Matt and Becky had their two little boys this morning at 7:00/7:30. They came a few weeks early, but both boys and mommy are doing well. Congratulations you guys!! We are so excited to meet them! Quin has two more cousins...Yeah!
Merry Christmas everyone! We hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas; ours was perfect. We spent the day at home and kept it pretty quiet. My mom came over in the afternoon and we enjoyed a fabulous dinner on paper plates. Nothing says Christmas quite like paper plates and plastic cups! What can you do when everything is packed.
Quin has been walking like crazy lately; I guess it finally clicked! For all of you distant relatives and friends who are anxious to see him walk, here you go (Merry Christmas from Quin):
We made it to the Trail Of Lights again this year, figuring this would probably be our last chance, at least for a while. We thought that Quin would be completely ecstatic about it, considering he loves looking at Christmas lights on houses and goes totally nuts when he sees them, but I think he was actually a bit overwhelmed. Perhaps there were just too many lights, or maybe there were too many people, or all of the music and sounds were just too much. Regardless of the reason, he wasn't quite sure what to think, although by end he did end up having fun. Once we hit the last few displays, he realized that all of the lights were pretty cool and he was laughing and bouncing around in his stroller.
Maybe in a few years we can make the trip back to Austin around Christmas time and Quin will get to see them again. Who knows, maybe there is something cool like this around Fort Collins. Besides, looking at lights in Colorado will be a better Christmas package, complete with snow and cold weather. Doesn't it seem a bit wrong to be looking at Christmas lights in short sleeves?
Quin's great-grandma Emma has been sick for a few weeks now, so we decided that it was time we pay her a visit. So, Monday afternoon I packed up the car and headed up to Dallas (along with my mom). The three hour drive also served as a test run for our big move to Colorado (albeit 5 times shorter!), which should prove to be an interesting adventure.
Spending time with grandma was really nice. She is actually doing a bit better than I expected, which was a great surprise. She loved spending time with Quin, amazed by how much he has grown and how smart he is. She was really fascinated by all of the sign language Quin knows and how well he can communicate. Quin was a bit of a handful, especially since there wasn't much to hold his attention, but he did enjoy climbing all over grandma, patting her tummy (it made a nice drum, even making a hollow sound), and giving her kisses.
All in all, it was a great visit and I am really glad that we were able to see her again, even if it was short.
So it is now official...we are moving to Fort Collins Colorado in less than two weeks! Our house is now on the market, Tim has put his notice in at work, and Quin has snow boots (pictures to come)! We couldn't be more excited about the move. Sure, it is hard to move during the holidays, but at least Quin is still little. The best part is that we will still get to enjoy a real winter! Quin is going to get to play in the snow for the first time this year. I am sure he is excited about that. Until we find a house to buy, our plan is to live with Carl and Gwen. They closed on their new house in November and we will get to try it out for them. Wouldn't you be super excited about living in the Lincoln Log Cabin??
So I mentioned previously that Quin is walking. You can now see it for yourself (at least a few baby steps). If you're reading this in your email, click to the site to see the video.
(You might also note that he enjoys playing with the dishwasher)
Quin has gotten very comfortable walking between Tim and I. He is now starting to feel more confident and is walking short distances instead of crawling! It is so exciting to see him walking around. It really makes him seem like less of a baby and more of a big boy.
I know that I have been a little behind on the blog lately (sorry Gwen...now that you are retired I guess I better update this thing more often), but there have been so many things going on! So, for those of you that have been wondering what our boy is up to... here are a few of the many things:
Quin is close to officially walking. I say close because he hasn't built up the confidence to walk everywhere. He does, however, get immense pleasure out of walking between Tim and I, usually only taking a handful of steps before falling into one of us. He then gets back up and does it again, always signing for more and laughing the entire time. I will post more on this when I either get some pictures/ video or when he is full on walking.
Quin has tooth #10 working its way through. It is the top right tooth and seems to be coming in a bit crooked. It actually hasn't caused him as much discomfort as I expected it to, then again I suppose it is a tiny tooth in comparison to the four molars he got all at once!
Quin has gotten really good at signing. At this point, he has pretty much gotten down all of the signs I have taught him: more, eat/hungry, water, milk, cat, dance, bath, cookie, cracker, no more, all finished, and up. We are still working on pain/hurt, please, thank you, mom, dad, and bird. I am just not sure what signs to introduce from here. This signing stuff really is great!
Quin loves music. I think perhaps this is his favorite thing right now. A few weeks ago I would have said eating was the favorite, but lately he has gotten too picky with food and tends to get upset while eating. The only thing about music that he views as upsetting is the absence of it. When he feels like listening, he points to the receiver for me to turn it on (or if the remote is within reach he will try to do it himself) and then signs that he would like to dance. Once the music starts, he dances! It is the cutest thing to watch.
Quin has been doing so much lately that I could continue this all day, but I will put another post in a few days when I have some new pictures.
