Still too busy

I'm madly getting ready for the holidays, so sadly, I have no time to edit and post pics. I did a quicky upload of some older pics on facebook, so here they are.

It's been so long ...

But you're still not getting a real post. Sorry to my one or two faithful followers. I was just previewing a new button and started looking at the pics of Quinn. So dang cute! Just wanted to take a minute to say how in love I am with my wonderful baby.

I wish I could write

I've been catching up on my blog reading today (when I checked yesterday, I had over 100 unread items in Reader and haven't even checked the private blogs yet). Sorry, not great blog posting today. Too many things that I have to get done and there's not time for things I'd like to get done.

Anyway, after reading what other people have to say, I'm feeling a little blah. Some people have such a gift with words. They can perfectly express what they're feeling and then get people to act on those words (thankfully the things I've been reading today have only encouraged me to do good things). I wish I had that talent. If given time, I can spew some academic junk onto a screen, but nothing that touches anyone. Even when I'm deeply moved and feel a lot of emotion about what I'm writing, it doesn't come out with all the power that I feel. I suppose that's okay. I have other talents. And for you religious folk, I don't think I'm breaking the tenth commandment--I wish I could write well , but I am not feeling covetous at all. I simply admire those who can. So anyway, thanks to all those who put words to the things I feel and make me want to be a better person!

A quick hello

I was planning to do much better at this blogging thing, but life is too busy. Quick update: Quinn in awesome. He's mastered the army crawl and is getting closer to big boy crawling. Yesterday we lowered his crib mattress because when I went to check on him he had pulled himself up and was looking over the rail. I am ordering his new car seat today because he's outgrown his infant seat.

Troy is loving football season and is gearing up for basketball to start next month. Sewing is my new hobby. Yesterday I finished a shopping cart cover for Quinn (because once the new car seat arrives I'll actually have to take him out of it once in a while). That's us in brief. Hopefully soon I'll have a chance to do some serious blogging, but until then, here's our cute boy.

This tells you how bad I've been--this pic is a month old. :(

Quinn's Surgery - With Pictures

I promised some pics from the event, so here goes: (I apologize now for the quality of the pictures. Most of the time a cell phone was the only thing we had handy, and that was the easiest way to get updates to nervous grandmas)

We stayed with Troy's sister in Gilbert, so the night before we took Quinn for his first swim, since he wouldn't be able to take a bath for the next two weeks, we figured we'd get him good and soaked.


We had to be at the surgery center at 6:30 a.m., so Quinn was still tired, hence the droopy eye.

We tried to get a picture of his little bum hanging out the back of his gown, but didn't do a very good job.

Just taking it all it. Such a cutie!

In Walgreen's afterward. So sleepy! Better than crying, for sure. When they let us to back to see him he was so cuddly, but REALLY heavy. There's a reason newborns aren't supposed to be 20 pounds.

Waking up the next morning. He was so drowsy, but so good. He didn't have to wear pants or onesies for a week because the double diapers made him too big to fit in his clothes, so we have lots of belly-button shots. Good thing it's so cute!

Quinn spent the weekend sleeping and we spent it changing REALLY stinky diapers, fighting with him to take medicine, taking temperatures, fighting with him to eat, waking up at all hours and discovering how funny 30 Rock is.

After five days with his sister, we decided to have mercy on them and go home. Quinn really was very good, but hated his medicines and had absolutely no routine. He didn't nap and was a little more fussy than normal, every diaper change required two people and Troy had homework to do for his masters classes, so it was a rough week. We went back to Phoenix a week after his surgery to get the bandages removed, came home the next day and went back three days later to get the catheter out. I'll just say it was a lot of travelling and more work than I'm used to with my wonderfully good baby, and I hope I never have to do it again--although I probably will in January. Blah.

Quinn taking advantage of re-coup privileges.

So handsome. You can't help but love the kid.

How did this happen?!

This used to be my baby sleeping:

Now this is my baby sleeping:

How did he get to be so big? He sleeps like a little boy now and although it is super cute, I miss my baby!

Summer Update

I found my camera under the ottoman about 4 minutes after my last post, but then Quinn woke up and that was the end of that. But I feel it's necessary to cram the second half of our summer into one post (minus one or two events that warrant their own), so here goes:


Troy had a birthday! Woo-hoo. My sister made him a birthday hat that was too small, so Quinn got to wear it. Unfortunately it looked a little too much like a dunce cap.


