The zoo with Grandma.

A few things to remember about today. 

We went out to lunch, and at the last minute, ended up driving together downtown for an appointment (vs. leaving my mom and Quinn at home). We were circling around Hermann Park when my mom asked if Quinn would want to go to the zoo. 

No way, I said. He has no idea we're so close. Not fifteen seconds later he was yelling, Ride choo choo! Ride choo choo!! from the back seat. Smart, smart boy. 

I had time to spare, so I dropped them off at the zoo while West & I headed to the doctor's office. When I came back an hour and a half later, Quinn was refusing to let go of his new little red train, covered in dirt and chocolate (thanks to some serious playing & sharing an ice cream sandwich with Grandma), & so tired. A perfect afternoon for this little boy. 

My mom told me a sweet story. She took the train from Quinn and tucked it away while he was playing near the lake. A few minutes later he was worried and looking for it. When she pulled it out and gave it back to him he sighed and said, Oh! So happy! This boy loves his trains and loves his Grandma - he  basically hasn't left her side since she arrived.

(I stole these photos off of my mom's phone. I'm so sad I wasn't there to take real photos of their TWO train rides. We plan on going back later this week to explore the zoo and take some more laps around the park on the train.) 

Lunch date.

Q had an early playdate while I went to the doctor this morning, then he spent the next few hours shopping & running errands with mama. He started yelling, Go! Go! Go! Go! as soon as we walked through the doors of Baby Gap to pick up a few fresh things for Little Brother around noon, so I decided that a lunch date at Potbelly Sandwiches next door was probably a good idea. 

We shared a sandwich, chips, a cookie & an oreo shake. By shared, I really mean that Q ate some of the sandwich (turkey only), most of the chips, a bite of the cookie (there is a special place in my heart for their oatmeal chocolate chip) & basically 97% of the shake. I should have known better. We have a history of not sharing it turns out.

He'll no longer drink a green smoothie in the morning, but he knows when he's at Potbelly. 

 

Snapshots.

9:51.

This child slept for 9 hours & 51  minutes straight last night, which gives me the reassurance that I will survive motherhood. I got about 6 blessed hours of uninterrupted sleep during this time period, which is unquestionably the longest stretch of sleep that I've had IN OVER A YEAR (thanks to 20 weeks of nausea during pregnancy that had me throwing up at 2am, then insomnia, then a child in the womb trying to kick his way out, then a newborn, then boobs that keep refilling with milk despite the fact that I'D LOVE TO GET SOME SLEEP, & then mid-night panic attacks while staring at the monitor for half an hour because Is he breathing?!).

We've been keeping quite robust stats on this child of ours since his birth, by the way. Thanks to BabyConnect, we essentially track his every move. I don't care if anyone else thinks it's over the top or obsessive. It helps give us a picture of what's going on with Quinn, from how much & how often he's eating, to whether or not he's getting a sufficient amount of sleep. We track his medical information, can see where he's at on the growth charts & have a clear picture if he's going through a growth spurt just by looking at the data. It's a quantitative way to assess how he's doing, & a nice addition to the qualitative information that we already know as parents, of course. We like it. And! Mike knows what he's walking into when he gets home from work before he gets home, because we both have the app. So, if Quinn has taken three 25-minute naps during the day & had two blowouts, then he knows that maybe he should stop & grab dinner on the way home. And flowers. 

And then the nitty gritty of motherhood - 

• I've changed 976 diapers. NINE HUNDRED & SEVENTY SIX. Mike has helped, of course, but hasn't changed more than 1/7th of all diapers (just given how often he's home).
• We've given him 86 bottles (of pumped breast milk). Mike gets the credit for the delivery of most of these.
• I've pumped 2.7 gallons of breast milk, & spent 39 hours & 15 minutes of my life strapped up to my pump (no wonder breastfeeding makes women feel like a cow sometimes). 
• I've spent approximately 330 hours breastfeeding (that's about 13.75 days). I used to catch up on my DVR or call my mom, but Q has now decided that talking while breastfeeding is unacceptable & he'd appreciate my undivided attention. Good thing I'm so sneaky with my iPhone. 

