It Looks Almost Professional!

I could say, "Yeah, I meant to do that..." but it wouldn't quite be true. A little luck with lighting and voila! A beautiful picture of my daughter!!!

I'm not going to hold this pose forever - hurry up and snap the picture!

The Florida Trip

Well, 2 years have passed and we headed down to Florida for our bi-annual Rudzik Reunion. It was a different dynamic from the last time, as 2 years in a 2-and-a-half-year-old's life makes a HUGE difference! Quinn had a blast going from the pool to the beach, and it certainly kept Kirch and me on our toes!

Wake me up when we start boarding the plane, will ya?

We have had better weather in the past, but it really was pretty good. Hell, we've had much worse weather, too (Hurricane Charley, '04). It was split about half and half. The first 3 days of the trip were really good, then about 2 1/2 days were rainy and overcast, then it ended up on a pretty good note. It seemed that the last night the bugs really came out and made up for the week prior. All three of us ended up with no-see-'em and mosquito bites all over our legs!

A picture from Rachel

Kirch and I had a date on Thursday night, which was so great. Paula watched Quinn (which went swimmingly for both parties involved) so we got the chance to try out a fantastic restaurant called the Garlic. We sat outside in the "jungle." It was awesome, with an indoor/outdoor complete bar attached. The food was wonderful and Kirch and I really got the chance to reconnect as husband and wife. It's always wonderful when we can get alone together and we take advantage of every second that comes our way!

Quinn learned about dragon flies, rainbows, sand crabs, starfish, sand dollars, jellyfish, and much more on her week-long adventure. She was a good traveler on the plane down and back. We had the same flight as Mike, Rachel, Dad and Dorothy, so she had extra attention on the flights!

Aunt Paula, can I have those shells?

It seems now that we have a little one to put to bed early in the evening, our place has become the "hangout." We got lots of Beaver company, along with Matt Dean, Bill & Suzie and the kids, and the list goes on. It makes it easier for us to be able to socialize while Quinn gets the much needed sleep to prepare for the next day of sand, water and sun!

Me and my boy Kevy Joe

Kirch's awesome picture of the dolphin in the sound!

Is It That Time Already?

It's amazing how fast 2 years goes by. The last time we headed for Florida Quinn was 5 months old. Here we are, heading down tomorrow morning for the bi-annual (is that right? every other year?) Rudzik Family Reunion in New Smyrna Beach. Quinn is so excited to "go on a pwane to Fworida!" Yes, you heard it - we're going on a plane this time. For the first time, since MY first time down with Kirch in '99, we are flying. The last time around took a toll on all of us - we drove down, drove back, then had to drive to MI 2 days later to take care of my mom's place after she died (while we were in FL). Obviously, the sting of that month of August still smarts. So I mentioned to Kirch that I really wanted to fly this year. SOLD. Kirch hates to drive but has always made the sacrifice for the sake of saving money. Well, with gas prices the way they are this year, I'm figuring we're somewhere around breaking even.

ANYWAY, not that I post a bunch nowadays, but I will make sure to blog when we return home safe and sound next Saturday. Here is to a wonderful week-long vacation!

Just So Much To Catch Up On!

So I want to at least make mention of my trip to Michigan with Quinn - over 4th of July weekend. I'm only about a month late. It has just gotten so crazy with trying to live life and keep a blog current!

Our trip home was a great one. We really enjoyed ourselves and Poppy and Manka Swanson had lots of fun with Quinn this time around! We spent lots of time riding bikes, riding rides at the Pickerel Tournament, playing in the kiddie pool, and eating lots of good grilled food! We spent a day with the Coppenses and the Koltzes, hung out with Uncle Swany and Aunt Jessica, and just did lots of nothing (but it was SO great) in Algonac. AND, who knew Trouble could draw such a crowd!

Seriously, this game will PISS YOU OFF!!!

Uncle Alex and Aunt Sara are keeping me company!

I'm on the ride all by myself!

Uncle Swany, Poppy, Manka and Aunt Jessica at the Pickerel Tournament

Me and Soapy eating lunch!

Uncle Pat, thanks for letting me help you fix the door!

I LOVE playing in puddles!

I actually got a couple of hours out with Shane and Brad to watch the fireworks and sit in the hot tub, and had dinner with Grace and her boyfriend (yep, I said it - BOYfriend!) Cameron. Who knew Grace would fall in love with a guy after being a lesbian her whole life! Go figure :-)

My new boyfriend, Brad

Me & Grace!

