Quinn is 4 months old

May 29, Quinn is 4 months old today. And she is doing so good. She is such a sweet and content little girl.

Her 4 months stats are:

weight: 11 lbs, 1 ounce (5018 grams)

height: 23,5 inches (60 cm)

head circumference: 41,5 cm

What's going on in her life at 4 months:

* she is trying hard to roll over. Her legs and belly are already there, it's just the upper part of her body she needs to figure out

* she falls asleep in her crib all by herself

* she still takes her pacifier once in a while, but more often she prefers her thumb

* she sleeps about 8 hours straight at night

* her naps during the day are still pretty short though

* when she wakes up, I hear her playing with her little puppet. It has a bell inside, so most of the time I hear that before she starts calling me

* she eats 6 times a day

* she grabs toys with both hands, and then puts them in her mouth

* she can keep herself entertained for 30 minutes or even longer

* she really looks around to see what toy to grab next

* she chews on her hands, sometimes both at the same time

* she drools like crazy

* she loves blowing bubbles

* she loves it when you talk to her and she loves to tell you stories back

* she smiles and giggles all the time, which makes us feel very special

2 weeks of family fun

With 2 adults and 2 small children more in the house, even our house seems small all of a sudden. We had the sleeping arrangements figured out pretty quick though. My brother and Aafke slept in the guest bedroom, together with Tess. We put a mattress on the floor for her and her stuffed animals. She loved her special sleeping place, although there were times that she crawled into bed with her mom and dad as well....

Luke was the lucky one, he got a room all to himself! He slept in Quinn's crib, which we had to lower of course. And Quinn slept in a portable crib in our bedroom. She did really good and hardly kept me awake.

Okay, the plan was to eat brats....but when you don't pay attention to the grill, they can turn black. So that called for a backup plan: Luigi's. We only call Luigi's in emergencies, because after you eat even just a little bit of their pizza, you have enough again for months plus you will be drinking a gallon of water afterwards. But at this moment, we didn't have a choice. And of course, with Ryan's mind that only thinks BIG BIG BIG, he ordered a football pizza. The kids had already eaten, so 4 adults.....do you think we had enough? By the way, the darker part of the pizza (on Ryan's side) was for my brother: special order without(!) cheese.

My brother couldn't get over how big that pizza was. You can't buy a pizza this size in Holland, that's for sure. For the record, we did have some leftovers.
The weather wasn't the greatest in the two weeks they were here. We had some nice days, but there were days as well where we had to entertain ourselves inside. Luke thought it was time for some excersise so he went downstairs with my brother to work out.

It doesn't hurt my brother to do some excersise either.....:-) (Just kidding)

Dancing along with children's songs in the living room. Quinn loved it as well. I've been playing the dvd quite a few times already, so she can listen to them and learn them when she gets a bit bigger.

Reading time: Quinn loves to listen when we read to her and to look at the pictures in the book. Tess joined us when I was reading about Bumba and the whale.

A few weeks before they came here, I promised Tess we are going to bake a chocolate cake (brownie) when they are here. She had been talking about it ever since and couldn't wait to make it once they got here....so we did....it turned out very yammie.

When uncle Ryan was home it was time to play with the ball in the sunroom.

And Luke showed Quinn how to put the different shaped blocks back in the bucket.

We didn't only bake a chocolate cake, we also made cookies. My special helper Tess was in charge of decorating them. And what a job she did. Every cookie got a good share of sweet stuff on it. And now and then some ended up in Tess' mouth as well.....

The sun did come out a few times luckily, so then it was time to put on our sunglasses and go outside!

Cool dudes....

We don't have a lot of toys yet for the kids to play outside with (better said, we don't have anything yet). But what more do you need than a football! The kids loved to throw the ball around. And so did the two dads.

Tess with her bubble maker.

We also took the kids to the New Zoo. It was kind of chilly that day so lot of the animals were inside. But it was nice to walk around anyway.

Luke even got to give the giraffe a cookie.

The penguins weren't home. Only this crazy family was outside....

Quinn didn't think too much of the Zoo yet. She pretty much slept all the time we were there. I'm sure next year she will enjoy it more.

Three sleeping kids in the back seat. Dreaming about all the nice things we did together.

We had so much fun with the family her. It was so precious to see how Tess and Luke were getting along with Quinn. They sure love each other like crazy. Now we're back at seeing each other on the computer screen again. I'm sure Quinn already recognizes the skype ring tone.

We can't wait to see them again in December. We miss you :-)

Update

Okay, I am way overdue with my postings again, but with my brother and his family in town for two weeks, there wasn't a lot of time to focus on the computer. I've started with some of the pictures already, but there is more to come. So check in again soon.....

My first Mothersday

Last year I didn't know I was pregnant yet when Mothersday came along, so this year it was my first official Mothersday. I'm so blessed to be the mother of such a special little sweetheart. Having her it feels like Mohtersday every day.

Ryan bought my and Aafke's favorite ice cream cake to celebrate Mothersday. Yammie. He wanted to write "We love you mommy's, from Tess, Luke and Quinn" on it.....but the cake was a little too small for that.

Another try for a group picture....Quinn was looking at everything but the camera. Still cute though.

The cousins finally meet....

May 2nd finally came, so we headed to Austin Straubel Airport to pick up my brother Arjan, his wife Aafke and their two kids Tess and Luke, who flew in from The Netherlands. Quinn was sooo excited to meet her aunt and uncle and especially her two cousins for whom we bought some baloons.

After a long flight they finally came through the gate. The kids hadn't slept a lot during the flight, but on the last stretch from Minneapolis to Green Bay, the light finally went out for Tess and Luke. Luckily it didn't take long for them to wake up and give us a big kiss and hug hello.

Tess had been asking many times before they came if she could hold her little cousin Quinn. And she was so proud when she finally could. She held her many times over the 2 weeks they were here, and every time we had to take a picture.



Luke was very impressed with his baby cousin as well. He loves to give her kisses and hugs, however this little Bam Bam (that's how Ryan calls him) doesn't know his own strength.....so we had to watch him carefully when he was around her.

The two moms and the three little munchkins. It's hard to get three young kids at one picture at the same time. But we did a good job here.

Three little butts...

Quinn with my brother Arjan...he couldn't believe how small she was and that his own two sweethearts were once as small as she is right now. They grow sooo fast....

Aunt Aafke gives Quinn her bath. Tess is watching carefully. She wanted Quinn to go in the big bathtub with her, but we explained her she is a little bit too little for that yet. In December, when we will go to Holland to visit them, she will be big enough and then they can have a bath together we promised her.

Quinn loves it when you talk to her. She talks back to you in her own special way with "oohs" and "aahs" and by blowing bubbles....lots of bubbles...

After a good conversation, it's time for a nap. Normally she takes a little nap before her last feeding, and then we either hold her or she sleeps in her swing... All the other naps are in her own bed.