Naked Baby!

Last night we had our friends Adam and Monica over for dinner and Miss Quinn had a hard time warming up. However, when Jay brought out "Naked Baby" Quinn was all smiles. It was hilarious.

Q and the Wooden Shoes

When I was little I absolutely loved to play with the wooden shoes my Grandma and Grandpa Meis brought back from Holland. I would always put them on and clumsily walk around. Now the shoes are a keepsake in our home and earlier this week Quinn discovered them. It will be a little while 'til she's walking around in them, but I do think Grandma and Grandpa were smiling down from heaven when they saw this.

More Dedication Photos!

As mentioned earlier, we forgot our camera at Quinn's dedication so our fabulous friend and Quinn's godmother, Laura Morse stepped in as photographer. The whole line of pics were delivered today so here are more shots of the people sharing Quinn's special day.

Mom, Dad & Q:

The Coffman crew:

Grandma Nan & Grandpa Gary:

And world's best Nanny, Morgan!

Quinn has been enjoying reading all her new bible stories this week. Right now she's really digging the Tiny Bear Bible from Grandma Nan and Grandpa Gary. She also liked the foam book from Papa and GG, but we took that away once she chewed off Jesus' face. It was a clearly sign of love, but still.

Ballerina Day!

Today it's "Dress Like A Ballerina Day" in the Syverson house. At least it is for Quinn anyway. When we were getting dressed this morning she got awfully excited when she saw the little ballerina outfit from Josie Bemis in the closet. Perhaps she's just as excited as mommy to see Black Swan or maybe she just likes tulle. Either way, she's pretty cute!

Note: there is a pretty pink flower that goes in the middle of the outfit. But Quinn pulled it off and now you can just see the "leaves." Have no fear Erin Bemis, I can fix that lickety-split before we send it back!

Baby Sign Language

Last night was our very first baby sign language class, a fun four-week session held at the Clive Library. The Bemis family tipped us off to the class -- it's a free way to start teaching the kiddos to communicate before they can talk. And whether or not we have a sign language genius on our hands, it's a nice thing for us to do as a family and a good way for Q to get some fellow bambino interaction.

There's a limit of 25 babies in the class and I feel like we had about that many tonight. I'm not sure what was more fun, learning the signs or watching all the little ones toddle around. Quinn was pretty calm for the first part, but then she got a little more excited at the end (and even got kisses from the Bemis boys!)

Here she is at home prepping for the class:

And here we are as a family at Baby Sign Language! (Notice the adorable outfit from Great Grandma Syrene seen in picture 1 didn't quite make it through dinner time.)

Quinn's Dedication!

The whole family was in town this weekend for Miss Quinn Marie's dedication at our church. It was a great weekend with Grandma Nan, Grandpa Gary, Papa Dave, G.G. and Uncle E. Jay surprised me with a birthday party on Saturday (which was awesome), but the real reason for celebrating was Quinn's dedication. She was pretty good throughout the church service and was a trooper while all the cute little infants were dedicated. Then we all went home for lasagna and cake!

Sadly, I was very neglectful of the camera all weekend AND I forgot to bring it to church, but luckily Laura was our stand-in photographer, so more pics will come!

Here's one of us with Quinn's awesome godparents, Eric & Laura. (Can you tell Q was sleepy?)

And this was taken at home before church (aka, before I forgot the camera). She might be tired, but she still loves G.G.!

Quinn's first cake. We let her have a TINY taste of frosting. We think she liked it. :)

We've said this before, but we are so blessed to have Quinn in our lives and so thankful for our loving family and friends! Thank you to everyone who was with us to celebrate with us this weekend!

Daddy's Skee-ball Apprentice

I think it's very apparent that Quinn is Daddy's little girl. She lights up when he walks in the room and she loves to play with him. Tonight they bonded over skee-ball. At first she watched very intently as Daddy played.

And then she started trying it out for herself!

I think it might be awhile 'til she's throwing fifties, but at least we know she likes our grown-up toy. And speaking of toys, she's starting to walk with the little dinosaur from Grandma Nan & Grandpa Gary! I would say this present gets a roar of delight! (Yes, I know how cheesy that was, but have you met Papa Dave?)

