Victory!

I am really ashamed to admit this but Quinn is nine months old and I haven't let him soothe himself to sleep. This proves how little I know about babies. I have always heard that you put your baby in his crib and let him cry himself to sleep, but I just didn't understand how that actually works. When we have tried it it seemed like Quinn would work himself up so much that he wouldn't be able to calm down without us comforting him. Well, last night we tried it and he screamed and screamed so Chris took him out, and it took two hours before he finally fell asleep. Tonight I gave him a bath, read him a story, said prayers, and put him in his crib. His crying wasn't as frantic tonight and after about twenty-five minutes miracle of miracles, he fell asleep! I can't believe it! It actually worked. My baby can now continue in his development. Hopefully I didn't ruin him by waiting too long.

Mark it down in the record books. December 29, Quinn officially took his first step. He lunged towards furniture a few times up at Ed and Joann's, but he took a step without holding onto anything or grabbing onto something afterwards yesterday down at Steadman's. Yay! He is on his way to being able to get into more mischief.

Baby's First Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone! We had a wonderful little Christmas vacation. We got to see lots of grandmas and grandpas, cousins, and aunts and uncles. We stayed at so many different places by Christmas day, after laying down for twenty minutes, I woke up and had no idea where I was.

Park City was beautiful and picturesque. It snowed almost the whole time we were there, so we stayed cooped up in our Deer Valley condo. No complaints here.

Do you think he looks like Papa?

From Park City we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Forsyth's and attended the White Family Christmas Party. We got to see a lot of family we haven't seen for a while, including some other little babies.

After Grandma's we stayed home for two nights to prepare for the Christmas festivities at Ed and JoAnn's. We went up to Draper on Christmas Eve where we enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner and opened the first presents of Christmas (i.e. jammies).

 I don't think this picture really looks like him, but this gives you an idea of what he does every time I try to sneakily take a picture of him--he charges towards me and gets whatever part of the camera he can in his mouth. In this picture it's the lens cap.

 I look dumb, but it's funny because it looks like Quinn is punching the camera.

 Kira's two kids, Reese and Riley, played a beautiful Mary and Joseph while we read the Christmas story out of the scriptures. Riley lasted for about a minute before he ripped off his costume and started kicking the baby Jesus. It made things a little more entertaining.

 Quinn got to test out his social skills with 11 month old Max (Ashley's baby). They tried to poke and prod each other for a greeting while the moms tried to tell them to be soft and gentle, but what about baby boys is soft and gentle? Also, Quinn was more interested in the bow than trying to open the present, which is surprising because he loves crinkly things and ripping things. That should be the perfect combination for opening presents, but the shiny bow trumped them both. Max (2 months his senior) eventually opened his jammies for him.

 Dad and baby in their jammies.

 We could not keep him away from the tree, and after he got a hold of his first bow, he wanted them all.

Christmas morning (don't be fooled, he still didn't open his own presents).

We had a great Christmas and hope that everyone else did too! Now we are ready to get back into our regular routine and look forward to a new year.

Mommy's Little Monster

Quinn is a week away from 9 months, and he is a delightful little handful. He can now open cabinets, climb, open the drawer under the stove, and wriggle his way through whatever barrier I devise. On the plus side, he has started using "mama" more liberally, and he still always has a big smile for his dad when he comes home. He is really close to taking his first steps. Yesterday he stood up without using anything to help him, and he walks along all the furniture and the walls. It is all very exciting, but sometimes (like when I'm changing his diaper) I wish I could rewind back to the time when he couldn't move, and I could set him down somewhere without worrying where he will end up or what he will get into.

My parents get into town today, and we will be spending the rest of the week in Park City! I am in need of a break and this will be perfect. We will get out of our closet of an apartment and venture into a condo that is normally enjoyed by the other half (really the top few percent) of society. However, it will bring new challenges, namely...stairs. I will just have to keep an extra watchful eye on my adventurous little baby.

Baby's First Snow

Winter is officially here! I have mixed feelings. I used to love when it snowed because I could hunker down in our apartment and make wonderful comfort food. I can still do the same thing, but it also means that we can't go for our daily walk until the weather clears up. It isn't easy keeping myself and a little baby entertained all day in our tiny apartment, but I did manage to make some absolutely wonderful soup. I highly recommend looking up the recipe for "smoked salmon chowder," on Mel's Kitchen Cafe. The flavor is incredible, and you can always omit the salmon if you are allergic or not a fan.

Christian wasn't going to fix the flat tires on my stroller because winter was coming soon. I quickly reassured him that I was going to continue walking through the winter and there was no way I was staying cooped up inside. Today we proved it. It snowed 10 inches yesterday, but the roads were clear enough for my rough and tumble jogging stroller. The big wheels plowed through snow, slush, and ice without disturbing a sleeping baby. I am determined to continue my daily walks (weather permitting), and 10 inches of snow can't even stop me.

