Finnegan’s Newborn Photoshoot by Carmel Baby Photographer Leah Severson

Welcome to the world baby Finnegan August!  Finnegan was born just in time to celebrate his very first Christmas.  I got the chance to chat with baby Finnegan’s mom, Emily, about how the first few weeks of parenting a newborn are going.  I think it’s fair to say she’s thoroughly enjoying her experience as a new mom.  

“Finnegan is awesome. So he’s 11 and a half weeks. And just last week, we transferred him to his crib. And he’s doing really well. He’s been laughing for a while. And he’s been smiling socially for a while,  eating more in one sitting, which is awesome for us. In general, he’s just the happiest baby. We call him ‘gravy’ because he’s a great baby!”

 

Finnegan’s middle name is August.  I asked Emily how she and her husband, Dan, came up with his name.

“In 2012 we were visiting Ireland and we went to Giants Causeway and we saw the name Finn McCool. We were in Ireland at Giants Causeway and we saw the name Finman, and we loved it. So that’s where we got Finnegan, because I felt like we needed to do the full name.”

She went on to explain that the name “August” came from her great grandpa and Dan’s great great grandpa.  “We had my grandpa’s obituary, and it had just been sitting out actually, for a year. I just hadn’t put it away. And so looking through it, and I opened it up and I saw that his dad’s name was Carl August.  So I asked Dan, ‘Hey, what do you think about Finnegan August?’ and he’s said ‘Well, that sounds so badass!’  So we went with it.”  

There’s one more reason too the Emily and Dan settled on the name August.  “Finn is our rainbow baby.  His sibling was originally due in August.  So his name pays homage to our lost little one.”

Emily says her favorite thing about being a new mom is seeing Finnegan’s smile.  “I think my heart just like explodes with love all the time seeing him smile.  I couldn’t imagine how awesome it is.  And I was just really scared before it all happened. But yes, my favorite thing is definitely Finnegan’s smiles.”

Despite the sweet newborn baby smiles, Emily admits parenting does have its challenges.  She says the hardest parts about being a mom so far are sleep deprivation and worry.  “I think I wasn’t prepared for the worry.  I feel like I’m going to be chronically worried about him for the rest of my life.  And I feel like I wasn’t prepared for that sort of responsibility. And that can feel heavy sometimes.”

I asked Emily if there are any useful baby products or books that she has enjoyed.  She says Finnegan is a big fan of his play mat jungle gym.  “It’s a mat on the ground, and then kind of goes up above and has toys hanging down. That’s been his favorite toy. He loved it immediately. That’s when he really started cooing and making noises.”

Emily is also a big fan of the Spectra 9 portable breast pump.  “It works awesome. I can do dishes and pump at the same time.  I can move around. It’s a game-changer because previously I was pumping like eight to twelve times a day, and if you’re sitting on the couch for half an hour at a time you can’t do anything else. So that’s been a game-changer.”

I asked Emily what advice she would give to an about-to-be first-time mom.  “It gets easier. I hated hearing that. The first six weeks were impossibly hard. I didn’t understand how anyone did it and why anyone would do it twice. But I look back, and you know, it’s constantly evolving, constantly changing.  And just treasure those moments, because he’s already too big to sleep on my chest.”

Thank you so much Emily for sharing.

You can help Dan and Emily win a wall portrait from Finnegan’s newborn photoshoot.  Just scroll to the bottom of this post and leave a kind or encouraging note for these new parents.