The Stomach Flu: The Christmas Gift That Keeps On Giving

Well, it wasn't the best Christmas this year at the Heffron house. Everyone (and I mean everyone in both the extended Heffron and Chisholm families, and my mom and dad) came down with a stomach virus just in time for the holiday. Finn had it for the two days before Christmas and then I had it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then Drew got it the day after Christmas. So, except for a quick stop at Papa and Yaya's house on Christmas Eve (where we infected all of the extended family, Uncle Max, and Grandma Heffron...oops), we were pretty much locked up in our house to "celebrate" on our own. Needless to say, I didn't get very many pictures of Finn. In fact, I have no pictures of him opening his gifts from Santa and never got around to visiting Santa either. At least we were all able to be together and the bug didn't last for more than a few days for each of us. We're also lucky that the Chisholm clan can come to visit at Christmas for almost a week, so we still got some good quality time with them!

Finn got spoiled by his grandparents and aunts and uncles, as expected. Some of his favorites are his tent/tunnel, his new Elmo cell phone, two new sleds, and his remote control car! Here are the pictures I did manage to take.

Playing with some new toys with Max and Gavin

Opening gifts with the Heffron cousins on New Years Day (our Christmas redo)

Helping dad clean up after taking the tree down

Playing with Uncle Max on New Years Eve

Loving his new tent/tunnel combo from Grandma Heffron and Uncle Max

Catching up on some reading in his new camping chair...thanks Grandma!

In his clubhouse under the sink playing with some new toys

Taking one of his new sleds for a spin with dad...thank you Gilbrides (he hadn't opened his other sled from Grandma yet...can't wait to give that one a try too)!

Putting batteries in his new remote control car with Ian

Relaxing with Aunt Sher and Annie

Opening some gifts at Papa and Yaya's house

Finn's First Birthday!

Finn turned 1 on December 7th! It's hard to believe how big he has gotten and how much he has changed since he was born. We had a small birthday party with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He had so much fun opening his gifts and, most of all, smashing cake all over his face. He's starting to get a little braver with trying to stand up on his own, but usually gets too excited and knocks himself over! He's making some new sounds like "raaaar!" for a lion and consistently tells us when he is "all done" with his meals. Here are some pictures from his birthday.

The Tree Farm!

Finn got to make his first trip to the Christmas tree farm this weekend! He loved looking around at all of the trees (and he had to do this for a really long time because his mom couldn't make up her mind). We stopped for lunch first and Finn had his first veggie sushi. He wasn't sure what to think of the taste, but LOVED playing with the chopsticks. Finn is spending a lot more time on his feet lately, pulling up to stand every other second (and falling every other second too). He started cruising around on the furniture by himself on Thanksgiving Day and then the next day learned to crawl up a couple of stairs! We can't believe he'll be a year next week!

Getting caught going up the stairs for the first time!

This was Finn's choice of trees, just his size.

Learning new tricks with chopsticks.

A Trip To Texas

We took a trip to Lubbock, Texas the second weekend in November to visit our good friends Megan, Eric, and Kristin (Claire's friends from OT school in North Carolina). It was such a fun time catching up with friends we hadn't seen in a long time and Finn got to meet Eric and Megan's kids, Analise and Emery. It was also Finn's first time on a plane and he did great! He got lots of compliments for being so good. We were very proud of him!

In our new wrap we borrowed (thanks Megan!) at the airport in Lubbock

Taking off on Finn's first flight

A happy traveler

Dad built this cool slide at the science center

Row, row, row your boat. Playing in the boat with Analise at the science center.

Loving the Belasco's swing set!

Not quite sure what was going on here...either a yawn or a yell

Making friends with Azul...what a patient dog he is! He got lots of "loving" from Finn

At UNC, we used to dress up our dogs. Now we have kids (particularly boy kids that look really cute dressed up in girl clothes). Here, Finn is sporting Analise's tutu.

At the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock

Pictures I Missed

Here are a bunch of pictures from this fall that I never got around to posting, and I didn't want to forget about them!

I learned to pull up to stand!

And, I learned to blow my nose!

At Clague Park with mom

Mom! I seem to have spilled a couple of Cheerios

Here dad, taste this.

Cracking myself up at dinner

They put up this gate so I couldn't get up the stairs. I learned how to take it apart on the first day it was up. Suckers.

Dad left his ties out, so we had some fun with those..

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At the park with Dylan and Dad

Hiking at the Nature Center

Halloween 2009

Finn had a lot of opportunities to celebrate his first Halloween! First with his cousin Annie's first birthday party (a costume party), then at the Halloween party at our house, and then at Mitch and Megan's with his cousins and some other friends on Halloween night! He was a real trooper about keeping his costume on even though it was nerdy and homemade (every kid's worst nightmare...the mom who insists on making Halloween costumes herself). He was a fish, by the way...in case you can't tell. Poor guy.

Playing with Buzz Lightyear (Dylan) on Halloween

Playing in a pile of leaves with his cousins at our Halloween Party

Hanging out with Hannah

One happy little fish

Sporting a construction worker costume at Annie's birthday party (the fish wasn't ready yet)

Annie the clown and Finn

Annie, Finn and Mallie (the cowgirl)

Finn and Mallie