4 months...a little late

We apologize for being so late with this post but we have been quite a busy family!! Quinn turned 4 months back on November 19th and has been having a blast! She LOVES to hear her own voice and has become quite the squealer. She has started sitting up more and more on her own and thinks that she is such a big girl when she does. We went to Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving and Quinn loved all the attention she got from The Great One, Nonnie, Colin, and Matt.  Jackson even got to take her to the beach (one of his favorite places). The water was a little chilly but she got to dip her toes and watch the waves come in. She has also started eating baby food daily and so far has loved every fruit that she has had. December has already been a busy month...we can't wait to share some new firsts soon!

Posing pretty for Mom

Please please no more pictures

Our little monster

Come here Uncle Colin

Watching the waves with Mom

Toes in the sand

I think Uncle Colin's sunglasses look better on me

Baptism

On Sunday Quinn was baptized at Blacksburg United Methodist Church.  Revered Reggie Tuck officiated the ceremony, which is so special because he also married us. Lots of family came in for the occasion...Gigi was here for the weekend (also to let Mike and I attend the VT Thursday night game) along with Nonnie and "The Great One".  Quinn also got to meet Matt and his girlfriend Jackie for the first time.  My Grandpa, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Charles, Aunt Diane, and Uncle Jay even made the early morning drive from Roanoke to be there.  Quinn's favorite "big girl" friends Ella and Rachel and her best friend Annabelle from next door made a special appearance too!

Quinn did great while Reggie was baptizing her.  The first pour of water startled her a little bit, the second was a little irritating, and by the third huge handful of water she was at the breaking point!  It's a good thing she quickly recovered to be walked around the church for everyone to see her smiling face and gorgeous gown.

Her gown is a family heirloom that was hand stitched by Mike's grandmother with the help of some French Nuns that lived down the road from her over 50 years ago.  The flower work and scallop details are absolutely amazing!  It was so special for her to wear the gown that so many of her Great Aunts and Uncles wore and her Daddy.  We didn't put it on her until the last minute and took her out of it immediately after the service.  We were mostly worried that she would spit up all over it or tear off one of the bows!

Three and a half months

It has been a while since our last post and a lot has been going on these last few weeks.  First I selfishly would like to report that my finger is almost completely healed.  I have even used the mandolin slicer since victoriously.  Quinn has also been busy during the last few weeks. She got a new car, we took one road trip in the two door and it was less than ideal.  We traded it in the next week and now Q is riding in style in a Hyundai Sonata.  We are definitely parents now, the first thing I did on the lot was see how easy it was to get the car seat in and out of the back.  The next was to see if the trunk would fit luggage and a stroller.  How responsible are we?

Quinn also started daycare and she has transitioned like a champ.  It has been a little bit harder on C, thankfully our daycare has a camera so she can baby stalk throughout the day.  Q is such a giver too, she has already brought home daycare cooties and shared them with us.  She enjoys hanging out in her exersaucer, loves to talk (just like her mom), and is babbling all of the time. She is also practicing sitting up on her own and has rolled over a few times for C. 

Q celebrated her first Halloween dressed as a lady bug with a group of her closest baby friends.  They are a little older than she is so she watched from a distance as they played in their costumes.  We considered the night a parental success because she looked cute and did not freeze to death.  Now we are just looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with family.

Here are some pics of the past few weeks enjoy!

How Time Flies!!

Unlike normal I (Christin) am writing this post....I offered to type for Mike because my humor is certainly not on his level....but he insisted that I write instead. (I apologize in advance!)

