Two Weeks Today!

Well, we are celebrating our 2 week anniversary of Quinn giving up her pacifier. Honestly, I think Kirch and I are celebrating more than Quinn is. I just can't get over how gratifying it feels for us to have cleared this hurdle! Quinn has been sleeping fantastic this week, not even waking up at all at night! I take that back - she woke up twice Wednesday night, cried literally for about 3 seconds, and by the time we got to her door to go in, she had settled back down and went to sleep. HUGE!

Last night it was Kirch's night to read books to Quinn and rock her before putting her down. She was not happy about it. She wanted her mom, so once he left and she screamed bloody murder, I went it, rocked her for about 5 minutes, and then she looked up at me and said, "night, night!" Well, that's our cue - when she says that, she's usually ready to go to bed. So, sure enough, I put her down and she rolled right over. What is it about a child only wanting one parent or the other? I tell ya, it's hard not to take that stuff personally!

Same Park, Different Days

This weekend was just so beautiful and we had no major plans, so Quinn visited the park down the road from us on Saturday and Sunday mornings!

On Saturday morning, when Kirch was at work, I walked Quinn in the stroller to the park so we could share some mommy-daughter time. It was pretty humid on Saturday, and after an hour we were both sweating up a storm! But Quinn had a blast - I pushed her on the swing for a bit, then she wanted to go to the jungle gym. She's so much more agile than she used to be - she climbed up the steps by herself and just loved going down the slides! And it's hard work chasing after an 18-month-old on those jungle gyms! She had me crawling through tunnels and sliding down slides with her. Whew! If only I had half the energy she has!

On Sunday morning, the weather had cooled down considerably. Kirch, Quinn and I walked to the park again and did the usual swinging, climbing, and running around. It was so much drier out, and when Quinn would slide down the slides, electricity would run through her, causing her hair to stand straight up! It was pretty hysterical - although she didn't care - all she cared about was sliding down those slides! Poor kid, every time we'd grab her, we'd all get shocked! She kept saying "Ow!", it was just too cute!

Later Sunday afternoon we took Quinn over to Jenn & Josh's so Kirch and I could have some time alone together. We just walked from Jenn's to Buca di Beppo for some pizza, and then walked back. But it was nice to be able to share a pizza alone at a restaurant... almost like a date! We don't get much time alone together, so it's very much appreciated when friends or family watch Quinn for a little while :-)

This is only 9 days late, but...

Welcome, Dylan Anthony Coppens!

I am the worst friend - I have been so consumed with my new job, weaning Quinn off the pacifier, and life in general, that I have completely forgotten to acknowledge the birth of Brenda & Chad's new son, Dylan! And most importantly, Abby is a big sister now!

This is my little brother, Dylan!

Dylan was born last Tuesday, September 11th. He came 3 weeks early, and he is doing just fine! The Coppens Family is home now, adjusting to an even busier schedule than ever. I've talked to Brenda several times and she says other than being extremely tired, trying to nurse a newborn and still find time for a 2 1/2 year old, everything is wonderful.

Congratulations Brenda, Chad and Abby!

The first of many kisses....

Proud Papa!

Victory on the Homefront!

I'm really trying not to get ahead of myself here, but this is huge...

It looks like we have put the pacifier to bed permanently at the Kircher residence! Last night was night #6 without it. In keeping up with the consistent inconsistency, I put Quinn down last Thursday night without it and she went to sleep. Now, this is nothing new. Every once in a while Quinn will just go to sleep without the assistance of the pacifier. But the next night she absolutely will NOT settle down unless she has it! So I figured, ok small victory, but there is always tomorrow night... Well, Friday night came and... no pacifier. Hmmm, do I detect a pattern starting?

Kirch and I talked about it, and we decided that I would work with her thru this adjustment period. Kirch realizes that Quinn knows that she's got Daddy wrapped around her finger, and she is more likely to wear him down than she would me :-) So Saturday afternoon she went down for her nap without it. She didn't sleep nearly as long as she normally does, but she got some rest and I chalked it up to a big step in the right direction. Saturday night - no pacifier. Sunday afternoon...

