Quinn Turned TWO!

...A month ago, today.

At Quinn's 2-year check-up his stats were as follows:

Height: 35.5 inches (78th percentile)

Weight: 29 pounds (72nd percentile)

Head Circumference: 50.1 centimeters (59th percentile)

He's a growing healthy boy, and we couldn't be more grateful for that!

When I think about Quinn's personality at two, two words come to mind. Independent and gregarious (most of the time, at least).

Quinn likes to figure out how to do things all by himself. Being dependent on others to assist him in meeting his needs is not something that he is interested in, whenever possible. For example, right around Quinn's second birthday (within a day or two) he figured out how to unlock the front door at Grandma and Grandpa's house, thus enabling him to be able to get outside whenever he pleased. This did not please me, naturally, because my child has no sense of fear or natural consequence (i.e. cars). This skill quickly translated to home, where he learned to successfully lock or unlock any of our doors. I had a few sleepless nights, fearing that Quinn would make his way outside while Pat and I slept. You might be wondering why we didn't just put a safety lock on the door at this point? Well, we have latch handles, and safety locks aren't easily available for this kind of door handle, at least not anywhere that I shop. Thankfully, I learned that they do exist (thanks Jamie) and purchased one immediately online. Sleep improved dramatically after the installation, and I don't have to spend rainy days constantly trying to persuade Quinn that playing inside can be fun, too. He is also well versed in moving his little toddler chair around the kitchen to try and find delicious snacks on counters, climbing on anything and everything to reach the valuables that we try and prevent him from touching, etc... Independent.

Quinn is also quite gregarious. As I get older, this trait is something that I admire more and more, for I am becoming quite the opposite. For example, when we take him to a park he loves to watch for a couple of minutes and find an older child, almost always an older boy, who is just a bit braver (i.e. crazier) than him. He will study this child’s behaviors and then attach himself to the child like a leach. He follows the child around and tries to mimic his every behavior. Often times this annoys the older boys, but Quinn doesn’t seem to be clued in to this yet. This social personality of his (and need for structure), is what led Pat and I to make the decision to put him in a half-day "preschool" program twice a week. We figured that with a baby on the way, this would give Quinn some social time that he so desperately craves (and will give me a little bit of one-on-one time with baby). The transition has not been going as smoothly as I would have anticipated though. So, we'll see how long we last... It's hard to justify spending money that we don't NEED to spend when it doesn't seem to be the amazing outlet that we had predicted it would be.

This independent and gregarious child of ours also has a bossy side (I'm afraid he probably got this trait from me). Quinn demonstrates a pretty clear understanding of behaviors that are acceptable or not (in Pat and my eyes) based on his bossiness. For example, if he wants to do something that he knows he shouldn’t, he will direct Pat or me (or whoever is responsible for him at the time) to “go sit”, or “go play", or he will simply go and hide so we can't see what inappropriate thing he is trying to do. This can be anything from sneaking food he knows he shouldn't have to ripping our books off of the shelves. My parenting tends to suffer at this time because I find his directions hilarious, and am also fascinated by what he thinks he’ll be able to get away with. I am working on it.

When safety is an issue (which seems to be much more often than I'm comfortable with), I have an easier time being clear and consistent with my boundaries. Around his birthday, after the door unlocking skill developed, we worked very hard to establish clear boundaries for Quinn (i.e. no going out in the road). Quinn will test these boundaries and walk out to the last piece of grass before touching pavement, and will then cover his eyes as if he doesn't realize that he's moving outside of the acceptable play zone or defined boundary. These kinds of dangerous behaviors are what led us to introduce "time-outs" as a consequence for Quinn. Some days they seem to work well, and other days he just doesn't seem to get it. The best part of time-outs has been the release. Currently when I go to release Quinn from his time out he quickly says “saucy” (sorry), gives me a hug and kiss, and then shouts, “Play? Woohoo!” It's adorable. I know that consistency is key to developing a well-mannered child, and plan to continue to follow through with consequences for Quinn's sake (and my sanity). I must admit that so far Pat is more of the disciplinarian in our family. I would have never guessed that would be the case, but appreciate his strictness and aspire to be the same.

At two, Quinn's favorite place to be is outside. He loves water, running, jumping, sliding, swinging, climbing, and FREEDOM. Outside is his paradise. Sadly, the weather this summer has not cooperated. Quinn isn't deterred by weather, but mommy is. We've had some fun dates at the pool and beach though, and I look forward to many more.

