just in time.

Just in time, we greet a 60 degree day.
With sickness flowing through our home, windows are opened wide today.
And it's beautiful, refreshing and so needed.

Quinn is still a stuffed up little girl, but handling it like a rockstar.
Todd is sick now too, but he appears as though he has been hit by a truck.
I could not have been more accurate about how we handle our sickness in the previous post.  Sorry babe. :)   I love you all the more and love getting the chance to take care of you for all that you did for me during those pregnancy days.  But men definitely play the sick card like they have been hit with the plague. 

Todd is home today and sleeping.
Quinn is sleeping.
I'm sitting next to an open window to breathe in only the fresh air. 
Lucy is in this window too, and she is so happy.

I'm looking forward to a few errands to run today (as we need a crib protector for a little girl who has started to dig her teeth into the wood rail) and a walk later this afternoon.
Quinn and I will head out and leave daddy at home to sleep and get well.
We need him to feel better.  Todd usually catches things pretty easily, but I think he's been pretty lucky lately because it's been a while.  I also am quite positive that I am carrier of strep.  It took 3 years of Todd getting strep several times a year and me never getting it my whole life to sort of figure that one out. again, so sorry babe.

A warm sunny day. 
Just in time.

sorry no pictures today.

quiet.

A pretty quiet week it's been for us.
Our little sweet girl has her first real case of the sniffles.
It's been all week.

This week our daily routine was a little slower. 
Rubbing eyes, a little whine for every nose wiped, some disrupted sleep, extra jammies time, two cups of tea for mommy, but most of all more of this...

even no picture taking this week, this one was pulled from the files.

more cuddles than ever, more glue sticking her to my hip, and more storytime in our cozy warm jammies in our cozy warm home.

We only fill up the gas tank of my car once a month. This week definitely helped to extend that even more.  It has been a complete week at home for Quinn and I.  Much needed.  Thank goodness a big grocery shopping trip happened last week.

Still a stuffy nose, hopefully it will leave soon.

Despite her difficulty to breathe normally, her giggly goofy bouncy side shines just as bright.
It makes me ache for her even more, but grateful that it's just a little stuffy nose.
She can't even blow her nose or take the medicine relief we can, and we are still much bigger babies when we are sick.

The school year is flying by for Todd, halfway through already!
This winter has brought lots of time and experience with refereeing (on the weekends).  It has been so great for us and it helps to keep him busy.  Todd is a busybody.  While I'm perfectly okay with a week of not leaving the house, Todd may go a little crazy.  We fit into our roles of stay-at-home mom and working dad extremely well, and with lots of family time too.  The winter has been good to us.

And will continue to be as we look forward to a big birthday coming up!  Little projects each week get checked off the list.  This week:  photobooth props (not renting a photobooth, making our own completely out of supplies we already have), cards/favors, kids activities.  The biggest project is a video I'm compiling for her, photos and videos all from her first year.  I'm so excited about it.  It makes me tear up every time I review what is already done.  If we can share it with the everyone, great; if she is the only one who gets to see it, just as great.  I'm pouring all of me into this...for her.  Picturing her down the road treasuring this makes me so incredibly happy.  And then I imagine her with her time capsule as well, and I'm just so happy to have this for her.
So excited.
I will do a big post-party post with a run-down of all the events, including our task of doing it on a budget.  Coupons, deals, using supplies we already own, making it all ourselves...and it's going to be fantastic.  Family and friends to share it with...most important.

With a napping baby, I'm off to get out of my jammies.
Because let's face it, that just doesn't happen all the time (out of my jammies that is). 
My days are yoga pants and t-shirts.
I love my husband for still making me feel beautiful when he comes home to my cozy sweats and ponytail.

Happy Weekend!

baby dolls, birthdays, and more.

I witnessed something amazing the other day. 
I surprised myself with how it felt to witness such an event, and it felt like "I just saw the Northern Lights" amazing.
Quinn feeds her baby doll.  I know huge and crazy right?!  haha.
Really though, it was an all of a sudden she swoops up her little baby doll and feeds her little baby doll her little bottle, and she continues to do it over and over, each time the little baby making little slurping noises...and this mama's every thought and movement just stopped and stared with mouth open and the start of a tear in my eye.  Because it was so much more than just feeding her dolly, it was this altering moment that hit me that my baby is moving into toddlerhood and she is learning in such different ways now.  I've seen her do new things and copy us before, but this was different and sweet and I knew that she had learned from watching me feed the baby doll before with her. 
Oh, I loved it.
A moment in mommyhood that I had not thought of until I got to experience it for myself.

