Quinner :: 21 months

This little boy of mine is the coolest kid ever.  If you miss one day in the life of Quinn, it feels like you miss a lifetime in the life of Quinn.  He changes every single day, like most little kids do, and he is constantly reminding me of that line in Ferris Beuhler's Day off.

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around, you could miss it."

This little squirt of mine is almost two.  He is so funny and smart and just melts my heart every day.

Right now, he loves sunglasses and blowing bubbles.  If he sees you get the stroller out, he jumps right in, ready for a ride anywhere you are willing to take him.  He lowers his own high chair so he can climb in more easily and says the name of pretty much every single food he wants to eat.

He never forgets to say please and thank-you, even when he's crying.

Quinn and Wyatt and I went to the zoo this week.  Since that trip, at home, and particularly in the car, all he can do is talk about the animals we saw at the zoo.  And, every animal is a baby, even if it isn't. Our conversations have been like this, non stop, since our trip:

"Baby biraffe, mama."
Yes Quinn, we saw a giraffe at the zoo,
"Baby Orilla, mama."
Yes Quinn.  Did we see a gorilla at the zoo?  Did it scare you?
"Uh-huh!  Baby yi-yon, mama.  Baby tat, zoo."
Yes, we did see the lion and the cats, too.  Did you have so much fun at the zoo?
"Uh-huh!"

In addition to talking about gorillas, he also only wants to look at books with gorillas (luckily we have quite a few) and have me draw gorillas, which I cannot do.  I am much better at fish, which he isn't interested in.  This kid is completely animal obsessed.  Elephant, rhino, gorilla, bear, giraffe, lion, zebra and horse...these seem to be his favorites, but only in baby form.  In the bathtub, he plays with a rhino, a goat, and an ibex, which he thinks is a horse.

And Patrick Star from Sponge bob.  He requests Patrick pretty often, too.



He loves to tell stories, and is starting to talk so well, even throw out some three and four words sentences which just blow my mind.  We even taught him to blame his brothers for stuff, which is pretty funny.  Quinn will spill some crackers and I'll say, "Oh no.  Quinn what happened?" and he will look at me with a smile on his face and say, "Elliott did it!"  Even though Elliott is at school.  He knows it's a joke and he knows it's funny.



Every night when we say our family prayer in the big boys room, he sits on the edge of Elliott's bed with his arms folded and his eyes sort of closed.  When the prayer is over he says Amen.  Then he waves to his brothers and says, "Night night Eyut.  Night night Iyut.  Night night banket," and walks into his room with his dad to go to sleep.

Lately, we have entered the land of bumps and bruises.  It probably has something to do with being very brave and figuring out how to run very fast.  Skinned knees and foreheads abound, making this kid a poster child for the walking wounded.  But he seems to recover pretty quickly.

This kid loves to be outside, ride his bike, jump on the trampoline, kick a soccer ball, throw a baseball, play in the water, water the flowers, and chase his brothers.  I really don't know what we ever did without him sitting in his high chair and making googly eyes at us while we eat dinner.

Twinners

My sister had the day off of work today, but had a lot of work to get finished before the second semester starts tomorrow.  She asked if I could watch her kids for a few hours and she would pay me in my most favorite way.  A diet coke!

Never one to deny myself the company of my niece and nephew, and a ice cold diet coke, of course, I said yes.  So, for a few hours this morning, I was the mama hen to four little chicks.  Two of which are perfectly self sufficient and got along beautifully.  The other two, the almost twins?  They struggled a bit, but they love each other lots.  And, they wore me out!

Jack can say "Annie!"
Quinn can say, "Jaaa!"

And both of them are excellent at stealing each other's toys.

While Molly and Wyatt were in the basement playing, I brought the little monkeys upstairs with me and decided to take a few pictures of them.  They are so much alike, being only three months apart, but there is a sea of difference between them in their speed and mobility, dexterity, vocabulary, and personality.  Jack is a man of action!  He doesn't hold still, hardly sits down, and is super busy and pretty independent.  Quinn is a dawdling sloth, who takes his time, meanders around, and never strays too far from his mama.  Because of the difference in their birthdays, Jack will graduate high school the same year Quinn starts his senior year of high school.  Crazy what a difference a few months can make.

