a baby's first Christmas...

helping G&G put up lights! ...or trying to eat them you could say.

Quinn's first tree! 

(a little one to put on a table to keep curious baby hands away)

Quinn's personal holiday favorite... the lights of course! 

(too bad daddy has the weirdest smile haha)

i'm a horrible mother and didn't get any pictures of my baby with the tree all decorated except for this time when we were on the floor playing and she wore pants for a hat

(those cheeks! ...the one time she looks like she has a little bit of chub to her)

Christmas morning wasn't all that exciting over here since daddy worked all night and went straight to bed that morning.  But she got an early Christmas with the Schimpfs since they headed to utah for the holiday.  

and i didn't get a chance to take pictures of her opening gifts on Christmas Eve at my family's :(

we did enjoy a little jog around the neighborhood in between naps on Christmas day... before our evening spent at brian's grandparents with the rest of the Schimpfs.  it was such a beautiful day!!

this year the real meaning of Christmas was on my mind so often as i held and loved on my Quinn.  how lucky are we to have the Savior in our lives and to teach of Him to our precious children.

can't wait until next year baby girl!

11 months

i think some where in the back of mind something is trying to tell me that if i don't write down what she's like at eleven months then just maybe it won't happen and she'll stay my baby forever! :(  but, of course, without permission my Quinn turned eleven months on Christmas Eve.

Quinn at eleven months...

-i feel like not a lot has changed in the last month but at the same time she seems smarter and smarter every day.  like how she can now put things 'in' a box or basket instead of just throwing things out of it.
-weighs just over 16 pounds.
-can stand for longer periods of time and does it more often.
-i think you're starting to become a picky eater :(  you used to like peas and carrots and now you spit them out and pretty much just live on green beans for your veggie. i'm looking forward to when you get the idea of drinking from a straw so i can pack a smoothies with spinach for you!
-you got so sick with roseola.  the. worst. week!
-oh and you got a new tooth the same week you were sick... like i said, not a good week for you.
-you now have three teeth on bottom and four on top.
-your new favorite toys are the stroller and baby doll you got for Christmas from G&G Schimpf and the elephant shape sorter you got from G&G Milne.  i love watching you play!  you're getting so smart about the littlest things.  i can't just see your wheels turning in that little brain of yours.
-officially not a fan of taking the monthly calendar pictures. these, not so good five, are from two days of trying!  not sure if you're just cold or what, but you are NOT a fan!

10 months

Quinn at ten months...
-on 11/15, about 9 and a half months, at your doctors appt. you weighed 15 pounds 6 ounces (6%) and was 26 (something i can't read) inches long (10%).  your head circumference was 43 cm (20%).
-you have four teeth on top and two on bottom.

-you can pull up to stand and get back down on your own very well now.
-can sometimes stand for a couple seconds on your own. 

-you can walk along the furniture, with a push toy, or holding our hands.  you've started going pretty fast on your push toy and it cracks me up every time because you're just so tiny that it's funny to see your little legs go!

-still loves dogs and cats, books, kids and other babies, outside, your pacifier, the bath, pointing and waving, the moon and lights at night!

-you are a little social butterfly! you smile at everyone and even when they aren't looking you'll smile at them and make some noise to see if they will pay attention to you. (i think you know how cute you are) so taking you to the store is always fun for me... it's like i have my own little show that everyone can't take their eyes off of.

-you can feed yourself great now and love doing so.  you prefer meatballs to chicken (you don't really eat chicken past a couple bites but you will scarf down pieces of meatball). you are not a fan of avocado which is a bummer because i was hoping you'd learn to like it and i could get some healthy fats in you! but if i smash it into some pureed fruit you kind of don't notice. you eat pretty much any other fruit and vegetable. you LOVE ritz crackers!  you have never really liked or wanted to take the time to eat, but when it's ritz it is like you are a whole different baby! i don't let you have them all the time so i make sure and hide them cause if you see them on the counter you'll get mad and not want to eat your other real food.  

-finalllyyy you don't take a third evening nap! you still get sleepy around dinner time but if we just give you a little quiet/down time or if we are out and there is lots going on you are good to go.  you just go to bed a little earlier now.

-you wake anytime around 6-7am, go down for a nap 8:30/9am and 12:30/1pm (and can sometimes take a while to stop playing in your crib until you fall asleep), a normal nap for you is about an hour and fifteen minutes but you often will have days where it only lasts thirty and then i pray that you'll fall back asleep for a little longer! sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.  bed about 7:30pm.. give or take, depending on how good of an afternoon nap you took and how cranky you're getting.

