Eleven

Our Dearest Quinn Ava,

Today you are 11 months old! Only one more month and you are a year old. I have no idea how that happened, but here we are, and I can't even remember what life was like without you. Or how I used to spend my time. Or why my house was never clean when it was just Dad and me. Or how I never fully knew what happiness and love could be like until 11 months ago. Weird!

Milestones this month:

Crawling!
*You can pretty much get anywhere you want, and get anything you want. A blessing, and slightly a curse. For example, you love to play with shoes. This includes putting them in your mouth! Kinda gross!

Pulling yourself up!
*You can get to your knees no problem, but since you are still on the short side, pulling yourself all the way to your feet is a problem. You'll get there.

Babbling!
*You are making/putting more and more sounds together that sound like words. You probably will say Piper's name as one your first. You and Piper do love each other!

Almost weaned from oxygen!
*You still need it here and there, but only at night and only every once in a while. That's cool though.

Gaining weight like a champ!
*18 ounces in the past four weeks. The four weeks before that you gained 5! This makes the doctor and everyone else very happy.

Stranger Danger
*You are very wary of strangers now. Unfortunate timing since you will soon be making your debut into the world.

Pat a Cake
*You are the best roller in the world. You love all songs, and are happy when being sung or read to all day long.

Spunk
*You are wild and feisty! Full of energy and spirit! You are silly and fun!

Mellow
*You are also calm, and easy-going. You are easy to soothe, and happy most of the time.

Sleep
*You had a few sketchy nights this month of not wanting to sleep in your crib, but that has calmed down, and you have returned to being an excellent sleeper.





We love you, baby! You are the best!

Love,

Mama and Dada (C'mon you know you want to say it!)

Guy-Guy!

I think Quinn has said her first word. She may have named her binkie "guy-guy." Anytime she puts her binkie in her mouth, she says "guy-guy." Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet. Sometimes repeatedly, and sometimes just once. But only once her binkie is in her mouth.

She started it over the weekend, and has continued to do it. Dalan asked is she trying to talk the first time she did it, because it was so different than the sounds/tone she usually makes/babbles in. I told my mom about it, and she suggested it might be Quinn's name for her binkie. Then, it became even more clear that it is likely the name she has given her binkie. Last night, she crawled to her binkie, put it in her mouth, and said, "guy-guy-guy-guy." She then took her binkie out, and went onto her next activity.

If you whisper "guy-guy" to her while her binkie is in her mouth, she will repeat "guy-guy" back in a hushed tone. It is adorable.

Quinn and her "guy-guy"

So, Quinn's first word was not mama. It was not dada. It seems to be guy-guy after her beloved binkie. Go figure!

An update to a list

1. About an hour after I posted the last blog, Quinn crawled to her walker and tried to pull her short little self up. She fell. She tried again, and totally used every muscle in her body, and made it! I am so happy for her. She stood up to it forever. Later she proceeded to toss a fake bunch of carrots across the floor, crawl to it, and toss it again. She was wild!






2. The surgeon doesn't want to cut off Quinn's extra tube skin. He prescribed a cream (not the clear..ha! That is a steroids in baseball joke, that probably only Dalan and I think is funny, but we repeat it all the time.) She gets her button next week, and the skin problem should go away. Here's to hoping.

3. Quinn still has a rash. It is not the measles. It should go away any time between now and a month! A month! At least it is not itchy.

4. My class raised 234 dimes for the March for Babies in one day. That is so amazing. They are ten. Most of live below the poverty line. Many of them are refugees or immigrants, and have families who speak limited English. It just totally speaks to power of Quinn's story.

5. She slept through the night without oxygen. Here's to hoping the other night was the last time we will ever need oxygen. I probably cursed it again though by mentioning it.

A list

1. Tubie is giving us some trouble. The skin around the tube keeps trying to grow out from around the tube. We have had it "burned" off twice (like a wart), but it keeps coming back. I am going to have to call and schedule an appointment with the surgeon to have it cut off. Yuck!