But, they are both super cute and I love them lots and lots.

My baby loves me!

I've been super tired lately.  It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm never in bed before 11:30 these days and I'm usually up around 6:30.  And I have three young children.  And my house is big and messy.   And there is a lot of laundry to do.  And, because I've decided to make almost all the Christmas gifts I'm giving this year and that takes a lot of time.  And, because I'm taking two online classes right now.  And, and and....

Anyway, it's been one of those weeks where if I get the chance to sit down, and it happens to be quiet, I'm out like a light.

Yesterday after we got home from dropping the brothers off at school, I sat down in a chair next to Quinn's box of toys to watch him play.  And I fell asleep.  I couldn't have been out that long but I woke up to the feeling of my hand being patted.  Upon opening my eyes, that sweet little baby of mine had brought me his blanket, it was on my lap, and he was rubbing my hand like I rub his when I rock him to sleep.  When I looked at him, he smiled a sheepish little smile, laid his head on my lap, and then crawled off to keep playing with his toys.

Man alive!  I love that kid.

some people say they look alike.

My boys are clones.  They look like each other.  They look like brothers.  They also look a lot like their dad.  Like, often an uncanny resemblance of their dad.

Case in point.

My super sessy husband circa 1997.  Senior in high school.  Debate team.  Model UN.  Giant glasses.

My one year old.  At the fabric store late one night last week.  Wearing my moms glasses, which look giant on him.

Quinner:: 13 months

Little squisher, you've been one for a whole month, can you believe it?  It's pretty exciting and it was a busy four weeks.  We've got a lot going on in our house right now, especially on Thursday after school, but minus a strong dislike for being buckled into your car seat, you seem to take it all in stride.

When you come into a room that I'm in, you say, "Hi mom!".  When your dad gets home from work, you say, "Hi dad!".  When trying to get either brother's attention you yell, "Eeeeyutt!"  That works for Uncle Willie, too.  When you are headed out on your own exploration mission you crawl a few feet away, turn, look at me and wave, then head on your adventure.

You can do the actions for itsy bitsy spider and know the sounds (even though you won't always perform them) for: dog, fish, snake, and squirrel.  You like to dance to music, bang pots and pans, and read books.

Oh, the books.  There is one shelf of kids books in the family room and every day, at least six times a day, you get yourself to the shelf, pull all the books off, and will sit for 30 minutes or so looking at all the books.  A couple are your favorites and it's fun to watch you.

We don't worry about you on the stairs anymore, even though you did fall on Friday.  Minus that, you can go up and down by yourself with ease.  You can go Grandma's stairs, too, so that's pretty good.

 

A couple of weeks ago, you were being grumpy at me so I grabbed my phone, or kindle (can't remember anymore) and opened up YouTube to show you a Sesame Street video.  Well, I've created a monster (just like Elliott when he was your age) and if you see a phone, or a computer, or anything you think should play one of your shows, you have a cow.  The last week in particular has been pretty bad and I've had to leave the computer put away and off, and only look at my phone when you are asleep because you go nutso.  And, two weeks ago at church, we didn't make it through the third hour and dad and the boys found us on a couch in the foyer watching Will I Am sing with the Sesame Street gang.

You love your dad so much!  He is your best buddy.  When the weather is decent, I love for us to be outside when it's time for Dad to come home because you can hear his truck as soon as he pulls onto our street and your ears perk up like a little dog.  Then, as he gets closer, you go up on your knees like a meerkat and then, when he pulls into the driveway, you screech and crawl to his truck as fast as you can.  Once dad is home, you are his for the night, never too far out of his sight or too far from his arms.  He is your best jungle gym and it makes me happy.

Now, we just need to get you walking before you ruin any more pants.

Quinner :: 12 month stats

Yesterday, my hunka hunka burnin' love went to the doctor.  He got 5 shots.  He has at least 2 molars trying to break through in his mouth.  He is not a happy camper.

He does however weight 28.6 pounds and is 32 inches tall.  I haven't looked at the other boys baby books yet, but I think that officially makes him the biggest monkey of them all.