-you are off your reflux meds as of last week and once you've been off of it for about a month and are closer to one year we can start trying some dairy, like yogurt and cheese.  you're still on soy formula so i pray that you can/have overcome the milk protein sensitivity and diary won't be an issue. we will see!

-you are a speedy, drag one leg under you, crawler!

-can climb stairs
-lots of jibber jabber
-i don't think i mentioned it last month but you've been dancing since before then and i just loove it! you even dance when i sing silly made up songs or when daddy starts 'drumming' on the table.   the other day my phone only vibrated on the counter and you started moving to that! too cute!
-i feel like i'm forgetting so much but i can't think of any more right now...

...and only a month later my baby is sick again :( at least it's only a little cold and no diarrhea like last time (that was fun!).  but she did not want to take pictures. i even waited a few days for her to get (mostly) better but nope just wanted to be in my lap... so here we go!

did not want to be on that calendar and would just just scooch right off every time...

"okay, if mom makes a funny noise maybe i can stay for a second..."

"oh she's funny."

"mom, you're so weird!"

"alright that's enough. i want you now."

"whyyy did you put me back :("

halloween

Quinn's first halloween!

we took her trick-or-treating with her cousins around brian's parents' neighborhood.  she enjoyed watching all the kids run around and seeing the lights and decorations... but i think i had more fun than she did!  

(he's missing his farmer hat)

 cousins!

my whoo-ing cow. still working on the 'moo'.

i should have made her an owl with all the 'whoo-ing' she does!

9 months

i can't believe she's been out of me as long as she has been in me!

Quinn at nine months...
-you can now pick up and eat cheerios well.  you don't eat anything else that's not pureed still. if it doesn't dissolve fast like cheerios or gerber puffs then you still gag on it and/or just spit it out.
-you can pull to standing! still learning how to get down once you are standing. so you often get up and then just scream, with your little legs shaking, until we help you.
-you can get back into a sitting position all by yourself now!  this is a great milestone because you no longer just whine while on your tummy... you can actually get around and do what you want!  the down side is that nap time is kind of torture.  now that you know how to go from laying down to sitting and standing at the side your crib you will play for forever instead of going to sleep. it's kind of like sleep training all over again.  sometimes i have to just rock you or kind of hold you down so you will stay laying until you calm down a bit and realize it's sleeping time.  you are seriously way too busy and determined!
-you are better at falling asleep in my arms now.  not all the time but there are times when you won't even go down unless i rock you, which used to never happen!  even when you're so ready for a nap when i lay you in your crib you just don't stop going like you have things to do... so i think you are just able to relax more if i hold you.
-you have moved from the army crawl to the one leg scooting, crawling thing.
-you are loving books even more.  i think that is when you are the most calm and concentrated is when you are just looking at your books by yourself.  it's so cute watching you try and really figure out what's on the page or get at it with your little fingers.
-you have four teeth on top and two on bottom.
-weigh about 15 pounds and wear size 3-6 months clothes.
-you 'who' like an owl and point all the time.
-you're a talker.  i love driving in the car with you listening to your little conversations to yourself. too cute!
-you got diarrhea on your daddy for the first time and he freaked out. haha it was pretty funny! you poor thing though... you've had it the last couple days and haven't really wanted to eat that much and have been sooo sad.  teething has never been this bad until now.  at least the tylenol and teething tablets help you out, that is when you actually let me give it you. you're not much a fan of the tylenol.

(she was sick so this is the best we got... she wouldn't even lay down for a second before she would roll over and sit up.  and those are little scratches on her face from being so sad and sick and rubbing/attacking her face.)

8 months

and here we have the many faces of Quinn...

showing off some of our new teeth!

"are we done yet?! i have things to go chew on!"

Quinn at eight months...

-you have teeth!!! you got three all at once! the two bottoms and the second top right.  and boy does it make you whinny and clingy!

-after your six month check up they wanted you to come back in for a weight check after six weeks cause you didn't gain very much from 4-6 months.  you went from the 5th percentile to the 1st percentile.  buuut after lots of attempts to fatten you up and making you actually finish eating even when you didn't want to because you would rather be your busy self... you gained almost two pounds in those six weeks! from 12.11 lbs. at the six month check up to 14 lbs. six weeks later.  a lot of the time getting you to eat is a struggle because you are so into your surroundings.  we usually end up in another room where there is no one to look at.

