The Big 3 - 0

I'm 30. That's weird. I don't really feel different (except for my bum knee). I remember growing up, my goal was to be married and have a baby before I turned 30. Done and done. I had a great birthday and my husband, friends and family made me feel very special.

Friday night was crazy. A storm came through our neighborhood knocking the power out until about 9:30p.m. The good news is that we have friends in the neighborhood, so we just sat in their front yard, drank beer and chatted like red necks until the power came back on. By the time we got Q to bed and dishes, bottles, etc. washed, we were exhausted. I told Jeremy I couldn't wait for a relaxing Saturday at home.

BUT, I woke up Saturday, and Jeremy said "sorry, you don't get a relaxing Saturday at home." He had a whole surprise day planned for me! My mom came over to keep Quinn and we headed out.

We started the day at a noon movie at the Violet Crown. This awesome new movie theater in downtown Austin was so fun! They have unique drinks and food and they mostly show artsy films. We saw "Beasts of the Southern Wild". Not my favorite movie. In fact I think we both left a little confused and depressed, but the experience and the theater is a must-do in Austin.

Enjoying a Pimm's drink...refreshing!

 It's not a movie without beer and popcorn!

My next surprise was a mani/pedi at Embellish, a cute, girly little nail salon in Central Austin. We were about an hour early, but it worked out well because I had to pump. Yup, it's hard to be spontaneous when I am still a cow for my 8-month old. The ladies at Embellish were sweet to let me have a room to myself to take care of business. After pumping, we still had some time to kill so we headed to Flying Saucer around the corner to have a drink. I had a Purple Haze and Jeremy tried a couple of new beers. It's a fun restaurant/bar and they have a ton of beers on tap. I was telling Jeremy how the movie we saw made me miss Quinn (it was about a little girl that needed some love) and then, guess who showed up!

 My Mom and Emily showed up with my sweet baby girl! Baby in a bar...keepin' it classy. I didn't care. I was so excited to see her and I got to give her some kisses before the girls headed to Embellish.

 Baby in a bar...keepin' it classy.

We had a great time chatting and relaxing while we got our nails and toenails done. I was glad Emily was there to tell me what's trendy these days. I opted for a purple-plumish color and I feel so trendy. HA! (Apparently, mint green is in, but I couldn't do it.)

When my mani/pedi was almost over, Jeremy came back to pick me up and his mom and my dad were with him. I had a feeling something was up then.

 One day Q and I will get mani/pedis together.

We left the salon and headed over to Chez Zee, one of my favorite places to eat brunch and dessert. My sweet husband had organized a surprise dinner! Tons of friends and family were there waiting for us and I felt so special! It felt weird to be the center of attention and the reason they were all there, but we had a great time. Our dinner was fantastic and I had two birthday cakes: chocolate/raspberry and the most amazing lemon chiffon cake EVER. Not kidding. People are still talking about it today. :)

Here's a picture-palooza of the party...enjoy!

Courtney was so sweet to come from Dallas! I love catching up w/ childhood friends!

Jeremy's mom was so sweet to come from Houston!

Jeremy has a hard time keeping his eyes open for photos, so he has the male soap opera look in this one.

After dinner, a few our friends w/out kids went out for drinks with us at Jasper's while the two grandmothers took Quinn home for the night. It was so fun to hang out, laugh and enjoy being celebrated.

Thank you to my amazing hubby for making me feel so special! He was afraid his surprise wouldn't be as great as my surprise trip to Vegas for his 30th, but it was amazing and I can't imagine it any other way.

On the morning of my b-day, he and Quinn gave me their cards and there was another surprise...we're headed to Colorado!! WOOHOO! I love CO in the summer and I can't wait to get away for a few days. Let's hope my 30-year old knees are ready for some hiking and white water rafting!

Quinn is Eight Months Old!

Happy eight-month birthday, baby Q! You are growing so fast...I don't even want to blink! Here are some fun things about your sweet little life. 

Food
You are eating solids so well! You still nurse in the morning, then you take four 5 oz. bottles the rest of the day and before bed. Other than that you are loving your meals and water. You do so well w/ a sippy cup and you have started eating little chunks of food rather than pureed stuff. I have enjoyed putting spice in your foods like cumin, cinnamon, red pepper, onion and garlic. Here are some things that I make for you and that are on your menu lately:

-Quinoa with squash and cumin (you didn't like this at first, but now you love the flavor)
-Blueberries, strawberries, peaches, cherries, watermelon and banana all cut in little bites (blueberries are your fave)
-Steamed carrots, broccoli, peas, squash, cauliflower and green beans
-Edamame
-Cottage cheese with cinnamon
-Greek yogurt
-Avocado in little bites
-Tomato in little bites
-Chicken mixed with several veggies
-Ground turkey mixed with lentils and barley

You weren't sure about cherries at first, but you love them now.