Quinn's first birthday celebration

So, for the first time in maybe forever, I totally dropped the ball on the birthday front.  My sweet little baby is the third kid.  The third first birthday.  Maybe I realized that a first birthday isn't that big of a deal.  Maybe I am just lazy and forgot.  Regardless, the day after his birthday the boys and I went to toys r us to take Quinn shopping.  They turned on every single toy on the baby aisle and he reached out and grabbed the one he thought was the best.  And he ate the cardboard as we continued through the store throwing other crap into our cart.

On Wednesday night, we had a little party with my immediate family and Grandpa Huber.  It was our regular Wednesday night dinner and we just had a barbecue at our house.  We got treats from Schmidt's - cookies for the guests and a little cake for the birthday boy.

My mom couldn't believe that I just let that little fart, on the carpet no less, destroy a beautiful Schmidt's cake but we did.  He was the first of my one year old's to even be willing to touch a cake let alone completely annihilate it and start eating the cardboard.

Hmmmm.  Cardboard.  Perhaps there is a theme?

Anyway, the kid had a great party with lots of presents and lots of present helpers.  What more could a cute and squishy one year old ask for.

Maybe to walk, but he's working on that.

And, to add insult to my lack of party planning injury, my camera is broken.  The birthday boy himself pulled my fancy SLR off the counter and now it doesn't work.  So, there are only a few lousy cell phone pictures to document the big day.

Sorry kiddo.

We still love you lots!

Quinner: O N E Y E A R O L D !

 

Oh me oh my!  Today my baby you are ONE YEAR OLD!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it.  In our family, on your birthday you get to pick a birthday activity and a place to go to dinner.  But, since you're not quite at that stage, mom and dad picked for you.  Instead of a birthday activity, you got a mini vacation full of loads of fun with your family.  Yee Ha!

Little buddy of  mine, I love you so much.  I don't know what we did without you and I can hardly believe how quickly the last year has blown by.  You were a puzzle piece in our little family and filled a huge gap.  You are smart as a whip, crazy funny, and almost always happy to be wherever we are.  Yes, you'd like to be outside more, but little boys who eat bugs don't get to spend as much time outside as they would like.

Your little personality is starting to shine, and I can hardly wait to see what it brings.  You laugh and snort like a pig.  You can do the animal sound for a fish and a snake and a dog.  You can almost whistle and can go up the stairs standing, using the railing for balance.

I'm not sure if you are ever going to walk because it's pretty much impossible to learn to walk on your tip toes, but you are a great dancer so that must count for something.

You say, mom and dad when you want us and if we're outside when dad gets home from work, you crawl to his truck at lightning speed and say, "Hi dad!" a couple of times until he picks you up. 

You love to eat and drink and in the last little while you've had diet coke, coke zero, and a milkshake from chick-fil-a.  Oh, and smoothies - you love smoothies.  There isn't anything you've tried yet that grossed you out although watching you eat a few things, like pasta and mandarin oranges grosses me out to the max.

There are times I forget that you are such a big boy and wish that I had my little squisher back but there are others that you seem so grown up - that the world just feels right.  It's maybe the times you are playing in the toilet and shoving countless treasures from the floor into your mouth that I wish you weren't mobile, but most of the time, it's okay.

Your brothers and I are teaching you itsy bitsy spider.  You love it.  When we finish, you grab my hands and put them in the air so we can start again.  You actually grab hands for lots of things - anything that you need that you need us to do for you.  You are pretty smart about stuff like that and impress me all the time.

Oh my boy!  Everyone loves you.  But me, your mama?  I love you the most.

Happy "I survived my first year" day.

Grandma and her Quails

My mom discovered last week that in the flower bed in front of her house, she has expectant parents.  Quails!  The mama quail is sitting on 9 little tiny eggs and on Sunday, it was time for grandma to show her fowl grandchildren to her human grandchildren.  After hunting down the nest, scaring off the mama, my mom attempted to hoist each grandchild (sans Elliott.  Okay, she just lifted Wyatt) over the flowers to see the eggs.