And this is why they have Mother's Day. 

Isn't his shirt cute? From Aunt Joanna. Love it.

I may be a skeptic, but I'm not a scrooge.

Who, being loved, is poor?

Oscar Wilde 

I have a bit of an internal debate about Valentine's Day every year:

Love it: Sweet gifts are always sweet, & an extra excuse to do something special with Mike is never a bad thing. He's good at both, too. Gift giving & something-special planning.

Hate it: Obligatory anything isn't fun, & if you love me, I already know it because of our relationship & how you treat me (i.e. love is a verb). How could the assortment of products that are pushed onto consumers during February possibly make up for that which is lacking (if it is in fact lacking)? I crave genuineness in my relationships with people & find myself admittedly quite intolerant of anything less. Valentine's Day is irritating when it seems to be a day where obligations & social norms suffocate that which is... real.

(Excuse me while I climb down from my soapbox.)

That being said! We are in fact observant of Valentine's Day, although perhaps in a bit of a mellow fashion. Similar to Christmas (typically observed around December 12th in our little family), Mike & I exhibited the patience of three year olds & exchanged small gifts on Saturday night because we just couldn't wait. I had made a really good dinner, Mike was home after a long week of traveling, Quinn was content, & we were feeling cozy & happy as a little family. So, Valentine's Day was on February 12th this year. Today, I'll make some heart shaped cookies, because that seems like the thing to do (& cookies are never a bad thing). I'll put together a nice dinner for Mike, & tell him a few more extra times how lucky I am that I married him. And next week - we have dinner plans out, sans baby. But we're long overdue for that, anyway.

(See. Observant. Mostly.)

There's this cheesy commercial that I keep seeing on television. I can't remember who it's for - probably a jewelry store of some sort - but it remarks that Valentine's Day isn't about saying I love you, it's about saying I love us. I like this idea, that we're using the day to reaffirm what we have already established & shared with the people closest to us. I know that my son knows that I adore him, & my husband - well, I made him an amazing breakfast burrito before he headed off to work this morning as a gesture of my pure devotion (think eggs, cilantro, sour cream, salsa + a yummy tortilla). How could he even question how I really feel? And Quinn? For Valentine's Day, he gave me his first poo in over a week. You can imagine how epic that was, the kind of diaper change that requires serious strategy &  the finely honed skills of a primary caregiver. I knew my first Valentine's Day as a mother would be special. 

Central Park at dusk.

From our walk last Friday night. It was cold, but Q was cozy warm in his stroller  + foot muff. Mike was finally back home in New York & Quinn & I needed the fresh air. Getting out together was nice. 

I can't wait until spring when we have our quilt spread out on the Great Lawn in the sun. I prefer Central Park in the winter, without snowmen.

(Do you have the Pano app? It's fun.)

Superbowl XLV + some meal planning for my week.

I have absolutely no problem admitting that I didn't even know who was playing the weekend going into the Superbowl. The (tennis) US Open? That's really interesting to me. The Superbowl? Not so much.

But friends! And food! I'll take it. We got together last minute with a few friends at our apartment & had a fun time watching (or not watching) the game. I'm trying to get back into the habit of cooking more often & having a reason to try something new is always welcome. I made a giant batch of football-watching-appropriate Pioneer Woman's nachos with flank steak (+ homemade guacamole to pile on top, of course) & - per usual - she did not disappoint. I love that woman, & anything that contains large amounts of cilantro. 