Teeth
Oh dear those teeth! You have gotten a lot of teeth really early...you have seven! We have had a couple of rough nights w/ achy gums, but other than the MAJOR amounts of drool constantly coming out of your mouth, you are a trooper. You have bitten us a couple of times, and those little things are sharp!

Bossy Pants
Oh dear. Miss Belkis at school said she can see you being the bossy one in the class one day. You tend to boss around the other babies already! You don't like to nap so you stick your little hand through the crib rails and shake your neighbor, Hendricks', crib while he tries to sleep. You also hit his mattress and steal his blanket! Oh dear. You might end up like most of the women in Mama's family...just a little bit bossy. But that's okay, because just like us, you will probably always know best. :)

Crawling and Pulling Up
You've got this crawling thing down...sort of. You crawl w/ one knee and drag the other leg behind. I think it's so that you can get back to a sitting position. It's pretty funny, but you can move pretty fast! You pulled up in your bed for the first time last weekend and you are starting to climb on everything. You tend to climb on us when we are on the floor and you even made your way into the bottom part of the coffee table. Such a little explorer!

Sitting up in Bed and Not Going to Sleep
Well, since you learned how to go from laying down to sitting up, our nighttime routine has been interesting. Normally we could put you down drowsy and you would put yourself to sleep. Now, you can sit up and you would much rather be up playing than laying down. So, you tend to sit up, play with your elephant blankie for a minute and then the drama begins. Crying and crying until we go lay you back down. Sometimes we do this a couple of times. You do the same thing at school so you still aren't napping well. I think there were a couple of days where your naptime total was 45 minutes. Geeze Louise! Luckily, you aren't fussy...you just want to be up playing and not sleeping! I have a feeling you're going to be that kid that won't go to bed at night. You will say things like "Can I have a drink of water?" or "I have to go potty again." Lord help us! I can't complain too much though...once you are asleep you are usually out for about 12 hours. I guess you just go and go all day and then you're done.

Saying Bye Bye and I Love You
This melts my heart every time! You have finally gotten the hand wave down and it's so sweet. When I try to rock to you sleep at night, you remember that Daddy went down the stairs waving bye bye so you start waving bye bye and looking at your hand. So sweet. Then, the other night, Daddy was rocking you to sleep and I was saying bye bye and I love you. You totally said I love you! I know you did! This video is proof! :)

 

 

Mocking Us
On that same note, you are starting to mock us a lot. We can make noises, blow raspberries and even say Mama and you sort of do the same thing. You mostly like to say "babababa" and blow raspberries giving anyone and anything around you a big shower.

Loving Ella
It's weird. Since Lexi passed away, Ella has been more interested in you. You LOVE Ella and you think she's hilarious. Ella likes to lick your face and inside your mouth. Ew gross!! You happily just open up your mouth and let her go for it. You have also started to crawl after Ella and I can't wait to see what Ella does when you start chasing her.

Getting More Hair
You are slowly getting more hair. Some of it actually hangs over your ears but I still can't quite put a bow in it. I CAN'T WAIT to braid your hair!! Sometimes after you wear headbands and your head sweats, you have some awesome headband hair.

 

Trying Shoes
We decided to try putting some shoes on you this month to see how you did. We got some cute (cheap) little sandals and you did pretty well at first. It was all downhill from there. You kept kicking them off by rubbing your feet together. What's funny is that the kids at school wanted your shoes too so they would take them off and chew on them. I think we might wait a bit longer to try shoes again. Maybe when you are closer to walking (which might be sooner than we think.)

Check out those legs!

Visitors Galore
You had lots of visitors this month! Pawpaw and Sherrie, Aunt Kerri, Tobi, Mimi, Aunt Sandra, Aron, Noah and Paige.

Baby Indian Princess
Best news of the month...you are officially an Indian! Daddy's tribe, the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, is very strict about who they let in the tribe. If you aren't a full-blood Indian, they have to adopt you in the tribe. A few weeks ago, they met and voted to let you in. You barely made it and Mama was very defensive. I wanted to know who wouldn't vote for a sweet precious baby, but I guess some people didn't know you. Anyway, you're in for good!

Happy 8-month birthday sweet Baby Q!