100 Days, Week One

{Day 2:May 31}

Saying goodbye to peanut butter and hello to life with a peanut allergy.

{Day 3:June 1}

Last day teaching locks to my 5th grade friends

{Day 4:June 2}

Waiting to see dad and his blue car after work

{Day 5:June 3}

Rainbow after a rainstorm Friday evening

{Day 6:June 4}

Quinn's first 5k!

{Day 7:June5}

Lunch at Mod Pizza...new obsession, water from a straw

Seven Months

Again with the late monthly post. I all but guarantee, the 8 month one will be on time because then I will have one less major responsibility! Month seven brought on some major milestones! We did not have a well check at seven months, but I estimate Quinn is between 17 and 17.5 pounds and probably 27.5ish inches. The beginning of May brought on your two top teeth, further proving your sleep has been off and on for weeks now due to teething. I will say this month was better than last.

You continue to LOVE standing and will scream and yell at us until we stand you up. Recently you have taken it one step further and just want us to help you walk around the house all day. You are still quite vocal. Last month you would hold on to the couch or something to stand by yourself, this month you have learned how to pull yourself up, especially in the bathtub since it's low. Luckily most other things are too high for you to reach.

Waving

You discovered your Elmo toy this month and it is hilarious to watch you interact with him. You still enjoy soccer and banging things together. Also new this month is waving at people, and especially yourself in mirrors. We are still working on getting you to wave at the right times. You also started clapping your hands. We have started to see a little bit of separation anxiety, but nothing too bad.

We took you on your first airplane trip to Boston and you did a great job traveling. You were a very good baby on both flights. We still consider ourselves very lucky with a happy and well behaved baby.

Eating solids has come a long way since last month. You have had many fruits and veggies and oatmeal. You have one meal with your babysitter around lunch and then I feed you oatmeal with fruits and veggies when we get home for the day. You typically prefer thicker food and not very pureed things. It is fun to watch you try things for the first time. As always we are so excited to see what the next month brings! We are so luck you are ours and love watching you grow each day!

One Hundred Days of Summer

For the past couple of summers I have seen different people participate in #onehundreddaysofsummer, taking a picture everyday for one hundred days, beginning on Memorial Day. I'm going to attempt it this year. I figure it will be a nice way to document our summer adventures. I plan to post them to my blog weekly, though I'm sure you'll get the occasional sneak peek on Facebook. So to kick things off...here is day one!

Day One: Walking along Braemar Trail, Memorial Day 2016, not immediately detectable two sick parents and one baby with six teeth as of this morning.

Friday Love

Eight years ago I moved to Northern Virginia because I got my first job as a school counselor. I hardly knew anyone in the area. I think I had one friend that lived here, no one else. Eight years ago, Dana Stevenson became one of my very first friends that I made here. We shared a tiny hallway in the back of the office at our school. Last Friday, Dana died. I was sad when Dana moved out of our hallway two years ago for a bigger, better office, one maybe about ten feet further from me...now I go to BES without her. It's still hard to comprehend. 

Dana was one of this world's brightest lights. If you knew Dana, you loved her. Everything about her was contagious. Her laughter, her smile, everything. She was a quick wit, always had wonderful advice, was incredibly generous, and always kept it real. No sugar coating. Her delivery was impeccable...perfect timing for everything be it funny or serious. We shared a love for cooking and food. The memories that I have of her over the last eight years are filled with pure joy. The Summer of Yes, nights out in Arlington, getting kicked out of Katerina's, talking about food, making cupcakes for a wedding, leap day birthdays, sharing students, and just everyday chit chats on the couch in my office are all things that will live in my heart forever. 

She will be missed deeply. We love you, Dana. 

Six Months

Quinn is six months old! Plus some...this post might be a little late :) We have been flying by the seat of our pants a little bit this last month. Life with two full-time jobs, a part-time job, a baby and all the other life responsibilities is tough, and when we do get some down time, the blog is not the first thing I want to tackle. Usually I fall asleep on the couch instead.

Anyway, back to the six month update. Quinn is getting so big. At her six month well check she was 16 pounds (50th percentile) and 26.75 inches (just about 90th percentile). Sleep has still been a bit of a struggle this month, but things are starting to turn a corner - I hope I didn't just jinx myself. We are still experimenting with giving you solids, learning what you like, and when to feed them to you.

Last month you were just beginning to sit, but now sit very well independently. You still love standing and you can stand holding on to things by yourself for a few seconds at a time. Instead of using your legs and feet to push forward, you have been using them to turn yourself in circles. You also like to be scared. At first you get startled, but then you laugh hysterically. Your babbling is beginning to sound more like real words, and you love chatting it up with people.

