Molars

For weeks now, Quinn has been putting her hands up against her ears - sometimes one hand to one ear, sometimes both. We've been to see the doctor twice in the past 2 weeks (once for a cold, once for her 2 year checkup) and the doctor says her ears are fine. She never ever complains - we've just noticed it happening, and so has daycare. We figured it's probably due to her 2 year molars coming in. YEP! Sure enough, out of curiosity the other day, i had Quinn open her mouth to show me her teeth, and there it was - her bottom left molar had popped through the gum! Three more to go!

This kid is so tough, let me tell you. She never complains when she's sick - if she gets hurt, she cries for about 3 minutes and is over it. So other than her holding her ears now and then, we'd never have known she was ready to cut teeth...

Let me give you some examples of how tough she is - and I say this as an amazed bystander, not as a proud parent. When we were in Phoenix last month at the zoo, she was standing up on the fence looking at the giraffes. We kept telling her "honey, don't do that, quit climbing up there, you're going to hurt yourself." Well, that's the kiss of death because no sooner did we say that, she slipped off the bottom rung of the fence and as she was coming down, her chin caught the bar and she bit her tongue - hard. When you bite your tongue, it bleeds a LOT. She cried for about 2 minutes, let us put some pressure on it, and that was it. The other kids were eating popsicles, so that's what she wanted to do, too! That was the last we heard of the tongue-biting incident. Yesterday, we headed to the mall and i took her (stroller and all) into the changing room. On our way out, I don't know how, but she hit her eye on... well, what, i don't know. Immediately she started crying. I didn't even know what happened, so I told her to show me where to kiss it to make it better. She gave me her head, so I assumed she'd bumped her head somehow. A minute later (literally), she stopped crying, so that was that. The next thing I knew, she had this knot on her right eyebrow! I mean, OW!!! I'd had put up more of a fuss than a minute or two worth of crying!

She never ceases to amaze me, how much she can take. I mean, I've seen kids - hell, I've seen adults with lower pain thresholds than my child! Where does it come from? Because I know I'm a sissy :-)

Here is a quick shot of our day at Tyson's Corner play area. She had a blast!

I can handle this silly bear!

Brutal Night

Last night was... trying, to say the least. Most nights Quinn is a pretty good sleeper. For whatever reason, not so much last night! She went down pretty good for Kirch at 8pm and then at 10pm she woke up crying. I went in to comfort her, and figured she was probably having a night terror because she was crying for "mommy" but when I'd try to pick her up, she'd push me away and ask for mommy again. Finally she let me pick her up and I rocked her for a few minutes and put her back down to bed. Ten minutes later she's up crying again - so Kirch brought her into our bed and we tried unsuccessfully for about an hour-and-a-half to get her to sleep. Why is it that if we are in a new place and she doesn't want to sleep in her Pack & Play, she will come into the bed with us and promptly fall asleep, but when we're home in familiar surroundings, she will NOT sleep in our bed??? Finally by midnight I'd had enough and brought her back to her crib... ohhhh, she didn't like that one bit. I explained to her that it was night time and we all needed to get some sleep. I closed the door behind me and listened to her cry for 15 minutes. That awful "how come you left me?" cry - it's brutal! She quieted down and so I went back to bed. Not 10 minutes later she started crying again! We waited it out for another 10 minutes and FINALLY she fell asleep until this morning. I'm exhausted!

I hate letting her "cry it out," but I was desperate for at least a few hours sleep, so she really left us no choice. I really believe if we would've went in there to get her, we would've just gotten into the cycle of calming her down until we put her in bed, and then she would've started crying all over again. Part of me feels like a lousy mom when I won't go in and comfort my own child. But part of me is so desperate to rest so that we all can function properly in the morning that I feel like there is no other choice!

At least Quinn is forgiving. She woke up this morning and played with Kirch until he left, in which she kissed him goodbye. I took her to daycare and she kissed me goodbye before I left. So I know she still loves us and doesn't hold a grudge - yet!

