Baby Q is 12 weeks old!

On Friday, Baby Q marked week twelve on Friday! I cannot believe how quickly the time is going by. These last 12 weeks have been so awesome! His 3 month scale picture is coming next week; so, I will post a list of fun facts about the little man then.

I started back to work on Wednesday. It has been so nice to be home with him for these past 12 weeks, that I was really nervous that I would be very upset on Wed. But, Jahna had flowers waiting for me (thank you--they were gorgeous). I stayed pretty in the loop with work the whole time, but we had a team update meeting to go through every project; the team had progressed on every project in our inventory and even closed a lot in my absence. Wow! They are awesome!

I missed O, talked about him a lot, but didn't shed a tear. I left work at 3 to go pick him up and then we went for our usual afternoon walk with Mom E and N. Then we played for a few hours and O was off to bed. I would say the day was a success and I think that I can transition into a working mom.

Cute PJs, O.

This picture does not do them justice; they are precious! I must go to the Baby Gap Outlet and get more!!

Happy Easter

We had a very quiet Easter and enjoyed every minute of it. Here is a photo of our little family at church. It was so cold outside that I didn't want to take the baby out in his "meant for warmer weather" Easter outfit; so a kind Usher took our photo with the lilies at the alter. After church, we napped, ate our Easter dinner, and relaxed. Daddy Q took Tobie to the park. Otherwise, nobody left the house! Here's O's first Easter Basket full of goodies from Grammie, Daddy Q, and me!

We have been using the swing more this weekend! I think he is getting to like it better. We go on the lowest setting and he now lasts, happily, in it for 10 - 15 minutes. It is long enough for us to have dinner; which, is a nice treat.

Miss H Came to Visit

Miss H is on Spring Break, so she and Lanie came up from Houston to visit! We kicked off our two days of fun with lunch at the American Girl Bistro! Here is a picture of Miss H and Bitty Baby; Kate couldn't join us because she was at the AG Salon getting her hair done (seriously).



How cute is Miss H leaving with Bitty and her two bags full of AG stuff?


This is me and my doll, O! He loves to stand up! I asked Lanie to snap a picture of him on his wobbly little legs. He is quite tired in this one; usually, he looks very proud of himself! But, you can see how firmly those stocky legs are planted. He is a pretty strong dude!

Since we bought Kate a pizza party pagckage at AG, we had to have one, too! So, Miss H and I went to the grocery store and got all of the fixin's for pizza and root beer floats! Here is H's finished product!

This morning, Miss H fed O his bottle!

Everything we tried to do was too busy today! So, we ended up at the park. Here are some fun photos that we took. My photog friend, Melanie Johnson, came out and took some *real* ones a little later!

Last, but not least, Miss H read O a bedtime story tonight! So, sweet.

Firsts: Day at Gymboree, Total Self-Soothe, and Words ;-)

Yesterday, O went to his first day at Gymboree. He is the youngest in his class by 2 months; but, I think the little fellow held his own! He had lots of tummy time, which really wore him out. Look at the cobra pose he is doing in the shot just above--he was so interested that he was really lifting his head up high. Way to go, O!

This shot above is hilarious! Makes me laugh out loud. O woke up from a nap very hungry and I needed to go to the restroom. What's a mom to do? So, I made his bottle, gave him 2 ounces to take the edge off, burped him, and then sat him on the couch to look out the window while I ran to the restroom. He was very fussy when I left and then suddenly all was shockingly, scary, quiet. I ran back to make sure he was okay and found him like this. I had to get the camera before I resumed feeding him...it was just too funny not to capture.

This afternoon, I was talking to Jahna and I think O felt left out! He has really gotten expressive and was wanting me to hear him. He was making very loud "Ahh," "Kkkk" and "Goooo" sounds that had major gestures to accompany. Jahna thought it sounded like he was really trying to say something; so we both listened. He was! He said "Agua, uncle" (it really did sound like that all put together--but, I think it was "Ahh-Goo," "Ahhh-Kkkkkk-Ga")! My bi-lingual baby sure will be fun!! Thanks for enjoying the moment with me, Jahna! It was a fun laugh.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our Little Leprechaun!!

O's paternal grandfather grew up on a farm in Latin, Ireland. So, when O wears his "Kiss me, I'm Irish" shirt today--its true! Thank you Grammie for finding this for us! I like this photo better than the one I used for the greeting card--oh well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our Little {25%} Leprechaun.

