Happy Birthdays....

Quinn just wanted to say happy birthday, too. :-) Tuesday was Grandma Judy's birthday; today is Dannie's birthday; Robin, Jim, and Dre all had birthdays last week; Mike's cousin Matt had a birthday on Monday (yes his sister's wedding day!); and I'm sure there are a million more that have occurred recently or will occur soon (like Daddy's birthday the day before Father's day....)...anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

d, Hope your drive back to MD is going/went well.

Although this photo wasn't taken today...she would've roasted in this today with the humidity! Not to mention it's a 6-9 month size and barely fit her here...she was in a 12 month onesie today! I think I'm going to officially 'retire' any 6 or 6-9 month clothes...they're just too tight and she seems miserable in them. I may need to go do more shopping so I don't have a naked baby all summer!!!


And, no D, she didn't get much quieter as the day went on and she only slept about an hour the whole day! It's gotta be a tooth! That and the fact that our routine that we finally developed since Az was disrupted by Daddy being home all day . . . she sure is a Daddy's girl when he's around. She was lying on the floor today making smiles at him and he was watching sports center and would look down and smile back every now and then. Well it was about 30-45 seconds and he didn't look at her and she just started BAWLING with big ole croc tears and everything...Mommy wasn't good enough...wouldn't stop until Daddy was holding her. Silly girl.

Green bean video and crawling attempts photos tomorrow! I'm sleepy and going to bed!

If anyone has good 1st and 2nd "homemade" baby food recipes, can you send them my way?? I just can't quite justify buying baby food when I have to make food for me anyway! Also any freezing/preparation techniques advice would be WONDERFUL!

6 month well-child

So, six months have passed and the closest to sick Q has been was when I was miserable with spring blossoms allergies.

The doctor was happy to see Q's growth and progress over the past two months. Our Q is up to 18.6#, 96th percentile. She is 28", 99th+ percentile. Her HC is 42 cm, average percentile at 50th. She has increased by 3 in every category, except age as she's only 2 months older/not 3.

He was happy she has been tolerating solids well and was pleased to see her attempts at rolling off the exam table. She was showing her flexibility and love of her toes. She was also singing him a song and showed her gums with teeth trying to poke through. Then she exemplified her full lung capacity as she got her next two immunizations!

He told us we can start stage 2 foods in a week or two and to introduce new foods every few days. I am feeding her cereal with fruit in the morning and either veggies at lunch or cereal with fruit at dinner. She also has slept "through the night" a few nights the past week. Granted it's been from about 11pm to 7am, but I'll take what I can and I'm not entirely convinced that the tylenol didn't take part in the sleep!

Her new routines and feeding schedule is slowly changing, but is starting to free up my day to enjoy her growing so quickly before our eyes. We have our next appointment in 6 weeks for more shots and developmental updates!

Sara and Matt's Wedding Day!

Our princess in the courtyard of the castle.

Mike and Christina (cousins). Seriously, T, if you want to come to NYC work it out with us and your parents! We'd love to have you -- Quinn adored you!

And you thought I was a happy bride! Sara followed up nicely!! :-) She's much better at smiling on cue and keeping her eyes open, though. She was in the middle of goodbye tears here, and you can barely tell!

She woke up with the recessional music, "I feel good....knew that I would now..." No lie, that's what the recessional song was! How fun is that! Nice choice Sara and Matt!

Isn't he handsome with his tie??

Now here's the style Pops knows!! Way to go Kevin!

The happy family.

Random Arizona Photos

Our backyard in Chandler, Arizona. Complete with patio, pool, hot tub...and a pond with fountain behind it all!

Yep, the backyard even had grass!

Quinn's first adventures in a swim suit (18 month size!! the 12 month size Auntie Krissy gave us wasn't so much fitting) and pool!

You can't really tell here but she HATED the sunglasses and she was bawling, so I showed sad face too.

And she worked up an appetite so Grandma Judy fed her some cereal w/bananas. "mmmmmm" she says after EVERY bite now. It's so cute. We're trying green beans for lunch today!

