Tuesday, September 30, 2008

PHOTO CONTEST, need help NOW!

I'm submitting a photo (or two or three) to the Parenting photo contest to potentially win a new really awesome camera...
I need help deciding what to enter...by 11:59 tonight! (typical Rebarchik, right? I just found out about the contest!!) Basis for winning: originality, technical proficiency, out-of-this-world cute. PERSONALLY, I think all these are way cuter than last year's winners!

1. Baptism Day, July 08

2 Self Feeding, September 08

3 Heat Wave, July 08


4 After Bath Time, July 08


5 I'm Cute, September 08


6 First Fresh Green Bean, July 08


7 Baptism Day, July 08







8 Bath Time, September 08



9 New Packer Season, August 08

10 July 4th, 2008 ( I may use this one to pull the, "oh, July 4th in NYC...how patriotic" card...)

11 Found the trash... July 08

12 I wanna go outside, Mom! September 08












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Bath Fun

Oddly enough, her favorite part of bath time lately has been saying 'bye bye' to the water and playing in the little puddles left behind. And, of course, pulling her towel into the mix!


Her hair still has a LITTLE curl to it when it's wet....but the length weighs it down (just like my hiar...).

Monday, September 29, 2008

A Fall is a Fall

. . . in the fall. She manages to keep herself together here. Maybe I should always have the camera on her!

Only a few more days until we touchdown in Mn! I'm so excited...and I hope I don't forget anything! We have BIG plans for the week and hope no one is disappointed when we leave town.

We had a VERY rainy weekend here. Pretty much it rained from Thursday night through this morning. There were moments of drizzle and a little sun last night, but mostly, it was yecky. And humid! We had the a/c on yesterday for awhile!

Friday, September 26, 2008

First 1st Birthday Present


For Q's first birthday, Granma Judy and Grandpa Chuck bought her the "next stage" of car seat! We've had it for about a week now, but it's yet to be installed. Why? Because I'm unsure if it will fit in my lil car rear-facing. So, we'll get to wait until Nov 22 (the "magic 1-year" mark for forward facing) to sit in it while in motion! She really likes the cup holder that came with it.
She's a little groggy in these photos. Why? She decided 5:30pm was bedtime yesterday. The mid-afternoon nap on the car ride home messed with her head a little bit. We got home and she was still a little sleepy so I put her to bed...she wanted none of that and just crawled around the house whining all afternoon. Until finally about 4, I said, "hmm, I wonder if you thought that was your full 2 hour afternoon nap and now you want dinner"....well, she did. She ate and said "ni ni ni ni ni ni" so I put her to bed. She woke up about 8 CRABBY to see Daddy and not wanting to play. So I nursed her and put her back to bed. To have her wake up at 2 to nurse and go back to bed. To wake up about 5:30 to think it's time to be awake and play. So I've got 3 hours of my day in already. What have I done? DRANK COFFEE. :-) Besides that, we ate breakfast, set up the car seat with the newly washed lining, read every book we own, changed a GROSS diaper, and well, now to her morning nap--all (almost) before Daddy was even out of bed (he woke up to put her down for her nap).
It's a rainy rainy day today too. It's been raining since about 6pm yesterday. This may be the longest stretch of rain we've had since, like, May. The pitter patter on the roof and windows is so relaxing. And I was COLD this morning! Socks, sweatshirt and pants...I don't remember the last time I was cold...
I only had my camera phone yesterday, so this is the shot of Q in the cart looking at the birdies.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Just One Thing I Hate About New York

....how it takes AN HOUR to go FOUR MILES.

We decided the cat food needs to change because they've been smelly as all get out lately (mostly since we changed cat food). So, I hit up the nearest Petco, also hoping Q would be entertained by the fishies, gerbils, hamsters, birdies, and (if we were lucky) kitties or puppies. She loved the aquarium when we were there (Claire K would love the Aquarium here, by the way, with her love of bugs and snakes and reptiles) in March, but the fishies weren't so interesting to her...not even the big floor to ceiling tubes of bubbles. The adorable kitties that need adoption, also not very exciting. The gerbils were sleeping so she didn't really see those. No reptiles to enjoy. But the birdies...wow, her face lit up! Of course, the one she liked the most was $400! And, no, we're not getting a bird. Eggo would have the thing dead in a day, if it would last that long. We watched the birdies for almost 15 minutes. So, she had a good time..but I'm no longer 'in the system' for a card...I'm guessing it's because I got it in Minnesota, but we'll see if I can track myself down online. :-) And the nice lady gave me the $9 off the cat food even though my card was here (we'll be okay for awhile as the 20# bags were on sale!!).

