Back from Orlando

We got back from Orlando this week and spent our first extended period away from Quinn. The weather in Orlando was hot...... 103 degrees F. You could actually feel yourself melting.. However, unlike the heat in places like Vegas, this heat had some serious humidity and it felt like you were wearing it all day. We took some day trips and stayed and a great place about 5 minutes from Disney World. For the first couple days there we didn't even attempt to venture into the Magic Kingdom because we just figured Mickey wouldn't let us in without some crazy admission fee. We were wrong. There is tonnes of stuff to do there from Downtown Disney to Universal Studios without having to pay anything.

We made the trip to Tampa..... that was 120 miles that we wish we could have had back. There really wasn't anything of note in Tampa. There is the water... Some old town with a Starbucks that has a really bitter girl working there.

In Orlando, we did some great shopping (80% for Quinn), and went to eat at some really great places. Of course we made it to the Cheesecake Factory but we also go the opportunity to go to The Melting Pot. The last time we were there was 5 years ago and it was well worth the wait. Not too sound too much like a restaurant review but the Cheese Fondue was amazing, the main course with the broth for the meat had so much flavour and the desert chocolate fondue with caramel and peanut butter was unreal..... If you ever get a chance to go there, you have to make the trip. Look how happy we are below!!!

We were getting some good updates from Quinn's Nead mosi on how she was doing. She was a busy little girl in London. Unfortunately or Fortunately, whichever way you look at it, she probably didn't even know we were gone. Quinn was really pampered and got all the attention any 5 month old could ever want from all her uncles, aunts, grand parents, and cousins!! She even kicked Nead mosi and Uncle Radu out of their room so she could get a little privacy. Nead mosi and Uncle Radu returned our daughter happy and safe... just like we thought they would..... They also provided a beautiful book (lots of work by Sue mosi) that outlined the events of the week in London for Quinn. Thank you to everyone that cared and provided so much love for our little monkey.

Now we can say TEETH!!

Little Quinn through many days of tough labour finally gave birth to her second shiny tooth! Both tooth and infant are doing well. She celebrated the event with one hell of a butt explosion!!
For those that have trouble reading between the lines or even reading the lines, Quinn's second tooth finally poked through. It was getting tough to watch her struggle the last couple of days but it finally came. In the car she was telling us all about the experience, and what a story it was. Too bad neither of us could understand her!!
We now sit patiently and wait for the delivery of the rest of the bunch!

Teeth!! Or should we say TOOTH!

Quinn has now reached another milestone. She has a tooth.... We figured last week that the teething process had begun as she was a little off and we could see two bumps on her bottom gums that looked remarkably like teeth. We had read all kinds of crazy stuff about baby's having those bumps for months and no teeth actually making an appearance. We were ready for the worst. Then on this past Saturday at Walmart, the first tooth poked through. We figure it happened Friday night as she woke up screaming, which is not normal for her. Anyways the tooth is here. Now we are just waiting for the rest of the Chiclets to come in. We are hoping for a quick process but since she is still sporting the one, we are losing faith.
Quinn took her first ride in a jolly jumper. Her initial impressions of the device were not good. However, within a couple minutes she was off. We could tell that by the look on her face she is getting her first taste of true independence. She is also really active with her legs and we can envision her face planting in the door frame. Do they have jolly jumper helmets??? We also swear she turns away from us when she just wants to be alone. Little Monkey!!

The magic 3 month mark

Mom and dad figured it out.... There is no magic 3 month mark. In fact most people mislead us. When Quinn was 1-2 months old they all said just wait till she gets 3 months and then she will start sleeping well. As soon as Quinn starting getting close to the 3 month mark then the stories switched. It was all about that 4 month mark. We have decided to stop chasing that carrot!! We have even heard rumours of the 6 month mark. We now took matters into our own hands. It is amazing what a heartfelt conversation with a 3 month old can do. We spent a couple days of recurring conversations with Quinn about the value of sleep and it really worked like a charm. She now falls asleep on her own and is getting to be pretty regulated in the nights. We figure if they all can mislead us...... Okay maybe we decided to take a different route. We implemented a specific bedtime routine that really worked well.

Our family is now starting to actually resemble real life. We go out for dinner. We plan ahead for stuff and we can have tonnes of interactive time with Quinn.

Mom got some pictures done for Father's Day with Quinn and Dad. An example of one of the pictures is below.

We have decided that Quinn might have bipolar tendencies. She can go from the loudest cry (for her) to the biggest laugh and giggle. We love it when it swings in our favour and most of the times that is the way it goes. However, there are times it goes horribly wrong.

Mom has had a chance to get out and enjoy the great weather with Quinn but it seems her concern over the sun for Quinn should have been placed on her as well. She got a couple of real bad burns being out in the sun. Then again it doesn't take much. Quinn and Dad will always have to look out for the lighty.

New Pictures of Quinn

More pictures posted at www.brelan.ca

Catching some rays....

We have started to get Quinn down to a specific schedule around bedtime. We work in a bath, feed, tummy time, and a story all in an intricate process to get her into bed and asleep. We have seem some positive results so we are enthusiastic that we are on the right track.

Mom and Quinn attended the Global BBQ and a good time was had by all. The weather was good and the sun was warm. Dad wasn't there but knew that the sun was hot from mom's forehead. Quinn also got a little colour. Dad easily figured out what sunglasses mom was wearing from the tan lines on her face. Poor mom, she doesn't tan well at all. It would seem that dad was able to give the tan gene to Quinn.

We finally got a camcorder. It is amazing the things we can record now. We have some prime moments captured already and realistically we couldn't have waited another week to get it. Quinn is doing new stuff every day.

Enjoy the Summer Weather!!

This weekend we all visited London and Anna Mosi made a great Summer BBQ pool party for all of us. It was a great time. We really got a chance to enjoy the weather. Quinn got her first taste of pool life. We had to get her in a swimsuit that would be suitable for her. As you can see above it was a day fit for a superhero! She was a little put off by the pool at first but we quickly figured it was the sun in her eyes she didn't like but loved the water. In fact she loved it so much she feel asleep in the POOL!!

Sue Mosi babysat Quinn so mom and dad could go out for dinner. The dinner wasn't the greatest and the service absolutely sucked. It was a French restaurant and it seems they took the tradition of French restaurants too much to heart. For those of you that don't know, French restaurants are notorious for great food and terrible service. They got the terrible service right on but they have a long way to go for the great food. A quick dinner with friends turned into a 3 hour marathon. When we got back to pick up Quinn at about 9:30pm she was fast asleep in her stroller in the Rand living room since 8:30pm. She transferred to the car seat with a little bit of a stir but that was the last we heard of her until 5:30am the next day!! We didn't want to disturb her when we got home so just put the car seat in the crib. For all you non-parents that might sound crazy, but for all you parents, you will totally understand! So based on some quick math, that is 9 hours of straight sleep!! We aren't keeping our hopes too high and are just putting the cause of such great sleep to a long day in the sun....

If you didn't think she could get any cuter...

This picture is just in case you didn't think she could get any cuter.....