This makes it look like she's sitting on the couch...but she was really lying down and I was taking a photo upside-down! But she loves those feet and was trying to get them out of the PJs!

Quinn and Great-Aunt Patty finally meet! This was at the rehearsal dinner.

Yes, all these photos will be added to snapfish before long!

Photos Galore!

Mike, Scott and I took a drive to Sedona and back on Saturday.

Foggy!!!! We were climbing into the hills between Prescott and Jerome.

Chilly and windy! But, there aren't too many photos where neither of us have alcohol in our hands! And this view just a few miles SW of Jerome was breathtaking!

Cousin bonding...aka pushing Scott off the cliffs in Red Rock State Park.

Can't go anywhere without the disc...

It was finally sunny as we were leaving! But it was still chilly (for Arizona).

Red Rock State Park

What's Scott looking at? . . .

. . . This!

Mike hiking ahead of me.

What a view!

Who knows what he did this time . . .

Thank You's from our Phoenix Trip (added to)

So, a few public thank you's to some readers.

Thanks to Granny and Papa for being so wonderful with assisting us all financially for this trip to Sara's wedding. I know Mike and I appreciate it greatly, I'm sure the rest of the family does too! A special thanks to Papa for helping me clean up the wine from the floor and door while everyone else just pointed and laughed. (Yes, I managed to walk STRAIGHT into the glass door that exited onto the patio holding a glass of wine...anyone seen the commercial "open door" and the girl splats right into the door? That's kinda what I did except holding wine...the door was open most of the weekend...except not then. It was really clean!) Anyway, we all know I'm blonde.

Thanks to Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Judy for the baby outfits and her first sippy cup! Thanks also for being so great with Quinn in the water and for taking care of her when Mike, Scott & I went to Sedona. Grandpa Chuck also fed her her morning banana from a BIG spoon yesterday--I didn't have time in the airport to do it, so she got her fruit for the day.

Thanks to Carol and Kevin for the ADORABLE dress for the wedding and for giving Q lots of squeezes when you were around. Carol, I can't wait to see the beer photos. :-)

Thanks to Ann, Rudy, Tricia, & Travis for not running away from the house the first night when Quinn was overtired and screaming like she only screams when she gets her vaccinations. Quinn obviously felt your love as she was a good little girl the rest of the weekend. Thanks for helping out with any Quinn tasks I didn't take notice too over the weekend, too. We can't wait to get adorable for the October wedding. Tricia let me know what you need help with between now and then! I'll see you a few days before the wedding (if not before should you want to come out and visit before then).

Thanks to all the Roberts' for taking photos at the wedding! Also thanks for any photos that may have come from your Mexican dinner when we were in Sedona. I would LOVE any of them that you can share with me! I'll steal some from T's Facebook page.

Thanks the Streges and Marbles for a wonderful weekend of events. Bagels for life (I'm going through withdrawal I think...), rehearsal dinner (and leftovers), and the wedding day---could you have asked for a better weekend with better weather?! Extend our thanks to Eric for making the trip to the airport with the car seat when we arrived to town. Having it for the entire weekend with no "lap travel" was yet another worry alleviated by Patty's planning--THANKS! Hope there were no problems picking it up from Dollar.

Sara and Matt--you looked like you were having the time of your life this weekend with all your family and friends surrounding you with support and love. Just think--times only get better!! Congrats again and I hope you're enjoying your honeymoon and not reading this blog until you return home!

Patty, the clothes are too adorable! I'm soooo excited to put her in the pink trench coat! It was also a huge convenience to borrow the pack-n-play, car seat, high chair, and towels from you and your friends. Please extend our thanks to them as well. (there was also a card on the high chair from Carol for you--taped on--in case she didn't tell you). Thanks a ton! I hope you got enough quality Q time as you were pretty busy all weekend to visit a ton. :-)

The one thing I forgot to do was get photos of all the couples and families for Q's photo album. If any of you have some you can share, preferable of you with Q, I'd appreciate you sending them my way!

