ho ho ho.

Just in time for Santa...


she discovers bubbles.

one of these days I'll learn how to take pictures without natural light, and with a moving subject...

hopefully Santa is bringing me some new photography skills.

11 more days.... ho ho ho.

Lots of love as you too prepare for Santa.

holiday traditions.

As we approach our first Christmas as a family, the challenge is set to begin creating our very own Christmas traditions.  Many ideas run through my mind of what I would love to do, we will see which ones come across over the years and which ones stick.  Hopefully some that Quinn will want to continue as an adult with her own family one day.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions that has stuck with me is jammies.

Every Christmas Eve we received new jammies from our Grandma to wear Christmas Eve night to bed.  I loved it, and loved that many of them were very girly and often came with knee high ruffly booties/slippers (we were so ahead of the trends :). 

It added to the excitement and anticipation of going to bed before Santa would come, and then waking up just as excited to be in your new jammies and waiting for everyone to be awake before we could go out to the living room.  (This often would get jumpstarted by Amy and I purposely making but trying to make it seem like accidental loud noises and bumping the walls to wake everyone up - we shared a wall with my parents room and a wall with my brother's room.)  When everyone was awake, we would speed out to the living room and dive straight for our stockings.  As we arrived, there were always gasps as we saw all the of presents under the tree.  Even though we "dove for our stockings", our Christmas present opening was actually always very calm, patient and thoughtful.  Youngest to oldest is how it always went, and how it still goes today.  We watched in awe of every present each person opened.  Giggles were always present, and we are grateful for the few videos we have that captured the innocence, the mannerisms, the little speech impediments, the expressions and even the family pet that may be roaming in the background. 

Jammies is also part of another important Christmas tradition.
One so significant it was an important topic to discuss before getting married. :) It's the one of cherishing Christmas Day as our own little family, as I believe it should be. A day we go nowhere, stay in our jammies, have a delicious breakfast and then graze appetizers throughout the day, and a Christmas dinner. A day we take our precious time to open the gifts, relish in playing with them and choose a movie that was received to watch together. A day of game playing, of laughs, a day of just us. It is special and it is the absolute best. I can't imagine Christmas any other way, and I think it is so important to have this time to truly celebrate family and the meaning of Christmas.
Gathering with the rest of our family is done on other days and on different days so that we can truly celebrate and share time together - what it is all about, instead of running from house to house in one day.

As we celebrate Quinn's first Christmas, we start this tradition as a new little family. It's amazing to think of all of my own memories transferring now into our own family, into our own precious little girl. Who this year will open her first pair of Christmas Eve jammies and wear them as Santa and his reindeer make their first visit to this sweet little girl.

Can't wait to start many more new holiday traditions together.


And Quinn...

growing fast, we often find this when we enter her room after a long sleep...

peeking and patiently waiting.

and here is her mama as a baby...

peeking and patiently waiting.


What are some of your holiday traditions?

the challenge of a 9 month old and taking pictures.

I laugh that I just posted on her nine month post that we never feel tired or exhausted. 
Today.
I was tired.

But it was mommy's fault.
not Quinn's.

I expect our usual photo taking sessions to be the breeze they have been in the past.
not so much.

In the period of an hour and a half, I blew up about 25 balloons, made a decent amount of trips up the stairs quickly to take them to her room, and then proceeded to try to capture a picture of a speedy baby for about an hour of that time (and it's always warmer upstairs in our house).  So, I guess it's no wonder I was sweating like crazy and exhausted by the end of it.

Taking pictures was a constant battle of catching a speedy crawling baby.  Always happy, so that helps.  But constantly catching, trying to put into a decent place (which goes from perfect place to a that will do place).  I try to find small things to give her to stare at with amazement, that usually keeps her in place, but then there is the I really don't want that in the photo though situation.  She loves the camera, so as soon as I pick it up she heads my way fast to attempt some camera theft, and I end up with a lot of pictures like this...

a little blooper preview of her birthday invite photo.

Todd came home at 3:30 today... I took a 45 minute nap. :)

nine months.

nine months.  seriously?

How do we have a nine month old already?  And how has it been 18 months that she has been a part of our lives already?  I remember staring at that pregnancy test like it was yesterday, as two pink lines popped up in seconds, not the 2 minutes it tells you to wait for it.  We hadn't been expecting it yet, but it couldn't have been more perfect.  Just a month before we planned to try, so we were blessed with the sheer joy that comes with beautiful surprises and avoided the stress that comes with the wait.  Our little love...the cooperative easy-going girl she was from the get go.

Quinn is and has always been such an easy going baby.  The newborn who barely made a peep and would wake her mom in the middle of the night for her feedings by coos rather than cries.  The baby who cozied for naps on our chests for months and slept through the night at 11 weeks and hasn't looked back.  The little one that loves most everything and smiles all the time, with the perfect balance of independence and wanting to be embraced. 

