Life is A Journey...Come Follow Our's

Sunday, May 29, 2011

A Birthday Party Fit For A King...Or For A One Year Old!

How do you celebrate a first birthday?  If you live in our house, apparently you skip the first birthday and throw a party fit for a coronation celebration!  Last Saturday we celebrated Quinn's First Birthday by hosting a Pig Roast in our neighbor's backyard.  The whole evolution of this party looks something like this:

Maria:  "Let's have a Survivor Party to thank our friends for helping us "survive" Quinn's first year since we really don't have any family down here."
Family:  "You're throwing a Survivor Party?  We want to come!!!"
Maria:  "Wow...we now have 80 people coming, we can get a pig and have a pig roast in the cul-de-sac!"
Neighbors:  "We have a great backyard...why don't you have it in our yard?"
Maria:  "What an amazing offer...that would be so fun!"

A few days later after committing to a pig roast for 80 in the neighbors backyard...

Maria:  "What would we do if it rains?  We're going to have to get a tent...and we can't have 80 people tracking through the neighbor's house to use the bathroom...we'll have to get a port-a-potty."
Brad (shaking his head in disbelief):  "That's my wife."

So...we had an amazing pig roast/luau/Survivor party!  Despite the weather forecasting nasty weather, we found the perfect window of beautiful weather and took full advantage of it.  The pig was on the rotisserie smoking by 9am and guests started arriving around 2.  The kids all LOVED running around the yard playing with the oversized beachball, footballs, and scoops and balls.  The adults enjoyed not being bothered by bored children, the beer and wine, and good company.  Quinn spent a lot of time dancing to the music and smiling at all his favorite people including his grandparents, all his aunts and uncles, and his 6 cousins! He was such a lucky boy.

Oh yes, and for those of you wondering, Quinn is 29 3/4 inches tall (17th percentile) and 19 pounds 8 ounces (8th percentile).  He's getting so big!  His new favorite food (other than cheese) are grape tomatoes.  He devourded have a pint already today!

Enjoy the pictures!

Uncle Brian and the Pig the Night Before

Uncle Anthony and Andrew Tending to the Pig

Cousin Anna and Corynn had a Special Gift for Quinn



Pig's Done!!

Grandpa Took Care of the Carving


Quinn LOVED the Music

Quinn Liked Mommy's Coconuts =) 

This WAS the Cake



What a Good Sharer


Someone Needed a Bath!

Gift Time

We Finished the Night with Board Games

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUINN!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite little man! I cannot believe he is one already!  I think my mom said it best when she looked at him at Lisa's wedding and said "He's not a baby, he's a little boy!"  And a little boy he is for sure. 

I spent the better part of yesterday thinking about what I was doing during an exact moment a year ago.  I found myself laughing at how I measured the intensity of my contractions by how long it took me to walk a mile and smiling at the memory of Brad, my doula Beth, and me singing along to Broadway showtunes during contractions at the hospital.  It really seems so long ago that I went through all that.  I made a scrap book of Quinn's first year and just cried picking out the pictures that were going to go in it.  I hardly remember him being so incredibly little.  But one year ago today at 4:36 in the afternoon, Quinn Edward (and all 6 pounds 9 ounces of him) changed our lives in more ways than we could have ever anticipated.

Enough about me though, I know you come here to read about Quinn...so here it is.  At one year old Quinn...
...is walking
...weighs just more than 20 pounds
...eats EVERYTHING (including seafood risotto) and is ALWAYS hungry
...has 8 teeth and we think is cutting some more as I type
...says ding dong when he pushes on his belly button
...is sleeping through the night well!
...loves to read
...loves to talk on the phone just as much.  He'll hold any rectangular object up to his ear and try to talk.
...can often be found sitting inside the cabinet he has just emptied out
...likes all animals (though the ducks weren't too excited about him getting close this past weekend)
...loves the bathtub
...is the light of our lives!

His birthday party is this weekend.  We are really hoping the rain holds off from 12-8pm so we can have a fabulous pig roast with all our family and some close friends.  I'll be sure to post lots of pictures next week, but in the meantime, here's Quinn...1 year old!


Friday, May 13, 2011

But I Swear I Was Just Gone For A Moment...

...And so it starts!

I just got an e-mail yesterday saying "Congratulations, your child is 51 weeks old! Are you ready to have a toddler in your house" WHAT?!?!? 51 weeks and a toddler?!?! You have got to be kidding me. I must say though that both Brad and I acknowledge and know that Quinn is no longer a baby, he's a little boy. He is boy through and through. He LOVES digging in the dirt and throwing rocks. He is starting to develop even more of a peronality and is starting to throw temper tantrums when he's not getting his way. It's really quite funny when he does...he folds himself over, puts his head on the floor, and fake cries. Seriously...who taught him that?!?!? He's also super stubborn and wants to do things his way. He wants to determine which way you are going on the walk, he wants to be the one walking (even though my back is killing me after 5 minutes of holding onto his fingers since he's so little), and he's going to be the one to tell you where to stop and pick up the rocks. He's a mess...a perfect little mess.

Saturday, I walked into the kitchen and had to laugh at what I saw. "Brad, come here..." "WHAT?!? I only turned my back for a second..." Here's what we came in to find...


NICE! I particularly love the look on his face and the fact he's holding a fork like he's ready to stab something! Think he was playing King of the Mountain?

On another note, I decided not to shop and buy Quinn's Birthday hat for his first birthday, but rather to make it. My friend Michele had offered to buy one for him, but when I saw the price, I knew I could make it myself. Though she doubted me knowing my great artistic talents (ha!...I struggled to paint the letters that hang on Quinn's wall), I knew I had to try. Final product totalled less than $5 and a major sense of accomplishment...


What do you think? I think it looks pretty good...and it only has to last for a few pictures! Money saved $15 plus shipping. SCORE!