Quinn also loves movies. He is familiar with nearly all of the Pixar titles, and is expanding his repertoire beyond Pixar as well. His newest favorite is Shrek, and he requests it daily. His screen time is not lacking, let's just say that.

Our little munchkin is an extreme animal lover. He learned animal sounds before any basic words, chooses books with animals before anything else, and absolutely loves his pets, Lucy and the cats. Poor Lucy puts up with all of Quinn's "love", and we are so grateful that she is a patient and tolerant pup. The cats don't put up with Quinn at all, and for that reason cats are a magical phenomenon for Quinn that can't be touched. He loves to see the cats and is learning that he needs to be very still if he ever wants them around. This stillness doesn't happen very often though, and consequentially, Quinn rarely spends time with the cats. Lately we've been dog sitting for a friend, and so there have been two pups around. Quinn has been in heaven, and luckily Gizmo ("Momo") is just as tolerant as Lucy.

Quinn's love for books seems to ebb and flow. Sometimes I'll find him sitting with a basket of books and see him read through each one independently, identifying the pictures and/or animal sounds that he knows from each page. Other times when he reads he'll pick one page in each book, say a word or two, and then close the book and say, "all done". I hope that his love of books develops more, but don't want to push him away either.

Our little love also seems to be inheriting his dad's love of sorting. Play nowadays consists mainly of sorting toys, putting toys in a line, moving toys from one spot to another, etc... As the sorting/rearranging takes place, he tends to count in his own special way, leaving out the number two always, and oftentimes just beginning with the number three. Quinn's counting goes something like this, "Wuh, tree, four, fide, sick, seven, eight..." and then random numbers start getting thrown around or he starts back at three. I would think he was unaware of the number two except my aunt was showing him the peace sign around the time of his birthday, trying to get him to say peace, and he responded with "No, two". We had been trying to teach him to respond to the question "How old are you?" with "Two, yahoo!". It happened on occasion, but hasn't translated into a sequential number for counting just yet. He goes through phases that seem to change daily regarding whether or not everything needs to be orderly vs. absolute chaos. Naturally, I prefer the orderly days, and am trying to figure out how to foster that preference.

Quinn is also developing an ever-growing list of comfort items (and learning how to procrastinate during our bedtime routine by adding to his list). Currently, when he goes to bed, the required toys are first and foremost "doggies" (there are two musts, but sometimes he has three), Buzz, Woody, Alien, Saur (dinosaur), Nemo, pillow pets (all three of them), etc... It is absolutely ridiculous, but not worth fighting in Pat and my opinion. Oh, and his binkies. We haven't let go of the binky yet, and I don't plan to take this away prior to his sister's arrival. I dread this transition, but know that the longer we wait the harder the break will probably be.

Thankfully, Quinn has had a growing interest in babies over the past couple of months as well, thanks to his cousin Delaney. Unfortunately, my intuition tells me that this interest will likely take a turn for the worst when there is a baby around 24/7. He has a big brother book that he enjoys reading (or having us read to him) and he picks out himself as big brother in the book and says “Quinn”, and he identifies the baby as either “baby” or his sister’s name. It’s pretty darling. He also requests "babies” on my computer, which means he’s interested in watching you tube videos of babies laughing or babbling. He gets the biggest smile on his face, and sometimes says (with prompting), "so cute!" I have been having a little (okay, a lot), anxiety about how he will adapt from being the center of our universe to having to share our attention as we welcome his sister into the world. I anticipate some rough weeks, but remind myself that siblings are a wonderful gift, and just pray that he and his sister will be the best of friends before we know it.

Quinn's language development has really started to take off in the past few months as well. However, when I see him around his peers I recognize that his speech is simply not as developed. He is starting to be able to express his needs and wants in a way that Pat and I can understand about 70% of the time, and that has been quite helpful. He also tries to mimic anything that we say, and he is showing an interest in knowing what things are called. This has been a huge step for us, and I anticipate his speech will continue to burst in the upcoming months.

A few of Quinn's most common words at two:

"Saucy"=sorry

"Tank-to"=thank-you

"Sucy"=Lucy

"Wook"=Look

"Where'd go?"=Where'd it go?

"Igunnagetchew"=I'm going to get you

"Eeww, yuck!"

