Q's New Dance

Climbing Machine

I'm a big fan of Groupon and every so often the local Starr Gymnastics has a great deal on - you get 10 drop-in playtime visits for $30 (usually costs $70).  Last week, I decided to take Quinn for a fun play date.  What's neat about Starr is that you have access to the entire gym!  There are big trampolines, long trampolines, mini-trampolines, balance beams, uneven bars, a big foam block pit and tons of other fun things to play with, climb on, or climb through.  To say that Quinn had fun would be a total understatement.  She LOVED it!  I think that her favourite activity was to climb over the balance beams and try to run on the big squishy crash mats...and obviously for Mommy to chase her the whole time.  Steve's looking forward to Friday night so that he can take her.  The only crummy thing is that the playtime is usually only during the week and during the day...but luckily there is a Friday evening one.  I'll try to remind Steve to take some pictures of her!

Quinn also is able to climb up on the couch in the basement.  She climbs up and then sits there looking all proud.  Then she likes to "dolt around" (aka fling herself about on the couch with no regard to safety).  We're working on getting her to "sit on her bum" and she usually will listen to that command for a second or two, before she's dolting about again.  Silly girl!

Motormouth Quinn

I've believed that Quinn was an early talker and a late(r) walker.  As I've said in previous posts, she's getting quite the growing vocabulary.  Here are the updates:

• when you ask "What does Santa Claus say?", she replies with "ho ho"...although sometimes it sounds like "oh oh"
• we say "love you" to her in a kind of singsong voice, and she mimics the sounds of the singsong...which is very cute
• she can say both "Nanny" and "Nana"which is neat to hear her call both her grandmothers by name

Quinn had her 15 month check-up last week and is doing very well!  She measures 75 cm long and weighs 23.4 lbs...that puts her back on the 50th percentile!  Our doctor was very pleased with how Q is doing.  And she took her vaccination like a champ too!

We took Q to see Santa at the mall the other day.  She wasn't exactly sure what to make of him, but we did manage to get some pictures of her sitting on his lap.  I'm sure that her tune will change once Santa visits in a few weeks!

We Have a Walker!!!

It's been a while since I've updated the blog...things just got to be crazy busy!  We went on a weekend trip to Montreal as a family and then Quinn and I went to Arizona for what was supposed to be a week's long vacation...and got turned into 10 days because of Superstorm Sandy!

While we were in Phoenix, Quinn took her first couple of steps and there has been no stopping her now!  She's able to walk farther and farther each time before falling on her bum.  We call her walking "Frankenstein walking" since she has her arms straight out in front of her when she's walking.  Catching her on video is the next task...especially since she likes to grab for the camera and gets distracted.

Since we got storm stayed in Arizona, Quinn ended up going trick or treating there.  We had to buy a last minute costume, which worked out in our favour because it was 40% off!  At home, Quinn was going to be a ladybug - it was all plush, soft, and definitely warm.  Which makes for the perfect Hallowe'en costume for our weather!  But in Arizona, where it's still 20+ degrees after dark, Quinn got to be Tinkerbell in a sweet little tutu and matching candy basket.  It was too cute!  We took her to a couple of our friends' houses and to a few houses in their neighbourhoods.  It was so fun to hold her little hand and walk her up to ring doorbells.  Next year will be even better!  Since we missed actual Hallowe'en at home, we dressed Quinn up as a ladybug on November 3rd, when we got home, and took her to a couple of friends' homes and to see Auntie Linds at work.  Both costumes were too sweet!

Quinn's vocabulary is growing at a rapid pace.  She mimics sounds that you make, or the cadence in your voice, which is fun.  Now Quinn can say "baby" (although it most of the time sounds like ba-ba), replies "bow wow" when you ask her "what does a doggy say?" or whenever she hears a dog bark, she can say "Nanny" (but sometimes it's just "nana"), and she is still great at saying "mama", "dada", "nana", and "yah".

For her birthday, Quinn received a gorgeous wooden rocking chair passed down to us from a close family friend.  She has discovered how to crawl into it, rock a few times, and then slide out of it.  The newest task is making sure that she doesn't stand on the seat...which she of course does all the time.  We're working on the "sit on your bum" rule...but she's quite resistant.  As I'm writing this, I had to take a break and take the chair away from her since all that she wanted to do was stand on it.

On that note, that's it for this post!  I promise not to make it almost a month between postings, especially since Quinn is doing new things all the time!  Here are some pictures and videos. Enjoy!

Having a swim in Nanny's pool

Her hair has finally grown long enough to put in a bow!

Playing in the fountain at Blackstone CC

Face full of mac and cheese in Arrowhead Mall food court

With my little pumpkin on Hallowe'en

Pretty Tinkerbell all set to go trick or treating

Walking door to door

She loved this spider

Trick or treating a couple of days later back at home with Daddy

There's a ladybug on the floor at Auntie's store!

