Oh how time flies...

I never intended to abandon the blog, it just sort of happened.  I've been very busy with these little people... :) They are growing very fast, not babies any more.  Here's a photo recap.

May 2012 Addy 2 1/2

May 2012 Quinn 8 months

July 2012 Quinn (10 months) and Addy

September 2012, Quinn (12 months!) Addy (almost 3)

Birthday Boy, 1 year old!

More to come!

6 months

 Dear Sweet Quinn,
Time is flying by in a blur and here you are, 6 months old.  You have two teeth already!  You got your first taste of solid food for your "half birthday" - rice cereal.  You loved it and grabbed the spoon to shove it in your mouth.  Sister got jealous and had to have a taste of your food, which I was not expecting.   Who knew rice cereal could be so popular?  You are getting more and more mobile, rolling over and over to get where you want to go.  You love the grass and getting your fingers in it.  You are still a sweet, smiley boy and I love you so much!  I finally got a picture of you and Sister both smiling and looking at the camera, probably the first one ever.  We are going to have to work on that ;)  I can't wait to see what you do next!

Love,
Mama


6 month stats:
Height: 29 1/4 inches (99th percentile)
Weight: 20lbs 5oz (90th percentile)
Head Circumference:  83rd percentile

Yum!

Nooo! That's my spoon!

What is this stuff anyway?

5 months

 Quinn is 5 months old already.  It hardly seems possible.  He is the sweetest baby, almost always happy and smiley and very social.  He is getting more and more mobile every day.  I can put him down on the floor in the middle of a blanket and turn my back for 2 seconds and he is off of it already, and turned 180 degrees in the opposite direction.  I think he secretly gets up and runs around the room when I'm not looking.  I gave him his first haircut a little over a week ago and I can't believe how much lighter in color his hair is.  You can't really tell in these pictures but he's looking more and more blond.  A couple weeks after I wrote his 4 month post I finally got around to taking him for his 4 month shots.  He got one in each leg and did not even cry with the first one, just looked at us like "You call that a shot?"  The second shot stung a little and he cried for about 2 seconds until the nurse said "Yay! Were done!" and then he laughed at her.  He's one tough little dude!  I love you buddy! - Mama

4 months

So I thought I should post this before Quinn turns 5 months...he is growing so fast I just can't keep up.  Here are the stats from his 4 month checkup (Jan 27).

Height: 28.25 inches (99th percentile)
Weight: 18 pounds, 4.5 oz. (95th percentile)
Head Circumfirence: 43.5 cm (81st percentile)

I still can't believe how big he is.  He's wearing 9 month size clothes which seem to be shrinking by the hour.  The other night I put him in a sleeper that my daughter wore when she was 10 months old and crawling.  Seriously.  Quinn is a happy baby who smiles at everyone, sleeps 7-8 hour stretches most nights, is rolling over like a champ and already trying to sit up.  He is still exclusively breast feeding (yay!) which, I must say is a great help for Mama to lose weight.  He loves to be held and cuddled and I love every sweet squishy inch of him!

You talkin' to me?

He's Here!

Quinn William
Born September 26th, 2011, 7:27 pm
12 lbs 8oz.
22 3/4 inches long

So of course I'm running behind as usual since he's almost 3 weeks old, but we're so excited he's here!  And that is his actual birth weight, he's a BIG boy!  The story behind it all coming soon...

Catching Up

Hi there my one or two blog readers!
It's certainly been awhile since I've posted anything.  I've been a little busy as you will see...I hardly even know where to start.  A hundred times I've started a post in my head about my big girl.  She's not much of a baby anymore!  Addy is walking and talking and getting into all kinds of things.  She copies everything I do, which is hilarious but also a lot of pressure for me!

Adeline - almost 18 months

She is so fun and so sweet and being her Mama is my favorite job ever.  My favorite job is about to get even more fun come September since we are expecting baby #2!  We don't know the sex yet, but should be able to find out at my next appointment - yay!

