Finn's First Birthday

We got the keys to our house, had our furniture delivered and mostly unpacked just in time to celebrate Finn's first birthday!! I wasn't sure how much of a party we would have since we didn't know that many people, but first birthdays deserve a celebration (mainly for Mom and Dad!), so we figured we'd invite everyone we know, get some cupcakes and sing happy birthday to our favorite one year old. 

Mike and I had the Submarine Birthday Ball on Finn's actual birthday, so we actually had his party the day after (Sunday).  I felt kind of bad that we didn't do much on his birthday and left him with a babysitter, but he doesn't know any different and he won't remember, so I don't feel THAT bad.   We settled on a brunch birthday party since Finn loves waffles and we love mimosas ;)

We like to dress up for first birthdays :)

The guests arrived around eleven and we were happy that so many people came! We had a couple of friends from Connecticut who are stationed here with us, as well as a few of Mike's friends from Hawaii who are now stationed here, so we had a decent crowd!  I made waffles and bacon (in the oven...guys, this is a game changer!) as well as some fruit to eat, along with coffee and mimosas to drink.  We let people mingle for about an hour before we sang songs and ate cupcakes. 

We let Finn eat his cupcake first, which was as funny as expected.  Finn is pretty hesitant when it comes to textures and foods, but I figured icing wouldn't be an issue.  It took him a little while to figure it out, but once he realized how sweet and delicious it was, he dug right in!  Go Finn!

This one cracks me up.  He looks like he's thinking "What's the big deal? So what if I got a little icing everywhere?" 

One of the hardest parts about the military life is that we aren't near our family and friends to celebrate holidays and birthdays.  I was extremely worried that we wouldn't have anyone to celebrate Finn's birthday with since we just moved to Washington, but our friends were wonderful and really made Finn feel celebrated (even if he had no idea what was going on). We love our little guy and are so grateful for such a wonderful first year of Finn!

Leaving Groton

Well, we made it to Washington!! It's been a whirlwind of a move, but we are here.   I'm going to recap the entire move, but let's just start with our departure from Connecticut.

The week before we left was busy.  We had all of the stuff that comes with moving out of a house, such as movers coming, move out inspections, and Mike's graduation.  On top of that, Finn decided that it was the perfect time to get sick with a fever and nasty cough.  Poor guy.

We booked the movers to come on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Monday and Tuesday were designated as packing days and then the guys would come and load the truck on Wednesday. They ended up packing everything on Monday, so Tuesday we just sat amongst the boxes. #thatmovinglife

Finn was a HUGE help packing

Wednesday, Finn woke up with a fever, so he got to hang out with us and watch the movers load the truck.  I think it was his plan all along to stay home because his fever disappeared and he was in heaven watching all of the moving fun. The movers came and it ended up taking all day for them to load the truck.  We thought this would be the easy day, but we were wrong!

We moved into the Navy Lodge Wednesday night.  Finn seemed to be feeling better so we decided to send him to daycare for his last day on Thursday, especially since we had errands to run and things to do.  I dropped him off, ran some errands and met Mike at our house for our walk through with the rental agent.  Everything went well so Mike and I headed to the gym. We were only there for about 30 minutes before I got the call that Finn had puked and we needed to come get him.  Not quite the way I envisioned his last day of daycare, but what can ya do?  We brought him back to the hotel, gave him a quick bath and put him down for a nap.  I spent most of naptime freaking out about how we were going to move across country in 48 hours with a sick child, 

Friday was Mike's final day of SOAC (Submarine Officer Advanced Course) which was really just graduation.  Mike had to be there early, so Finn and I dropped him off and headed back to the hotel to hang, nap and pack a little before we headed back to the base for the ceremony.  Finn seemed to have rallied and really enjoyed singing the National Anthem and contributing to the Pledge of Allegiance. 

I love seeing Mike do his job.  So much of it is top secret that I get excited for any glimpse of his Navy life. The ceremony was small, but nice. The entire class did extremely well and worked hard, so they have lots to be proud of.  Finn and I are so proud of Mike and the rest of his class.  Way to go guys!

We all headed down to Mystic for lunch to celebrate and had a lot of fun.  It was the last time everyone got to hang out before people headed to their next duty station, so it was bittersweet. We really enjoyed our time in Groton and Mike's classmates were a great group.  We were sad to end this chapter, but were anxious to get on the road and get started on our chapter in Washington.  Thanks for a great six months Groton!

Hanging with the Hogans: January 2018

In order to catch up on the blog, I figured I'd just do a little photo dump and catch you up on all of the little things we've been up to. 

 We started out the month with a visit to Burlington, VT to visit Poorna.  The plan was for Mike to go skiing, but the warmest day was 20 degrees and the coldest was -9 degrees, so the incentive was slim to none.  Instead, we spent lots of days like this....

Finn spent most of the day pulling the DVDs off of Poorna's shelf and teaching himself how to pull up on the TV stand.  He hasn't stopped since. 

Meanwhile, the adults did multiple runs to Trader Joe's and ate way too much junk food.  

On January 12th, Finn turned 39 weeks.  This meant that he had spent just as much time outside of me as in!!

We went to the basketball hall of fame in Massachussetts, where we measured Finn's wing span and tried to be as tall as Stephen Curry.  I think Curry has a few inches on them.

Finn graduated from the infant car seat to the big kid car seat.  He still hates the car, but every once in a while will realize how great it is to be able to look out the window.  

We bought a house (!!!) and celebrated the Eagles going to the Superbowl all in one night!

Finn started eating finger foods and they quickly became his favorites.  He definitely prefers it to the purees!

We battled and survived the stomach flu also known as Finn-bola.  We managed to infect five people from Mike's class, as well as spouses and friends. Somehow Mike managed to escape unscathed, but we are not ruling out the possibility that he is patient zero. 

Stomach flu 2018 survivors.

January was an eventful month around here.  After travelling for two weeks straight, we returned to Groton and really hunkered down.  It wasn't our strongest month as we (mainly poor Finny) have been battling illness after illness, but we've had a lot of great moments as well.  February is our last month here in Groton before our cross country move.  Hopefully our immune systems stay strong and we can truly enjoy our last few weeks in New England!