I “anything imaginable”= I WANT that (he hasn’t figured out want yet)

...and our personal favorite, hands down: "Iyu you"=I love you.

I could go on and on about all things Quinn, but I think that this summarizes him pretty well at two. It is so fun to watch his little personality develop, and I am so grateful for the light that he brings to our lives.

Quinn, we love you! Happy 2nd birthday!!

21 Months Among Other Things

My baby is almost two! Well, 3/4's of the way there at least. A lot has happened in the Gillette household over the past few months since my last update; it's hard to even know where to start (doesn't that sound familiar)!

Quinn's biggest accomplishment over the past few months has been his transition from a crib to a toddler bed. In February he started escaping his crib when he woke up and he happily greeted Pat and me each morning. This was adorable until he started escaping the crib at bedtime. That was just exhausting. Our bedtime routine, something that had been consistent and downright easy since Quinn was about 12 weeks old, turned into a two hour ordeal each night. Pat and I realized how lucky we had been to have a child who didn't fight us to go to bed, and we realized how much we needed a little downtime each evening for ourselves. After a couple of weeks of fighting the crib escapes, I broke down and bought Quinn a toddler bed and converted his nursery/guest room into a nursery/guest room/toddler room! "Broke down" probably isn't the right use of words, for any excuse to redecorate a room is an exciting task for me! The first night we put Quinn in his new bed he cried for about five minutes, and he hasn't cried being put to bed since! We weren't sure why we struggled through those two tough weeks when we realized how easy the transition would be! Nowadays, he's even picked up a new habit of waking up and helping himself to his toys. I couldn't be more thrilled about this. He tends to play for a half hour or so before he can't stand to be in his nighttime diaper anymore. As soon as Pat or I greet him in his room, he points to his diaper and walks to his changing table (usually because he's pooped). I'm just waiting for this playtime decision to take place in the evenings when he is supposed to be going to sleep...

In terms of temperament and attitude, most days I feel as if I already have a two-year old! Don't get me wrong, I love my little boy to pieces, but he has an independent attitude, knows what he wants, and if he doesn't get it he can throw a fit with the best of them. Two of his favorite words are "mine" and "no". We have introduced time-outs, and are struggling with the daunting responsibility of disciplining and raising a caring and respectful young boy.

It has been fun to watch Quinn's skills develop over the past few months. He is able to use his silverware with greater success (although he still reverts to using his fingers) and he is capable of using a cup without a lid successfully. That is, until he decides he's not thirsty anymore, at which point he simply dumps out whatever was left in the cup. We're working on it... He also loves to color and holds his crayon quite well for his age (better than some of my kindergarten students did at the beginning of the year). We sing the ABC's, count with him regularly, and practice things like colors and shapes, but he seems to have no interest. He has been starting to love puzzles though, and can put the pieces back in their spots with relative ease. His greatest academic strengths seem to lie in his ability to name and/or recognize nearly every Pixar character!

Quinn's speech continues to develop, although I feel as though Pat and I are still the only people who can understand what he is trying to say most of the time (and we can't always understand him). He has some very cute little phrases that he repeats regularly. Some include "Where'd it go?" "There you are!" "I don't know." "I love you." I am incapable of figuring out which letters to use to type the way Quinn actually sounds when speaking, so my goal is to get some of his talking on video.

Quinn's physical developments continue to soar. He loves to run and jump, and is getting fairly independent coming down stairs. I still can't leave him alone though! That daredevil in him cannot be trusted. :) Just last week, he started a new game where he would climb up the stairs, and then slide down feet first while rolling from his back to his tummy to his back again. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff, but he sure does keep me on my toes! Climbing onto beds and then jumping off is one of Quinn's favorite hobbies. And when you try and catch him, he'll run to the other side of the bed and try and jump off without assistance. Did I mention he's got an independent personality?

