What a Week!

It's been a big, crazy and eventful week for Quinn Marie! First, she officially started full-time daycare on Monday. It's definitely a transition for all of us, but for the most part she's doing well. Last week she had her good days and her bad days, but she has her bunny to snuggle and teachers who look out for her to make it okay.

We have, however, already experienced the downside of daycare. On Friday Miss Quinn was diagnosed with pink eye in BOTH eyes. Ugh! (Double bummer for eye-phobic mom.) Luckily those drops kicked in soon so her poor eyes are on the mend.

We were also fortunate that Friday we left for Topeka so GG & Jay were able to tackle the eye-drops together (seriously, I cannot stress enough that I have a severe eye phobia). But eye-drop trauma aside, Quinn had a great time in Kansas. Papa Dave made her laugh all weekend long and she got to see her great-grandparents and even meet some cousins on the Coffman side. She had a blast toddling around Papa & G.G.'s house and had fun showing off all her tricks for the Kansas crew.

And as if new childcare, double pink eye and a roadtrip aren't enough we even have some new accomplishments to report for Quinn. First, she started doing "So Big!" about a week ago and mastered it this weekend with the Coffman fam. We're so anxious to show Grandpa Gary in person in a couple of weeks (he's been teaching her "so big" since birth). :) She also has learned to say her favorite playmate's name and now says "Millie" over and over again. She LOVES her puppy!

Also, we just discovered tonight that she has a new tooth! After having 8 teeth for the past few months, she's finally got that #9 she's been working on. (Upper right for those of you keeping track at home.) And lastly...after working on it for weeks and weeks Quinn said G.G. for the first time tonight!! Must have been because she was missing her already after our fun, fun weekend in Topeka!

So after all that, we'll leave you with a few pics and a video from the weekend. Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Pink-eye-licious. Poor pumpkin on the way to Kansas. :(

Quinn's first ice cream truck experience with cousins Courtney & Ali Coffman. Hooray for Topeka ice cream trucks!! (Vetoed in Des Moines, so this is quite the big deal.)

Quinn's attempt at self-feeding yogurt. Hilariously messy.

Topless Dining...It's all the Rage

In order to keep an outfit clean, Quinn ate dinner without all her clothes on Saturday night. I can't quite explain my rationale, but it did make for one happy diner! Isn't she the cutest?

Horses, Horses, Horses!

We have a friend named Calla, and while Quinn doesn't realize it quite yet, this Calla is a very special person in her life: she is Quinn's future piano teacher AND horseback riding instructor. Calla is someone with many talents, interests and crazy adventures and her expertise in both the piano and horses has deemed her Quinn's future teacher.

Now that Quinn is almost a year old it was time to head to Calla's barn to meet all the horses. Our good friends Ashley & Annabel Koopmans joined in the fun for a very special playdate. Miss Annabel is clearly a farm girl at heart (she's got NW Iowa roots after all), so she was digging all the horses, ponies and puppies. Quinn didn't know quite what to think, but I have a feeling she will learn to love it.

Here is Miss Calla herself with her awesome horse Colada. We saw a lot of handsome horses, but I think Colada was hands-down the most beautiful of the barn! (And that's not just something I'm saying to get cheap lessons!) :)

Thanks Calla, Colada, Ashley & Annabel for a fun time!

First Day of School!

Today was Quinn's first (half-day) of "school." Big changes in the Syverson household, let me tell ya. So because today was her first (half) day, that meant that yesterday was Morgan's last day. Tear! But they had a very fun day together (complete with a trip to Panera) and Morgan gave Quinn the SWEETEST photo album of the two of them. Quite precious I must say.

Today she went to daycare in the morning and I picked her up before nap. They said she did very well! Tomorrow she goes for the majority of the day and then Monday it's the whole she-bang. I think she's going to like school. She looks awfully happy in her "first day" photo!

Such a big girl!

Toy Box Fun

So I haven't exactly purchased an official toy box for Quinn. I've been looking for something that will blend with our decor, but since I haven't found it Quinn gets an unused Down to Details container instead. As you can see below, it hasn't seemed to bother her. In fact, it's working out quite well.

Quinn Marie is 11 months old!

Quinn turned 11 months old last Friday. She really is getting to be such a big girl! Here are the highlights from this month:

1. She's walking. A lot. She's officially mastered the art of "toddling" and there's a video below to prove it. She LOVES wandering around the house now and it's so fun to see her walking about.

2. She's communicating so much more. You've heard recently about book, puppy and "who's that?" but she's also doing things that indicate she knows what we're talking about (like looking for Millie) and doing little things to respond to us.

3. She loves us and can show it now too! Ask for a kiss and Quinn will give you a big open-mouthed smacker. Very cute...as long as it's not Will Bemis or Owen Welling asking for that kiss!

