two years old...

Quinn at two years...

-weight: 21 pounds (1%)

-height: 33 inches (33%)

-still as busy and active as ever.

-talks non stop all the time and says new words almost every day.

-some of her favorite things: the park, she could stay on the swings for forever, animals but especially cats and dogs and pandas, the zoo, babies, grandma and grandpa, bubbles, ballons, her nails painted, showing off her painted nails, showing off her shoes, stirring things in the kitchen with us, playing with her play kitchen, her daddy, any cup that isn't her's that is in her reach (watch out! she is fast too!), washing her hands, bubbles baths, running (seriously, she asks all the time to run on the grass at our apartments, and loves to run circles around the house),  wrapping, rocking, feeding and changing her baby, stuffed animals, a few favorite baby einstein episodes off of youtube: on the go, most animal ones, the sign language one (she does not/will not watch other shows or movies! i've tried them all! never thought i'd want my child to sit and watch something but sometimes it would be nice.  she's just too busy and not interested!)

-some of her favorite songs: wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, ring around the rosie, and mary had a little lamb.

-she loves books but has a large stack of favorites that we read once or twice day: baby bear, baby bear, what do you see?, good night moon, i like bugs, where's baby's mommy?, and more.

-favorite foods: peas (lots of peas!), strawberries, mini frozen tacos, yogurt, anything with some kind of dip, scrambled eggs with catsup, peanut butter! (like spoonfuls!), pizza, green beans, hummus, string cheese, loooves pickles, noodles or mac n cheese...

-oh and she out grew her dairy allergy!  we tested her with some dairy at 18 months and no reactions happened and she did great!  although she doesn't really care for milk, even chocolate milk!, so she never drinks it.  thankfully she does love yogurt and string cheese so most breakfasts are a big serving of a full fat yogurt, and she loves her gummy calcium supplements.

-she can be very social and friendly but can also be very shy and cautious depending on the stranger.  

-can put her shoes on and off by herself and with a little help her socks and pants.

-loves other kids but can be a little bit of a bully if they are her size or smaller.  but has definitely gotten better at being nice (not taking their toys/pacifiers, sharing, and being soft) to the littler ones since she comes with me to nanny... it's given her lots of good practice and i've seen a big improvement.

-very stubborn and knows exactly what she wants, or doesn't want.

-wakes up around 7am, takes one 2-3.5 hour nap at about 12:30pm, and in bed by 8pm.

-loves her crib and will play/talk in it for a good amount of time in the mornings so i don't have to rush in right away... yes i am taking advantage of this before baby boy comes!  (doesn't really mean i get to sleep in because i can hear her but when you're not a morning person it's nice to wake up slow and not have to rush to a crying baby.)

-wears size 12-18 months but some are getting a little short but then she is too skinny for most 2t sizes. (thank goodness for leggings!)  just tall and skinny and a little in between sizes i guess.  size 5 shoes if they aren't too wide/bulky.

more of summer

July:

^^^we spent the 4th of july at the schimpf's swimming and playing.^^^

i can't wait until next summer because swimming with this girl is too much fun!  it was one of those things i always imagined doing before i had her and seeing her love the water this year made my momma heart so happy.

^^^quinny got in some one on one time swimming with daddy while i was sick at home one day... 

he is THE BEST!^^^

she's obsessed with her daddy to say the least! we got pretty lucky.

^^^bug catcher...purse...it's all the same :)  this was her favorite toy for the longest time!^^^

^^^we discovered how much entertainment we can get out of a paper bag or a bug catcher.  this girl loves her bags!^^^

^^^grandpa (her most favorite person in the world!) + water = heaven on earth for this baby^^^

^^^the results of so much excitement for the water.^^^

^^^ducky lover napping away in the camper. (thank goodness for that thing too cause noise and sleeping do not go together for this girl.)^^^

we ended the month with the best mini vacation.  we could only go beach camping for one night and day but i was sooo glad we did and it ended up being just enough camping for quinn.  she loved the water but hated the sand so one full day of sun was more than enough for her!  

summer fun

June:

i ran my first 5k (which actually wasn't a full 5k so for this non runner it turned out to be super easy!)

and the same morning i was up running my beautiful friend haley was pushing this cute little guy out like a pro!  so glad i got to meet him on his birthday on the same hospital floor where i was with quinn... i got way too emotional and i think that's what made me think it was a good idea to do it again(?!?).  seriously, nothing like meeting a baby straight from heaven and watching your close friends become mothers! 

ski beach with family is always one of my favorite parts of summer.

quinn likes (LOVES) the water much than she did last year as a baby so we took advantage of grandma and grandpa's pool!  

fun with cousins!

we switched to one nap at 17ish months and so i got lots of yummy baby snuggles those first few days when she was making the transition.  she would pass out on me in minutes (since she was an infant it has always taken her forever to fall asleep so i was loving this!)

and quinny got her first beautiful baby girl cousin, rosie!

we are still alive over here... and with big news!

a baby boy is coming our way!!!  (which is partly why i've been neglecting our corner of the internet as of late, besides that i'm the biggest procrastinator!)  things are muuuch better now that we are almost 21 weeks along (tomorrow).  but boy does pregnancy suck the life, and barf, out of you or what?!  just so glad that most of that part is behind us now and i can finally start to feel like a person again.  

