2011 Year in Review

In January, Tyson worked on his laptop alongside Daddy.

In February, we all had a snow day and I think that's when you decided to stop smiling for the camera.

Mama and Daddy also got to work on Quinn's nursery:

In March, we were too busy to do any blog posts, but work continued on Quinn's nursery and Tyson just kept growing:

In April, we started playing outside with regularity:

Mama put the finishing touches on Quinny's nursery:

May, of course, was a big month around here!  We celebrated Tyson's 2nd birthday:

We also welcomed our baby girl:

In June, we made our first trip to the lake for the summer:

and Quinny turned 1 month old:

We celebrated the 4th of July:

And Tyson moved from his crib to a big boy bed:

In August, we enjoyed the summer at the pool, the lake and the fair:

And Quinn turned 3 months:

In September, Quinn became closely acquainted with Baxter:

And Tyson was a little more interested in his baby sister:

We celebrated Halloween in October:

November was a busy month for us!  We celebrated our 8th Anniversary and Quinn's First Thanksgiving:

In December, enjoyed the holiday season with Sparky the Elf:

It's hard to believe it's almost 2012.  We can't wait to see what the new year has in store for our little family!

Quinn - 7 months

Weight: Not sure, maybe 16ish pounds.  She'll be weighed again at her 9m appointment.

Height: Not sure.  She'll be measured again at her 9m appointment.

Size: Size 2 diaper.  Still wearing most of her 3-6m clothes, 6m Carters pjs, onesies and pants, 6-12m one-piece outfits. 

Hair: Getting longer all the time!

Teeth: 2 bottom teeth are fully through.  I think she may be working on some top teeth now. 

Sleeping:  Sleeps in her crib for naps and bedtime.  She goes down for the night between 7-8pm and wakes for the day between 7-8am. She takes 2 naps per day, one longer one in the mornings (2 hours) and a shorter one in the afternoon (1-1.5 hours).   Naps in her crib are getting much better!   If we catch her before she's overtired, she'll put herself to sleep for naps.

She's still waking at least once per night either for a paci or for a small bottle.   We know she can sleep through the night, but for whatever reason she cannot do it consistently. 

Eating: 4-5 7oz. bottles of Alimentum throughout the day, one 4oz bottle in the middle of the night if she wakes.  Solids 1x per day, in the evening.  After a slow start with the solids, she's figured it out and she's doing really well now.  She's tried and liked oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, peaches, pears and applesauce. 

Movement: She's army crawling!  It started about 2 weeks ago and it's the funniest thing.  She just inch worms her way around, but she gets to where she wants to go and much quicker than we want her to.  She loves hold your hands and stand up and she'll stand by herself and hang on to our ottomans. 

Milestones:  Solids, teeth, crawling, visiting Santa.

Favorite toys/activities: Tyson, by far.  She LOVES him.  She also really loves the little picnic basket she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa W.

Dislikes: Being hungry or tired. 

Words: Still just chattering and screeching.

Even though I can't get her to smile for the camera very often, she's really a very content baby!  We love having this little girl in our lives.  ♥

Santa!

This year and last year, we visited Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Pendleton Fire Station.  Ryan's Uncle Steve is a volunteer fireman there and he invites us to join their great (and free!) celebration.

A few of Santa's reindeer (or reindeers as Tyson calls them) hang out and wait for Sant to visit all of the little kids:

Hi spooky reindeer eye.

Not just reindeer, we also had cousins!

And more cousins:

Cookies.  Yum.

and more cookies.

A baby sister too!

A little bean bag toss while we're waiting in line...

Finally, a turn to sit on Santa's lap!  Tyson was less than impressed.  He looks a little scared at first, but Morgan and Quinn don't mind at all.

Santa's trying to talk to him and Mr. Sassyface doesn't want anything to do with him:

Quinny's taking in every word.

By now, he's just ready to get the heck out of there!

All in all, he did better than last year.  Look at how teeny Morgan was last Christmas...only 3 months old!

On the way there, asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas.  He said "umm, cars."  I asked him what else and his response was, "umm, scissors".  I don't think he got his requests out though.  Maybe next year.

Photo Gallery Wall

I've adored photo gallery walls for years.  The Pottery Barn catalog always has the most amazing gallery walls and I knew someday I wanted one for my house.

The problem is that because of the floorplan of our house, I couldn't envision a good spot for one.  After reorganizing a bit (and taking down the print that used to hang there), I decided this little space in our foyer would be perfect.  Yes, the thermostat is in among the frames too!

Enter the gallery wall! 

Since it is a corner on the far edge of our foyer, it's a wee bit dark and hard to get a bright picture of it.



I found the vast majority of the frames at Goodwill and a few at Ikea.  I refused to pay more than $3 for any frame and I spray painted them all off white (the trim in our house is antique white).

I hung most of the frames with 3M Command Velcro Hanging Strips.  I love those things!  They are super easy to use, they hold the frames tightly, no holes in the walls, and the frames don't wobble on the wall.

I love that I now have a place to display all of our beautiful photos and as my babies grow and change, it will be easy to swap out the photos for new ones.

Christmas Glow

Using Beth's tutorial, (found via Pinterest, of course!) I took some glowing pictures of our main tree and mantel.  Merry Christmas!

35mm

f/1.8

1/20 sec

ISO 3200

I'm also linking up to her Show your Glow link party:

Catching up with Sparky the Elf

We haven't forgotten about our little Elf, in fact, Tyson is more excited about him than ever.  Every day when he finds him he yells "It's Sparky the Elf Mom!!"  I think this little boy is going to be very sad when Sparky leaves us until next Christmas.

Enjoy Sparky's escapades over the last 6 days. 
It is getting harder to find good spots for him.  No wonder parents resort to having their elves make mischief. 

trying so hard

Remember when I said my favorite baby stage was when they were big enough to sit up and play with toys, but not mobile enough to go anywhere?  That precious stage lasted a mere two weeks with little Q.  She's trying so hard to crawl. 

This makes me sad for so many reasons.  My baby is growing up.  Way, way too fast.  Taking care of her is about to become 100x more difficult.  Mobile babies are hard, ya'll.

She starts out sitting so nicely.

Then the lunging starts



She pushes her legs out behind her

And she's ready to go!

She can't quite get the mechanics of moving her arms and legs but it won't be long.  She can already pull herself around a bit on her belly.  Watch out world!