2. Quinn is crawling. all. over. the. place. First, she crawled for socks. Then she crawled for other items. Then my mom bought her this musical aquarium thing at the consignment sale, and she really crawled for it. And then she was unstoppable.



3. Quinn is trying to pull herself up on all the furniture, but she is too short. Poor shorty.



4. I bought 20 items for $34.00 at the consignment sale, including a pair of $40 shoes for $1.00! Score. I had a blast with Ali, Patti, Kellie, Raegan, Scott, and Sierra.



5. Quinn also has some sort of rash. Grrrr! I hate dealing with doctors more than necessary. Or really at all. The less we see doctors the happier I am!


6. Quinn went a week without oxygen. So, I took off her dots. She needed her oxygen last night. Of course. We are getting close.


7. I am so mad about the measles outbreak in SLC. "Childhood" diseases are dangerous, and it just irks me to no end when people don't immunize their kids, and put babies and the elderly at risk.

...no picture here....

8. Our fund-raising for the March for Babies is going really well. We have raised 20% of our goal! Keep those donations coming, or come walk with us. It is for premature babies after all. My class is trying to raise 100 dimes for the walk. They are so excited about it!



9. Quinn is sleeping on my arm. I want to put her down, so I can keep typing, but she will probably wake up, and then I won't be able to finish at all.



10. Bottle feeding is going no better. Solids are going well. We are working on the sippy cup.

Our Ducks

Every spring, a male and female duck make our row of townhouses their home. They often hang out right in front of our house. They are so cute, and friendly enough. They are not necessarily afraid of humans, but since they are not fed by any of us, they aren't super eager to see us either.

Quinn loves to look at them. They drive Piper nuts. This morning they decided to pay us a visit in the backyard. Quinn was a big girl, and stood up to the sliding glass door all by her self, while Piper did the same. They hung out for quite awhile, and came up very close, despite Piper's warning barks.






*And, yes those are Valentine's decorations still up on my window. Quinn loves them. It is one her favorite activities to go look at them, touch them, lick them, etc.

Things you should know and see......

Quinn crawled this week. It was socks that finally motivated her to move her arms in a forward motion. Go figure. She is such a big girl. She is currently doing a hybrid crawl/roll in order to get around, but still. It is awesome.



And here are some photos from this week (mostly for my Nana, and anyone else who looks forward to seeing Quinn's cute little face on the blog as often as possible.)







Photo 1: Ali playing my HIV. Ali gave me HIV. I let Quinn play with it. Piper likes to eat it.

Photo 2: Crazy little monkey baby.

Photo 3: Cute with bangs.

Photo 4: Crazy penguin baby.

Consignment Sale 2011

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a sale at Carter's and wondered what size of clothes I should buy Quinn for summer. Well, I skipped the sale and bought nothing. I decided four things. 1. Quinn has a ton of clothes already. 2. Several people offered to let me borrow their outgrown clothes. 3. I remembered the Hilltop Consignment sale was coming up. 4. I needed to wait and see if Tubie helps with Quinn's weight gain before I buy clothes in one size or another.

Hilltop Methodist Church has a consignment sale on baby clothes and equipment twice a year. Last year, my mom, Ali, and I went right after I found out that Quinn was a she. We got lots of clothes, and even found a bouncy/vibrating seat for $3. However, I only bought one newborn sized item. At that point, I was SURE I would have a ten pound baby. (And I eventually did...she was just 7 months old by the time that happened...ha!) In the fall, Ali and my mom went for me, and got a ton more cute and super nice clothes for a bargain. We are going again this Friday afternoon/evening to get Quinn's summer clothes. When the items are only costing a dollar or two, I won't feel so bad buying things in a possibly too big of size. Plus, tubie is doing it's job, and it looks very likely she'll be wearing 6-9 months this summer.

Here are some of things bought there.

The chair...



Some jammies....



You get the idea! Plus, I just realized I can't really remember what clothes came from where. They are really that nice. I don't know which clothes were brand new, and which ones were slightly used.

Please come join us if you are interested! Email me for the time, and address.