Curious Quinn turns ONE

What a year it's been! I can't believe my little burrito baby is OFFICIALLY a toddler! I can't begin to thank everyone who had a part in her first year. There really are no words for the amount of joy she has brought into our lives!!!!!!! This past weekend we had a party to celebrate her first year. I thought I'd share some of my favorite moments and memories with you!

Warning: I may post a million photos, because I just can't narrow it down :-D

This was the food table. We found little food tents at the Dollar Tree! Double bonus. They added a little touch of outdoors and only cost $1 each! I didn't want it to be too themey. So most the the decor was in purple, brown, green and white with a few jungle/outdoor decorations incorperated here and there.

 

I wish there wasn't a glare on this pic! We took pictures from her first year and made a #1 with them and desplayed it above the favor table.

 

 

These were my first attempts at flooding cookies. I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out!

Another CHEAP find thanks to the $1 aisle at Target! Each little got to take a monkey mask.



 These were also purchased at the Dollar Tree! 

















This was the dessert table. Let me tell you that darn grass skirt was a nightmare. We tried so many things to get it to stay. Totally not worth the money!!!!!!











The AMAZING cupcake circles were custom made by the phenomenal Gwynn of Gwynn Wasson Designs She also made Quinn's invites. I absolutely LOVED working with her!











Quinn's smash cake!  After her photo shoot we learned she LOVES cake.  So I made her  a small 4" vanilla cake with vanilla frosting.  I then bought a candle at WalMart and decorated it with purple sequin, glitter and rhinestones!

 

 I purchased this gorgeous frame from Hobby Lobby.  The photo was taken by my dear friend Sarah Field's of Sarah Field's Photography  We then inserted some of Quinn's favorite things.  This is a tradition I want to do every year!

 We held her party at my parent's neighborhood club house.  They have a fireplace, so we decided to display one picture from each month in chornological order across the mantel.  (again I wish there wasn't a glare!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cake SMASH! My girl loves her some cake!

 

 

Some of our amazing friends and family who helped make this day so memorable!



 

 

 

 Quinn's Pawpaw made her this GORGEOUS toy box.  It even is inscripted on the bottom!  Her and her Ayla had so much fun playing in it :-)

Out of all the toys and goodies we had the tubs of drinks with ice was by far their favorite "activity"! 

 

Eek! 10 months!!!!!!

So tomorrow marks Quinn's 10 month birthday!!!! I can't believe in just 2 short months my BABY will be 1 yr old! So much has happend in the last month: Quinn got 3 new teeth (making for a total of 6), she is able to walk short distances behind her walker or while holding our hands, started army crawling, can go from laying down to sitting up on her own, says "dog" while playing with Bear and Stitch and can crawl! I can't even begin to imagine what the next 2 months will bring!

Here are some of my favortie pictures from her 9 mo photo shoot!  Once again I'd just like to say how lucky I am to have an wonderful friend who happens to be an AMAZING photographer!  Sarah Fields you are THE best!!!!!!!!!

My FIRST Halloween!

Yet another first for our baby girl, Halloween!!!! First let me just say I think it's my favorite holiday, yes better then Christmas. However, that might change as Quinn gets olderr; we'll just have to see. Anyway, those of you whom know us well KNEW Quinn had to be a monkey for Halloween! And of course if you knew that you, knew I couldn't just put her in a monkey costume! So, we bought her an adorable monkey costume from Marshall's and I added two little touches. First the purple tutu! I used the same one she wore for her 3 mo photo shoot. Then I made a large rosette purple flower and sewed it to the head of the costume. I was a little sad because I could find the right purple, but alas decided this was close enough and would just have to work. As her cousin Jaden said "She's the cutest little monkey ever!" Man was he right!

The Sunday before Halloween we had a small party in honor of our lil monkey. We got all her cousins and a couple of her closest friends together to celebrate. I was so excited for her first party! Sean even went 100 extra miles to make it absolutely AMAZING! He was determined to be The Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George. We couldn't find the cosutme anywhere, except online for around $40-50. So, my very creative hubby got to work. He found an old white dress shirt, bought some $8 light khakis from Walmart and died them yellow. Then he found a sombrero at Hobbly lobby and spray painted it yellow. I must say he looked adorable !!!!!!! I was not as creative. I wore a hunter green polo that Sean made say "Zoo" acrossed the front, a pair of khaki cargo pants and a foam safari hat he found at Hobby Lobby. It wasn't the most creative, but definitely appropriate; I am the zoo keeper at our house after all :-)

For our desert table I made a chocolate cake where I substituted the water for a Pecan Toffee espresso and then used the same espresso in the butter cream. I then made purple fondant and covered the cake. Once it was covered I used a silver edible paint to make a spider web on the cake. I also used fontant to make a 3-D spider whom sat ontop of the cake and was painted silver as well! Sean made two jello brains which sat on cake plates. Then we made puddi g and placed it in clear cups to look like pudding! We colored a banana pudding orang, a coconut cream pudding yellow and then used cool whip for the white! Our friend Erin brought some delicious caramel apples, we had two big bowls of candy, chili, mummy hot dogs and witches brew. For the witches brew Sean used lime sorbet, pineapple juice ice skull, pina colada V8, and ginger ale! All in all I'd say it was a wonderful day filled with goodies to eat and wonderful people! I hope everyone who came made as many wonderful new memories as we did!!!!!! Happy Halloween all!

