Making Daddy Proud

Quinn is discovering the different sounds she can make. Jared is quite proud of her "bathroom" or tooting noises. Quinn is pretty proud of herself too. She has been a drool monster (check out the front of her outfit!) for a long time and now it looks like it may continue if she really gets into blowing bubbles and making noises. What a cute little monster! Plus, she has 2 bottom front teeth to show for all that drooling!

Our week in pictures.

Wanted to wear her mommy's earrings. This is what I came up with.

Very excited about wearing earrings!!!

Teething!!!

First time in the Exersaucer

Center of the Universe in Tulsa, OK (with many bracelets and watches on her arm)

With Jenny Nagel @ the Center of the Universe

Being silly

Laughing so hard! Love it!!What they have is so special!

We love daddy!!!!

Wiped out, she can sleep anywhere.

Rolled over onto the hardwood floor

Made a monkey with mommy

Monkey. (She was so EXCITED to show her daddy what she had made. She was very proud)


This has been our week so far in a nutshell. It has been fun and a little stressful with Quinn teething and Claire telling me NO!! to everything. We are looking forward to a fun weekend at Grammy and Grandpa's! Maybe Claire will forget the word no before then,ha ha, yeah right!

Playdate

Alex and Claire

Today was our very first playdate! We went to the Jang's home to play with Desiree, Alex, and Jaycen. I have to admit I was very nervous going on my, I mean our, first playdate. I did not know what to expect or what the etiquette was. Do I bring anything, how long should I stay, what if Claire is awful, what if they don't like us???????????? All of these things were running through my head as I was driving over. Thankfully Desiree was a very good hostess and made it easy on me. Claire and Alex (2 years) kind of looked at each other at first. I think Alex was like "Just so you know this is my house." Claire of course looked at him like "I do not care." I was surprised that Claire was a little aggressive at first. I had never seen that side of Claire, she had chalk and he wasn't getting it back, so she pushed him. Alex did such a good job of sharing his toys, especially Thomas the train, and was such a sweet boy. They ended up warming up to each other and by the end they were running around the couch laughing and throwing a ball. I truly think they had a good time. It took some getting used to each other at first but it was fun. Sweet baby Jaycen (1 month) slept almost the entire time. I did get to hold him before I left and he is so sweet and so little. Quinn was, as usual, a good baby and laid on the floor and played and then took a nap herself. Desiree and I had a great time talking and getting to know each other better. She said that playdates are mainly for the moms, and I agree. I had such a good time on my playdate...I can't wait to play again.

Growing baby Quinn

Today was Quinn's 4 month check up. I am not sure if doctors are trained to make you feel like you have the best baby in the world or if they truly mean it but today I was a very proud mommy. The doctor said that she was very impressed with Quinn's ability to hold her head up, her social skills, and her gross motor skills. (not sure if that is how you say/spell that) She weighs 14lbs 4oz (63%) and is 25 1/2 in tall. (89%) She still has a little head, it is only in the 22nd percentile. Quinn was quite the show off, she smiled and talked to the doctor through out the exam. Once it was time for her shots she changed her tune...and it was a very loud tune! She is now ready to start on rice cereal. The doctor said it is up to me as to when we will start. When I think about feeding Claire and Quinn at the same time it overwhelms me...so that may wait a few more weeks. I will let you know how that goes.

Quinn is still being very talkative and likes to lay in her bed when she wakes up and talk. I love hearing her, it is so cute and actually I enjoy waking up to it in the morning. When she wakes up crying...well I can do without that. :) She has been putting whatever she can grab into her mouth, including her toes. She has been grabbing her feet for about a week and yesterday she realized that they reached her mouth. I don't quite understand the appeal but it sure is cute.

Claire Bear

Claire has done a couple of things blog worthy this past week. So I figured I should share.
Claire has been in her big girl bed for awhile now but this past week she has decided that she would rather sleep on the floor in front of her bedroom door. I was able to put her down for a nap and at night and she would fuss a little but would go right to sleep. This past week every time I laid her down she would get up and lay down next to the door and cry. She is so close to the door that you can hear her breathing as you walk down the hall. I don't bother to move her during nap time because I know as soon as I did she would wake up and nap time would be ruined. Jared has been putting her back in bed at night. The other night she was so close to the door that he couldn't get it open so he stuck his fingers under the door and tapped on her forehead and said her name until she moved over enough that he could get in. Once he was in he picked her up and as he took her to bed she said "Uh Oh" because she had lost her paci. It was quickly recovered by Jared, for fear she would wake up completely, and she went right to sleep in her bed once her paci was securely in her mouth. I am really hoping this is just a phase but until it's over she will have really cute carpet indention on her face after she wakes up.
Yesterday evening I laid Quinn down on a blanket on the floor in the living room. Claire loves this because she can really get up close and personal with Quinn and they have little conversations between the two of them that only they understand. I was in the kitchen and Jared was in the guest room hanging up closet doors. (One room down 3 more rooms to go!) I heard Claire laughing almost hysterically. I thought to myself how cute that they are playing. Claire laughed some more and then was silent and then laughed some more. I needed to see just how cute this was so I went to the living room to find not what I had expected. Claire was slapping Quinn in the face and then laughing. I told her not to hit her sissy as I came closer and of course she did it again. I was able to see Quinn's face at this point and when Quinn was slapped she would bat her eyes really fast and had a "what are you doing!" expression. Claire must have thought her expression was funny and so she continued to do it so she could laugh. Poor Quinn, she never cried just kept batting her eyelashes. Claire was scolded and then ended up in time out for not listening. Claire doesn't realize she is just making Quinn tough and that she better watch out.
Claire is quite the character and may be entering the terrible twos a little early. This should be quite the ride. I hope I'm ready!!