Our cuddly little ladybug

Playing in the Leaves

On Thanksgiving Monday we decided to go to Rideau Hall to check out the leaves.  This is our favourite park in the city - Steve and I used to go walking there when we started dating, we had our engagement photos taken there, and we also took Q there last fall.  It's amazing in the fall as the ground is just covered in multicoloured leaves...and what better fall activity is there then scuffing in the leaves?

I also made my first Kijiji purchase of a new jogging stroller, so we decided to take that out for a test spin in the leaves.  What a difference!  I was only imagining what our other stroller would have been like going off-road.  Quinn also seemed to really like the stroller.  I can't believe I bought one to be honest since I'm not a big runner...but Q and I have been doing more jogging at Strollercise now and really enjoying it.

Quinn really liked the leaves!  We held her hands as she walked through them and tried to "baby scuff".  Her favourite thing to do was to gather them up and get her hands all dirty though.  She was sitting underneath a big tree and was stopping traffic with her cuteness!  Even some tourists were stopping to take her picture.  What a cutie!  Here are a barrage of photos from that beautiful day:

Scuffing in the leaves with Daddy

Pointing out the bright colours

Found one!

So happy that we got a good family photo on that day!

Gathering them into a pile

Baby blues

Quinn now has 6 teeth and has progressed from crawling on her hands and knees to crawling on her hands and feet.  She started that yesterday afternoon...it's like a backwards crab crawl.  It looks quite funny - we're wondering if maybe it's how she is trying to progress to walking and standing.  Time will tell!

 

"All Done"

We've been trying to teach Quinn to do a sign for "all done" at the dinner table...that is, as opposed to her just throwing her food on the floor when she was finished.  A few months ago, we started putting our arms up above our heads and saying "all done" when she was finished eating.  We had gotten that idea from a friend of ours.  Quinn never mimicked the "all done" sign then.  But all of a sudden in the past couple of weeks, she spontaneously started doing it!  Sometimes it's just to say, "I'm all done with my cucumber, now I want milk", and then usually she does it at the end of a meal.  She still is throwing food on the floor, but I don't find that it's as often.  The biggest thing is just to make sure to take her tray/food away when she does the "all done" so that she knows that we mean it.

"All done!"

Something that I noticed this morning is that Quinn is starting to point to things that she wants.  Usually if you put her sippy cup on her highchair tray, she will throw it down when she's done - so I decided to put it on the counter to the right of her.  As she was eating her breakfast this morning, she pointed to her sippy cup, so I gave it to her and she actually drank her milk right away...no throwing or pushing it away!  This afternoon during her snack time, she pointed to the counter where the container of yogurt-covered raisins were.  She only had a couple left on her tray, so I gave her some more and she ate them up...followed by "all done"! So proud!!

Tooth #5

Last week (Sept. 14th actually), Quinn got her 5th tooth!  It's on the top right and didn't seem to cause her too many problems to come in.  The days preceding "the discovery" she had had a bit of a runny nose, tiny bit of a diaper rash, and wasn't eating like a horse, which is definitely a change for her!  Then at dinner time, Steve noticed #5!  It also looks like #6 is close behind, also on the top...but no white showing yet!

Quinn's newest favourite thing to do is to open up the kitchen drawers and pull everything out onto the floor...this drawer also holds all of the baggies.  Needless to say, the baggy boxes aren't neatly packed anymore!  Today I installed the drawer locks and Quinn is a little perplexed as to why she can't open the drawer more than an inch now...although she claps for herself when she closes it back up!

Quinn mastered the rings last week too!  You know, those stackable ring toys that have been around for ages?  She doesn't always stack them in the right order, but she gets them on there.  Usually followed by a round of applause for herself too.  Isn't she humble?

1 Year Old!!!

We made it!  We made it to Quinn's 1st birthday...and what a birthday it was!  We had our families here to celebrate with us, which made it that much more special.  Continuing in a silly tradition that my sister and I have, we gave Quinn a little slice of birthday cake for breakfast (following her toast of course) on her birthday.

Not too sure about her first cake...

We hosted a super fun birthday party with lots of friends and family...and lots of little ones too!  Complete with 2 cakes and a BBQ, I think that Quinn had a great time!

Feeding a gum paste butterfly to her Daddy

The destroyed "smoosh" cake

In other news, Quinn had her 1 year check up and is doing great!  She now weighs 18lbs 7 oz and is following the 10th percentile curve.  She's just petite!  Quinn also just had her check-up with the ortho doctor about her club foot progress and Dr Kontio was very impressed with how she was doing!  We don't have to go back to see him for another 9 months!

