First Big Girl Bath!

Well, Quinn is officially home from "school"! She has pinkeye and two infected ears. The doctor was impressed with her pain tolerance; during her sickness she hasn't really cried too much at all. The one thing affecting her the most is that she hasn't been sleeping well. We have had a few late nights/early mornings lately! Randy stayed home from work to watch Quinn yesterday but is away on business to Waterloo today. I am home from school with her. :-)


Anyway, the other night, Quinn had her first big girl bath! This was the first time we have given her a bath and not used her little tub in the kitchen sink. We have a bath seat in which she can sit up. This was the first time we felt like she could sit up well enough to use it. At first she didn't know what to think, but eventually she was kicking and splashing everywhere and loving it! The warm air in the bathroom seemed to improve her congestion a lot, too.

                                                     so pretty

                                                   getting clean!

poor baby!

Quinn has her first bad cold! It is just awful that she is so sick and there's nothing we can really do about it. Thursday night she slept terribly and started to feel really rotten at school on Friday. She has a horrible hacking cough, a constantly running nose, and eyes that won't stop watering. The poor dolly is just feeling awful. She has been catnapping all day with her dad (even as we speak!) so I hope a few days of rest will make everything better.

I tried to get her to play in her bouncer today...she just wanted to chill.

Here is a cuter pic from a week or so ago. Somebody might have a sweet tooth like her mama! (No, she is not eating ice cream yet!)

6 month photo!

This is short and sweet. The only thing I have to share today is Quinn's 6 month photo. It's a scan so it's not the best quality, but I still think she is pretty cute. :-)

6 months!

Hi! It's me, Quinn. I am finally 6 months old! Can you believe it? I know Mommy and Daddy can't!

You are probably wondering what I've been up to lately. Well....I have been really busy now that I am back at day care. I have lots of friends at school who love to play with me and I am getting good at playing back with them! My favorite thing to do is grab at their feet when they are running around me. I am still rolling and creeping like crazy. I can sit up really well when someone holds me and will be sitting up on my own any day now!

Mommy and Daddy have started giving me some yummy foods. I have had lots of different veggies, rice cereal, and bananas! My favorite so far has been avocado. I can't wait to eat guacamole (Mom's favorite). Mom makes my baby food and I must say she is an excellent cook.

Daddy took me to the doctor the other day. I now weigh over 16 pounds and am 26 inches long; that puts me in the 55th percentile for weight and the 65th percentile for height on the growth curve.

I love to talk and babble and sing!

Here is a recent picture of me. I rolled onto the hard floor, but I don't mind because I am tough.

Did I mention that I have lost almost all of my hair? I just have a little bit left of the pretty red curls around my ears and on the back of my head. Mommy thinks I am going to be a blonde. We'll see!

Thanks for reading - gotta scootch! :-)

Our 5k

Last Saturday Randy and I ran in the 1st Annual John Deere 5k! Neither Randy nor I are serious runners. We recently bought a treadmill and have been working out on that. I haven't made much time for exercise since I went back to work, but I am hoping to get better about that! Anyway, the 5k was a lot of fun. Saturday morning was gorgeous. Randy's sister, Maria, and one of her friends babysat Quinn while Randy and I trekked to Johnston. We both ended up with faster times than we'd expected! Mine, especially, was much better than I'd anticipated. I even beat people! :-) There were also lots of kids' races, starting with kids as young as one year old. Can't wait for Q to run next year!

M

          Jill after race. You can't see the shoes well, but they are pretty sweet.

S

                                              Sweaty and tired!

Did I mention that we somehow got locked out of our car during our race? When it was time to go we realized that we couldn't get in! Luckily we had a window cracked and my genius engineer husband was able to remove a windshield wiper and unlock a door. I don't know what I'd do without him!

Back to school....

I am back at school! I had mixed feelings about going back this year. It is so hard to leave Quinn every day! She does great at day care, though, so we know she is in good hands. I miss my girl so much, though!

School is going well. I am in a brand-new building and it seems like there are still a lot of kinks to work out, especially regarding technology and availability of resources. Along with kicking off the school year comes the things I don't like: the piles of papers to check (will soon be hours every night), being so exhausted after a long day, only having time to read one book per week, etc.

I do love my job, though. I love interacting with my kids every day, getting them excited about reading, and working with them to develop their writing skills as we send them off to high school. I feel like teaching is what I am meant to do and it feels very natural for me. Perhaps it is in my blood? :-) Truly, the good outweighs the bad by a large margin. I am just missing my lazy summer days....

I will try to update on our family (with pictures!) when I get some "free time" this weekend....ha!