Quinn is 7 months!

Another month just flew by. Another month older.
I love this age. Experiencing the world, taking baby steps towards independence. Getting all excited when they see you after a nap and reaching out their arms when they want you to pick them up. It's so much fun.
Quinn is doing really well. She is on a pretty steady routine at the moment, which kind of looks like this:
6.30/7.00am: wake up and nursing
9.00-10.30am: nap
10.45am: fruit
12.15pm: cereal and milk
1.30-3.30/4.00pm: nap
4.30pm: veggies and milk
7.30pm: cereal and nursing
8.00/8.30pm: bedtime
Most of the days, she takes 2 awesome naps, anywhere between 1,5 and 2,5 hours long!
When she's up, she likes to play with her toys, either on the floor, in her playpen or in her excersaucer. She enjoys it even more when you play with her :-).
She is still drooling up a storm, but still no sign of teeth yet. She is probably waiting until I'm completely done breastfeeding. Thank you honey....
When she wants your attention, she squeels. Loud. Yes, very loud.
She loves it in the bathtub. She's in the big tub now. Her favorite bathtoy is her little squeezable turtle whose head fits in her mouth completely.
Her favorite veggie is probably peas, and her favorite fruit pears. Not that she told me that, but she just eats those with delight. Other things she likes also though, there actually hasn't been anything yet that she refused to eat.
Way to go sweetheart! Up to 8 months....

Another weekend @ Paya Lake

Together with my parents and Ryan's parents, we spent the last weekend of August (and of Summer) 2010 at the cottage in Lakewood. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend. The weather was absolutely wonderful. Warm, but not too humid, with a nice breeze which kept the mosquitoes away (during the day at least). Quinn had a great time as well, she was so busy looking around and absorbing everything that was new to her. And even though her naps were not that long out there, she was an absolute sweetheart throughout the entire weekend. Both nights she slept all the way through :-).

We spent most of the time outside, at the dock, in the water. It was just great. So relaxing.

Quinn with oma at the dock.

We went waterskiing and my dad wanted to give it a try as well! I was so proud he even wanted to try it. He is in great shape (runs 10K's and half marathons on regular basis), but this is a whole different ballgame. He had never done it before, and to try it for the first time at age 63 is pretty impressive I think. The pictures below show how he did. He was in the water trying to get is balance and his ski's straight for a good 30 minutes before he called it quits.
Well, even though he didn't make it up, I still think he did a great job just trying.

I had to go skiing as well, otherwise I was afraid my husband wouldn't take me back home with him anymore. He put my ski's and lifejacket out the minute we got there......there was no way I could get around it.

I waterskied a few times before, but not a whole lot. And that shows....haha. I also realized that I'm not that much of a daredevil anymore. Once on the outside, I was too nervous to cut back to the other side. Gee, it must be the age. Next year, more practising, because I do want to get it again!

Nice shot camera man!

The master himself is up.....Time to try out his new ski.

Well, he does know how to do it!

It looks like he's skiing on the rainbow.

Quinn has to wait a few years before she can go skiing. This year, just trying out the water was exciting enough for her. We borrowed this little floaty thing from the neighbors. It was a little bit too big for her, because she sank all the way down to her neck when her feet weren't touching the ground. She wasn't too excited about it yet. The water felt pretty cold on her belly as well I think.

"Mommy get me out of here please!!"

She enjoyed it better just sitting in the water.

Once she got used to the temperature, it was okay to go a little deeper.

Quinn with opa and grandpa.

Ryan's aunt Lorraine and uncle Chester stopped by for a visit. This was the first time they met little Quinn.

My mom and dad going for a ride on the electric boat. It takes about an hour to go around the lake with it.

The men of the good life....Cheers!

Choo choo

Isn't the best part of being grandparents that you can spoil your grandchildren like crazy and don't have to feel bad about it. Opa and oma took Quinn to ToysRus and got her the Fisher Price Choo choo train. She is absolutely amazed by it. It's so fun to watch her really being interested in her toys and play with it. Thank you opa and oma.