As of last night, we started to give Quinn some whole milk at bedtime to start weaning her off of breastmilk.  She was nursing twice a day - once after waking up in the morning and the other time before bed.  Since we are hopefully going to be trying for baby #2 soon, it's time to wean little Miss Q.  She's definitely ready as the doctor has said that it's time to start weaning at this point anyway and I'm emotionally ready to stop.  Not to mention that with her teeth, it's starting to get a bit uncomfortable and she sometimes bites! Ouch!  I can't believe how quickly she's growing up!

Almost Reached The Big "1 Year" Milestone!

A year ago today, everything was set in motion for the arrival of our little Quinn - it's the anniversary of the day that my water broke!  It's hard to believe that it's been a year!  So much has happened and we are truly blessed to have such a fantastic little girl to call our own.

The past few days have been busy getting ready for Quinn's birthday.  I've decided to make a lot of her decorations since custom decorations aren't cheap!  The pictures will be posted after her party...no spoilers here!  We also have our family coming up to spend Q's first birthday with us, so that's really exciting too.  Quinn's so surrounded by love.

It's been a little different lately with our daily routines.  Both of my friends who had been on mat leave with me have returned to work, so the dynamic is definitely different.  I try to structure our day by having at least 1 outing per day.  Usually it's strollercise twice a week, but we also go swimming on Fridays and other days Quinn hangs out in the daycare at the gym while I get a quick work out in.  Can't complain about that - the gym has an excellent day care with fantastic staff and Quinn loves to wave to everyone.

Quinn's also transitioned now to being in the "big girl bath".  We had been using an inflatable ducky tub, but now that she's outgrown that, it's time for the big stage!  She loves being able to splash around and try to chase her toys.  Tonight she really liked the noise that her feet made when she slid them across the rubber alligator decal on the bottom of the tub.

Still no walking or standing on her own, but she's starting to get a little bit more confident.  We try to get her to walk while only holding one of our hands, but she's still quite hesitant.

Quinn's still eating like a champ!  She's a big fan of yogurt lately, so we've taken to buying the individual Activia yogurts in different flavours.  So far vanilla and blueberry are a hit.  Quinn also decided that she really does like fried eggs, so that makes it easier on me for meal times to add in some different varieties of protein.  Her 1 year doctor's visit is coming up and that's when I'm going to ask the doctor about the reaction that Quinn had on her face to hummus.  Hopefully we'll get some good guidance there!

Here are a few pictures from today! Enjoy!

She loves these nutrigrain-like cereal bars for babies

She shoved that whole piece from the picture above into her mouth

Also a big fan of Mom's baked pasta casserole!

Gap-toothed grin!

It's Been a Busy Week

Last week was my sister's wedding and the week was definitely hectic!  Luckily, we have a fantastic little baby girl who was good as gold!  Keeping Quinn on a semi-normal schedule was a bit of a challenge, but that's what play pens are for.  It was also really helpful to have family around that could watch Quinn while I was busy with maid of honour duties.

All that aside, we made it through the crazy wedding week relatively unscathed.  Now it's just time to get ready for Quinn's 1st birthday - which we can't believe is already here!  We're so lucky to have family that are going to be traveling to celebrate with us.

Quinn's still eating up a storm!  Raisin bran muffins, hummus on bread, havarti cheese...you name it and she'll try it!  Also, after a long time coming, Quinn has 4 teeth and got them all in a month!

A little fussy but beautiful for the wedding

She loves going grocery shopping!

11 Months Old!!!

I can't believe that Quinn is 11 months old already.  It feels like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital.  We've definitely been blessed as she is such a great baby with a wonderful personality.  She's still sleeping very well, even with the teething!  We've only had 1 night that wasn't so great, so fingers crossed that it continues.  Quinn's also very social.  She loves to sit in the shopping carts where she can see everyone and then bask in all of the "she's so cute!" compliments.  She's big on waving to everyone too so that they look at her...I think that we'll have our hands full with our little charmer!

What fun Quinn has been having with food!  I'm starting to relax a bit more with what I'm feeding her and starting to feed her some of our food as opposed to the semi-bland (spice-wise) food that I've been making - think plain pasta, plain steamed veggies, etc.  That being said, Quinn has tried (and loved!) shepherd's pie, zucchini quiche, and spaghetti with meat sauce.  I was definitely glad to get her to eat the quiche since she doesn't seem to like the consistency of  scrambled or fried eggs and I wanted to ensure that she wasn't allergic.

Spaghetti face!!!

Quinn also cut another tooth last week!  So now she has both on the bottom and the top two are definitely not far behind - I can see the whites through her gums.  Her little toothy smile is just too sweet!

As far as crawling goes, she's still doing her funny belly flop to get around.  Sometimes she'll do a couple of moves forward in a "normal crawl", but then it's back to the belly.  She can really move, so I guess that she's just efficient!

