Dear Quinn - letter three.

Dear Quinn,

On Wednesday, February 19th, 2014 at 12:58 pm you turned a big and beautiful three years old.
Three!  How are you so big already?

We decided to have your cousin, Brynnie, come down to play with you for a few days for your birthday.  The two of you had so much fun, especially chasing each other around, playing dolls, holding hands in the backseat of the car and giggling a lot.

Brynnie loves you so very much.  You can tell she likes to be around you and follow you around. :)

Then it was time for your birthday party!
We kept it mostly your little friends (and their mommies), and some of your family came too (Grandma & Grandpa D., Grandpa W., Auntie Amy and your cousins).
It was a Superhero & Princesses theme! 
Mostly because majority of your little friends are boys so we avoided a complete "Princess tea party" but also because it worked out perfectly as a time to announce if your new little sibling on the way would be a Superhero or Princess!  All of your friends dressed up as Superheroes or Princesses too.  You chose to wear your Rapunzel dress, a favorite of yours right now.

All of our friends voted for what they thought baby was (heavily on the superhero side), but when it came time to open the biggest present, pink balloons floated out and you found out you were going to have a baby sister!  Someone to play princess with you!  It was so exciting.  Cheers, shouts and applause filled the room.

Your cake was a highlight!  Thank goodness, because you had been talking about "birthday cake" for weeks.  Mommy and Daddy ordered a special super delicious one, and we all loved it!  You especially!

When it came time to sing "Happy Birthday", you stood tall and proud with a big smile on your face.  We were so proud of you!  Our shy girl didn't shy away from the attention, you were sweet and kind and loving the special moment.

You received so many amazing and wonderful gifts by people who love you so very much.  What a lucky little girl you are to have such wonderful family and friends around you!

Mommy and Daddy are so lucky too!  Most of all because we have you.
But also we know how important good friendships are to have.
This is a group of mommy's high school girlfriends.

So grateful for all of our friends and family!

Quinn, you are one very special little girl (and we aren't just saying that because we are your parents).  We see something in you that we know is rare and unique and incredibly beautiful.  Love.  You are such a little love.  You care for others so much and we can tell already that the people in your life are very important to you.  You wise and smart little girl for recognizing that relationships are one of the most important things we will ever have in our lives.  You may not really "get it" quite yet, but we see it in you for sure.  You are such a compassionate little girl, who only wants good things for everyone around you.  You happily hand over your toy if it will make someone else happy, you hate to see anyone hurt or sad, and you know when someone needs a good hug or squeeze.

You are little Miss Manners these days.  It is adorable and sweet and mommy and daddy love it!
You "thank" us probably dozens of times a day, for the littlest things and at the sweetest moments.  You say "excuse me" every time you need to get by someone.  "Sorry" if you accidentally bump someone (or even if you accidentally bump your toys together you apologize to them too :).  You have always been a kind girl, but my goodness your manners have just blossomed recently and they are always at times when it does make sense, so you get it, you understand. :)

Some little facts about you at this age:
- you love m&m's (who doesn't?)
- you weigh 29 pounds
- you are getting tall (but we need to measure you!)
- you go to bed every night at 7:30-8:00 and wake up in the morning at 7am
- you still take the best long naps (usually 2 1/2- 4 hours long)
- you still sleep in your crib, with dozens of stuffed animals and blankets, it's crowded but this is how you like it :)
- you are soon moving to your big girl room and big girl bed
- you are a decent eater, not super picky, but don't try everything either
- you still do not like juice or chocolate milk, strange for your age but that's alright because we know your little teeth are benefitting from not having any of that sugar :)
- you love to dance and listen to music, play catch with a ball, ride your bike, play at the park
- you have really good balance and coordination, you always have (never been one to stumble and fall)
- you like to pretend nap, you set up your blanky and a pillow and will just lay on the floor "pretend sleeping" for fun and for a while

This is a big year for you.  You started your first class with a teacher (without mommy) - dance class.  You love dance class.  We enrolled you in Preschool that will start in the Fall!  AHH!  And in just a few months you will become a big sister.  This role we know will suit you perfectly.  You will be a beautiful big sister.  We know you will care for her, look out for her, share with her and most of all be a good role model for her as she grows... you already are.  We are so excited to see the two of you together.

You make our job as parents so easy my girl, you always have.  Such a loving, kind little soul you are.  And we are so very blessed to be your parents.

Happy 3rd birthday sweet girl.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Dear Quinn - Letter one.
Dear Quinn - Letter two.

baby #2 gender reveal.

Last week, Todd and I found out the gender of our new little peanut.
Then we decided to do a gender reveal at Quinn's little birthday party for something fun and different for us. 
Enjoy this little video before reading below. :)
(turn up the volume)


Baby #2 Gender Reveal from Lisa on Vimeo.