4. She's getting picky with her food. She's eaten capers, artichokes, kiwi and more, but if she's not in the mood for it, then no way Jose and Mildred gets the food instead. (Happy Millie, not so happy Mommy.)

5. She is so happy and her laughs, grins and squeals just light up our life!

So here she is, not-up-to-par PJs and all! (But we LOVE Daddy for taking the bunny pics while I was gone!)

Prizes will be awarded to those who guess what Jay is gesturing about in the second clip.

Quinn's Dad is Awesome

Quinn absolutely loves her Daddy and can you blame her? He reads her books, plays with her and buys her this sweet onesie proclaiming his awesomeness.

You can see how awesome she thinks he is here. :)

My favorite thing now is that she squeals "Da-da" when the phone rings (but of course is silent once we answer it).

Aren't they the cutest?

Q hearts Books

Ask what Quinn's favorite "toy" is right now and you'll get the same answer from all of us: books! She absolutely loves being read to, turning pages and just pulling all the books off her shelf. Clearly it's a sign of high intelligence.

Oh, and did we mention she eats the books too?

Monday Mother's Day

As many of you know, we celebrated Mother's Day on Monday. Sunday was not the most awesome day for the Syverson family, but we made up for it on Monday. It was SO nice to have positive news from the doctor and get Jay back home with us, so we celebrated by not going into work Monday afternoon and enjoyed some much-needed family time instead.

First, I received an amazing Coach purse from Quinn and Jay and very sweet cards to go along with it. Then we headed to lunch at Waterfront which was delicious and quite fun. Quinn got to have sweet potato fries and clam chowder (sans the clams) and was the star of the restaurant -- quite well-behaved and oh-so-cute. After lunch we shopped a little bit and then treated ourselves to Maggie Moo's. I even broke my rule of "no-sweets-til-Quinn's-first-birthday" and let her try ice cream. It was a little too cold for her, but we think she liked it!

At home, I was treated to Wrestlemania starring Quinn Marie & Mildred which is always quite entertaining.

We had sushi for dinner (my absolute favorite) and watched a little Broadway documentary after Quinn went to bed. So despite a rocky start, it was a lovely, lovely first Mother's Day with my two favorite people!

Long time, no blog

Hello Quinn fans! I'm so sorry I've kept you away from her for so long! Here are my excuses: we've been quite busy, I had no internet for 2 days and then, well, Jay. :) But all is better (including Jay) now so we're back to updating you on Iowa's cutest little redhead.

A lot has been going on with Quinn this past week! First, she's been "talking" a lot more. Mostly it's words only we can decipher as her parents (and Morgan), but it's communication and progress for our little girl! She says "boo" for book, "puppa" for puppy and this morning she said her own little version of "who's that?" when looking in the mirror. (We always ask her "who's that baby?" when she looks in the mirror, which is quite frequently.)

She is also mastering this walking thing! She wanders all around the house (as much as we'll let her anyway) and can now stand up on her own without anything to support herself. Quite impressive!

No videos of all this action yet, but here are some of my favorite pics from my fancy new iPhone. :)

This last one is demonstrating how big she's getting. I bought it as a dress...will be used as a top instead!

Look out Jackson town

Last night we had the privilege of watching the cutest little guy Jackson Gregg. And Quinn had the pleasure of overwhelming him completely. Jackson is a mellow little 5-month-old and Quinn is a not-so-much mellow 10-month old, which made things quite comical for us.

Here he is, the cutie-pie hanging out innocently in the exersaucer...

...and here's his reaction when he sees Quinn.

"Let me at him!"

After accosting young Jackson, Quinn tried to show him how to use one of the exersaucer toys (it involved squealing in a very high pitch and flailing her arms). Jackson was clearly impressed.

Eventually, Quinn had enough of the exersaucer business and moved on to bigger things, like walking with the activity mat. (For you non-baby people, that thing is supposed to stay on the floor.) Never a dull moment with little Quinn!

Sunday Funday!

Today was a very fun day with Quinn. She was in a great mood all day and was constantly hamming it up! We had a mid-day visit from our college buddies Robin & Chris Rooney. Quinn was quite taken with Chris and made us laugh so much as she said "heeey" to him and smiled and squealed.

She's also walking a LOT more! She walked all around the room for the Rooneys and got even better as the day went on. I might say we're getting pretty darn close to a full-fledged walker!

Another trick she kept doing for us all was putting her hands up when she says uh-oh. Morgan taught her to do this and it's so stinkin' cute!

Today was also the first day I used a lint brush on Quinn. She and Millie played together a bunch and even though it's super-cute, our little pug gets hair everywhere. Quinn doesn't care though. She loves her puppy!