hilarious...elmo + lmfao = some good viewing

mike showed this to me.  

it has quickly become quinn's favorite youtube download.

maybe mine too.

watch and see:

can be used in a pinch to calm a restless baby while in line at the grocery store.  just saying...

trip to the zoo...in pictures

we have the most fabulous local zoo just down the road.  and get this...it is free.  yes, free.  nothing is ever free anymore, right?

so on sunny days quinn and i go there and walk and visit with the animals.  when he is older, i plan to get books about each animal and we can study and then visit them and watch as they grow and change.  i am pretty excited to live so near to this great place.  of course, i do feel badly that these animals are not roaming free in there natural habitat and i kinda hate zoos sometimes for cooping animals up inside all these cages and bars.  but zoos are probably here to stay so i will embrace them for the learning experience they provide.  

that being said, here are pics of our most recent trip:

rantings on motherhood, satisfaction, and life lately

if you haven't read glennon melton's huffington post story "don't carpe diem" here is the link so you can do so right now.  i'll wait.

the story is every bit of hitting-the-nail-right-on-the-head for me at this point in my life and my new job of being a mama.  and on numerous occasions since reading her story, i have sighed and thought "kairos" and smiled because it is so right-on.  thank you glennon, i loved this story and can't wait to read more of your thoughts.

now on to my thoughts:

i am seriously in-love with being a mom and i am overwhelmed with how much i feel for this little person.  every single day i have joy - not every moment, but every damn day.  i would say that is the biggest blessing in the world, wouldn't you?  but being a mom is a hard job, especially if you do it right!  and having just been through such a whirlwind with relocating, new job, new work schedule, etc. i am a little down that i let so many months pass being wrapped up in silly things.  and by silly things i mean letting the stress of moving get the best of me, fretting over all the crap piled around me, the half-unpacked boxes, the house barely clean enough to move in to, the fact that there are a million things that i want to change about the house but won't because we don't have the money.  silly things!  i am so fortunate to have a roof over my head, albeit one that has a gaping squirrel-sized-hole in it, running water, heat, food, and most of all my family around me!  i know, mushy stuff, but seriously.  mike and i have talked about my need for perfection.  and it is a FLAW in my opinion...not all the time...but lately.  

i have a need to do things yesterday and i expect those around me to do the same.  why?  who cares if the boxes are still out on the porch and not in the garage?  me.  who cares if the guest bed sits in the living room because we scraped the wallpaper on two of four walls in the bedroom and then shut the door and proceeded to ignore that room entirely?  uhhh, me.  i am going to try to just BE SATISFIED more often.  with everything.  i don't mean i am going to strive for mediocrity or live in filth, stop shaving, and have the kid who smells like feet because he is never bathed.  but i want to be happy, even if things aren't perfect, aren't done as quickly as i prefer, even if that new bathroom we want to put in will only happen when money begins to grow on trees.  things will still get done, put away, sorted, cleaned...but maybe just not yesterday.  or even today.  but you know what i get instead?  to hang out with quinn and play and cook and go for walks and spend time with mike when he gets home from work instead of hounding him to get sh&t done.  that is my new year's resolution.  well...maybe my lifetime resolution.  to be satisfied more.

how have your resolutions been going?    

scribbling away

we had a pediatrician appointment the other day, our first at this new office where we moved.  quinn did NOT like the nosy doctor sticking cold metal objects in his ears, on his chest, on his back, etc.  he is so ridiculously protective of his ears, nose, mouth that i have a difficult time actually seeing if any teeth are even busting through because he really doesn't let me.  and forget trying to clean his ears.  he's that dirty toddler with the wax build-up, but whatev!  it had been about 4 months since we had last visited a pediatrician and quinn seemed to have become this independent-thinking and grown little man.  so the doctor asked all the typical questions, did the measurements, and so on.  quinn is apparently a scrawny big-headed kid.  he is under the 5th percentile in both weight and length but his head is in the 70th.  and that is not adjusted for his prematurity either.  it is surprising too because i am fairly tall for a girl at 5'8" and mike is 6'1" so who knows what is to become of this little guy.  but his brain is growing by the second so the doc said that there is nothing he would do differently.  phew!  as for milestones, quinn has a ton of words he likes to throw around and he is running all over the place.  "does he scribble with crayons?" the doctor asked.  "seriously?  he would just eat them" i said.  "well try to give him the crayons, show him what to do, and then see what he does and take them away before he eats them."  

does he scribble?

boom!

{side note:  bath crayons actually from auntie bridget, not from gaga as erroneously mentioned in video.  my bad.}

exploring the bird sanctuary

not much to do at the shore in the winter, but quinn and i are finding our fun.

the bird sanctuary is one of the places where we like to stretch our legs.  

and explore.

a seinfeld moment

just caught this little guy with an envelope that he fished out of the trash.

he was licking it.

right where you lick it and stick it.
then me made a funny face.  

{he looks like he knows he did something untoward, right?}

thought of george's fiance on seinfeld.  not good.  not good at all.

note to self: better monitoring of baby whilst packing up entire contents of house.  in truth, i knew there was only paper products in the office trashcan so don't go calling dhs on me or anything, please!

a walking man

who needs pants when you walk as good as i do?

feeding baby wholesome food from the start

i have had lots of questions from friends and co-workers about when quinn began eating solid foods and what i chose to feed him.  when quinn and i went to his 3 month well-visit, the pediatrician said it was good to begin to introduce solid foods.  he said to start with rice cereal and then pick a specific color fruit or vegetable and give him that for a few days, then something else in the same color group...and so on.  

i was initially overjoyed at the prospect of feeding him real food, thinking that filling his tiny belly at bedtime would help him to sleep more.  so i ran to the local grocery store and picked up the healthy baby rice cereal.  then i began to research baby's first food, when to introduce solids, etc.  then i changed my tune.  getting him to sleep through the night, though a great idea, was not my number one goal.  his overall health was and still is.

