Two Years Ago

Happy birthday Quinn!

I can hardly believe how much you have learned and changed these past two years. You continue to amaze me with how your play changes every day and how many words you know. You have the cutest Minnesota, Wisconsin, Brooklyn accent I've ever come across in my life. And you play so wonderfully with other kids when they are around...yes, you actually play WITH other kids sometimes!

Here are a few photos from your first "kids invited" birthday party, as you will very likely not remember anything that happened today. If only you'd pose for the camera like your friends that visited!

Duck is LOST!

Quinn no longer quacks like a duck. It's very sad as she had the best sounding duck once upon a time...I'm not even sure we have it on video. Sad, sad, sad day.

Some of our party decorations arrived yesterday. SOOOOO cute! We're excited to host a party soon!

Quinn also had her first play dough experience today at day care! She LOVED it!

Also, Trisha sings a "who's at day care today" song each day that apparently has actions and she knows them all and participates each day now starting today!!

I'm even more amazed by what she learns every day now that I'm not with her all day. She's growing so fast...only a few more DAYS until she's entering her 2's! Where does time go!?

One Week Left

...until Q's big birthday bash!

Okay, so really it's more of an excuse for an open house party, but she will have her own hour and half for whatever she wants. Or whatever I think she wants. Invites have (finally) been mailed out. To most people...we have yet to set up our home server, so I didn't even have most addresses. Regardless, Q will have a weekend of fun, I'm sure!

A few photos to share today!! From day care, and they're as cute as Q can be.


First up is Q and her day care friend. We're still not sure how Trisha got her to actually SMILE pictures....



Art hour from last week! Trisha discovered her love of glue and markers. Anyone need present ideas? We could use paper, markers and glue! :) And fun things to glue to the paper! Curt, Christine and Kumquat-to-be discovered her Picaso-like style with the "what will baby look like" last weekend. I should've taken a photo of it...hair and eyes on one side, mouth upside down on the other...ears and nose in some other random spot...again, Picaso-esque. Maybe she remembers the art we saw on our museum tours in NYC?





And her toy of the hour a few days ago...a plastic tub! (Note the various things around it that she so kindly removed before climbing in!

How Drunk Was I?

So, I must say, about 3 years ago...tonight...I was crazy happy in love and smiled more in a day than I ever thought possible.

But it also happened that I had a lot to drink and not so much to eat because my nerves were ridiculous out-of-control. No fear Mike wouldn't show. No fear of "losing" my last name. No fear of tripping. No fear of laryngitis. No thoughts of what was happening at work without me for the third day in a row with many more to come for a short vacation. No...I'm not sure why I was so nervous. But once the photos started getting taken and I was holding Mike's hand..it all washed away and I couldn't stop smiling.

Even as the drinks went down...the smile remained.

Even as Dannie talked about Mr. My's hair...the smile remained.

Even as Nate spoke of...uhm, ooh, don't remember what Nate spoke about!

Even as Dad spoke of his little girl...the smile remained (and the first tears of the day!!!).

Even as Mike spoke of his Oz characters...the smile remained.

And now today, looking at our photo book...the smile remains. I can't believe it's been 3 years. It's seemed more like at least 15! :)


We've had a crazy crazy couple years, Mike, but I'm glad I could spend them with you. And now with Quinn. And maybe some more kid(s) someday too! Our lives have changed so much as individuals and as a couple and as a family! Only time will tell what God has in store for us in the many, many happy years to come!

But really, the question of the night continues to remain in my head...and so many others that attended the reception that night...

"How Drunk Was I??"

Now for us all to try to re-live that night and join us for our housewarming party coming up next weekend. To yet again talk for 3 years about the night we got trashed at a party Mike and Katie had (with the help of their parents).

AND, of course, a very happy birthday to Grandpa Chuck today!!!!

Question Confusion

"How are you today?"
"Quinn"

"What's your name?"
"Brooke"

"Where do you want to go?"
"Yellow"

"What color is that?"
"COLOR COLOR MARKERS CHALK!!"

She's hilarious. I really miss my time with her during the day. But MAN does a day at work wipe me out...and the drive doesn't help much. Although, it allows time for interesting conversations between us (see above Q/A).

And ONE WEEK breastfeeding free. I really miss it more than I ever thought I would. It was great bonding. She's all about her choco milk now at dinner and before bed (which rolls into each other these days). I think weening was the reason for soooo many poopy diapers. I read in a few places even the little changes can upset the tummy. SOO, we're back to lactaid, expensive wipes and no breastfeeding. We'll see if we're willing to experiment with any changes any time soon. The poor girl's butt was cherry for a week.

Now she's "all done clean up" and wants "story book book book nigh nigh". So, time to go be a mommy! Just thought I'd drop a quick note to signify I am still alive...and working more than ever! Yay we can afford Christmas!!!!!

More Mine No Please

Quinn's favorite words.

More blankies
More shoes
More CANDY
More Juice
More pickle
More tickle
More blocks
More Elmo

Mine blankies
Mine shoes
Mine juice
Mine Candy

NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO

More blankies please
More shoes please
More candy please.

I love this Quinn phase...she's still cracking me up! And her name was Brooke today when asked. Brooke is the baby at day care that she saw almost every day. She likes Brooke a lot.

She enjoyed walking the neighborhood last night. According to Mike, once she realized she had to wear the costume to get candy, she participated better. :) Overall, we saw neighbors and had a mellow night.