I'm making a goal of being a bit more organized about my cooking. Instead of going to the grocery store several times a week, or opting for something frozen or ordered because I didn't have my act together early enough, I'm trying to plan & prepare a bit more ahead (while accepting the fact that I don't always have the kind of day where I can come up with an idea & shop for dinner). I'm keeping a folder of printed recipes I'd like to try soon clipped onto the side of my fridge, with a sticky note on top with a list of a) the meals that we have all of the ingredients for to make & b) all of the yummy, quick & fresh snack options I should take advantage of during the day. This saves me time, keeps me fairly organized, & helps us to not waste food (e.g. forgetting about the Costco sized container of plums that we have in the back of our fridge, oops). 

I tend to find favorite recipes & then hang on to them tightly for a few weeks, making them several times before finally letting go & moving on to something else. That's kind of the case this week, with a few things fresh & new thrown in for good measure. On our menu: Fresh artisan bread (the quick-bake loaves from Trader Joe's) - broiled open-face with pesto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes & basil. Sweet potato & beet salad. Trader Joe's fresh butternut squash ravioli (my new obsession) with olive oil & fresh parmesan. Spicy Shrimp Curry with Coconut Milk & Apple. City Bakery's Macaroni & Cheese. Greek Stuffed Peppers.

I also have a gigantic bag of clementines that are screaming to be eaten, enough hummus to feed a small army of vegetarians & a dozen or so containers of yogurt. And eggs! I need to eat eggs more often (although Suzi taught me about the organic packs at Costco that basically never expire - they must be miracle eggs).  

Wish me luck! If I eat another protein bar this week, I might throw up. 

(And - if you have a favorite new recipe, please share. Thanks, friends.)

I thought today was going to be Friday, but it turned out to just be Thursday.

(First of all - whoa. Hi, friends. I'm suddenly feeling a little sheepish because I didn't realize that more than half a dozen people kept up with us. Excuse me while I figure out what to do here, but I'm a bit surprised at the contents of the woodwork!)

I thought yesterday was Thursday for approximately 76% of the day. I finally figured out that it was in fact only Wednesday, but was only mildly disappointed. See, most days feel a bit like Ground Hog Day when you have a small baby. Wake up, & repeat. 

Q & I visited friend Suzi today, Thursday. The little boys (with the big boy being Will - how did that happen so fast?) had their first opportunity to actually interact & it was clearly love at first sight. They immediately linked arms (we didn't pose them) & Q grabbed Ben's hand as fast as he could & started gnawing on it. He's chewing on everything these days, including new friends apparently. Ben didn't even mind! True friends, just like their mamas. Amazing.

I had an OB appointment today. Just a little maintenance, but I laughed with my doctor because I've literally seen her every single month since the fall of 2009. As much as I love her (& now-traditional trips to Bouchon Bakery at Columbus Circle), I'm not planning on seeing her again for a very long time. I've had enough of stirrups for a while, although Mike has probably appreciated appointment days because it means I actually shave my legs. Why do I think I need to do this for my female OBGYN, by the way? Anyway. Mike worked from home in the afternoon so that I wouldn't have to bring Quinn along, & when I walked in the door, he grinned at me from ear to ear. It was a beautiful sight. He loves his mama.

(Melt.)

This child of mine? His smile basically takes over his entire body. His eyes sparkle, he miraculously gets approximately a dozen dimples in his cheeks & his arms & legs wiggle like crazy. He is absolutely, contagiously happy*. Amongst many other things (like how to change a diaper on my lap, how to shower in 3 minutes, how to function on less hours of sleep than I have fingers on my right hand, or how to make up a song, on the spot, about absolutely anything), being a mother has more thoroughly taught me what it means to be like a child - easily pleased, infectiously happy, immediately forgiving. I think I'm going to try to be more like my son this week.

Unrelated: I'm starving. Constantly. So, so very hungry. I suppose that I am in fact feeding another human being (& I'm proud of his perfect chubbiness), but I'm voraciously hungry at all hours of the day. And I want to make City Bakery's Macaroni & Cheese right this very second, except that we just finished eating dinner. Perfect. 

*unless tired or hungry, of course. He is a baby, after all.

In Utah.

