30

I'd like to start off with I'm glad I'm a cautious driver. I almost hit a deer about 20 minutes ago. It never occurred to me that Dannie and Nate would have deer RIGHT outside the road by their apartment. OH but they do! Somehow I managed to miss it and not freak out Quinn with the car jerk. The slippery road due to rain made the situation not much fun. Also thankful that there are next to zero cars on the road right now because I consider 7:45am on a Sunday TOO EARLY to be up for 2 hours and have DRIVEN somewhere with a toddler to get coffee. I had to get her out of the apartment...some people are lucky enough to have still sorta been sleeping...I needed to get her out for awhile! And of course, she has now joined the rest of the apartment (minus black cat who is taking his morning bath on my legs) by sleeping. Where was that sleep at 5...and 6....??? Oh well.

Well, another friend is 30. And his wife managed to pull together a surprise party! We are currently in Maryland with Dannie and Nate for Nate's 30th (sorry for the publication Nate!). Thad flew into NYC to visit with us for a day before we headed to Maryland to get together for Nate's 30th...and of course because we all love to spend time together! We got in Friday night and managed to pull off any suspicion he may have had that Dannie was up to something...having a friend come in who currently lives in Oregon is pretty freaking awesome! We're all glad to have had some time with Thad and we're excited he got the opportunity to join us this weekend.

The party was at their friends' place (I've posted photos of their little guy Seth) about 30 minutes from the apartment. Quinn had a BLAST, to say the least. I am now anxious to have a yard for her to actually PLAY in directly outside the house. I enjoy the walks to and from the park, and she definitely likes park time as she gets to "ham" on various equipment; don't get me wrong. But it was SO nice not having to worry about the driveway, cars, & our cement backyard haven. She had PLENTY of room to roam and still be safe to keep roaming.

Seth also had a wagon and Mike and Susan took them for a ride to see ducks. Quinn loved the wagon...we may invest in a wagon instead of a new stroller! I can still put groceries in it when I shop this summer :)

There was a great food spread, beer selection (that dried up first!!), and the company was appreciated. Fun was had watching the little tykes interact and fall and play and be crazy toddlers. Maybe it was more fun because of the beer? Nah, they're pretty fun to watch sober too! Nate and Dannie got some AMAZING shots of Quinn just being Quinn. I'm sure she'll post them...some of them may turn into larger prints as they capture her life SO well. My camera just isn't fast enough to catch her being Quinn and expressing all the craziness I see day in and day out. Even at 6am when it's really cute...but really really not cute or funny or even adorable.

I have yet to pull the camera out for the weekend, but like I said, D got some good shots.

Also, I got to watch D play football yesterday! The guys watched Q and I went to Baltimore with D and got to watch some club football. Yes, to most that sounds awful. But I spent almost every Sunday in the Fall watching club ultimate and I didn't realize how much I missed it until yesterday. In fact, after the first play I said, "hey, why's she running after she caught it?" Then I got a look from D like, 'did you really just ask that?' And before she could say anything, I said, "Ha, because this is football, not ultimate." D said, "...Yeah...there's a ball not a disc.". Minor details....
But D's team had some mad skills! Just not as mad as the other teams they played...eh, who wants to win? They got "promoted" to a higher skill level because they won last year...shouldn't the team get to decide these things?? One would think so...but some things are just f-ed up!

I think we're heading back today. I don't know that anyone here wants to continue listening to Q all night long. I've come to the conclusion that I just don't hear her some nights...it's not that she's sleeping. I'm just growing to the point of not caring if she's awake at 1am and 3am and 5am...what is she, 2 months old?! I care....just not enough to always get up and tend to her every whine. Makes for a not happy Mommy the next day!

We will most likely be heading out to look at some of Dannie and Nate's housing options today! Hopefully they will find a place they like so we can help in someway with the big move!

I'll try to get to Q's 17 month update soon...it may just turn into her 18 month update at this point...well, that's still 3 weeks away....we'll see.

The biggest thing going now (besides sleep) is potty training. I'm going to get a potty chair this week and see what she does with it. She's HATING having her diaper changed and we've moved into size 5 diapers (or will be soon). Size 5 boxes have even FEWER diaper for the same price...so....we'll see what happens. She's also been waking up dry from all night (12 hours usually) and from her nap(s). She has a pretty easy to read "poop" grunt too...so...we'll see. It's one of those crazy things I think about that if I wait too long it'll get more difficult to train. Kind of like her crazy habit of having a Quinn proof house seeing as I swore I'd never take down all my knick knacks because of my kid...ha! She's super curious, but is learning AND obeying "no" and "stop" a little more frequently.

Here, her love of water is exemplified by the kitties' water bowl. She LOVES splashing and manages to hit puddles that are barely puddles...so a big bowl of water is like her Disney World.

Well, this is a lot of words. I'm going to do some studying...seeing as I have about 4 more days to get it in and counted for credit so I don't have to retake my credential exam again!