We went a little quiet on the photos the past month, for that, I apologize. There's definitely been plenty of action and very little silence as this set title suggests.
It seems like a lot has happened since mid-April...at least in Quinley time...let's recap.
Quinley still remains next to perfect (in our eyes). She just hit 5 months...that's a bit hard to handle emotionally.
She learned to roll over. And over. We find her in a lot of new places after leaving her on the play mat.
Almost sitting up now. Can balance for a moment, but inevitably comes to rest in a non-sitting position.
And, the one I think I'm not supposed to do...I like to prop her up on the ottoman where she can stand for a good amount of time until she distracts herself with the taste of synthetic leather.
We've figured out some of her tickle spots which at times is pretty much everywhere. She loves to laugh and even scream.
She has a new sort of noise that's hard to describe but borders on a the sound of a distant dirt bike or a singing frog.
I think the only other major update is the amount of slobber that is coming from the sweet lips of our little beauty. We've found bibs to be a go-to item so that we don't have to change her shirt every hour. The only tricky part is when she decides to do her spitting thing combined with the lip drool thing.
We're starting to settle into a bit of a sleep routine. Our target time for sleep is 7:30ish...we wish that could also be our target time. Q is starting to exert a little more dissatisfaction with bed times, but we know by the eye rubbing and the general sounds of exhaustion (from us) that she should go down.
I've figured out that a late night walk around the neighborhood is the best way to get the eyelids shut. The distance of the walk is entirely dependent on the weight of her head on my inner left arm. I took four of them the other night. It's beginning to become decent exercise.
We just celebrated Eren's first Mother's Day last weekend. Eren is an unbelievable mother - we had a great time. I can't say enough about how amazing Eren is at being a mother. I'll keep the sappy details to myself.
I mentioned that I will try to make this photo sharing a monthly event. There's plenty more photos where these are coming from! Enjoy.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
She is Her Mother's Daughter
Four Months - 40 More Pictures
Eren asked me the other day how often I was planning on posting pictures of Quinley on Flickr. I quickly responded that I had landed nicely on roughly once per month (or at least I had thought)...then, after a quick review of the albums, I realize now that she would need to be almost two-years old for that to be true!
Quick update on the "things that might change checklist": Eyes are still blue. Hair is still red. She is still ridiculously cute. (sorry - had to throw it in there)
Quinley has found her pipes the past few weeks. She enjoys a good scream here and there - especially in public at local eateries. It's fun and we hope that we haven't become "those people".
Also, found an amazing used crib and a TON of girls baby clothes at a yard sale in Dover Shores - the Mecca of garage sale destinations. We're extremely thankful for these wonderful families that like to style their children with the goods. We are still very much in love with the cradle as its rocking motion is the 1-2 punch that is needed for end-of-day slumber. I'm still trying to figure out why we don't have cradles for adults. Eren says that they are called hammocks.
Uncle Daniel, Aunt Julia and cousin Jocelyn came for a visit this week. Jocelyn is such a proud cousin. It's a very cute scene. She loves her family.
Q got a chance to take another flight up to see grandma and grandpa in Idaho for Easter. I heard she had a wonderful time. I stayed with Derby in CDM and the boys were really bored and missed the girls immensely. We won't be doing that again anytime soon.
Please Don't Grow Up
I just found a couple more pictures that just showed up on my camera...
She's such a cutie! Sleeping through the night consistently and getting plenty to eat from her momma. She's growing out of most her 0-3 clothes and her early swaddle cloths. We think she might even be knocking on the door of a size 2 diaper! Yikes.
On a funny note, we just realized that most of the clothing that we've been having our girl wear would be classed by most as pajamas. I guess there's a whole world of clothing that we missed - we'll be okay for now. Maybe when she turns 1...
Watching Quinley grow up in front of us, we often say to each other, "can she just stay like this forever?". Although the answer is obvious - it's hard to accept that our little love bug is off to college in a few years...(well, not exactly)
Right now Eren is trying to get her to crawl on the carpet so I guess were all for development on some levels.
We just got back from our second trip by plane - this time Seattle to see my brother, Paul and his amazing wife and kids. We found a couple amazing breakfast spots - one at Pikes Place - Lowell's and one near the Space Needle - 5-Point Cafe. I would highly recommend either one as I am writing them down on this entry.
