Growing Up

Mike and I blinked - and Fiona has grown up! Yes, she's definitely still two. Don't get me wrong. But she's becoming less a toddler and more a kid every day. It's so exciting to watch ... and yet, I miss my baby. But our baby has turned into this kid.

The one who thinks mornings should entail lounging on her couch, legs crossed, with a yogurt and cartoons.

The one who is still too short, even with a stool, to reach the kitchen counter, so we sat on the floor to make brownies together.

The one who grabbed my face earlier this week when I was carrying her (because of the ice) and said, "mama. I needed you to be careful. It slippery. K?"

See "lounging" comment above

The one who felt sorry for Auntie and got her sister to quit screaming.

The one who can make Quinn laugh like no one else in the world can.

The one who pulls out Quinn's booster seat and my chair, climbs (climbs!) onto my chair, and sits on it to feed her baby doll.

The one who goes downstairs to play. all by herself.

The one who told Mike tonight, "I'm so excited you are my Daddy."

This kid. We adore her!

Bres Friens

Who wouldn't want to be
friends with her?

Tonight at dinner, Fiona was talking to Quinn ...

F: Oh, squashface (don't judge us - she was covered in squash!). You my bres frien.

For those who don't do toddler speak, that is "best friend." How sweet is that! It made my heart melt. And the best part is that it came out of nowhere. We hadn't been trying to convince her to say it or talking about it. She just felt it and wanted to tell her sister.

We hope that in 10 years, Fiona's still saying this to her sister ... the best friend part. Maybe not the squashface part.

What Is It with Little Girls and Horses?

A couple weeks ago, during lunch, Fiona and I had the following conversation:

F: Mama, I don't have a flying horse.
S: No baby, you don't.
F: (sighing like only a 2-year-old can) I don't even have a regular horse.
S: (laughing) No baby, you don't.
F: Does Daddy have a horse?
S: Nope.
F: Does Quinny have a horse?
S: No, Quinn doesn't have a horse.
F: Do you have a horse?
S: No, honey. I don't have a horse either.
F: sigh ...S: Do you know who does have a horse?
F: WHO?
S: Grandma Nash has a horse.
F: Yippee! Let's go NOW! 

Q - 5 Months

5 months

I'm late - I know. But better late than never!

Quinn is 5 (+) months and has conquered several milestones in the last month. She's such a fun girl and we love that she is joining in the family chaos more and more each day. Her favorite person in the whole world is Fiona, who can make her smile anytime. She was not pleased with me for being gone for a few days and has been both clingy and punishing. I think she has mostly forgiven me now.

Other developmental milestones:

In the booster chair

• Rolling over. Both ways. And across the room. She's mobile, folks!
• Very interested in toys! Has started grabbing them herself and passing them between hands.
• Sitting. Can sit a few seconds independently and is very good at sitting with minimal support from us.
• Eating solid foods. She is becoming a very good eater. Our freezer is stocked with pureed cubes of sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans, and apples. Her favorite so far is squash.
• Going swaddle-less at night. We weren't really ready to unswaddle her - but our friend's pediatrician lectured them for still swaddling their 4 month old because once they are rolling, they can roll over in the swaddle and don't have their arms free to roll back. Once we knew there was a suffocation risk, we just couldn't wrap her up anymore. There were a few bumpy nights, but she is adjusting.
• Exersaucer/jumperoo. Awesome. Standing is awesome. She's ready to run!
• Continuing to chat and mimic sounds. She has these funny [LOUD] shrieks that I swear she only does after Fiona goes to bed.
• Starting to be very aware when we leave the room. An excellent tracker.
• LOVES Yogi and to watch him play. She always wants to know where he and Fiona are.
• Losing focus when eating. The world is too cool to be interrupted with food. Until our poor choices catch up to us and we are very hungry!

Sweet Potatoes

The girls got to spend the last two weeks with their grandparents (a bit of a hiccup in our daycare arrangements), so Q has been spoiled rotten by all the grandmas and two grandpas. She hasn't complained. And she is grateful that Gma and Gpa J were here when she had RSV (yep - same age as Fiona had it), so she got extra snuggles when she wasn't feeling so good. Gma and Gpa (and the awful cold they now have) are a little less excited about the snotty snuggles she offered up.

Off Road

I'm home! Hooray! It sounds easier than it was. Here's a pop quiz to set up my story:

1. True or False. The hardest part of my trip will be getting frozen breastmilk through security at the airport.
2. True or False. It never snows in Knoxville in January.
3. True or False. Assuming #2 is False, the Knoxville airport is totally prepared to deal with snow.
4. True or False. A 2+ hour flight delay would enable two traveling companions to deal with any pumping issues and/or lack of dinner.

For the answers, read on.

Susan and I worked a full day (or close to it) and headed to the airport. The rain was quickly becoming a wintry mix - but we are from Minnesota. So we got to the airport without any problem. Getting my THIRTEEN bags (65 oz, thank you very much!) through security was no problem. Before I got to the x-ray machine, I pulled out my cooler and warned them. The very nice security person I got had also been a nursing mom who traveled - so she was so supportive. She just had to swab my cooler and we were good. I had to repack my cooler because they couldn't get it all back in. They asked how I fit that much in my small cooler. Sheer will!