we are due march 25th.  quinn and baby boy will be exactly two years and two months apart and yes, i am so nervous for two!  and can i please say, are boy names like the hardest thing ever or what?!  you see i like names that are not too common but not too crazy weird either.  with girls i feel like there are sooo many options for that name in between "not too common" but "not too weird".  but with boys there isn't that in between.  you either go a little out there, which husband is not gonna go for, or you go with something you know there are five more of them out there.  with that said, i think we might have already agreed on a name.  it wasn't my top choice and i'm still on the hunt for something i like more and is a little less common but we'll see!  we've got time right :)  soooo if you've got some suggestions you're willing to share send them my way!

before and after

recently we changed out are large black ikea wall unit of an entertainment center and did something i am totally and completely in love with!  i did like our old one because it had so much open shelving to decorate but having something smaller and bright has made the room look so much bigger and open, which i love!  not to mention the style of this very old dresser is much more me and when i walk downstairs in the morning and see how happy and bright our living space looks i can't not smile about this lovely piece in our home.  

the only before picture we got that thankfully brian remembered to take.  the two missing drawers did come with it but he had just taken them out since that was our plan.  

we got the thing for twenty bucks off of craigslist and thanks to brian and his dad it turned into this with a lot of work.  it needed lots of sanding, new drawer guides, new wood to make the missing drawer spaces actual shelves, and i think a couple of the drawers were fixed as well.  between those things and the paint i am SO glad we did not spend more than we did on it.  although if we would have found one for more it probably wouldn't have been as much work brian says.  but i know it wouldn't be as old and as cool as the one we were lucky enough to find!  

a little Quinn update...

what was i thinking with this whole posting every week?!  i obviously am no good at keeping up our depressing little corner of the internet.  but since i do enjoy looking back at old posts as our family grows i will continue on for journaling purposes.  not saying it will happen often but i will force myself to share the things i want to remember months down the road when my baby is no longer seeming very baby-ish.  

so what better way than to start back up with a little of what i'm best at and give an update of an almost 17 month old baby Quinn... oh man, that is so close to 18 months i almost can't believe it!  i mean my baby will be a year and a half so soon?!?  why does that feel so old to me?!  

-at almost 17 months (in a week) quinn can say: cup, shoe, mama, dada, duck, bye, hi, cracker, no, sit, nana (banana), noes, eye, moon, milk, dog, go, and probably a few more i can't remember.  and a few things she made up but we know what they mean... for example: dodo means bird and gaga means belly.  i have no idea how she got gaga out of belly.  and she has A TON of baby gibber jabber that is coming out none stop all day and just too cute and funny.

-she loves, loves, loves being outside, her dad, dogs, birds, cats (or almost any small moving animal), books, her grandparents (she cries for them over me! i mean really! it's true love!), playing with/in water, stuffed animals, and baby dolls.

-she can say the animal noises to a duck, dog, cat, cow, sheep, snake, monkey, and chicken.

-i could be better about this but she picks up simple signs super fast! like after only teaching it to her once she gets it! i don't really teach her the sign if she can verbally say it but she can sign for the words more, eat, milk, bath, cereal (which is oatmeal to her), up, sleep, baby, ball, help, and thank you.  once i start learning more hopefully she will too!  some of the signs are a little complicated for her so she'll make her own version that is close but at least we still understand it.

asking for more crackers while waiting for her 15 month shots :(

-she is 18lbs and some ounces i can't remember, wears 9-12 months clothing, size 3-4 shoe, and size 3 diapers.

-she still can't have any dairy because of her allergy to it but luckily she will drink goat milk and i she loves coconut milk yogurt (thank you trader joe's!!).

loving apples, skin and all!

-she is up around 6:30-7am and will play nicely in her crib if she gets up really early until i get her just after 7.  still takes two naps 9am and 1pm.  but we cut the first one shorter otherwise the second one doesn't happen.  every once in a while if she sleeps past 7am she can get by with one nap for the day.  in bed around 7:30pm.

-she is an extremely busy girl and almost none stop go all the time.  happy when she wakes up (there is no cuddling/slow waking up).  she is so goofy and silly and so much fun.  she will fake laugh when she hears others laugh.  she is very sensitive and a little drama queen about the silliest things, and very stubborn.  she points at things that she knows she isn't allowed to touch or play with saying "no, no, no, no" in the cutest voice!  sometimes she says it while actually doing whatever the 'no' is and other times she leaves it alone.  she loves to try and put her shoes and pants on and most of the time gets the pants on until her diaper bum. 

 there are other fun things we've done in the last couple months that i need to catch up on but i mostly wanted get down what i know about our quinn right now before she gets a minute bigger and i forget or she learns something else new.  things are really good being a family of three with this ball of fun and we are enjoying it all so so much!

what i loved... 12th edition

week #12

this baby girl of ours makes us the happiest.  

she is so loving and as of late she loves to love on stuffed animals.  

it kills me every time that little arm of hers wraps around the neck of what ever animal she is holding at the time, while her head tilts to the side to lean on it 

and she then lets out a little 'mmm' sound.  

i know that i am more than affectionate and lovey to her.  but i really know that she has a daddy that shows her just as much lovey-ness (did i just make up that word?)!

nothing makes my heart want to burst more than to know how awesome and loving of a dad quinn has.

we are two very lucky girls!

i'm so lucky when he takes her for the night so i can go out to do such things as see friends in dance shows with friends.

he really is the best to us.

and then i get to come home and soak this all in.

all this lovey-ness is really what it's all about ya know.

speaking of loving...

some little nakey baby discovered her love for raisin recently.

and my green juices!

and for leaning backwards and yelling out of pure joy.

along with some beautiful spring weather,

quinn getting in some good cousin time and having a schimpf tio leo's dinner date with family in town, 

and seeing a ballet with liana at our old stomping grounds in balboa park...

i'd say that is what i loved most about last week!