I love this face so much. He’s playing with a troll doll that was mine when I was little 😍.
Something I wouldn’t have thought of as being a “break” a year ago: mowing the yard. Now I’m like, “it’s been a hard day with this kid, I think I want to mow the yard” 😂. Last week was pretty rough with the separation anxiety. Quinn didn’t want to let me out of his sight or rarely out of his reach. This week seemed to be better in that regard. Separation anxiety is a normal phase of development so I doubt that’s the last I’ll see of it but a short stint is ok with me! It’s nice to be needed but I have no problem with him allowing his dad to care for him as well 😉. I understand why he wants me though: Philip tells the worst dad jokes you’ve ever heard. I can’t blame him for trying to avoid listening to them 😜😜😜.
Something I never would have (abbreviated would’ve, NOT would of, for anyone who says that, know that you drive me CrAzY 😜) imagined myself saying a year ago: “Your finger tastes like ear wax. Gross.” Or: “Please don’t pull to stand using my underwear” (while I’m peeing🤦🏻♀️). He pulls to stand on everything now. Especially places I would rather he not, like the trash can in the kitchen closet (that I removed the door from years ago 🤦🏻♀️) and his diaper pail. I found out why there is a lock on it and the creator is much appreciated. He has recently learned to get back down; before he would get stuck standing places and cry for help 😂. Now he can bend his knees and lower himself. He’s climbing, too. Up two basement steps today, onto his Adirondack chair outside to try to reach my yoga frog statue, and into the cabinet anytime we get out the air fryer, one of the few that doesn’t have a lock..yet.
🤦🏻♀️
He’s becoming more independent, which is why the separation anxiety stage happens. As he learns he and I aren’t one person, he wants to explore but only until it scares him. He has started walking with a push toy 😩. He really does a great job of occupying himself most days. I can give him a pot, a lid, and a rubber spatula and 15 minutes later he’s still taking the lid on and off, “stirring,” and shaking the pot. He’s doing better with feeding himself although his pincher grasp is still developing. He even tries to feed us 😂. Granted, it’s usually not food. Most recently he insisted on putting a letter sponge from his bath in my mouth and then he also bit it 😂. I got a funny picture of that. He also helps undress by putting his arms up and stepping out of his pants. He doesn’t wash himself but he did wash my face with his wash rag the other day. I’m hoping he didn’t pee in his bath water first 😩😉.
Our house goes around in a circle. He made the whole loop two days in a row.
He LOVES to be outside. This is great because I love it, too, however, any time the sliding glass door is open to the deck, out he goes. We have to constantly make sure the gate is closed so he doesn’t fall down the stairs into the yard. The three straight days this past week that it rained were super stressful because he wanted to play outside but it was wet and cold. He threw a tantrum anytime we walked past the door while holding him and didn’t open it 😂. He tantrums by arching his back and crying and then sometimes he’ll come forward with a vengeance and grab your face and try to bite your chin. He’s learning what “no” means as we tell him and hold him at bay so that he can’t bite. He’s already started doing that less. Philip told him not to put a leaf in his mouth the other day and he stopped and gave it to him. He has eaten dirt 4 times with me though, regardless of how many times I’ve told him “no.” You win some, you lose some 🤷🏻♀️. All of that newfound independence means he doesn’t just sit on his blanket in the yard anymore. Well, except for the other day while I was painting his garden shed (which isn’t finished yet but I’m sooo excited to show you all next time 😉) but that was because the neighbor was unwittingly occupying him by weed eating 😂. Quinn watched him for half an hour. He’s a good supervisor 😉.
I gave him a drink of water to rinse his mouth 😂
Kiki and Mimi (aka Kim and Marsha) got me an awesome first Mother’s Day gift. It was a weeping cherry tree that I planted in the front yard that I can watch grow along with my boy 😃😃😃. I love it! I also got the sweetest gift from my niece, Haleigh. She got me and her matching necklaces that have the I Love You sign in sign language. She remembers that we used to do that with my mom when we would leave her house ❤️.
Philip got us shirts that say “Our first Mother’s Day” ❤️
He was sleepy and not at all thrilled about standing on his own legs. He’s not a fan of using his own energy when he first wakes up. I wanted to show how tall he is compared to the tree though.
