Quinn at 30 months

 

Hi my sweet darlin'!

 

This month you are 30 months aka 2.5 years old.

 

You can count to twenty.
 

You can sing the ABCs in English and French.
 

You can sing part of O’Canada.
 

You know your name starts with a Q and you can write the letter Q.
 

You recognize the first letters of many of the children 's names at daycare.
 

You love the movie Frozen and know the lyrics of many of the songs.
 

 

You love blueberries, cantaloupe, grapes, pineapple, goldfish crackers, oatmeal, noodles.
 

We can talk to you about anything and you understand and respond.
 

If you don’t remember something, you’ll ask for help or try to get more information to help you remember.
 

You put your whole head under water and you also try to hold your breath.
 

You are quite good at gymnastics. You can walk the balance beam without help (just spotting), you can somersault and you love jumping on the trampoline.

 

You love reading and will often ‘read’ stories aloud (you will make up a story based on the pictures).
 

 

 

You remember lines from many stories. Your favorites are Mortimer, 50 Below Zero and Jason Cleaned up and then Heard a Sound.
 

You are 100% potty trained and you like to do your business in private. You can climb on and off the regular potty using a stool and you wash and dry your hands all by yourself.
 

You love helping and have some assigned chores to do around the house.
 

You help with laundry - loading the washer, transferring to the dryer, sorting and putting away.
 

You feed the dogs their dinner.
 

You put your dishes away in your cupboard.
 

You vacuum, often without prompting if you see a dust bunny roll by.
 

You love dusting and wiping windows.
 

You love helping little kids and babies. You bring them toys, hold their hands, rub their tummies and are just plain adorable with them.
 

 

If you want something upstairs, you always tell us before you climb the stairs so we know where you are.
 

You love coloring, painting and playing with playdough.
 

You love watching Dora the Explorer, Franklin, Sesame Street and anything Muppets.
 

 

You are the best thing that every happened to Daddy and I.
 

 

You are gorgeous on the inside and out.
 

 

We could not be prouder of your accomplishments and we love watching you grow.
 

 

All my love forever and ever,

Mommy

Say What Now? - Edition Six

 

#1

Mommy: "What happened at school today?"

Quinn: "I stepped in a muddle"

Muddle = mud puddle?

 

#2

Daddy walks in after Quinn had a tantrum...

"Daddy, I just freaked out about Popsicles!"

 

#3

After finding a book under her bed that we'd been looking for weeks for:

Quinn: "Daddy, Mommy is gonna be so proud!"

 

xo, Mama

Say What Now? - Edition Five

#1

Mommy: "I love you Quinn"
Quinn: "I love you too much Mawmy"
(insert the sound of my heart exploding)

 

#2

The other morning while snuggling on the bed before I left for work, Quinn put her arm around my neck and Simon's and said: "Family hug!"
(insert the sound of my heart AND Simon's exploding)

 

#3

While jumping off a jumbo package of toilet paper in my bedroom, Quinn shouts:
"Quinn's being silly upstairs Mawmy!"
Yes you are child. Yes you are...

#4

At a recent family dinner, Quinn was being held by my dad's brother, Uncle Tom.
Quinn: "Uncle Tom matches Grumpa."
Translation: Uncle Tom looks like Grumpa
My child is a genius.

#5

Quinn’s most prized possession, Baby Addie, had a dirty face so Quinn asked for a cloth.
While wiping her face Quinn said : “Oh Baby Addie, your face is all mucky!”


#6

We were told by her teachers that the other day in daycare a boy in her class threw his lunch on the ground. Apparently Quinn piped up and said “ Simao, you’re weird!”

She’s kinda right, I mean, who in their right mind would throw their tuna melt sandwich on the ground?

 

#7

While brushing her teeth the other night:

Quinn: “Where’s Baby Addie”

Mommy: “She was sleepy so she went to bed”
Quinn: “Yeah, she’s tired and toasty”

xo, Vicky

Say What Now? - Edition Four

#1

Quinn to Daddy who was tickling her non-stop:
"Careful Simon!!!"

 

#2

While buckling Quinn into her carseat Simon said, "Toats M-Goats."
Quinn's response: "No Daddy! Not toatin' goats!!!"

 

#3

Quinn's response to many questions these days:
"Sure, absolutely!!"

Eg.
Mommy: "Quinn, can you feed the puppies please?"
Quinn: "Sure, absolutely!!"

Mommy: "Quinn, would  you like some berries?"
Quinn: "Sure, absolutely!!"

Hahaha

xo, Vicky

Hi!

A little someone wants to say hi.
FINALLY.
 

Meet, as Quinn has so elegantly named,

“Baby Jumping”!

Due to arrive smack dab in the middle of summer.

We absolutely cannot wait.

 

Quinn as you can see above, is absolutely smitten.

“Baby Jumping” is the center of many of our conversations with Quinn lately. He/she gets daily belly rubs from Big Sister as well as kisses and ‘raspberries’. We recently had another ultrasound and got a second picture of ‘Jumping’. Needless to say, Big Sister claimed it as her own and has it in her favorite frame in her room.