Now she feeds her baby all the time, but I have yet to be able to catch it on camera. 
I need to build my super spy mode skills to do that, because otherwise I just get this - click here.


A super sweet and handsome boy turned 3 recently.

Our nephew Liam.
His party was this past weekend at a fun place called Kids in Motion.
He was so happy.

Although this was one of the rare glimpses of him that day. He was always on the go, Mr. Independent, quick as lightning, the sweetest but most fearless little boy, and we often heard one of us saying "Have you seen Liam?"...but we knew he was having tons of fun.

Quinn enjoyed this new big play place too.

She is kind of right in the middle of the age group that it is a little challenging at a place like this, because she wants to follow the kids, but some were running around pretty fast and there were many  fun exploration tables and toys that had lots of small things for her to grab and throw in her mouth.
We found a little escape to the train set room, we were safe in there for a little while until she saw kids outside the door and wanted to take off after them. It was a workout for me, mostly because she was only going to her mama (although Uncle Mike was able to take her for a while, which was great), Todd wasn't able to come he was working a tournament that day. Going to crowded places with just me and Quinny, I can always plan to sweat because she gets a little overwhelmed and only goes to me, so I definitely wear layers.


As we celebrated this 3 year old's birthday, we also passed up Quinn's 11 month milestone. One year is so quickly coming around the corner.
Less blog posts have been due to projects I'm working on for Quinn and getting things checked off of our To-Do list for her birthday party.

We are so excited to celebrate and look forward to seeing our family and friends!
Reminder to friends and family to RSVP - regrets only.  
by e-mail, text, call, whatever works for you.

I was excited and planning to bring some snow inside today for Quinn to play with in the kitchen, but the rain and mild temperatures took it all away last night.  And the little that's left is not the soft fluffy stuff that was once there.  Hopefully some more will come soon.

I have been off work officially for a year, and it's crazy to think about that.  I left January 22nd without being able to go in and prepare for my long departure, it was a little crazy.  Followed by one month of bed rest and 11 months of an adorable peanut and playtime.  We thank daddy every day for working so hard for us so Quinn and I can be home together.  I wouldn't trade anything for this time we have at home, it is worth every single penny and so much more. 

I need to take advantage of this morning nap time to check a few more things off the Quinn's birthday to-do list, including more work on my time capsule entry for her.

Have a wonderful day!

our weekend and random thoughts.

Simply said...we had a wonderful long weekend.
It was a great balance of busy and relaxing.
And we got to see many friends so that makes it extra special.

Our weekend started with a grocery list.
I e-mailed Todd items to pick up at the store to make some delicious Chicken Fajitas for dinner Friday night.  2 minutes later I e-mailed him and said...OR we could get out for a little bit and grab 2 for $20 fajitas at Chilis tonight?  probably will cost less than the grocery total anyway. 
A night out is definitely a special treat for us and this one did not disappoint.
It was not necessarily the greatest meal in the world and that didn't matter, it was just so fun to be out, acting a little silly, having some fun and enjoying a date night plus 1. :)
As Katy Perry's "firework" started to play over the speakers at the table next to us two young girls broke out into singing immediately, it was the cutest and sweetest that we couldn't help but sing and dance in our seats to it as well.  Quinn loved it.

Friday night, brought movie night and showing at our house was Moneyball.  Which we really enjoyed.

Saturday and Sunday brought full work/refereeing days for Todd.
Extra income...always a great thing, and his days seemed to go very well.
They take good care of him and most of our texts back and forth were about the delicious food they were providing.

Saturday for Quinn and I brought good friends Ashley and Mike to our house for a great visit (Quinn took to them right away and loved them :), then followed by a 3 1/2 hour afternoon nap (for Quinn) and then a busy evening. I had a 30th birthday party to attend for my friend Kim, so we hopped over to Heather and Luke's where friends were gathering first and we got to see many friends, then Quinn stayed to play there with all of them so I could go out to Naperville for a little while for the party.
Daddy picked up Quinn when his day was done.