Our experience at the store was good and I was pretty excited when I saw there was one close. I am still leary of going to stores in neighborhoods I don't know...as you never know which area the store is in and if I should go alone. I google maped it on did street view and the area looked nice with a nice parking lot, so I packed up Q and we were off (after tracking down our neighbor to move his van so we could get out...which is a whole other issue during the day.).

I did not account for the fact that there was no good "freeway" way to get there and the GPS would take me on "the shortest time" route. That route took AN HOUR.

To go FOUR MILES.

Thank God Q ate well (2 "cubes" of veggies, half a biscuit, 1/8 c oatmeal, 2 slices of cheese and 2 ounces of OJ) for lunch and that it was her naptime and she was tired...

Mommy, however, only had one cup of DECAF coffee this morning and wasn't in the mood to sit in "side street" traffic....with no good escape route to the Belt Parkway.

Next time: take the Belt Parkway...it'll only take 30 minutes.

Yes, it will probably still take 30 minutes to go FOUR MILES.

I miss the midwest......can't wait to see it in ONE WEEK!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It's so Good to See You

I was going to title it "hello everybody" but I can't follow Claire's performance. :-) Actually, it's a pretty similar experience...

We had our first music class of fall semester today. We moved to a location closer to us, as potential for needing to drive and park in Bay Ridge wasn't so exciting for me. We can walk now, as it's only 5 blocks away.

So, we had our first "all ages" music class today. Mike and I have been more aware of her needing social time with other kids to help facilitate learning and whatnot. So, having an all ages class means Q's the youngest, but there are 3 others her age (right at 10 months) and the others are 3 and 4. There are only 10 total children, so it's not overwhelming either (there are 8 kids when we visit Grandma and Grandpa R's!!).

We get to the room, first ones as I misjudged how long it takes to walk 5 blocks (about 8 minutes and I left 20!). We plopped to the side of the circle and immediately Q was all over exploring her new world. A few others joined the circle and she moved to the center-ish of the room and started clapping and waving. It was oddly similar to Claire's entrance "HELLLLOOOO EVERYBODY" for their class in Mn this week too. I'm pretty sure they will be best friends for life...if they get to see each other often enough!

The class always begins with the song "hello everybody, it's so good to see you" and go through the circle with all the kids' names. I've been singing it to her at home since our first class, but change it to "good morning" and we sing when I get her up and we sing about each other, the cats, daddy, and most of her toys. As we started the song today, she stopped in mid-crawl (which is odd unless she's "tired") and started clapping and rocking! It was so adorable!

The whole hour, Q was off and about the room playing with the other kids and finding specks of dust to eat and outlet covers to remove (yes, she's pretty good at getting them out most of the way--I can barely even do it!). I picked her up for our "dance session", but I enjoyed watching my little girl explore. I can't believe how independent she is getting! Q and another girl, Mia, were the only 2 who really ventured out of "mommy's" lap.

I'm taking my camera next week with hopes that the other moms won't mind me taking photos of their interactions with our little Q. My worries of her social interactions don't exist right now as she needed to be the center of attention and interacted with all the kids there (even if they didn't want to participate in the interaction!).

She's growing up so fast!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Del Monte Rocks My World



At the grocery store looking at labels of canned veggies and picked up a few and said, "ugh, they're just so much easier than frozen." But picked up one and said, "huh? No sodium? Is this a canned veggie?"

YES it is! Del Monte now has NO SALT ADDED canned veggies! No more over cooking frozen veggies for us! With winter setting in, fresh will be more expensive again. SO, we no have another option..they will also be nice for our emergency supply stash in case of water or electric problems (God forbid).



She still hasn't caught onto how to drink without help....


She's got this self-feeding thing down, though. We've been working on using utensils...she dips the spoon with help (sometimes) and puts it in her mouth (usually). It's a work in progress!