 

Annnddd that my friends is the sound of my heart blowing up.
 How I will handle the cuteness overload that will inevitably occur when “Baby Jumping” is born and united with Big Sister is beyond me…

 

After a year and half of trying-for-number-two-misery, we have finally been blessed with a healthy, strong and seemingly happy little fetus.

 

 

Now officially in the second trimester at 14 weeks, I'm starting to feel like a normal human being again.

Still exhausted, but no longer running to the toilet...

 

Yeah, it's been real this time.

Around 8 weeks the nausea.

And not just I feel nauseous, but legit running to the throne nauseous.

 

Meat = barf

Simon's daily nosebleeds from the extreme cold/dryness = barf

Bathroom smells = barf

Clementine oranges ?! = barf

 

Fun times...

But totally worth it.

 

 So keep up the good work Baby Jumping!

You have an super-awesome Big Sis who already adores you, an amazingly fun Daddy and a Mommy who would happily endure another six months of crazy morning/all day sickness just for you. Oh, and how could I forget your two fur-siblings, who look forward to having another sticky, food covered child to kiss and love on.

 

We are completely over the moon.

xo, Vicky

New Years Eve 2013

 

I've never really been a fan of NYE, but its kind of awesome when you have a kid. You finally have a decent excuse for not having to dress up, trek downtown to an overpriced bar, get way too drunk, have no means of getting home and regret everything the next day. With a kid you get to stay home in your jammies, eat junk food, watch movies, watch said kid(s) run around doing funny things and pretend its midnight at 8pm. 

 

This year we got to spend NYE with some very special ladies - Quinn's cousin Sadie and her mamas. 

Its been amazing to see the bond between these little girls. When they see eachother its like no time has passed. Knowing they are family just makes it that much more special. I remember living for sleepovers with my cousins, so to know that Quinn has that same connection to her cousin is more than I could ask for. 

What a great way to ring in the New Year.  

xo, 

Vicky

Say What Now? - Edition 3

 

#1

Quinn while trying to peel stickers out of her new sticker book:
"Mawmy, dat's pretty hard!"

#2

Quinn while pointing to the Christmas tree after it had been decorated:
"Whhaaaattt? No way man!"

#3

Mommy: So what did Santa say on the phone last night? (It's our new Christmas Eve tradition)
Quinn: "Ho Ho Ho, go to bed."

#4

Quinn to Nana after having sucessfully convinced her that she was allowed to have Nesquik chocolate syrup in her milk:
"Haha, Quinn tricked Nana"

xo, Vicky

Christmas 2013

Its official.

Christmas with a two year old is absolutely amazing.

 

Quinn adored Christmas.

She is still singing "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town."

We haven't had the heart to tell her that Christmas is over.

 

So here's how our Christmas break played out:

 

Christmas eve was spent at Nana’s house for a night of tree decorating, feasting and relaxing.

 

Christmas Day started off around 7:30 when we woke Quinn up. We brought her into our bed and opened our stockings together before all our family members arrived.  

 

 

People started trickling in around 9:00 and we were in full blown present mania by 9:30.

 

 

Quinn was completely spoiled this year and got so many wonderful presents.

 

 

Some of her favorites include: a ride-on electric Thomas train, a rocking horse, a moose seat, a Hug-Me-Elmo, a stuffed Snuffleupagus doll, a talking Dora doll, her first Barbie complete with her a VW Beetle, about 1000+ stickers and a new bed.  

 

 

Boxing Day was spent at my parent’s house for their annual Boxing Day party. We played Cards Against Humanity which is a hilarious/completely inappropriate game (especially when played with your mother-in-law).

On the 27^th my mother-in-law treated us to a visit to Upper Canada Village for Alight at Night Festival. It was gorgeous. We took a horse-drawn wagon ride through the grounds and Quinn was happy to point out all the houses and tell us who lived there. “Look, Santa’s house!”, “That’s Mrs Clause’s house”, “Oh, Bob (her elf) lives there!"

It was pretty entertaining.

 

Today I’m back at work and completely depressed about it.

I hate when the holidays end…

 

Luckily New Years is almost here and we have some pretty special visitors coming to share it with us!

Hope everyone had a safe, fun and relaxing holiday!

Xo,

Vicky

Project Camp Quinn - Art

With the hubs doing school work during all his free time, it could take a while for the bigger aspects of Project Camp Quinn to officially begin, but that doesn't mean I can't window shop for cute artwork!

Here's what I've found so far:

via

Oh.my.gawd.

I LOVE THOSE TREES.

And according to Lizzy, in her tutorial here, they are super easy to make!

via

A camp-themed room wouldn't be complete without a bear and this is flipping adorable.

via

via

Tree or triangle wallpaper in a rainbow of colours?

YES.YES.YES.

And this garland...

via

Um yep, need that too. 

