Finch Family Reunion

At the Top of the mountain!

This past week, the Fee family headed across the country to Jackson Hole, Wy for a Finch Family Reunion. Why Jackson Hole, you ask? Well, my Dad and Brother Dan have been going skiing there once a year for the past 10 years. I told my Dad that in 2011, I was definitely coming, and then it ended up being a reunion of sorts! So here Mark and I are, packed up and ready to go. We have the portable crib, the toys, the stroller, carseat, food, diapers, etc. And oh my gosh was it crazy. It is so much harder to travel with and infant! But, we got through security and the flights to Jackson with ease even with our layover in Dallas.
My family met us at the cabin they rented for the week and we were ready to celebrate! It was so nice to be with my family again, and it was nice to have all the help in-house! Any one of my family members were happy and willing to take Breckan for a bit, and he was great about it too.
The weather there was quite different than our warm little Ft. Lauderdale. It was in the negative numbers almost the entire time! Let's just say, our lips were-a-crackin'. Breckan's skin was even dry and his lips were chapped too! He handled it pretty well though, but was up at 5:30 every morning because of the time change. (Yippee for us! LOL)
Mark and I were able to get some time together in on the slopes while my Mom took care of Breckan for a few days. I was a little leery about skiing again and I hoped that my knee could keep up (I tore it back in 2003). I got on those slopes and low and behold, I picked it right up again! Don't get me wrong, I am not the best at slalom, but I could get down the double blacks with time and planning. We ended up going out of bounds twice, and I felt like a rebel! It was so beautiful and the fact that we were not in the ski resort made it that much cooler.

Finch Family Shot

Jeff's Blown Boot

Jeff and his girlfriend Ashley made it to Jackson a few days after us because they were driving. The next morning we got a Finch Family reunion photo with the shirts I designed for the trip. Following that, Jeff joined us on the slopes with Dad, Mark, Dan, Jen and Ashley came along too. Later in the day, when we were skiing out of bounds, Jeff was slaloming down the hill like a pro, then suddenly he sees pieces of orange stuff around him. He looks down and BAM, his boot blew out!! HAHA. He had to ski down the rest of the out of bounds with one ski. I guess he should have known that 15 yr old boots may not hold up like they used to. It was so funny! Jeff's leg was burning like crazy by the end of the day. He isn't the youngin' he used to be.
Besides skiing, my Mom and I visited the town of Jackson. While we were expecting quaint little shops, it seemed more like very expensive cowboy stores and mercantile stores. We got a few shirts and called it a day with lunch and a little mom and pop sandwich shop. We did happen to find this really cool oil and vinegar place called "Vom Fass". They get all these really neat oils and vinegars from Germany and display them in little canisters for sampling. Once you decide on which combination of oil and vinegar you like best, the owner will fill your chosen bottle up with it! Now, I didn't purchase anything, but I was very tempted. It was sooo flavorful and I was dying to try these oils and vinegars on my salads and bread. My mom ended up purchasing a Pomegranate Vinegar with a Rosemary oil. I couldn't believe the flavor. YUM!!

At the Elk Refuge

On Thursday, Mark, Ashley, Breckan and I drove through the Teton National Park. I could not believe how beautiful the scenery was. It was out of a picture book. Even though we have photos, it doesn't do it justice. It was a beautiful and peaceful day, and Breckan and I ended up napping in the car on the way back through the park. I guess we both needed it! We also visited the Elk Refuge. Although we couldn't see the elk close up, we were able to see tons of Rams. They were so close! A mere 4 feet away and just chilling around the area. We also were fortunate enough to see a few moose near the house we were staying at and Deer in the backyard! Gotta love all the wildlife.
The day everyone left was bittersweet. I had tears in my eyes for sure. My family makes me feel whole again. I miss them so much. We ended up flying out the following Saturday afternoon. Breckan came down with a fever the night before and he wasn't in good spirits. I felt so bad for my little man. The flight from Jackson to Dallas was fine. We then had our flight to Ft. Lauderdale. They plane was delayed, and then they forgot to put our bags on the plane, so we waited, sitting there...with a screaming baby for an hour until we had takeoff. I have never been so overwhelmed, drained and embarrassed in my entire life. I felt so bad that people had to deal with hearing my baby screaming. We thankfully were able to get him down when we were airborne and I could get up and about the cabin to rock him to sleep. He was exhausted. We ended up getting home at about 2am Sunday morning.
Overall, the trip was a blast. I love spending time with my family, and I cannot wait for the next reunion!!