And I believe it was Annette who said, 'wait until they start undressing themselves...' Well, she's been trying!

I have cute video, but blog-land doesn't like my videos today...



Really?

I left Q in her room for a few minutes this morning. I came back in to hear her CD playing and see her sitting by the chair with her blankie.



If that's not her way of telling me, "feed me, please, then it's nap time" . . . it's our version of sign language! :-) We're working in "o's" for cheerios. We're also working on "stop" by putting out my arm when she should not be touching something (instead of no).



I'm pretty sure she knows ducks go "quack" too . . . I'll have to try and capture that one of video.



She was happy to see Daddy last night, but not as happy as I thought she would be. She did only take a short nap in the afternoon though. I think it's because I told her Daddy would be home when she woke up from her nap.

Videos and photos don't seem to want to post right now...more later!

Monday, September 22, 2008

First Day?

Of autumn....really?

Also today is the first day of her 10th month of life. WHAT!?

I sorta don't remember where the time went... I'll have to recap my blog and see if I've enjoyed the year so far. We've definitely had our share of trips and plane rides. Thinking back, I've taken more "vacations" this year than ever before. I need to start enjoying the freedom to travel around with my daughter while I don't have to account for a "boss" and "vacation time". Anyone have any suggestions??

The cooler weather we've been having (65-75) means no a/c, so lower electric bill. It also means no heat, so lower gas bill. I'm not looking forward to seeing those gas bills in a few months...thank God we have individual heating units in the bedrooms so we won't have to keep the whole house too warm! It'll be just like this summer...we'll lock ourselves in Q's room because it's the easiest to climate control!

There are actually a few indoor gyms I've been researching and we'll have to try those out sometime. It would still be nice to have another mom to go with....we'll have to work on that. Maybe the mom's in this semester's music class will be more social (we start Wednesday!). I'm also researching swim classes/open pool hours in the 'nicer' areas of Brooklyn. It would be nice to get out and about. I'd LOVE to get Q on ice skates this year too...but with her hatred of shoes and her not walking yet...not sure that'll go so well.

Mike (Mikey per Claire K) comes home today! Q misses him. She's been fighting bedtime and that's not something that she usually does. He's been getting home close to her bedtime the last few weeks, and almost always sees her in the morning. So "only" seeing me the last few days has been hard on her, I think. She has been saying "mama" more than "dada" though, so I'm okay with it.

She's really starting to look at books and enjoy story time now (versus eating books and fighting with me to not read to her...I've made up how most of her stories end until recently...). It's still a struggle to get her to sit on my lap and read to her, but we look at books and read on the ground. She's not really one to cuddle much unless she's nursing or eating. Hopefully as she masters her sippy cup she'll sit next to me and drink while we read storeis. I guess she enjoys the books, so that's all that matters.

She's furniture walking and climbing on or over anything that is in her path. She uses her toys and covers as a way to crawl faster (she doesn't have to move her hands, just her feet). This is pretty much the stage Seth was at when we met him a few weeks ago. And he's a few weeks older! So, it's nice to know that her development isn't dragging despite the fact that she rarely spends much social time with other kids (Seth is at day care a few hours a week with other kids). It's also nice to know my daily activities seem to be helping her with her development and social interactions. I'm really excited to see how she enjoys music classes this semester as they are "all ages" above 6 months old. It's school time now, so most of the other kids should be under 5, and I'm assuming under 4 as there are tons of preschools in this area. From previous visits home, she has really enjoyed time observing and interacting with "older" kids too...not just other kids who stare at her and smile, but interact.

We have a busy 9 days planned for Minnesota, too, so just as we're getting into sleeping, eating, and napping schedules....she'll be all sorts of messed up. My sister has offered to take her home early from the wedding on Friday if she is cranky and I want to hang out with the gang...I may just have to take her up on that! I'm excited to see how she interacts with her cousins Abbie and WiNi, too as we'll be spending Saturday night and Sunday with them.

I'm just a proud mommy who wants to see her kid have fun.

Can't wait to see most of you so soon!! Q's growing up too quickly....will have a more 'official' 10 month update soon (again, for scrapbooking purposes if I ever get that started....).

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Didn't Abbie Just Grow Out of This?