We: made the obligatory food stops at In 'n Out & Cafe Rio, & Magleby's Fresh // drove up to Sundance (my favorite) // spent lots of time with sisters Elizabeth & Joanna // saw a few friends (J & Kellie at Market Street Grill for brunch, Mindy at Fashion Place Mall & Erin at her home in Provo) // had a lovely dinner at Log Haven with Mike's brother Dave + girlfriend Lauren (Q behaved quite well) // introduced Q to Grandma Whiting in Mapleton

(Last year when we were in Utah around this time I was 8 weeks pregnant. This year, we had Quinn with us. Fun! And less nauseating, which was a lovely change.)

*I will also admit to eating a sausage, egg & cheese McGriddle for breakfast one morning. I promise I only do this once a year. It was SO. GOOD. Shh. 

I'm not offering any solutions here.

(Always in his mouth. Or clasped in front. We think it's precious - of course.)

I've been doing that a lot lately. Making complaints, & offering no solutions. 

Like an email I sent to a few friends yesterday, not wanting any sympathy. Just wanting to complain. About things like friends living simply too far away (contracts should have been signed prohibiting this). Or how my hair is falling out. In big, huge fist-fulls! It's not pretty, & I'm thinking my scheduled hair cut for this weekend may just be unnecessary (thank you, nursing). Or how my body - post-pregnancy - is just kind of a disaster & changing so drastically week by week that I can't seem to keep up. Everything I own is too big, too small, or just really ill-fitting. I'd like to give a giant hug to whoever invented leggings.

Anyway. Complaints. No solutions.

And then - I feel like a bad blogger as of late. Bad at truly documenting. Bad at keeping up. I guess that I feel a bit apathetic about it. I kind of feel unable to keep up in real time (& if not in real time then what's the point?). And I kind of feel tired. But I'm still complaining about being a bad blogger because there are things I haven't properly noted: 

• Our trip to Utah
• Our one two week trip to Portland (Christmas! Oops, it's basically almost Valentine's Day)
• 2010 in review (a must for anyone who claims to be a blogger, of course)
• Blah, blah, blah

See. Big things! Important things (relatively speaking). 

Every so often, I go through this phase though. I get stuck. I can't figure out what to say, so I don't say anything at all. Or, I get this massive feeling of overexposure on the internet (which, I remind you, is a great, big, scary place) & so I purge my Facebook friend list, retreat back & ask Mike 76 times in one afternoon if we should put a lock on the blog. Because anyone who wants to know about my life or our little boy should have actual conversations with me, right? At the very least, email me on occasion. Otherwise, it's just spying! Right (maybe, or maybe not)?! And then I start these completely circular rantings about real friendship (& the absurdity of one-way communication & how people think they know me because they read what I filter & choose to post on the internet), & justice, & creativity, & privacy, & keeping-up-with-the-whoevers, & the quirks of Mormon culture as evident on the www, & I want to crawl into a little non-blogging cave for a little bit, & it just gets to be a bit ridiculous.

And then mostly, a few days later, I feel better. 

So, I'm just complaining. Thinking out loud. No solutions! Except that maybe I'll try a little harder to at least continue to post those things that matter (relatively speaking). Like the really amazing (faux) fur coat that Ellie got for Christmas. Or the overwhelming list of contents in my diaper bag. Or the tops of Q's feet that are so chubby that I fear they might explode. Seriously! They're so, so very fat. It's amazing. 

Thursday.

Apparently, two things happen when we have travel scheduled: It blizzards, & Q decides that he'd like to store up all of his poo for the airplane. This being said, we moved our flight from yesterday to today, & he finally released all sorts of bodily fluids in a massive flurry this morning. From both ends. Simultaneously! Amazing.

Remember when I used to blog about New York City, fabulous restaurants, & other exciting things?

Yeah. It's basically just about Quinn now. And sometimes it's just about his poo.

(Other exciting happenings this week: I was sick, probably slightly depressed, drank some yummy hot chocolate & put Quinn in the Ergo for the first time! I feel better now.)