Baby #2 at 14 weeks 5 days

In other news, we recently bought a new house which we are very excited about.  We are still in the process of getting some unexpected problems sorted out and not moved in yet, but hopefully we'll be moved in soon.  My favorite part?  The kitchen!!  Once upon a time this was a food blog and now I have the inspiration to resurrect that part of my blog.  Who wouldn't with such a great place to cook?

Soon you should be seeing some new food posts!

The Party

Two days after Addy's birthday we had a little party and invited some family to join us.  I made homemade pimiento cheese, served with crackers, pasta salad, a veggie and dip platter, and these ladybug cupcakes from Mare's blog (near the bottom of her post).   I used her Basic Buttercream Frosting recipe and this One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake Recipe from Martha Stewart - this will now be my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes - yummy!  My inspiration for the food and decorations was the Sesame Street Ladybug Picnic Song - by the way I love the new version!

 She still has fond memories of these balloons - she calls a balloon a "ball" and mentions them every time she sees these pictures.

Addy, wearing the dress I sewed for her.

The Birthday Girl - my favorite picture of her!

It was the perfect little first birthday party and Addy had a great time, especially after she got warmed up to the crowd.  Then she put on a performance for everybody, doing her cow sound and smiling, laughing and clapping (for herself of course!).

She's ONE!

"You mean it's my birthday today?"

"Yay!"

"I'm so excited!"

"Can I have my present now?"

Dear Sweet Adeline,
One year ago today, you changed my life forever.  You were such a beautiful surprise - we didn't know you were a girl until your birth.  Now I can't imagine what life would be like without you.  You are so much fun, and every day with you is sweeter than the one before.  You continue to be such a good natured and well behaved little princess.  You love to give kisses to me and Daddy and your doll.  You are now saying "book" clearly and from the minute you wake up until you go to bed at night, you ask for a book whenever you see one.  I think you will be a little bookworm.  To that you have added "ball" and "dog".  Everything round is a ball to you and you never fail to point one out wherever we go.  The addition of the word "dog" to your vocabulary was a little bit of a surprise to me, since we don't have one, but if your reaction to the zoo is any indication, you are an animal lover too.  You like to point out the dogs in your books.  You are pulling up to stand quite proficiently now, on anything you can get a hold on.  You have been cruising along holding onto furniture and sometimes you casually hold on with one hand like you might just let go and take your first step.  It hasn't happened quite yet though.  Soon enough you will be walking and talking my ear off!  You still like to "read" your books to us and it is so cute.  You say something that sounds kind of like "goggity, goggity, goggity" and you throw in an "uhoh" and "Mmmmm" here and there.  It just cracks me up.  I am so looking forward to the next few months and I can hardly wait to see what you do next.
I love you precious girl!
Mommy

1 year ago today

You Capture - Orange

      We went to Wal-mart.  She spied this cute little pie pumpkin and her eyes lit up.  "Ball!" she exclaimed, excitedly.  She sniffed it tentatively and then proceeded to stick her tongue out and try to lick it.  So I got her a pumpkin.  Did I mention IT'S HER BIRTHDAY TODAY?!  She's ONE.  Can you believe it?  I can't.

{Special Birthday post to come later}

For more You Capture, go here:

You Capture - Animals

I had paid attention to this week's You Capture assignment until I saw all the posts popping up.  I always tell myself I am going to participate, but then I forget and life gets in the way.  This time I got lucky!  It just so happens that Addy visited the zoo this week.  It was very entertaining, for us and for her.  She loved every minute of it.  We actually went to the zoo two weeks in a row since she liked it so much.  Both times the Jaguars paced in front of the window looking at all the small children like they would make a nice snack...creepy!

Jaguar looking for Baby Snacks

Addy doing her monkey impression.  Note the Chimps in the background :)

Addy doing her monkey impression for the Prairie Dog.

Some kind of Crane, or Spiky Headed Bird as I like to call it.

Go here for more...