Monday was filled for me with a breakfast with school friends (miss them so much) and grocery shopping all while there was quality time and relaxing at home for Todd and Quinn. Then we all headed out to our good friends Ryan & Kristin's to enjoy some time with them. Layla and Grady are getting so big. It was adorable to see how Quinn and Grady interacted. Grady loved her. He is 3 months younger than Quinn and is adorably full of juicy rolls, I so love it! We had the best time just being able to catch up with them and hang out with our friends.

Random thoughts:

- Our friends are amazing! We are so incredibly fortunate with our friends who are like family and who take care of our daughter like she is their own. The feeling of having them in our lives is beyond words.

- I love a good break out into song in the middle of a restaurant.

- Snow is beautiful and fun and I've never appreciated it as much as I do now, seeing it through her eyes. I can see future sled rides and snowmen already.

- My morning routine involves a regular mug of green tea. Every time I drop the teabag into the mug it reminds me of my grandma and I absolutely love it. It's my moment with her each morning.

- Each day I spend a good deal of time working on fun things for the birthday party. Currently, it's taking good time going through a year's worth of pictures and videos to create some goodies for our Quinny. So excited!

- I am a bit sad. It is so hard to have family so spread out and so far away. I have my ups and downs, I'm sure we all do. As I plan Quinn's big party this year and start to think naturally that the future will just hold family birthday parties, it hits me like a brick wall. It will be different for her then it was for me, and it will just take me a little while to get over that. Not every birthday, not every party will she be able to see everyone and that's when I feel sad, for her. (and then I start to think about dance recitals, holiday programs, sporting events and I just have to force myself to stop because lets face it I'm an extremely emotional person, and I then think about the happy things we are so lucky for with our family, and it's not hard to think of those things at all). For birthdays we may just have to start a new special tradition. For now, we are so incredibly lucky that this coming birthday will in fact bring everyone together, all the more reason to cherish the special day even more.

- Downtown Naperville is simply beautiful.  I'm so glad I took advantage of living in Naperville for 3 years, but of course wish I had taken advantage of the area even just a tad more than I did.  The white lights strung across the trees lit up on a snowy night were just reeling me in as I was making my way into the downtown area on Saturday night. 

- The bar scene can make me feel a little old, but I think that is something you experience when it's been a while.  Like when you go back after college, or head back to an area you spent a lot of time going out in and now you are a new married mommy.  I don't think it's that I actually feel old, it just was like a strange memory.  However, still tons of fun.

- A first.  I ordered a glass of milk at a bar.  As you get older I think you just don't care so much what others think and simply just what you really want.  (to clarify, Kim, the birthday girl had the most divine chocolatey cake served at her party it just simply did not go well with anything but a glass of milk. :)

- It's okay to be a mommy and have fun too.

- Although, each time you depart, it is a far different feeling, you just aren't entirely there.  A huge part of you feels torn from you.  Maybe I feel this more strongly because I am rarely away from her, or maybe it's just all together a very normal feeling.

- I love the new phone-stacking game spreading around the Internet.  Stack your phones in the middle of the table and the first to look at their phone pays the bill.  At home you could do cleans up after the meal.  A friend said at family gatherings they collect phones at the door especially from the teenagers.  I love all of it.  It drives me a little crazy the manners that are developing from the cell phone/smart phone craze.  Especially that teens and children are not learning to socialize the good ol' fashioned face to face speaking way, and that just terrifies me.

- The TV show Homeland is fantastic!  Love it!  Caught up with it on a free weekend of Showtime we had recently.  The first season is only 12 episodes.  It won on the Golden Globes the other night.  Watch it, rent it, love it too.

- I am the luckiest wife in the world.  period.

- I am so in love with every giggle, every sniffle, every raise of the eyebrow, every pull of my hair, every little snuggle...she has won our hearts over a million times over.  She makes all the difficult things seem so small and melt away in an instant.
Life is good and we are blessed.

white and beautiful.

you are finally here!
we have been waiting for you.

all of us.

and if you look closely you will see raised juicy cheeks on her face to show the pure excitement.

