Stoney Creek Metropark

After we returned from vacation we received a call from some friends that they were heading to Stoney Creek Metropark on that Friday afternoon and they were inviting a few friends to join them.  Since B was still on vacation from work and we were just relaxing at home we decided we'd join them.

We had an awesome time with great friends, great fun and great conversation.  We are so fortunate to have such great friends here in Michigan, it really makes being so far from my family a little easier.

A beautiful sunset made it even more perfect!

Vacation, Part III

On the trip home we also decided to divide it into two days, only this time instead of staying in a hotel we took a little detour so that I could visit a good friend from college.  I met Crissy my freshman year of college at VT and we were pretty much instantly friends.  She left a few years before I did when she got married and moved to Utah. 

When we were deciding to stay in a hotel while overnight in the DC area I was reminded of a post she put on Facebook a couple years back mentioning that they were moving back East.  I knew that her family was in the Maryland area and so I messaged her to see if she have moved back to the Northern VA/DC/Maryland area and she replied that she was now living an hour north of Baltimore.  She was going to be out of town during our travel dates going to NC but it would work out perfectly for us to stop by on the drive back to Michigan, I was so excited!!

So when we left NC we made a stop at the Washington DC Temple, where we were married 6½ years ago.  It ended up being perfect timing for a stop because rush hour was starting and the traffic there is BRUTAL!!  We ended up stopping at the temple until 6pm and then we got back on the road (still congested but moving) and we made it to her house in Pennsylvania right at 8pm.

They say that you can tell good friends because when you get together with them it's like no time has passed at all.  Let me tell you that was no exaggeration in this case!  It had been approximately 10 years since we had seen each other but it was like we picked up where we left off only this time with husbands and kids in tow. 

Even though I was pretty tired and dreading the drive home the next day we stayed up late talking and we even ended up leaving late that morning because we kept talking and catching up.  I was so very glad that we were able to stop in and see her and meet her family.  She has 2 boys and we joked that we'd have to make sure we keep in touch so that Y and her oldest son will grow up together and get married some day.

We left her home around 10:30am and enjoyed a pretty uneventful day of traveling.  We stopped 4 or 5 times, mostly for potty breaks and Q must've been exhausted from the trip because she slept almost the entire trip.  We finally made it home at 10pm, I got the kids to bed and B unloaded the car...and then we slept!

The perfect ending to the perfect trip!

Vacation, Part II

After arriving safely in North Carolina and getting some much needed rest, the fun really began.

Y spent all day every day playing with her cousin G who is 6 weeks older than she.  While we've visited every year this was the first year when they really interacted together and it was really the first time either of them has had someone their age to play with in the same house - all my other nieces and nephews are between the ages of 10 and 13.  They had a blast together up until the last couple of days when they started fighting over toys and such, but honestly I would have been surprised if that hadn't fought at all while we were there.

The girls were spoiled by everyone, especially my parents.  My dad went out and bought birthday cakes for both the girls so that we could celebrate their birthdays while there since they won't be here for their actual birthdays.  Both Y and Q got to ride on a little princess ATV that belongs to G, we went to one of the NC Aquariums, visited Coquina Beach again down on the Outer Banks, spent time with Great Grandma S, played in laundry baskets, ate lots of "down home" food, took pictures with the Google Car (my brother is currently doing mapping for Google), went to visit a very good friend of mine and swam in her pool, took family portraits with 4 generations, and ALL went out to dinner together.  It was an awesome trip!

I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to visit with family each year, though I wish it could be more often I am thankful for the time that we do have together.

Vacation, Part I

We made our annual trip down to North Carolina beginning on June 30th.  Despite having a fairly young baby who is still in a rear-facing carseat we drove down, it's so much cheaper than flying.  The thought of traveling such a great distance with Q did make us a bit nervous and so we decided to split the drive into two days. 

