Almost a Big Sis

As with the rest of us, Quinn is anxiously awaiting her little brother's arrival. I'm pretty sure she's going to be an awesome big sister. She's been playing the role the last 8 months!

She is so, so excited about her little brother. She constantly pretends to take him out of my belly to play with him. Then she'll read to him, put him to sleep, etc. He even has a pal, Charlie Bongo, who is part of the imaginary crew. Charlie Bongo isn't that great of a listener and gets a few time-outs already too.

Quinn, like Mommy, is on full countdown mode til August. She knows that her baby brother comes in August and now that August is 10 days away. She's even been saving him toys for when "he's big enough to come out and play."

I know it will be a big adjustment for her (and all of us!), but I am just certain Quinn is going to be a great big sister!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend! For once we weren't traveling for a holiday which was FANTASTIC and Papa & GG visited so we were able to celebrate with family.

Saturday we were able to enjoy the Easter egg hunt at Wakonda. They had the Easter bunny, cookies, cupcakes and a big egg hunt -- all perfect for Quinn. Thankfully there are smart people running Wakonda, so the hunt was divided up by age. We were in the 1 & 2 year old division and it was so fun to see all the little ones politely grabbing their eggs.

Before bed on Saturday night Quinn told us multiple times she did not want the Easter Bunny to come, but the ol' rabbit didn't get the message and came with a basket of goodies anyway. Quinn exclaimed, "whaaat?!"when she realized what was left for her.

After church we had a great dinner with Papa, GG and the Koopmans fam. It is just so cute to see those little girls together!

Oh, and see this guy on the left? He made the most amazing grilled lamb for us today. Quinn & I are lucky, lucky ladies!

Happy Easter everyone!

Quotes from Quinn

I totally get reality shows. One, I love to watch some of them myself and two, because if Quinn had one I would watch it 24/7. Luckily, as Quinn's mom, that's pretty much what I get to do.

It's so hard to remember all her quotes and after that, to try and get her inflections right, but for sake of trying, here are some of my favorite quotes of Quinn's from the weekend:

When dining at Tartine and seeing a man across from her eating with his napkin on the table, "Mommy, is that man going to put his napkin on his lap?" (He did in fact, put his napkin in the proper spot. Must have heard Quinn.)

When leaving downtown this afternoon, "Let's go get some Ranch!" (Laughter from parents.) "Do you think Dahl's has Ranch?" Oh yes, Quinn, Dahl's has plenty of ranch. She wanted to go to the grocery store, solely for the purpose of buying ranch dressing. For the record, we had plenty at home.

Shortly after waking up this morning she told Jay, "Daddy, I got in a fight with Mommy last night when the girls came over for dinner. Sorry Mommy." And my heart was officially melted. Our "fight" she was referring to must have been one of the three out-of-character tantrums she threw last night. Following which she slept for 14.5 hours -- much needed!

And then, well there was this when I came home with La Quercia:

Dance Lessons

I've been excited to get Quinn in dance or gymnastics lessons soon, but this weekend she was giving us the lessons.

She's been very into dancing lately. This weekend when we were getting ready to leave for an errand, she told Jay, "Sorry Daddy, I have to finish my dance moves first." She'll tell us out of the blue that she "has the moves like Jagger" so Sunday we turned on the tunes and let her show us her dancin' skills.

Her "moves" consist of stopping her feet, clapping her hands, the occasional scream and then spinning as hard as she can. Most times she pretends there's a hu-hoop (aka hula hoop) involved too. Her Jagger-specific moves include spreading out her feet and pumping her arms. We especially think it's funny when her extreme moves cause her to fall down. (Don't worry, no future ballerinas have been harmed in the filming process.)

Daddy was fortunate enough to get some one-on-one lessons from Miss Q...

...it's just too bad his socks got in the way.

And those lessons? Well hopefully we'll get her enrolled somewhere soon. (Most places require little ones to be at least three.) When we asked her if she wanted to go to dance class she said excitedly, "Oh yes, I do"...when asked about softball she said "uhhh, no."

Daddy, will you take us to Tartine?

By a stroke of good luck this morning we were out of eggs which meant we HAD to go out to eat for breakfast this morning and we HAD to go to Tartine.* So lucky for Mommy & Quinnie!