Choo choo!

The Loch's came to visit

Our good friends Scott and Dana Loch came over with their little boy Alex for a cook-out. It was so nice to see them again, as it had been way too long since the last time. Alex was born 5 weeks after Quinn, so we are pretty much going through the same fases with our kids together which is great! We can learn a lot from each other.

I love this picture where Quinn puts her hands on Alex' shoulder. Like she wants to say "Alex, look at me, I'm over here".

Best buddies....

All about our Quinncess....

Now that she can sit up by herself, Quinn loves to play in seated position. I do put the boppy pillow behind her just in case, but she is sitting pretty solid for a good amount of time.

Once the thumb goes into her mouth, we know what time it is.....

Aafke's (my sister-in-law) mom Bep made this mouse from fabric for Quinn. She loves her new friend. She calls her Beppie, so she can never forget who she got it from.

Football season is starting......so we got Quinn her first football. She still looks a little fumbled and is not sure what to do with it yet. But I'm sure daddy will teach her all the ins and outs and turn her into a real Packers fan! Go Pack Go.

Back at the Little Gym hanging out with her friends.

Watch me walking on this beam, isn't that cool!

And I can hang on this bar as well!

The highlight of the class is bubble time! It's so much fun to see the kids following the bubbles and trying to grab them with their little hands.

Opa and oma are here to visit

Five months after they left, opa and oma came back to visit! Quinn was very excited to see them again (and so was I of course). And opa and oma were beyond excited to hold and hug their little granddaughter again. Normally they see her on the computer screen when we skype, but this is much better of course.

They are staying here for 3 weeks, so lots of time to do fun stuff together and to spoil our little munchkin like crazy.

Playing on the floor with opa....

Oma feeding Quinn her veggies. She had the entire bowl gone in no time. Bite and swallow, bite and swallow....no time for breaks....We still laugh about it, because my mom herself is a very slow eater, totally opposite of how she feeds Quinn. So now when oma gives Quinn her veggies or fruit, we give Quinn a little warning to put her seat belt on and take a deep breath, because she's going for a speed feeding.

Quinn and oma laughing together...


After her 6 months birthday, I started to slowly transition from breastfeeding to formula. At the moment I still breastfeed her in the morning and evening and she gets a bottle during the day. Here, opa is giving Quinn her bottle. Actually, both oma and opa were baby sitting at that moment, as I had an adult and kids/infant cpr course at the American Red Cross that day. It was the first time I was away from her for 6 hours in a row. I knew she was in very good hands, but still........I couldn't wait to get back home :-).

Oma and opa with Quinn.

She greets them with her heartmelting smile every time she sees them. She is so used to having them around now, I'm sure she is going to miss them when they leave.

Weekend at the lake

Ryan took Thursday and Friday off, so we went up north and spent a nice long weekend at Paya Lake. The weather was okay, the sun could have been out a little bit more, but well. The temperature was great anyway.

We (Ryan and I) did go waterskiing. Too bad we didn't think about making pictures of that.

The water temperature was very nice as well and although we didn't take Quinn swimming yet, we let her feel the water with her feet.

Trying to get her into her life jacket for a boat ride is harder than you think......

Eating carrots on the dock.

Everything she can get a hold of goes into her mouth.

Yes, I'm going to eat you!

Chilling with grandma....

... and playing with her new cellphone.

On Friday, Ryan's cousin Jim and his wife Denise came over for dinner. It was the second time they saw her and couldn't believe how big she had gotten.

The neighbors son Jeff came over with his son Henry. Henry just turned 1 years old. He's not only twice as old as Quinn, but also twice as big. Quinn was smiling away when he was over, but Henry didn't have too much interest in her.....not yet at least. We will have to keep an eye on him when they are older....haha.