Friday, August 29, 2008

Crying Ringing in My Ears

She's been a little crabby the last 24 hours. She finally fell asleep about an hour ago after bawling for almost 2 hours straight. Nothing worked to calm her down...I think she finally just got too tired, she crashed out. Poor thing. But my ears and nerves just can't take much more crying! I don't know how moms of fussy babies survive. If she would've been like this the first few months, you can bet I'd be working somewhere and not be a SAHM. I'm glad she's been a good girl most of her life, but man, the crying is just too much lately.

SO, hopefully she'll calm down before the day's end as Mike, Q & I are heading to Maryland to visit D & N! YAY! Hopefully traffic will cooperate (getting outta town and back into town on a holiday weekend isn't the greatest idea, but we'll see!!). More importantly, hopefully Q will cooperate! She seems to travel better when someone's next to her, so we may have to travel "taxi style" with a driver and one in the back with Q. We'll see!

We're also planning our October trip back to the midwest (Mn/Wi) for Tricia & Travis' wedding, and Paul and Emily's wedding too! Those should be fun times for us...especially if Q is closer to walking and loving dancing and music then as much as she does now!! I will be travelling for Paul and Em's wedding w/Q and Mike is meeting up with us in Makato later that next week. We plan to visit with Nate, Nikki & Claire, people in Farmington, we're staying with Auntie Krissy when we're in Wi, and of course, we'll be seeing Jill and Tim as they've graciously stated they'd love to have us stay with them for a few days (not to mention transport to and from GB/MSP)!! We're excited to spend some time with the family, too, as we plan to get to Eagle Lake on Tuesday night or Wednesday sometime. You guys there can fight about who gets to come pick us up from Eden Prairie!! Oh, and D & N will be in Mankato that weekend too, so we may even get to see them!

Busy times, but they should be fun times!!

Well, off to enjoy my morning coffee (yep, morning coffee at noon!!)...

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Meet 'Stripes' and 'Buster'

I think I failed to mention we bought plants at the botanical gardens when we were there. Since Eggo ate my spider plant within seconds of having it at Mike's house when I moved in there in 2005, I've wanted house plants. However, I've never found anything I've liked that I thought Eggo would stay away from. We were at the botanical gardens on Saturday and Mike picked one he liked, I picked one I like.

For some reason I decided today that I will call them...

Stripes (my favorite)



Buster (Mike's favorite)


I feel good about our purchases. Not only have the cats (pretty much) stayed away. They add a "homey" feel to a still relatively new house. Also, they were reasonably priced and so where the pots! I looked at our stores around here and they wanted almost $10 more each per pot and about $10 more per (similar) plant. So, that covered our entrance cost to the park and then some!! So we still came out ahead. I just feel better when I look at my new friends in my living room.

And the living room is still without a tv (despite Mike's recent attempts at adding one so we can use some of our gaming systems in our "gaming system graveyard") and I feel really good about that too.

The Next Morning

Well, things seem to be okay yet today, despite our boo-boo.

The bottle instead of breast at night is not going as anticipated. She's still up wailing at 3:45am. She'll only drinks 3-4 ounces from the bottle...then is ready for bed. She's started doing this thing where when she's all done (mostly when I'm nursing her though the day) she'll sit up, start clapping and look for the baby in the mirror behind the chair in her room. It's cute. And at least she's not biting me when she's done! I must admit to nursing her for awhile after her bottle last night, but we were all out of routine yesterday as she missed her afternoon nap due to the 3 hours we spent travelling to & from he doctor...and the time in the office. And, well, I guess it helped a little because she was up at 4am wailing. :-)

I found a way to slow her down today...temporarily at least....


Yes, that's right. Shoes. She's kept them on for almost an hour now. Granted, 20 minutes of that was lunch (yep, see the crackers on the chair...)...but still. She only tried to chew them for a few minutes too, so that's good. These are size 3 hand-me-downs from cousin Abbie....who I believe got them from cousin Caryn. They are a little big, but they're all I have. I'm not about to spend $10 on shoes she may wear for a week or two until her feet grow again. I am bummed she did not get to enjoy the cowboy boots we bought for her in Dallas for Adam and Julie's wedding. She was having nothing to do with anything on her feet while those fit her...