The reason that I am the one writing is because Mike cut part of his finger off on Sunday...literally!! He was using a new mandolin to cut sweet potatoes in the kitchen when I heard him yell something about having cut his finger.  I walked in and asked how bad it was to which he responded, "It's hospital bad".  At this point he walked over to the island and actually picked up the piece of his finger that he had sliced off.  For those of you that know me this was about the worst thing I could have seen.  In an attempt to avoid passing out for the 2nd time this year I ran to the other side of the kitchen and put my head in between my knees while gagging. The next 10 minutes were spent with me running around like a chicken with my head cut off and Mike ironically enough trying to calm ME down! He was debating if he really needed to go to the ER (umm hello...you were able to pick up part of your finger off of the counter!!!) and if he should shower before we left (again...you were able to pick up part of your finger off of the counter!!).

A couple hours later we were home and Mike now has a fun story to tell about almost chopping off his finger.  It is supposed to heal on it's own...there wasn't enough to reattach it. So needless to say he can't really type due to the HUGE bandage on his finger....somehow this means he can't change diapers or help give Q baths anymore either! ha! Quinn's 2nd visit to the ER (first out of my belly) was non-traumatic for her...she slept the entire time like an angel! ;)

But on to the real reason for this post.....our little girl is 2 months old! I know everyone kept telling us that they grow up so fast, but seriously, has it already been this long?!?  Her 2 month birthday was pretty uneventful other than the fact that she had to get her shots.   This of course was much more traumatic for me than her. Mike just laughed because I cried longer than she did.  Quinn now weighs 11 lbs. 12 oz. and is 23 inches long....and her head is in the 90th percentile!!  This means that sadly for Mom, she is out of basically all of her newborn clothes. She has become SO alert and loves to find the TV wherever we are (even Macados)! Sitting up is one of her new favorite activities too.  She literally holds our fingers and tries to pull herself up, while grunting the entire time. Bath time has become quite a mess since she has now learned how to splash too.

Hopefully Mike will be functioning well enough to write the post for next time.  Enjoy the pics below!

Suspicious eyes before shots

Our tough girl smiling after shots

Showing off her baby blues

Hello frog who is that pretty baby in the mirror?

Watching out for his sister

The photoshoot was worse than the shots

P.S. pictures of my finger are available upon request...if anyone would like to purchase me a Christmas gift I am now in the market for a steel glove. 

-Mike

Uncle Colin and VT Football

Quinn had a few firsts this labor day weekend.  She met her Uncle Colin and attended her first VT tailgate.  Christin's mom was also nice enough to come visit to babysit so that we could all go to the game.  We ended up tailgating at home that way we could spend time with Quinn and avoid any rain.  Awesome forecast by the way...all we saw was a slight mist.  Being a meteorologist must be the best job ever, you are almost always wrong AND you never get fired.  The game ended up being great and we pulled out the dramatic overtime win.  Luckily, I was smart enough to take the next day off from work since Colin and I had performed some hardcore pregame hydration.  Overall it was a great weekend, Quinn was all smiles every time she saw Colin, she spent a night with GiGi, I was able to tailgate like we did pre-baby and Christin got to babysit me.  Just like old times.  Happy football season everyone!

Quinn is seven weeks now and she seems to be getting bigger every day.  We tried weighing her on our neighbor's bread scale and we think she is around 10lbs 9oz now (don't judge us).  She is smiling and cooing all of the time now.  She also is starting to notice the world around her especially Jackson and her toys that hang over her baby carrier.  We have now learned the difference between all of her cries such as the "I am pissed off come and hold me" cry or the "Hey idiot come feed me" cry.  She is an awesome baby and sleeps for around seven and a half hours for the first stretch of the night and then two more after that (lucky me Christin is cranky without her sleep).  I am pretty sure she is gifted and gets that from me.  On to some pictures:

Meeting Colin for the first time

She has him wrapped around her finger now

Ready for the tailgate with Mom

Doing her Frank Beamer bewildered look

Already knows being a Hokie fan is exhausting

1 MONTH

Quinn was one month old this past Sunday which also happened to be my last day before going back to work.  We decided against a party because we aren't that big of weirdos yet.  However, we did make our first appearance at church since she was born.  Being the adults we are now, we pulled the old sneak into the back pew in case she has a meltdown maneuver.  We shouldn't have even worried because she didn't even make a sound (she was probably better behaved than I was).  We think she is a fan of the music, which is probably a good thing since she has freakishly long piano fingers. Christin and I have been talking about how much easier this past month has been than we anticipated.  However, there have been some changes and here are the top ten according to Mike:

