Walker: Texas Ranger

That's what Don like to call Quinn now that's he really starting to walk. Another popular knickname is Christopher (Walken). Quinn has also become a little bookworm and loves to have us read books to him. Some of his favorites are Insects (a xmas present from Grams), Animal Sounds (especially when Don makes the sounds), Ten Naughty Little Monkeys, Peek A Zoo, Peek A Who, and on and on. Books with flaps, things to pull and tear off ;), and things to touch are a bit hit. It's great that he's so interested in books now.

Here's a video I got of Quinn chasing me through the kitchen tonight.

And here he is looking Mighty Qute!

Fun at the Pacific Science Center

We had a great day at Seattle's Pacific Science Center today. Our main purpose of going was to see Lucy, which is a 3.2 million year old humanid fossil discovered in Ethiopia. It was fascinating and a great exhibit. But, there was lots more fun to be had as the Science Center has a great kids section. We spend quite a bit of time hanging out in the tot lot checking out all the exhibits and having some fun.

Here we are checking out the tidal pool. There were lots of starfish, anenomes (sp?), and hermit crabs to touch and pick up. Quinn loves getting his hands wet. You can also check out his new, very cute Christmas outfit.

Then we moved on to the little car with lots of buttons to push and a steering wheel. Oh what fun!

Peek-a-Boo! I see Quinn crawling through the house!

I think this house is a little to small for Don, but Quinn's having a great time.

And Don and Quinn checking out Drake's equation.

After all that fun, we headed to a place called Serious Pie for some seriously good pizza. I especially loved the Chanterelle Mushroom and Truffle Cheese Pizza -- yummy!!! It was a great day spent with my guys.

(another good thing about today was that our street was finally plowed (a week after the first snow) and the temp was pretty warm so most of the snow is gone)

Christmas Videos

Here's Quinn hanging out on Christmas day.

And here he is playing some mean hoops.

Merry Christmas from Santa's Lil Helper!

Merry Christmas!! We had a quite, white Christmas at the Seattle White House. We all slept in until about 10 am, had some breakfast, and then dug in to the Christmas loot.

Here's Quinn standing in front of our make-shift Christmas tree which I got at a craft fair in Frederick MD about 10 years ago. I've strung it with lights and garland to spruce it up.






















Quinn had some fun opening the presents, although he needed a little help getting them started.










































Sitting among the Christmas mess.

Hanging out by the fire.

Shooting some hoops with his new basketball hoop from Grampa and Gramma.

After all that tiring work, Quinn went down for a nap and Don and I poured ourselves a nice rum-fortified eggnog and cuddled up to get caught up with Lost Season 4 DVD's. It was a great Christmas and although we would always rather be with family, we really enjoyed a quiet Christmas with our little family :)

Snowy Scenes

Here's a snowy scene of our street with the Seattle skyline in the background. We are expecting more snow/rain over the next couple of days. Hopefully it gets warm enough to melt some of this snow because we have a house to sell!!!

We were a little stir crazy today so we went for a walk by the lake down to Starbucks. The path around the lake was packed snow and a bit slippery but it was great to be outside getting a little exercise. Here's a boring video of us walking back from the lake.

One Happy Baby

Quinn and Don have been having a great time since we've been snowed in. Don worked from home Monday and Tuesday and has the rest of the week off. Quinn really enjoys all of the physical guy stuff that he and Don share. One of his new favorites is this crazy swing. No matter what Quinn's mood, the swing makes him very happy. Warning: this may not be suitable content for sensitive Grandma's ;>)

And here is Quinn in a fit of laughter watching Don put a ball in his mouth and spit it out. My guys are having so much fun!!

We woke up Wednesday morning to a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it just kept on falling. Seattle rarely gets snow so this was quite unsual. After breakfast and a good morning nap, we bundled up and headed out in to the white wonderland.

Here's the michelin man all bundled up with multiple, multiple layers. He's looking a little stiff, isn't he?






















And Quinn's first time in the snow!! To be honest, he wasn't too crazy about sitting in this cold stuff.

Then we switched gears and got out the wagon and did some rides up and down the driveway. I think he's enjoying this a little more.

Olive Fingers

This seems to be a right of passage for children. When eating olives, you must put them on the end of your finger! Quinn caught on to this much earlier than I expected and has become quite the black olive eater.

Mall Walking

When we were in Maryland we did a little christmas shopping at the Columbia Mall. We had been there a while and Quinn was getting restless from sitting in his stroller. I pulled him out and he pushed the stroller from one end of the mall to the other. Here's a little bit of his mall walking.

Da Bears

Here are some shots of Quinn in his Bears onesie. He's looking pretty cute, if I say so myself.

Love that morning hair!!

One of his favorite activities is to hit that little green power button on the computer.

Odds and Ends

I haven't posted in a while and have an assortment of pictures from the last 2 weeks or so. Quinn has learned some great tricks lately. He has started waving hello and bye, but it's usually a little delayed. So if you wave hello, he'll wait about a minute before he waves back. Quinn did the sign for nursing and now uses it pretty consistently. It's great because he usually only wants to nurse when he's sleepy so it's a good indication that it's time for a nap or bed. He continues to work on his walking. He loves to push things around, chairs and his highchair are his current favorite things to push. Here are some pics of our cutie.


A little pre-dinner nap with and on papa.

