Her crawl is slowed down with the shoes on and it's forcing her to crawl "normal" (if there is a normal) and not turn her toes way in to 'push' forward. This new way of crawling is keeping her in a pretty limited area where her toys are! So, she's having a blast playing with the toys we have for her instead of with everything else she shouldn't be playing with (rugs, newspaper, cords, bottles, clothes to list a few). :-)

I emptied out another tote of clothes I had in storage...to fill it up again! We have a ton of fall 18 month clothes and I'm super excited to take photos of her in some of them. I'm surprised the size range "18 month" really spans. Some of the the "18 month" hand-me-downs from her cousins are longer and larger than the new 24 month stuff we got new! I still don't understand why sizing is so different between brands. Never have, never will I guess!! And we still have 2 "9 month" onesies that fit...but she's also in some 18 month ones that are small. I don't get it!

Her new favorite past time is "look out the front door". It's also a standing favorite for Eggo and Killer (Eggo especially as he roams the house all day long looking for the sunny spots). She will sit there and watch as 'dada' leaves in the morning. At various times through the day, she'll sit in front of the door, look out and go "da da", and continue on her way. At least, it's what I've witnessed and wonder if she's really making that connection already.


You can even see me in there taking the photo of the three of them wanting to join me outside.



And it's another WONDERFUL day here in NYC. I'm so glad the weather has cooled down!! I hope it stays in the mid to high 70s through September. The down side is no rain for almost 2 weeks! I can see it dumping on us suddenly and not stopping for days and that'll suck. I feel for those down south, too though, and pray that no one else gets sucked away in the tide! I don't think I'd even try to venture further in the ocean than ankle deep when there are tropical storms and hurricanes in the area, but sometimes it's too hard to resist!

Her other new favorite game is crawl in circles around our couch in the living room. She'll disappear from my sight for a few minutes...and suddenly she appears on the other side of the couch. It's cute.

So, she has lots of fun games she plays that has nothing to do with toys! I've tried suggestions from you all from last week's post. The tupperware worked wonders while I made dinner the other night. But the next day, not as much fun...she was more interested in her foam alphabet letters from her pool time that she found hanging in a bag on our back door.

I think I've mentioned her foot obsession, too. By far, her favorite toy for the last month has been a yellow foot we stole from the Brefkas when we were in town. Auntie Claire (and Caryn I believe with help from Uncle Tom) brought over a bag of "chew toys" (I'll call them) for Q to play with. She instantly bonded with a seahorse and yellow foot. So, we brought them back to NYC with us. They're too big for Benji yet, and I really don't think the Brefka's will miss toys in their house! Let me know if you want them back someday.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Our First Boo-boo

She could really have cared less after the initial 2 minutes of screaming and sobbing...and it looks worse "in person"...but here it is, our first bleeding & bruised instantly boo-boo. I don't have "Care Bear" band-aides like, Claire K., in fact, I didn't use any band-aide...what kind of Mom am I?!


The story...she's been climbing lately. She was climbing the wall and got to her knees, her right hand missed the wall at this point and BAM her little head hit the corner of the wall! So, there was no fall or any other crazy thing that "baby-proofing" could've helped with to help prevent this injury. We headed to the doctor anyway, as I was concerned and knew they'd ask at her appointment tomorrow and didn't want to have to talk with any social workers for hiding head injuries!

SO, we had our 9-month well-child visit today instead of tomorrow.

The measurements---

21 pounds 8.5 ounces = 90-95th percentile
29.75 inches (with an uncooperative girl so she could actually be a little longer) = 99th+ percentile
44cm head circumference = 45-50th percentile

So, she's a healthy baby girl!

Doc was happy to see her in good spirits despite the cut and bruise, and we gave her 3 vaccinations as she'll be in pain from her head bump anyway (we only usually do 2 at a time to keep her happier!). He was impressed she has 4 distinctive phrases (see post from yesterday) and was glad to hear she likes her food (as her weight indicates).

She also started this thing today where when she gets to her destination (pre-set in her mind only), she'll turn around and smile and start clapping...as if saying, "I got to where I was headed and you didn't stop me! Yay me!" It's adorable.

Photo below was from our time bouncing...so it was pre-injury. I call this her "huh, stop calling name, I'm busy" face.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Mama and Dada

First off, she's pulling herself up more frequently now. The most recent accomplishment is using her changing table in her room...time to find a new place for the wipes, powder, lotion and CDs! She still has problems with rocking chairs. Frequently climbs up my legs when I'm in the kitchen. You can tell she's almost to the point of standing and letting go for awhile! Oh, the days go by so fast.

