Quinlin- age 2 1/2

July 11, 2012

My darling baby girl turned 2 1/2. I know it's written all the time, but so hard to believe she's already 2 1/2. 3 is literally just around the corner. The past 6 months have been such a whirlwind as she's really coming into her own and such a beautiful little girl both on the inside and the outside.

First I wanted to do my annual picture session of my little beauty, but it required bribing her with marshmallows.

Her prized possessions had to pose with her- Eeyore and blankey

• I don't have exact stats since we haven't been to the doctor's office for a while (knock on wood), but from our home scale she's about 32 pounds and is about 35 inches tall. Though I'm sure on some crazy hair days, she stands much taller than that.
• The summer has lightened her hair to a nice shade of dark blond. She experienced her first haircut at 27 months and it continues to grow, though when really hot, it shrinks up into spiral ringlets. I always imagined my daughter to have thick straight hair, but crazy and curly it is and I love it. Some days she lets me style it, other days it runs wild.
• She has a beautiful suntan from being outside all the time. She loves to play on Owen's big wheel or ride her little scooter down the sidewalk. This has been a great summer for her as she really has come into her own for making friends. Our friends about 4 doors down have two little girls (twins, age 4) and Quinlin just adores them. She also loves our neighbors Adam and Lauren and instantly she and Owen rush to see if any one's garage doors are open which signals playtime.
• At 2 1/2, she is a mix between tomboy and girly girl. Some days loves to be pampered- painting nails, getting her hair straightened, wearing dresses...and other days only wants to wear Owen's boy clothes or Owen's underwear (don't worry, it's clean).
• She is in size 3T for almost everything, size 5 diapers and I think size 7 shoes.
• She says anything and everything. We can have full conversations now and it's absolutely adorable.
• She knows her colors, shapes and can count to 13.
• Favorite show- Dora the Explorer. It's been so great to be outside all the time as she gets one 30 minute episode before bedtime so really hasn't had a chance to see that there are other shows out there. She will sit and watch Power Rangers with Owen sometimes, but doesn't seem overly interested.
• She is a nurturer and a mommy type. Loves to help Owen. If he gets stuck on his bike, she is right there with him pushing him along or getting him that jump start. If he's crying, she rushes to his side to see if he's ok. "you ok owen, you ok". very reassuring with a nice pat on the back and a hug quickly to follow.
• Owen is her world with Sean and Hunter as a close tied for second.
• Potty training stalled a bit as the daycare won't begin working with her until the end of August when she switches classrooms (not enough staff to bring her to the bathroom, whereas the next classroom has a little toilet in a portion of the room). She gets it and goes at home probably 2-3 times a day. I am hoping that she will be easy to train once we begin working with her more.

On July 11, to celebrate her half birthday, we did our annual picture session.

And I love this face...

And she had ravioli for dinner (we had steak, more on that tomorrow)

and our annual happy half birthday cupcakes

After dinner, we went to the pool in our development

She loves to swim. More braver than Owen when it comes to the water for sure.

She loves to jump into daddy's arms

 It really was a great day.



Weekend Recap

We had a pretty low key weekend. They all seem to be that way lately. We're in the middle of a saving money kick, so not really planning as much to do. Friday night we were limited as we had to take Hunter and his buddy to the mall and then go back later to pick them up. It's so funny to think they are off doing their thing, walking around, talking to girls, seeing movies and then texting us when they're ready to come home. I feel like I was just doing those things myself!

Saturday morning we woke up and went to swim lessons. Owen took swim lessons when he was about 8 months old, but due to constant ear infections, we stopped going. So- we started it up again. Quinlin's class was first at 9:20am, and Owen's class started at 9:25am. I had a big fear that we would show up to swim lessons and both kids would want to swim with Sean, so I prepped Owen all week about he and I swimming together. When we got to class and Quinlin's class started, I looked around and no other parents were in bathing suits. Just the parents in the younger class. I asked the teacher and they said the 3 year olds go in on their own. No biggie I thought. Well- apparently it was a big deal. Owen wanted nothing to do with the class, leaving the side of the pool, etc. So they said I could go in with him and ease him in. After about 10 minutes, we all realized that he needed to be in Quinlin's class, and not with the 3 year olds. So- we swam with them and had a blast. It was so fun to be there together. Sean and I took turns on who had which child. Quinlin loved every second of it. She is fearless. Jumping in the water, learning to float, blowing bubbles. Once Owen got comfortable enough, class was ending. So- we'll see how we do next week. I may need to recruit Hunter to come with us and take some photos.

After swimming we rushed home and showered and then headed to Sean's parents house. He watched the kids and his dad and I went with my sister in law and his mom to look at living room furniture. She picked out a really nice set and hopefully will be delivered before the holidays. We came home, napped and hung out and then my parents joined us for dinner. I made crockpot cream cheese chicken and pumpkin pie. Since I got put in charge of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, I thought I better practice! It turned out well, but I'm the only one who eats it in my house and I have a feeling it will be tossed before it gets finished. We stayed in Saturday night, got caught up on our jersey shore episodes and called it a day.

Sunday was uneventful. Watched some football, didn't feel great, etc. The daylight savings adjustment didn't phase the kids too badly but for some reason, we were all up at 7. We played around the house and Sean cleaned out his hunting closet and organized our storage room. The kids were so intrigued by the hunting items.

 I love the way she is looking at Owen in this picture.

 Practicing their deer calls

 "You cant see me"

 Camouflage

And then there was Monday. My Monday that started great... we were up early and ready and out the door on time for work. I dropped the kids off at the daycare when one of the mom's pointed out that I had a flat. We knew my tire had a slow leak but were hoping to just keep filling with air. When I looked, it was fully flat. Luckily Sean left work and met me at the school and put the spare on.

 The culprit- a roofing nail.

 And my donut I had to drive on to get to work.

Luckily my office has a nice relationship with a local car dealer. I got to work, they picked up my car and brought it in for service. About 3pm, I got an email saying my car was back, the hole was plugged, the rim was fine and there was no charge. I lucked out for sure- we had visions of having to cut back on holiday spending if I had needed a new tire and rim. We still will cut back a bit... I like to think now.