Before and after the quail hunt, it was picture time. Every few months, my mom wants a picture of her grand kids in their Sunday best. This Sunday was no exception, except that the middle children struggle to cooperate. Molly, Jack and Quinn won't hold still and Wyatt is too busy pulling faces and flashing gang signs to concentrate. Regardless, they are all cute kiddos and I love them lots and lots.

And, just look at how much these guys have grown up from just 11 months ago.

My three sons....

Tis the season for school programs and the boys have each had theirs in the last couple of weeks.

Wyatt was first up with his mother's day program.  His little class sang three songs, and then presented each of their moms (and one grandpa) with a cute little paper, a poem and a plant they grew themselves.  It was sweet.  Wyatt was a little shy and nervous about all the moms so up close and watching, and he had to sit by this super goof ball boy, Cohen, who kept hitting him on the head, but it was great.

 

Yesterday was Elliott's kindergarten spectacular.  The little kids have been practicing for ages and even had to wear their best clothes for the program.  Elliott opted for a shirt and tie and he looked great.  He had a part at the microphone and recited it like a pro.  Grandma and I were so proud of him.  He did an excellent job.

 

And that cute little baby that wraps up the boys three?  He's been a bit of a bugger lately.  You see, his mouth hurts and in the last three weeks, he's gone from us thinking that he's getting one tooth, to two teeth, to four teeth, to yesterday me spotting another one.

That chill little baby who has been so uptight we can hardly stand it?  He's had 5 teeth pop into his mouth all at the same time - bringing his grand total to 7.  Four on top and three on the bottom.

Quinner: 8 months

Hello baby boy.  I'm a little slow in getting this post written, but last week, on May 2, you turned 8 months old.  Oh my how time is flying by so quickly.  Just today, Elliott said to me, "mom, remember when Quinn was so tiny that he wore those little nightgown things?"  "Yes," I told him.  But Quinn is a little too big for those now.

As with every month older you get, the last few weeks have been full of growing and new experiences.  You took your first trip to instacare, because you threw up and I panicked.  Your good dad took you late in the night and we found out that you had an ear infection.  We also found out that you weigh 25 pounds.  In the last week, you've gone from 2 teeth, to almost 6 teeth and have been a bear about life for a few days because your mouth has been so sore.  You have been inconsolable and screaming and crazy for a couple of days and it's driving me absolutely crazy.  But, I think that things are getting better and hopefully Captain Chill will return.

You've been eating some bread, some crackers, drinking a little bit of juice, and dad even gave you frozen yogurt the other night.  You loved it.  You can roll and spin and twirl around to get anywhere you want and get there quickly, but you love to roll to the tile by the fireplace and kick as hard as you can.  Not sure why, but it's your thing.  That and getting your legs stuck under the couch.  It's like you have a gravitational pull to the sofa and getting stuck but you're working on it.  You've graduated to the big boy bathtub and are starting to figure out that splashing in the water is fun.  You love to be in the walker and bounce and dance and kick your little feet...but, you can only go backwards.  However, you can go backwards all over the house.

Until you crash into a wall.

There are a few people in this world that you truly love.  Me, and dad and your brothers of course, but you seem to love your Grandma Judy.  Whenever she holds you, you put your left ear right up to her mouth so that she can kiss you a thousand times.  Sometimes, you let me do it to, but mostly it's grandma.

Let's see, what else:
You say, "mamama" and "dadadad" and your big brother is pretty certain you say "Elliott".

You love to clap and sing and are starting to recognize music.  Mom loves the Lumineers lately and there are a couple of songs that, when you're eating in the high chair and they come on the ipod you stop, look towards the dock and smile.  It's pretty cute.

You love to be outside and any chance you get is an absolute treat - even with the wind blasting you in the face.  We've been camping out at lots of baseball and t-ball games the last few weeks and minus the frigid temperatures, you've loved being out and about.

You tug on your hair when you drink a bottle and burrow your head into my shoulder when you're tired.

You prefer to nap while being held, but are getting better not only about actually taking naps, but taking them in your bed.

You love your brothers so much and they love you back even more.

We love and love and love you so much little buddy.  It's sad for me to see you moving completely away from being a baby to being a little boy.  You've almost figured out crawling and it makes me sad.  I want you to stay little and not enter that evil mobile baby zone where you have no idea what you are doing and just crash and cry all the time.  But, it's so fun to watch you figure things out so I guess it's okay.