Falling asleep at Strollercise

Big girl eating out of her new bowls!

Teeny Tiny Peanut

OK...now what is the latest to report?  First of all, we've made the decision that I am going to be a stay-at-home-mom for the next few years!!!  HUGE decision and we're so happy with it!  I absolutely love being a mom and am lucky enough to have the opportunity to do this!  Plus, later on when I decide to return to active practice, I have a career path that allows me some flexibility (i.e. I could work from home if I chose).

Enough about me...on to Quinn!  Last month we had gone to the doctor for her 9 month check-up and she had dropped off of her weight curve, so our doctor said to come back in a month to re-weigh her and see if she has bumped back up or stay on the new curve.  Turns out that she has decided to change curves, which is completely normal at this age.  Quinn's head circumference and length have stayed on their curves (75th and 50th, respectively), and her weight is now following the 10th percentile - she weighs a whopping 16 lbs 8 oz!!!  It's funny that she's so slight seeing how the kidlet eats like a piglet!

Quinn's also walking around furniture now.  She hasn't yet stood on her own yet, but you can definitely see the wheels turning!  She's also mimicking what we say...it's usually either "mama" or "nana" and the occasional "dada".  We haven't counted any of them as her first words yet...but it's coming! :)

Finally making progress with a sippy cup

Eating out of a bowl...new work in progress

Loves pesto sauce!

Loves blueberries even more

But it looks like raspberries might be the new favourite

Quinn vs. Avocado

So I'm not a big fan of avocado...but usually Quinn is.  It's been a great fruit to have around since she started eating solids - I used to just scoop it out with a spoon to feed it to her.  The other day, I cut one up in chunks and she fed herself and she ate the entire thing!  This made me happy that I had bought 2, although it made a giant mess all over Q, her high chair, and the floor (I made sure to strip her down to her diaper beforehand)...she definitely needed a bath afterward!

Tonight being bath night, I decided to let Quinn at the second avocado.  And she HATED it!  She kept spitting the chunks out.  I thought to trick her by putting the chunks in her mesh feeder, and that worked for a little bit, but then she wised up.  Eventually I just gave up because I had had enough of catching the chunks that she kept purposefully dropping on the floor.

Here are the pictorial evidence of tonight's conquest by Quinn:

My little Shrek-face

Floor destruction

The many attempts to get Q to eat avocado - spoon, cut up with a knife, mesh feeders

First Tooth

It finally happened...yesterday as we were talking to my parents on Skype, I noticed something in Miss Q's mouth.  At first I thought that maybe it was a spit bubble on her gums as she was talking up a storm, but then I realized that her gums had opened and there was a little tooth poking its head out!  Then on further inspection (i.e. running my thumb over her gums) I felt the edge.  Wow!!!  She was definitely a late bloomer in the tooth department, as this tooth made its appearance at 10 months and 4 days old.

Other than that, Q's been motoring around like nobody's business.  She's still doing the funny swim/crawl thing, but it's very efficient and probably gets her around faster than if she crawled the old fashioned way.  She's also very good at pulling herself to standing on anything - coffee tables, her play table (her favourite toy at the moment), someone's legs - and much prefers to be standing anyway.  We've installed a baby gate on the main floor to keep her away from the stairs and are probably going to gate off the other stair access points this weekend.  Yesterday she decided to crawl up a couple of stairs after the cat...so it's time to rope that off!

Food-wise things are getting quite fun - Quinn's eating with her hands now, so everything is a new experience.  Sometimes I'll throw in the odd puree or cereal, but mostly her meals have consisted of finger foods.  She's a big fan of toast fingers and cheese bits!

Too Hot to Trot

The past few days here have just been crazy warm with the humidity (we're talking 40+ degrees with the humidex)...so not enjoyable!  Especially when our weekly Tuesday and Thursday activities involve walking outside with Strollercise.  Both of those days we chose to walk the malls with my sister, so not all was lost!  On Wednesday, we had a play date with Sophia and Alex.  It's crazy that all 3 of the babies were born within 11 days of each other (and no, none of it was planned!).  It's so fun to see them together and has been great to have 2 other moms to talk to about things and get different opinions.

Q is just changing by the second it seems.  She's getting better at eating finger foods, so we keep trying different ones.  Last night we tried cucumber (see picture below), but she wasn't the biggest fan and just kept throwing the spears on the floor.  She might have just been full as we gave her the cucumber after she had already eaten all of her dinner and we wanted her to be occupied with something while we ate our meal.

Half angel-half devil having some cucumber spears

Q's still working on being confident to pull herself to standing.  Most of the time she'll get stuck and then kind of panic...she's just overly cautious I think, which I don't mind!

Stuck but content

Peek-a-boo!

Having fun with Alex and Sophia