This Video Captures "You" Perfectly!

Quinn, I adore this video of you! I took it about a week before you turned 16 months, so it is already 6 weeks old. You have already changed so much since then. Anyhow, I love this because it captures your delightful personality that I get to enjoy each day as I stay home with you. If you look at the background, it also captures the typical messes you make right now, since you are in to everything! You are an explorer and an experimenter. In the film, you are so bright and smart when announcing that you are stepping up and down. And listen for when you say "again" in your cute little way. You say again and ask Mommy to repeat affirming statements that you like. It is priceless. Also, when you fall, you shake your finger at the step as if to scold it for tripping you. It is so endearing! You learned to shake your finger many months ago when the dogs would bark and scare you. You would scold them and say, "Hush!" But your finger wagging then was directed towards anything that scared you (the vacuum, for instance) or tripped you up. Now that you are over 17 months, you are not shaking your finger at things much any more. You have seemed to move on to other ways of expressing yourself. I am so glad that I captured this on film. I want to keep this image in my heart forever. You are such a happy girl and I love spending my days with you.

Big Girl

You are insisting on trying things all by yourself more and more. You are turning in to a little girl. I love you so much, Quinn. I hope that I will do a better job of documenting how wonderful you are now that we are getting settled in Oregon.

Quinnie Snuggling Before Her Bath

Here is a video of some snuggly downtime right before your bath and bedtime routine. It was beautiful to watch the two of you together. Our family time in the evenings is so special and dear! The three of us have so much fun while we play together and unwind before bedtime. We love you, Quinn!

Quick Check-In

Quinn, I am perpetually behind on your blog. I am still determined to catch up and to properly document the past several months. I will say that I think I have a pretty good excuse. We are moving! We are going to move you to Oregon, so you can grow up in the beautiful Western US. The Southeast just is not for us, culturally or environmentally speaking. And we want you to be able to grow up near family! So we are scrambling to get ready for our move. I hope that once we are a bit more organized, I will do a better job at blogging. Here you are in your adorable new Oregon t-shirt. You are too young to understand this now, but Daddy and I smile when we see you in it.

 

 

You had your first birthday last week, but that deserves a well-thought-out post. Right now I am too rushed! I will say for now that I loved celebrating us being a family for one year. You are the best thing that has ever happened to your Daddy and me, without a doubt.

 

You are at such a fun age right now. You have had great receptive language for several months, but you are beginning to express yourself verbally more and more. Right now your favorite words besides Mama and Dada are "dog" and "arf." Daddy reads you a dog book often, and he taught you that dogs bark and say "arf." Here are two video clips of you telling us "arf!" You are so darling!

 



 

We love you and your sweet, soft voice.

 

 

This one is sweet because it shows your cheerful disposition and your love of music as well. You are truly a content, snuggly girl. I love that you are affectionate. I hope you know that Mommy and Daddy will always soak up your love and hugs, even when you are bigger.

 

You Are Already Eleven Months Old

How did this happen? When you were brand new, the days seemed long because I was tired and learning how to take care of you. But now, time seems to be flying by. I want to remember to breathe, slow down, and savor these days. They are so precious. You are growing up and pretty soon you won't be a baby, but will be a toddler. I want to devour the sweet days of your babyhood, sweet Quinn! Happy Eleven Months!

 

Daddy and I love how you scrunch your nose when you smile. Here you are grinning as you ripped off your 11 month sticker.

 

You are so alert and observant. You love to study the world around you.

 

You are an amazing eleven month old baby now! Unbelievable.

Ten Months Old!

Quinn, you turned 10 months old last week. You are finally beginning to sleep well, so I hope that I can go back and document months 8 and 9 soon. Here are some pictures in celebration of 10 months.

 

On your ten month sticker day, I tried to be sneaky and put your sticker on your walker. But since you are always on the move now, it turned out a bit blurry. You love walking around now. Pretty soon you will be able to without your walker, I am sure.

 

Your big, beautiful eyes melt my heart. 

 

Here you are destroying your sticker. You look so grown up to me lately. I have been feeling sentimental.

 

You are so inquisitive and can focus on things for a long time for a baby. You have a serious, thoughtful side. You amaze your daddy and me.

 

You definitely have a playful side, too!

 

Lately you have been wanting to play with everything forbidden and dangerous. You gravitate towards these things. I hope you go back to liking baby toys soon. 

 

You were not happy when Mommy raised the blinds out of reach.

 

You love spending time outside. Here you are crawling down the front yard.

 

You crawl all the way back up, too! You are a strong little bug.

 

Look at your muddy knees. It had rained the day before so the grass was still wet. But you didn't let it stop you from having fun. You like to sit and crunch leaves. Sometimes you try to eat them and mommy has to swoop in and intervene.

 

I love my baby girl so much! Happy 10 Months, Quinn!

9 Month Videos and Update

Quinnie, I have been a horrible blogger. I have so much that I want to post and write. You are changing faster than ever right now and I want to make sure to document it. However, to be completely honest, you have been sleeping terribly. You have gotten one tooth after another during the past 6 weeks. You are even getting your first molar at a really early age. So I have been more tired than I ever was when you were a newborn! I am going to post a couple of videos today and then I hope I can get back on track and post some pictures from 8 and 9 months and from the holidays. Even though I have been exhausted, you continue to bring me joy every single day. You are so much fun right now!

The first video is one that I took yesterday. You love pushing things around and using them as a walker. You especially love to use boxes. Sometimes you wipe out (I caught a spectacular wipe-out on this clip...yikes) but you get right back up and keep going. You are resilient, even though sometimes my heart skips a beat when I see you fall. I am learning to stay calm, unless you indicate that you are hurting. This takes a lot of self-control on my part, since I can't help but wish that I could protect you from any type of pain.

A few other new skills that you have mastered lately are standing on your own (for up to 10 seconds all by yourself...I hope to video that soon) and imitating noises we make. Here is a video I took recently. I tried to get you to imitate a "clicking" noise, since that is one of your favorites. You were more interested in grabbing the camera (it is such a distraction!) but I got a little bit of your imitation on film. Sorry that you have dried food on your face in the close-up shot...Mommy obviously did not do the best job of wiping off your face after lunch. My favorite part of this video is your joyous smile at the beginning. It melts me every time! You are full of smiles each and every day.

You are also showing us that you know many more words. You point at many objects that we name. Some your favorites are "duck" since you love your rubber ducky in the bath and "ring" since you love grabbing at the wedding rings on our fingers. It is so exciting to know that you understand what we say. We think that you have said the words Mama and Dada with intent, but it is still a little hard to know with 100% certainty. I love that we are beginning to communicate with words, though. It is so exciting! I love you so much, dear Quinn, and hope to get this blog more up to date. You slept well last night. Let's keep that going so I have more energy to blog, ok?