Crawling (Backwards)

Quinn started crawling! Before you get too excited, he only crawls backwards for now. This gets him across a room until he hits a wall or in this case, finds himself wedged under the couch. It's pretty funny. It was pretty sudden. He's been content to just sit for an hour or more, we didn't figure he'd move anytime soon.

He's working those muscles though and should be going forwards soon.

Notice Lauren's skirt over her pants. She loves to put on the skirt Fofa made her last summer. She comes out of naptime wearing it after she's taken it out of her drawer. She says, "Guess what? Fofa made this." Everything is "Guess what?" when she's having a conversation with you. Such a good talker and an astounding memory.

Parenting Genuis Backfires

We have always asked Lauren “why are you so…" cute, smart, etc., and she would always say “I don’t know.” So Mommy decided to give her an answer to say. Now anytime we or someone asks her “how are you so…” or “why are you so…” Lauren says “Because Mommy and Daddy are so…” and repeat the adjective.

Good example of this working: When she went to help Daddy fix cousin Sarah’s dishwasher, she handed him the wrench and told him he needed to use that wrench and that she would help him. He asked her "why are you such a hard worker" and she said dutifully, “because Mommy and Daddy are hard workers.” We were so proud even though we had trained her into the canned response.

Good example of this backfiring: This backfired the other night when Lauren was getting upset over nothing (p.s., she's been doing this a lot lately - three is FAR more emotional than two was for some reason) and mommy, a little annoyed, said “why are you so emotional”? She answered with her conditioned response, “because mommy and daddy are so emotional.”

We continue with the canned responses though. Like when she's whining, we ask "where is it ok to whine"? and she says, "we only whine in Chicago" (cause that's where her cousins whine). She also blesses Carissa on a mission that she will find people to tell them about Jesus and they are a child of God. It is very cute.

Quinn's First Haircut

Quinn's hair has been growing on top (not so much on the sides and in the back) and it was time to either give him a comb over, or trim it a little. As daddy put it, "he's not an old man yet," so we'll let him decide on the comb over later in life.

As daddy held his head, I took three snips off the fauxhawk and voila! Manageable spiking.

I managed to save a few of the half inch shavings for posterity. We didn't have to get Lauren's first cut until she was 2, so it looks like the boy is going to be a little different. Couldn't get photos of the actual event since both adults were occupied, but here's some cute ones afterward (including a second-long video that was meant to be a photo):

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Happy 1st birthday to our sweet buddy Quinn. He is such a joy to have in our family and getting so big and strong. He loves to smile and laugh and kick his feet a mile a minute. He loves to play with sister. He's had an eventful first year and is really now starting to show his personality. We can't wait to get to know him more in year two!