Now to the posting. She has 4 distinguishable sounds now, "nah nah" (nurse me please) "ni ni" (put me to bed already, and is usually accompanied with tears) "dadada" (dad) and "mmm-mma" (mom).

"mmm-mma" and "dadada" have been more frequent lately and usually appear when she wants something (mmm-mma) or when Mike leaves the room (dadadadada --with a cry).

Well, today at the grocery store and laundromat, every female that acknowledged her was "mmmmm-mmma" and every male that smiled at her was "dada". Some of them were flattered, as they were on the older side, and some of them were like, "no no, not me" as they were younger. Too cute, really, right?

Now she's busy trying to chew through her container of cheerios she pulled from her diaper bag.

And some archived photos from the last 2 weeks that haven't made it to the blog yet...


She likes the news....won't watch 'kids' shows, but turn on the world news..she's all over that!


Showing her Harley pride--shorts and other top are to tiny, but the tank still fits...the way her other 9-12 month clothes fit!!


(can't get this one to turn, but I think it's cute she's typing away!!)



Ciou! (I'm going to adapt the Italian goodbye into my life because I think it sounds sophisticated.)

Monday, August 25, 2008

Nine Months and Counting

Diggin for goodies (her toy box for the living room that doubles as a footstool!!)


Relaxing on our walk around the gardens on Saturday...


Oh, and this bonsai tree is 50 years old!!


Well, as you can see (if you follow the ticker), I "missed" Q's 9 month birthday! We celebrated...no, not really. She goes for all her official measurements on Thursday, so look for an extended blog entry then!

Some more small details until then...let's talk about food.

About a month ago I started experimenting with giving Q whole foods instead of "#2 Gerber" and 'homemade' purees. She is now a little girl who wants to "do it herself" when it comes to feeding. So, why I just bought more baby mixed grain cereal and some Gerber purees for our trips out and about...I don't know.

She loves to feed herself---
--cheerios
--turkey
--green beans
--crackers
--noodles
--her bottle (!!!) (but not her cup...as she can't tip it quite right yet and she always goes to suck at the middle of the cup as the bottle nipple is in the middle...)
--mashed potatoes (that's a fun one to watch)

--well, really anything that she can put in her fingers then put in her mouth.

We gave her "big people" oatmeal this weekend and she loved it! So, now I'm really starting to wonder why I just bought the new box of baby mixed grain...we'll just have to give it to her from time to time!! She goes "aaahhh" or "ummmmmm" when she's all out of things to pick up on her tray. She will still eat purees, but I have to mix in something for her to feed herself while feeding her so she can be a "part of the process".

She's still nursing. About 4-6 times a day now, so down significantly. She does get water at meals (although most of it drips on her shirt). Anyone's thoughts on juice and if/when I should be giving her any. Obviously it would be 100% juice (as that's mostly what I buy anyway). We'll ask Dr. Raptis on Thursday.

Overall, she still has the drinking capacity of a bird, though. She only nurses for about 10 minutes at night and is only sleeping a long stretch at night about 1 night a week if I'm lucky. I think I'm going to trial 6 oz from a bottle before bed this week to see if that changes her sleeping habits. I really, really, really, would love a full week of 8 hours of sleep in a row! Of course, it was me that woke up at 3:30am this morning and said, huh, she's not awake to eat yet...and then 5 minutes later she was screaming bloody murder in her room. I've tried the "cry it out" thing ... no go with the little one. She's hungry in the middle of the night and usually nurses about 10-15 minutes and goes right back to sleep.



One of our favorite "Music Together" songs is "Play the drum" and she finds things around the house that sound like the drums in class and drums right along....And man, is it hard to tell that smile "no!" sometimes! So, we just let her go until the situation is dangerous.

I really can't believe how she's grown and changed since her baptism about a month ago. Time flies and I try to figure out where the time goes every day!

Mike has been home since Thursday (he worked from home on Friday) and Q actually cried when he dressed up in his work clothes and left this morning! She was going 'dadadadadadada'. Wanted nothing to do with "mmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmm". Well, we did get good news last week, Mike passed his exam! So, the third and final will be next June. Congrats to Daddy! As much as he seems to hate studying and taking exams, he's so darn good at it! We're very proud of him and can't wait for them to be over!

