Couldn't Pick Just One...

Playdate

We just recently had the pleasure of having our friends Amanda and Carl over for dinner before they returned home to the West Coast.   Their beautiful 4 month old daughter, Harper, and Emma even got to play a bit.  Here's how that went (be sure to look at the pictures in descending order)...

Playing nicely on the playmat 

Harper is going in for the hand hold

Connection!  (No, we did not stage this)  Emma thinks she likes it... 

Emma's having second thoughts...

AHHHHHH!!!!!!   Harper's not sure what happened...

Field Days with Gogo

We've had such a busy summer this year with all the trips and weddings, etc.  So when the annual Field Days rolled around, I wasn't sure I was up for taking the kids.  The only time we could go was on one of my Wednesday mornings with all the kids.   Fortunately, Gogo had the week off from work and was excited to go with us!  We had a great morning of chocolate milk, feeding goats, visiting the children's barnyard, watching the oxen pull contest, and finally riding the rides!  Cooper went on his first roller coaster ride with Gogo and loved it!  Thanks for a great morning Gogo!

Vacation in Virginia

I'm a little late in my posts, but will hopefully get to catch up soon.  We had such a great vacation in Virginia a couple weeks ago.  We really haven't been able to get down for a visit in the summer until this year, so it was a very fun pool vacation for the kids.  We had lots of great family time and the cousins all got along very well.   We made good use of Grammy and Gramps' pool as I think the kids averaged about 6 hours a day in it!  Water guns were by far the toy of choice for the week.  It was so fun to see the kids all horsing around with Gramps in the pool.  There were a few pool rules, including no pushing anyone in, and no squirting people in the face.  However, none of these rules applied when playing with Gramps, (mostly because he broke them first)!  We were also lucky enough to be down there for Linsey's baby shower, due the end of October.  It was a wonderful shower and Isabel loved helping Linsey open her gifts.  That night we had a lot of the Quinn clan for dinner at Grammy and Gramps' house so that was a special treat too, as we don't get to see them a lot.  Aunt Penny came prepared as usual to play with the kids with lots of toys in hand.  It was quite madness at times.  Josh was also able to attend his fantasy football draft while down there and catch up with his college buddies.  Emma was quite good on the trip.  She slept well and started to be much more engaging with people.  She was held constantly which was great for her, and fortunately didn't set us back too much when we returned home!    It was a wonderful trip for everyone!   

Crazy play in the toy room with balloons from Aunt Penny

Fun with Gramps

Cooper didn't want to take off his floaties for most of the week.  With good reason, as he was then able to keep up with his bigger cousin Ryan.  But the last day, he decided he would and to our surprise actually was able to swim a few feet with his head under water!  A good start!

Quinn Cousins

While on vacation in Virginia, we took advantage of having the cousins together and got some professional pictures taken.  To my AMAZEMENT, the kids were very cooperative and basically let the photographer direct where they sat and how they were positioned.  The one tricky part was getting all kids to smile at the same time, and supress the urge to be goofy (check out the last picture of Jackson...so great)!

First Shots

Emma had her 2 month checkup today.  Mommy has been a little concerned with the difficulty of getting Emma to have good eye contact over the last couple weeks.  However, she has quite improved over the last week (probably from not being put down at all during our vacation in Virginia, thanks to so much doting family), but I still mentioned it to the doctor.  As I was expressing my concern, Emma was busy looking the medical student (who happens to be our friend Amanda!) directly in the eyes and smiling.  She then proceeded to turn her head and look directly into the doctor's eyes and smile again.  That little rascal!!!  Apparently she was just pulling mommy's leg and is now easily engaged and quite smily.  The doctor said she is very socially engaging for a 2 month old!  I guess she put me in my place!

She's 13 lbs, 5 oz, and in the 95th% for both weight and height.  Yes, she is growing quite well!   The rest of Emma's checkup was great (minus the shots at the end).   If you've ever heard Emma cry, she can really put her voice to good use.  I've done many shots with my kids in the past, but this was by far the worst/loudest reaction I've heard yet.  Emma's scream was SO loud I am surprised that Josh didn't hear it in Burlington.  Her face was so red from not breathing I thought her eyes might pop out!  Fortunately I was able to nurse her and calm her down quickly, but it was quite an insult on the ears.  I think I'll send Josh for the next round of shots!

All wiped out! 

The band-aids to prove it!  

Sam and Blankie

About 3 weeks ago, Cooper forgot to bring his blankie and teddy bear "Sam" to school with him.  This was a pretty big event as those two accessories go almost everywhere with Cooper especially if he's going to be sleeping.  But he did indeed forget them one day and as I noticed this in the car on the way to school, I prayed he would not remember until after I dropped him off, so I could avoid the meltdown.  (I know, real nice of me).  When I picked him up that day, I asked him if he forgot something and he nonchalantly said "Sam and blankie", and that was it!  He ended up forgetting them a couple more times and then one morning I said I guess you don't need them at school anymore.  And he surprisingly agreed!  I was just thankful to have just a little less stuff to haul around with us.  Unfortunately as a result of Sam being home alone during the day, he lost an ear.  That's right, Sadie chewed off Sam's ear.  Sadie didn't rip off the head, or pull out the stuffing, just nipped off his ear, with a very clean cut!  Sadly, Cooper was quite devastated for one evening, but has recovered quickly and now he just has his blankie for sleeping.  Josh said we could look for another teddy bear for him, but I discouraged it as there are too many things to keep track of with these kids!  So yes, a selfish reason, for sure.  RIP Sam...