Time Flies!

It absolutely amazes me how fast time is going! In 11 days my lil girl will be 6 mo old! Where did the time go? SO much has happened in such a short period of time, I don't know where to begin. Quinn is a rolling, babbling, and smiling machine! She's such a happy baby, we couldn't have been more blessed. Everyday is a new and wonderful adventure and I couldn't be more thrilled!!!

6 month Photos By:
Sarah Fields Photography
816-714-6939

Quinn's Newborn Photo Shoot

We were SO lucky to have Sarah Fields come to our house and do Quinn's newborn photo shoot! Sarah is an AMAZING friend who takes PHENOMENAL pictures. You'd never know how difficult getting Quinn's picture was. We had our first well baby checkup that afternoon and as a breastfeed baby they have you meet with a lactation specialist, in order to ensure all is going well with her latch and weight gain. Since we were meeting with lactation I was supposed to bring Quinn hungry. It is impossible to get any sleepy baby or happy baby pictures when the baby is STARVING. I don't know how she did it, but Sarah got some truly AMAZING pictures that morning!!!!!!

Here are some of Quinn's newborn pics!

Quinn is HERE!

Things have been so CraZy I haven't been able to get on here! Where to begin? At my last Dr appointment we had scheduled an inducement for Monday, May 16; which is also Quinn's cousin Liam's birthday. When Sean and I were talking about possible inducement dates he kept saying I couldn't do it on Friday because it was the 13. Well, I guess Quinn had a different plan!

Friday morning around 3 am I woke up with the worst stomach pains I've EVER had. Seriously I thought I was dying of the stomach flu or food poisoning. Around 4 I called my sister. At this point I was pretty sure they were contractions. After about 30 minutes on the phone with her we decided they were contractions and they were about 4 minutes apart last about 2 - 2.5 minutes each. I didn't want to wake Sean, I feared I'd wake him up and they'd stop. Then he'd be tired and have to go to work. So I waited until about 5:30 and snuck into the room, turned on my lamp, and said "Babe, I don't think she's going to wait till Monday." Much like the day I told him I was pregnant, he jumped out of bed and tried to get dresses before his eyes ever opened. I kept telling him to slow down and wake up; after all I still needed to put makeup on before we can leave anyway.

Once we got to the hospital they hooked me up to monitor my contractions and Quinn's vitals and called Dr Perryman to determine whether to keep me. At this point I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. Dr. Perryman told them to keep me and we were moves to the labor and delivery room. Our labor and delivery nurse, Anna, was AMAZING. At this point I REALLY wanted to deliver without an epidural. She was so helpful bringing us a laboring ball, hot fowls, and cold soda cans to try and help with pain management. I made it somewhere between 3 and 3.5 hrs and finally caved. Sean kept telling me if I needed it to just get it, that he wouldn't think any less of me. I knew this however, I felt like a weenie. I must admit though, it made things a lot easier!

Since it was Friday, Dr Perryman was working in Leawood. So he came in around 7 and broke my water and then went to Leawood. At this point I was dilated to 5 and 100% effaced. The next time they checked was about 12:45 and I was was already dilated to 10! Anna let me know it was time to start pushing. She went to get somethings and was back at 1. Dr. Perryman was just getting in the building, but we started our practice pushes while he got ready. Then at 1:28 our perfect baby girl joined us! It was THE most amazing experience I've EVER had!

Welcome to the world my beautiful baby girl!
Quinn was nor Friday, May 13, 2011. 6 lbs 13 oz, 19.5" long with a 14 cm head. Absolute perfection!!!!!

Late Night and an Eviction Notice

Last night was a LATE night for Sean and I. After having steady and strong contractions from 1-7 we decided to get checked out at the hospital. I REALLY didn't want to go and be sent home! For.the first 30 minutes we were hooked up to a monitor to check the length and timing of my contractions. Once this was done they did a pelvic exam and determined I had had any progression. So, we loaded up with water and spent the next hour walking the halls. They then hooked me back up to the monitor for another 30 minute observation, which ended up being much longer thanks to l the water I'd drank. They then did another exam and still found no change. It was decided that my contractions were where they needed to be, however I wasn't processing. So, they gave me some meds to help with the pains from the contractions in order to help me sleep. They monitored me for awhile longer, to make sure the meds were taking affect and at midnight sent us home. I was told to keep hydrated and rest! So, today I've been lounging around as much as possible. I've had a few contractions while resting, but nothing note worthy. However, as soon as I get up I instantly start contracting.

I went to the Dr Today for my weekly checkup! I've had no progress from last week (dilated @ 3 and about 90% effaced). They did another fluid check on Quinn. The last 2 sonograms showed her fluids @ about 5.6. 5 is the lowest they will let the fluids get. Quinn aced her test today, We were up to 11!!!!! The sonographer said that it's not uncommon foe the levels to fluctuate like this. Quinn drinks the fluid and then releases. Therefore it is very possible that her fluids were low because she had a full bladder.

While visiting with Dr Perryman he asked if I had thought about an end date (at what point would I want to be induced)? After talking we set an appointment for 7 am on Monday May 16. So, if Quinn hasn't blesses us with her presence, she will be evicted next Monday!!!!!!! I'm SOOOOO ready to meet her!