Quinn's favorite place to be is outside, which we are thrilled about. Unfortunately, it's been a cold and rainy spring. While that doesn't seem to bother Quinn much, it prevents me from wanting to spend too much time outside. I look forward to spending the summer months outside, chasing Quinn around the pool at our apartment complex. :)

While this is "old" news, I haven't yet shared that Quinn will become a big brother in August. Our projected due date is August 3. Between trying to balance mothering, a teaching job, and my family, this pregnancy has been flying by. In some ways this is nice, because with Quinn each week seemed to crawl by. However, I already have a sense of guilt for this poor child, because I feel as if she's being neglected. That's right, it's a SHE! Pat and I had our ultrasound about a month ago, but I did not want to learn the gender in the ultrasound like we did for Quinn. I wanted a different experience this time around. I even thought that I might want to go through my entire pregnancy not knowing the gender... but curiosity ultimately got the best of me! So, during our ultrasound we had the tech write down our baby's gender and place it in a sealed envelope. My parents were going to be in town visiting the following weekend to attend the Redmond Chorale choir concert that I was accompanying, so we thought it would be fun to share in the gender learning experience with them. Pat took the sealed envelope to a local bakery and had them decorate a cake for us with the inside frosting being pink or blue, to reveal the gender. As I cut into the cake and listened to Quinn cry for "cake, cake, cake" in the background, I was thoroughly shocked to see PINK. I am excited to have the opportunity to experience parenting a child of each gender, and am excited about frivolous things like ribbons and bows that will undoubtedly be a part of our future!

What Quinn wore to reveal our pregnancy to our families.

16 weeks

The gender revealing cake!

Our little angel

When we first learned of my pregnancy, we taught Quinn that the baby was in my belly and had him saying "day-dee" and kissing the baby regularly. Now that I am further along and showing, Quinn doesn't seem to care at all (as evidenced by his crawling all over me and saying "no" when we say baby). After today I am feeling more optimistic about our transition as a family of three to a family of four, though. We just spent the afternoon with our adorable niece, Delaney (another news update since my last post), and Quinn was showing so much more interest in the baby this time around. If she was drinking from a bottle, he wanted to be the one to feed it to her, and he wanted us to let him hold her. I'm sure he has no idea that he'll have plenty of baby holding and feeding opportunities in a few short months!

Delaney, two days old

Speaking of our adorable niece, Delaney Rae was born on February 10th and couldn't be more perfect. So far, we've been able to see her about once a month and while it doesn't feel like enough, we're grateful for the time that we have with her. I forget how quickly babies grow and change! She's already lost her "newborn" look and is demonstrating great strength in her neck and legs. She's such a happy baby who I've only heard fuss when hungry. It's been such a blessing to watch our family grow!

I don't do a very good job of updating about Pat's work, but he has recently accepted a new position that warrants an update! We first moved up here so he could work as a contract animator for Bungie on Halo Reach. This was a pivotal point in Pat's career, because it was the first time he was working on a game that he was proud of, and that he looked forward to playing himself. This job has also seemed to open up more job opportunities for him. When his contract was over, he went to a different company to work on a kid's game (something he wasn't as proud of professionally) but he was given leadership opportunities there that gave him a new perspective in his industry. Most recently, though, he accepted another contract animator position for 343 Industries, Microsoft's new game company that will be taking over the Halo series. He is working with his good friend, Will, and Pat is absolutely giddy to be working on a project that he is excited about again for a company that he believes in. I am giddy for him, and proud to be married to a man who truly follows his dreams (as corny as that sounds). If I am being completely honest, I would have to admit that I thought Pat's career goals were a long-shot when we first got married. I supported him, but I really had no idea where he'd end up professionally. Pat has been persistent and determined to do work that makes him happy, even if it is a competitive (and relatively unknown) industry. This opportunity at 343 has been perfect timing for our family as well, because while Pat is working there this next year, I will have the opportunity to stay home again with Quinn and our precious baby girl. I am so grateful for the year that I was able to spend with Quinn, and while I know that it is going to be a lot of work with two kids, I am looking forward to having the opportunity to spend another year at home.

Due to a series of incredibly fortunate events, Pat and I will be renting a new home from some gracious landlords (my parents) starting in October. We have the luxury of customizing the home to fit our tastes and preferences, and look forward to having more space for our growing family, and visitors!! This timeline does put us moving with a baby again, but we couldn't be more thrilled!

Life has felt so hectic lately, and I want to be able to look back at this busy time and remember the little moments that truly make my days special. Recently, the highlight of my days have been right after Pat (as "Mr. Turtle") or I read Quinn his bedtime story. He crawls into his bed, cuddles up in the covers, and whispers "I ya you" (I love you). My heart melts each time, and I can't help but take pause and revel in the abundant blessing that Quinn has been in our lives.

Quinn, the past 21 months have been the happiest of our lives and we couldn't love you more!