The first day was definitely the longest part of the drive, we left home around 6:15am and arrived at our hotel in Northern Virginia at 6:45pm.  We made stops for breakfast and lunch and once for snacks, each stop was approximately an hour so we made pretty good time.  We were glad we decided to stop though because by the time we reached the hotel both girls were screaming - Q because she was probably sick of being in the car, Y just screamed because she said she couldn't concentrate on coloring while Q was screaming.

Once we were checked into the hotel B immediately took Y down to the pool, that was what she was most looking forward to about the hotel and we figured it would be a great way for her to relax and unwind after the trip.  After their swim we came up and ordered some pizza and skyped with Nana B and Grandpa P before heading to bed.  We awoke early the next morning and went downstairs to breakfast before getting dressed and since checkout wasn't until noon, B took Y swimming again before we left. 

Apparently the night before we arrived the entire area had suffered some pretty severe storms and tons of people were without phones or electricity.  When we first arrived at the hotel I had attempted to contact my aunt who lives in the area but neither her home phone nor her cell phone were working, I tried once more before leaving the hotel and luckily we were able to contact her.  My dad has 9 siblings and many of them have yet to meet my children so it was nice to be able to introduce Y and Q to one of their great-aunts and great-uncle.  Y was really excited to meet them and really enjoyed spending time with Aunt M.

After that we quickly stopped for lunch and then headed on our way.  We ended up leaving the area later than we expected but it ended up working in our favor because we ended up being just behind some severe weather that was traveling through North Carolina - had we left when we planned we would have been caught in those storms while driving.

We arrived safely and once we got there Y was so excited to see my parents.  She literally jumped into my dad's arms and then ran around asking "where's Grandma" when she realized she wasn't there (she had gone to pick my sister up from work).  It took a little while (hours) for Q to warm up but no where near as long as I thought it would take.

11 Months Old

I realize that this is a couple of weeks late but Q turned 11 months on July 1st, the day after we left for vacation and while it was my intention to write a post about it while on vacation, I forgot our USB cable for our camera.  And so, here goes...

Q is crawling!!!  She wasn't on the first but she started while we were vacationing in NC.  She's a funny little crawler, kind of scooting along on both knees, it's adorable!  She has a bright smile and whenever someone smiles or waves at her she buries her head in my shoulder to hide her face - pretending to be shy.  She is still a pretty great sleeper though we will shortly begin sleep training, baby boot camp as I like to call it.  She no longer likes to be rocked or cuddled to sleep, now that she's mobile she likes to be on the move...even when she's exhausted.  She is quite the eater, except when we're away from home apparently, while in NC she ate fried chicken, corn bread, macaroni and nearly everything else that was put in front of her.

I can't believe that in a few short weeks my sweet baby will be 1, time has flown by and we've enjoyed (mostly) every minute of it!

Playtime

Q does not like to be left out!  No matter what the activity is she finds a way to work herself into it, and I love it!  Y is okay with it most times but it depends on the activity. 

Recently Y has really started to spend a lot of time coloring which she likes to do while laying on the floor.  The problem with that is that Q is always rolling around on the floor (she's starting to attempt to get on her knees now too) and she always works herself over to wherever Y happens to be.  Q will then start grabbing the crayons, markers and the coloring book until Y will eventually get frustrated and move somewhere else.  It'll take Q a while but she always eventually works her way over to Y's new location and it all starts up again!  It can be very entertaining to watch.

So tonight when Y asked to play her ABC board game with me I sat down on the floor with her and gave Q a different toy to play with.  But as evidenced by the photos below she was not interested in  that toy at all - she wanted to play with us!  She was surprisingly gentle with everything and didn't even try to put anything in her mouth.  After watching us move the pieces around the board she started trying it as well.  She's very perceptive and never misses a beat, that's for sure!

Yogurt

As you probably already know Y always, always, always provides us with laughs and today's conversation was no different.  It went something like this:

Y: Mommy lets do some exercises.

