Creative Kimpire:

“What’s in there?”

“What’s that noise?”

“What’s going on, Mommy?”

“What’s Sansa doing?”

These are just some of the questions that I answer 847 times a day, in case you’re wondering. Some days I wonder why we taught him to talk. Definitely reconsidering that for Baby #2 😂.

I took him to my niece, Kate’s, basketball game last week. It just happened to be on a day that he was a bottomless pit (you know, where they eat everything in sight, but then don’t eat more than a bite of anything for the next two days 🙄), so we had to hit the concession stand when he saw Link had nachos. So, we go to get some nachos, come back to our seat, and when I sat the nachos down beside Quinn, he said, “Where’s the salsa?” 😂 Sorry, kid.

If he’s not asking questions (which is rare), he’s still providing commentary on EVERYTHING.

*Inspecting Sansa’s face*

Q: “I see Sansa’s nose. Sansa’s got snot. Suck it out.”

M: “No, we’re not going to suck her snot out. She’ll get it.”

*Yawns*

Q: “I’m really tired, I wanna take a nap.”

M: Looks at watch. 7:20pm. “Really?”

Q: “No. I just teasing.”

That’s his new thing: “I just teasing.”

He came jumping into our bedroom while I was putting clothes away.

Q: “I’m a kangaroo!”

M: “You are?”

Q: “No, I just teasing.”

Thank goodness he clarified 🤪.

Another new favorite phrase: “I have an idea.”

His “idea” may likely be to pretend to pour imaginary water on your head. Sometimes it’s to put on his fire hat and run around the house saying he’s going to help somebody.

If you tell him he can’t do something, he’ll say, “Pretend,” as in, he will just pretend to do it. He loves pretending. The other day he was sticking his finger in his mouth, pulling it out, and wiping it on one of us. After a few rounds of this he stopped and smelled his finger.

Q: “My finger smells like poop.”

M: “Eww! Why does your finger smell like poop? What did you touch?!”

Q: “Poop.”

M: “Where did you touch poop?”

Q: “In my butt.”

Q: *Laughs hysterically like a maniac*

He is definitely related to his Uncle Nate 😝.

~For the record, I don’t think he *actually* touched his butt. Or, at least, I hope he didn’t~

I have no idea why boys like poop so much. That wasn’t even our only conversation about poop this week 🙄. After several rounds of “What’s ______ do,” by Quinn:

Dad: “What’s Mama do?”

Q: “Just sleep and poop.”

M: “What???!”

Q: “What’s baby do?”

D: “They sleep a lot and poop a lot, like Mama.”

M: “Hey! Don’t keep that going!!”

Q: “What’s Dada do?”

D: “He goes to work.”

M: “And poops.”

D: “And plays with Quinn.”

M: “And poops.”

D: “And makes noodles.”

M: “And poops.”

Q: “Upstairs. Sometimes.”

M: “Yeah, he poops upstairs and downstairs and all over the place.”

~uncontrollably laughing from M and D~

Q: 😐😐😐

Quinn has picked up some phrases from us, like, “Just chillin’,” when asked what he’s doing. He’ll tell us to, “Settle down,” for no apparent reason 😂 (Can’t imagine why he’s heard that before 🙄). He says, “Be nice to me,” when he feels wronged; usually by Dad, who gets accused of taking his toys 😂. This can happen at any time he assumes an injustice has occurred to him though, like making him throw something away or clean up his toys 🙄. Often, when he can’t find a toy, when asked where he thinks it might be, his response is, “I don’t know! Dada took it!” Evenings after 5:00 in our household means Dad is Quinn’s playmate so Philip is often role modeling turn taking and sharing toys. Because of this though, Quinn thinks he takes his toys when he has misplaced them 😂.

However, whenever Philip gets done working and comes upstairs, Quinn often says, “I’ve been waiting on Dada” 🥰. The other day, we were coming home from Lori’s and talking to Philip on the phone. When we pulled in the driveway, I said, “We’re here,” and Quinn said, “Love you, bye,” as we hung up. When I got out to get him unstrapped from his seat, he said, “I going in to see Dada. I so excited!” While this is heartwarming and sweet, to be fair, he also told me he was so excited to take a bath the other day when he found a dinosaur bath bomb in the groceries from our pick up order 🤣.