I have only two memories of ever trying to calm her and do the "mom sway".  I have that down at other times too, but not because she ever needs it for calming.  One memory was the first week we were home and it was at night and I'm sure she could sense my tension (my back was killing me and I was in pain from the c-section surgery) thankfully my mom was there that night so I could pass her off for a little while.  The other was around 3 months, it was during the day and we think a little upset tummy was to blame.
I'm so grateful to have a place to put these memories so they don't get lost over the years.  I realize this blog has readers, but I often think of it as just our family scrapbook too.

Quinn, every single second of you is absolute joy.  We can honestly look back on your baby times and say that Daddy and I did not ever feel overtired, stressed, or as typically stereotyped rundown parents.  You make our job as parents so easy.   ....please keep this up, especially in your pre-teen years.

Our little (big) nine month old baby girl...

Nine Month Stats:

Weight: 17 pounds even (15%)

Height: about 29 inches (77%)
Our little one always measures smaller on her head circumference, a part possibly of why she progressed in her developmental milestones so quickly, she didn't have that more common larger baby head to move around. Head circumference is in the 4th percentile, and always growing. It looks gorgeous and perfectly proportionate to you little girl.

Sizes:  Clothing - 6 months, 6-9 months, some 9 months, and still some 3-6 months.  Diapers - Size 3

Sleep: 6:45/7pm till about 7:30am Naps just naturally switched here at 9 months. She was 3 naps up until now, and has shifted to two naps. Usually 9-11am and 2-4pm.

Eat: Such a good eater. She is in a bit of a transition phase, so much more interested in real pick-up food than baby food. So all her meals seem to be a combination of baby food, pick-up food for her and a few things off of our plates too. We are into the routine now of eating all at the same time for lunch and dinner. It's good for me, I've found that I don't eat as much as I'm feeding her at the same time. :) She likes to eat just about everything she has tried so far. She is on meats now, so while I make most of her food myself, I picked up a few jars of different kinds of meat meals (so that way I know what to make for her) and the only thing she has really shown dislike to ever was the chicken noodle dinner I tried with her last night. blah.

Likes: doorstops still, all of her new toys (especially the ones that make noise), the broom (it's funny), crawling up the stairs (with a spotter of course), her johnny jump-up, playing, getting tickled, giving hugs, snuggling with pillows, going for walks, knowing that she has your attention :)

Dislikes: the vacuum now (she was okay with it before), having her face wiped (although it's not as bad now as she tries to catch the washcloth with her mouth)- loves it during bath time, sometimes she is a little unsure about being tossed in the air (other times loves it - I think it depends on if she gets that stomach dropping feeling or not)

What's new/firsts: walking with her push-toy, eating more solid foods, feeding herself, pulls herself up easily on high reaching things now, crawling up the stairs, starting to learn the word no (although we don't have to say it often so it may take a while for her to learn it), has said the word no, babbles in phrases and short sentences, "mom" and "mama" all the time, still working on "dada" the d sound isn't there yet, has had stranger anxiety for a while now but I think she is doing a little better around strangers, LOVES to be around other kids, is a super speedy crawler.

Her personality: She is a ham these days. Smiles and giggles are regular, but now her mocking abilities are really becoming top notch. She thinks things are funny, you can just see it in her eyes and the way she just knows what she is doing. She is delightfully easy-going, going to bed is easy, switching from one thing to another is easy. She does not get upset if you move her from something or take something away from her, she just moves on. She is nosey nora, has to know what is going on at all times. A people-watcher. She is just all girl, and it's amazing to see that in her. Quinn is very patient, and is a little sweet snuggler. She loves to play and crawl on her own, but has her I need my mama or dada moments. She loves to chase after her kitty.


I'm grateful she no longer tries to go up by the tv where the dvd player and dvd's are, those were "no" learning moments. Now if we could just keep Lucy away from there (she goes through phases and right now she is in it again, pretty sure it relates directly to attention, poor kitty).
I'm also grateful she has never been a put everything in your mouth baby.

Who am I kidding? This I'm grateful for list could go on forever.

Happy 9 months baby girl. kisses.

video love.

It's no secret I have a love for capturing moments by video. I love taking photographs and they too will always be cherished, but videos capture true moments, little voices, small giggles, loud laughs, funny or endearing moments. I know we will be grateful later to have videos to look back on and cherish these little moments.

In honor of some video love, we post a few today.

We especially know these videos are loved by the grandparents.

Quinn walking with her stroller
(beware of the ending and a fall with a cry, no bumps or bruises she was fine :)

A giggly game of peeking

silly eating 1

silly eating 2


Happy Weekend!

a message from Santa.

December is here and Christmas is on its way.  We have started our countdown, but mommy and daddy get to eat the chocolates that come with each door we open. :)

Santa has been very busy, but took time to leave a special message for such a sweet little girl who made her first year onto his list!

Enjoy Quinn's message from Santa by clicking here.

Happy December!  Many posts to come.