To the airport! Wish me luck! We're in Utah for the next few days, & then I fly home solo next week. Although I suppose solo has an entirely new meaning now. Meaning, with Quinn. 

Snapshots of our days.

I think I have something like 1,500 photos on my phone, starting from when we went to San Diego last summer, but 97% of them are of Quinn of course. I love my DSLR & it's photos most, but I love these snippets from our days, too. They're perfectly imperfect.

(I still can't decide what Instagram filter I like best. I thought maybe I'd convert them all to look the same, & then I decided that would be a bit on the OCD side. So my collage is mismatched, which I suppose is just fine.)

From late December & early January... 

He wanted to hold my hand all day long.

Someday, when has mastered the use of the word no!!, or when he's 17 years old & just wants to hang out with his friends & won't tell me secrets any more, I am going to look at this photo & remember that on this day, all he wanted to do was hold my hand.

He is a sweet, sweet boy.

We are in Portland & today was Wednesday.

I thought it was Tuesday until like an hour ago. I told Mike, Wow! It's only Tuesday! & he had to correct me. Oops. 

It's my mom's birthday. She's great! Tara's kitchen was decorated early this morning & we surprised her with breakfast (crepes!) when she walked in the door from picking my dad up from the airport this morning. Hooray! For my mom of course, & also for a really great breakfast. We love our crepes in the Hudson family. Love them. Peaches, yogurt, powdered sugar, whipped cream. Best breakfast ever, really. We don't say CREP, though. We say crepe like we say ape, because we're not in France so it would be kind of silly to use a French accent. Anyway. We love crepes, & we ate them together this morning, & Mike led us in a rousing rendition of the Hudson Family (aka Aspen Grove) Happy Birthday song. Fun.

And then! It was a day of food. Mike is probably more obsessed with Food Network than I am, & because he travels so often he's always keeping a running list of various places in the country that he'd like to try. I think he needs a blog dedicated to food / restaurants because he's checked off so many obscure places off of his list from New Orleans to Minneapolis to San Diego. Case in point: Bunk Sandwiches & Voodoo Doughnuts (the latter technically being Tara's find) in Portland. We ate what was the best pulled pork sandwich I've ever had in my life, drank Mexican Coke from the bottle, & then ventured off to a doughnut shop that can only be compared to a trailer park yard sale - slash - garbage dump - slash - carnival. It would be safe to say that it was reasonably close to my personal version of hell. Such a disaster, completely cluttered, filled with totally random junk & likely a whole bunch of germs. There was a trailer in the parking lot, inflatable toys / tacky Christmas decor everywhere, used furniture piled up & handwritten signs everywhere you looked. Maybe like Napolon Dynamite meets a junkyard? I don't know. It was a disaster. But the doughnuts: amazing. Really, really fantastic doughnuts. A chocolate doughnut WITH COCOA PUFFS ON TOP? Yes, please. I mean, if you're going to go, you may as well go big, right? Wow.

Tara & I spent a few hours afterwards at Bridgeport Village - which we could call my personal shopping Heaven (& it was, with JCrew offering 30% off this afternoon, on everything, just because). Anthropologie, The Container Store, MAC, Apple, Crate & Barrel... It's a beautiful little piece of pure shopping bliss in one convenient location & without sales tax (thank you, Oregon). We went, & let Quinn have some bonding time with his dad so that I could have some bonding time with my sister. We shopped, & it was happy. I picked up a bath ball (?) that Tara loves & swears will work amazing & therapeutic wonders, so this week - I fully intend on taking a bath in Tara's gigantic & beautiful tub. Quinn will be totally occupied, because everyone loves him & he is not hurting for attention. His Dad is always around (except for some snowboarding), his cousins are constantly wanting to sit by him & play, his aunts & uncles love to make him smile, & he's so happy to be with his Grandma & Grandpa. He's a happy boy this week.