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We are completely over the moon with joy!
Of course we would have been happy either way, but this is just what we both have always pictured.
So excited for Quinn to have a little sister.
We are just absolutely thrilled, this is beyond perfection to us. :)
Aside from that, baby girl is doing fantastic!
Growing right on track to the day and everything looked perfect on her big ultrasound.
On top of that, mommy is doing awesome.  Pregnancy is treating her good this time around. :)
So far I believe this is one calm and reliable little peanut that will be joining our family in June!

three.

Just the other day this sweet peanut turned a big 3 years old.

quinn daily.

a few of the little everyday moments...

 

baby #2 - 21 weeks.

Finally! - a bump update.

Time is starting to move quickly lately!
The first trimester moved MUCH slower this time around than it did with Quinn.
I'm pretty sure the time of year had a little to do with it.  October - Beginning of January is a hard time to experience your first trimester (many mamas out there that have experienced this know this well). 
From Halloween to Thanksgiving to Holiday Parties to Christmas to New Year's, it is a jam-packed couple months that is for sure, and it feels even more so when you are very tired, very sick, and just wanting the time to move quickly and get past that first trimester.  Plus it's not fun to feel yucky during a time you are around lots of people and wanting to eat the yummy foods (and it's a lot harder to keep a pregnancy secret when you are around lots of people all the time too :)).

Well, we have made it to 21 weeks...

A little mini-update on our 21 week bump:

When will you find out the gender?  This week!  Will share the news with family & friends on    
                              Saturday.  Quinn's birthday is just good timing and we will do a little gender reveal
                              to big sister and her little party of friends and immediate family.
Thoughts on gender?   This time around we keep going back and forth with what we think baby is.
                              This week if you asked me I would say girl, two weeks ago I would
                              have said boy.  We don't have as strong of an intuition as we did with Quinn. 
                              Todd and I just knew it was a girl with her early on.  Pretty much this time, if it's
                              a girl we will be surprised, if it's a boy we will be surprised. 
                              If you followed Quinn's thoughts this week:  it's a girl because she has started
                              calling my bump "baby sister".
                              If you believe the Chinese birth chart: it's a girl.
                              If you follow the legends and pregnancy signs:  it's a girl.  (heavily so, one quiz      
                              even said 92% girl and 8% boy. - all the quizzes agreed).  These things include
                              how you carry baby, how sick you were, how your skin is (mine is BAD), etc.
                              Not as many people have tried to guess this time around, one person said boy, one 
                              person said girl.
                              We shall see this week!
Names?   If it's a boy we have absolutely nothing, that will be a challenge for us.  If it's a girl, we
                              might have a first name already but no middle name yet.  We haven't discussed
                              names too much yet.
Will we share the name when we pick one?  Probably not, we really liked keeping Quinn Avery to 
                              ourselves.  If the first initial is common enough we might provide that, but we'll
                              see.  With Quinn, telling people the letter Q just wasn't going to happen. :)
How are you feeling?  The last several weeks - fantastic!  I still have little morning gagging fits every
                              day, but it's very mild and due to congestion/pregnancy.  I've been feeling great
                              since I passed the 17 week mark pretty much.  It was very similar to Quinn,
                              looking back at old posts to see when I started feeling better and with her it was
                              also 17 weeks.  I think this time around I am now able to start enjoying the
                              relaxation I get from being home.
                              It helps for sure.  More sleep, naps when I would like, not rushing around.  With
                              Quinn it was full-time teaching and my final semester of graduate school filled
                              with night classes, long papers and final projects.  That was crazy! 
Pregnancy comparisons?  Overall, I think I'm carrying pretty similar to how I did with Quinn, but the
                            bump still has lots of growing to do.  When it comes to sickness I would say it was
                            the same but in different ways.  With Quinn it was short waves of nausea but
                            more often, with this baby it was long waves of nausea but not as often.  I was 
                            physically sick with both, with Quinn it was more often, but with this one it was 
                            kind of more violently sick.  I think I preferred the short waves of nausea with
                            Quinn better.
Weight gain?  4 pounds.
Sleep?  Sleeping pretty well for the most part, but I have to switch sides every hour or so, so it's a lot 
                           of tossing and turning. 
Food cravings?  nothing really now - I have been eating a lot of grapes though, but at the beginning
                        Noodles & Company was a fave restaurant.
Baby projects?  just waiting to find out this week if baby is a boy or girl, no matter we are repainting
                          the baby room a grey color either way.
Baby friends?  So this baby is going to be surrounded by TONS of baby friends let me tell you.  
                         Many of my closest friends are all due within months of each other.  I will definitely
                         have to do a new baby playdate and get a picture of just how many new baby friends
                         are coming!

All is well and great!
We are just very excited to see a healthy little peanut in the ultrasound this week!

Next post:  "daily moments" with Quinn (in her last week as a two year old)

a little valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Eat some yummy chocolate, smell some beautiful flowers, hug and kiss your loves, listen to some John Legend (I've been obsessed with his "All of me" song for months - it's fitting for today), and enjoy a day knowing how very much you yourself are loved.

AND maybe have a little photo shoot. :)

 

The first three years.