…the mice will play work.

Our weekend so far has been busy but quiet.  Busy because we redid our kitchen floor (and when I say “we” I really mean my dad and Ryan redid the floor while I hovered over them and asked annoying questions).  Quiet because Quinn is at my parents’ house.    It’s amazing how much life and noise and energy Quinn brings to our lives.  We  stopped at our dog food store while we were running errands and the owner noticed that we were sans Quinn.  She asked where he was and how it felt to be without him.  I said “quiet”, Ryan said “weird”.  Both are accurate.  It’s weird to run into stores without a toddler in tow, or not schedule our day around his nap.  And it’s quiet.  Even Fenway notices and has been following me around all day like he doesn’t know what to do with himself.  Both Ryan and I found ourselves talking about what Quinn would do/say in different situations.  So it’s safe to say that we definitely miss him when he’s gone.  But, on the other hand, we got so much done.  We finished off Quinn’s birthday present shopping, ran a few errands, slept in until 9:30 and finished up our kitchen!  I’m most excited about the latter and have to give Ryan and my dad all the credit- they did an awesome job.

In case you don’t remember what the kitchen looked like before we moved in, here’s a memory jogger:

And now, after our last step of our on-the-cheap kitchen makeover :

We’re pretty happy with the results and are even happier that it’s completed! (And I guess this pictures answers the question of what we do when Quinn is not around.)

And now, since Ryan is out tonight playing with his band and Quinn is at my parents’, I’m going to enjoy my quiet evening by watching DVR’ed episodes of Top Chef and Entourage.  Normally, I would add a bowl of ice cream to the evening, but I *may* have eaten 3 donuts today and feel ice cream would really put me over the top.  (As if I wasn’t already over the top when I ate that second and then third donut!)

The other day, Quinn and I got home from work/daycare and, as usual due to my feeling like death from 3-8 every night, we headed downstairs to “play” until Ryan got home.  And in this case “play” means I lay on the couch barely alive and Quinn keeps himself entertained by watching his favorite show on TV.  (The past week it’s been The Little Einsteins, which makes me want to gouge my eyes out and really adds to my feeling of death.)  Anyway, I was feeling guilty because we weren’t outside playing and I put my head near him and said “Oh, Quinn, I’m sorry I’m being a bad mommy.”  He looked at me with his sweet blue eyes, patted me on the shoulder, smiled and said “Nice mommy”.  Could he be any cuter?!  I think not!

This is the new way Quinn wears his hat…

Don’t ask me why he does this- and I have no clue where he learned it.   I turned around in the car one day and he looked like this.  Today I went outside to greet Ryan and Quinn after their run and Quinn was running around shirtless…with his hat on like this.  I asked him what was on his head and he told me it was a football helmet.  Poor kid…he must think his parents are too cheap to buy him a real football helmet, so he has to improvise.  At least he has a good imagination!

Playing football with his “helmet” and soccer ball…someone is confused!

A secret he wants to share…

He thinks he’s excited about it, but really he’s just happily oblivious to what it actually means.

Quinn’s going to be a big brother!

I had an appointment yesterday afternoon and all looks great with our little bean.  Here’s a shot of him/her from my ultrasound yesterday.

My due date is March 30th, which means I’m about 2 months in.  I’m feeling overall OK- my biggest complaint is that I’m exhausted but not able to sleep well.  And sometimes I’m not hungry, which is unheard of for me!  If this pregnancy goes like last one, my lack of hunger will end very soon.

We can’t wait to meet our new superstar and for Quinn to show off his sure-to-be-awesome big bro skills.

Quinn played hooky from daycare today to spend some time with his Meme and Grandpa, who were in for the night from New Hampshire.  They had just dropped Kelsey off for her freshman year of college in Virginia, and were on their way home.  Quinn had a great time playing with them!

He then spent part of the afternoon testing out his old Bumbo seat that his friend Ben returned to him.  Turns out his legs have slimmed down a bit and he now fits in it again…

But he has a bit of a tough time getting out!

…he’s got to wear shades.

Quinn is really into sunglasses right now.  He has to wear them all the time, even inside.  It’s fine by me, as I’m sure he could (and will at some point) choose a much more “creative” way to express his fashion sense.  Maybe someday he’ll want to die his hair blue…and Uncle Zach will be right there with his favorite shade of Manic Panic to help a nephew out!

To make up for his shenanigans at the store tonight, Quinn must have realized that he needed to do something major to get back in our good graces.  So he pulled out all the stops and…………….

PEED ON THE POTTY!!!!!

We’ve been giving him stickers just for sitting on the potty but tonight he sat down and said “I pee on potty” and away he went.  I gave him the whole darn page of stickers for that one.  But his favorite reinforcement was the cheering that Ryan and I did.  He kept trying to pee more just so we would cheer again.  So we’ll see…maybe this is the first step to official potty training or maybe it’s just a fluke.  Either way, I’m pretty proud of him!