It is SO hard to say no to a face like that!!!

My Girl is 2!

Happy Birthday, Q-Bug!

Two years old - I just can't believe it! I was rocking Quinn to sleep tonight at about 8pm and thinking back 2 years and she wasn't even born yet! She decided to grace us with her presence at 11:26 pm. I'm thinking it'll be several years yet before she's actually awake to realize her "real time" birthday.

What a day. Kirch and I must have sang her "Happy Birthday" about 20 times. She ran around the house saying, "Happy Bir-to!" So funny...

We kept it low key today, but I think she had a lot of fun. We took her to Montgomery Mall where she played in the play yard for about an hour or so. After that, we headed to lunch with Grandma Kircher. By the time we got home, it was after 3pm. Normally we don't put her down for a nap that late, but she's fighting a cold (poor kid!) and she was actually asking "yay down." So she slept until 5pm (and Kirch and I did, too, since we're ALL fighting colds), and then we all got up to watch the present-unwrapping festivities. She had a ball! She got tons of clothes and bath toys from Grandma Kircher, a Sit-&-Spin, doll house room sets and other toys from Grandma and Poppy Swanson, and an Elmo potty training book, a Build-a-Bear (Chick), and a doll house from us. Here are a few pictures from her special day!

Actually at our group play date on Saturday, but it's the only cake she got!

Put the pedal to the medal and LET'S GO!

Chuck the Chick ROCKS, Mom and Dad! Thanks!

I'm just way too busy playing with my new doll house to look up for yet ANOTHER picture!

A Trip Out West

Last week Quinn, Kirch and I took a plane to Phoenix to visit the Travis Family. What a lot of work! Between keeping a 23-and-a-half-month old busy on the plane for 4 1/2 hours both ways and staying with Jessica & Chad and their 3 kids and 2 dogs, I feel like I'm still catching up from our "vacation!"

It really was a good trip, though. Aside from the rain we got on Friday (our first full day in AZ), the weather was beautiful for the rest of the time. We went to Collin & Leah's school's Transportation Day on Saturday. It was really cool - Quinn got to climb in and sit in all kinds of different vehicles, between motorcycles and cop cars to public buses and speed boats. Here is one of my favorites - her in the back seat of a Phoenix cop car!

Oh no, what have I done? I'm going to the clink!

Saturday night we all got a babysitter and went to Los Dos Molinos with Chad, Jessica, and a bunch of their friends. What a RIOT. One of the guys, Tim, summed it up best - "Mediocre food covered with sauce that is so freakin' hot you cannot taste anything, mixed with incredibly cheap tequila drinks...everyone leaves numb and happy!"

Sunday afternoon Jessica and I got some kid-free girl time - so we, of course, went shopping! I discovered the world of Ann Taylor Loft sale racks. Stuff that I can actually afford! And I'm talking like a hot black cocktail dress for $15! You seriously can't beat that! And the thing fits like butter!!!

Monday, with Chad back at work, Jessica, Kirch and I took Leah, Collin and Quinn to the Phoenix Zoo and had a really great day. The weather was beautiful and Quinn just loved looking at the animals - especially the monkeys and the otters.

The trip was a bunch of work - but we really enjoyed ourselves and the beautiful weather. One of the best rewards was Quinn counting to 14 at home on Thursday evening after listening to me count the steps to Jessica's basement all week while in Arizona! I had no idea she was even paying attention to me because she never even attempted to count with me while going up and down those steps. But apparently so, because now she is counting to 14 all the time!

Thanks for my birthday party, Travis Family!

This present is about as big as I am!

On our last night there, we had a little impromptu birthday party for Quinn (who turns 2 next Sunday). There were cupcakes and presents. It was a blast. I can't believe my baby is turning 2! Seems like yesterday when......................... sniff sniff........................