15-18 Months: A Few Pics

Most bloggers are far more organized than I have been of late, and can manage to include both pictures and words in one post. Well, not me. Not this week at least. So, after brainstorming the latest happenings of Quinn, I thought it might be appropriate to share a few photos from the past couple of months as well. We've gotten a lot worse at taking photos, but here are a few that capture his precious personality and a few of the things that we've been up to lately.

16 months-ish (maybe?) out on the farm in Monmouth.

What a good helper! Outdoors is his favorite place to be, by far.

Beautiful fall day

I forgot to mention that he has a mouth full of teeth, but the drool all over his shirt is testament to that. Also, he's been fighting hats less lately, and even asks for one on some mornings. I couldn't be more thrilled! It's the one accessory I can get away with for my little boy. :)

One of our favorite places to go during the gloomy winter months is KidsQuest museum (really, indoor play area) in Bellevue. We probably visit about once a week on average, and Quinn loves it.

18 months

He really is this sweet, most of the time. :)

Q Update

I imagine it gets old reading, "Where do I start?" every six weeks or so on this blog, but it's all I can think to say! I've tried to use this blog as a personal baby book for my family and Quinn, and so I am going to attempt to capture Quinn's latest achievements and developments for this purpose.

Quinn is now 19-months old, but just had his 18-month well-child visit. His stats from that visit were:

Height: 2' 9'' (63rd percentile)
Weight: 27 lb 3 oz (61st percentile)
Head Circumference: 49 cm (78th percentile)

When I was pregnant with Quinn we "interviewed" several pediatricians in San Jose, and took the responsibility of finding a caring doctor for him quite seriously. And then we moved. I was overwhelmed by the thought of going through the process of finding a pediatrician up here, and quite frankly, made the decision quickly and hoped for the best. I loved the pediatrician that Quinn had in the bay (even if Quinn only got to see him two times, once in the hospital and once a week later), but I LOVE our pediatrician here, Dr. Heng. She's informative, kind, knowledgeable, and she always gives me an idea of what I can be working on with Quinn that is developmentally appropriate for him. There was one time when we had to see a different doctor, and I hated him. :( So, the saying that all pediatricians are great doesn't necessarily hold true. I give this background so you can understand the sentiment that I felt when I went to make Quinn's 18 month well-child visit and was told that Dr. Heng would be on sabbatical for an indefinite amount of time. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I made an appointment for Quinn with the only other doctor at our local Redmond office (who wasn't the man he had previously seen), and loved him too! So, now I am convinced that most pediatricians are fantastic. He possessed the same qualities as Dr. Heng, and I couldn't have been more relieved!

Developmentally, Quinn is still an active little boy. He loves to run and climb, and in the last several months he has added jumping to his bag of tricks. In fact, Quinn is quite the little stunt man in training. He will climb onto our guest bed (using a variety of toys to help boost him up) and will perform spinning jumps off of the bed, shouting "ta da!" when he "lands" (i.e. crashes) to the floor. He laughs, and proceeds to try a new trick off of the bed. It occurred to me that my child is likely to break a limb sooner rather than later (and as much as he tries to avoid my help, I have decided it's probably best to catch him as he jumps for now). I often times find myself just watching, so curious to see what he'll do next, and in those dangerous moments I have to remind myself that I am the parent here! He will also jump off of his toy chest, the couch, etc... Along with his stunt man traits, Quinn has picked up a "punch-fall". I'm not sure what to call it, but he'll clap his hands as if he's mimicking getting slapped across the face, and then fall to the ground. Pat and I have been racking our brains trying to figure out where he could have picked up this "trick" and the only thing we can think of is it must have come from daycare. It is a bit violent, but oh so hilarious. I don't think he means any harm, but I hope I'm not just a blind parent here as well. We do have video on one of our phones that I'd like to figure out how to upload at some point. Stay tuned. Anyhow, it is clear that Quinn enjoys stunts from an early age, and it will be interesting to see how these stunts develop as he gets older. Pat will oftentimes comment about how he can remember doing similar things, but seeing as how he remembers, I'm assuming he was a bit a older.