It's white.
It's beautiful.
It's magical.
And if daddy gets home before it gets windy we will go out and play in it.

just can't get enough of it.


This little girl is very focused on something...

she could read Brown Bear, Brown Bear all day, seriously.

and with so much expression (and a very proud mama).

I love this picture.  I see myself in this picture.

she looks so much like her mama here.
and the warmth of her eyes just pierce through my soul in a connection that pulls me to her, like she is telling me I will always be her mama.  and I love it.

on top of it all, she is going through a big mama's girl stage right now.


this little look here...that's from me.

and she is saying "mama, please let me see the pictures on the camera".
(or "mamamama, ba, ba, ba!") I'm pretty good at decoding her little language. :)

this look on the other hand, well I'm not going to claim it.
but maybe my mom and dad will say so.

It's "I want to see it right now!".
Almost 11 months old, I think it may be spot on.


Walking more and more everyday.
Took 2-3 steps last night all by herself without mommy, daddy, stroller or any support.

xoxo.

enjoy all this white and beautiful snow if you have some.

waiting for winter.

It's January 9th and we are still waiting for winter.
It's crazy that we haven't been faced with real winter yet.

Winter is not my favorite season, but I do love experiencing each season, and now that winter is delaying it's arrival I'm a little anxious for it. 
I'm sad that we missed out on a white Christmas.
I love a little snow.  Beautiful fluffy, white, sparkles on the trees snow. 
I want to take Quinn out for her first play in the snow with a little makeshift sled (since we don't actually have one).  She would love it.

Instead of playing in piles of snow and creating beautiful snow angels.
We are forced to alternatives.
Clothes angels during the clean out the closets for the new year, and boy was it needed.

Quinn and clothes angels video - click here

Another quinn and clothes video - click here

Another person waiting for that beautiful snow, Quinn's great aunt Jill, whom she met for the very first time this past weekend.  Great Aunt Jill and Great Uncle Darryl live in Georgia and they miss and crave some snowy winters.
Quinn and Great Aunt Jill  (Todd's aunt) spending some quality time together.

It was great to have some family and friends over for a little "spoil the baby time". Great Aunt Polly, Great Aunt Jill, Diana and Theresa.



I'm not a fan of 4-5 month winters, but I think we are safe from that at this point.
So winter we are waiting...some sparkly snow is needed.

ten months.

Just before the holidays, this little girl hit another monthly milestone.

A big ten months.
She is definitely growing, especially in height.
She seems so much taller lately.
The greatest change we have noticed is how much more her personality shines.

We have been waiting for signs of a real baby on our hands!! A perfect sleeper, a calm and quiet infant, and easy dream... at ten months a sweet little sassy side is starting to show. And we are loving every second of it. It's good sassy, lively and spirited. Occasionally a little attitude is thrown in there too.
Shaking her head more, giving fake little whines, being a little dramatic for some attention, and starting to take off her hats (just in time for winter...nice.)

Loving every single second of discovering something new in Quinn. Other than what's listed above other words to describe her right now: shy, sweet, cuddly, independent, funny, clever, observant, smiley, curious and such a little lovebug.

It's hard to capture pictures of her anymore, she is usually on the move. So, I have to admit I was thrilled with the pictures I captured. :)

ten months. so fun.
we love you so much baby girl.

a special video.

First, Happy New Year! 

Along the lines of new year's, but not really a new resolution, I have been trying to keep up with pictures and videos and organizing them in ways in which they will be used and viewed more often.  Especially with many 1 minute or 30 second clips we have of Quinn.
I LOVE watching old home movies.  I love the little moments caught on tape of our lives when we were little, our personalities, our little voices, family pets caught in the background, a spontaneous Debbie Gibson performance, the special toys or gifts we will always remember, the moments that make us laugh, and the love of family captured.

In short... . 
Click here to watch our first Christmas home movie.
Turn up the volume and enjoy. :)

More music than voices this year, but I anticipate more talking in the future years as we start to capture more of a sweet little voice.

Can't believe we are already winding down Todd's two week winter break.
I'm always sad to take down the Christmas decor, but I guess now we will have a little more play space with some fun new toys.