So, in case all you not-in-Phoenix this weekend readers can't tell, Mike's family was extremely helpful this weekend and we had a wonderful trip. Even if my name is "red--red lobster" as my legs are fried like chicken and it made the 4 hour + flight yesterday pretty much hell. Photos and her 6-month well-child update (appointment today) will be coming later today or tomorrow. I can't wait to see her official weight and length--she's causing me neck pressure from carrying her--we're officially taking the small stroller with us to the airport now!! Carrying her is getting ridiculous and cumbersome! Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to move my head and neck with full rotation again.

FIFTEEN DOLLARS?!?!

OKAY NOW, SERIOUSLY?!?!

I was a little upset when I heard that it was now going to cost money to check 2 bags on a flight. But I can see how it can save money as maybe some people travel heavy. But NOW it's $15 to check ONE bag!

What the F**K?!?!?

This is going to be a nightmare for the larger planes and flights where (before the $15/bag and I'm sure it'll increase) too many people bring their larger "carry on" bags that don't fit well anywhere and then they'll have to take them back and check them at the door and flights are going to be even later and this is ridiculous. Why aren't they charging people who bring more than a small purse or small backpack/laptop bag to bring their bag on? Don't they see that the extra weight is from 45/50 people carrying their bags to be checked at the gate, not checked baggage? The last few flights I've been on, at least 75% of the people are carrying on their clothes, et al, not checking luggage. And having the larger bags REALLY makes security lines a nightmare and long...people cramming stuff in there and it takes TSA longer to scan them and ugh....

...breathe...

Oh, stupid gas prices are driving me crazy. I just thank God every day that I'm not driving much anymore! There's NO WAY I would've been able to afford day care and driving to Fgtn every day on the salary I was making (and I was making decent money). I can only imagine what it's like for those who were trying hard to make it BEFORE all these prices started skyrocketing!

How the heck are people like me who want to visit family that live far away supposed to afford it!?!?! Especially when I'm travelling with a kid so I have twice the amount of stuff?

AND gas is over $4/gallon here. How is anyone supposed to enjoy their vacation days when no one can afford to vacation because it costs too much to travel anywhere! Who wants to take vacation days to sit at home every year?

And with that, I'm going to go make our $30 worth of baggage for our trip to Arizona tomorrow worth every penny! Those bags will be 50 pounds each if I need to add rocks!!!!!!!!!!!

What else can I do with this toy?

One of her favorite games: play with my toys while chewing the corner of my burp cloth. She's just too cute! Look a those eyes! And those rosy chapped cheeks (BTW, can anyone relate to that problem? Her cheeks are consta-dry and lately lotion seems to dry them out more!)



Fun new game....below is video on how much fun she was having with her fun new game (as I was getting dinner done for us).

Do ANY of these look okay?

1.
I'm looking for a pink top to go with this skirt, and the brown top is TOO BIG so it's going back.


2


3


4
So, I'm having a hard time deciding if these will look right for Sara's wedding in Arizona...thoughts? Suggestions??

HELP!!

E eats everything

Quinn has started to settle down the minute I start singing "e eats everything". Soon I'll know the words to the whole song!!

This is her reaction from SCREAMING to putting the DVD on . . . And this is the ONLY song she'll watch - - the others she'll play and sing along.

She's such a goof, but yet I still wonder, who put the alphabet in alphabetical order???

She's also digging ANY book or magazine we read. She loves it more if she gets to hold it and help turn the pages. We read almost every book on her bookshelf today (except the big book o' fun as I didn't want to fall asleep). She's so cute!

She's happiest when...

...she's in control.

Yes, she's a little troublemaker already. I left the room for about 3 minutes yesterday. Came back to her scooted across the room with my computer cord in her mouth. Guess the baby-proofing stage has arrived! This will be a difficult task as we have cords, outlets, and tables everywhere!!

Flattering photo, right? The flash gets to be a little bright for those big blue eyes!

