Happy 7 Month Birthday, Quinn!

Makes me sad to realize that Quinn has passed the halfway mark and is now closer to one year than her date of birth :(
Everyday is a new discovery in her world...realizing that she can dangle her arms for Sophie to lick from her highchair or that she can find her nuk to shove in her mouth on her own (let's hope this happens more often in the middle of the night), even pushing her gymini just right to fall on top of her and then have me uncover her to play peek-a-boo...she simply loves to amuse herself these days!
Although she is STILL not sleeping thru the night-I swear she did better at 3 months-I still can't be frustrated when she's grinning from ear to ear at 3am ready to be up for the day, trying to eat her feet and babbling to herself-how can I resist her???
We took our first trip to the zoo last weekend-pretty sure she enjoyed the giraffes the best, or maybe her highlight was the applesauce picnic..yes, probably the eating!
She still loves her buddies, Hakon and Mitch-gotta love how her face lights up for them!
And today, she completed her first March of Dimes, March for Babies walk with Susanne, Mitch and I. Thanks to all of you for donating-such a great cause! How fitting that Sus was along side of us again today, just as she was when Quinn gave me the scare on September 20th...what would I do without you? We were reminiscing about Quinn's dramatic entrance into the world this morning, hard to believe my 33 1/2-weeker is pushing 19 pounds now! I distinctly remember telling Susanne ( after the nurse had mentioned how my child would be a cute, 4 lb. flour sack if he/she came this early) "I'm not having a 4 lb. baby!" Didn't you prove me wrong, little sweetpea? Oh, how far you've come, Quinn, we are so lucky and love you SO very much!

Quinn's 1st Easter!

Quinn was thrilled to get all dolled up for Easter Sunday-complete with satin slippers and a little bow in her hair... yes, I'm starting to get on board with the bows :)

The Easter Bunny made it to Mozart and Quinn really enjoyed all her goodies-we didn't let her eat the gummy bears (those were secretly for mommy), but she loved trying to chew the flowers off her snazzy new socks!

Soph was right in there to check things out and Quinn gets a real kick out of her slobbery kisses these days...could she be picking up this tactic herself? Check out the clip below!

Nearing 7 months and she is starting to sit up...scary, where does the time go? She's already obsessed with her new found love of food, next she'll be crawling away from us and then it's dates to the prom before we know it!!


Kisses for Grammie Alford below-when she's ready to give you a smacker, be ready for it...she sure can grab a hold of your face these days! Ouch!!!

Happy 30th, Hon!

We celebrated Brent's 30th birthday over the weekend-a little surprise party with friends! It had been quite awhile since the crew was actually all in town at the same time. Brooke drove down from Philly to be with us too-so much fun!
Quinn was thrilled to see her Aunt again and show off her new talent...eating sweet potatoes and applesauce-yummy! Funny the comments people blurt out-one lady commented at a local shop "boy, I can see this little sweetie hasn't missed a meal!" No worries, from the mother of a preemie, I welcome the compliment :)

New developments for Quinn over the past 2 weeks also include more consistent 'flips'-back to belly and belly to back-still trying to capture on video to send out to everyone...

A belated birthday to Nanny Deb too! Quinn misses you and we can't wait to get the webcam going soon! Also birthday wishes to the Twins-Spence and Chase turn 3 today and Mason's big day is just around the corner too-we miss you all!
XOXOXO

Yummy, yummy, first tastes

Quinn has been enjoying her first week on rice cereal...in fact, I'm certain she'll be enjoying all her new tastes since she's constantly interested in whatever Brent and I are putting in our mouths! Moving on to sweet potatoes next week-I'm trying to make my own baby food, we'll see how long this lasts!

Other news on the Quinn-front...she has mastered the 'flip' -from both back to belly and belly to back-we've seen her do it a few times, so I know she has it in her! Although not consistent, she is getting there. She's also found a new set of lungs...now that she knows she can scream, she'll really belt it out! I think her teeth really bother her at night too, or else she's just getting more difficult to get down for bed, but then again, who really knows?

Brent heads to work next week-it has been SO nice having our little family back together. We'll head up to Maryland tomorrow to pick up our new ride...or should I say Brent's 30th birthday present-an Infiniti G-37! Move over little Altima....

Reunited...at last!

Quinn took her first flight out to Fallon, NV to reunite with Daddy and watch him get his Top Gun patch-we are so proud of you, Babe! She did great on both flights-it was certainly a bonus to have the extra set of hands on our way home with all the gear!
We all enjoyed relaxing together in Lake Tahoe-the skiing was fabulous! We stayed right at the base of Heavenly and spent time skiing Squaw as well. Brent even ventured to Kirkwood on his own one day-def. a must for anyone heading out there-
SO great to finally reconnect with Christen-it had been way too long! We enjoyed our last evening dining at her restaurant in Truckee!

A snowshoeing adventure for Quinn-she pretty much slept thru the entire hike, but the views were gorgeous ...can we strike it rich to buy a lakeside home or what???

Yesterday marked Quinn's 6 month birthday! How is our little sweetie getting so big so quickly? We broke out her new highchair and rice cereal to get her started on solids...interesting to say the least. She seems to like biting the spoon at this point-
Tipping the scales at 16.9 (70th percentile) our little lady isn't starving :) I'm going to take a stab at making my own baby food this weekend-smashed sweet potatoe and applesauce. I'll post pics of her first meal shortly-

Is that a real laugh?

She really does know her little friends-look at her starry eyed gaze at Mitch-too cute!
Okay-tomorrow is the BIG DAY-our first flight out to see Brent!!! Of course, I ended up with a killer sinus infection-this should be fun :(

Quinn has finally found her laugh-tried to capture it at dinner the other night, but I'm afraid my talking/singing overpowers her little giggle...sorry! More to come for sure!

Promise to post pics from Brent's Top Gun graduation-the big day is Friday and then we're off for some well-deserved R&R in Tahoe!!!

One Week and Counting!

Yup-another round of playgroup and Quinn was not a happy camper halfway through...she was determined to take a snooze with all of her friends here!

Daddy's Lil' Skipper gets to see him in just under a week-we cannot wait! I'm a little nervous about the long flight out there...but it'll be well worth it when we have the next week in Tahoe to relax and catch up with Christen-
I promise to post more pics from out there when I have more time-