Caught some amazing views from Highland St. and Gas Works Park which I'm adding to another folder of photos
First Leap into February
This album is long overdue and I realize that at least two people wanted me to post more pictures. You have to love Grandmas for that very reason. February has been a relatively big month and I must say I've been a bit distracted by all the goodness.
As dreamed of, we've arrived in the first stage of dialogue with this little bundle. She's smiling, laughing and sort of talking/singing. I have video to prove that she can string it together for a while. We spend hours listening to her various sounds. She is such a happy baby.
Quinley took her first trip on Virgin America to go see her new good friends Courtney, Scott and Lucas in Arlington, VA. She enjoyed her time there and got a lot of rest and relaxation while her folks toured the greater DC area.
Add to all that, we managed to squeeze in an inter-village CDM move to a new place down the street. I had to paint over the walls of the baby closet and felt strangely bummed that she now has her very own room vs. 5x6 alcove.
Speaking of bedroom, the last couple of days we've been letting her sleep in her cradle in her room. She's too big for her Moses basket now. (sad) The cradle is perfect. Derby is happy with some of the extra bed space vacated by our little power sleeper.
Posted a video to YouTube tonight:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWSzynzXR1U
January is Just an Amazing Memory
January came and went about as quickly as it possibly could. Since time flies when you're having fun - time is moving warp speed with a daughter. Your mind can't help but race ahead 15 years when she's got you in the passenger seat zipping around the streets of some town to be named later.
The clothes marked Newborn are starting to get tight - a little too tight. We already have a bag of items that are hitting the exits after a brief stint of usefulness. Out with the Moosie Onesie - out with the I Melt Mommy's Heart snowman outfit - out with the heart jumper that acted like a Shout Color Catcher when it got mixed with some new fabric.
Quinley hit 11lbs 4oz at her 6-week check-up. There is no doubt that her progress will continue and there is no stopping her from moving on to other major milestones on the diaper boxes no matter how much we hope for time to stand still. I guess the only way to make things pause for a few seconds is to look at the pictures that keep mysteriously showing up on our camera.
Quinley Joy turns 2-months young on Monday. It's amazing how quickly our measure moves from days, to weeks, to months and then you know the rest.
As we sit together here on the couch with the day coming to a close I can't help but feel intense levels of gratitude in every single moment in this fleeting thing we call time.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Quinley Makes Every Day Epic
Quinley Makes Every Day Epic, a set on Flickr.
Even though it doesn't feel like I'm pulling the camera out as much, whenever I load photos at the end of the week it always seems like there's some new gems. In this case, I believe there's an entire jewelry store of pictures of this super cutie we thankfully call our daughter.
Major happening this weekend was enjoying (together) her first laugh. She had just finished her morning bottle wrapped in a pretty great swaddle. Then, all of a sudden she just laughed and smiled. It was the most amazing sound we've ever heard up to this point in our lives.
Photos in this album include a serious nap on our new couch, a showcase of her range of facial expressions and her first modeling session of a few of mom's baby inspired hair pieces.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Her First Month...Done!
Quinley turned 1 month last Friday! We've been told by almost every parent that time moves really fast with your children and they definitely weren't kidding. Seems like we were just getting home from the hospital a few days ago and now our little one is under consideration for an upgrade from Newborn (N) diapers to size 1 (not so quick little princess). We still have up to 10lb and we'll hold on as long as we can!
I can safely say that this was the best month of our lives. Every day there's something new. We can't stop staring at her. She's beautiful and better than the best shows on television. We've enjoyed quite a bit of rest and relaxation this month - much more than we felt like we deserved as new parents.
Still learning to use and enjoy the gadgetry of parenthood. Major winners so far are the Sleep Sheep, vibrating chair, Soothie, wipe warmer, baby bjorn, swaddle blankets and the Boppy.
Quinley is one of the world's best sleepers at this point. She can crush an entire afternoon of furniture shopping out cold in her car seat. I earned the title of "best rester" through many years of serious sleeping and am now considering the name transfer to our sweet little sleeper.
She's starting to enjoy her baths, absolutely loves her milk and is making some of the best faces and sounds ever. I can only imagine it's going to get even better when she can smile, laugh and tell dad that his jokes are bad.