My Little Smurfette

...and lots of words today!


Isn't her hair getting lighter and more red every day?

Where have I been? That's a good question.

Enjoying the weather that was warmer than 40, would be my answer. With the few cold days last week (actually turned the furnace on!!), I realized we better get out and about to enjoy the nice weather while it's still here! Who knows if we'll be lucky enough to get next to no snow this winter and 70s in January again this year...one can only hope!

Updates:

Mike's home from Phoenix...a little later than anticipated as Saturday was windy and rainy and gross and the flight was about 3 hours delayed. He had a FABULOUS time with his cousin, Matt, and Aunt Patty and Uncle Stan. Thanks for treating him well while he was there...basketball and steak, what more could he ask for?!

Q's probably going to be the cow on Friday...it's just too cute and I need to give some love to the cows from Wisconsin, right?! I think we'll save yoda for next year. We don't really know our neighbors or anyone else to visit so we're going trick-or-treating at Mike's office on Friday--they're having a breakfast bash with the gang so it should be fun! We'll enjoy the island a little bit, but plan to be back in Brooklyn in time to see all the little ones running around our neighborhood. My brother told me a story about how the adults got beer and margaritas at a house for their trick or treating on Sunday...I love the idea...may come up with something similar....lots of alcohol in the house...maybe a whop? Ha ha...I really enjoyed seeing the kids last year, and this year I'll have a little cow to keep my company. Instead of her kicking inside me demanding chocolate, she'll be sitting next to me demanding chocolate.

Yes, I've introduced her to the world of chocolate. And juice...but she really only likes cranberry and cranberry versions. But we've also officially introduced her to the world of brushing our teeth! She LOVES it. She's been really curious when I brush my teeth, so (like with food when her curiosity peaked, we started solids) we bought a tooth brush and kid-friendly paste ($6 total--with coupons!). Regardless of the price, she does really well with the process...opens wide, sticks out her tongue and actually whimpers a little when it's all done. One thing--is she supposed to spit? Should I give her water afterwards? I haven't been as she hasn't been wanting too...what did you do with your babies and toddlers?? I've been trying to show her "rinse and spit" when we're all done...but I'm worried that'll come back to haunt me during a meal or church or something like that.

I swear Q grows an inch a day and loses a pound for each inch. She's about 22# now, and 27" I think I told Kristin the other day. And she's smart, she really is. She watches EVERYTHING I do and it's kinda creepy. She's learning "shoo fly" and "give me five". She knows how to climb the stairs QUICK (is usually almost to the top by the time I realize where she is) and she knows how to cough and how to clap and "all done" and "clean up" and she's even putting her arms through her shirts when I dress her (sometimes the head gets stuck and a temper comes out worse than a 2 year old -- I hope she doesn't get worse than that in a year!). We're working on animals and animal sounds, but Lucy's got us beat there. Q knows monkey---or at least she just screetches loudly when I ask what a monkey says. Q's more interested in actions with words and sounds...doesn't care to repeat on demand. She'll wave occassionally..but I think that's still a fluke. She still hates shoes and socks (only took them off twice in our 3 hour excursion yesterday). She takes her pants off at night if I don't put her in a nightgown, onesie or footed pjs.

She still LOVES other kids. (Christmas will be like heaven for her with all her cousins...but I can't say the same for the adults. There better be booze to help drown the noise of 8 kids under the age of 7! Heck, and like 10 (?) adults older than 25!) She doesn't get so excited at music class, but at the park or on walks, she's so silly. She gets so excited seeing them at the park...it's adorable seeing her face light up and the legs start jiggling and arms flapping. In fact, she's in love with the Luvs and Pampers babies too. We have the diaper boxes around and she'll crawl up to the box and "kiss" the baby. I think she's named the Luvs boy "don" and the pampers baby "al"....she makes those sounds when she sees them, so ... maybe?

She's getting bored with her toys. We're anxiously awaiting her birthday to give her some entertainment. I can only read her so many stories every day and chase her up and down the stairs so many times and keep her away from shelves and stuff she shouldn't have....I need time to get "things" done too now that her naps are getting shorter! Rings and rattles aren't cutting her desire to learn right now. However, spatulas, leftover containers and bowls are still okay for a little while.

We've moved the foam letters and numbers from our pool toys (as there's no more pool) to kitchen toys (while I've been cleaning/dishes/cooking/etc) to bath toys. She's loved them most as bath toys. We make words, letter sounds...and well, Q mostly chews on them and still likes to play "how many can I fit in my mouth" (4 is her max so far although she's really almost made 5...). It's also making for a fun way for Mommy and Daddy to talk to each other as we arrange the letters into phrases...which is more difficult than you may think as there's only one of each letter. Gotta keep me alert and using my brain sometime during the day!

Q gets more immunizations next week and probably the flu shot. Can't believe the year's gone by so fast....

So, Q is sporting a Smurf shirt that was...well, probably handed through all 5 of us Rebarchiks when we were growing up 20-30-some odd years ago (wow, we're getting old!). She wouldn't sit still all day for me to get a shot of her, and she sleeps on her tummy....so, this is the best shot I got of it.




It's also about 65+ degrees here yesterday (Monday) with no wind and sun...so we hiked the 2 miles to Subway, then back 1 mile to the park for an October picnic. We were gone from about 11:30 until 2:30. Got home and she was sleepy, but didn't get her couple hours of running around the house, so her nap didn't happen until about 4--and only lasted an hour. So, she slept pretty well last night, only up at 1 and 6! Heck, I'll take only getting up once out of a deep sleep ANY DAY rather than being up every hour all night long.

As for the next couple days, I'm going to enjoy a quiet house, but I'm sooo excited for the next month. Starting next week...Tuesday I think...we have visitors almost every day until Thanksgiving. Grandma Judy and her friend Peggy are coming for a week. Then we have a day or two off. Then Beth, Scott and (maybe) Teddy are coming for the weekend to visit. Then Grandpa Joe and Auntie Jen are coming for a few days and for her 1st birthday. Then we'll have a few days off. Then we're heading to Maryland to Dannie and Nate's for a HUGE turkey day feast (btw, I need to know what I'm bringing...). Then back here to HOPEFULLY have a visit from Nate, Nikki and Claire. Then, well, it's my last birthday before I turn 30 (holy geez) and just a few weeks until we head to Wisconsin for Christmas! THEN if all pans out as planned, we'll be headed to the Orange Bowl in January to watch the Gophers win a championship game (Texas would be okay, too, but Florida sounds like fun...right?!).

Quinn will be ready to do nothing coming late January! But hopefully she'll enjoy all our visitors and tourist activities. I'm sure she will as she loves to "see see see" the world through her big blue eyes (which are kinda gray today...maybe it's the rain and thunder and lightening we've had since about 3am??).....

While Q's been sleeping, I've been cleaning little pieces of every room and squeezing in 30-60 minutes of tv (taped shows from night, thank you DVR!). Most of the TV time is with Mike as we watch mostly the same shows. I try to spend some of her nap time playing with my World of Warcraft buddies, too. It's my way of keeping in touch with my old job and with Minnesota! I really need to work on getting my credits to keep my CDM credentials (before April...). I can't see that time coming soon with visitors, so I'll have to take advantage of Daddy being here this weekend and at night!

So, we've been busy and we'll stay busy. But heck, no day but today, right!?