Summer Vacations 2010

This summer we were able to have 2 vacations, one with my side of the family and one with Jared's family. My family met the end of May at the Sequoia National Park at the Western Hills Guest Ranch near Wagoner, OK. Claire had so much fun being outside. She walked around as if she owned the place and loved being free to go almost wherever. Every morning we woke up and she went to the front door of the cabin ready to be let out. We went swimming everyday, she loved the water and didn't want to get out. Claire had a great time with her cousins. Meleah and Micah had fun looking after her and Claire had a good time hanging out with Malachi. The two of them can really get into big trouble I think. She really enjoyed loving on Grace, she wanted to hold her numerous times. She makes a good big sister and I guess she thought she would make a good big sister to Grace too. Quinn was such a good baby. She went to the pool with us but it was always nap time when we went so she slept in her swing in the shade. She was very entertained by all of her cousins running around. Jared and I also had a good time and fun things to do. I was able to ride a horse and go on a trail. It was fun and relaxing, maybe one day I will own one....better yet my dad can own one and we can visit and ride. Jared bought a fishing licence so he fished every night. I kept expecting him to bring home the bacon (or fish in this case) but he never did. The fish are winning...to this day Jared has never caught a fish.
Both girls loved being around other people rather than just boring mom. It is always good to be around family, this was the first Riley family vacation in a very very long time and it was perfect. We had a wonderful time. It was a great time to be outdoors away from everything, it was great to be out in nature. ( even with the bugs, ticks, and spiders) It was beautiful!!

Every year Jared's family (the Beck's) get together. Usually for July 4th weekend in Marshfield, MO but the last couple of years we have seen each other at weddings. This year some of us were able to make it to Nana's for the 4th. Claire played with Vadin and Tolbyn as if she was one of the boys. (Playing with toy cars and carrying around a plastic bat) Her favorite part of the trip was probably the stairs...she went up and down and up and down and up and down. You get the picture. Quinn was once again a very good baby and loved being held by anyone who would have her. It wasn't difficult to find someone to pass her off to. Quinn even gave Uncle Dennis quite the earful. I'm not sure what she was saying but I think she was somehow making fun of him because she was laughing and smiling the entire time she was talking. We went to Nana's church Sunday morning and I am pretty sure the girls are now famous because they are Freda's GREAT grand kids. It was very special to watch her show off the girls. The girls did not experience shooting fireworks this year because they were napping but Jared and Andrew had a good time shooting bottle rockets and little dynamite. You would have thought Jared was a kid again. The evening of July 4th Claire and Quinn went to their very first rock concert. They were able to see Uncle Dennis in the James River Band. We put earplugs in Claire's ears and let her loose....she decided that playing in the rocks was pretty cool. All though she did attempt to rush the stage a couple of times. Quinn was pretty chill just listening to a Leonard Skynard song. (I never would have thought that would happen) It was a very good concert, and I am glad that we were there for the reunion of JRB. On the 3 1/2 hour drive home it was dark and let's just say the sky was lit up like the 4th of July. It was awesome! It was the perfect end to our summer vacations of 2010.

The Mighty Quinn

"Come all without, Come all within

You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn"

Quinn Ashlyn has become quite the center of attention lately at our house. She is not going to let her big sister show her up much longer. She is talking (cooing) so much that she is rarely quiet anymore. Claire is always worried something is wrong but I remind her that Quinn is not upset but that she now has something to say. Quinn loves to smile and she especially likes to smile at Claire. I swear they have some sort of silent language between them, they smile at each other quite often. Quinn also has learned to roll over from her back to her tummy. She always gets upset once she gets to her tummy but as soon as we roll her to her back she rolls to her tummy again. She is grasping things and loves to put things in her mouth. I have been told that people think she is teething, we will see...all though she has started to drool a lot and I have had to put bibs on her to keep her clothes dry. She is officially in her crib in her own room. It was a struggle for me to finally get her out of our room but now that I have I am happy and so is she. She is sleeping better and loves the mobile that is over her crib. She has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks and for that I am thankful. She is growing right before my eyes and I can not believe that she is about to be 16 weeks old. She is a beautiful baby and we all love her very much and are so excited to watch her personality develop.
I have included a couple of videos of Quinn. One is where I just caught the end of her rolling over and then the other is of her talking.