Quinn went down for her nap. She slept for an hour and woke up. Then all hell broke loose. She still wanted to sleep, but she wanted the pacifier to get her back to sleep. We didn't give it to her and she was, well, we'll just leave it at mad... She cried. And she cried. And cried some more. This is all while we were doing everything we could to distract her. We took her outside, gave her snacks, milk, whatever we could do. After about 20 minutes of this, she finally settled down and we headed over to Mike and Rachel's for Dad Kircher's 70th birthday party. She was fine for the rest of the afternoon - hell, she was great!

So Sunday night comes - still no pacifier. Monday, the same, and then last night. Well, I had a commitment Downtown last night, so it was Kirch's turn to put her to bed. He was nervous - here we were closing in on a week with no pacifier and now HE had to calm her and put her to bed? Well, he did a great job! He rocked her and when she got fidgety, he put her in her crib and she immediately stood up, pointed to where we used to keep the pacifiers, and cried. He just said "No, no - it's night night time" and walked out the door. Hearing Quinn cry is like torture for Kirch, but he was determined to try to wait it out before going back into her room and rocking her some more. Well, lo and behold, by the time he walked down the hall and turned on the monitor in the living room, Quinn had quieted down and that was that! SUCCESS!!!

Now, granted, if and when Quinn wakes up in the middle of the night, it takes a bit more consoling to get her back to sleep. Of course it does - we used to go in there, pop the pacifier in her mouth and she'd go right back to snoozing. Now, she wants to be picked up and rocked. Hey, I'll take that! It's only about 2-3 minutes of rocking before we can lay her back down and she puts herself right back to sleep. I think we have crossed this very long bridge. It feels so good! We have put all of the pacifiers away and are looking forward to this pattern stretching into a habit. A GOOD habit!!!

Mommy Got a Job!

Does anyone watch "Weeds"? Then you are the only ones that might get that reference :-)

Anyway, yes - I accepted a new position at a company called Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation. Yay! It's super close to home (about 7 miles), has great benefits, great hours, and gives me a lot more responsibility. I'll be a Senior Administrative Assistant *under the Executive Assistant* to the president of the company. I'll be learning grants proposal work, international travel planning, conference planning, and much more. I got a nice raise, I get the week between Christmas and New Year's off, plus 4 more weeks paid time off, and lots of other awesome little perks. I'm just so excited that I will be able to help provide for our family even more now, and I'll be learning a whole new field of work in the process.

Aeras is a non-profit foundation funded by the one-and-only Bill Gates Foundation. Their main goal is to create a successful TB vaccine over the next 10 years and distribute it to 3rd world countries (along with the USA). I may have the chance to travel internationally, too. I leave Burdeshaw Friday, October 5th, take a week off, then start at Aeras on Monday, October 15th. I'm looking forward to some serious Roxanne time!

In the meantime, Kirch has just submitted his resume to the Carderock Tennis Club for the Director of Tennis position. This is the 3rd time he's gone up for this, and although nothing is guaranteed, with this past track record there (they really like him), he's got a really great shot at it this time around. He'd be the top guy, running and building the tennis program there. We are both very excited for this opportunity for him.

SO... it looks like we are going to stay in Maryland for a while after all. We still have options, and North Carolina isn't out of the question, but we have to pursue these opportunities for ourselves and our family. We are both very excited!

Words, Words, Words!

Ok, let's see if I can get them all down. As of Quinn's 18 month well visit, here's what she is saying:

Buh bye
Hi
No
Up
Down
Outside (side)
Nose (no)
Shoe
Eye
Go
Mine
Pillow (po po)
Uh oh
Ball
Baby
Necklace (nya nya)
Mom
Da Da
Cheese (cheee)
Choo Choo (what sound does a train make?)
Hot
Pee pee
Nice (niiiii)

How adorable am I?

She just knows so much now. It's amazing how quickly she picks things up now, too. And her long term memory is good - almost too good...