Now, we put on music and I asked her what she wanted to listen to...she said "aaahhh baaa" so we put on Abba. She thinks my dancing is amusing. So, whatever works to entertain the little one!! (Well, that's not cords or cat toys...)

On a growing note...there's not a size between 12 months and 18 months is there?? Most of her 12 month stuff is too small...18 too big. So, to answer Carol's question...the 18 month dresses should be good for the T squared wedding in 5 weeks...we'll see! If she's walking they'll be perfect. If she's not, she'll be REALLY dirty and it shall prove difficult to get her to cooperate for photos and all...that'll be an 11 month old for ya, right??!!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

We started our day at Prospect Park on the swings....






Another "thing" crossed off our list of things to do and or see in NYC, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I can't say I was in a particular mood to look at and admire flowers and trees today, but in retrospect (we've been home about 20 minutes now...) it was pretty amazing.


The gardens cover a crazy span of acreage near Prospect Park. And my feet hurt a little, so I think we did some walking!

Just a few shots from the day....Christine, I think you'd have a blast doing photo shoots here!!


Yep, this is how Mike "walks" with Q...push the stroller, walk to the stroller. It's an especially fun game going downhill!!







So Darn Cute

I just find Q so darn cute!

She was crawling around with her burp cloth between her teeth...stopped to bounce her chair for awhile....silly girl


And here we were eating cucumbers! Yummy! I was too lazy to clean her tray after breakfast, so she sat at the table like Mommy!!

Friday, August 22, 2008

New Games

Q's list of favorite games--hard to put in order of most favorite...but...here they are

1--how many cheerios can i fit in my mouth?
2--how wet can i get mom by splashing my feet in the tub?
3--closing doors
4--opening drawers (doesn't like to open doors so much...)
5--chase the cats (until distracted by a fuzz, paper, the carpet, or sometimes even a song she likes!!!)
6--stick my hands in the cat water bowl and 'splash splash....SPILL!'
7--bite the spoon so mom can't keep feeding me, i want to feed myself
8--anything that is related to paper or water, really
9--SINGING!
10--anything to do with older kids--she LOVED watching them at our make-up music class today! (we're graduated to the "mixed age" (8 months-4 yrs) class for the fall semester)! she loved having all her cousins around when we were in Wi (but she loves her quiet time just as much!

And you can't actually see Q in the video, so that was kinda a bad phrase to put up...

As far as the new background people are commenting about ... www.cutestblogontheblock.com (stole it from Nikki's website!).

I'm Hiding...

Can you see where Q is in this video???

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

La la la

Sorry it's dark. But you should be able to hear her!!!


Standing on the Subway


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Boredom

No, not me. I can't seem to get much "alone" time anymore. Our little Q seems bored with everything I throw at her (not literally...well, with the exception of balls...). She has a short attention span, and only seems to want to play with whatever I am using at the time. Now that she's crawling, and pulling herself up more, it's impossible to get her to stay in one area for longer than a few minutes. And the days of 3 hours of naps during the day are long gone. It used to be just weekends when she'd skip them...now it's pretty much every day.

Ideas? Suggestions? Ideas that don't involve me involving her in a million activities that make my week so busy I want to pull my hair out....

Off to chase her down the hallway...(time to purchase and install baby gates!)

Monday, August 18, 2008

Tiny Photos

The snapfish conversion isn't what I anticipated.....




They are on snapfish!!

Plugs for my friends...

In case you all are interested, I have added more links to my other links on the side bar. Feel free to click and order if you so desire!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Weekend

It was a fast weekend, but a good weekend. Dannie and Nate came for a visit and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed seeing Q again, as it has been awhile in person. They have a baby they see frequently (a friends' baby) who is 2 weeks older than Q. Prior to that, they weren't as comfortable around babies. Now, they both seem to enjoy Q's company more--even more because she's getting so darn cute! They will be the first to say "we're not ready for kids", but I am excited for the day they do, because they will be FABULOUS parents and there won't be a lack of photos to be shared from them!