Quinn's speech has been trying to take off for the past several months, but I think it's safe to say that Pat and I are likely the only people who can understand at least 80% of Quinn's vocabulary. The most exciting new word came right around 18 months, and that was "mama". Yes friends and family, I had to wait 18 months to hear my baby say mama. He stay doesn't say it with regularity, but if I bribe him he will. For fun yesterday Pat and I tried to think of how many words Quinn says, and we came up with over 30. But, we are counting sounds such as "eease" for please and "ot" for hot. Quinn doesn't say whole words very well, but he is mimicking us more and more, and he is showing that he knows a lot of vocabulary by what he is able to point out in the books that we read together. Quinn continues to love making animal sounds, and has added a few new animals to his repertoire.

The most convenient development, and the one that I am the most ashamed of, is Quinn's love of movies. He will sit through an animated film from start to finish (or close to it). When we come home each day, it has become a routine for him to pick out a movie so I can prepare dinner, and sadly, Quinn has come to expect this. And yes, he can work the Blu-ray player all on his own. He will play with his toys as the movie is on, but when it gets turned off he says, "uh oh", and then asks for "more", wanting it turned on again. It is something that I'd like to see us cut back on, but it sure has been nice to be able to make dinner in the evenings and just relax a little.

The last time I spoke of Quinn's developments at 15 months, I was feeling overwhelmed by my parental role, particularly in regards to Quinn's temper tantrums. These tantrums still exist, but perhaps I am becoming more numb to them. Quinn knows what he wants, and if he doesn't get it, he will make is displeasure known to the world. I have no problems letting him "work it out" (by screaming on the floor for a few seconds/minutes) at home, but this is more of a challenge in public. Currently I struggle with balancing showing respect to those around me by keeping my child under control, and parenting my child. Thankfully, these moments do not occur too often. If Quinn is well-rested and fed, he's a pretty happy-go-lucky child.

Last week I was reminded how fortunate we have been with Quinn's health. Unfortunately, it takes a sickness for me to reflect on how much of his life has been spent well, or close to it. With daycare came many colds, but nothing that we couldn't handle. Two weekends ago Quinn got a flu bug that stayed with him for a couple of days. He acted perfectly happy; it was just no fun seeing him helpless in the moments when he was vomiting. Telling him that he couldn't have milk as he begged for it, starving was quite miserable as well. However, for some reason, the vomiting turned into diarrhea a few days later, which turned into a severe diaper rash. We haven't had to deal with diaper rash and I can now empathize with families that deal with this on a regular basis. Quinn wouldn't sit down, he wouldn't go into the bathtub, and he wouldn't even let me hold him because he was so uncomfortable. Our household was sleep deprived and miserable for a few days as we tried to nurse Quinn back to a comfortable state. I have yet to experience a worse feeling than seeing my baby in pain and not being able to take that pain away. I was an emotional wreck. Thankfully, Quinn is doing much better now, and our family is slowly catching up on sleep. Unfortunately, this week of sickness stole our blissful sleeper from us. Quinn was sleeping a dreamy 12 hours a night, from 8-8, and Pat and I were in heaven. Now, he's back to waking by 6 am, and Pat and I are trying desperately to adjust. We are not morning people.

In the upcoming months we look forward to meeting the newest additions to our extended family. Quinn is becoming obsessed with babies, and the timing couldn't be more perfect as his Auntie Lolo is due with baby Delaney any day now (well, technically she isn't due for 10 days), but we're ready NOW. We're just waiting for the phone call that Delaney is on her way, and we'll plan our road trip shorty thereafter. In addition, Zach and Emily are getting closer to receiving the referral for their Ugandan baby. They began the adoption process last March and have certainly put in their time. We are all getting anxious to meet these precious babies, and I am looking forward to seeing how Quinn reacts to these additions. It should be an exciting few months, and we just can't wait!

Quinn continues to be the greatest joy in our lives and we are so blessed by his loving and vivacious spirit each day.

Holidays 2010

I am so behind, it's hard to even know where to start! I'm going to attempt to summarize the past six weeks of our lives in this one post. Suffice it to say, it was a busy holiday season for us this year. And, we wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Monmouth, and enjoyed our first Thanksgiving in one city. Normally, we try and cram in two Thanksgivings, and with our families living on separate sides of the state, five hours apart from each other, it was just getting too hectic. We had a nice time pigging out on Thanksgiving, watching Chloe and Quinn play together like never before (they were such cute little buddies on this trip, it was so fun to see), scouring the ads for the best Black Friday deals, shopping till we dropped (on several occasions), and celebrating Lora's pregnancy and baby Delaney while the boys played golf. It was a lovely weekend. Here's a few of pics from the weekend:

The ladies at Lora's family shower

The pretty table

What a cute cake! Thanks Emily!!