Here we are on the way to NJ. Quinn's jammin out with the headphones and anticipating the flash.



















Looking handsome in his UVA/Bears colors at Grams house.






















We're back in Seattle and I was busy doing laundry upstairs. It was awfully quiet for some time so I went to check and see what was going on. Like all kids, Mr. Mischief loves unrolling the TP.

Q Walks the dog

One of Quinn's favorite toys is a Snoopy dog that you pull along. It was a toy that Barbara saved from Don's childhood. Now that Quinn is upright, he has started walking his dog.

Row, row, row your boat

Today we had our session at the community college that is part play time and part parent education. I know alot of the other moms from one of my other groups so it's fun to hang out and the college has a crazy great place for the kids to play. Quinn loves to move around the room and get in to all the fun stuff they have to play with.

Here are all the blonde haired boys doing some rowing. It was a very cute sight!


















And here's Quinn and his buddy Jack who has a bit of a shiner. Jack was also a preterm baby and turned out almost as great as Quinn :)

Trip to Jersey

Let me start by saying I'm having problems formatting pics on the blog lately so they aren't always in the best order, like today.

But, here are some pics from our trip to Jersey. Quinn was an absolute superstar with everything we asked of him. Getting up at 5 am, flying for 6 hours, a 3 hour time change, and then 2 full days of looking at houses getting in and out of the car. Then a road trip to MD and back and the early, long trip home. He was a real trooper!!

Quinn clapped for the first time in the Newark Airport while we were having breakfast. He thought it was great and still does. It's so much fun to see his excitement as he learns new skills.

Here are a couple of pics from the trip (out of sequence).

Napping with his bum up in the air at the Hilton.

Doing the archer's pose (I think that's what it's called). A very common sleep position for newborns.

Having a chocolate chip cookie on the plane. He was digging it!!

And getting in to some trouble at the hotel. This might sound a little weird, but he's just like the foster dogs that we use to bring home. They would have to snif and search every corner of the house. Quinn is exactly that way in a new environment. We really didn't need toys because all the stuff in the hotel was plenty of amusement. As you can see, he loved opening and closing the drawers and climbing in to them.

Q Walks!!

We haven't been able to get any great videos of Quinn walking. It doesn't help that we try at night when he's getting tired.

This video is from tonight (11/25). Quinn can stand for long periods of time with no support and takes steps without our initiation. If you've been to our house, his favorite place is to walk from the chaise to his highchair so about 5 or 6 steps. He also loves pushing chairs around these days. Down the hall, in the kitchen, you name it. He can also walk holding on with just one hand -- so very cute!

Quinn took 2 steps!!!

Quinn just took 2 steps!!! He was standing and I gave him the phone to hold on to. He held it without supporting himself on anything and then took two steps towards me! Wahoo and Boohoo all at the same time!!! Don and I had a little bet on when he is going to walk and I think Don's going to win. I think we're going to see some serious mobility in his near future.

In the meantime, here are some very cute pics I took of Quinn after his post-swimming lesson nap. You can see he's rocking some good bed head hair!

We're off to NJ on Friday morning for some neighborhood and house hunting, so no posts for a week or so.

10 Fun Facts about Q

A couple of fun facts about Quinn.

1. I think his favorite food might be lasagna. Although we had polenta with mushrooms tonight and he thought it was pretty fantastic.

2. He knows a bunch of signs and will respond to them but will only make the "more" sign. Today we were at our monthly "support" group and he was accross the room. I made the "eat" sign and he came crawling over with a big smile on his face.

3. He has started feeding Darwin. The other night he held out a piece of pizza crust he was gnawing on for Darwin and Darwin wanted it but didn't take. Quinn held it out again about a minute later but this time much lower and Darwin didn't pass it up a second time. Needless to say, Darwin hangs around the table at dinner time. I've heard that dogs start to put on weight when babies reach this age :)

4. Quinn has learned to blow a whistle that is on his keychain. It's very cute!

5. Quinn likes to get off the bed by himself. He turns on his tummy and then grabs the sheets for dear life and slides down.

6. Our current favorite nicknames for Quinn: BabyCakes, Mr. Cakes, Mister Mister, Quinn-jamin (kinda like Benjamin), Quinn-ja-Boo-Boo (so silly), Boo Boo, and, of course, The Mighty Quinn.

7. He loves to walk behind his push walker. He'll chatter away and laugh and have a great time while he's pushing it.

8. He has learned to open doors (uh oh!). The other night he opened the door to the hall closet.

9. Quinn has been putting stuff to his ear for a while. The other day he picked up a play phone, put it to his ear, and started "talking". The phone is one of his favorite things.

10. Quinn loves to drink from mom's cup and always makes a face because it's sparkling water. He also loves taking bites of mom's food.

Odds and Ends

I haven't been taking too many photos lately but snuck a couple yesterday and today. Quinn is really on the go and can walk around holding on to the bed, cabinet, couch, etc. Today he decided to help rearrange the closet for me. Check it out.




















And this is the look he gave me when I asked if he saw the tornado that whipped through the closet.





















Darwin pretended not to know what happened either.

















Later we were checking messages on the answering machine and there was one from Grams that we missed because the ringer is turned off upstairs and I couldn't hear the phone ring over the tornado. It was funny because he kept hitting play and listened to the message about 5 times.
















And here's Quinn staying busy in the kitchen.

More fun playing in the surf, sand, and pool.