Miss Q

With Miss Quincy in our family, we have no shortage of smiles in our house.  She is sweet, calm and happy. 

She's finally okay with a little bit of tummy time!

 And she's almost sitting up.  For now, it's more like propping herself up with her arms until she falls forward.

Believe it or not, she's even swimming!

Okay, not really, but she IS swinging!

And managing to work her way further into our hearts on a daily basis.

Licking Life

I'm SO behind on this month's blogging!  Instead of getting further behind because I haven't caught up yet, I'm moving forward... but will be revisiting a few important points that got left out like Lawson turning FOUR!  A couple of days ago Porter got a little more up close and personal with Quincy than either of us would like.

But, somehow a light bulb went off for her.  She realized that she has a tongue.  A very cute tongue at that... I've been staring at it for the last couple of days.  In fact, when I woke up this morning, she greeted me with a big smile complete with tongue sticking out.   I'll let the video continue this story and I'll be back sooner than later to recount the stories I am now behind on.

The Tooth Fairytale

Once I had a girl who broke her tooth.  So, off to the dentist we went to get it fixed.  My expectations for her cooperation were very low after she bit the dentist's "barbie mirror" during our first visit.  She showed signs of feeling nervous when the dentist came to get started on her tooth.  We discussed the possibility that she just may have to keep her sharp front tooth so we didn't traumatize her too much.  Then out came the "pilot mask" AKA strawberry scented laughing gas AKA toddler tamer AKA the protagonist of this story.  She instantly became solely concentrated on taking the deepest breaths she could followed by an "Ah!" (think the sound you make after you drink a nice refreshing soda).  She proclaimed over and over "I like that 'mell!"  Within a few minutes the whole thing was done, she was happy as could be with a little plastic frog in each hand and home we went with a brand new tooth!  Thank goodness for laughing gas!  If only I had some on hand at home... it would be a whole new world!

....and they all lived happily ever after..... 

THE END

Four Months

Baby Sharp Tooth

I'd like to introduce you to my baby sharp tooth.  She went for her first visit to the dentist a few days ago.  Her very sweet dentist made fast friends with her and even got permission to take a look at her "pretty princess teeth" with her "neat barbie mirror."  All went well until the mirror got close to her face and she freaked out and tried to sink her vampire tooth into it.  So, on August 3rd when it's time to put a composite filling on her tooth, she will go into the "quiet room" to wear the "caterpillar blanket."  Basically, she'll be in a heavily insulated room where no one will hear her scream in a straight jacket as they fix her broken tooth.  I'll be right there by her side reminding her of all the ice cream she gets when it's all over.  I could handle the broken bottom tooth, but Team Vanity wins this time and her straw compartment is only sticking around for another 10 days or so.

Keep Calm and Carry On

We've all seen the posters... but I think the "panic and freak out" version is often my first reaction.  Being calm is a conscious choice.  Especially in the midst of chaos.

Motherhood is chaotic much of the time.  Today, simultaneously, Lawson was throwing a fit wanting to play with me, Quincy woke up crying from her nap and Naomi tripped while walking and broke her front tooth on the floor.  I literally had to take a deep breath and tell myself to be calm.  It was a true "Keep Calm and Carry On" moment.  We had literally just taken this photo (a copycat of a photo I saw recently) to represent such moments.  It about sums things up.

Naomi is going to the dentist on Thursday to have her new sharp front tooth checked out and hopefully fixed.  In the meantime, she looks like a true Mississippian and is still her usual wild and crazy self.

The Elusive Toddler

 Naomi is a busy, busy girl.  She has a demanding schedule of play.  When she isn't watering her tricycle tires, she's got slides to go down an dolls to soothe from their crying.

 Taking pictures is not high on her to-do list and in fact, she isn't really a big fan most of the time.  I have lots of pictures of her sweet, glaring eyes.  "Mom, stop taking pictures and PUSH me!"

 Even when I get great lighting and she's dressed cute enough for the pictures to count as her "two year photos", she is NOT happy being told to hold still for a second.