Kristin's daughter, Abbie, sent this to Q a few months ago. I'm pretty sure it was her halloween costume last year. It's a little small on Q, but it may have to do! YAY PACKERS CHEERLEADER! :-) You can really see the red in her hair here....she'll be pretty much strawberry blonde if you ask me!!!

This is Q with her ice cube yesterday. It slipped across the floor under her chair, she was looking for it. I guess she was a Gophers cheerleader here??


And there was a cute closeup in the jumper too!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Where Did It Go?

We ate beans and macaroni and cheese for dinner last night. She enjoyed it. She fed herself. Can you tell? She got a bath last night, to say the least.


Jumping around today. Sporting our Mn Gophers apparel (as Daddy's in Mn at the game!). It's a sweatsuit we got from Aunt Mary Kay and it's getting small already! It hasn't been cool enough to enjoy it (until this morning) so I thought I'd get some good use out of it while I can. Who would've thought 9-12 month size would be small at 10 months anyway? The coat still fits, too, but it's too warm now to take photos with that on too.


She's REALLY not liking the cooler weather. Why? Because she needs to wear pants & socks. Yesterday we tried pants, socks, and shoes. That made for a very unhappy Quinn. Hopefully it will get better!

Her favorite toy today: an ice cube. She chased it all over the kitchen floor (good thing I washed it yesterday) and when it was gone, she started crying! Well, now she's got one and it's getting smaller and harder to pick up and it's almost gone...water works have started again--hence today's blog title, "where did it go!?"

Friday, September 19, 2008

Looking For . . .

I'm in the market for something for our first level drawers. I could care less if she opens them, as the majority of them are empty. It's slamming her fingers I'm worried about. Is there a product that will not let the drawers slam shut? Or are there only products that keep it from opening?

Lucky enough for us (for now at least) she's not tall enough to reach the door handles and isn't really interested in the cabinets to figure out how to open them without using the handles. The drawers are increasingly troubling, though....

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!

Wind Chimes

SHE LOVES bells and chimes. Not really when we play them in music class, but at any other point in our lives (door bell, dinging bells when we go in and out of stores, etc).

I'm not sure where this came from, but she suddenly became VERY interested in the wind chimes by our front door. When Daddy leaves in the morning, she says "dadada" and presses her face to the door to try to get a peek at the wind chimes.

If she's every crabby and nothing's going right, we go on the porch for a few minutes to listen to the chimes.

Grandma Judy must have seen that one coming, as one of our baby shower gifts was a set of blue wind chimes with elephants on them. They have been hanging in her closet since we moved here, and I've chimed them every now and again getting clothes in and out. With her new interest, I decided it was time for an upgrade. It now hangs on her light fixture in her room. And well, even though I bang my head on them every time I go in to get her, but she couldn't be happier when she's listening....see below.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

I CAN'T sit, mamamamamamama

Somehow amid learning to walk by holding onto her crib, pack and play, and any steady object to help support weight, Q has seem to forgotten how to sit back down. She's pull herself up, and stand there for 5-10 minutes trying to reach what is out of her grasp, and then look at me and start wailing. I look back at her and say, "you got up, figure out how to get down". She doesn't have as much of a problem with this in her crib as the landing is pretty soft considering she's falling onto her mattress...anywhere else--not as good. She's learning, I guess!

And I would let Mike take her for the weekend, except he's coming in early Monday and going right to work...

I'll get some time soon enough! Be prepared Minnesota, I want some time off! :-)

I'm still also not sure which teeth were coming through with all our teething woes. She's tugging her ear a little big, so I have a feeling it's top teeth. Which would be insane because she would then have 5 (or 6) on top and only 2 on the bottom!

Hmm, what else is new in our world? This market stuff is crazy! I still don't see what the big worry was about and why people are really so scared they invest in gold. Really? Are we living in the 1800s again that Gold is worth more than a company? It floors me, really. I hope people come around and see that sometimes the market has to go down a little...but by giving up and pulling out, YOU'RE NOT HELPING ANYTHING!

She's pretty much in solid 18 month clothes now. Some of them are much bigger (thank God) and some of them she's growing out of, but she's a growing gal who likes her Cheerios!