Well I better leave it there for today. 

We have a trip to visit Santa in the works when Miss Q wakes up, so I'm off to finally wash my face for the day. 

Yes, its 2pm. 

No, I have not yet washed my face.

I like to live dangerously on my days off.

xo, Vicky

Our New Christmas Elf

This is Bob Tinseltoe.

 

He's our newest holiday tradition.

Quinn is rather taken with him.

  

Simon's not so convinced, but the look on Quinn's face yesterday morning when she saw his first shenanigan tells me to keep it up.

 

If you aren't familiar with Elf on the Shelf, I wrote a little about it here, or you can read all about it here.

Bob's job is to learn all about Miss Quinn to find out what she likes, what she doesn't like and to report all the good and the bad to Santa.

Bob will be around, getting into trouble until Christmas Eve. Once Santa is all done at our place, Bob will catch a ride on Santa's sleigh back to the North Pole.

Here's what Bob's been up to the past couple of days:

Monday morning he made a terrible mess in the bathroom...

 

And this morning, he pulled off some sweet Mission Impossible moves from the dining room light...

 

 

Oh Bob! (as Quinn's been saying)

xo, Vicky

 

Halloween 2013!

And just like that, another holiday has flown by.

Quinn's 3rd Halloween.
 

I can't believe two years ago we were bringing a teeny little babe in a teeny pumpkin hat to the neighbours house to trick-or-treat.

Time flies.

 

So without further ado, here’s how our Halloween 2013 played out...

First we searched high and low for the perfect gourdes.

 

 

Then we took our precious cargo home and got to work gutting and carving.

 

 

Here's Daddy's creation:

 

 

And here's Mommy and Quinn's creation:

 

 Little Miss Cookie Monster ready for Halloween!

It was raining that night, so she was prepared with her umbrella.

 

 

As for trick-or-treating, Quinn, as always, exceeded my expectations.

She said please and thank you at each house and when the door closed she would say to me, 'Another house?' Gosh she was so excited...

 

My parents and aunt Heather came with us and I managed to take this picture of Q and my Dad on our back home. Although its blurry and not the best quality, its one of my favorite pictures. She just loves her Grumpa so very much.

 

And for fun, I thought I'd share my Halloween costume...

 

My friends had a Halloween party last weekend and one of my girlfriends (Hi Vanessa!) had the genius idea of us dressing up as the ladies from the movie Bridesmaids.

 

Not too shabby for a couple WalMart outfits, some pink ribbon and a wedding dress that won't zip up in the back (eep....I need to hit the gym...) 

 

xo, Vicky

Quinn at 24 months

I know I say this every month, but once again you are so much fun my dear!

Talking:
 

I'll save our funny conversations for the next installment of Say What Now?, but what I will share is my joy at just how much you know. You put whole sentences together and we are at the point where Daddy and I know what you are talking about all the time.

 

Eating:

 

You are still an awesome little eater. Whatever Daddy and I are having, you'll have too. Don't get me wrong, you still pick veggies out sometimes and you still fidget and squirm at the table, but we never worry if you are hungry.

 

One way we manage to sneak in good stuff is with smoothies. You love smoothies. You especially love the banana, blueberry, yogurt and spinach combo. I do too.
Smoothie mustaches are the best!

 

 Sleeping:

 

Ever since you got your teepee on your birthday, you’ve slept in it every night. One night you managed to roll off your mattress and get outside the back of the teepee. When I went in to check on you I just about had a heart attack when I saw you weren’t in there. I frantically ran around your room until I found you behind the teepee, under a pillow.

Fave Things:

 

If our car ride is any longer than 10 minutes, you take off your shoes AND socks. Every.single.time.

For a week leading up to Halloween, your Daddy wore a scary mask to ‘get you used to it’ so you wouldn’t be scared of it on Halloween. Well, his plan worked. It worked so well in fact, that you request that mask sit with us at the table for dinner. You also drew the mask a picture the other night when Auntie Heather was babysitting you. Point 1 for Daddy.

Auntie Heather and I took you to Dora the Explorer Live last Sunday and you absolutely loved it. When the characters came on stage, your eyes lit up and you had a perma-smile the whole show. I wasn’t sure how you’d react to the crowds of kids, the noise and the length of the show, but you were wonderful. You danced and participated all while wearing a big goofy grin. It was an awesome afternoon. 

 

 

You love your new Dora and Swiper dolls, but your absolute fave toy is still Baby Addie.

You love circle time. You do a circle time every day with all your babies while I get dinner ready. You sing the Goodmorning Train song, the alphabet, you talk about letters, numbers and the days of the week and you read stories. It is so, so, so adorable. 

 

 You love to help Mama cook and bake. Every night you say "Help Mommy, help Mommy" and demand that I put you up on the counter.

 

 

You do your business on the potty (sometimes)! Last weekend we put you in underwear and you only had two accidents the whole weekend! We are so proud!

 

We have so much fun together Quinny.

You are just the best!

xo, Vicky