Here's the story. Quinn has never had a problem with being in the water. She still doesn't, but she has been scarred by a recent incident. Two weeks ago I took her over to Stacy's while the guys did their football draft (I've blogged about this already). Anyway, we went outside and played in the pool. Well, the water was a bit too cold for Quinn, and she wasn't much enjoying it. She went down the slide and went completely under, that cold cold water really shocking her. She cried - HARD. Well, after calming her down, I didn't give it another thought. But since then, she's been less and less inclined to lean back in the tub when it's time to rinse her hair. We NEVER used to have a problem with this. Now, she absolutely refuses to lean back in the water. She cries and gets nervous the moment I mention, "Ok, lay back so we can rinse your hair!" She just won't do it. I feel so terrible! Thankfully she still loves taking a bath and playing in the water, but that frozen pool incident really did a number on my kiddo :-(

Hmmm... Daddy has to show me what to do with this.

I've also noticed lately that she's getting a bit whiny when we are somewhere new or overwhelming. Ever since we've been taking her to Tiana's, she whines or cries just about every time we drop her off or the minute we walk in to pick her up. And yesterday at her 18 month well visit with Dr. Potter, she really was not happy. She was just fine in the waiting room, but the minute we walked into the patient room and the nurse tried to measure her head, she just broke down into tears. And she cried and whined the WHOLE time we were in there! Plus, she had to get her 2nd Hepatitis booster, so she was absolutely not thrilled about that either. But on the plus side, Dr. Potter says this is all normal and most babies go through this separation anxiety thing right around this time. Other than being a bit clingy, she's a perfectly healthy normal little girl!

I'm a big girl, drinking from my juice box!

Now for her stats... she weighed in at 25 lbs, and measured 31 inches. She is a solid little girl! All is well in QuinnLand!

Me and all my stuffed pals!

Labor Day Weekend

What a riot!

We were so busy this past weekend, I don't even know where to begin. Friday after work, Sponge came over for a few hours to chug a couple of beers, preparing for Saturday's big 1st tailgate of the MD football season. Smartly, I chose not to participate in Friday night's chugging. I saved it all until Saturday. As you can see, I was in top form. I chugged my best time of 10.56 seconds. Yep, I'm not too humble to say I'm proud of that :-)

Perfect form!

The tailgate was a blast - great weather and lots of friends came out to celebrate the beginning of the "tailgate season." I went to the game with Sponge, Scott, Hammer, Gary and Larissa, and Jimbo and Leen. We sat in the student section (and got a few dirty looks from the young crowd surrounding us) and enjoyed watching MD stomp all over Villanova. I love football games - it's a sign that sweater weather is right around the corner.

Sunday afternoon we headed to Chesapeake Beach to the Scheleur's annual Luau Party. It was, as always, a great time. This time, though, the weather was absolutely perfect. Usually the party is spread out throughout the house and outside because it is just so hot outside that people can't take it for more than a 1/2 hour at a time. This year the whole party was outside! For hours! It was great, because the kids just loved being outside, getting rides in the wagon, jumping in the moon bounce, and running around in the yard. Here's proof!

Daddy, take Rylie and me for a ride again!

Mom, this moon bounce ROCKS!

We spent the night at Scott and Donna's as we always do. On Monday morning, we all got up, ate breakfast of quiche, fresh fruit, and bagels. Afterwards, we headed to Jim Perrus's for the afternoon. Stacy and I were designated babysitters for her 2 girls, Quinn, Patch and Natalie. It was hard work! I have so much respect for those who work in daycare for a living. But we had a great time, playing in the playroom and taking the kids outside on the swings and into the pool. The water from the hose was a bit too cold for Quinn's liking, so she was really torn between wanting to be in the pool with the others, but then crying when she felt the shock of cold water on her body. Poor kid, she didn't enjoy it as much as she usually enjoys the more tepid water of heated pools...

Thanks for sharing your Cheerios with me, Eleni!

We have spent the bulk of this week getting Quinn back on her schedule and fighting through teething. She's having a heck of a time with it, and she's just now coming around from it. I'm glad we're nearing the end of this wave of it - the girl can get really cranky!