Ive reached a milestone of 10.5 months exclusively pumping but all of those cold rainy days stuck inside about made me throw in the towel. Quinn was extra fussy and mischievous by day three, constantly pulling the tubes out of my pump, crying because I gated him in his room with me while I was pumping, crawling all over Sansa (who was also gated in) and pulling her jowls and hair and then screaming when I moved him away from her. I didn’t stay properly hydrated so I didn’t produce enough milk and had to supplement with formula one day. It was at nap time and he was overtired and drank it without a complaint. That gave me hope that I could quit if I really wanted to. However, by bedtime we were out of my milk until I pumped so we tried a bottle of formula and he wouldn’t touch it. He actually forcefully spit the bottle out of his mouth 😩. I had to pump to be able to give him his bedtime milk. That meant he was up later while waiting for it but he slept in his crib until 6am, which meant I got a good night’s rest and had a ton of milk the next morning 😂. Side story—I did not have a good night’s rest one other night last week as I woke up at 2 am because I felt something on my face. It was a stupid tick on my eyebrow! If you don’t already know this, I HATE ticks with every fiber of my being. Bugs don’t bother me for the most part but I hate ticks with a passion. I’m not scared of them, I just think they’re disgusting. They’ve been so bad lately (I took 6 off of Soph today!) and both girls are on anti tick and flea medicine so I’m not even sure why I’ve seen so many 🤬🤬🤬. Side story #2—Philip gets my medicine ready for me each night (I’m spoiled, I know 🤪) and he puts it in a little cup. I went to take it the other night and there was a beetle in with it...a large beetle. I still have to take a prenatal vitamin while I’m pumping and they looked pretty similar. He was in the basement so I sent him a pic and said “did you do this?!!!!!!” He said no but wished he had 🙄🙄🙄🙄—-Anyway, I’m glad it all worked out with the milk. For now at least. It’s hard to stay properly hydrated all the time, especially when I’m constantly chasing a baby around making sure he doesn’t eat dirt, or dog food, or random pieces of fuzz from dog toys that are on the floor 🤦🏻♀️.
Non edible items aren’t the only things he tried lately. He had his first Chinese food—Dad’s chicken lo mein— and spaghetti, strawberries, and even fish. He still hates bread and if he wasn’t the only baby boy born at Reynolds during our hospital stay, I might think he was switched at birth. Oh yeah, he looks a tiny bit like us, too, I guess 🤷🏻♀️. Maybe he’ll come around.
He might’ve gotten a couple bites actually in his mouth 🤷🏻♀️
Philip made him his own baby cheeseburger 😂. He threw it on the floor 🤦🏻♀️
He loves his strawberries and cottage cheese!
Quinn had a couple other new experiences in the last two weeks also: his first bike ride and his first swim. Philip’s mom got us a bike trailer for Christmas and we finally got to use it the other day. We weren’t sure how he was going to do with it but he was super chill and just ate his pickle I put in his mesh feeder so he couldn’t choke on it. I tell you what, that boy loves pickles; a redeeming quality for his bread hating 😂. Kiki got him a pool and he played in it yesterday on the deck. We thought he would enjoy splashing and playing in it since he loves the bathtub so much but he just kept crawling in and out, and doing it not the least bit gracefully 🤦🏻♀️. I moved his little slide outside and while it isn’t high enough to go over the edge of the pool, I turned it backwards and thought he could climb up the slide and step into the pool. He didn’t even try. Apparently sliding over the rim and landing face first was more fun 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️.
That’s his “safety flag” sticking up. While I agree that a safety flag is a good idea, Schwinn made sure to say in the instructions HOW IMPORTANT it is to use...but instead of putting something like, ya know, caution 🤷🏻♀️, on it, they put their damn brand name 🙄.
Chillin’ and eatin his pickle.
We’ve been spending so much more time on the deck because Philip and I finally constructed the gazebo I bought for it a couple of months ago. This was a replacement one because the last one got destroyed in a wind storm early last summer. Without it there is no shade past noon. We are thoroughly enjoying having one again. I even got in the hot tub for the first time in over a year. I wish I would’ve taken pics of the instructions that came with that gazebo. If someone gets paid to do that job, I need to be that person. I will be 100% better at it, guaranteed. They were terrible. But speaking of new jobs, I am the new Wetzel County Farmers Market Manager. It’s only a few hours a week so it didn’t replace my current job. Come see me every Thursday 4:30-6:30 and support your local farmers! 😉
The girls are also enjoying us being on the deck more because that means the door is open more which means more bugs get in 🤦🏻♀️. Sansa loves a good fly chase. Or bee chase, which I’m afraid won’t end well 😳. She got stung the summer right after we got her and her face swelled up and she just kept pacing back and forth. I had to go to Walmart at like 10pm to get her some Benadryl. Now I keep it on hand.
Good thing there wasn’t any water in it. She got in while chasing a bee 🤦🏻♀️
Sansa is such a good big sister 💙 💜
Sophie actually tried to sit on Quinn 5 seconds before I took this pic. I guess she’s accepted him as one of us now 🤷🏻♀️😂.
She hides under the table all the time now. This used to be her spot just when she got scared. Now we’re pretty sure she’s hiding from Quinn 😂😂😂.
His room was a disaster but they don’t mind.
I was trying to change the bed clothes 🤦🏻♀️
Stay safe, everyone!
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