For Quinn's six-month birthday we went to Fishlake to see my aunt and uncle and my dad took pictures of our little family. I will post more eventually, but our new header can from the shoot and he made us some awesome canvas prints that I still haven't hung up. Once I hang them, they will be the first things on our walls and we've live here for 9 months. Oops.


We also spent Quinn's six-month mark giving him solids for the first time. Clearly he was very excited.


He ate the cereal very well. Such a good boy.


Day two did not go so well because that was the same weekend he discovered he could blow raspberries, so he did that all through dinner. Look closely at his arm and you can get an idea of what he and I looked like once dinner was over.


Quinn's had blocked tear ducts forever, so we spend a lot of time laughing at his pirate look. A side effect of one of his post-surgery medications was dry eyes, so he had a break for a week and a half. Once we took him off the meds, I fully expected him to gunk up again, but they stayed clear. Hooray! At least until two days ago when one got bad again. Oh well, at least we know there's hope.

Just evidence that Quinn's parents are easily entertained.

Where is my camera? I used it yesterday to take pictures of Quinn watching TV, but now I can't find it. You may never get a real post. :(

Has it only been a week?

I wonder if life will ever get back to normal. This week has messed with all of us--we've made two trips to Phoenix (with at least one, maybe two in the next week); Quinn tries to be happy, but is still a cranky boy; he won't sleep unless he falls asleep nursing; his non-existent appetite at the first of the week has left me with little milk to give him (something I'm sure you wanted to know); Troy and I stress about the bloody spots in his diaper and a seemingly lengthening catheter tube; and on and on and on. I know this is a very small problem compared with what other babies I know are dealing with, but it's a change for our family. The catheter comes out Tuesday, but I have a feeling we'll all be recovering long after that. I'm so tired. Why am I up at 11:30 when I have to be up at 6:00 to get ready for church? Ug. That may turn out to be a bad idea.

Quinn's Surgery

We are spending this weekend forcing medicine, changing double diapers and trying to keep a baby awake long enough to eat. What fun.

Quinn had surgery yesterday to correct a hypospadias. Basically his urethra was too short (look it up if you want more info--full descriptions require lots of male anatomy talk). It was sad and cute to see him after surgery. He was still coming out of anesthesia, so as I fed him I had to keep rubbing his head and neck to wake him up enough to get him to eat--like a bigger version of his newborn self. I did decide that among the other numerous reasons babies are not born at 20 pounds, it's hard to cradle a 20 pound deadweight. Fortunately, he didn't need the constant cuddles for long.

He has a catheter that drains into a second diaper OVER the first diaper so that there's less chance of infection. At first he was okay with the medicine (he's on a painkiller, anti-spasm stuff for his bladder and an antibiotic), then he would fight the dropper and would almost enjoy the few drops we'd get in each time, and now he'll barely tolerate it. The Tylenol makes him WAY drowsy, so he sleeps almost all day, which is nice because then we can catch up on the sleep we miss getting up in the night for meds and diaper duty.

He's such a good boy. When we got back from the surgical center yesterday he cried a lot because he was still coming off the anesthesia and I think his epidural-like numbing was wearing off and his legs were all tingly. But that's really been it. Yesterday evening he was actually feeling well enough that he was smiling, "talking" and squirming--you wouldn't have even know he was sick. Today's a little different, still no tears, but lots of eye rubbing followed by lots of sleeping. Hopefully some of the swelling will go down soon and we can try cutting back on the painkiller. I certainly don't want him to be in pain, but I don't like him knocked out, either.

I have some pics, but they will follow in a few days.

Random Pics

We don't do a lot in the summer, but it's amazing how quickly the days go by. Troy decided that there aren't enough pics of Mama and Baby, so he's become a bit of a shutterbug. I have mixed feelings about it.

Quinn spends his time napping and reading.

And Troy started his masters degree yesterday. What an adventure this will be!

Fifth of July

Utah does things a little differently, so we celebrated the 4th of July on Monday. Quinn saw his first parade and fireworks. He wasn't impressed with the parade, but the fireworks were fun. He was tired and would fuss until we got the next fountain lit, then watch quietly until it was over. Funny boy.

Oh, and we did a deceivingly difficult puzzle of 100 cats and a fish. Yuck.