We leave for Mn 2 weeks from today! I'm so excited! I'm going to "shop" in Jill's closet (probably virtually) for outfits for the 2 weddings we're attending while there. Q even has options (thanks to Aunt Carol!). We're even going to have some time to visit with my family in Kaukauna as we're staying with my sister after the Vilar wedding. We are going to have several days in Eagle Lake too, so there will be plenty of Q time to go around! :-)

We went to Subway for lunch yesterday and I was all excited for yogurt and I gave Q a taste. She went "mmmmm" and ate the whole container! Guess she likes yogurt a lot now. She usually tolerates it, but has never gone "mmmmm" and eaten it all! I usually get a bite or two at the end.

Photos to post later!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Not Sure Why

Today's photos posted with yesterday's date. Weird.

So will this one....weird.

Also, some new news, but I don't want to jinx it. Hopefully more on that this weekend.

Life's Moments

Yep, Aunt Carol, that's the Minnie outfit you bought for her!! It looks so big on the hanger...then it looks so small when I put it on her! I'm still amazed how she is growing.


Looking out the window into our "yard"...really just looks over the yard and towards the houses behind us. But, Q loves looking outside. And about 2 minutes later she was crying to get down...she was stuck standing again...



Studying up on her Econ and computers the other day....see that red tint in her hair? Thanks Great Grandparents!! (both sides I think....)

What More Could I Ask For???

New York, NY
Clear, 72°
Wednesday75° / 60°
Thursday75° / 53°
Friday66° / 52°
Saturday73° / 55°


SO, who else votes for Mike to take Q with him to Minneapolis this weekend to give me a weekend alone?!?!

Well, as much as I like the idea, I don't know if I could handle all that time and no one to enjoy it with me!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Shrinking Clothes or Growing Baby?

Taller than the 'diaper champ'


There, there is a photo of me too.


What's under there, Q?? Her "new" thing is peering under her crib, the couch, the table..the gate (apparently) to see what's under there. It's so cute!

How cute is this shot???


So, the 18 month outfits fit fine when she's standing. As soon as she sits or crawls, they're too small! The 18 month tops...too small. She still has no neck, so anything with a collar is not flattering for her. All-in-one outfits do not flatter her either. Some 18 month stuff is still big. SOOOOOOOO, I don't even know what to tell you all as far as size clothes to buy. Not 12 month, I can be sure of that.

We've also scheduled a photo shoot with Christine when we are in town, so we'll have some updated shots of our little girl before long! :-)

I can hardly believe 10 months is around the corner....

Monday, September 15, 2008

Why I'm Greatful . . .

. . .



That there aren't two of her! I have a whole different respect for you all out there with twins (or more!!) And that my one is so darn adorable and how could I love her more, seriously?

She enjoys her stuffed animals...chewing on them at least. They are currently all "mamamama" or "dadadadadada" if you ask her names and she actually cares to respond.

I'm also pretty sure her "sucking" the mirror is her way of giving kisses. I give her lots of kisses every day (how can you not) and every now and then, she'll respond by sucking my cheek...kind of like she's sucking on the mirror here. We'll see if this continues and she's actually kissing, or if it's just a coincidence...who knows?!?!

And I seem to go in streaks...lots of photos and video...and then nothing. BUT, two videos today! She's learning new tricks and I'm catching them on camera. :-)

17 days until Minnesota!!! :-)

Copy Cat!

She seems young to be repeating after us, but maybe not! She is almost 10 months old. This is new...as of yesterday! We've been practicing as it's one of the things we do in music class. She's a fast learner like her daddy! She performed it solo (without me promting her) for the nice couple behind us in line at Target yesterday.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Getting Better


I don't think I've posted this one yet. She still does "Godzilla steps" when she's "walking" with Mike or myself, but she's learning that standing life is a WHOLE lot easier when your two feet are closer together.


I cut her hair the other day. She kept running into things when she was crawling around...I think her hair was getting in her eyes as she hasn't done it since! Will try to take photo or video after her nap this afternoon.

We enjoyed our dinner at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria. It was only an hour car ride in traffic (yep, to go 12 miles!!). It was a GORGEOUS night (about 65-70) and a light breeze and it didn't feel or SOUND like New York. It almost felt like home!!!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Just to See

I've been "fall cleaning" as it's time to put summer stuff away ... in hopes that fall will be here to stay and we won't see 90s again until next 2009. <> I came across a tub of my pre-preggo clothes from TWO years ago. I said, really. There's no way these will fit me again. But I tried them on anyway.