Keep growing and keep loving us.  We will love you back.

Quinner: 7 months

 

Alrighty Mister, a few days late but you are a whole 7 months old this week.  My oh my how time is flying by.  I keep posting pictures to instagram with the hashtag #mybabyisgrowingtofast and man oh man is it true.  You my boy are a mighty soul with a wild spirit and I love you oh so much.

 

Let's see, where to begin.

In the last four weeks you've flown round-trip on an airplane.

 

You survived Disneyland and sleeping in a hotel room cramed with noisy brothers, a mom that gets up to go to the bathroom and a dad that sometimes snores. 

 

You learned how to roll over and are such a mover and shaker that your chubby wubby left elbow is covered with carpet burns.  Watching you roll over is pretty funny, it's like what I would imagine a rhinocerous looks like rolling over, but you can heft that weight around pretty well.

 

 

You have started to nap a little bit better - taking at least one full hour nap a day.  But, getting you to take that nap is a work out.  It's strange, but unlike your brothers who were dependent upon blankies and binkies, you don't have any item to pacify and soothe you.  For the first 6 months of your life it was me, good old mom, but now that were not doing that anymore, you've yet to find your thing.  You don't rock to sleep and you don't fall asleep drinking a bottle.  The only thing at this point that works is motion in the form of a stroller.  So, every afternoon when you hit the wall, I put you in your car seat, hook the car seat into the stroller adapter and spend the next 10 minutes pushing you around the kitchen island in the stroller.  Sometimes we venture into the dining room, but the wood floor is easier and faster.  Once you're out, I've got hopefully one hour, maybe a little bit more, to do everything I need to get done in the entire day.  It's a rush for certain.

 

 

You are eating #2 baby foods and are finally taking a little bit of a break and going sometimes 4 hours between eating.  That is pretty amazing to me, I didn't think you'd every get off the every two hours "feed me" routine.  And, I introduced little cereal puffs and watered down apple juice this week.  You love the puffs but aren't to sure about the juice.  Maybe you want it straight up?

 

You laugh a lot, fake cough a lot, and have learned how to spit.  You cry if I take something out of your hand and finally have stopped leaning forward when I hold you on my hip.  You are very cute and handsome and have the bluest eyes in the whole family.  In fact at Disneyland several times and even at target the other day, people have been commenting to me about your baby blues.

 

When you meet someone new, or want to tell us that you love us, you touch out faces.  Just a light rub of the cheek, or you'll trace your hand along a jaw line.  It's pretty funny, but definitely seems to be your method of communication.  You do it to me and Grandma Judy the most.  Grandma says it means you love her and I agree.

As always you adore your brothers and they love you right back.  I think every single day they love you more.  That make my heart super happy.
 



Quinner: 6 months

Hello sweet baby boy.  You are one month older, isn't it exciting?  The last month has been so great for you, lots of big stuff going on, but first, the stats.

22.2 lbs
28 inches tall
head is good (what is the point of head circumference anyway?)
95th percentile over all

At the doctor yesterday, your pediatrician was impressed with you, as usual.  You are a bit advanced in all ways except sitting up, but we're working on that as much as possible.  You are a baby who prefers to lay down all the time and that's okay I guess.  Dad and I are pretty certain that you are just too fat to sit up and that as you start to thin out a bit it will be easier for you.

The biggest changes in the last couple weeks are:
One, you have perfected rolling over either direction from your back to your tummy and if you are super motivated, can roll back onto your back.

Two, in the last two weeks, you've got two goofy toofers in the front of your mouth that you love to use to bite my finger every chance you get.

Otherwise, you still sleep through the night.  You are still always starving and are either eating food or drinking a bottle every two hours.  You still never nap, except yesterday after the doctor.  Those shots really wiped you out.  You love to hang out in the walker and the baby Einstein and think standing is great when it's part of playing but you refuse to stand on your own.  This weekend, we're packing up all the 12 month clothes and making the move to 18 months.