Which leads me to ... my battery was almost dead before our day on Man. yesterday ... and I didn't charge it. So, photos of the day are yet to come. But, we had a slow morning (which is fine by all of us...especially since both N & myself had a case of food poisoning this week) and ended up heading to the Battery Park/Financial District of NYC. We enjoyed the David Bryne exhibit at the Maritime Building. We then continued on to the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty closer than we have before (the SIF is free!!) -- by just taking the ferry to Staten Island and back again. We then walked a few blocks, enjoyed the architecture, and ended up at the WTC site...which is still being cleaned out! Many of the surrounding buildings have gotten their rennovations and facelifts from the damage, but the site itself still has a ways to go. We then walked at least a mile, probably two, looking for an open restaurant that wasn't McD's, Subway, or BK...the district isn't known for it's food hot spots! We went into an electronics store for awhile, D asked a worker where we could eat, and he mentioned an italian spot down the block. Turned out to be great! We were very please. I, however, was feeling not so great, and could make it no longer, so Q, M & I headed home, while D & N enjoyed some time in Times Square looking at lights, the Apple store, and some other things, before venturing the hour trip home.

Today was a lazy day...which was okay by Dannie's still healing ankle...and the boys played some Halo 3 (beat Halo 3). They headed out about 5:30 and we hope their trip home was better than the trip here (lots of traffic).

We enjoyed their company (as always) and hope to see them soon!

SO, when Dannie gets photos to me (as they had 2 cameras yesterday), I will post!

Q had no problems with our company, which was nice. She's standing longer and better, even taking some steps when holding Daddy's fingers!!! She's attempting pulling herself up in her crib and onto furniture...she'll be walking in no time!! She was chasing down the cats today, and enjoying her crawling freedom....but I'm sure wishing the floors where hardwood and hard tiles!! She's a trooper through, and through, and even made friends with an almost 1 year old on the train last night (who I would say was just longer than her, but about the same weight....). We have ourselves a baby who will start to want to eat more as she is more adventurous.

I can't wait to see what she learns this week!!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Quinn 4.0 and 4.1

And then there is this morning....the view as she's coming and going.





Some have asked about 'baby proofing". I'm not really sure what that means.
*She's sitting up all the time and starting to pull herself up onto objects (attempting at least), so we've lowered her crib.
*With her new found crawl, what I like to call the frog crawl as her toes stay pointed together as she crawls, I'm sure there will be little to stop her from getting what she know she shouldn't have.
*I've also removed an unstable bookshelf from her room so it won't fall on her.
*We have fewer trash cans in the house as she loves to dig though containers.
*Now that I'm feeling better, swiffering will probably occur daily, vacuuming every other day, and washing of the floor several times a week (much dirt is tracked in from outside!).
*Thanks to Daddy, the cats now have a hurdle to jump to get to the cat boxes (that's the last thing we need her eating).
*The bar is no longer in the kitchen as she rolled over to it and grabbed the bottle of Patron off the shelf the other day in a split second. It also has a glass shelf, so we worried about that toppling over in all her curiosity.
*She loves cords, purses, paper, and plastic bags--don't all babies? I went to pick up the purse the other day and didn't know who to scold for chewing the heck out of the straps--Q or Eggo?! Now that's she's crawling, it'll be easier for her to get to Killer and Eggo as she's in love with them and their every move and constantly waves at them when she sees them (as you saw in Quinn 3.8).
*She loves drawers & containers...not so much doors (I think they're harder to open...).
*She's getting great at self feeding...so any toy, piece of food (including pureed food from her tray at meal time), hair, fuzz, leftover food that I miss, etc...is in her mouth instantly. I find it rather remarkable actually...she's really mastered the thumb to forefinger pick up...even laying down on her back or tummy!!


She giggles like crazy when we go through her animal book and I make animal sounds, "silly mommy, you don't make that noise". She still loves to chew the books, though, so actually getting through many stories is still a challenge, but I can usually distract her by giving her a book to chew on...or reading while I'm nursing.

So, as you can read (since you can't see her...), she's all over the house and is as curious and "George"...so, complete "baby proofing" would be taking away her chance to explore and learn "not a toy" (as I don't like to repeat "no no no no no no no"). She's responding to her name --- QUINN!!!!!! (and she looks at me innocently and giggles and swear repeats back to me 'keein'.) Her only 2 phrases that are distinguishable are "nah nah nah nah" (nigh-night/nap) and "nigh nigh nigh nigh" (nursing/hungry). Really, there is a difference, and I can't even pick out ma ma or da da in there anywhere. Well, and I swear she repeats her name like I said above, but that was just this morning.

I can't believe we're only about a week away from 3/4 of a year.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Quinn 3.9

Crawling it getting closer, even on the cement outside!!

Quinn 3.8 attempt

"If you can pick it up--eat it." QCB's personal motto.