Best day of my life ever. No, not really, but best day of my week! It's been a pretty tough week and this was the exclamation point I needed. They fit perfectly and I forgot how good I looked in my Express jeans. I can wear belts as accessories again!

We're headed to a Beer Garden in Astoria for dinner with some of Mike's co-workers & families. Should be a fun night. Q is cooperating and taking a nap now, so she should be in a mood to allow us to stay out with few crankies until at least 7:30 or so! **knock on wood** As long as there is food, she should be okay!

Gotta get ready, though, I'm already running behind and nothing is packed for Q yet!!!

Before I knew Mike . . .

It's crazy to think of the lives that were lost on 9-11 just a few years ago. Q was barely a twinkle in my eye--heck, Mike and I hadn't even met yet (we met 2 weeks later).

Thinking of all the families and people affected by that day has always made me shed some tears. Classes were even canceled on campus for a few days. Being here in NYC makes it all seem so much more "real". I know it was a very real day for too many, but I did not realize how much more powerful it would feel moving to NYC, seeing streets named after those who died, and seeing the towers site. I'm grateful the first "actual" construction has been started on the site and hope that construction of the memorial goes quickly, safely, and is a place to remember those who have passed on.

I'm still shedding tears today and somehow the city seems quiet.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Trip to Minnesota -- coming soon!

For those who don't yet know, we're off to Minnesota in just a few weeks for a few weddings and to visit with family. We will be in the cities for a few days, but in Eagle Lake for most of the time with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Chuck. Anyone interested in a mid-week play date? I'm thinking Wednesday, October 8th. Maybe Nikki would come down too!?! Maybe a dinner somewhere?

Just an idea.

Our tentative schedule:
Arrive MSP Thursday Oct 2--hang out with Nikki & Claire, pick up car seat from them to borrow for the week, dinner?? maybe have Jill meet us there and crash at Jill & Tim's apartment for the night.
Oct 3 -- drinks in Farmington!!! 2pm. Who wants to watch Quinn that afternoon?
Oct 4 -- in Green Bay for Emily & Paul's wedding with Jill & Tim & Q (of course). stay in Kaukauna with my sister (Q's Godmother) Kristin--hopefully see Grandma Mary, Grandpa Joe, Uncle Joel & cousin Hailey (that's a full house, Braziers!)
Oct 5 -- breakfast at the Braziers, maybe church too -- don't know departure time back to MSP yet--TBD by the Klatt's.
Oct 6 -- ooh, this date is open, planning on being in Minneapolis. maybe time to meet baby Julia and baby Teddy?? let me know your schedules (I know you're keeping up, ladies)!!
Oct 7 -- find a ride to Eagle Lake at some point during the day
Oct 8 -- ??play date??, any help T squared need for their wedding
Oct 9 -- pick up D & N & Mike at MSP airport, Wine and Manicures that night for Tricia's wedding!! (yay a night without Quinn--I do love her dearly!!)
Oct 10 -- rehearsal dinner set-up for Tricia's wedding, rehearsal & dinner
Oct 11 -- Tricia and Travis get married! help however is needed
Oct 12 -- find ride back to MSP and leave to come back to NYC.

That could be a busy week! Hope Q is ready! :-) We're so excited to see family and friends again. Get ready to be dazzled by the Q-meister! Hopefully the teething will be on the down-side and WE will not be not so cranky when awake.

A Spoon

If I would've guessed a month ago that all I needed to do to entertain Q for about 15 minutes (plus) was give her a metal spoon--well, she probably would've lost interest quicker a month ago.


I don't know why some pictures are loading like this...but she's cute anyway!

We had our first "eggs" of sorts for dinner last night. I have been craving french toast...and since she's into month 9 and no other food allergies have surfaced, she's good to have egg yolks! And she loves toast, so I thought we'd try it out.


We dipped it in a little banana apple strawberry puree and BAM a meal fit for a queen.


Now she has gone the whole day without a nap...she's starting to show signs of sleepiness (finally after breakfast and playtime and about 20 minutes of screaming in her room and an hour walk and lunch). I think the pants and socks are throwing her off her game today (it's 68 degrees--yay!!!) And she's gotta be teething something fierce as she's chewing on everything in sight (except when nursing, thank God!). Ice, icy washcloths, frozen chew toys and circles have been our best friend! Not to mention Tylenol!!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

And then there was . . .