Camping

We spent the night at the cabin last week. Nothing exciting happened, Troy got ready for our quad ride a little early (note the helmet), my dad and Bonnie played badminton and volleyed the birdie 50 times, and Quinn hung out in the camp stroller. What fun!

Family Visit

Troy's sisters came to visit and Grandma decided we should have a photo shoot. Here is a small sampling of the fun we had.

I think Quinn felt grass for the first time. In some pics he looks like he's hating it, but the smile is so much cuter!

All the kids eating popsicles.

Troy and his sister sharing an inside joke. You never know what they're laughing at. I think this time it was a funny word from the crossword they'd done earlier in the day.

Five Months

My baby is now five months old. How is that possible? He has a super cute laugh and huge smiles. He rolls off his back, but gets stuck on his tummy and gets really mad about that. However, he's not mad enough to figure out how to get off. Quinn also tries to sit up ALL the time. He even managed to do it on his own for about 20 seconds yesterday. Such a big boy!

We pulled out the six-month clothes a few weeks ago and some were already too small for him. Especially this hat on his 95th percentile noggin.

He reaches for everything and of course it goes in his mouth. We are thinking teeth aren't too far away because many times he's fussy unless he's chewing on something. I do not like this idea. I hope they'll irritate him every now and then and not pop through for a few more months.

We love him so much and are so happy he's part of our little family.

Spring Cleaning

Can you call it Spring Cleaning if it's 105 degrees outside? I vacuumed every inch of my house and Quinn was not too happy with the lack of attention.

How can I not love this boy?!

He's just so cute! We tried to do a photo shoot yesterday, but didn't get far before he spit up all over. Oh well, I got one or two good ones.

Four Months!

I can't believe it! Here are some pics of our growing boy:

We're still dealing with blocked tear ducts, but he's handsome even with eye goop.

Hands are still delicious. So are plastic rings, toys, burp cloths and mom's fingers.

This is to show what his tummy looks like when he flexes. I love the fat bunching over the muscles, especially the roll above his diaper. At his four-month checkup he tipped the scales at 17 lbs, 8 oz and is 25 inches long. And still has a massive head, in case you were curious.

Quinn and Daddy love video games (don't worry, it's football. Mom won't allow Quinn to killing games).

Tackle him, Dad! Don't let him get a touchdown!

Blankets are for the head, not the legs. Silly boy.

There you go, that's the life of Quinn!

Warning: not for those with aversions to potty talk

Baby diarrhea bites. Quinn is such a good baby that I never know trouble is brewing until I have orange stains on my clothes. It's just so messy. And the problem isn't even as big now that I've switched diaper brands, but annoying nonetheless. That's all I have to say about that.

Our Little Tease

I have decided that Quinn is a tease. He first accidentally rolled from his tummy to his back nearly two months ago, but that was just because he got off balance. Recently he has learned how to roll from his back to his side and was VERY close to going all the way on Sunday. Hence the poor quality cell phone video.

We decided to pick the day we thought he would roll over. Troy chose today. I picked a week from yesterday. Grandma picked Mother's Day and Grandpa chose not to participate. He was not close at all to going from his tummy to back (because I'm a bad mom and forget to give him tummy time). Well, along comes Monday. I was making dinner and Troy was watching Quinn during tummy time. He reached to get the remote and when he turned around, Quinn was on his back! He then rolled over twice more in the next ten minutes. Again, I only had the cell phone handy. One day I will actually get something good on the real video camera.

Then Quinn rolled over again that night. So he's got it figured out, right? Wrong. He has not done it since. And he hasn't come as close from his back, either. I think he just likes to get us excited and then would yell "Psych" if he could.

Lots of Pics

Quinn is doing a lot of fun things lately, so here are some pics in rather random order. I will narrate.

In the last week he has become very good at tummy time. He holds his head up proudly and looks around for a while before giving up.

Quinn took his first bath in the big tub with Daddy. He wasn't too sure of it, but didn't cry. I think he enjoyed Dad's splashing (and his farmer's tan).

This pic is for two reasons: There was about a week and a half that Quinn always had his tongue sticking out. So cute! And this day he was intrigued by my lotion. He stared at it, talked to it and eventually started knocking it over.

This is how we spend our afternoons: Watching Uncles Tony and Wilbon on PTI.

Shhh. TV.

So handsome. When he's tired he gets some very thoughtful faces.

For a few days he was doing really well reaching and grabbing for things. Now I think he's lost interest and is focusing on other tasks. I'm sure we'll come back to it though.