He has picked up some undesirable phrases from us (me), too. I was working on a craft the other day when I realized that the vinyl I made for it wasn’t oriented the way I meant for it to be and I said, “Shit!” Wellllll that sparked something for Quinn because he started SCREAMING, “Shit, Mama! Shit!” Over and over again. I was doing a very poor job of telling him that wasn’t nice because I couldn’t keep a straight face. Philip started recording him after the initial outburst happened but he still gave a pretty good performance and changed it up with “Shit Dada!” He has said it a few times since but I’ve tried to be more careful with my expletives 😝🤷🏻‍♀️. That’s not even the worst of it though. Randomly (seriously), he just started saying, “What the f^*k, Mama.” Now, I’m not saying he hasn’t heard me say this before, however, I hadn’t said it in the moment that he began with it. Now he’ll just randomly say it. Semi-correctly, too. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Like, he dropped his bowl of snacks on the floor the other day and said it. I just ignore him when he says it but ignoring him when he says anything just usually makes him continue repeating whatever it is because he thinks I don’t understand him. I think giving it too much attention will just reinforce the fun factor though so we’ll see how it goes. He hasn’t said it in a couple of days but I don’t really know what might trigger it 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️.

We missed Story Hour at the library last week and they were having a super fun day with the fire department, so our friends, Megan and Micah, brought home a bag of goodies for us. In it there was a sport water bottle, which Quinn immediately loved. He drank so much water the first day he had it 😂. Anyway, because it’s a sport bottle, he has to suck on it to get the water out. I guess he wanted to share the fun because he kept trying to put it in my mouth and saying, “Have a suck on it, Mommy.” 😂😂😂 Philip and I were dying laughing. He still says it occasionally and Philip reminds him to offer it to me, too 🙄🙄🙄.

He was so excited to get that water bottle 😂.

A few other things he has said that gave me a chuckle:

M: *I see him fidgeting with something on his fingers*

M: “What’s on your finger, Bud?”

Q: “My fingernail.”

Of course. Duh to me 🤪. He had actually taken sprinkle stickers off of a cupcake craft he made at Mimi’s house and put them on his hand.

M: *Peels banana for him*

Q: “It’s naked!”

Dad: “Quinn, I’m going to have some ice cream. Do you want some?”

Q: “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about ice cream.”

Q: *looking all sleepy on the couch*

M: “You ready to go lay down?”

Q: “Yeah.”

M: “You want Dad to carry you to bed?”

Q: “No, Mama.”

M: *scoop him up and carry him sideways*

M: “Are you a baby?”

Q: “No, I’m a taco.”

He makes me laugh. He’s such a fun, smart boy ❤️.

We’ve been having fun doing some different activities this month:

“Edible Snow” sensory bin that he mostly just wanted to eat.

Of course, Dad got involved and took it up a notch 🤦🏻‍♀️.

We went to an outdoor playgroup and Quinn had a great time.

He loved throwing pretend snowballs at Mandy and Aunt Gina.

And meeting Mrs. Claus, who he didn’t recognize at all 😂.

We’ve practiced filling my super cool 😜 PVC ring Christmas tree

It’s always more fun to get a front loader involved.

We used it for experimenting with baking soda and vinegar, too, which is always a hit.

We helped some dinos escape from ice. Lots of times. After the first time, Quinn went to the freezer and found it Dino-less and immediately informed me that he wanted more dinosaurs in ice.

Always with squirt bottles of warm water, but sometimes with our mouth 🤦🏻‍♀️.

He would use two bottles at the same time and say, “Two mustards!” 😂 Idk why they’re mustard bottles. They have never been used for that.

The first time I froze them all together in a big container. But Philip had to get the hammer out to make any progress in the rescue 😂. Afterwards, I put them in the ice cube tray and that works much faster.

We painted a Christmas tree today—AKA, we put icing on an ice cream cone and topped it with sprinkles. Today was an “eat one bite of everything” day but he sure didn’t hesitate on eating the icing 🙄. He did share with his dinosaur though 😉. Mandy, he is still loving that Triceratops!

I’m 26 weeks pregnant and still bitching about it, if you’re wondering 🤪. I’m grateful to be having a healthy pregnancy thus far, don’t get me wrong. I just really dislike the physical limitations, the not sleeping (which will only get worse) because I can’t get comfortable, the feeling gigantic. The random twitching in my abdomen is fun, too. I was just talking to some friends this week about how my first pregnancy was different because all of the feelings and changes were new and not so annoying. This time around, I’ve been there and done it so I’m not impressed 😂.