. . . another SAH Parent! My BIL, Tom (see blog), will be staying at home with my Godson AJ and their newest addition, Benji. My BIL, Bill, also stays at home with their two children, Abbie and William. Does that mean I need to have another so I have 2 at home too? Oh dear...not sure if I'm "ready" for that yet. I am excited they have the opportunity to do this...and excited my sisters are making enough to support their families and allow for the boys to have time with their kids!!! Guess I won't be able to say much in the lines of how busy my days are since I "only" have one!! Guess this allows Tom more leverage to get to watch football all day on Sundays now!!! :-)

. . . another Packer victory over the Vikings. Five in a row . . . every game since Mike and I got married (the day after our wedding was Packers vs Vikings...the game almost made us late for our flight off for our honeymoon!!). I'm glad it was an early game as it's been tough for me to make it much past 11pm anymore (10pm to most of you folks). Rodgers showed some potential. And I guess it wasn't all "Favre" as far as the penalties go--how many was the total, 21?!? Ridiculous, really.

. . . a video chat with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Chuck. Q has been staying awake until about 7:30 or 8 these days and thought it would be a good chance to allow them to see her (besides the crazy blog videos). My computer was having some issues so it got started late, but they got to see her chase the cats, play with toys, stand up on her toy box/footstool, hear her chatter a little bit and even attempt to wave. As soon as I pulled out my laptop here today, she came up to it and started waving. Really, I'm not making that up. She got a little upset when no one was talking to her on the screen and became disinterested. She became preoccupied from the stir spoon in my coffee cup. 10 minutes later...still in her hand or by her side. Little things entertain her.

. . . some more rain and SLIGHTLY cooler weather! It's looking pretty gloomy today. A good day to clean...although I don't really want to clean. We'll see if the moment strikes me to be productive. Vaccuuming, swiffering and dusting happened yesterday. Maybe today is laundry and dishes...

Hmm...no photos lately...will have to remedy that today.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Chili and Football

One of the two games that Mike and I care about who wins--Packers VS. Vikings. Monday night football--ESPN HD...be there or be...not a football fan! :-)

To me, football season means it should be cold and you should eat chili or wings or pizza while you watch the game. Even though it is 82 degrees today, we're having chili anyway (as wings and pizza--well, really, I could take or leave 'em!).

I'm in my #80 Mayes Packers jersey from many years ago (maybe 6??) and Mike will probably be sporting his #84 Moss Vikings jersey from a few years back. Watching along with us will be our teddy bear cheerleaders for each team that Chuck bought for us back when we were first living together on Alabama Ave.

And, my Facebook fantasy football team is beating Mike's! YAY!!!

Off to find something not spicy for Q to eat for dinner....don't think she'd appreciate the chili!

No Gerber, Thank You

So, we've had a picky eater on our hands the last few weeks. Mostly since she discovered that she can feed herself and since we went to Wisconsin. At this time, Babies R Us had a sale on Gerber foods. I thought, yay! Room in the freezer. Well, it would take 3, sometimes 4, seatings to get her to eat one container of food. That was odd to me, as she'll eat a quarter cup usually no problem (of various fooods). I figured she was in a growth slump (which she was as her wt was stable and so was her ht).

After seeing how great Seth was eating, I decided it was probably the Gerber foods that Q did not like. So, back to pureeing and freezing. She still gets some foods "whole" but the majority of her meals are still semi to full liquid puree. Once she gets her bottom teeth in to make 8 total, I think whole foods will be easier to eat. Although she did eat half a turkey burger, 1/8 of a tomato. 1/2 slice of cheese and some pickle to the other day for lunch with no problems....she's such a goofy girl. I really can't tell what she'll eat and what she won't! One of her new favorites is strawberry preserves on toast (of course I barely put any berry on it as the sugar content is pretty high, but she loves the chunks of strawberries!!).

So, the moral of the story is now I have a bunch of Gerber purees that she will hopefully eat at some point...they should travel nicely with us in a month....I may just have to sneak one in on her every now and then!!