O's First Photo with the Easter Bunny

10 weeks old today!!!

A too stinky diaper leads to...

Bathtime.
We have started giving O formula over the last couple of weeks, gradually switching to a full-time formula baby. The decision to do this was influenced by many things; but, it was not made with a full understanding of just how stinky a 9 1/2 week old baby's poop could possibly be. Oh my goodness. For real?

Tonight, we had a really rough diaper. For those of you who know me and used to laugh at me gagging at the following:

1) a baby that got spit up on her hand and then licked it...made me gag

2) cleaning up dog poop (not to mention falling in it at 7 mos pregnant) ...made me gag

3) listening to a story about someone picking their nose and...you can guess...I can't even write it because...it makes me gag

4) watching someone puke outside of the passenger-side car door (okay, that applies to two of you!)...made me gag

...and when we talk about my gagging reflex, everyone says "its different when its your own baby." I am here to tell you--you are wrong. Even when its the poop out of my sweet Lump-a-Love, I gag. So tonight, once the crazy stinky diaper was off and a new diaper was on Piglett, I 'fumigated' the house, took out the diaper pail, wiped down the diaper changing station in case any smell was left behind, stripped my son of his clothes, put the clothes in the wash, and put my son in the bath. A very long bath with lots of soap. If that stink stays on him, watch out...

but, afterward he was squeaky clean and all smelly-goody!!!


A few hours before the emergency bath situation at our house, N was over while Mom E and I played with his photos from the "shoot" the other day (see below post if you missed it). They were both wearing Firetruck outfits, so I pulled out the camera (these poor boys)!
The chair that O is sitting in was borrowed from N. N is now pulling up on things and cruising. Today, he pulled up on O's chair, which goes in circles so you can move it and he can see you. N was walking around O and he was spinning in a slow circle. It was really funny...even to O!

Then, we tried to do a posed photo-shoot. The boys are starting to interact a little more with one another (i.e. the make eye contact and sometimes smile ;-) -- they are 2 months and 8 months old). Anyway, here are some funny ones.

Too Many Milestones for One Mommy!

So, I know I just did a post last night (scroll down--you don't want to miss Cowboy N), but we had way too many milestones in the last 24 hours to not do another post.

First, O went to Mimi's house for the first time yesterday so Mommy could get a quality stretch of time to do some work. I thought that if I eased in while still on maternity leave, then the shock of leaving him for an 8 - 10 hour day when I go back wouldn't be as bad. He was there for only 2 1/2 hours; and, I missed him!! However, I got a ton of work done in a short amount of time. I think being a mommy has made me even more efficient!

Now, for the even bigger milestone. O slept through the night. The picture above is him dressed and ready for the day after 9 hours and 15 minutes straight of sleep. Dad and I didn't sleep through the night! Dad got up when we heard O stir around 2 or 3; once Dad was all "ready", O was back to sleep. Dad said, "What do I do if he went back to sleep?" I suggested waking him; good thing Dad didn't listen to me or there would be no post this morning! So, Dad went back to sleep. At 4:45 AM, I heard O stir, got up and he had kicked off his sock and covers and was sucking his thumb. I covered him back up; and, back to sleep was O! Finally, at 6:45 this morning he was awake and hungry. Now, he has had a new diaper (could the one on him hold any more??) and a 5 oz bottle. He is happily watching me write this post at 7:22 AM.

Last, but not least, he is "talking" more than ever. I took a video clip with my camera yesterday and am trying to load it to the blog for your entertainment.

Our little newborn is growing up and I have to admit that I have mixed fealings about it....

Cowboy N!

Mom E wanted to do something special for her Dad for his birthday and thought dressing N up like a Cowboy for some photos would do the trick. So today, we took some fun photos of N for his Grandpa! He was a great sport and super fun model! I have never done something like this before--Mom was brave to give me the responsibility! I had a blast and O slept through the whole thing! Here is a preview, Mom and Dad.

Our little Lump-a-Love

We were all dressed up for church today, so I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos of O in black and white. Plus, I knew Lanie would want to see him in this cute outfit she got him. Its funny, this is the only 0 - 3 month outfit that hasn't been put away, and really, it is still too big on him. It just goes to show you that you can't rely on the sizes in baby clothes ;-), or that our little man, who is in the 44th percentile on height and the 75th for weight, is just a little lump...