~american academy of pediatrics suggests introducing solids at 6 months if breastfeeding...not 3 or 4 months.  more info here

~dr. mercola gives sound advice on avoiding rice cereal, starting solids at 6 months, and about what baby's first solid foods should be here

~check out Dr. Greene's thoughts about how bad rice cereal is here

~weston a price also has thoughts here on beginning to feed your baby

so i decided NOT to heed my doctor's advice (shocker, i know) and to delay solid food introduction until quinn was 6 months.  his first food was then sweet potatoes.  then butternut squash, avocado, applesauce, and so on.  my goal has been to start quinn off on the path to health and wellness from the earliest of starts. you read everywhere or hear on television that the latest generation of kids are said to have a shorter life-expectancy than their parents.  that has not happened since, like, forever!  makes you scratch your head and wonder how we got here.  so i decided to take a less mainstream approach and to dig a little deeper to find information about first solid foods.  i also have made almost all of quinn's food myself.  it really is not all that difficult, saves money in the long run, and you have the piece of mind of knowing exactly what is entering your baby's body.

sleeping after a long day at the pool

is there anything more fabulous than having your perfect soft and warm baby cuddled up and sleeping on you after a long day in the sun?

obviously, the answer is no, there is nothing better in the world.  unless you are a heartless bastard.  only kidding...only kidding.

here we are after the pool one day.  mike captured the two of us napping together.  i wonder if i can convince quinn to take naps like this until, say, his wedding day and then only on holidays thereafter.

baby baba ghanoush-ing

for quinn's birthday, his mamie brought him his own container of baba ghanoush (his favorite).  she let him help himself.  here is the picture montage for you:

and in-case you were wondering, i did think (after the fact) that this would have been way better outside.  it took two tub-fulls of water to clean this kid up!

quinn = stuey?

i work nights as a labor and delivery nurse and i really do love it.  i love being a mom more and would probably quit if i won the lottery, but i do love my job.  i also love the comradery that happens at night and the filter-free banter that goes on somewhere between 3am and 5am.  no topic is off-limits and no person is safe.  the other night the nurses and docs found me as their target.  hilarity ensued.  they believe me to be super-crunchy, whole-foods-eating, deodorant-free, earth-mother.  this is a stretch to some degree.  the topic at hand was the fact that i am nursing my son quinn (now a strapping young boy of 1) and how i wear him in the moby and how i make all of his food...blah, blah, blah.  

nurse:  you are going to wear him in the moby forever.

me:  probably.

nurse:  you'll carry him to class in it.  he'll be like "mom, seriously, you can put me down and i can walk."

me:  his legs will be dragging behind me cause he'll be taller than me but i will still carry him around like that.

nurse: how long are you going to breastfeed him?

me:  til his wedding day probably.  use breastmilk instead of champagne for the toast.

nurse:  he's going to be like stuey on the family guy.  his muscles will be all atrophied from you carrying him around but his head will be huge because he'll be a genius from all the breastfeeding.

happy things this morning

happy tuesday morning everyone!

i am feeling overwhelmed but happy.

this is why:

we are approaching settlement on our current home and have reached a verbal agreement on a purchase price for this home.  i have already begun to decorate the home in my mind, especially when i can't sleep.  i have also started snapping pictures of homes in my neighborhood so that i can copy their paint scheme.  i look like a creepy stalker taking hidden shots with my phone as i walk by these homes disguised as a mom with a baby carriage.  anyway...i am thinking light gray with white trim and black shutters.  thoughts?

perfect breakfast of vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, granola and honey.  couple that with a huge steaming cup of coffee...heaven.

this kid waving "hi" this morning while i made breakfast makes the sleepless-because-of-two-more-teeth-coming-in all worth it.

these two new lipsticks i picked up yesterday.  and no mike, they are not the same color!

revlon's fire & ice and orange flip.

quinn's shoes.  and his little hand reaching for them.  he has pretty much been barefoot since the day he was born.  socks in the winter, but rarely shoes.  lately we have been putting on a pair and waking hand-in-hand down the street.  he barely needs my support, but he won't take more than a step or two without it.  

dear quinn

i just bought some balloons today for your birthday.  i can't believe you are almost one.  the time has flown by so fast.  i can't imagine my heart could even get any bigger because it is just filled with love for you.  you are without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me.  you have taught me to be a kinder, more gentle, and more patient person.  you make me smile and laugh all day long.  your strong will and joyfulness amaze me.  i love watching you awaken each day so excited to learn new things and to see the world.  you are so sweet and i know you have a soft heart.  you will go so far in this life.  i love being your mama.  thank you for choosing us little man.

will someone please come get this baby to fall asleep? pretty please.

it is a good thing quinn is cute.

because he is persistent when he refuses to fall asleep.  i can usually hang in there until he finally nods off after rocking, nursing, swinging, singing.  but when i have only just woken up after working the night before and i am too exhausted to think straight i feel like i am going to scream or cry.

anybody out there want to come rock a very tired, teething, super-cute boy?  maybe until he is eighteen years old or so?  anybody?

yesterday {pics from my sister's camera}

 walking at the playground.  only needs a hand or two to hold.  just barely.

 bridget and sweet little parker, who hangs out like this most of he time. 

quinn actually walking {just one step with the right foot} at the park after lunch.

quinn with two of his big cousins.

quinn and his auntie meghan.