Finn chatting with his dad.

Finn has entered the phase where he's starting to make conversation. We particularly enjoy the adorable noises he makes in the first few seconds of this video...

his winning smile

Is it any wonder why we can't get enough of this little guy?

hanging out, discussing his next meal

Ahh, the elusive photo of the baby with his mama. I'm usually the one taking pictures (always) so I asked Andrew to take some photos of me on the one day this month when I actually had makeup on and my hair brushed. I don't really miss wearing makeup and brushing my hair yet. And yes, I need highlights.

Anyway, Finn is trying to have conversations with us this week - we figure that most of the time he's asking for food, a clean diaper or music. Man. Babies are such wonderfully uncomplicated little creatures.

a good dream

I'm sure that most babies smile while they're napping but still, is it possible to see too many photos of a contented baby? I think not.

Although he has an attentive Grandma here to watch him, these little catnaps still give me an opportunity to catch up phone calls to the fraud departments of the credit card companies that keep calling, as some awesome girl in Queens stole my social security number and is trying to open up accounts under my name. Andrew is eventually going to take her down, but in the meantime I'm learning all about which companies are better about preventing fraud than others; namely, Target and Apple are very vigilant whereas Capital One will give a credit card to just anyone. Really! They will. Even during a credit crunch.

We're going to take a walk now since it's maybe the last nice day of the week...

so much attentions

Finn had a great weekend - we're getting into a routine of going to bed at 9:30 pm and sleeping til 5:30 am. Not bad!! In the past few days, he spent a lot of time recovering from milk drunkenness (left), telling Grandma his dramatic stories (top left) and meeting his Aunt Heather for the first time (top right).

he'll sleep for grandma

We've discovered that as long as he's bundled up and in his Grandma's arms, Finn will sleep all day (this doesn't work with just anyone). Anyway, that's pretty much what he did today -- slept, and ate, and then we went for a walk. Fall in New Haven is so lovely! We would love to have visitors in October and November, hint hint...

more visitors!

I LOVE YOU ACTIVITY MAT

Finn was delighted to see his Grandma and Grandpa, who arrived last night. For the talent portion of our evening, he smiled, laughed and was practically singing along with the totally non-irritating song on his activity mat. Swear! He can't get enough of his activity mat! I wish that there was an adult equivalent.

It's funny how after a few weeks with him as the center of our (very small) universe, we think that Finn has gotten so BIG, and then when he's being held by someone else across the room we realize just how tiny he is...

So, bummer about the economy - but on the bright side, we have our cable back! Comcast came through and brought us a 4th box yesterday that appears to be working, knock on wood.

weekend finn-anigans

We here at chez barber are clearly a bit biased, but we can't get enough of Finn's constantly evolving repertoire of expressions. In the past few days he has given us several smiles ranging from general bemusement to (what looks like) unadulterated joy. Thankfully, Finn-sponsored entertainment has coincided with the most unfortunate demise of our cable box, which went dark suddenly on Thursday morning (ahem, note the date), as did the two replacement boxes that comcast brought over on Saturday. So here we sit, sans cable, but completely amused by a most charming 5 1/2 week old baby. This must be what the olden days were like.

The cable guy is coming back on Tuesday, so I only have one more day of reading - SIGH. The good news is that I've been able to read four issues of the New Yorker in four days (I smart!)

all smiles

A few shots from playtime today. Finn has been awake for 14 hours straight ... he clearly requires a lot less sleep than his mom.

visiting dad at work

Today Finn accompanied Regina and I to visit Andrew and Brian at lunch. Finn was duly impressed with this whole "office" idea, but to be honest ... well, I simply think he prefers hanging out on the couch watching Gossip Girl. Thankfully, he has a few more years before he has to start paying much attention to the markets.

(Grandma, look how cute he is in that outfit!)

growing every day ...

Not the most dramatic video ever, but you will note that I actually caught Finn yawning on camera - proof that he is tired (yet sleep continues to elude us). Also, you may be able to see how much he's grown - his legs are getting so long!

ps thanks Aunt Sue for the groovy pajamas! He loves them.

UPDATE: Finn is actually sleeping right NOW!

one month old!

Finn is a month old today ... and what a happy blur the past month has been. He is now starting to interact with us more, smiling and cooing and gripping - it's very cute. Unfortunately last night was a little bit rough as tropical storm Hanna made our apartment feel like a tropical rain forest, and Finn was pretty uncomfortable and didn't sleep so well, but this morning he woke up in a good mood anyway and we were able to get a cute video of playtime.

seriously, dad. i just want to eat.

So, Finn has been on this growth spurt for the past 4 days ... it's been eat, eat, eat all the time. Supposedly this happens at the 3-4 week mark. Anyway, we're not complaining, as last night he slept for 9 straight hours! Meaning that the all-day buffet results in a contented baby overnight -- a pretty fair trade.

We're home today. Eating, and waiting for tropical storm Hanna to roll through.

A note to those of you who are waiting for me to return phone calls and emails! I am really truly sorry that it is taking me this long to get back to you ... hopefully this week I'll have more time!

date night

woo hoo! 4 weeks in, Andrew and I went to dinner in the neighborhood and took Finn along (obviously). He slept through the entire meal - yeah! I am posting this photo only because he looks so tiny and cute in his infant carrier, especially in relation to the bottle of wine that we consumed.

exercise trumps nap

Man, are those pushups hard work!

Someone was soooo not in the mood to sleep today. Nope, not at all. He was, however, in the mood to eat with relative frequency. And at one point when he was already sort of upset I figured that we'd get tummy time over with ... and he actually seemed to enjoy it! So here's a photo of the little guy taking a break from his pushups. Look closely and you'll see that he is wearing his Yankees onesie today because he figures they need all the help they can get.

finn's labor day nap

Our friends Vin and Ali invited us to their house for a BBQ this weekend - it was our first foray into the real world with Finn. He really enjoyed the afternoon, which he proved by sleeping in his car seat for almost 4 hours while Andrew and I ate all of Vin and Ali's food.