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!