Merry Boy, Merry Christmas

Whew! What a Christmas! It was busy, it went fast, but it was wonderful! I have just a few minutes to post some pics, but I will have more to post later. I thought I'd begin by posting all smiley pics of Quinn. The number one comment people make about him is a what a happy baby he is. These pictures prove it! He has started really hamming it up whenever a camera comes out, which is a wonderful phase I'm sure won't last long. The following pictures come from our South Bend Christmas and Christmas Day.

This is my new all-time favorite pic of Quinn.

Quinn with Aunt Carolyn

Poppa Schley and Q on Christmas morning

Q and his second-cousin Austin

Happy to be on Papa Bruce's lap

Hugging Great-Aunt LuAnn before bedtime

Showing off his walking-with-a-push-toy skills

Smiling with Grandma Schley on Christmas morning

More smiley boy

Smiling because Aunt Carolyn is hitting Fiona's new tambourine

Smiling because he saw me walk in the room

Smiling simply because he saw me holding the camera

Excited to open a present from Papa Bruce

What a difference a year makes . . .

Happy 1st Birthday, Quinn!

Today our darling little boy turned one! I was actually dreading it a bit because I thought I'd be really sad, but I wasn't! It helped that Quinn decided to sleep through the night last night, something he hasn't done in quite awhile. I think he remembered that Dec. 17 last year he kept me awake all night long while in labor, so he wanted to make up for it. : ) We had a wonderful, low-key day today, full of lots of smiles and talking and ending with going out to dinner and taking some fun pictures. The one present we gave him was a "my first remote control car" made by Parents toys, found at Target. I highly recommend it. The only other toy Quinn has gotten that he immediately enjoyed as much is his Laugh and Learn home. The car is a bit loud but really fun for a little one who 1. loves remotes 2. loves to chase things that move and 3. loves noises!
Since Quinn is one, I thought I'd give a quick run-down of where he is in development. He has 4 teeth completely in, 2 more coming in on the top (so almost 4 on the top, 2 on the bottom). He usually wakes up once a night but sleeps total 12 hours and takes 2 1/2-3 hours total of naps. He says 5 words clearly: daddy, mama, doggy, hi, and tree. I don't know his weight and height yet because his dr.'s appointment is on Thursday. He is a very happy-go-lucky kid who loves to eat anything, watch and interact with people, play with remote controls, open doors, push toys to walk around, dance, and lots of other things. Quinn is such a delight! As I look back over this last year, my favorite year of life so far, I just can't believe how different life is and more so, I can't believe there ever was life without Quinn as a part of it! I feel tremendously blessed that God has given him to us and trusts us to raise him well. We are doing our best.
Happy birthday, sweet boy!

Quinn's 1st Birthday Party

Today was a very big day at our house. Today we celebrated Quinn's first year of life with a party for our families at our house (even though Q's birthday isn't till Tuesday). It was very important to me that we celebrate his birthday in a meaningful but not too crazy way. We only invited family, but we thought the big snowstorm was going to make it impossible for everyone to make it. Thankfully, everyone did, and I realized once again how blessed Quinn is to have such a loving, supportive family. (Thank you to everyone for braving the weather to come!) It was a really fun party. Quinn was a bit overwhelmed at times, but he did really well and enjoyed all the faces, activity, and fun.

Quinn's showing how old he is (notice how many fingers he's holding up!)

The happy group of party-ers
Here we are about to open his mound of gifts. I realize now that birthdays for my child are really great days for me also because it means more toys, books, and clothes for Mommy to have fun with too! : )

I think Quinn is telling his cousin Fiona all the insider tips to a first birthday party in preparation for hers in 6 weeks.

Here Quinn tests out the COOLEST rocking horse ever! It is animated and makes great horse sounds while moving its head and swishing its tail. Thanks, Papa Bruce, for such a fun toy!

And, of course, I had to post of cake-eating pics. This is the first time Quinn has eaten anything even remotely this sweet, and surprise, surprise! My little piggy dove right in and had a blast.

