Quinn @ 15+ months

Once again, this post is overdue.  I promise someday (Beth) that i'll be more on top of blogging.  Maybe when we get back to the states things will be busier, therefore, more things to write about!

Quinn is SO much fun right now.  She is learning new things everyday and it makes for nonstop entertainment.  At her well child visit last week, she weighed 23.7 lbs (61%), 21.89 inches long (86%) and head circumference was 49cm (99%).  Her vocabulary is expanding every week. In her own special way she says: all done, neigh, moo, quack quack, tickle, meow, ma ma, da da, bye bye, night night, no, puppy, plane, book, more, baby, eyes, hot, and cheese.  I might be missing a couple...

She loves to go outside and play with her bikes, balls, and help me water the flowers.  We still go to the park daily (or twice a day).  Without a yard, we sure are thankful for that place! It's just a couple minute walk for us.   I told Tony last night as we were planting new flowers out in front that although it's been a nice break to not have mowing, weeding, trimming, etc...I am very excited to have a yard at our next house!  I love doing yard work..it's my escape and my zen time :)

Quinn plays with her blocks allllll the time, but now after Tony bought her a pack of cars, she's been all about those lately.  Of course, he is loving that.  She likes books for about 2 minutes.  Then she just wants to pull them all off the shelf and read them herself.  It's pretty cute.  We've been joining more play groups around the island, which has been really fun for both of us.  Quinn's all time favorite friends are Gabriel (4) and Ella (6) who live close by.  We go over there quite a bit and she never wants to leave!  Thank you to my friend, Natalie, who asks if Quinn can come over and play.  It's nice to have a little break sometimes :)

Quinn loves to eat, loves to sleep through the night, and is a complete mystery when it comes to naps.  Maybe it's because I won't just "give-in" but I do like somewhat of a schedule - but I think this transition time is hit or miss for awhile until we both get it figured out!  She won't nap twice in her crib, but will take a cat nap in the stroller or car seat.  Many times I know she's exhausted, so I lay her down upstairs, but she won't have it.  Bring her to the stroller, she's out in 2 mins.  What a stink!

I could go on and on and on about this sweet girl.  She is determined, stubborn, and is full of kisses and hugs.  Wouldn't trade her for the world.

Warning: a lot of pictures ahead.  These will give you a good idea about how busy this little one is :-)

"Ah duh" mommy.  (all done)...  So she stands up in her high chair.  We got the chair last year from a local store here in Okinawa and didn't realize it didn't have a strap until we got it home.  She figured it out in no time!

Really safe, Quinn.  Real safe.

Her friend at the park.  I needed to run home quick to get something so instead of taking Quinn I asked him if he and a couple of his friends would watch her for a few minutes.  I came back to see this and it melted my heart.  I gave each of the 3 boys $1.  They were happy.  So was Quinn!

posing for the camera.

Her bestie, Ella after the soccer game.  She wanted to go home with them after this.   She always tries to get in their van and never wants to leave.  Does Quinn even like me when they are around?? :) I'm not too sure.  HA!

Loving the new, but old tricycle from Ella

I wasn't feeling well this morning that this all happened.  I decided to just pick my battles - and this was not one of them.  She loved it.  

Thinking she's big stuff!

Dad got her a pretty cool and legit golf club.  It feels real with a large plastic head.  It's a training one instead of a toy. Go figure. ;)

Trying out mustard dip and pretzels.  She loves sitting on the counter and eating.  I like it sometimes too, because it's less to clean up afterwards!

Hot morning in Okinawa.  We went to the convenient store down the street to buy some candy for my friend Meleah to send back home.  No shirt, with shoes, and fine service.

Okinawa has vending machines on (nearly) every block!

Don't ask.  She's not sleeping, she does this on occasion.  In public places.  GROSS!

One of her favorite things to do on the way to the park is to stop at this thing and do whatever she wants to do.  Again, pick your battles.

Lovin' the beach

I forgot her sun hat last weekend when we went to the beach.  This will do!

LOVE YOU QUINN!

Update on Okinawa

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted about how things are going here in Okinawa.  I haven't looked back at that post and I don't think I will before writing this one.

Things have been going fairly well since we have gotten back from the states.  Tony had to leave again for basically the month of September.  We haven't had too much time together so we are definitely looking forward to a couple months (hopefully) where we can stay put and hang out!  He may need to leave again November 15 - December 15, but we are crossing our fingers he won't have to.  Maybe while you read this post, you could cross your fingers, as well.  Can't hurt :)

So how am I feeling about Okinawa now?  Well, the first thing that pops into my head is "we have 9.4 months left".  Yes, I am counting down and not only because I have a countdown for everything, but I am beyond ready to leave.  Lets be honest, we've been ready to leave for a long time now - but some months are worse than others.  I had such a good time at home seeing friends and family and showing Quinn around that it's a bit worse coming back to Okinawa this time around.  BUT on a positive note, as I just mentioned we ONLY have just over 9 months left!  Time does go by quickly.

I think once the weather gets nicer things will be a hundred times better around here.  It is still so hot  that being outside for too long is just simply not healthy.  I love the days when you can say "we've been outside all day" - but that won't happen for another month probably.  It's similar to a midwest winter really.  Just opposite.

In the meantime, we will enjoy our time left here on island.  Go to the beach as much as possible, spend as much time with the people I have become friends with, and enjoy our little family of 3 here on island.  We are pretty sure our departure from Okinawa will be July 1st or so.  A lot to do a couple months before then with getting paperwork done, thinking about relators and if we want to buy a house back in the states, selling our cars, furniture, etc.  I'm sure there's a million other things I don't know about either!

