Quinn is 9 months old!

Our little baby is becoming a big girl: 9 months old!!!! You can see by the smile on her face how excited she is about that. 9 months is such a fun age. And even though I can't wait for all the new things she will be doing soon, sometimes I wish I could stop time for while. It is going soooo fast. Soon she won't be considered 'baby' anymore.

9 months stats:

weight: 17 lbs 1.5 oz (7700 grams)

height: 27.5 inches (70 cm)

head circumference: 45.3 cm

We are so blessed with our little girl.
She is such a happy little person and her smiles just make us melt.

Other things going on at 9 months:

* she giggles when you try to tickle her, or play airplane or peekaboo, or chase her.

* she army crawls all around the house. And she is fast at it!

* she already very well knows the fire place is off limits. She always looks at me or Ryan first, smiles, and then takes off to it.

* she loves to play catch with the football and does a really good job trying to throw it back at you!

* we had a few weeks in which her sleeping pattern was a bit messed up, but she's pretty much back on track again:

- she goes to bed around 7.15pm and sleeps till 6.30/7.00am

- her morning nap still starts exactly 2 hours after she gets up and lasts about 1 to 1,5 hours.

- her afternoon nap starts around 1.15/1.30pm and normally lasts 1,5 to 2,5 hours, depending on how long she slept in the morning and what we did in the morning (after the Little Gym she can sleep up to 3 hours sometimes).

* her favorite show is Nijntje (the American readers probably don't know Nijntje, but it's about a cute little bunny). She is very excited when she gets to watch it on tv and she starts to smile as soon as she hears the Nijntje tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9vyYmJXzk8

* she had her first cold at 8 months and 1 week. Luckily it only lasted 2 days, but I felt soooo bad for her. Her little nose was so plugged up, which made it almost impossible for her to suck her thumb. And she sooo needs that little thumb of her, especially when it's time to sleep.

 * I thought for sure that cold would be the sign of her first tooth coming in, but......nope. No tooth yet until this date. The drooling and chewing on everything and anything is still there though.

* Ryan heard her say 'mama' one day before her 9-months birthday.

We love you little peanut! You fill our hearts with so much love. I wouldn't mind having 10 more like you! (well, maybe not 10....., but another one for sure).

Halloween @ Music Together

It was Halloween at music class so all the kids got to wear their costumes. There were puppies, there were firemen, there was a ladybug, a pumpkin, Buzz Lightyear, and there even was a monster......All the kids looked so cute in their costumes. At the end of class everyone got a treat from Ms Wendy.

Quinn has a little bit of stranger anxiety, but our puppy wasn't afraid to check out who that cute little monster is. Oh it's Larz! They're so sweet for eachother. Larz and Quinn are one of the youngest in class, they both like camera's (not posing for them, but grabbing them with their little puppy/monster paws), going after non toys and they both like to chew on anything they can get a hold of.  

Quinn even let Marisa (Larz's mom) hold her during class. I was so proud of her.

"Come on over little monster, I'll share this scarf with you....."



Another day @ The Little Gym

We had a make up class at the Little Gym on a Saturday, so daddy was able to join us. Normally he only gets to hear about all the fun we are having, but this time he was experiencing it with us. He really enjoyed watching his little girl learn and explore. There will be more make up classes coming up since we will be gone for the month of December, so hopefully daddy can join us for some of them as well. That is of course if daddy's hunting schedule allows it.....;-)

The theme of the day was 'counting counts', so Ms Carrie brought out balls and bean bags for us to count.

We also counted the sticks and then tried to tap them to the rythm of the music.

Most of the time, tapping doesn't last long and the stick finds it way to Quinn's mouth quickly......

Time for some leg excersises.....daddy helping Quinn with her knee bends:

And then it is time to explore the gym.

Peekaboo!

The whole family together.

Rolling around with daddy. It was so cute watching her holding on tight to Ryan.

The last part of the class was balls and bubbles. Hard work makes you tired though. Time to go on home and take a long long nap. 



Zoo Boo

Getting ready for our first Halloween event of the month: the Zoo Boo at the New Zoo in Suamico. For Quinn's first Halloween she got to be a little puppy. She looked so cute in her puppy outfit, it made us consider getting a real puppy. Well, not quite, but this puppy was so much fun though. 

Don't eat the ticket puppy otherwise we won't be able to get in....

The weather was absolute wonderful. It couldn't have been better for an October day like this. That being said, we were not the only ones heading for the zoo.....There was a huge line at the entrance at 3 o'clock. But luckily it went pretty fast and once we were in everyone kind of spread out so it didn't seem too crowded.

We went with our good friends The Luebke's. Their little boy Gavin was a little monkey. Quinn is checking him out from her stroller, wondering whether he is a real monkey or not.

Once inside the fun started. Quinn really enjoyed looking at all the animals and all the kids and grown-ups. 

Looking for the penguins, but they weren't home......

Time to go feed the girafs.

Quinn was about to eat the bisquit herself, but we got it to the giraf just in time.

The giraf just munched it away. Quinn is watching him carefully.

It was such a fun time. Hopefully we can do this again next year (with hopefully the same weather). Quinn will be 20 months by then and walking, so she can enjoy it even more.

Aunt Lia and uncle Kees are here to visit

My aunt and uncle came to visit us for a week! It was their first time to meet little Quinn. I am very close to my aunt (my mom's sister). When I was young I stayed with them many times, babysat their kids, went on trips with them, etc. So I was very excited for them to come here and meet Quinn. We had a wonderful week with beautiful weather. We made lots of fun memories.

Quinn has a little bit of stranger anxiety, but she warmed up to my aunt and uncle pretty quick. She even let my aunt put her down for her nap without a problem.

Opa and oma checking in via skype. My mom and my aunt look a lot alike. Maybe Quinn thought oma was back to visit again....

Aunt Lia feeding Quinn her fruit....Yammie. She's a great eater.

....and getting her dressed. My aunt is a nurse in a revalidation hospital, so normally she deals with elderly people, whose butts are a little bigger than Quinn's.

The wonderful weather allowed us to spend lots of time outside and enjoy the fall colours in the woods.

Quinn prefers the hard road over the bumpy sand path in the woods, but well.....she was pretty relaxed anyway. She just LOVES that thumb. Preferably in combination with a good grasp of my hair.

We all went to music class on Thursday. Together with the Little Gym, one of Quinn's favorite activities of the week. She did very well in class again, even though she had a cold coming up.

Music brings a great big smile on Quinn's face. She rocks her body and babbles along.
Dancing with mommy and aunt Lia is so much fun!

Yeah, the instruments are out! She is more chewing on them than actually making music, but I'm sure that's just a matter of time.

We went on a road trip to Lakewood to show my aunt and uncle the cottage on Paya Lake. Again, it was a nice day outside. The lake was like glass and the colours were beautiful.

We didn't have the key to go inside and my in-laws weren't there either, but they did get a good idea about how it is up there anyway.

Around the fire pit. We've spent many evenings around it during the summer.

Another trip we took was to Sturgeon Bay where we walked along the waterside.

Quinn enjoying the view from her stroller.

One of my favorite pictures of me with my little sweetheart.

Thanks aunt Lia and uncle Kees for a wonderful week. We will see you soon in Holland!