She is happiest when she is doing something 'big people' do. She sits for a few seconds when on the floor, but is happiest when she's on the couch with me (it reclines so if she tips forward, it's not off the couch!) Even when I'm on the floor with her...it's still not good enough.


She also seems to be jealous when I eat. She watches me with big puppy dog eyes and it makes me excited for the day we can share everything and eat together!! When she eats her cereal, she does so semi-reluctantly, but she seems to be excited for the new texture.

She also has an extreme dislike for anything on her feet -- feeted PJs, socks, shoes, hands, blankets -- anything. Most socks come off by her power as her feet are her 2nd favorite toy (as her favorite toys are tags per previous post). If she can't get them off, she will cry until we take them off. Feeted PJs do not go on until she goes to bed at night (which has been close to 9/10 lately) as she's soo sleepy to argue (especially when she doesn't nap all day like yesterday--we went shopping and she had socks on because it was cold so she was crabby and didn't sleep because she had socks on....).

CLOSE UP !!! (She LOVES her new Pooh blanket, Jill!!!!) She pulled the camera as I was snapping shots.

Shopping and Gas

WOW! When did gas hit $4.09/gallon??!!

I got a Sunday morning shopping without Quinn! I was gone for 3 hours and felt like I was missing something the whole time! It was odd being able to maneuver the aisles with no problems (wheels sticking & toys being tossed). I found 3 possible skirts for the wedding.

I needed a shirt to go with the skirts and Mike suggested I try Dress Barn as I've had luck there in the past. Well, I found one in an okay neighborhood today just 10 miles (35 minutes) away! So, there I actually found 2 dresses that fit (none of the dresses at Kohl's fit right with nursing size vs waist size).

So, now we'll have to see which Mike likes the best. :-) Maybe I'll post photos for some votes tomorrow!

ALSO by that Dress Barn was an IHOP! I'm super excited about that because the drive wasn't really all that bad and IHOP is the best ever! Most of the local diners have really great breakfast, but those IHOP commercials get me craving sometimes. I also passed 8 McD's, 2 BKs, a KFC, and 3 Cold Stone Creameries........and wanted something from every place. However, I decided to wait it out and eat it another day....ate PB & J when I got home.

Eating the PB & J -- and watching Quinn's reactions as it did so -- made me realize we skipped her cereal at lunch today. She was totally jealous I was eating and she just got milk. So, we'll have to get her some cereal at dinner tonight. We found out she likes it "chunky" not so "soupy". I guess if she wanted her food to be liquidy, she'd be okay with "just milk".

We have only a few days until Phoenix! I bought an inflatable tube for her so we can all enjoy the pool (hopefully my suit fits--I haven't tried!). Gma R also bought us a swimsuit (she found a couple on clearance last fall for like, $1...). We tried on cousin Abbie's from when she was 6 months old....ha ha ha...it wasn't close to fitting (listed as 6-9 mo). I believe the one the fit was 12-15 month... She's a big gal! :) Can't wait until next Wednesday when we get the "official" doctor measurements and analysis of Q's development.

But really, when did gas hit $4.09/gallon???

Why Buy Toys When . . .

. . . Quinn's favorite toys are tags?


She's an adorable little traveler these days. I left her alone for a few minutes to switch laundry today, left her in this position on the floor. I came back to her kicking the tv with her feet...she spun herself around and kicked her way to the tv (I'm guessing as she was still on her back). I'm not looking forward to the days where she's truly getting into everything!

She's eating semi-solids better, I'm not sure if I mentioned that lately. She hasn't had any adverse reactions of sorts on the cereal...not sure what to add next as we haven't technically talked to our pediatrician about starting solids. I just sorta started feeding her cereal because her feedings were getting shorter and less frequent and I was concerned she wasn't getting enough. Now she only nurses about 7 times a day, but for longer periods. I've also started giving her the cereal at lunch time, as she's too cranky in the morning or evening to eat properly.