She's definitely starting to fit her body now too. As she stretches and stands and reaches, her torso thins out and her extremities gain strength. It's so crazy to think about how much she has learned in the last 2 months.

Daddy showed her how the baby gate worked last night and now it's one of her favorite toys. I forget to share some key information with him sometimes...like, if you don't want her to know how to do it, do it when she's not looking--better yet, when she's not in the room! It's a good thing the gate is steady!! :-)

Anyone else have babies who liked to chew on the bedrails? We've fashioned towels wrapped around the top as she's starting this more and more lately....

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Fogo de Chao, Washington DC

While we were visiting D & N, we went to a Brazillian steakhouse, Fogo de Chao
to celebrate promotions for them, Mike's passing of his exam, Quinn's crawling...and well, I'm still a SAHM after 9 months! It was tasty good and yummy. It made me want to visit the Melting Pot in the Cities again...that place was good too!! We went to the one in DC, apparently they're all over (Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Scottsdale...even Brazil!!). I can't remember the last time I went somewhere and didn't have a single thing I didn't like. Everything was good, while some things were GREAT! All the beef cuts were fabulous, lamb was yummy, but the ribs were BY FAR my favorite. I could've eaten ribs for 2 hours straight. Well, probably not, and I didn't discover these until I had been eating for awhile already....BOOO!

We ate a lot of meat, and a lot of salted meats and veggies on the salad bar.

Quinn had her share too! Granted, the photos are of her enjoying her cheerios...and the cheerios bag.






Friday, September 5, 2008

Daddy Dressed Me Today

To his defense, he was running late for work and got her up and changed without me asking. And she is happiest when she's naked or almost naked! What a difference a few minutes makes...except that it was about 20 minutes earlier that she has been waking up.



Sorry I've been so bad at putting cute ones on Snapfish. If it's ever a rainy day, it's on my list of things to do.


It's the Uncle Joel smile!!!

I also added Q's wish list from Target to the sidebar if anyone is hard-up for ideas. I'd also like


Bye bye for now!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Harley and Tears

I can't believe how fast she is growing. And I see her every day! I can only imagine what all you readers think as you look at photos and videos of her growing up! Whenever I pull out a shirt or onesie these days, I go, "This is going to be huge", and then it fits like a glove. FOR EXAMPLE, this 18 month onesie we got from Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Judy...




She was trying SO HARD to get on this box. This box will be gone this weekend! We are going through closets and boxes we never unpacked to see what treasures we can give to Salvation Army. We have found many!!

Also, I decided the living room needed a makeover. We'll see what Mike has to say when he gets home tonight!

Sorry most of the photos these days are of the back of her head, or her butt, or her back...but she's always on the go! By the time the camera is ready to go, she's off doing her next deed for the minutes. She's so goofy.



Whenever she does that cry, I don't know whether to laugh or be serious. As she is so very serious to get my attention and help her already! I hear this cry for various reasons through the day: change me, i want cheerios, i liked that give me more, help me climb this, help me eat this (when it's not meant to be eaten), open this door, close this door, it's too hot, it's too cold....to name a few things. Needless to say, she was hungry and sleepy at this point, so patience was at the bottom of her list.

As you can also see, she is getting MUCH sturdier on her feet! I'm pretty sure she was observing Seth on Monday because when she woke up Tuesday, she somehow knew how to stand steady by only holding on to (fill in the blank) with one hand. This morning, she was SOOO close to letting go of the toy box I was scared she'd just start walking! She tried to let go this afternoon and crashed to her bum and let out BIG tears (she's really good at automatic waterworks). She was fine, she just got scared and fell down.

Here, this morning, she was just leaning on her toy box/foot stool, no hands at all!!


She also made it to the stairs again this afternoon and as soon as she got there, she stood to her feet and started crying. It was a cry and a glance my way as if saying, "I know I shouldn't be doing this but I just can't stop myself" and she started climbing the stair again...didn't make it past the ground level because she was so uncertain...and I was there to stop her!

And thanks to Jill who mentioned the Little Debbie brownies in her blog the other day. I bought a box at the grocery store and they are too good for words! It's a good thing Tom posted about enjoying food the same day, or they may have been gone in one bite! Yes, I can savor a granola bar, but give me chocolate and it's GONE!