11 months

 My Sweet Baby Girl,
It's hard to believe you are getting so close to 1.  You are definitely more of a toddler than a baby now, even though you aren't walking yet.  You have pulled up in your crib a couple times, but are still too cautious to do it very often.  You are learning more animal sounds - you can do a monkey and a bear imitation now and will make those sounds whenever you see those animals.  It is so cute.  You are attempting to say "book" although you don't really get the "k" sound on the end, you use it appropriately whenever you see a book.  You also pretend to read your books to Mommy and Daddy and it is so funny to listen to you babbling along while you flip the pages.  You can now say "bye bye" although you usually just choose to wave instead.  You have started saying "uhoh", and enjoy dropping things just so you can use it.  You also now know yourself in the mirror.  I guess I won't be sitting you in front of it and telling you to talk to the other baby anymore.  You're onto me now :)  Whenever you see something you like, you say "Oooooo!" with such excitement and awe.  I just can't get over how precious you are.  Everywhere I go, people comment on how well behaved you are - and it's true.  We can take you pretty much anywhere and you are such a good little lady.  I look forward to every day with you.
I love you so much Sweet Adeline!

10 months

My Sweet Baby Girl,

Every month brings new and exciting things for you.  This month the big one was crawling!  You got up at 3 am to show us you could crawl!  We thought you were just going to skip the crawling thing since you get around so well scooting on your tummy with your own little "army crawl".  But you decided you needed to reach things, so you learned how to crawl for that reason I think.  And because you are a cautious little thing.  You still haven't pulled up to stand yet, but I'm sure you will get there soon.  For now you are happy getting up on your knees to reach for things.  You still love to follow Mommy around and you do it mostly scooting on your stomach because you are much faster at that than crawling.  Your babbling sounds like talking now, but without the words.  

At the beginning of August we went on a little vacation to a cabin in the mountains and you had your first experience with blowing bubbles.  Actually Mommy blew the bubbles and you tried to catch them and loved it.  You also cut your top two front teeth that same week.  I thought teething would be easier for you this time around, but it seemed to bother you almost as much as the first time.  We found out you are afraid of strange places.   You slept the entire drive to the cabin and when we got there I took you inside and you took one look around and busted out crying like "This isn't my house!"  You wouldn't let me out of your sight for several days after that.  

You are my little copy cat, trying to imitate all kinds of things Mommy does, like rubbing Daddy's feet.  It is so cute!  You like to pucker up your little lips at me and you are tickled when I do it back.  Your attention span is getting longer and you can now sit through me reading a whole Dr. Seuss book (sometimes!).  Hop on Pop and the Dr. Seuss ABC book are your favorites.  Daddy usually reads your bedtime story and you love it and smile so big at him when he says "Night night".  You like to resist sleep and have been skipping naps during the day, but you are a good night sleeper as always - 11 1/2 hours most nights and often without waking up more than once about 9 hours in.  

You got your first haircut from Mommy this month.  The hair on top of your head was getting really long so I took off an inch and I can't believe how much lighter your hair looks now.  I think that was the last of your dark baby hair and you are looking much more blond, but still with a hint of red, just like me :)  You love to feed yourself peas, cheerios and graham crackers and you like pretty much anything I feed you.  Fresh peaches or pears with baby oatmeal is your favorite breakfast.  I'm so excited to see what the next month holds!  

I love you sweet Adeline!

9 months old already!

My Sweet Baby Girl,

Wow! Nine months already!  It hardly seems possible.  Suddenly it seems as though the whole world has opened up in front of you.  There are so many new things for you to explore and experience.  You are scooting around on your stomach and today you started kind of a half crawling half scooting thing.  I think soon you will be crawling very efficiently.  If I put you down on the floor and go into another room you come after me, looking to see where I went.  The other day I left you with Daddy and went upstairs to exercise and you scooted out into the hall and banged on a metal vent and yelled "MAMAAAAAA!" when you couldn't find me.  Sometimes you strike off on your own, scooting down the hall to the mirror where you sit and babble to yourself.  You clap your hands for everything from breast milk to diaper changes.  It is so cute!  Just this week you started pointing with your cute little finger.  You point at pictures in books and all kinds of things you want us to see.  You love it when we read you stories, especially at bedtime.  Peekaboo is your favorite game.  You like to snatch up a piece of clean laundry when I am folding clothes and hold it over your face while I say "Where's the baby?" Then you pull it down and laugh like crazy when I say "Peekaboo" or "There she is!"  You are so curious about everything now and you want to touch it all.  While you are still very attached to your mama, you are becoming a little more independent every day.  I have so much fun with you and cherish every minute I have with my sweet baby.  I love you!