While Dad's Away...

...the girls will play!


Well, I've had some sort of flu or something the last 2 days or so, but I'm feeling better now. Q and I did some chillin' on the front porch while Dad spends some time in Oklahoma for work (how exciting, right??). I did not want to pass it along to others, so we missed our make-up music class today. Well, there's always next week!!

(this may be one of my favorite shots of her...)


There is some video too...hopefully the video will load this time!


Most of the photos are of her eating cheerios, so that's my explanation for the silly faces. The cats were jealous of our time outside (see photo of them in the door window!)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Some photos (video NOT loading...it's been an hour!!)

I took a no photos of our Q-child during our "nothing weekend". However, I had some from last week yet and I busted out the camera today because she's growing up so quick! Unfortunately, the camera did not come out until AFTER she ate some food that made some fellow territorial critters in the house not so happy with her. She said "mmmmmm" so I guess she was really hungry! That's what I get for making weekend plans with Dannie on the phone instead of being on consta-alert with Q's location.

Eating a cracker (she was really concentrating in this photo--then the flash hit her eyes and this is the expression I got!)


Side sleeper (yes, she actually sleeps in that crib with all that stuff and she has since day 1! I like to think it's why she wakes up happy (most of the time).)



Emptying drawers in the office


Cat lover


ALSO, I'd like to give a "congrats" shout-out to Beth and Scott on their newest addition, Theodore Thomas. He's adorable! Quinn and I hope we will have time to meet Teddy and Julia (the other latest addition to Mn friends) when we visit in October.

A Nothing Weekend

So we FINALLY got a breath of fresh air this weekend! It was only about 80 during the day and down to 67/68 at night! YAY WINDOWS OPEN! Hopefully the cool air at night will help lower the electric bill as the a/c's have been off for about 3 days now (longest stretch since April?...other then when we've been gone).

So, what did we do with our weekend? Between rain drops which I anticipated to be longer and harder storms than hit, I watched Olympics (handball may be my new favorite!) and we enjoyed our new XBox 360. Really, I'm not sure if we're so excited about it because it's new, it's awesome, or we have new games. We finished Halo 3 on Saturday night...it only took us a week. I was slightly disappointed that it only took us a few hours to complete it. Maybe we'll have to up our level a little bit or something. Mike and I also busted out NCAA football and Mn creamed Wi. But I held my own better than I anticipated seeing as Mike's created team for the X-Box has gone from barely completing a pass to champions in just a few seasons. Never realized how hard it was to call plays, read offense/defense and play the plays the way I call them! I can see why the coaches aren't also the players in "real life".

We also watched Q grow into her "little" body and explore the house further. We've officially lowered her crib as she's sitting up all the time and is close to pulling herself into standing position onto couches, toys, and STAIRS! She likes to empty bags, buckets, containers, drawers, & shelves. She enjoys chewing on EVERYTHING. Our two new favorite snacks are cheerios and crackers ... Nilla wafers not so much (she's not much for the sweets). She is taking nice small bites of the crackers, but will stuff as many cheerios in her mouth as you will give her. Her favorite meal is turkey, green beans and cranberries... "mmmmm" (maybe she was always meant to be a Thanksgiving day baby!). I regularly buy lunch meat turkey and we share my sandwich. She enjoys butternut squash and green beans...everything else she'll eat because she's hungry. To keep her "interested" in eating, she needs a mix of "solid" solids and "pureed" solids. So, if there's nothing available to chew for a meal, she'll get cheerios with her meal. She's still learning the sippy cup, but her foods is mostly liquid yet and she's still nursing about 5 times a day, so I'm not too concerned about fluid intake.

We're going to visit with Dannie and Nate this weekend (yet to be decided if we're going there or they're coming here) and it's quite possible they could witness a real crawl! She does more of an extended reach now...I'll try to get video when she's up from her nap.

Overall, life's pretty calm. It's hard to believe Mike's been here a year, and my year is just around the corner! Time flies when you're living the NY minute!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

12 Month PJs with Books

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse PJs from Hailey (??), 12 month size, fit like a glove! It's nice having something for summer that's not a onesie! She was getting too warm in her footed PJs, so this is a nice alternative.


She's a ham for the camera...


Showing off 2 of her 6 teeth.


With her books.

Perfect Pitch

I'll take photos today, I promise! As of right now, she's sleeping and I'm working on baptism thank you's. Well, technically I'm blogging, but you get the picture.