A Happy Ending

Quinn is cutting more teeth this week, and it has been a challenge. I was starting to get used to a consistent sleep schedule and longer stretches of sleep at night, but this week everything has changed. Monday night he was up every other hour and then on Tuesday the drool and drippy nose started. This kid has been a faucet. I keep a bib around his neck and it gets soaked within an hour. I have been doing laundry specifically to get all of our bibs washed. Tuesday night was difficult. He was so stuffy he couldn't lay down at all. I sat with him in the recliner for a while, we tried inclining his pack n play, and I made a little makeshift bed in the kitchen so I could prop his head up on a pillow. We did not get very much sleep that night.

That brings us to Wednesday night. He fell asleep around 9:30 and was able to breathe through his nose. I was looking forward to sleeping in bed that night because I thought things were finally going to get better. Quinn and I slept in the bed while Christian played his game for a while, and Chris even tried to lie down on the futon to let us keep sleeping. Quinn woke up at 1, and I thought it would just be a routine feeding where he eats and falls asleep right after. Chris went to bed, and I fed Quinn. He fell asleep on my chest, and I thought for sure he would be able to sleep in his bed. I set him down and that's where things quickly escalated in a bad direction.

He woke up and started crying so I took him back out into the kitchen to put him to sleep again. This task has been a lot more difficult because he hasn't been taking his bink while cutting teeth. Long story short, he ended up crying for 2 1/2 hours. We tried everything. Rocking, patting his back, rubbing his ears and head, lying him down on a pillow, Chris took him outside to settle him down, singing, snuggling, he would not settle down. He was so tired I thought he would just fall over, but he kept it up. Finally I scooped him up and set him down on our bed which I didn't want to do because I wanted Christian to be able to sleep. I sung him a little song and he was out within 5 minutes.

I told Chris we were all sleeping in the bed, but we were both hesitant. After laying down for a minute I thought I could move Quinn to his bed. As it he read my thoughts he sat up like toast out of a toaster. I put him in his bed anyway because I was out of ideas.

I hate to admit this but we have never let Quinn cry himself to sleep. I always hold him or lay next to him while he's falling asleep. I didn't know what to expect when I put him in the pack n play, but I was hoping for a miracle. At this point it was 3:30 in the morning and Christian hadn't had any sleep yet, and he has to get up for work in the morning. Quinn stood up in his pack n play,  and I could hear him flopping around. I thought at least he wasn't crying because Chris and I were both at our wits' end. Suddenly his jabbering shifted into a higher pitched sing song voice. He sang with inflections and notes of different lengths. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He went on for maybe two minutes, and I couldn't help laughing to myself. My baby was singing himself to sleep. Once he was asleep he didn't shift, move, or make a sound until he woke up at 9:30. I was so grateful.

No matter how frustrated I get with Quinn he always finds a way to melt the frustration away and make me laugh. I know he's just a baby and doesn't do anything on purpose, but I love that there always seems to be a happy ending to his little bouts of difficulty.

First Word

I have an exciting "first" to report for baby Quinn. Yesterday we were doing our usual and playing with his toys when he stood up using the recliner to get a better look at Leeroy. Quinn has been especially vocal lately with his gibberish and I have just been waiting for the first purposeful "momma" to come out, but alas, Leeroy is the object of his affection, so of course, Quinn's first directed word was towards him. While Quinn was looking at Leeroy I was telling him to say "Hi kitty kitty," like I always do. Much to my surprise and sheer joy, Quinn copied what I said and greeted the cat. It was a little muffled and slurred, but there was no mistaking what he said. Christian didn't believe me when I told him so I again told Quinn to say "kitty kitty," and even Christian won't deny what he heard. Am I jealous of Leeroy? Very. But I am overjoyed to see Quinn growing and learning to do new things. And Leeroy better look out because next time I may be a little slow to stop Quinn from getting his tail.

Happy Halloween!

I have been so excited for our first Halloween with Quinn. I have come to find that holidays are a lot more fun when you have kids. I really wanted him to be something unique and great, and we came up with the perfect idea. When we were in Park City 2 months ago with Christian's family we watched hours of this cartoon Derek brought called The Last Airbender. It is geared toward smaller kids, has a good balance of goofy and suspense, and it is entertaining for adults too. We couldn't help but notice that Quinn resembles the avatar, Ang, so that's what he was for Halloween.

I'm really pleased with how good his costume looked for how little effort I had to put into it. I just found a long-sleeved, mustard yellow shirt and put it on him backwards since there was a giant robot on the front. For his shawl I found a long-sleeved, orange shirt and cut it halfway up his torso, cut the arms short, and cut a slit up the middle and walla! I had an air bender costume. The blue arrow on his head was the defining piece, and we just used blue eyeshadow. It went on easy and came off just as easy, and we didn't have to deal with messy face paints.

His costume was a great success. I had never heard of this character until two months ago, but all the kids and families we came across knew exactly who he was. Also, there were no duplicates. I saw a lot of the typical superheroes and cuddly baby animals, but no other air benders. I didn't hear anyone else shouting out to other little kids about their costumes, but a lot of people were pointing out the avatar, and kids shouted to him from across the room. It will be hard to top this year's Halloween.

 Christian's coworkers took pictures because he looked so much like Ang.

 Look at that baby! He's air bending!

 The exterior for the new Provo Temple

 The Air Blender!

 Even Momo joined in for the festivities.