Finn is 18 Months. Oh Me.



Finley is 18 months old already. A full YEAR AND A HALF old. And I feel like I have lost so much sleep and so much patience in the last year and a half!!! I am looking for both currently...

 

The best way to describe this child is Personality Plus. He is brimming with personality...and it oscillates between all possible extremes. One minute he is happy, grinning, skipping, laughing, singing, dancing, and loving...then like a switch he turns to a screaming, biting, mean child who will throw it down no matter where he is. His mood swings are very hard for me to manage. And I have even asked his pediatrician if I need to be worried. Thankfully she responds every time with No, but I still worry. I just hope that we can mold his abounding passion and personality into something useful rather than smother it...and all before we lose our ever-living minds. I say "we" but reality is that it just affects Me. He is really a good boy for everyone else but he gives me a super hard time. Despite the ugliness he often shows me he is amazingly sweet to me, and usually only wants Mommy. I feel like I am a yo-yo. I say it often, but I really mean it...Thank God he's cute!!

 

Finn had his 18-month check up on Monday. He is super healthy and his doc was pleased with his growth and development.

 

Weight: 27#6oz (75-90th%)

Height: 32.5 inches (50-75th%)

Head Circumference: 48 cm (50-75th%)

 

The child loves to "eat eat eat" (he chants this when he's hungry and goes directly to his chair) so I am not surprised he is so heavy. He absolutely loves sweets, taking after his momma. And he asks for a "co-co" after supper...this is short for cookie, but anything with sugar will suffice. He is a good eater usually, and will at least try everything on his plate. Now, lately he is getting 4 teeth and he is hands-down the worst teether in existence, so he has been picky with food for the past several weeks. Darn those teeth. He also is quite demanding in his desire to use a fork and spoon or have dip like his brother and everyone else. In other words, he is NOT a baby...and wants to eat like everyone else.

 

On his actual 1-and-one-half birthday he had his first haircut. I was sure we were gonna have some ginger curls, but nope. His sweet hair was getting long and stringy and just looked bad. So I made an appointment with Ms. Tonya before I could over think it and change my mind. I warned Tonya about how bad he would be. I joked with her that I would be bringing whiskey and earplugs for everyone. But he was superb. He actually broke out in song at one point, and was so relaxed he looked like he'd fall asleep any moment. He did amazing and his Big Boy Haircut is adorable on him!!

 

Before:



The first cut!! This mommy had to hold her breath...for fear of him screaming or me crying. It's hard to say good-bye to the baby.

And after...such a dapper little boy!! (with chocolate dripping out of his mouth and snot out of his nose...)

And then some 18-month pics I snapped of him today. The "photo shoot" started out pretty rough. But I surprisingly got a few good ones! Had to bribe him with a chocolate graham cracker...but you do what you gotta do.

OK, little boy. You can slow down your growing anytime. Or maybe I should put my request into Father Time? SLOW DOWN please. I am not thrilled to be getting older, but even less thrilled to watch my babies get older. They only stay little for a little while....and it doesn't seem fair.

_____________________________________________

Quick update: I had an appointment the other day with the vascular surgeon for a "second set of eyes," per my neurologist. The biggest questions were regarding my restrictions, my risk for another stroke, and expanding our family. The doctor was very informative, and this is exactly what we wanted. We wanted to educate ourselves on exactly what a non-healing vertebral artery dissection meant for the rest of my life (our lives).

We learned that, yes, I will be on Plavix for the long-haul. This is to decrease future stroke risk, because a) the artery leading to my brain, while it is patent, has a diminished opening due to the tear and b) there is likely a clot between the tear and the wall of the artery, "cementing" the flap (tear) to the wall...and while this makes the dissection more stable, it is still a clot. The best part of the entire appointment was that he told me to "live and enjoy life." Yes, I am at risk, but I am not a ticking time bomb. The question of a possible connective-tissue disorder was laid to rest, it is unlikely with how active I am and having had two babies without incidence. The tear was exercise-induced. And I may never know/understand why it isn't "healed" as expected.

So, God answered prayers. Maybe not in the way I had hoped or wanted, but he gave me peace throughout all this. Peace, it is an amazing feeling! Thank you all for your prayers throughout this difficult year. I felt its power.