For those of you who gifted us money, I decided to splurge and buy some new books instead of borrowing from the library. She is enjoying story time more (as she's not as inclined to need to put the book in her mouth). We got lots of great prayer books and bible stories from Grandma Judy and a board book bible from Auntie Krissy, so we're also keeping the faith as we enjoy snuggles and story time. We (and when I say we, I mean Quinn and myself) decided on Snoozers: 7 short stories, Pat the Bunny (touch and feel book), What's Up Duck (book of opposites and big photos!), Is Your Mama a Llama?, and a crinkle book with chewable corners (as she kept stealing Braxton's at the Brefka's a few weeks ago). Her new favorite past times these days are take everything off the lowest shelves (books, clothes, toys) or out of the bag (my wallet, keys, phone, toys, diapers, wipes, etc).

She scooted a few inches on her hands and knees today (towards the bookshelf). The feat was not only amazing because it's the first time she's moved on all fours, but because she was so ridiculously still tired it was amazing she could keep her head up. Wait...maybe it's just me that's still so sleepy...regardless...it won't be long before that's her mode of transportation! She is most successful in her room, I think, because of the carpeting. Almost everywhere else in the house is hardwood. I know I don't like showing her how to crawl on the hardwood! So, I have a feeling walking isn't far behind.

We had our music class yesterday, after missing two weeks. She squealed and giggled and smiled every time a new baby & mama came into the circle. After all the company we had last week, I think she enjoyed it after all! She seemed excited to have people to look at other than me (as most of the class is interaction with your baby and she was more fascinated with the other moms and instructor...). She joined in to "play the drum" not only by banging (in rhythm!) on the drum but my chewing it first! I was concerned as she has 6 teeth and I didn't want them chipped...the instructor assured me nothing would happen and that's how she's choosing to feel the beat. I guess she was right because after she chewed the drum, she drummed along with us! The other 3 boys were just crawling all over the drum and giggling (yep, she's the only girl in the class now as the other girl is in London visiting her grandparents and relatives).

We also have "jam session" where they play songs on the radio and we play instruments along with the music. Q was doing her normal "ahhhh" along with the song and the instructor looks at her and said "that's just amazing". I was like, she always "aahhh"s when there's music playing. She asked if I'd ever actually listened to her and I said...well, I guess I HEAR her. Apparently she "aaahh"s in perfect tone/pitch or something like that (music people would be able to tell me). Abby (the instructor) said she was doing it the whole class and assumed it was because we listen to the songs at home too so she recognized the music. But the song we listened to in class was "You can call me Al" and I know I haven't played that for her before! SO, Q listens for awhile, finds the cord and picks her "ahhh" tone. Maybe we have the next American Idol?!?! :-)

We may be heading out and about the city this weekend, Park Slope maybe while Daddy plays some pick up frisbee in preparation for his tourney next weekend in Wisconsin. And, well, then he leaves Tuesday night and will be gone almost a week (probably he'll go). So, Q and I are going to see Dannie (and Nate?) this weekend. We're trying to decide if I want to drive there or if D (& N?) will drive here. I'd love to get back to Central Park and maybe walk through the zoo, but we'll see where the next week leads us! It's been over a year since I've been to Dannie's so it'd be nice to go enjoy time there, too. We were going to go camping and hiking with them, but with her healing ankle, it's probably not the best idea (not to mention Mike and I would need to go shopping for family camping gear!!).

SO, Q's up from her really short nap so it's time to bring her into the office to get into some trouble here while I continue writing thank you's. Maybe I'll get some cute photos! :-)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

To the tune "Mary had a Little Lamb"

"Brett Favre is no longer done, no longer done, no longer done. Brett Favre is no longer done, because he is stubborn.

The Packers said, you retired too bad, you retired too bad, you retired too bad. The Packers said, you retired too bad--Let's make a deal.

The NY Jets said, Chad's no good, Chad's no good, Chad's no good. The NY Jets said Chad's no good, WE WANT FAVRE.


A deal's been made--Favre is 2000 miles closer, 2000 miles closer, 2000 miles closer. Now Favre is 2000 miles closer, making $12.6 MIL.?!?!"

Like my song?!?! I just made it up in just a few minute. I'm impressed with myself at least....