It's raining in Portland. Off & on I suppose, but the forecast is basically cool & raining. That's okay, because it's Oregon, & that's what I expected. Tara actually said today that there are sun advisories (!!) when the sun is going to be out. Like, they actually announce it on the news & on the radio, because what will people do with themselves when they see that BIG GLARING BALL up in the sky? I went to school for one quarter in western Washington & just about died because of the constant rain & mist. The northwest isn't for the faint of heart (or the slightly depressed). 

Randomly:

My parents both got iPhones. Which basically means we'll spend the rest of the week teaching them how to use them. 

I'm thoroughly obsessed with Instagram. And I'm hating Facebook & kind of wanting to quit. I got a friend request the other day from a former college roommate who I know for a fact basically hated me (& was never especially nice to me, either). Um, IGNORE. I don't really love passive spying (or passive relationship upkeep?), & isn't that what Facebook kind of is? I mean, if you're my friend, we talk, right? And people who want to talk to me call me. And I blog, which is kind of more than enough, I think. Anyway. 

Also.

I've realized that I have a bit of a problem right now with grey, & also with sweatshirts. I'm really loving both (see first photo below - oops). I told Mike the other week that I wasn't allowed to buy any more grey sweatshirts (of the zip up, button up, cardigan or pullover variety) After picking up a few things this afternoon, Tara said You're really liking comfortable clothes right now, aren't you?! Yes, yes. And maybe I bought two grey tops that could potentially fall into the sweatshirt category. But they're so cute! And comfortable! And soft! And my wardrobe needs to be breastfeeding + spit up compatible, so I'm definitely leaning towards soft & comfortable vs. dry clean only. And grey matches everything! At least I'm not wearing 97% black like I used to.

What else. 

So happy that we're only halfway done with our trip! 

Photos from our Wednesday (iPhone):

Basically the most indie restaurant I've ever been to in my entire life. We totally fit in with a carseat. 

Voodoo Doughnuts. I told you. A trailer. And a bunch of random stuff. 

They had a shelf of vegan doughnuts, too. Because Portland is like that. 

Next to the photobooth that we intended on taking family photos in. And then we discovered that it was broken. Boo. On the agenda: The 2nd Annual Cannon / Whiting New Year's Day brunch at Bubby's. We'll take some in the photobooth there. 

Did I mention that the building is PINK? Random, random, random. 

West.

These are maybe two of my most favorite photos I've ever snapped of Q.

The right - just moments after we got on the plane. I plopped him down into the seat while I was getting situated, & he looked as if he felt he were King of The World. Smiling & giggling & looking all around. The left, I suppose, was probably about when reality set in (what on earth is this?!). I love both.

We're in Portland. We survived a cross country flight with our 13 week old baby, & really - it couldn't have been easier. Sure, we packed half of our earthly possessions, booked a car service instead of getting a cab, & basically looked like a traveling circus going through JFK, but when we got off the plane & several of the people around us noted what a good traveler our baby was, I was relieved & that much more confident.

(Is there a first flight merit badge? Yes!)

He smiled, then slept (for almost four hours!), then ate, then was just a teeny bit anxious looking as we touched down, & then slept again as soon as we got off the plane & met Tara. We couldn't have asked for a smoother trip. He even woke up at a reasonable-ish hour this morning (8am EST, anyway - that's sleeping in for us). I'm sure we'll have to work on the time zone transition for a few days at least (ideas?), but that's okay.

We're here for the next 9 days! I don't even care that the Portland forecast calls for just about constant grey & rain. Tara's house is beautiful & cozy & perfectly Christmas. Quinn's cousins are pleased as punch to get to play with him, & I'm happy to do things like finally getting the much-overdue pedicure I've been needing with Tara & Ellie today, & finishing off our Christmas cards that I'll put in the mail on Monday (a family first for us). Oh! And I'll have Mike around every single day. That's going to be amazing, too. 