You my boy are super alert, lovey, and squishy.  Your giggle is infectious and you adore your brothers to the ends of the earth.  They have not gotten bored with you.  In fact, the older and bigger you get, the more enamored they are with you and the more they want to play with you.  And, with Wyatt, the more he wants to get in your face and in your business all day long.

You are great at head butting and scratching.  At yelling and talking.  You are no longer terrified of the car at night and as long as you have a toy in your hand, could probably hang in the car for a good two hour car ride.

Oh, and today?  You sat in the high chair for the first time and....

loved it!

And as always, I love you.  I really hope you love me back.

The first tooth

So, this baby of mine has been super droooly lately.  Like, enough drool to fill the great salt lake.  Or, at least enough to fill the palm of my hand.  Along with the drool, he's been a bit irritable so we sort of knew that the long process of teething was beginning.  

This baby of mine, though he doesn't nap (EVER!) has been a pretty much perfect night sleeper since he was just over two months old.  But, he's had some pretty fussy nights recently and last night in particularly, was up in the night once for a while and cried out in his sleep several times.

I should have put two and two together, but not until I was playing with him on my bed this morning did I notice the little, very sharp, white tooth under his tongue.  Yes, at 5.5 months old, he's got his first tooth and I'm pretty sure that the second is close behind.

The other two boys had serious teething issues.  Fevers, no sleep, ear infections, quit drinking bottles....you name it, we dealt with it.  But this baby!  He just fussed a bit in the night and the tooth was in.  If teething can be like this, I don't have too much problem with it.  I'm sure that there will be a struggle at some point, but how exciting that the little fart has a tooth.

It's pretty exciting.

Quinner: 4 months

Alrighty baby boy.  Another month older and a few days late on the blog post.

I took you to the doctor today.  The stats are:
Height: 27 inches (rounding up from 26.75)
Weight: 19 pounds (rounding up from 18.14)
Off the chart for height and weight.  75% for head circumference.

The last 4 weeks have been pretty fun.  You are a pretty fun little guy.  You are a smiling and cooing machine.  You love to laugh at your brothers and chew on all the toys you got for Christmas.  The tickle spots that work the best are your fat little legs, your fat neck, and right between your shoulder blades.  Lately, when you're playing on the floor, if you feel like we are ignoring you (which we are not by the way) then you let out a tremendous yawlp.  Just to make sure you have our attention.

Just in the last few days you've figured out that if you arch your back and wiggle your toes just so, you can squirm your way out of anything.  The swing.  The bouncy seat.  A chair.  My lap.  It's pretty un-nerving that for being so immobile you are so mobile.  A sign of things to come, I'm certain.

You are so much like your brothers in so many ways.  You have a temper (though we don't see it often) and an appetite like Elliott did as a baby, but you are calm and zen like Wyatt was (minus the puking). And, even though I see both of your brothers in you, Grandma Judy thinks you look just like Wyatt.

Lately, you freak out in the car, but only at night.  We're certain you are afraid of the dark - except when you are asleep.  The car light over your seat must always be on.  You don't like dark rooms.  When Elliott and Wyatt were little they would pull blankets and towels over their faces and drift off to sleep.  You however are the opposite.  We must be on "blanket watch" constantly because if you happen to cover up any part of your face, you panic.  Seriously.  Stop breathing, hyperventilate, stiff as a board panic.  And then when we get the blanket off your face, you sob and sob and sob.  It would be pretty cute, if it wasn't so sad.

What else?
You are starting to like the bath and just in the last week actually put your feet in the water instead of keeping them curled up into your armpits.

You are getting close to rolling over.  You can scoot yourself in a circle with your legs and butt. You can roll onto both of your sides but cannot get all the way over,

You sleep all night long, from about 8:30 pm to 7:00 am.

You only poop once a week but your farts are still so gaseous that the junior high kids that sat in front of you at a basketball game a couple weeks ago smelled it and thought it was one of them.

You've officially moved up to 8 oz bottles and are starving all day long.  This month will mark the start of your transition to formula and bottles instead of mom being your exclusive form of nourishment.   Why?  I'm tired of being a human pacifier, and itchy and though I love you oh so much, it's time to move on.  I met my goal, you're cool with a bottle and life without a pump will be grand.

