own sweet time.

I recently had an eye exam and luckily my eyes are holding steady at "mostly blind". Although I have apparently developed an astigmatism in my left eye. I went back to my old brand of contacts which is better but I've had them in for maybe 3 days and they are already blurring on me. So, if anyone is looking for Christmas gift ideas for me... cash. Cash to go into my Lasik fund would be the best thing :)

One final thought: I am proud to be from Illinois. It is pretty incredible to me that Illinois produced both the President who abolished slavery and the first black President. Go Illinois! and go Obama!