So, it's not a long post, but you get the gist of it - we really had a great time!

One tuckered out little girl...

A Promise to Blog...

I have several events to catch up on... our trip to MI and my girls trip to New York, most importantly. But not tonight - I finally just caught up on sorting and putting away pictures from the past 3 months.

I will blog soon - I promise! Until then, here are a couple pictures of my cutie...

Blue Sucker Tongue!

Now, that is some crazy bed head!

Metro Riding!!!

Mom Purse

I am not one to carry a big purse at all. I mean ever.

Well, I finally broke down today and bought a "mom purse" at Target (for $13.95, thank you very much!). It was time - Quinn is in that transition between pull-ups and undies, so I needed a purse big enough to carry one or 2 pull-ups and wipes so I could finally lose the diaper bag. Here it is... sort of makes me sad to carry this:


Is it that bad? Girls (guys, too, I guess), please leave your comments - I need to know how uncool I just became...

104.1????

No, that's not a radio station - that was my daughter's temperature late Saturday night! Another narrow escape from the emergency room - but we've finally visited urgent care... Ugh!

Anyway, Saturday was great all day - I took Quinn to the National Zoo in the morning, where we met some of the group for our June playdate. We strolled along in the sweltering heat, and the highlight of the trip was getting to see a panda bear ba-dump ba-dumping through the grass and water right in front of us! Here is the video I was fortunate enough to get...

Saturday afternoon we dropped Quinn off at Jenn and Josh's and headed over to Rosella's for her 30th birthday party. What a great time! Jeannine and Mark were there, and it ended up with several of us couples in the living room talking about everything from our weddings to comics to whatever was the hot topic of the moment. Oh, sweet adult time. I forget how much it is needed every now and then...

When we got to Jenn's at about 7:30, Quinn looked beat, but happy. They had gone to the pool for a few hours and she had the chlorine blurry-eyed look. But we could tell she'd had a great time. Jenn said she was so good all day - she told her every time she had to go potty and then at the end of the evening she was standing with their 2 dogs near the couch and peed in her pants. When Jenn asked Quinn why she was standing in a puddle, Quinn swiftly replied, "The doggy did it!" I have NO idea where that came from, but Kirch and I about died when Jenn told us that story! She blamed it on the dog - how original!!!

Well, we headed home, and then it all began - in the 10 minutes it takes to get to our house, Quinn broke out with a raging fever. She was burning up when I got her out of the car seat! We got her inside and took her temp, which was 103.7. Oh my gosh! What the heck? Well, Kirch and I knew it was another ear infection - we could just feel it in our bones. So Kirch called the on-call nurse and she just told us as long as Quinn was acting ok, to give her some Tylenol and keep an eye on her overnight. No need for ER or urgent care just yet, but to definitely have her seen by an urgent care doctor within 24 hours. Let me tell you how thankful I was that we had put her in her big girl bed earlier that week! I slept with her and we both woke up about midnight, where I checked her temp again -and.... 104.1? Woah! But we remembered the nurse saying we didn't have to worry about taking her to the ER until it was over 105. But I don't care what anyone says, it's stressful when your kiddo has a fever that high! I had a 106 fever when I was about 2ish, and my parents had to take me to the ER because I was hallucinating!

Well, Kirch jumped in bed with us and Quinn stayed up for over an hour - not complaining, not asking to get up, just restless - like she couldn't get comfortable. Never ONCE did she complain that her ear hurt! Tough cookie, that girl... Well after 1am her fever finally broke and she fell asleep until 8am Sunday morning. We called Urgent Care and got in at 11am when, viola - the doctor said she had an ear infection in her left ear. Shocker. That's 3 in 6 weeks! The doctor says 6 ear infections in 1 year or standing fluid for 6 months constitutes tubes... I think we're pretty much on our way.

Quinn is still her normal self. She's taking her medicine, and fighting a fever on and off (apparently it can take up to 2 days for the medicine to really grab hold and squeeze out the fever), but going to daycare at the doctor's orders and we are still allowed to fly home tomorrow night - thankfully!!! So it's been a crazy couple of days, backed up by the past 6 weeks or so. We have to go see Dr. Potter as soon as we get back to get a recommendation of what to do next. I dread tubes, but if it keeps Quinn from getting infection after infection, I know in my heart of hearts it is the right thing to do.