You celebrated your first Christmas showered in gifts.

You help me make the bed every morning.

You love to be naked.

Your skin is so soft I cannot stop squeezing it.

You aren't quite like your brothers before you because you refuse a pacifier and aren't a burrower.  Those boys still need mama (and dad) to put them to bed every single night and need songs sung and hands held.  You though are different.  It will be interesting to see what your sleep patterns and night time routines are as you get bigger.

I still haven't found your song.  Elliott's song was discovered on accident during a colic induced screaming fit when he was a couple weeks old (Rainbow Connection).  Wyatt's song I started singing to him on the day he was born (Silent Night and Hey Jude).  Your song has yet to come to me.  I've tried out a bunch, but the closest one to sticking so far is "fools rush in" (Elvis!) and "somebody's crying" (Chris Isaac).  I'm not sure that either is quite yours though so I'll keep trying.

In addition to all of that?

You are awesome.

Love you lots baby boy.  Lots and lots and lots.

Good Evening....

Not the most flattering photo of my little squishy, but he does bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain horror/suspense film director of the 1950's and 60's.

Hello Baby Hitchcock.

Are you afraid of birds?

Quinner: 3 months

You smile, you laugh, you talk a lot.  You have the stinkiest farts in the entire world and make me gag.

I love you!!!!

Yes, my boy, you are another month older.  I was talking to your dad the other night and said, "Right now, he's three months old.  Before I know it, he'll be 5, then 18 and on a mission.  He's growing up too fast."  Your dad, ever the practical one in our family said, "No. He isn't going to be five tomorrow."

He's right.  You'll just be three months plus one day tomorrow.

In the last month my boy you are doing amazing baby things.  Last week, we switched you officially to 9 month clothes.  You started sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago (bed time between 8:30-9:00 and up at 5:00, drink a bottle and then go back to sleep).  You are turning into a creature of habit, just like your mom and dad and it's awesome.  We figure right now, you weigh 17 pounds, you're trying to sit up all by your self when I've go you on my lap with your back to my chest, and you can pull your legs all the way off the ground and pull your butt right up with them.  It makes my abs hurt just thinking about it.

You love your brothers and they love you back times 10.  All they want to do is hold you, talk to you, rub your head, and tell me that you stink.

Have I mentioned your stinky?  Seriously kid, you have THE WORST GAS in the history of babies.  You fart louder than your brothers.  It makes us laugh a dozen times a day.

You eat your fist.

You talk to angels on the ceiling.

You like to listen to music.

You do not like to ride in the car in the dark.

The fattest part of your whole body is your thighs right where they meet your hip.  It's a good thing that fat part of your legs is covered by diaper or I might just squeeze them all day long.

You have beautiful eyelashes and your finger nails grow super fast.

I think you love me.

When you wake up for good in the morning, even though you are starving you don't cry.  You just talk in your crib.
You have a good dad who feeds you bottles at night so I get to stay asleep.  I love you dad because he does that for us.
You aren't a very good napper.  In fact, you are on a strange schedule where one day, you have no naps and the next day you sleep all day.  It's your deal so I roll with it but the no naps days are pretty exhausting for both of us and by the time dinner rolls around, you and I have both had it.

You are getting good at sitting in the bumbo chair, but your legs are too fat and it usually makes you puke.  Your brothers spend more time sitting in it than you.  They both fit better now than when they were babies.

As much as we've tried, you are not a binker kid.  You like to use mom as your pacifier and if that doesn't work, you suck on your fist and make a super loud popping sound when the suction is released.  It's pretty funny.

You have been to several Runnin' Utes basketball games now and you really have a good time.  You either spend the whole game asleep in your chair or laying on a quilt, on the row behind us, talking to the seats.  They apparently have a lot to say.

Yesterday, you went to your first Christmas party.  You slept through all the chaos until it was time to see the big guy himself.  I'm not sure what you said to Mrs. Claus to make her seem so disinterested in holding you, but a picture is worth a thousand words.  

Maybe you farted on her lap?

I love you baby!

You are my squish.  You are my smile.  You are my boy!

I don't deserve you, but I love you.