Quinn Discovers Shadows

He Did It!

I'm Still Standing...yeah, yeah, yeah

Look who decided to stand up again! Q is actually on his way back down in this photo. I get so excited when I "catch" him that I stumble over myself trying to get the camera! Quinn is such a strong, determined, little boy!

Oh My Gosh!

Tonight, I was cooking dinner while Q was watching Baby Einstein-Van Gogh edition. I looked over to check on him and the child was STANDING up holding onto my magazine bucket! STANDING UP! On his feet! All the way up! I just froze! Should I call Ben? Should I post it on Facebook? Wait! I should take a picture! Too late! He sat back down!

Does This Mean We Can Stop Buying Toys?

Signing

Quinn has signed "eat" a couple more times this week. It's still difficult to tell if he's signing intentionally. We haven't noticed any other "words" yet. However, he grins from ear to ear when we sign "daddy" and "more."

By George, I think he's got it...well, maybe

I think Quinn has started signing the word "eat." Tell me what you think about this:

While Ben and I were eating dinner last night, Quinn was playing on the floor in front of us (Yes, we eat dinner at the coffee table in front of the tv. I know. It's an awful habit!) Out of nowhere, Quinn sits himself up facing me and signs "eat." I wasn't quite sure if that was what he was actually doing. But I thought it would be a good idea to play along. So I asked him if he wanted to eat (all while signing). He sat there for a moment...then signed again. So Ben put Q in the highchair and fed him some applesauce.

While changing Quinn's diaper this morning after he woke up, he signed "eat" again! We acted out the same scenario as the night before. So I immediately took him downstairs and fed him breakfast.

I'm interested to see if he does it again today!

Work First, Play Second

First, a little manual labor.
Quinn assisted Ben as he installed
the baby-proof latches on
our kitchen cabinets.

Next, a little noggin workout.
Quinn assisted Ben in writing a
legal brief by showing him "how to bluebook."

Then came TICKLE TIME!

My New Tunnel

Take that Learning Pup!

I could pin you with one hand behind my back!

But I'm going to use two instead!
1....2....3....
ding ding ding!

Finally! Someone reads to me!

Poor thing! Nobody will read to him, so he reads to himself!

What do you think he's praying about?

What a Week!

Within the last week, Quinn has fully pulled up to his knees, climbed onto the furniture, and sat himself up. He's been sitting on his own for months. But he can now sit himself up from a lying (or is it laying- I can't remember the rule) position. He has even pulled up to standing for a brief moment! I know it's the natural progression, but it's truly amazing to see your own child go from barely being able to move or make a noise to walking and "talking" like a real person!

Look, Mom! One hand!

An Easter Story

Happy first Easter to Quinn! Although it will be years before Quinn will understand just how glorious this day is, Ben and I tried to give him a good start. We spent the last week reading the Easter story to him- a very brief, very simple, kid-friendly version a la board book fashion. We attended our neighborhood egg hunt on Saturday and Quinn got two eggs! I won't comment on the how most of the parents raced to gather the eggs up for their kids. This particular hunt was for kids ages 0-2. Now, you know 2-year-olds are not coordinated enough to search, run, pick up eggs AND put them in a basket very quickly. It took less than 3 minutes for all the eggs to be gone! But I digress...


This is kind of a long story, but really worth sharing. Bare with me. It has nothing to do with Easter, but it confirms to me that God has a plan!

In 1998, I worked at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center. For a few weeks, I worked the Night Audit shift (11pm-7am). The night auditor that trained me was named Chad Boswell. Super nice guy. He and I actually had many friends in common from college. He soon left the hotel and I did not see or hear from him for 11 years. Fast forward to the present. We reconnect on Facebook. We have the usual Facebook conversation: "How are you?" 'Where do you live?" And so on. He mentions that he knows someone in Houston (there are 4 million people in Houston, so what are the chances I will ever meet his friend?). Somehow the conversation turns towards churches and I tell him that Ben and I are looking for a home church and that we are going to try out Second Baptist. Well, guess where his friend goes to church! Second Baptist. Her name is Eva Wilson. He gives me her email address so I could contact her. But before I even have a chance, Eva sends me a friend request on Facebook. Chad told her about me. Eva and I swap a few emails/messages and she helps ease some of my worries about taking Quinn to the nursery (it was the first time we would be leaving Q). Ben and I attend several services, but never meet Eva. Then TODAY....

As soon as we drop Quinn off in the nursery, he absolutely loses it and has a complete meltdown. Those of you that have met Q, know that meltdowns are down right unheard of. Ben and I wait for a minute and Q continues to scream. One of the nursery workers tell us she will page us if they can't get him to calm down pretty soon. So Ben and I go to the service. Just as the pastor begins his sermon, the pager goes off. I panic. Ben tells me to stay and that he will go check on Quinn. I wait 10 minutes, thinking that Ben will pop his head in and tell me we need to go home. 15 minutes goes by, 20 minutes goes by. I try to pay attention to the sermon. Finally, the pastor extends invitation and I decided to duck out. As I walk out into the lobby, I see Ben and Quinn talking to a couple. As I get closer, the lady produces a HUGE smile. I immediately know that it's EVA!! Ben was hanging out with Quinn in the lobby (apparently, the nursery ladies wouldn't take him back :) ) and Eva and her husband, Barry, just walk up to Ben to introduce themselves and to see Q (cause he's so irresistible). Once Ben introduced them to Quinn, Eva put the entire thing together (she recognized Quinn's name from my Facebook page). The foursome looked like fast friends as I walked towards them. Wait...it gets better!

So Eva and Barry take us to a welcome reception and introduce us to several folks. Conversation brings us to Auburn and just as it ALWAYS happens, someone says, "Auburn! I know so-and-so from Auburn or my so-and-so went to Auburn." Well, Barry says, "Auburn! One of our members coached baseball at Auburn. Steve Renfroe! He just moved to Houston last August." So Ben and I meet Steve Renfroe today at church! Now, what are the chances?

Side note: Ben and I spent many a spring afternoon going to Auburn baseball games. Once we graduated and were married, we continued using our student IDs to get student tickets for $1. We would scrape up change for a hotdog, peanuts, and a drink- all to share. That's how poor, but how amazingly happy, we were!

So....thank you, God for bringing Chad Boswell into my life. Thank you, Chad for introducing me to Eva. Thank you, Eva for "finding" me on Easter!


By the way, Chad and Eva are singer/songwriters. Check out their sites!

http://www.chadboswell.com/About_Chad.html

http://www.evawilsonmusic.com/

Quinn finally had to be corralled. Although he's not walking, the boy can crawl faster than a rabbit on skates. Our living room perfectly lends itself to the "corral." We installed a gate on each side, so Quinn has the entire area to himself. The poor, poor dogs have been banished. I'm sure they are wondering, "What's next?"

Meet the Mitchells

Here we all are- The Mitchell's. You may notice our stylish (and quite comfortable) pirate hats. We wore them as we paraded to dinner and before the Connie show started; which was by invitation only: "Please come to my hittin' party."

Quinn playing at Mimi and Grandpa's house.

A new way to play in the exersaucer

Quinn Pulls Up!