Happy Baby Shower Lolo!

Cuddling on the couch

Benjamin liked to be part of the action

It was a fun and exhausting day

Chorale Weekend

The following weekend, my parents came up to visit and attend the events surrounding the Redmond Chorale. I was asked to join this start-up non-profit community choir as the accompanist by one of my local friends this summer. Being eager to have an obligation on the side (aside from my mommy role), I happily accepted. Then, I got my Kindergarten teaching job! This choir isn't a huge time commitment, but we do meet weekly for rehearsals, and it takes rehearsal time for me at home as well. Things were a little busier than I had anticipated this fall, but it was a wonderful experience, and I agreed to accompany the choir again for their next concert in March. Anyhow, the first weekend in December the choir had three different performances, one at Redmond Lights, one church service performance, and a Sunday evening concert. It was great having my parents there because they were able to watch Quinn for two of the performances, making it so we only needed a babysitter for one evening! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Anniversary Weekend

When I dreamt of a winter wonderland wedding, I'm not sure I had thoroughly thought through what that would mean for future anniversary celebrations. In the same breath, Christmas time has an added layer of depth for me, as I reflect on how lucky I am to be married to such a great guy! This year Pat and I celebrated five years of marriage, and thought that it would be appropriate for us to pause, and just really enjoy a weekend together, with no hustle and bustle. So, we packed up the car, dropped Quinn off with Grandma Cathy, and enjoyed 24+ hours in Lincoln City, just the two of us. We napped, we ate, we shopped, we relaxed; it was everything I was hoping it would be. I just couldn't stand spending two nights away from our precious Quinn, so we headed back to Grandma Cathy's for the last night of our weekend getaway.

It's the Oregon Coast in December, so naturally, it was a little (okay, a lot) wet! Cathy bought us matching rain coats which really came in handy. Shelby, I know you'll get a kick out of this beach experience... :)

Christmas in Monmouth

The following weekend, we packed up the car yet again and drove back to Monmouth to celebrate Christmas with Pat's family. School had just ended, and so I was officially on Winter Break, hallelujah! We had our traditional clam chowder Christmas Eve dinner, spoiled the kids (and each other) with gifts, celebrated the reason for the season (Quinn is starting to sing along at church a little, and it's adorably hilarious), ate way too much good food, and just enjoyed our time together.

Quinn and Chloe working on a puzzle amidst the chaos.

They thought this was a good idea.

TV/bink sharing time.

More box fun with Auntie Riah

Christmas in Walla Walla

Pat had the whole week off in between Christmas and New Years, and so we were able to spend some extended time in Walla Walla. Believe it or not, we hadn't been there since September, and so it was so nice to have some time after all of our traveling to stay in one place! We were able to spend Christmas Eve in LaGrande with my mom's side of the family (our annual tradition), Christmas morning with my immediate family, Christmas afternoon with Pat's family, and then Christmas dinner with my Dad's side of the family. It wasn't as busy as it sounds. It was actually quite relaxing. Quinn enjoyed opening gifts, but his favorite part was climbing on boxes, standing up and shouting (with his hands in the air) "ta da!" He's such a ham! Our time in Walla Walla was spent eating copious amounts of food, being entertained by Quinn's energetic personality, and relaxing!

Cutie pie, getting into something he's not supposed to, I'm guessing.

My littlest love.

He got into the unwrapping. This kid loves to climb, as you can get a glimpse of here.

'

Sock monkey basketball. Funny boy.

Yes, my son got a microphone to use with a recycled karaoke machine for Christmas, and he loves it. I told you he's a ham!

New Years

For New Years, we were still in Walla Walla. During the day we relaxed and played in the snow. For dinner, my mom made her famous lasagna (Quinn's new favorite food), and Lora, Matt, my Nana, and Aunt Diane all came over. Afterwards we had our annual "game night" playing cards. Games are my favorite way to kick off a new year!

This is Quinn saying one of the new words he learned over the break, "sssnooow."

Attempting a snowman. We didn't get very far. :)

Well, I'm thoroughly impressed if you managed to hang in there through this entire post! We hope that you were able to spend the holidays surrounded by those you love and that your New Year is off to a great start!