Our 6-month well-child is the Wednesday after we get back from Phoenix so, a week and a half. I'm excited to hear how she compares to other children and what the doctor thinks of how much she has grown! Last time we were at the doctor, she was still sleeping most of the day. Now I'm lucky to get 2 good (longer than 10 minutes) naps a day from her.

I'm hoping to find a dress tomorrow. I'm going to go shopping alone somewhere, or we're taking a family trip to the mall. We'll see how Quinn is feeling in the morning...and if I feel like shopping for a dress!

Random Thoughts

Big thanks to Nate and Nikki for the TMBG CD and DVD. Quinn loves it! (Okay, really it probably entertains ME more at this point). She does love the music. We're to the point where she's "screetch talking" again so I guess I've been listening to too much music without words again! I was unpacking my suitcases (yes from a week ago) and found the CD the other day. SO, we put it on and loved it. Nothing was calming her down this afternoon, either, so I put on the DVD. She didn't really watch it much (yay!!) but liked the music. In fact, I had a 5 minute conversation with Mike while I was playing it and she talked LOUDLY the entire time because I had to turn down the sound. SO, it's good to know she's getting over her enthrallment with the big moving pictures on the TV.

No hits on the arcade, huh??

Well, my oldest sister is just a few weeks from her due date and she's showing "the signs" that it could be any day now! Maybe she'll be lucky enough to have a quick labor like my sister Kristin? We'll see! They are in the middle of a kitchen remodel...or rather towards the end of the remodel. It should be done before the baby comes home so I'm sure that's a relief for everyone there! I'm so excited to meet yet another niece/nephew!! I have yet to meet Kristin's William, but the day will come!

I just ordered a pizza from Dominos online and it showed me immediately how my "30 minutes" is being used. About 20 seconds after I "placed" my order, "Steven is preparing my pizza." .....2 minutes later... "Steven put your pizza in the oven" .... now, "Steven put my pizza in the box and is getting ready for delivery". So, since they're around the corner, I better go find my money!!!

GopherCADE Arcade for Sale

With our move, we left some things behind. One of them being Mike's handcrafted arcade cabinet he so lovingly named the Gophercade. I'm assuming he's selling the TV and computer console with 100s of games included. Our favorites were PacMan and T-bowl (well, Mike and Jim enjoyed the football at least...). These things retail on SkyMall for aobu $4000 with 2 games and we're not expecting to get nearly that. It's big...like real arcade game big. Mike spent an entire summer working on it, so there's lots of love too! We're serious about selling it, preferably to someone we know will love it! It's at Mike's parent's place in Eagle Lake, MN. Let us know!!

Teething and Cereal

So, as I loaded photos from my camera to my computer, I realized we had an exciting past few days...

Quinn has been putting everything in her mouth these days...and keeping it there. I keep trying to get a shot with her burp cloth in her mouth while she's playing with other toys, but have yet to get a GOOD shot where you can see her true silliness from every angle. But there is some silliness shown in these photos...

SO, I'm expecting to wake up one day and 4 teeth to be present in her mouth...we'll see! So, we attempted freezing her teething ring to see how she responded to that.


It was too cold to handle and kept sticking to her fingers...this is how she decided to handle the situation....


We've also had cereal almost every day since we got home (almost a week now). She still blots most of it out with her bib (as I've mentioned before) but some of it must be going down too, right? I'm still unsure.


The GB bib is from cousin Abbie/Auntie Krissy. She sent a bunch of onsies, shoes and socks for her for when she gets just a little bigger! I found out yesterday that Auntie Krissy's youngest has Q beat so far--at 2 months WiNi (William Nicholas) is 2.5# heavier than Q was, but a little shorter. SO, we'll have to compare who was bigger after his 3-month well-child! Just look at this chill out attitude while she's eating...


Our fishie puzzle has also been completed, so she's 'graduated' to eating at the table, not the middle of the living room floor. In case you couldn't tell, the puzzle was being constructed on our kitchen table, so we have a table to eat at again---for the once-in-a-week meal we eat there! As Q eats more food, I'm sure I'll at least be eating more meals at the table.

That's all for now!