Caught it!

Before his shots in his GroVia!

Last night, I finally caught Breckan laughing. I had to hide the camera because every time he sees it he just STARES and it distracts him so there is no image, but he sounds so cute!! There is nothing like laughter that makes the heart melt. I sure do love my little boy! On top of all that laughter, he slept from 8pm to 3:45am, 4-7am last night. Hopefully we will be able to continue this if I can get him on a schedule.

Breckan had his 5 Month check up yesterday as well. He weighed in at 14lbs 12 ozs, 25.5" long. He gained about 1.5lbs from last month's checkup, and was 1.25 inches longer! The doctor was concerned at first that he had a poor weight gain this month, but then he looked back at his charts and realized that he has been consistently gaining this amount from day one. At least we can now say that he is double his weight! I also talked to him about his sleeping habits and he said that he should now be sleeping through the night. He suggested the "cry it out" method. He explained it like this: He wakes up to comfort nurse. It's not out of hunger but because he wants comfort. We have to train him that if it's dark in the room, it is sleep time. Therefore, Mommy and Daddy will not be coming in. However, I have a hard time doing this. If he wants comfort, shouldn't I be giving him what he desires? I don't know, but I am going to research other methods and see what is best for us. I am planning on starting the sleep training on Friday, so we need some luck!

We are delaying vaccinations for Breckan, and are following the Dr. Sears schedule. We decided that we wanted to delay because 1. I cannot imagine him getting 6 shots at once and 2. It will give me peace of mind with all the autism studies, etc. Below is the normal vaccination schedule vs. the delayed one. We decided to not give Breckan the rotavirus vaccine or Hepatitis B (He will receive this when he is older though).

 As you can see, this schedule is much less evasive when compared to the typical vaccination schedule. Also, the MMR vaccine (Mumps, Measles and rubella) can not be given separately as described so we have decided to delay that until Breckan becomes school age.

5 Months. Really?

Our son is 5 Months as of Sunday. Really? I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It has been a life changing 5 months, but man, they sure did fly by. To celebrate, Breckan and I went out to Bru's Room with Nina, Ernie and Nina's mom to watch the Bears playoff game against the Seahawks. Yeah Bears! He did pretty well, considering all the noise! I realized that Breckan doesn't own a Bears onesie. I think we might have to invest in just ONE if they end up at the superbowl!

Out at Bru's room watching the game.

Breckan is been teething like crazy lately. At the bar all he was doing was chewing on his little rubber giraffe and drooling all over himself. You can see little white spots on the bottom center of his gums. It looks like they are coming in soon...

He is sitting up pretty well now too...which is AWESOME! We have to support him, but when he really gets into a toy, he will put his weight on that and hang out for a while. What a big boy! We will find out his 5 Month stats on Wednesday when he goes in for his monthly well visit.

Sweet potatoes were introduced this week. He seems to LOVE them, but then again, I don't think he has disliked anything that I have put into his mouth! LOL. He is one big fatty, accepting anything and everything I give him. Next on his menu....peas. We will see how well he likes those. HAH!

Chicken Paprikash this week...I think I might skip the homemade noodles. After all, I am a working Mom...how will I have time to make noodles?!

CAKE

Mark and I enjoying our night out!

Cake Playing on Stage

Mark and I ventured out on Friday night to see the band CAKE. This was the second time we have ventured out together without Breckan since his birth! (I know, crazy...) Anyways, we had a fantastic time. Even though I had my baby boy in the back of my mind all night, it was nice to get away and enjoy ourselves. After all, we need our couple time! The band was enjoyable and witty. They had a tree on stage with them and involved the crowd a little by asking us what kind of tree it was. If we guessed right, we were able to take it home. Well, I was the first one chosen to guess the tree, and I guessed FICUS. I was so wrong. I couldn't even tell you the name of the tree that it was, but all I know is you needed to be a botanist to figure it out! LOL.

Following the show we went to Bru's Room for a drink and food. Ironically, our waitress was from the czech republic (My Grandmother from my Dad's side is Czech) . I asked her if she knew about Chicken Paprikash and she sure did! I asked her how she made it, because many people use sour cream instead of evaporated milk in their recipes. However, my Grandmother always made it with the evaporated milk. She asked me if I used dumplings. Apparently over there, instead of the homemade noodles that my Grandma made, they make killer dumplings. Man would I LOVE to try those!! In light of this discussion with the waitress, I need to post my chicken paprikash recipe! It will be coming soon...