 She can be tricked to hold still for a second by doing a little bird watching from the window.... but it's still sans her smile that I love.

I remember feeling guilty after Naomi was born that I had so many pictures of her, but Lawson was hardly in any of them.  Now Naomi is hardly in any of them and Quincy can't escape the camera.  Kids turn two and can not be bothered with holding still long enough to be anything but a streak in your photo.  I have lots of great blurry smiles as she bolts across the view of my lens, some great running away shots and some strange looking empty room shots where I click, hoping to catch her in action, but miss.  These days, if Naomi is in the picture and it isn't blurry, it's a keeper.  That's all the criteria I have.  But, I am still on a mission to get a nice, happy "I'm two" picture of her soon.  She's only going to be freshly two for a little while longer....

Pretty Like a Flower

"She's Pretty like a flower." -Naomi on Quincy

(I agree with that statement.  And so are you my sweet Naomi.) 

Pep Talk

Sitting Up = Cooler than Spitting Up

Quincy is working on a new trick.

Falling has proven sometimes fun and sometimes very frustrating.  But, she's already improved her technique since yesterday, when she suddenly stayed sitting after I let go.  I'm also quite sure there are teeth on the way.  She seems to be in a bit of a hurry!

Three Months

My little Quinni Mini has officially made it through "the fourth trimester."  That first three months are basically like a gestation period outside the womb.  Now, she's finally seeming like a real little person, which is really fun!  At three months Quincy weighs in at 12lbs10oz (60th percentile) and is 24.5" long (88th percentile).  This is a 6oz weight gain (though she dropped from the 87th to the 60th percentile) and a growth of one inch in length.  She's currently perfecting holding her head all the way up... those big cheeks have made it quite the effort!  She's standing up well and loves hanging out in the Johnny Jump Up. 

She's also loving her new play mat.  She'll lay there flapping her arms and legs around  and squealing at the hanging toys for long periods of time... which means I'm loving it too! 

The babbling has begun and I swear she's started saying HI. Several times now I've said "hi" then she looks right at me and says it back.  She's either brilliant or it's a coincidence.  I'm sure she's just a genius!  No rolling over or anything like that going on.  She's pretty content to sit and observe at this point.  Which, is a-okay by me!  She can take as long as she wants to mobilize!  She is trying to run up my stomach when I hold her now, which is kind of exhausting for me, but compared to Naomi, who was trying to run, jump, leap and do backflips when I held her, this is nothing!  For now she is just a happy little thing and is generally quite easy going, as long as her belly doesn't have a bubble giving her grief.  No complaints here... I think we'll keep her!


And just for fun, a little side-by-side line-up of the girls.  I didn't think they looked much a like, but I guess they sort of do!  In fact, Dustin had no idea who was who when I showed this to him.  He just looked really carefully for who had the extra cheeks!  He eventually got it right, but after much going back and forth.  haha

 

Bike Parade

Nothing is quite as festive as a parade!  My friend and neighbor, Ashley, hosted the Parade and Popsicle party and the only thing that could have made it better was a cooler to sit in!  It was a sweaty, sweaty parade, but we had a great time!  Everyone brought things to decorate with, then we threw them on a table and went to work making our bikes look like symbols of freedom!

Everyone went to work taping things onto their bikes...

 

and before too long....

...the table started to look a little empty.

The finishing touches were being made

and the riders were getting ready to parade the neighborhood...

...looking cute as could be in their red, white and blue!

Naomi opted for a ride in her friend's wagon instead of riding her decked out tricycle.

The parade made it's way through the streets of "the hood"...

...past the houses and moving trucks (a regular site on the military base).

Some were pushed...

...some walked "all by themselves"

And others scooted!

When we finally made it back for the popsicle portion of the party, the heat had gotten to us all!

It was time to cool off!!!

We had a great time and partied until the sun was heading down and the moon was upon us!  

Thanks for planning such a fun event, Ashley!  This will surely become a tradition for us.  Maybe without the sweat next time, if we're at all lucky!