Hey mom, what's this green stuff for?

Let's hear it for the boob!

I just had to share this.  I have been showing Addy how to clap her hands for a couple weeks now.  Then last week I bought her a ball and we sat on the floor rolling it back and forth.  She was doing surprisingly well with it and we were clapping and cheering for her.  And then she just started clapping her hands. And she's been clapping ever since, for all kinds of things. She claps for pictures and videos of herself and other babies. She claps when Mommy comes to get her out of the crib in the morning. And today, she nursed, popped off my boob and clapped like "Yay Mom, that milk was awesome!" At least that's what I think she would say if she could talk. It's so cute I can hardly stand it.

Strawberry Ice Cream and The Things People Say

I recently bought an ice cream maker.  It is a Cuisinart model that as far as I can tell, is only sold at places like Sam's Club.  For $40 I couldn't resist, and so far I've been very happy with it.  I've also made peach frozen yogurt with it, which was delicious.  The recipe for that and this strawberry ice cream (my favorite so far) came from the recipe book that came with the ice cream maker.  Here's the recipe if you care to try it yourself:

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Makes 10 1/2 cup servings
2 cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup whole milk, well chilled
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and lemon juice with 1/2 cup of the sugar.  Allow berries to macerate in the juices for two hours.
• Strain the strawberries, reserving the juices.  Mash or puree half the berries.
• In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and remaining sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1-2 minutes.  Stir in the heavy cream, reserved strawberry juice, mashed berries and vanilla.
• Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 25 minutes.  About 5 minutes before mixing is complete, add the reserved sliced strawberries and allow to mix in completely.  Ice cream made like this will be like soft serve when finished, so put it in the freezer if you like it firmer.  Substitute fresh peaches for peach ice cream.

On to the things people say....I took Adeline to Barnes & Noble today.  A cute little girl who couldn't have been more than 2 toddled up to Addy's stroller and smiled and waved at her.  The little girl's grandmother (I assume) comes along behind her and says "Oh are you looking at the little boy?"  Huh?  Now this isn't the first time someone has called her a little boy, and it doesn't bother me but I do wonder what makes people decide that she's a boy.  Especially when she's wearing this:

Note the white lace.  And her cute little dress has flowers embroidered around the neck and flower shaped buttons.  Not that I expect people to notice such small details, however it didn't occur to me that she might be mistaken for a boy in this outfit.  Oh well.  The last time someone thought she was a boy, she was wearing something pink.  I don't even bother to correct them anymore unless they ask me what "his" name is ;)  My sister-in-law said that when my niece was a baby, she could be decked out in pink with frills and bows in her hair and people would still tell her what a cute little boy she had.

8 months old

My Sweet Baby Girl,

It seems like you are growing up in a flash!  I can hardly believe you are eight months old.  I know I probably say that every month, but every month it's true.  Before I know it you will be a year old, walking, talking and doing all kinds of new things.  I am so proud of you.  You say Mama and Dada now like you understand what it means.  You also say it just because and have entire conversations where all the words are Mama and Dada.  You sometimes wave bye bye and you are losing your stranger anxiety for the most part.  You warm up to people more quickly - female people anyway.  You are still afraid of strange men, but I think that is a good thing.  Recently you have been getting very excited to see Daddy when he comes home from work and it is so cute.  You smile so big and throw your arms up for him to pick you up.  Today you practically jumped up and down in your walker when Daddy came through the door.  You are working on getting up on your hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  I'm sure you will be crawling before we know it.  Right now you only know how to go in reverse in your walker and you scoot yourself backwards on your butt when you are sitting on the floor.  I'm sure you will figure out how to move forward soon.  I love you Sweet Girl!