When Christmas comes to town...

Oh my, how time flies! In less than a week, we will be celebrating our very first Christmas with the very best gift we could ever have asked for. And I have a feeling that she is going to be one spoiled little girl :)

To help keep up the Christmas cheer, here is one of my favorite pictures of Quinn...well, at the moment anyway. It's always changing.

She is playing with a bell that I got when I went to see Santa one year. Who knows...maybe someday she will have her babies take pictures with it too!

Here are some other ones from our photo shoot that day :)

"Mom...do we really have to do this right now? I have better things to do."

She reminds me of a cute little Glow Worm!

She has the best facial expressions!

Santa Baby...

Thursday night (12/8/11) we took Quinn to see Mr. Claus. We waited patiently in line for our turn with Santa as we watched the other children fill him in on what they would like for Christmas this year. Some kids were very happy and excited to see him, while others were less than pleased (we were a little afraid that she would fall into this category since she's been dealing with a bit of stranger anxiety lately). Quinn on the other hand, was rather neutral. They told us to back her into his lap so she didn't see him and then we had to walk over to the camera. After I placed her on his lap, she turned to look at him with these furrowed eyebrows and this expression of confusion. Then, she almost just shrugged her shoulders, turned around and faced the camera like "Ok...I'm ready for my picture now."

Quinny had to have her Ella Wubby with her and Dan thought that since it is her favorite thing, that we should let her have it and also each year, have her bring her favorite thing with her to see Santa so she can remember what was her favorite love that year. So, a tradition has been started! 2011 Favorite Item: Ella Wubby ♥

October in a Pumpkin Shell

Lots happened in October that I didn't get to post about. Here is something that is just filled with adorableness:

She is having a blast blowing bubbles in her water cup!

And here are a bunch of pictures from October that are too cute not to share...

Modeling the cute pumpkin hat from some of our favorite people...the Huxes! Thank you!

Practicing brushing her hair...for when it comes in :)

"Helloooooo!"

My lil cutie-patootie!

"I see you trying to take another picture of me..."

My two favorite peeps...Daddy and Quinn! ♥

Little Monkey Girl!

She sure loves the camera and her close ups!

I love this picture of Quinny and her Great Grandpa Kunde!

Happy Halloween from the cutest Tinkerbell around!

It's Quinn's first Halloween!  And she was as cute as can be :)

Bye-Bye Gummy Bear

On Tuesday (11/1/11) Quinny and I were playing peek on the couch...which got her laughing her cute, open-mouth baby laugh. And then I saw it...on the bottom front/left side of her gums...a tooth bud!!!!! Quinny is getting a tooth! As soon a she allows me (and it comes in fully) there will be pictures. So long my little gummy bear grin. Hello mouth full of pearly whites! :)

Stand Tall!

Oh goodness so much has happened since the last time I posted! Quinn has decided that she is no longer going to be a baby and she is now a big girl! The Friday before Halloween (10/28/11), Quinn and I were sitting in front of her Exersaucer (her new favorite thing). All of a sudden, I look down, and this is what she thought she should do...

Dan and I were so excited! And she was so proud of herself! She is so much better at it now than in the video...but we sure were impressed! Go Quinn, go! Oh goodness...it's time to put up the gate!

Happy Half Birthday! {Six Months Old}

Holy cannolies, how time flies. My sweet little nugget is getting so big! Here is a run down of the things that she has accomplished in her short time as a Wodnick:

• Smiling - pretty much the cutest smiles in the whole history of smiles. She takes after her daddy on that front :)
• Giggles - She doesn't have that "belly laugh" that you hear a lot of babies doing. She does more of the "heehees" threw her cheeks if that makes any sense. Like the sound you tend to make when you tickle little babes...she's copied that and that is how you know that she loves what ever is going on at the time.
• Food - She is a major foodie. I know that I posted about this before, but I think it's gotten worse. She sees that you are eating and she so intently stares at you until you cave and give her a nibble of what you are eating.
• Rolling Over - She doesn't last long on her belly anymore. She is an old pro at that one.
• Sitting Up - She LOVES to sit up! I think she feels like such a big girl when she gets to sit on her own. Just wait until she gets the hang of standing then walking...she is going to be crazy then!
• Peek-a-Boo! - Talk about mood changer! If she is starting to get cranky, usually a good game of peek helps her get out of her funk. She just LIGHTS UP when you pop up and say "PEEK!" Sometimes I play behind Dan and then she looks for me. That is pretty darn cute :)

There is more, but I need to save some room for new pictures! Who doesn't love pictures of babies...especially this baby! I know I do!