Oh, and when all was said and done, Ryan said to Quinn, “I can’t believe mommy didn’t take a picture of your pee in your potty.”  I laughed but deep down thought “well, I would have if the camera had been near.  And if it wasn’t totally creepy to post a picture of your kid’s pee on the internet.”  So you should be glad that the camera was downstairs, or there may have been a rather odd picture attached to this post!

We took a trip to Wal-Mart tonight to pick up a new bedding set for Quinn’s  soon-to-be big boy bed.  You know those stereotypes about Wal-Mart and the people you see in Wal-Mart?  Well tonight, we were those people.  Have you ever been in a store and you see a kid being so loud and you think, “my kid will never do that”?  I’ve seen those kids, too, and have thought the very same thing.  Even after having Quinn.  But tonight, we were those people who other families talked about on their way home from the store.  Their conversation probably went something like this:

Husband:  “Did you see that kid who was out of control in the bedding aisle?  He was running and hopping all over the place!”

Wife:  “I know…I don’t know why they just didn’t pick him up and make him stop!  But then I saw them later and they put him in the cart but he was screaming and trying to climb out onto his mom’s shoulders.”

Husband:  “Oh yeah, and then I saw them later but it was just the dad and the little boy.  The dad was holding him and the little boy was screaming so loudly I’m sure people could hear him on the other side of the store.*  Finally he stopped screaming when the dad started tickling him, although his laugh was still so loud that I had to move away because it hurt my ears.”

(*  I was on the other side of the store and I could hear him!)

Wife:  “Yeah, when we have a kid, we will definitely not let him act like that in a store.  He’ll sit quietly in the cart the whole time.”

Husband:  “Definitely.  And I won’t have a stupid smirk on my face the whole time like that mom or have crazy hair like that dad.”

Ryan and I are guilty of having similar conversations…and we still had that conversation tonight, except the horribly behaved child in question was our child.  And my stupid smirk was because in situations when Quinn is acting like a crazy child and I’ve tried to calm him down and reason with him but can’t (because it’s virtually impossible to reason with a 2 year old),  I really don’t know what else to do but do my shopping as quickly as possible and try to laugh about it.  I’ve gotten super stressed about it in the past and find that laughing instead makes the situation much easier to handle.  I guess it’s my coping method.  And Ryan’s coping method is tickling Quinn.  The way I see it, both are better than getting frustrated and angry.

Oh, and the crazy hair bit- that’s true.  Ryan is growing his hair longer than usual, per my request.  I like a man with a little curl in his hair but the humidity lately has made it look rather Cosmo Kramer-esque.  Which, surprisingly, really works for him!

And after tonight, we’ve decided no more shopping for Quinn for a little while.  Personally, I blame Ryan for passing on his I-hate-shopping gene to Quinn.  I’m sure that on more than one occasion while shopping with me, Ryan would have liked to have a temper tantrum as well.  So I think next time, I’ll just leave them both at home!

Quinn and I have had a standing date most Friday mornings this summer with the couch in the family room.  We spend the first few hours of the morning watching tv, reading books, playing with toys and often times the tickle monster makes an appearance.  It’s a great way to end the work week and start the weekend.  My Fridays off are coming to an end and I’m understandably bummed.  Here is Quinn lounging on the couch this morning…

Whew…it’s been a while since I last updated.  Between work conferences, band practices, and family picnics, we’ve been busy.  Quinn has been having a lot of fun and went on his first field trip yesterday to a horse farm.  He rode on a horse named Peanut and now walks around the house shouting “Go Peanut Go”, although sometimes it sounds like he’s saying something else (imagine if you drop the -ut and add an -is).  Then it doesn’t sound so appropriate and we have to make sure we correct him if anyone other than me or Ryan is in hearing range.  (Of course if it’s just us in hearing range, we laugh like the incredibly mature parents that we are!)

Ryan was pretty pumped for Quinn’s field trip and made sure Quinn was decked out in his farmer overalls…

Quinn also sat on the potty twice at daycare and was quite proud of himself.  So I bought him a potty seat like they have at daycare and tried to get him to sit on it at home.  No luck, but he did tell me “No, mommy diaper off.  Mommy sit on potty.”  I started to explain that I don’t wear a diaper and instead wear underwear, but it felt like a weird conversation to have with my almost 2 year old.  He apparently picked up on part of it though because he yelled “mommy underwear” the rest of the night.  Again, not the thing you want your neighbors to hear your toddler yelling!

It’s amazing how much his language has been exploding just in the past month.  The things that he says crack us up.  I always look at him and think, this is my favorite age.  And then the 3 months later I think the same thing.  But this month is it- he’s so fun and silly and still gives me hugs and kisses when I ask for them- this is my favorite age.

Until next month, that is!