Right, so headline on the papers the day we left for Wi was something to the effect of "Jets' Favre deal falls through". This morning "Favre is a NY Jet" ?!?!? Huh, well, pre-season Jets vs Browns tonight...maybe I'll get to see him play!??!!?!?

Ridiculous.

I hope y'all in Wi don't hear more about this story than I will in NY! At least it's not Minnesota. Even Favre wants to be closer to us!! :-)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Busy Beavers

Well, I forgot that there is still a house to maintain even when you're not there for over a week!

I've been busy catching up on mail, newspapers, laundry, vacuuming, cat grooming, and of course--the daily grind of feeding, bathing, and playing with Q! OH yeah, and the Scrabble games with my siblings on Facebook and trying to download the photos I THOUGHT I burned to CDs before I left.

Turns out the photos didn't burn so the (about) 700 photos I took last week are still only on Mom and Dad's computer.

I haven't unpacked the camera yet, either, but I can assure you that Q is still as sweet as ever! She is back to sleeping through the night, regular naps, and getting to bed before 10 (before 8 today, thank God!!).

So, whenever I get the photos I want in my possession, they'll make their way to the blog. I'll try to take some new ones too...in all the cute clothes from cousins Abbie, Liz & Caryn. You'll be glad to know she was drowning in the "24 month" onesie I had on her this morning--the "18 month" onesies are even slightly large. Maybe I can keep the current wardrobe for awhile!!

We've been pricing car seats and pack and plays on Craigs List. There are a few options out there.

The diapers from 1800diapers arrived before noon today! Less than 24 hours after I ordered them. It was awesome!

Well, back to some Facebook applications before finishing another episode of "Arrested Development" with Mike (who is talking on the phone now....).....

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

1800diapers.com

SO, if you want to help out a friend (me) and save yourself a trip to the store to get diapers and wipes, visit 1800dipaers.com and use the promotional code KBXR7233 to get $10 off!! You can get diapers delivered within 24 hours sometimes!!

Home Again!

We got home last night, and boy was Q excited to see Daddy, the kitties, and her house again!

She's so close to crawling it's ridiculous. I think she'll skip the army crawl altogether. Rolling is her main way to get from A to B, and it treats her well.

It's good to be home...

Now to unpack, do laundry, sort through photos, and become reacquainted with Brooklyn!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Bored?

Well, for the first time since I arrived last week Thursday, my parents' house is quiet. Hailey's at the sitter's, Mom's shopping, Dad's at work, JJ's out, and Q is sleeping. The a/c is off and there is a lone lawnmower in the distance (something that I only hear once a month in my NYC neighborhood is something that is weekly here!!).

Dare I say I'm bored?

The silence is deafening.

I've been around kids and adults all week.

SO, I shall take the time to apologize to all the people that I missed visiting with this week. Jill, Tim, John, Maggie, Jessica, Roger, Tiffany, Mike, Courtney, Em (although I got to see Paul...), Kevin (I hear you drove past me and didn't even stop!), and all those at the reunion on Sunday that I didn't even say hi to! ... that may be everyone. Days get crazy in Grafton and they get even more difficult when you don't have your own car and there's no such thing as public transit from West Allis to Grafton (not that I know of...). Hopefully we can catch up another time and feel free to give me a holla if you're ever the NYC way. Again, hopefully we'll catch up soon. I didn't realize 10 days could go so fast!

For the weekend, we are off to Deerbrook, Wi (near Antigo) for my uncle's 75th birthday bash at my cousin's house. So, today, we are giving Q a day of no visitors (unless someone wants to come to Grafton to visit!) and a day of rest.

She pretty much has 6 teeth now...so tylenol is done! We have oragel about once a day, but only if NOTHING ELSE calms her down. She's learning to bite things like strawberries, green beans, and graham crackers--but not Mommy! She's eating about 1/2 a container of Gerber foods at each sitting now. She had a few tablespoon of yogurt and pears yesterday for breakfast and enjoyed it. Then she had a day of tasting fair foods and drinks.

She's been a great trooper all week and we miss Daddy terribly and can't wait to see him on Monday! Uncle JoJo and Grandpa both have beards, so she's been enjoying their resemblance to Daddy and have grown fond of pulling out Grandpa's gray hairs! She will be very happy to see her kitties, room, and toys again.

She's almost crawling, Daddy!

Time to go enjoy some more "me" time with the book I brought from home. Thought I'd have time to read this week too! Silly Katie....