A nice moment.

Quinn has a new trick! The video speaks for itself:

A family date.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit rough. Last week Quinn had a major teething episode, made obvious by the inhuman amounts of drool she started to produce (seriously, she could soak through her shirt in minutes). She was not her happy easygoing self at all; if I put her down, she wanted to be picked up, and when I picked her up she needed to be put back down again RIGHT NOW. She wanted a bottle, but then immediately wanted nothing to do with it. And she was up every hour and a half or so at night, sobbing and screaming. Poor kiddo! It was pretty miserable for all parties. Sure enough, this week when she would let us near her mouth we saw three or four new teeth poking through in there.

Just when I thought we were going to catch a break, I came down with a nasty cold (ok, well...maybe it hasn't been that nasty but I'm a pretty big wimp when I get sick so I didn't cope*). And then a few days later...poor Quinners' nose started running like a fountain. I don't know what to say about Spenser - he has freakish immunities and seems to have escaped it. But it has meant more sleepless nights and comfortless days this week.

So when Spenser got home from work this morning and everyone seemed to be in a pretty good state, I wanted to have a family date. We ran downtown for dumplings at Frank's Noodle House and then over to Salt & Straw for ice cream!! I was kind of bummed that we missed all of the autumn flavors but they have a special Thanksgiving menu right now...apple cranberry stuffing, mincemeat, caramel turkey (yes folks, these are flavors of ice cream). I was tempted by pumpkin custard w/spiced chevre but opted for sweet potato w/candied pecans. It was delicious, as you can see from the first picture above of Quinn shoving her face into it as soon as it was handed to me :) I also love that she is licking her lips in the second picture...she's a little woman after my own heart! She also loved people watching from the window. Ice cream was followed by a long family nap. Best Saturday ever; I sure love these two.

*Thank you, Mom and Vince, for helping out so much this week.

An autumn update.

This is Quinn enjoying one of our last dry autumn days on the swings! By way of update, here is where Quinn stands on the three things people always ask when they find out you have a fourteen-month-old:

- Walking? Yep! All over the place. In fact, I think her two favorite places to be are the church and the high school, where there are long wide stretches of hallways for her to cruise.
- Favorite foods? Wish I knew...she's going through a phase where she seems to dislike just about anything that is put in front of her, unless it is derived from a potato and comes from the golden arches (don't judge me). I guess she also likes scrambled eggs. I lie awake at night scheming up ways to feed her fruits and vegetables but it's pretty hit and miss.
- Words? Quinn says a lot of things and mimics a lot of the sounds we make, but I'm not too sure how discriminate she is with her vocabulary. For example, she will look right at Spenser and say "dada" but then toddle off to the cat and start calling it "dada" as well. There is one word she seems to understand: "uh-oh", which she pretty clearly associates with things falling. Usually food that she is throwing off her high chair tray. Unless it is a french fry.

It's a fun age! I think most people who read this blog already know this old, albeit big, news...but I haven't documented it here, so for the sake of posterity: Quinn will be a big sister on or around May 5th!

I have had the usual host of first trimester complaints, but overall I am feeling well! We are going in for the 20-week ultrasound (at which point we will know the gender) on December 18th. We can't wait to add another little one to our family!