That is all for now.  Can you believe it?  A post that was not about Quinn.

Quinny Quinn Update

   Thought it was time for a little Quinn update.  We had her 12 month appointment (and shots) last Friday and although we were about 7 weeks late on that appointment it was great to see where she was at on the charts!  At 13.5 months she weighed 22lbs (58%) and was in the 99% for head circumference and 92% in height.  Tall girl with a large brain!  When I called to make the appointment with our wonderful pediatrician, Dr. Carol, we were told that he PCS'd last month.  I was so bummed!  So we were randomly placed with Dr. Taylor who just got to the island last month and we loved him.  He was so great with Quinn, had tons of questions, examined her scalp issues (more on that later) with great detail and care, and was just a great overall doc.  So speaking of her scalp, she has had some issues with dry skin, red skin, rash, rings, etc. from as long as I can remember.  Our last pediatrician (not Dr. Carol) looked at it for .2 seconds and just gave us some steroid cream to put on it.  Well, that didn't work.  Thankfully Dr. Taylor went to Dermatology right away and got some other expertise on the issue.  After today's appointment we were told it was the worst case of cradle cap they've ever seen.  I was actually relieved to hear this as it's a temporary thing.  We have a minor steroid cream again to put on it and hopefully it clears it up once and for all.

   Anyways, on to the fun stuff!  Quinn is as active as ever and as sweet as can be.  She is going to bed super easy with a bottle of whole milk.  I am working on being done with the bottle asap but it's really hard.  She isn't attached to it, really - but she does drink a solid 6-8 oz before she goes to bed.  Don't think she'd do that from a sippy.  Hopefully by her 15 month post we will have put the bottles back up in the closet :)  She is sleeping through the night for the last 2 weeks and for the last 3 days she's been taking 1 nap a day.  Hopefully these naps go a little longer than they have been, but I'm not rushing anything.  I'm beyond thankful we are where we are!  There were days I began to wonder if it would every change :)

   Quinn's favorite thing to do is to be outside.  Every morning we get out and she helps me water my flowers.  She's actually a pretty good helper and doesn't pick them anymore!  We walk to the park and I have to hold her back from not getting in the gross pond! She LOVES all water and also loves it in her face, which she definitely didn't get from her mom (or from her Grandma Huinker).  We had a typhoon this past Monday and we were getting a little stir crazy so I let her take a shower with me and she absolutely loved it.  I don't even like the shower water on my own face!

   She has also become pretty darn social with everyone she comes across.  She doesn't go to just anyone, but she will stare at them, give them a high five - or if the adult is a female, she will probably give her a hug and a kiss.  She is quite the kisser these days. :)

   Thankfully, she is 95% over the "eating rocks" stage.  I still need to watch her but if I just say "ICKY" she will put it down.  She has been building with our mega blocks we have and still enjoying the couch, her blankie, and a little netflix once in awhile.  Her favorite foods are homemade pizzas, fruit of any kind, peas and beans, hummus on toast, peanut butter on toast, and of course noodles and sauce.  Anything she can dip, she will.  Condiment girl.  I like it.  She is liking books more and more and her favorite one right now is the "puppy" book.  it's a touch and feel one that my sister passed down to us and she won't touch it, but she'll grab my hand and make me touch the puppies!  It's pretty cute.  Not too many new words these days, although, I THINK she said "thank you" today....or "dee dee" in two different tones.  It happened three times today - so we'll see.

Enjoy a few pics of Q!

  

2 Birthday Parties for a 1 Year Old!

Quinn was one lucky lady this year celebrating her birthday TWICE!  We were able to celebrate on her actually birthday (July 1st) with just our close family and then again on August 1st when my sister was in town with a bunch of friends! I had so much fun planning and decorating for the parties.  Not sure I'll do 2 every year, but as I told Tony - it was her golden this year!!  Quinn was so spoiled with great gifts and lots and lots of attention.  I don't have all the pictures I want as they are still on my stateside phone.  I hope to remember to post more pictures when I get those back - which hopefully I can!!

July 1st party:
My cousin Kelsey helped tye dye a shirt for Quinn and we put a "1" sticker on it.  It turned out pretty cute!  She thought she was pretty big stuff being a new walker and all on her birthday.  She even (demanded) got to sit at the "big kids" table.  We had a lot of fun opening presents and listening to toddler jams on the radio :)  It was a cold night to be outside believe it or not!

 

Grandpa Wally 

Quinn & Grady playing ball.  Sort of.

Gracie

August 1st party:

What a fun, fun day.  Everything went smoothly leading up to the party and the kids had a pretty good time!  I surprised all the kids with pony rides in the backyard.  Some were scared (Quinn being one) and others loved it!  My little nephew Grady was the first in line and I think rode about 4-5 times :)  He was so darn cute on them.  There were about 20 kids there which kept everyone on their toes!  

Grady and Amanda

Ivy and Grandpa Rog.  Look at that sweet smile :)

Grandpa Rog helped with all the rides.  He was great and the kids did awesome!

Amanda

I was wondering where this little frosting monster went - and I spotted her under the table rubbing all the frosting from the leftover cupcakes over her dress!  I don't even think she ate any of the frosting :)

Opening presents!! All the girls were in heaven.

More pictures to come!!!