New Trick.

That's our friend Ben. They live around the corner from us, & their girls - Belle & Livy - are the sweetest. Q has a sudden obsession with Belle event though we've known them since we moved in. He can't stop hugging her every time we see her at the park (he gets confused & calls her Livy often). Belle is five & told her mom yesterday that Q is in to her. I love it. 

This little boy is learning new things every day. He's fearless at the park (this was his first attempt!) & loves to climb. He's throwing a dozen new words at us every day & it's just really fun having this little parrot around (I'm trying to eliminate a few words from my vocabulary...). We were FaceTiming with my brother Christopher yesterday & he asked Quinn where he was. His response - Texas!! I had no idea he knew where he lived, but there you have it. Blankets are cozy, story time is for snuggles & Donkey & Puppy - well last night before bed he made them kiss & then exclaimed Friends!! I love his enthusiasm. 

We went to Trader Joe's this morning, just the two of us (I took advantage of a sleeping baby & Mike being home before his flight out this afternoon). On the way there, he kept saying yelling Mama! Quinn! Mama! Quinn! He was so happy to have it be a special trip with just the two of us, although every baby we passed in the aisles got a West!! 

Mike & I are both fairly run down. He's been working a zillion hours, I've been doing a reasonable amount of single parenting, & we're just tired. Now that I think about it, I'm fairly certain I was tired Quinn's entire first year of life, especially with the whole being-a-milk-factory situation. I was amazed at the energy I got back after I finished nursing Quinn (& then lost it all again by getting pregnant 8 weeks later... sigh). Anyway, we're both sort of burning the candle at both ends, don't have a ton in our reserves, & have a lot of adult things going on to zap any surplus energy that might exist. But our boys! They are the most beautiful things in the world to me, & the sweet moments with them each day propel me through no matter how tired I might be. West is sweet, happy & content (finally). I'm slowly adding things back into my diet with mostly-positive results (hooray!). He is a champion napper & is doing mostly-well at night. Quinn is inquisitive, enthusiastic & spirited - which means his favorite thing as of late is to wake up in the middle of the night & ask us to hep him find Donkey or make a trip to the park (both unreasonable 2am requests, I think - I hope, I hope, I hope it's a phase that dies quickly). Sigh. I love them both.