And last, but not least, this is a picture of everyone taking pictures of Quinn eating his cake! Quinn was able to experience what celebrities feel with the paparazzi, I guess! : )

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Today I made a happy discovery: Quinn is no longer a hat hater! This was a wonderful thing to learn since today it only got as warm as 31 degrees. I've been really fretting about how I was going to properly keep his head warm since he only would allow a hood, and not all of his clothing is hooded. Luckily I bought this adorable puppy hat on clearance when he was only 5 weeks old, so I pulled it out of his closet today. It has matching mitten paws, but I won't press my luck.
So what does a Mommy do on a cold day? She takes her baby to a warm sun spot to get dressed and takes pictures of his sweet face!
I thought this was a cute perspective of Quinn trying to get Oliver to play with him (that's a doggy squeak toy). I just know they will be the best of buds someday, but right now, Oliver only sees Quinn as useful for table scraps under the high chair, and Quinn sees Oliver as the object of a word he knows really well!

End-of-November Post

Anyone who knows me knows I don't usually deal well with change, the realization of time passing quickly, or cold and dark weather. Lately, I've been experiencing all three, but it's actually been okay! The changes come from Quinn doing something different every single day, which leads to me realizing that his first year is almost over and I can't believe it was a year ago that our lives were so dramatically blessed by his arrival! Now, the weather is not really enjoyable, and I miss our daily walks as much as I knew I would, but I'm learning that with the gross weather comes excuses to just sit and enjoy time playing with toys and reading books without feeling like we should be outside, so I guess that's positive.
All of that being said, we haven't been doing much, and I haven't taken any (gasp!) pictures this week, which may be a first since Quinn was born (and, realizing this, will be corrected tomorrow!), so these pics are from last week.
I desperately don't want to be one of those moms who "updates" about her child but is really bragging (I just read an admonishing article about this in a parents magazine today!), so I'll refrain from listing all the new stuff Quinn does. I will, however, mention that he started saying Mommy today, which was beyond exciting, and is also quite the dancer whenever he hears any rhythm or song, bopping his head and "snapping" his fingers. I guess he's imitating what I do to music, which in that case means I better not plan on dancing in public anytime soon. ( :
We are loving life and loving our little boy!!

The quizzical look on Quinn's face is due to the fact that he was in the middle of eating turkey, and I took it out of his hand and took his bib off to take this picture!

So happy to eat Thanksgiving meal! My little piggy enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, cranberry salad, and corn casserole. We forgot to have him try my mom's pumpkin pie (maybe because it's so good we didn't want to share!). We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and sister at our house.
Here Quinn matches his Poppa in wearing red striped shirts at the bowling alley.

Quinn enjoying a Baby Einstein dvd one of the mornings

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so many things to be thankful for. I would never be able to list the many blessings God has given us. Thank you to all of you wonderful family members and friends who surround us in love. We love you too and wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Here is my little man in his Thanksgiving suit. Grandma Mary and Aunt Amy bought it for him months ago, and it just now fits. I didn't make him wear it for the dinner, but he looked soooo stinking cute we had to take several pictures. My dad caught these cute ones.

Will's Birthday

I can't believe Quinn is 11 months old already! It's crazy how fast this year has gone by. And since Quinn is 11 months, that means his best friend Will, who is exactly one month older, is now one year old!

We had a great time at his Colts birthday party on Sunday. It's going to be so fun to continue watching these little guys grow from crawling around to walking, running, talking, and playing together a year from now. And I feel very blessed to have Will's mommy Nan as my close friend to share all the adventures of raising our sons.

First Word!!

The most exciting thing that happened is Quinn definitely said his first word this week. For the last 2 or 3 weeks, we knew he was saying "gee" for doggy, but on Friday, he started consistently adding the "duh" part to the beginning of the word. He says it a lot now! I caught it on video, though he can actually say it even more clearly than he does here. Enjoy!

Food Firsts

It took about a week after having the flu, but Quinn is back to eating all table food again. It's keeping me on my toes making recipes that I think he'll enjoy too. This week, he had chicken stew, green bean and chicken casserole, spaghetti, and pancakes as some of his new foods. We loved watching him figure out how to shove the spaghetti noodles in his mouth. These pictures are after eating spaghetti and blueberry pancakes (not all in the same meal, of course).