I'm getting sick. A cold (Quinn, too - he's snorty, as Ellie keeps saying)? We'll just pretend it's not happening & hopefully it will just disappear. I don't remember the last time I got sick, but I'm pretty certain that babies don't turn off, so I can't possibly get sick. Nope. 

Our December (so far) in snapshots.

Sneakers! Cupcakes. Grandma! Bear suits. Bryant Park. BDGB. Christmas Trees! 
Rain. Napping. Times Square. New chub! Hanukkah. Lights. Sunday best. 
Park Avenue Tree Lighting. Hands! Pretty blankets. Loving mama. Morning smiles. 

My son.

His eyes are grey, leaning towards green.

He's obsessed with his hand. His right hand, in particular. I'm sure it will be another fantastic discovery (!!) once he figures out that he has another one.

He napped for 2 1/2 hours this afternoon & I got approximately one zillion things done. Except for going through all of the photos from Joanna & Nate's visit. I'll do that tomorrow.

Mike is in San Francisco, so it's just the two of us for a bit.

We had a nice day.

Times Square, & my hatred of yeast.

Joanna took this in Times Square today. It was SO. COLD. Seriously. Like, cold enough that I was feeling guilt & went to Baby Gap & bought Q a (really cute) new little outfit that was extra warm to put under his bear suit.

People keep talking to me about his bear suit, by the way. On the subway today, a man who looked like an 80's gangster kept saying God bless you! & talking about how beautiful new babies are. And then a man nearby told us congratulations, & about how he just sent his child off to college & then medical school, & how it all goes by so quickly. 

And Joanna! She's here, with Nate, & we're having a really great time, especially because with all of these friendly baby-loving New Yorkers, Nate now realizes that he isn't at risk of getting mugged at every corner. Q thinks they're great, they're easy apartment-guests, & we've done lots of fun things already - including lots of walking & eating, of course.

Randomly: Do you use Instagram? You should! Follow me (kathrynwhiting), & let's be photo friends. It's like Twitter. I think. I don't tweet, but if I photo-tweeted, I think it would be Instagram, right? It's a clever little app, although it's perhaps a bit silly that Joanna & I were running around the city today with our gigantic cameras & then taking photos with our iPhones. Oh well.

Did I mention that Q & I are on round 2 of thrush? Probably not, because I was too busy trying not to scream in pain every 3 hours, or I was at the pediatrician trying to hold my (sometimes sharp) tongue with a condescending doctor (who was on call for Q's doctor, who I love) who kept talking to me like I was an idiot, or maybe because I was standing in line at the pharmacy for the thousandth time because every time I go it seems to take 45 minutes. Anyway. Round two (!!). I love breastfeeding, & I love my excess-yeast-producing son, but seriously. Again?! I'm quite certain I'm deserving of some sort of reward.

Oh. Quinn. 12 pounds, 14 ounces @ 12 weeks. !!

On this day.

A rushed attempt by Mike to capture the pout (before the tears)

It needs to be recorded that Quinn in one day has officially learned + mastered the pouty lower lip face. He used it several times today. It's amazing. Look at that lip!

This morning as I was getting ready to go to a friend's baby shower, I noticed him tracking me going back & forth as I moved across the room. He was in Mike's lap, but his eyes were following me. All of a sudden, his lip stuck way out & began to tremble, & then the tears came. He wanted his mama! I knew it! I swooped him up, gave him a hug, told him I loved him, & not-so-secretly felt giddy inside because this little boy loves me, & was showing a preference for me (I tease Mike that he's just the nice guy who shows up for bath time - but Q really does love his dad, too). Anyway - this love + his affection is a happy thing, especially after Q & I have had to have some tough conversations this week regarding his daytime sleeping habits (& we've been, um, practicing being better, which is a little bit painful for both of us). But I can report this - progress! Every day. Every week. With many, many thanks going out to my friends + family that answer my endless phone calls & questions every day. We'd be lost without you, & I'm certain I've never felt more supported & loved.

A photo of me taking photos.

How the donkey photos happen (we took some new ones this morning).