-miss smarty pants can now turn the book pages.  and you do it with quite determination.  i'll lift the corner up a bit, you turn your head to the side so you can try and see the next page and then you grab that page and push it out of your way so you can study what is next.  i love when you do this because you look so smart, like you're really into what you're reading. a lot of the time i can't even actually read the book to you because you're too busy 'reading' it yourself and then quickly onto the next page. 

-you looove little kids and babies.  most of the time they don't even have to be doing anything to entertain you but you will start flailing those arms and kicking and panting, just getting so excited.  you love it and giggle lots when we chase them so you can get them or if they run up to you saying 'boo'.

-you can now scooch/army crawl.  you usually only save it for when you reeeally want something and won't go too far.  you'll go a little ways and then start whining to be sat up on your bum again.  

-much better at eating food.  but you won't eat the green veggies unless i mix a little fruit in.  i've given you some cheerios on your tray but i don't think you get that they are for eating yet and you won't really let me put them in your mouth. so for now you just practice picking them up and occasionally lick them.

-still three naps. still about a two hour awake span. i thought it would become longer as you got older because a lot of our baby friends do with a lot less napping and more awake time than you. but i guess you just need your sleep.  i've tried getting you to go longer between sleep times but you are very good at letting us know you're tired!  and i've learned too that you'll refuse to eat if you're too tired and then end up skipping a whole feeding time, or if you're over tired you have a harder time getting to sleep and then don't sleep as long as you should and end up waking up still tired.  

-finally you are in 3-6 month size clothes.

-you have learned the art of screaming.  not in a sad or mad screaming but just a i'm talking/excited scream.  it's pretty funny, and loud!

-you do NOT sit still while people hold you unless you have a very entertaining toy.  you are constantly wanting to get something or straining yourself to look at/get something you can't have.  even when you want me to hold you, you still are trying to get out of my arms like you know how to just walk away and get what ever it is you want. (i tell brian that i think you're going to be a leash child haha lets hope not!)

-we took you to feed the ducks.  we were super close to them and you thought it was the best thing! you would start giggling at them when they got a little crazy. it was so funny.  who knew feeding the ducks could be so fun! 

7 months

Quinn at seven months...

-no more swaddling!!! i thought you would have to be swaddled to sleep for foreeeverr! but one day you WOULD NOT let me do it! you just kept pulling your arms up and out... you are one strong baby.  i tried fighting you holding them down cause i knew you wouldn't sleep without it but you insisted and were upset when i did try.  so i stopped trying and just let you be.  and you fell asleep and stayed asleep like magic!  and that was it. no gradual transition... you just wanted to be free.

-you know what you want and there is no stopping you.

-you are becoming so silly and more and more fun!  i love getting you when you wake up from naps cause you will be rolling around and playing in your crib and when i come in you start smiling and getting so excited and bury your face giggling. 

-you love to be smothered with kisses and tickles.

-loving books (there are some on the floor next to the chair in your room and when i'm trying to fed you  you'll push me away and bend all the way over to look at the books until i get you one), your mermaid rubber duck, and teething rings.

-still three naps a day, in bed about eight or earlier if your last nap was earlier or you just didn't take a last nap, and up for the day between five and six (way too early for me!).

-trying to feed you pureed foods with oatmeal 1-2 times a day but most of the time you are more interested in everything else but opening your mouth.  you like the food it's just a matter of getting you to not be so busy. 

-you are still very sensitive.  you startle easy.  we have this little truck that when you push it the wheels make a really loud noise and it starts to go on it's own. you do NOT like the sound of it! 

-separation anxiety has officially set in!  it makes me feel good that you want me :) if you're tired you cry going to anyone else but mom or dad.

-you love your daddy so much! sometimes when you want me i'll be holding you but then you will see him and start kicking and whining for him too so he'll take you but then you realize you want me too! haha it's pretty funny.  so sometimes we'll both just sit right with you so you can have us both! 

-you don't play on your own as long as you used to... i think once you can crawl that will change.

-you are one crazy talking baby.  even when you are tired and i've laid you down you will go on and on until you're out! it's too funny!

-you're usually too busy to cuddle or want to do your own thing but you have started to do it more often now and i savor up every second!! 

3 years...

this is a little late but our wedding day was one of the best/most fun days of my life!

i can't believe it's already been three years but at the same time i can't believe it's only been three years.

i am more in love with brian than i ever thought possible and couldn't have asked for a better husband and daddy to our Quinn!

8.15.09

lets relive a little bit of this crazy/long/fun day!!!

both big families!

yes we got slurpees!!

my grandma made me five garters to choose from... i couldn't decide so we tricked brian and used them all!

little sis getting the party ready!

sooo excited to start the party!