Stairmaster

While we were in California Quinn learned to climb the step from Grandma & Grandpa's living room to the kitchen. We were anxious to see Quinn's new abilities when we got home, so we let her at the stairs the other night. What's that Paula Abdul song? "I take two steps forward..."

Quinn is 7 months!

Well believe it or not our little Quinn is seven months old! I apologize for the delay in posting, but Jay and I ditched poor Q on her birthday for a few days out in Wine Country. But Quinn didn't mind -- she was hanging with Grandma Nan and Grandpa Gary!

It's been quite a month for Quinn Marie. She mastered crawling, pulling herself up and now is working on climbing stairs! (Check back on the blog for that one!)

Her fun little personality comes out more and more every day. She's such a happy little girl, but we're sensing some stubborn streaks too!

And as she gets older, these bunny pictures get tougher. Who has time to sit still when there's a world to explore?

Quinn: "This bunny tastes delicious. I heard mom & dad talking about a rabbit dish in Italy, but I didn't know it would be this fuzzy."

Here I think she's saying "Bunny, just keep quiet and nobody gets hurt."

"I don't know about you Bunny, but I've had about enough of this."

And now that the bunny shoot is over she says "na-nah na-nah boo-boo!"

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday to you all from Quinn Marie! Last night we had a "playdate" over at the Koprivas, where Quinn got to play with her friend Elsa. We had so much fun! And today we're hanging out while mom gets ready for the big bad Bridal Forum tomorrow.

We hope you have a great weekend!

Get Up, Stand Up!

As Quinn gets older we're learning more and more about our little girl's personality. Lately we've learned that this girl is on-the-go and always ready to move on to the next big thing. Right when she mastered sitting, then she was trying to crawl. And now that crawling is old hat, she's trying to stand. Can't a mom catch a break?

When I went in to check on Quinn during her nap today I found her standing up in her crib. Yep, she pulled herself up and was trying to climb out of the dang thing. Seriously!

We recreated the moment for your blog-viewing pleasure.

Look how pleased she is with herself! Stay tuned for next week's blog post where Quinn completes her first triathlon. (And I collapse from sheer exhaustion.)

Baby on the Go!

Right before Christmas Quinn started crawling, but it wasn't until recently that she really started to crawl. As in, don't-take-your-eyes-off-her-for-one-second type of crawling. As promised I have a video for you with some real movement. Check out our little mover & shaker!

Clearly, the first thing on the Syverson To-Do list this weekend is "Baby Proof the House."

And since I've been slacking on the blog with all the hubbub of the holidays, I thought you might enjoy a few more pictures of our little Q. Here she is looking way too busy enjoying eating her new book from Grandma Marcella to bother posing for the camera. (I should get used to this. I feel it's the "Really Mom?" look.)

And here she is trying to tackle her next task, standing. (To get more photos we must have two parentals in the room. Much safer for baby that way.) But in the meantime, don't you just love that little grin?

Coffman Christmas

As mentioned before, we had a great weekend with my family celebrating Christmas, the new year and Aunt Dani's birthday. It was the first time Quinn has been with the entire Coffman crew all together!

Here's our girl with her way-old 24-year-old aunt. Happy Birthday Dan!

And we're not sure who had more fun, Quinn or Uncle E. Eric was great at getting a smile out of Q.

They even did a little bit of Rock Band together. (Perhaps we have another vocalist on our hands?)

What was the most entertaining was Eric & Dani's version of peek-a-boo with Quinn. They had the whole room laughing!

And while she had fun, it was still a tiring weekend. There was just too much going on to waste time on proper naps! This pic might just sum it up:

I swear she was awake! You'll just have to take my word for it. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Quinn!

Quinn is having such a fun weekend! Why? Because the Coffmans are here! Papa, GG and Uncle E got in Thursday evening and then after a LONG drive Dani, Allen and Chevy pulled into Urbandale on New Year's Eve. We've been having so much fun that I haven't taken many pictures, (shocking, I know) but we'll take more tonight when we open presents AND celebrate Aunt Dani's birthday.

Quinn is just loving spending time with her family! Here's a cute pic of Q with Papa Dave:

And while Quinn was sleeping soundly last night, we all rung in the New Year. The Coffman kids got very creative with commemorating the first 2011 pics.

More photos to come soon! Happy New Year!