Obviously, this will be our last baby, in case you had any doubts that I may be going to hang onto my functioning Fallopian tubes in the hopes of having a girl (Michelle 😜). Unless you’re offering up your uterus to cook it in, and the thousands of dollars it would take to do IVF to ensure a female embryo, it’s a hard no. Even if, it’s still probably a no. My life isn’t incomplete for not having had a girl. I have 3 nieces, 2 of whom I’m very close with since I get to see them weekly, and 1 of which I don’t see often but still love very much. I’m good 😉.

To continue on my rant, entitled “Pregnancy Sucks,” let me just say that bed-sharing with a toddler while pregnant (and not 🤪) is not the best idea I’ve ever had. Philip basically sleeps on an island by himself these days and I’m smushed and sweating as the little oven cuddles up next to me. We have a king sized bed, there is enough room for everyone; yet, there isn’t. I was particularly annoyed the other night when I got up to pee and let Sansa out (our 3am routine. Ugh) and came back to Quinn being in my spot. I was on my knees, making a spatula with my arms to move him to the center of the bed, and by the time I scootched him over and turned to try to lay down, he was back in my spot. Again, I perform the spatula move and again, HE’S IN MY SPOT 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬. I whisper yelled, “Quinn, stop!” Getting this big ole belly turned and in a comfortable position takes effort and a god 10 seconds so I literally have to keep a hand on him to keep him from rolling toward me until I get laid down. He squishes my boobs and sometimes head butts me in the throat while trying to snuggle in. So I’m constantly awaked with his movements. Not to mention, I’m a stomach sleeper, at least when I go to sleep, and that’s obviously impossible now so just getting to sleep is a struggle. So, yeah, you should definitely feel bad for me. That’s the point of all this 🤪🤣.

His default position 🥰.

Anyway, an update on one of our other kids: Sansa went back to the new vet for her 30 day follow up visit. As suspected, her thyroid level was normal when tested almost 24 hour post last dose of thyroid medication (meaning she basically had none left in her system). She had lost 3 pounds (something that’s difficult to do with thyroid issues), her ear infection had cleared up, and she had had no skin issues since fully switching to a non-chicken blend of food. The doctor told me to quit giving her any thyroid medicine and we would check back in 30 days to ensure her thyroid levels were still good, but at this point, everything is looking like she was just allergic to her food. This has been a completely different experience dealing with this vet, who lets you come inside, has actual conversations with you (I even talked to him in the phone—the least, I believe, our old vet could do, rather than sending a tech out to my vehicle to tell me dog would be on lifelong medication). He asked questions and made a plan to get her on the track for weight loss, rather than just telling me that she needed to lose some. He didn’t immediately conclude that she needed to be on medication, and actually said the opposite—that he didn’t want to put animals on medication if they didn’t need it. I wasn’t asked for my budget. I wasn’t put in a high pressure sales situation to get additional services, or to buy the brand of food they sell there, and was even told I could purchase one of three brands that could be found online at chewy.com (a dog parent’s best friend) or at Tractor Supply. I just can’t sing his praises loud enough at this point. The only downside I can even think of is the wait time it takes to get into his office (probably because he’s now serving most people in the area as we all get frustrated with the other business). I took Quinn to this visit and if I can avoid taking him to her next 30 day follow up, I will. You still wait in your car, which is 100% fine with me because keeping an overly friendly dog and a dog loving toddler confined to one place in a waiting room is impossible. Add in the being pregnant 🙄, and it’s just not a good time. However, what should have been pretty easy ended up causing me quite a bit of anxiety because Quinn DID. NOT. STOP. TALKING. the entire time. He asked 1,856 times: “What’s Sansa doing?” And I responded 856 times, “”She’s just waiting for her turn.” After that, I started with, “What did I tell you before?” It took about half an hour after our appointment time to be let into a room. The whole way out there he just kept saying, “I love Sansa,” which was very sweet, but those feelings of aww were quickly replaced with annoyance 😂. It definitely could have been worse, I just get overstimulated some days and this was one of them. Waiting for half an hour with just Sansa, who did her own talking (barking at everyone she saw), would have still been a nice little break 😄.

He was not buckled in because we were parked, a disclaimer for anyone who wanted to have an opinion on the matter 🙄.

Giving her loves in the office 🥰.

And we couldn’t forget the middle child, who has absolutely no idea who chewed the stuffing out of that Santa hat ball 🙄🙄🙄.