Earth Hour and Settlers Fun

We celebrated Earth Hour (http://www8.earthhourus.org/) last night when we had Taj and Danny over for dinner and Settlers fun! Quin had a wonderful time wrestling and being thrown like a rag doll by Danny, and certainly enjoyed the candle time once the eight o'clock hour hit. Then after Quin hit the hay (Danny's time with Quin proved very advantageous as he slept a full 12 hour sleep last night!), we all enjoyed some delicious desserts T & D brought over, yum. And, Todd and I learned an advanced form of our old favorite game Settlers of Catan (http://www.settlersofcatan.net/). What a lovely night it was!

Snow and Growth

Two big moments yesterday...spring snow, oh boy! and Quin's 2 year old Dr's appointment. We had a fun time trooping around in the snow, eating it, and watching Theo romp around wildly in it which produced great volumes of laughter from Quin. As far as growth, Quin is now made it up to the 10th percentile for weight, hooray! and 50% for height (though he was a real squiggler during this measurement). So he's doing great! And of course doing very well with all his other milestones as well like talking, playing hide and seek, and so forth. Yeah, we already knew he was great though, didn't we. ;)

Oohhhh and Uumm

A quick post to note one of my favorite new Quinnie sayings, "oohhhh" as in "I get it now Mama." Used in a situation like,
Quin: "What's Theo doing?" (another very frequent Q saying)
Mama: "Barking at the crows."
Quin: "Ooohhhh."
He is also into answering a yes or no question with an "uummm" attached to the response, as in "Ummm, yes!"
Oh, these are the things I surely won't remember in 10 years, good thing I'm posting them. ;)

Date Night

Awww, isn't it sweet, we got to have date night last night to see our friend Matt perform at the Triple Door! Uncle Dashel and Cassie generously watched Quin so we could go out and we all had a great time. Todd and I were impressed with Matt (and his band mates) and really enjoyed the company of Mom friends Rebecca, Nan and Tara. Todd was on a "date" with 4 woman, he certainly couldn't complain! I hope to make more date night plans for the next few months while I'm still feeling so energetic, and before the craziness of the addition gets underway.

Shrimpy Fun!

Todd brought home some delicious prawns tonight for the second time this month, we are so spoiled! So, to be creative we fried about half of them up as coconut shrimp, yum! Even though I'm completely stuffed full of them and the fried zuc and veggies we had to go with, I still want more just writing about them. Quin loved them too, wolfing down the plain cooked ones and the fried yummies.
So, the funny thing about these little guys was Quin's reaction the first time Todd brought some home a few weeks ago. At first, he was terrified and wouldn't get near them yet still very curious, then he wanted to play with one like a pet, then gave it a kiss, then went right on ahead eating them like they were candy in the end. Ah, the tale of the shrimp at the home of the Zackey's...

This Guy Cracks Me Up!

Quin says the funniest things these days, and he remembers the most random incidents. The other day we were playing in the front yard and we heard a big thud and saw a crow drop something from off the roof, it was a large bone, weird! Thus the phrase, "The crow dropped a bone off the roof!" and the retelling of how this same bone would make Theo puke. Yeah, fascinating!
Then a few weekends back we were on the beach on Vashon with Kristian and Lucas, and Kristian decided he had to get an old construction cone that was up in the brambles above the beach. He tore his way up and captured the old cone triumphantly. So the phrase, "Kristian found a cone on the beach!" was born.
Last night this was the interaction between Quin and Papa (after his long day sampling on the beach):
"Does Papa smell bad?"
"Yes!"
"Should Papa take a shower?"
"Yes!"
"What does Papa smell like?"
"Poopy diaper"
Ha, what a potty mouth this little guy already has!

Bunny Boy

Bunny Boy Quin had a wonderful Easter this year. Between the egg hunts at Edmonds City Park, our home and Auntie Tina's (with healthy snack filled eggs provided by Nami), Quin was certainly spoiled with "teats". The Easter bunny even brought him a new baby doll so he can practice his big brother skills. And though, he had his rowdy moments today, he did stop to say, "Thank you bunny for the teats" many times with a mouth full of animal crackers or peanut m & m's.

Halfway there!

Ok, so if the picture doesn't say enough alone, I'll add that I'm really feeling bigger, and clearly my rear grows at the same rate as my front (see embarrassing evidence of this by watching growth from week 10). But I feel great and I LOVE feeling little Miss Squirmy kick these days, she can be felt on the outside now too. Papa Todd, Gigi and Cassie have felt her a little. Though she gave Gigi the biggest kick so far, something tells me she'll be all the more active in the next few months. It's hard to believe I'm already halfway through my pregnancy and if this one is anything like her brother, I may be a few weeks past halfway, wow, time flies!

Gigi's Here!

Quin and the rest of us are feeling pretty lucky this week as Gigi arrived on Tuesday for a visit during her spring break. Quin is having a great time having another adult give him all sorts of attention and Mama Erin is pretty tickled with the new baby girl outfits Gigi brought. Gigi is pretty busy doing some scouting around every day for homes in the area, as she plans to eventually buy a home or condo so she can spend summer's out here. She is also busy trying to help us work on design ideas for the addition. It sure is great having Gigi visit!

Phobic

Ok, so I understand, "I scared dinos" or gorillas (they are awfully big) and hippos (and the scary roaring noises they make), but banana peels and chestnuts (ok the outsides are all spiky, but still)? Quin is in a funny "it's scary mama" stage. He's nervous about masks (like our old Chinese man), worms, and occasional storybook characters. I can't but help but think it's so cute when his eyes get all big, he shrugs up his shoulders and says, "oooo scary". Someday he'll be all big and tough and I'll have to remind him of the day he was halfway through eating his banana and looked at me, pointed at the peel, and said, "what's that mama? it's scary!" with those cute big eyes.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Well this is a day late, but with my green background I couldn't resist posting it. Hope you all had fun yesterday!

Lacrosse Dreamer

Awww, Quin fell asleep on the way home from watching a lacrosse game with Papa Todd this afternoon, asleep with the stick in hand.

It's A...

GIRL!
We are pretty excited around here.
Ok, so I know anyone who would read this would likely already know we're having a girl, but now I can at least post her first terrifying picture here! The ultrasound went very well, but the technician wasn't so good at capturing Little Miss Squirmy being still and posing for the camera (silly girl doesn't yet know how much she'll be posing in the future). So, thus the sort of creepy alien face picture. Ooo, just for saying that she's giving me some 20 weeks in utero kicks, with those oh so sweet little feet of hers, also pictured.

Baby Kicks

As I'm sitting here I'm enjoying the little kicks of this sibling to Quin and I know that he/she will likely be just as active a kiddo as he is! ;) I love it!

18 weeks

Well I had a successful 2nd Dr. Apt with Dr. Vu, though had to do a little too much pregnancy magazine reading while waiting... results of our quick visit: I will get to have my ultrasound in the next week or two, I'm at same weight I was with Quin at this same point in pregnancy, cervix looking good (phew), but placenta low (which I'm told by many including nurse Cassie and others could very well shift up), and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat (142) which was thrilling!

So, I'm scheduling the ultrasound for the soonest time I can get in the next week or so, at the hospital since Dr. Vu's office is so busy, and hopefully that way Todd can come for sure and we'll get to find out what his baby is. I don't really have a good prediction yet (no dream etc.) but would honestly be thrilled either way, a little brother for Quin would be great (and I see myself as a mom of boys) but a little girl would also be a treat! This being a "La Nina" year perhaps I'll follow Anna's trend of having a girl baby!