1) I replaced all of my liquor bottles in the freezer with frozen breast milk bags.
2) My clothes are often covered in vomit not from a long night of drinking but from breast milk.
3) Another human has peed on me...multiple times.
4) I have given another person a bath at 2am because they crapped their pants.
5) I have fought with my wife about giving said person a bath at 2am because they crapped their pants.
6) No matter how hard you try...windows down, music bumping, there is no way to look cool with an empty car seat base in the back seat.
7) Random strangers talk to you...all of the time, especially old people.  It was great when Christin was pregnant these people only talked to her now she shares the wealth.
 8) My Pandora stations have changed from Eminem and Beastie Boys to Rockabye Baby and Baby Einstein.  #BABYSWAGG
9) With precious cargo on board I drive much more carefully.
10)  I have formulated a business model for Quinn's college fund.  It is an underground baby racing circuit similar to turtle racing seen here.  Just kidding...unless there are any takers.

These are just a few and I would be interested to hear what other parents have to share from their experiences.  Without further ado here are some one month pictures.

Quinn in her church outfit with J

Well hello Mom

A little smile for Mom

Evidently over the picture taking

Just the 3 of us at 3 weeks...and Jackson too

 Yesterday Quinn was officially three weeks old and today marks one week of it being just the three of us.  My parents have come and gone and a lot has happened since my last post.  I have been home with the girls this week and will be next week as well unless Christin gets sick of me.  We have had some visitors since the O'Rourke invasion ended including Christin's dad (picture to prove this tough guy held his granddaughter included in post).  However, overall it has just been the four us trying to get into a routine (Christin reminded me that I can't forget Jackson).  Quinn is still eating like a piglet and is starting to fill out a bit which is good because now she can fit into more of her one million outfits.  Christin also worked one work day this week so I was able to feed Quinn her first bottle.  I was a little worried, but being the awesome baby she is, she chowed down without a second thought.  Jackson also seems to be warming up to her more with each day that goes by.  I tried to explain that he should be nice because one day she will be dropping food for him to eat.  Which brings me to my next story about Quinn's umbilical cord finally falling off.  I found out when I unwrapped her last night and Jackson was sniffing at something.  That something was her cord and he was attempting to eat it.  Thankfully I intervened in time and he was unsuccessful.  I think he misunderstood my pep talk about her dropping food.  Other than that we just plan on hanging out and enjoying being a family for the next week.  Thanks for all of you support our new life wouldn't be as easy without our wonderful family and friends. 

Marshmallow Bob proud Papa..she puked right after he gave her up

Smiling at Mom

Jackson guarding his little sister

Where did you go Jackson?

Ohhh there you are

Quinn giving me the finger I guess she was over the picture taking

1 week old

Sorry for the delay I know some of the aunts were asking about a new blog post but our internet had been down.  On Thursday Quinn was one week old.  I might regret typing this but so far the transition has been easy.  She is eating like a champ, her jaundice seems to be disappearing, and Dad will be a professional diaper changer soon enough.  I've only been peed on twice so far so I consider that a success.  Christin's mom left Saturday morning and my parents came in later that evening so we had some alone time in between.  We used that time to go on our first family outing to none other than...Target.  Christin is training her early (hot stock tip: buy Target).  Earlier in the week our friend Sam came over to take some newborn shots of Quinn.  She and her husband have a photography business in Blacksburg and shoot a lot of weddings, you can check them out by clicking here.  Christin and I tried to get creative and take some pictures of our own as well.  We are no professionals and don't have a super sweet camera like Sam, but here are some of our one week photos. 

We bribed Jackson with a treat

Now show us your look of terror