Me: What kind of exercises?
Y: How about yogurt?
Me: You me yoga?
Y: Blank stare

And of course once she pulled out the yoga mat and began striking poses, it was my motherly duty to pull out the camera!  She's actually not that bad (but then again, I'm no yoga expert)!

Another Princess

Up until last summer (2011) Y had never seen a princess movie.  But that ended when she went to spend a few days with Grandpa P and Nana B. for the first time without myself or B being there.  Well, ever since then she hadn't stopped talking about princesses (but don't worry she's still a big Tinkerbell and fairy fan). 

It was all quite strange to me because I was never into princesses as a little girl and I can't ever remember seeing any of the Disney Princess movies as a child, in fact watching them with Y was pretty much the first time I had seen them (that's not an exaggeration). 

So even though Y was almost 3 when she first discovered the princesses, that won't be the case for Q!  As you can see below Y has already started to indoctrinate her with all things princess.  I guess at this point I should express my gratitude for our second child being a girl!

Peaches

Q has several nicknames that we use interchangeably around here and I'm thinking that we may have to add one to the list - Peaches! 

I'm a fairly predictable person, I have a banana every morning with my breakfast but on this particular morning I was out of bananas so I pulled out 2 peaches instead.  I didn't plan on eating both but took out a second and cleaned it just in case Y decided she wanted one too.  Well sure enough I take one bite into the peach and Y asks for a bite of it and then asks for the whole peach.  It was no big deal, I was prepared for that happening.

As I began to eat the second peach I noticed that Q was staring at me, well actually she was staring at me eating the peach so I decided to put it to her lips so she could have a taste.  She proceeded to suck on it, I assume she was getting some of the juice from the peach.  After several seconds I took it back and began eating again and Q began staring again so I put it to her mouth again.  She again began to suck on it but then she just reached up and pulled it completely out of my hand - she was gumming my peach and would not let me have it back.  She sat in her chair for another half an hour eating my peach and would not give it back to me until she was done.  And at that point there was nothing left for mommy.

When I posted this photo on Facebook a friend pointed out that it looks like she's prepared to punch me if I tried to take the peach.  I hadn't noticed it previously but she might be on to something there.  Not sure if she would have punched me but she definitely would have thrown quite the fit.

10 Months

It's hard to believe that in 2 more months Q will be turning 1!!!  She is truly such a joy to be around and we are constantly getting comments on how mellow and easy going she is.  She is so loving and playful, it's hard to find her without a smile on her face.

Over the past month she has began to move so much more, I dare say that there's no safe place on the floor anymore.  If she wants it she will find some way to work her self over to it!  She rolls all over the place, she can sit herself up and she's just beginning to attempt to pull herself up from sitting.  I'm sure she'll have to work on it more but she's made so much progress over the past few weeks.

She's at the point where she mimics things, especially hand movements!  She will wave to herself in the mirror and to almost anyone else she sees waving.  Just this week I decided to add clapping to the list of hand gestures and sure enough this morning when I was picking her up to take her to her high chair, I clapped and she started doing it to.  I've now moved on to blowing kisses, hopefully she'll be mimicking that in no time too!

She still loves to play peek-a-boo with herself or anyone else.  When people smile at her or speak to her she likes to bury her head in my shoulder (assuming I'm holding her) and then she'll peek at them, wait for them to smile or speak again, and then bury her head again.  She gets very excited when B comes home from work and still gets upset if either of us walk into and out of a room without acknowledging her. 

We have attempted to add some table food to her diet by grinding it up with a mini prep processor and then adding it to her baby food.  She immediately noticed the difference and wasn't having it, after a few bites she refused to open her mouth again until I made her more baby food without adding our table food in with it.  I'm not sure if it has to do with her not having any teeth yet but so far she's not willing to eat table food.  She will eat crackers and bread so long as she can suck on them to make them soft and more easily edible.  I'm not too concerned, I know she'll get there when she's ready so for now I just stick to making my homemade baby food a bit thicker and chunkier.