Lots of New Stuff

Lots of new things have been going on in Quin's life lately. For starters, he's turning into such a big boy. I mean, just look at this picture of him all decked out in his cool surfboard shirt. That doesn't look like an eight month old infant to me. I see mischief in those eyes...

Last weekend Quin got to go on his first road trip with the RV. We went to Fredericksburg for the weekend as a test trip to see how he would do sleeping in the trailer. We put him in the dinette in his portable crib and he did absolutely great! Surprisingly, it was probably the best night we've ever had in our trailer, and we've spent well over a couple months of our lives in it.

Teeth. You may or may not remember back in the last week of January Quin was teething real bad. We actually saw both bottom teeth below the gum line. Then, mysteriously, they disappeared below the gums again, and we haven't seen them since. Well, they've made their second debut, and I doubt they'll be shy again this time. So far one tooth is farther than it ever was before, and I'm sure we'll see it poke through soon. In the meantime, Quin gets to chew and slobber on everything he can get his mouth on.

Quin is really starting to become interactive. He always was, but now he's really getting into it. His favorite game is peekaboo. I mean he really loves it, you can play with him for hours without him ever getting tired of it. We're also working on teaching Quin sign language. We're currently working on the sign for "eat". He's definitely more interested in it than he was a week ago, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's signing it back to us in another one to two weeks. It's a fun experiment and I'm anxious to see how it works out.

Quin isn't full on crawling yet, but he's closer than ever before. It wasn't until just this week that he would even get on all fours. Before then, he would always have some part of his mid-section on the ground. Now he gets up on his hands and knees. No motion yet, just a steady rocking until "plunk", face plant. Of course, that's the most entertaining part for us...

13 new candid photos of Quin are in his candids photo album. That includes a few on him camping and wrestling with the dog!

Busy Busy Busy

So you may be wondering where we've been lately. You might ask why we haven't been updating Quin's blog. Well, the short answer is that we've just been so busy.

We got a new set of bluebonnet photos of Quin last week. To the right is one of those little gems. While they're not as good as the first session we did a couple of days before, we got some winners.

A couple of weeks ago I became a technical lead at work, responsible for getting the Best Buy project done. This has meant more time at work, and more time spent dealing with work issues at home.

And then there's our new business. If you haven't already heard, we're starting a side business selling our services as family photographers. This has taken a big chunk of time, getting the web site up and running, finding a good photo lab, and finding good suppliers of album products. We've also had to acquire a few extra pieces of photography equipment. All this has kept us quite busy in the hours after Quin goes to bed when we usually have time to write up blog entries. In case you're bored, you can check out our (still under construction) new web site at solleyphotography.com.

We finally got to take a short break over Easter weekend and went to Dallas to see Roger and Lisa. It was nice to get away, and we went to the Dallas Arboretum, which was absolutely beautiful. When I walked in, the first thing that came to mind was what a goldmine the place must be for local professional photographers. It didn't take long to see that there were a number of them already on the grounds. I wish we had a place like that here in Austin. The picture below was taken there.

So what's Quin been up to? Well, let's see. Sucking his thumb, going nuts in his jumperoo, sleeping in his jumperoo when not going nuts in it, becoming a little toddler! He is now starting to form opinions (and tells us just what they are) and clearly is becoming more of a toddler each day. While he's not crawling yet, he has much more control over what his body does now. He sits perfectly, and has total control over rolling over, scooting, and grabbing at the blinds while we're trying to change his diaper. The dresser is getting moved away from the window tonight!

He's a huge fan of toys these days, and wants to play all the time. We can plop him on the floor and he'll be happy for hours as long as he has a supply of toys. Then just this morning I awoke to the sound of music coming through the baby monitor. While at first confused, I quickly realized that he had scooted himself over to his little birdie soother and had pushed the button to turn it on himself. I went in and sure enough, he was quite content playing in his crib with his soother.

Our little boy is growing up. How sad.

15 new photos from the Dallas Arboretum are on Quin's candids album, at the bottom.

21 new bluebonnet photos are on Quin's portraits album, at the bottom.

Already 8 Months Old!

Today, Quin turned 8 months old. There are so many milestones that he has reached in so little time. In the past month, Quin has become a silly, excitable, little wiggle worm, he has begun to exhibit separation anxiety, he initiates games (peek-a-boo), sits in his highchair, and loves to hear himself screech with delight! His fine motor skills have greatly increased, most noticeably when he is using his pincer-grasp to eat fruit and veggie puffs or play with toys. He also uses this new found skill to squish tofu bites, which he has yet to enjoy eating!

On average, Quin sleeps 10-12 hours before waking in the morning and gets two naps a day. He is pretty good at soothing himself if he is awakened during the night, which I am especially happy about.


His favorite foods seem to be bananas, spinach, and oatmeal. I think he would be happy nursing every hour if I would let him, but we try and go about every two to three hours. So far, he does not have any teeth, which I am thankful for (he's a biter).

It is wonderful to see his personality developing every day. He is becoming an individual, clearly expressing his likes and dislikes. Before long, he will be crawling around and hard to keep up with.