"Hi momma!"




"Peek! I see you!"





All smiles for her photo shoot



Always tucking in that bottom lip :)





These are a few of my favorite things...

I can't believe that in a few short weeks, my little nugget is going to be 6 months old! It's funny how everyone always tells you that time flies and that you should enjoy every second of your baby. But you never really believe it until it's your turn. When Quinn was first born, I thought that the whole, getting up every two hours was going to last F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!!! Stupidly, I wished for that to hurry up so I could get a little more sleep and not look like a zombie run over by a semi truck all the time. Now, I would give a lot to slow down time!

But, since that will never happen, I thought I would list a few of my favorite things and moments about and with my little Quinny Bear (I did edit myself. If I listed everything, then this post would go on for ages. Yes, she is that awesome that my list would be that long)...here we go!

• When she is ready to eat, she does this little laughing cry. Where if you weren't looking at her and seeing her grab at my chest or a bottle, you could almost swear that she is laughing! So not the case. You let this go too long and you will get a full blown freak out. And trust me, those are not that much fun.
• If you do manage to get her full blown freak out, sometimes it's hard not to laugh because the face she makes is hilarious. One of these times, I'm going to get a picture of that and you will see what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I hate to hear her cry and see her upset, but that face! Too darn cute.
• The need for her to get those little toes into her mouth! She is forever stuffing those little tooties into her mouth and sucking on her toes. Who knew that they were that tasty?
• She is so infatuated with anything that we are eating or drinking. If we are drinking anything, she always puts her hand on the glass as if she is helping us drink. And then she waits expectantly like it's her turn. We've gotten a few good chuckles when that cup happens to be a beer mug.
• Tummy time is a thing of the past. You put her on her belly and in 2.5 seconds, she is on her back. No more of that for this little babe! She is going to be a stubborn one like her parents.
• This one is a give away - but when Dan or I come home, she just goes crazy when she sees us! She about jumps out of what ever she is in because she is so excited! Now that is a perfect ending to a long day at work!

Ok, there are plenty more, and I seriously could go on forever! But I won't bore you to death with all of them. I'm sure that I will post another one like this here soon...don't you worry!

Splish Splash! I was takin a bath...

Quinn has always loved bath time. But she has now found that baths are even more fun!

Seeing the world from a slightly different view...

Last week, Quinny started sitting up on her own! Man, does she ever love it.

Such a big girl!

"It's so much easier to play sitting up!"

"Look Ma! No hands!"

She was so proud of herself! Now, I didn't get all crazy when I sat her up and found that she could sit on her own for a bit. I didn't want to startle her and make her fall backwards crack her skull open or give herself a concussion. So, when she noticed that she was doing it on her own, she turned and looked at me with this huge gummy grin on her chubby little face like, "Do you see this? Do you?! I'm doing it on my own! You're not holding me up! How did this happen?!?!?" My cute little nugget is growing up way too fast. Pretty soon, I'll be chasing her around the house because she is running! Can someone please invent a time machine so I can have my baby back? Or at least something that will slow time down...that would be ok too.

FOOD! Glorious food!

(I should have posted this one sooner, but then it got lost in my other posts - Oops!) On Friday (8/19) Quinny had her 4 month check up. She looks great! Dr. Daniels was very impressed with her and how well she is developing and growing. After they took her stats (weight: 13lbs. 14 oz height: 25 inches) we talked about a few things, one of which was when we could start her on solids! We had noticed that she was more and more intrigued with what we eating and how we brought the fork up to our mouths and back down to the plate (it's super cute to watch her watch the fork: up and down, up and down). We got the all clear from the doctor that we can get her started on some cereal. Man, does she love her food! She will for sure be a foodie...just like her momma and daddy :)

"Rice cereal and bananas aren't so bad!"

"Is this how you're supposed to do it?"

Yumm!

Last bite!

