Quinn's 12m stats

Weight: 19 lbs, 15oz.  (25%)

Length: 29.5 inches (65%)

Head Circumference:  I can't remember, but her head is still quite large (90%) 

She's our healthy, growing girl!

Quinn's 1st Birthday Party

I posted the pics from her party on my other blog:  Hoosier Life, Hoosier Wife

Quinn is One!

We had a little family birthday celebration with Quinn on her actual birthday. Since her party wasn't until the next day, we gave her the gifts from us.

She loves Tyson's PBK Anywhere Chair, so we got her one of her own.  I think she likes it!

Oh, and we got new books too!

Now it's time to climb.  Bye!

Quinn: 12 Months!

12 months did you say?!  Yay!

Age:  12 months!

Weight: 19-20 lbs, but we'll know for sure on Tuesday.

Height: Not sure.

Size: Not much change from last month.  Size 3 diapers, 6-12m clothes, still some 9m stuff, some 12m, can still wear 6m onesies.

Hair: Growing longer, lighter at the roots.  I think she's going to need a haircut soon because of the rat tail she's growing. 

Teeth: 6.  She still just has 2 teeth on the bottom but 4 on top.  I think another bottom tooth is going to pop through soon.

Sleeping: For the most part, amazing!  She's started sleeping through the night regularly and but for a few random nights (probably teething), she's not waking at night any more.  She's taking 2 naps per day, longer one in the morning and a shorter one in the afternoon.  She goes to bed at night between 7:00-7:30pm and has been waking up pretty consistently around 6:30am.

Eating: Not much change here.  She eats anything and everything.  She regularly eats 3 meals each day, plus a few snacks.   We're officially done with bottles and she is drinking a mixture of soy formula and soy milk in a sippy cup 3 times per day.  As soon as the formula is gone, she'll go straight to soy milk.

Movement: She can stand alone, but she will not take steps.  She'll cruise and crawl everywhere and she'll walk behind push toys or holding a single finger.  She is quite daring and will climb on anything.  She'll even crawl in the grass. 

Milestones:  Done with bottles, first birthday!

Favorite toys/activities: Tyson. Baths. Eating. Tyson's toys. Climbing. Tyson's books.  Brushing her teeth.  Weird, I know.  :)

Dislikes: Being hungry or tired, Tyson taking his toys away from her.

Words: Hi, mama, some times dada, she will repeat words.

Happy Birthday Sweet Quinn!

Our big three year old!

The night before his birthday, I hung streamers from his door and threw balloons on the floor of his room.

The balloons backfired on me a bit since he woke up just before 5am and brought a balloon into my room :)  Luckily, he went back to sleep easily!

Good morning birthday boy!

I'm THREE!!

His actual birthday fell on a Monday this year and we both had to work so we opened presents later that evening.

I love how he takes the time to read his book before moving on to the next gift.  :)

Lastly, a rare Tyson moment a few days later.  It's not very often that I can catch his sweet face sleeping (without waking him up).

At his 3 year appointment, he weighed 37.2 lbs (95%) and was 39 inches tall (90%).  We have a healthy growing boy!

New blog and Tyson's party pics!

I've decided to start a new blog (or restart my old one!).  That blog will have anything home and party related.  This one will stick to the kiddos.  :)

I hope you'll visit me often at the new blog: Hoosier Life, Hoosier Wife.

I just uploaded all of Tyson's 3rd birthday pics there...check 'em out!

Happy 3rd Birthday Tyson!

I have never had three years pass by in an instant.  Everyone says it, but it's so true. It feels like yesterday that we were in the hospital waiting for him to arrive.

This sweet little boy has blessed and challenged us in ways we never thought possible.

We are so, so lucky to be your parents.  



It was like we blinked and you grew from a tiny baby to a little boy.

Your ever-emerging personality makes us laugh daily.

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little man I know.  Happy 3 years :)

Silly Kids

Adventures of potty training our boy

Tyson will be three in just a few days.  Eeek.  That's an entirely different post!

We had tried potty training with him last November.  Needless to say, it did not go well.  We tried a bootcamp method and he just wasn't getting it.  I don't know if he just wasn't ready, it wasn't the right method for him or what.  It ended after 2 days with a lot of tears from both of us.  We went back to diapers for a few months and then about 2 weeks ago, I decided it was time to really hit the potty training hard again.

He had successfully gone on the potty several times, but there just wasn't any consistency.  We had literally tried everything I could think of or read about -- the aforementioned bootcamp, sticker charts, potty books, straight to undies, using Pull Ups, potty songs, abundant praise, peer pressure, using a potty ring, using a potty chair -- none of it worked. 

The night before our potty training endeavor started, I took him to Target, just the two of us.  We talked the whole way there about how he was going to be a big boy and that diapers were for babies.  I told him that he could walk the store instead of riding in the cart because that's what big boys get to do.  I let him stroll tear through the toy aisles and pick out whatever "big" toy he wanted.  He settled on a pretty cool, fairly large fire truck.  I also bought several small Hot Wheels cars, some Circo wooden trains, M&Ms and gummi bears to use as rewards.  Oh, and a few packages of daytime and nighttime Pull Ups.

The next morning, I put away the changing pad on top of his dresser and he protested.  I had no idea that little changing pad meant anything to him!  We went straight to undies that morning.  Our nanny, Brooke, was here with me so we were able to tag team getting him to the potty and taking care of Quinn too.  I caught one pee on the potty and we were thrilled for him!  We celebrated that first pee like you wouldn't believe!  I had to leave for a dentist appointment, but Brooke knew what to do.  Of course, he promptly peed on the living room floor as soon as he had an opportunity.  But, I'm happy to say that was his only accident the first day!

The kid LOVES lemonade, so I made a huge pitcher and let him drink as much as he wanted.  By lunchtime, he was not only peeing consistently in the potty, but he was racing to get there all by himself!  We put him in a Pull Up for his nap and then went straight back to undies as soon as he woke up.  He was rewarded and praised and hyped up on adrenaline and sugar!  The first day went so much better than I could have expected! Even with all of the success, he never once pooped on the potty the first day.

Over the next few weeks, he hasn't been as consistent. He still makes it to the potty about 90% of the time, but pooping still needs work. A lot of work. I guess for an almost-three year old, he's doing pretty well. We haven't wavered with the undies. He wears them as soon as he gets up until he goes to bed, minus the Pull Up for naps. I think for us, we'll focus on getting him consistently day trained and then move to nap trained and eventually night trained. We're so proud of him for how far he's come! I have to keep telling myself that when I'm cleaning poo out of underwear. Blech!

As for the big fire truck he picked out? It's been sitting on top of our tv armoire since we bought it. He still hasn't officially "earned" it yet. He'll get it when he goes 2 full days without any accidents. He still asks about it all the time, so hopefully it won't be too long before it's officially his.