We got to our gate and hung out for a while. Then I decided to go pump in the airport bathroom one last time because of our quick connection in Detroit. I also bought us each a bag of trail mix because dinner was not looking likely. Our plane wasn't there yet when I got back to the gate. But it was coming soon. It was only 10 minutes late - but unfortunately had a maintenance issue. They couldn't get ahold of maintenance forever and when they finally did, they got a very helpful "if it comes back with one code, you can go. if it has the other, plane is grounded." So the poor gate agents were trying to create contingency plans for 100+ people. We got booked on the late flight out of DTW to MSP - because at this point, we would never make our early connection.

After about an hour of this (and huge fear that we'd be in Knoxville for another night), they announced that we could board the plane. By this time, the wintry mix had turned to all out snow. So the plane needed to be de-iced. Sounds easy enough. And yet ... we were on the plane on the runway for over an hour as 1) they couldn't get the de-icing liquid heated up enough, 2) the de-icers boom was frozen in place, and 3) by this time, an inch (half inch ... i don't remember) of slush had built up on the runway and was right on the edge of what federal regulations would allow. So they had to verify we could leave. When that plane took off, we were all SO happy. Until we got in there air. We bounced. all. the. way. Like green people on this plane. Was wishing I hadn't eaten my trail mix on the runway.

We landed safely in DTW and took off at a quick clip - all the way across the airport. We went by tunnel and tram to our new gate. Where we immediately got on the plane and they shut the boarding door behind us. Whew! My chest was feeling a bit tender at this point. So I pumped in the plane's bathroom. Crazy! I didn't save it, but my chest sure felt better. The trip from DTW to MPS had a few bumps, but was mostly uneventful. We grabbed our bags and headed for the cab. It dropped me just after 11pm. 

But the trip is now behind us. I proved to myself and my doubters that I can bring milk home. And best of all, Fiona greeted me Friday morning with a huge hug and a shriek of "You're back."

From the Road

I'm sitting in Knoxville - on my first business trip since Quinn was born. Being a nursing mom on the road is not for the faint of heart. Not only is my pump my faithful companion on this trip, but trip timing (with connections) can get a little tricky.

The morning started with a message from my colleague/travel companion that our connecting flight was cancelled so our flight was rebooked. Through Atlanta. I hate traveling through Atlanta. I'd rather poke out an eye than go through Atlanta. Yet, through Atlanta I went. The bonus of whining to the universe about Atlanta for years is that I got upgraded to first class on the way to ATL. And I've had worse ATL experiences. I was a bit worried when we landed in Concourse A and our connection was in Concourse T! Gah! But it wasn't as long a walk as expected - and we didn't even have to take the tram.

I spent the little bit of time we had before our connection pumping. in the bathroom. in ATL. Yuck! But the girls were happy that we did that!

The trip to Knoxville was bumpy, but short. So now I'm here, missing Yogi (whose birthday is today), Quinn (who turns 5 months today ... and daddy better remember to take that 5 month picture!), Fiona, and Mike. Think good thoughts on Thursday night for our trip home. We have the tightest connection ever in Detroit and we are expecting an all out sprint.

Update to come on my adventure of trying to bring milk back.

Christmas - Just a Bit Late

A true family photo. If you choose
to pout, mama will still post.

Well, we are just into the new year, and I'm yet to catch up on our Christmas activities. To summarize: wonderful. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Highlights of the holidays include:

• A closet door full of happy, smiling, beautiful faces of our dearest friends and family members (and their Christmas cards)
• Fiona's wonder as Grandma let her hold Baby Jesus and retold the nativity story to her. She still talks to me about baby Jesus, mama Mary, and papa Joseph who "Grandma tell me about." (no credit to mom who read her the Christmas story more than a dozen times before we headed north!)
• Watching Fiona participate as we sang "happy birthday" to Jesus on Christmas morning
• Stealing cookies when Grandma wasn't looking ;-) 
• Watching Fiona and her cousins (Nate, Ben, and Spencer) thoroughly enjoy playing with each other
• Seeing Ben's pride as he stood up as Quinn's godfather
• Introducing Quinn to her cousin Abby (2 months younger) and seeing them interact
• Celebrating Quinn's first Christmas
• Helping Fiona put out cookies and milk for Santa
• Watching Quinn play with her own new toys (and hearing Fiona tell her sister, "you share with me now, Quinny")
• Finding a place for all our new treasures

Happy 2013 to all our faithful readers!

New princess blocks (and big girl underwear)

Some bling (and a teether) from Santa

Santa left their big present under the tree at our house.
A dollhouse for Bugs and a farm for Q

PS - in other news, I think I fixed the comment form issue. Some of you have not had problems - and thank you for the comments. Some of you have run into commenting problems in the last few months. I think it is resolved, so feel free to comment again. Some of you never comment - and that is fine. I understand living anonymously ... but I do feel like I'm blogging to air sometimes. So anytime the spirit moves you to comment, know that it makes me smile!

Rolling and Sitting and Smiling and Playing

Sitting on the princess couch

Quinn has taken leaps and bounds in development in the last two weeks. She really got into toys just in time for Christmas. And when we got home from the holidays, she decided it would be a good time to learn to roll over (back to tummy)! She hasn't looked back and is loving her rolling world. In fact, at daycare, Ms. A often finds her on her tummy in the crib when she wakes up! She knows how to roll from tummy to back - but doesn't do it very often. So she can get frustrated on her tummy after a while. We are trying to teach her how to maneuver herself to her liking.

Today, Mike put Quinn on the girls' princess couch. Quinn SAT on it with very good balance. She is getting pretty good at sitting with minimal support on the floor and actually gets pretty mad when she isn't upright these days. So many milestones to go - but we are amazed by her skills already! She watches Fiona with great interest and desperately wants to learn to be a big girl like her sister.