Since then, we have feed her fresh avocados, a mixtures of potato, pumpkin, apples and blueberries, fresh peaches, and a mixture of apricots, banana and rice cereal. Her favorite by far are the peaches...she got rather upset at us last night when she finished her chunk and we didn't give her more! Apparently, you don't stand in the way of food and this girl :)

 

Quinny enjoying some potato, pumpkin, apples and blueberry mix. And daddy trying to get it in her mouth :)

Thank Heaven for little girls...

It sure is lucky that Dan and I had a little girl! Because if we had a little boy, I can only imagine that Dan would be a little upset at me for making things like this and then forcing him to wear it!

Lost in a sea of tulle!

I have the most perfect little model :)

Luckily for me, Quinn is more than happy to be the inspiration for my crafting impulses. She is going to be one decked out little nugget!

Quinny's Rules of Eating...

It has been decided (by Quinn) that there shall be NO talking while she nurses. She has made this fact very clear the last few days. Should anyone talk while I feed her, she immediately stops and stares at me with this look of utter bewilderment like "Who dares talk while I'm eating?!?" and then takes her cute, chubby hand and covers my mouth as if to emphasize the no talking rule.

Perhaps she will remember this rule when she is a bit older and chatting up a storm instead of eating her dinner. But I do have to admit - she has some sass! And it's pretty darn adorable.

God welcomes his newest princess...

Quinn was baptized this last Sunday (8/14/11) at Woodlake Lutheran Church. She fell asleep before the actual baptism and then got a nice awakening when Pastor Art poured water over her head. She had no problem letting the congregation know that she was not happy about that! But she calmed down pretty quickly soon after. We did have a nasty little surprise though. We got back home and noticed that she had sprouted hives all over her little body in a matter of two hours! Scary business. But we took her to the doctor (while everyone was at our house, but we are very lucky to have such great friends and family that just took the reins and made sure that things got done so food was ready) and they recommended that we get her some baby claritin and benadryl. All is good now, and she is such a great baby that she remained happy and adorable the whole time. 

Dan, Quinn, Pastor Art, Mandy. We really liked Pastor Art. Too bad he is just the interim pastor though.

Godfathers Ryan and Brian, Quinn, Godmother Tammy, Dan and Mandy

Quinny with her Godparents!

Great Grandparents with Quinn: GG Johnson, GG Wodnick, GGs Kunde

Quinny with her cake. She has that cute little smirk on her face because she got her little fingers in the icing :)

Quinny and momma!

That daddy...he sure is a goof nut!

"Hi Uncle Brian!"

Godfather, Ryan

Sarah, Quinn and Godfather Brian

Tom, Quinn and Godmother, Tammy

Quinn with her Godfather and Godmother

Thank you so much to all of you who helped us celebrate Quinn and make her day so special. We love you all very much and you guys mean the world to us!!!!!

Surprise Visitors!

Matt and Sara stopped by on Saturday for an impromptu visit with their little man, Daryl. We had fun watching Quinn and Daryl play. That, and it was super cute to listen to Dan and Matt compare diapers and talk about coupons!

"I wanna hold your hand!"

"Come on Daryl! Like this...just hold it!"

"See, not so hard."

Such cute friends!

"More pictures? Really?"

Quinn linked arms with Daryl and it was about the cutest thing in the world. Of course, I couldn't get a good picture of it because they were so squirmy, but this one turned out ok :)

We can't wait to have another play date! It's so much fun seeing these two grow up together (they're only 5 days apart!) and we can only imagine that they will just keep getting cuter and cuter and cuter!

Minnesota meets Missouri!

Earlier this month, we got to visit with our family from Missouri: Auntie Linda, Uncle Mike, Lindsey, Derek and Lexi! We always love visits from them and can't wait to see them again - hopefully sooner rather than later! We miss you guys already and love you tons!

Lindsey, Lexi and Quinn

Lexi loves Quinn, and wanted to prove it by giving her a big ol' smooch!

Snuggling Gam-Gam

Cousins! And their babies.

Lexi at the family reuion

Lexi found Tort! Great Uncle Mike's tortoise.

Great Grandma Jen with her two Great Granddaughters

Dan, Quinn, Great Grandma Jen, Lexi and Lindsey. Such a great picture.

Quinny and GG Jen!

Lexi was being a pirate...AAARRRRRR matey!

I don't think there could be two cuter girls :)

Super cute.

Me and Linds with our girlie-girls!

"I see you taking my picture...and I've had enough!"

Meet Simba Lexi! Raaaarrrrrrrr!