I think one of the reasons Quinn loves Tartine is because it is the only place she gets juice boxes. A special place calls for special treats right? She was so excited to order her pancakes and had a slew of adorable/funny quotes this morning.

First, as we were eating our chocolate croissant (yes, you heard that right), she said, "Oh this is DELICIOUS!" and "You were right, there IS chocolate in there!" Then if we asked her for bites of her pancakes she said, "Yes, but not too much." She clearly has my gene of a reluctancy to share food. And as we were eating she kept saying, "we are having a great meal!"

As we were nearing the end of our breakfast our server came by to take our plates. Quinn was still finishing her fruit (and syrup), so she said very firmly, "don't take my plate." (It was cute, but we still made her apologize to our server when she came back.) After all that, we had three clean plates from the Syverson crew (four if you count the croissant plate).

What a great way to start the day!

*Tartine is a little French cafe down the street from us. Its owners are great people, big Winefest supporters and know how to dish up some awesome food. Plus it's totally kid-friendly and a non-chain out here in the land of suburbia which makes it a go-to spot for us!

I'm the Mommy!

So the news is out now that Quinn will be a big sister in August. Given her constant "roll-playing" around the house I think she's going to be a great big sis. That is, if she can come to terms with the fact that she isn't actually the mommy.

I absolutely love how Quinn has been pretending the last few months and it's so sweet to watch her take care of her babies. Even at school she always has a baby in hand and is constantly comforting her little one saying "it's okay, mama's here."

The other week I got home late after a board meeting. Quinn ran to meet me and then quickly said all in one breath, "I'm the mommy and you're the grandma, okay?" (I am never the mommy anymore. Lately I've been Uncle Eric.)

Now that she knows there's a baby in my tummy that's another source of play for her. This weekend she lifted up my shirt and pretended to take the baby out of my tummy. She then patted the imaginary baby's back and put it to bed in the baby's room. "See you in the morning, baby!"

Then the next day she lifted up HER shirt and took the baby out of HER belly. She then said "this is my baby sister. Her name is Maeve." (We have not named the baby yet. Maeve is a girl name we're tossing around and is the only option according to Quinn right now.)

I just hope Quinn's okay with our real baby wearing clothes. At this point, we've got a LOT of naked babies hangin' around the casa. But who needs clothes when you've got a lot of Quinn lovin' right?

First Snow

Last weekend we had our first snow here in Des Moines. It wasn't much, and it didn't last long, but it was just enough to be a lot of fun for Miss Quinn Marie.

First she got all bundled up. It was the first time wearing her new snow suit!

Daddy helped her make a snowman. Of course it was named "baby."

Then they had a snowball fight! 

And what day in the snow is complete without making snow angels?

When the fun in the snow was done, Mommy had hot chocolate waiting for everyone. 

It was Quinn's first taste of hot chocolate and we think it was a hit! 

Two and a HALF!

Quinn turned 2 1/2 this week, so I thought it was time for an update. This little girl is constantly keeping us on our toes and continually making us laugh.

Babies are the big thing now. She loves to play pretend with them and is such a good "mommy." And if she doesn't have a proper baby around? No worries. A stuffed animal, washcloth, wipes container or even a fork will gladly stand in as a sweet little baby for Quinn to take care of. 

She's also always on to new things when it comes to learning. She can identify all her letters and tell you what most of them are for. (aka A is for Annabel, B is for balloons, C is for cat.) She also can count to 20 and is great at identifying her numbers 1 - 10. Another thing she's learning is that we have more than just first names. She's constantly asking what someone's name is, their last name and of course, their full name. 

She likes watching movies when she's allowed, especially the Mickey Mouse show on Disney. And while she's cuddled up watching a show she has to have all of her "stuff." "Stuff" consists of 3 - 4 blankets and 5 - 6 stuffed animals. :)

She's also a very good listener and is understanding the difference between consequences and rewards. Luckily her rewards have been outweighing the consequences these days. The reward for us? One happy, awesome, smart little 2 1/2 year old! 

Bowling with Quinn

A few years ago we started heading to the bowling alley during our holidays with the Coffmans. It's a chance for us to get away from the distractions at home and just spend time together. Why bowling? Well, mainly because it's indoors and fun even if you're terrible. It also helps that Papa Dave is a fantastic bowler, so it's fun for him to show us all the ropes. 