We celebrated Easter in Pittsburgh...it was quite a trip. Your dad got the flu and the two of us decided to make the trip at the very last minute. You were so good in the car! We continue to be so blessed with such a well behaved baby. You are happy and funny, and have begun to like to give hugs.

You are still happy going with your babysitter each day and you love playing and reading before bed with both your mom and dad. This past month we started "playing soccer" and you love it. You are also enjoying your exersaucer, stacking cups, and anything you can put in your mouth. This month has already brought big changes (more on those in the hopefully timely seven months post) and we look forward to everything else as you continue to grow!

Five Months!

Quinn! You are five months old today! The last month has gone by so quickly. It has also been a month of many, many milestones and changes. On March 6th your first two teeth popped through! This is also about the time you decided sleeping through the night was not your thing anymore. At first I blamed it on the teeth, now I don't think you have any excuses. We are slowly working this out, and your parents are really looking forward to uninterrupted sleep returning to your list of strengths.

You have recently become the queen of rolling. You roll from back to tummy any time we put you down to play. When you get to your tummy you are happy for a few minutes, but then realize you just put yourself on tummy time and start to yell at us. Somehow you have forgotten that you know how to roll off your stomach. As soon as we help you get back to your back you roll right back over and start yelling again. Silly girl! You are also able to sit by yourself for a few seconds at a time, or if you put your hands down to support yourself you can go much longer. I can tell it won't be much longer until you are sitting up by yourself consistently. It's very obvious to us that you are very ready to be on the move. You try to escape your rock and play, you go after everything, and kick your legs and flail your arms to try to propel yourself forward. I'm worried we will have a wild child on our hands in no time at all.

Another recent development is real food! Your doctor told us to start solids at four months, but we were conflicted about waiting until six months. We decided to compromise at five months...cause we don't really have any idea what we are doing. A few weeks ago we gave you a few tiny licks of the food we had with our dinners (avocado and sweet potatoes) and you seemed unfazed. We started for real with peas this week. I have to say you don't seem to be a fan, but I guess who really loves peas.

You still love reading, standing up, chatting it up, and you are just the happiest, most easy going baby. This month you also started blowing lot of bubbles at us, and you are interested in everything we are doing. When you get impatient in your exersaucer during "grown up dinner" you love to play with all the different containers on the dinner table. In addition to reaching for toys, food, and anything else you might decide is so interesting, you love to reach out to touch our faces and pull hair.

You are doing great during the day while we are at work. You love your babysitter and her kids. When I drop you off in the mornings you stare, especially at the boys, and love to watch everything that is going on at their house. With the weather getting warmer you have been able to go on walks during the day with her and on the weekends when we are home together. Sometimes when we get home in the afternoons we sit on the porch in your exersaucer or just to watch the birds and blowing trees. You are interested in everything!

I can't believe next month you will be half a year old! You are growing so fast and we love you more and more each day!

Friday Love

My {Friday Love} posts are few and far between these days, but I'm OK with it. Blogging in general has gone by the wayside, but Q will only be small once and it's more important to hang out with her in my spare moments (also few and far between). Today we had a "snow day" and sweet Q just somehow put herself to sleep, so I thought I would get a quick post in while I watch an episode of Fuller House (not Friday Love worthy). Enjoy your weekend!

{ONE}

Breakfast Burritos. So pre-Quinn I ate a leisurely breakfast of whatever I wanted with two hands while sitting on the couch procrastinating going to work and watching the Today Show. That sounds nice. Now I'm A. STARVING at all times (though this is getting better), and B. trying to feed another person their breakfast while trying to simultaneously eat mine, and make sure everyone's breakfast gets in only their mouth and stays there. So to combat the starving problem, and the eating at the same time dilemma, I decided to try to pre-make breakfast burritos on Sunday to freeze and eat all week. It worked! I felt like they kept me decently full, they are at least somewhat healthy, and I can eat them one handed.

{TWO}

Random Snow Day. I'm not really sure why today was deemed a Code Red day, but I will take it! I never really saw any snow, but I heard there might be some last night on the news. To celebrate the day we went out to lunch! Since I went back to work after maternity leave we have had 9 snow days and a delay. We also had off on Tuesday for the primary election. It's been really nice!

{THREE}

Wiggly Jiggly Wigglasaurus. This fine piece of literature is Quinn's first favorite book. She loves it. And if you are thinking ,"OK crazy lady four month olds don't have favorite books," I don't blame you, but it's true. Every time we read it to her she starts laughing hysterically and actually tries to turn the pages. She also likes to eat Wiggly Jiggly Wigglasaurus.

And I know there are typically five things I post about, but I ran out of time! Don't you all go rushing to your local library to find Wiggly Jiggly Wigglasaurus!!!