Week 17 (Almost 18)

I came across a blog while on Pinterest in which the girl had a little survey every week during her pregnancy...figured that since this blog is my pregnancy journal, that I may as well try it!  I feel badly that I didn't keep a journal with Q, but I do have most of the big milestones of pregnancy documented in my desktop calendar (another Pinterest project).  Here goes!

How far along? 17 weeks 6 days

Total weight gain/loss: about 11 lbs...which I think so far is better than with Q.

Maternity clothes? Mostly for pants, although I can still get away with wearing a couple of pairs of jeans with a belly band and elastic through the button hole.  As far as shirts go, I'm still able to fit into my regular ones (for the most part) without stretching them too much.  Belly is still a little small for maternity shirts, but it's getting there!

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Best moment this week: Starting to feel more movements, which is awesome! :)

Miss anything: Not really that I can think of right now.

Movement: Little flips, rolls, and kicks every so often.  Can't wait to feel more!

Food cravings: Ketchup chips this week.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week.

Have you started to show yet: Definitely, but some shirts can still hide it a bit.

Gender: Dunno!

Labor Signs: Nope, thank goodness!  No Braxton-Hicks or anything yet either.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy :)

Looking forward to: Starting pre-natal yoga tomorrow

So that's what's new with Yoda...Quinn is still talking up a storm.  I think that it's hilarious when she sits down and "reads" to me.  I wish that I knew what she was thinking/saying then!

We received the rest of the Christmas gifts that my family shipped up for us, so Quinn is been having fun playing with her "new" toys.  She found out what buttons make noise on her Little People Disney Castle and is very happy to have her Sesame Street chair.  The cutest thing is that she will take one of her baby dolls, hug her, and then "rock" her in the Sesame Street chair and say "wok wok".  We really need to get that on video!

Q's Going to Be a Big Sister!!!!

Our family is growing!  We found out that we were expecting on November 18th and Baby Yoda (couldn't say Bean again!) is due on June 17th.  It was very difficult keeping the secret from our families until Christmastime, especially with my growing belly!  I started to noticeably show around 12 weeks, so I had to make sure that I stayed off camera whenever we were Skyping with our families at home.

How did we do the "big reveal" to our families?  We made Q a shirt with fabric paint that read "Big Sis 2 Be" and she wore that off of the plane.  We had planned ahead to have both sets of parents to meet us at the airport, using the ruse that we needed all hands on deck with all of our stuff.  So we put the shirt on Q when the plane landed and Steve headed down the escalator first with his phone primed to record the reactions.  I made sure to have my jacket buttoned up so that the little baby bump wouldn't give us away and then I set Q down on the floor.  She just stood there like a teeny, tiny billboard and our mothers just went crazy!  We got the whole thing on video and it's just priceless to watch.  We were so happy that the plan went off without a hitch, especially since some people had known ahead of time and didn't spill the beans.

So now, as I write this blog post, I'm 16 weeks and 3 days along and the flutters in my belly are getting stronger every day.  We are fortunate to have our midwife from Quinn's birth, Grace, as our midwife for this little one!  And we're not going to be finding out the sex...we didn't with Q either and the surprise when she was delivered was just so awesome that we want to experience that again.  So as far as room planning goes, we're planning Quinn's "big girl" room and will be moving her to what is now our guest room.  So fun!

Quinn is just growing so fast it's crazy!  When we were in NS over Christmas, she started actually saying "hi" and "bye" as opposed to just waving when you asked her to say hi/bye.  Although, she has managed to make those words both 2 syllables, so they sound more like "hi-ya" and "bye-ya".  She's also learning her manners and is saying "please" when prompted with either "say please" or "what do you say?".  Although, it sounds more like "peash" but is very cute nonetheless.  We're proud that she's getting so polite at 16 months old!

Quinn's also able to crawl up on low couches and chairs now other than just her rocking chair.  Anytime that she crawls into her rocking chair, though, she always rocks herself.  Even in chairs that don't rock (like her new Sesame Street one), she tries to rock it anyway.  Sometimes she carries her baby doll to the chair with her and rocks the baby...which is super cute!

16 weeks 5 days

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!