This year was the first year Quinn was able to join us which was a little exhausting, but a lot of fun and quite entertaining. Here she is with Aunt Dani and Daddy before things got rolling (pun intended). :) 

We had popcorn, lemonade and even cake pops to keep her entertained when it wasn't her turn. And that distraction was needed because if we would have let her she would have run up and down the lanes and all over the bowling alley. (In fact, she actually did run halfway down the lane once. Luckily Jay was there to catch her -- that girl is quick!)

When it was time for her to bowl, she had either Mommy or Daddy there to help her. It might have been slow, but her ball only got stuck once! (We learned to give the ball a hefty push along with her and she learned not to kick the ball. :)

Here are a few photos, but even though you need to view it sideways, I think the video at the end sums it up the best!

Quinn's New Home

I'm sure many of you have been losing sleep the past month & a half wondering "where is Quinn living?" and "what exactly does her new house look like?" Well, for those of you out of the Des Moines area, I've finally taken some photos of our humble abode to share with you all. 

Here is her room. The paint color, beads & circus valance all came with the room. I failed to photograph the large flower-power mural on the west side of the room. Needless to say, it's a little girl's heaven and I can't wait to repaint it. 

On to guest room #1. We're waiting to paint this until we find out if God will grant Quinn a little brother or sister, so for the time being "play ball!"

This is guest room #2. All of Quinn's grandparents are happy to have  queen bed to sleep in when they visit. I'm waiting til later to determine the decor for this room (because at this point everything I'm in love with is yellow and green, and well, that could be very boring to have a whole house in those colors.)

Here's Quinn's bathroom. I love the beadboard on the walls and plan to paint it a charcoal gray someday. In the meantime, I'm loving all that white AND the fact that we have two full baths now!

Here's our bedroom. It's huge. The little alcove to the right has a nook with a big chair and TV (for when Quinn wakes up in the morning while we're getting ready for work.) Not pictured is our office, bathroom and my closet. 

Here's our entry way/top of the stairs. This is where Quinn says, "Mommy will you carry me because my hands are full?"...even if she's only holding one tiny thing. I'll take any chance to squeeze that little girl though, so I gladly appease.

This is a view of our formal living room. It's right to the left of our entryway. 

The living room leads right into the dining room which is oddly reminiscent of our Monroe Court dining room. Kind of fun! (Don't let this sad picture of Millie fool you -- she loves the new place!)

Here's our kitchen view from the hallway off the entry. Tons of room to cook with Quinn!

Our family room is set off the kitchen. We love the tall ceilings and coziness of the space. Quinn loves that there's tons of cabinets to store all her toys. Down the hall from our kitchen is the mudroom & laundry room. 

Downstairs we have our rec room which has the treadmill (not pictured to the left), Quinn's toys and of course, the skee ball machine. We plan to finish the rest of the basement with a fifth bedroom, bathroom and wine cellar down the line. Luckily there will still be plenty of storage too!

So there you go. You can now rest at ease knowing a little more about where Miss Quinn Marie spends her time these days. Plenty of room to grow and plenty of memories to create!

Big Girl Bed

I think Quinn likes her new big girl bed. She's been going to sleep great in it (knock on wood) and even has been putting her babies to sleep in "my big girl bed" during the day. She needs a little help to get on and off it, but that's part of the fun too. And while I loved seeing her sleep in her crib, I also adore checking on her in the bed. She looks so small and sweet!

Settling into the New Casa

Today marks one week that we've been in Clive residents and I would say Miss Quinn Marie is adjusting quite well.

We're cooking in the kitchen (which is also my awesome new trick to get her to eat what Jay & I eat).

She also loves to play in her "new neighborhood" aka the Rose Petal Cottage house that Eric & Papa put together for her. We somehow manage to fit in there with her. 

She also digs our new deck and was hanging out while Daddy did yard work the other night. 

She has a few more steps to get her stroller, baby dolls and "things" up, but all she has to say is "I NEED HELP" or "my hands are FULL" and she manages to get around pretty well. 

Quinn had a great two years at Monroe Court, but I already know we'll have countless more good memories on 137th Street! Cheers!