Speaking of lump, some of our friends have been asking us what nicknames we have for Baby Q. Here is the list, as it exists today: Mom's names for Baby Q: Punkadoo (everyday, most common), Little Man, Mr. Fuss, Lump-a-love, and Pooter (pronounced in my strongest East Texas accent as "Paou-tyre"). Dad's names for Baby Q: O (everyday, most common), Big Dawg, Shorty, and Fuss-Pot.

I wonder if he knows his name!!!

Girls Night at Hank's...Children's Fashion Show the Next Morning

Linz called earlier this week to see if I wanted to check out a Texas-country band that was playing at Hank's in McKinney on Friday...could I say "yes" fast enough? I have missed live music in funky places since I moved from Austin, and this evening had potential! So, I dusted off my high heeled boots (literally--they had a layer of dust), stuffed my post-baby body into the largest pair of "goin' out jeans" I own, asked Linz to bring me some funky jewelry, and had my eye brows waxed for the first time since baby (something had to look good!) and we headed out.

We had an absolute blast. The place is funky, the people were entertaining--some more than others (think large guy dancing on a table...hmmm), and the band was lots of fun. Oh...and margaritas are served in a dog bowl and shared--go figure--it was a conversation starter for sure. Slurp.

I kept looking at my phone to see if I had a call from Daddy; turns out he had an easy night with O as he slept the whole time I was out!! Thanks for the night out, Linz.

This morning, we went to watch two of O's friends strike a pose on the runway! Are they not the cutest little models you have ever seen? E struck a pose for me at the end of the runway; I think all of the practice posing for me when we had our playdate a couple of weeks ago was still on his mind! The little girl belongs to one of the guys on my team at work...isn't she pretty in pink? Way to go little ones!

Ouch!, Amazing!, and Finally!

Ouch! O got his 2-month shots yesterday. Poor guy; it really stung. But what a man--this is him 5 minutes later...so sad, but doing okay.

Amazing! - We visited the acquarium yesterday afternoon. This manatee is absolutely amazing.Finnally! After not voting in the last three Presidential elections I have been eligible to vote in, I have cast my vote! Not only that, but I went back in the evening, attended the caucus, and am n alternate delegate for my precinct! Too crazy. Maureen joined me for all of this excitement! I beleive she was the only English person in the room!!

Two Months Old Today!

O has changed so much in this last month!

* Lots and lots of smiles!

* He has started cooing and making so sweet gargling noises!

* Began sucking his thumb. Sometimes he will have his thumb in his mouth and a finger in his nose; I don't think this is on purpose, but it sure it funny to see.

* Really, really noticing his surroundings. O has always been very alert--passers-by when we are out and about even comment on that. But, he has really started paying more attention and getting more enjoyment out of his surroundings.

* Become a major mama's boy. O prefers to be held my mom. Others can look, entertain, and hang out with him--but, don't pick him up unless you are mom or have a bottle in your hand!

* Holds his head up pretty steadily.

Here is what it looked like outside of our window this morning! The snow is unbelievable.

Things we've done with Grandma Q and Maureen

On Friday, we visited the Ft. Worth Botanic garden. The highlight of the day for me was finding this patch of clover in the rose garden in which to take a photo for a St. Patrick's Day card of Owen!! This isn't the one I used for the card; but, isn't it neat?

We visited the cactus garden (so small it was a joke), the Japanese Garden, which was our fav, had lunch, and then finally found the 'Glass House', which turned out to be closed. Lots of little disappointments, but a fun day all-in-all.

Here are my mother-in-law and Maureen feeding the coy!



This butterfly is at the entrance of the exhibit that opened the day after our visit ;-)

Saturday, we attended the city's Arbor Day festivities...Daddy Q planted a pecan tree! It looks more like a stick right now, but hopefully it will succeed and we can watch it grow with O.

O had fun smiling with Grandma Q!

Sunday, we celebrated Mother's Day as March 2nd is Mother's Day in England! We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. This pistaccio cheesecake was fabulous!

Then, we went to the Gaylord Texan

...check out O with the Longhorn!!

Today, we had an afternoon tea party! Mom E. and Grandma C. joined us! We had the Queen's cucumber sandwiches, ham, salmon, cake, and biscuits! Too much fun!

And then there was snow. Can you beleive this? 75 degrees on Sunday and snowing on Monday!!

Grandma Q and Maureen will have lots to talk about!!