He hasn't figured out how to move this scooter with a purpose, but he's good at motoring accidentally while "dancing"

Who needs toys when you've got a pile of dirt to rearrange? And check out the standing action! :)

Nana's visit

I finally found the camera and can post a few pics of Quinn enjoying his time with his Nana. We had a relaxing breakfast at the Living Room Cafe one morning.

I think Nana enjoyed feeding her grandson...

Quinn appeared to enjoy it as well...

The omas watching the little monster get into trouble

Moving, working and visiting

It's been an insane week and I've been horrible about documenting. We FINALLY got the house after much drama and countless delays.

Jeff really had to work hard on moving day:


My wonderful Mom came out just in time for us to close, have our furniture delivered and a new furnace/ac installed.

The old furnace:


She was a trooper! She spent several days running around with us buying supplies, running errands and watching Quinn while we tried to get the house into some sort of order. It was so great to have her here...sad that they live so far away, but we're already looking forward to more of a social visit in June.

This is the only photo she managed to snap of her only grandson during her visit (shows how busy we kept her!):


Next up - work started for me last week. So during last week Quinn had to adjust to a new home, breakfast with dad instead of a leisurely nursing session each morning, and full-time day care. The day care part seems to be going well. He loves the woman who takes care of him and the other two kiddos. I already miss spending my days with him, but have to admit that I am definitely enjoying the adult company and getting to know my new coworkers.

And finally, Andy and Colleen are visiting. Well, Andy is here now and Colleen is supposed to be, but got delayed a day. Will be picking her up at the airport in a few hours.

Singing and bouncing

Quinn is a very accomplished "singer"

He likes his ball

Museum on a rainy day

Rain in San Diego? Only on the weekends it seems. Just when we really want to get out and take advantage of the outdoors. Oh well, at least there is still a lot to explore in this new city. This morning we visited the Mengei International Museum in Balboa Park. It's a folk art and craft museum and they currently have an amazing exhibit called Fisch Out of Water, featuring over 150 jellyfish and sea anemones crocheted out of color coated copper wire. The pictures (no flash allowed) just don't do it justice.

I've always loved blown glass....and the color orange. Love this!

There was another great exhibition called Sonabai: Another Way of Seeing. Sonabai was an Indian woman who lived in forced isolation for 15 years - seeing only her husband and son during that time. She developed her own art form using painted clay and covered the walls of her home with her visions. She was later discovered and taught her art form to others.

This room had photos printed on sheer fabric telling the story of Sonabai's journey. If you look closely you may see Jeff emerging from the images.

Viva Mexico - mexican folk art

A wall of masks - this one was particularly frightening!

Who doesn't love poppies? Even on a rainy day they make me smile. A good day.

The Wild Animal Park

This week, Jaime, Kyan, Quinn and I visited the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Some of the highlights included:

A baby elephant!!!! 3 weeks old and already 250 pounds! What a little cutie!

A cool bird (ashamed to admit that I have no idea what this bird is...)

A beautiful Golden Eagle

A Rhino appeared over the bluff as we were hanging out in the grass nearby

The gorillas are always a hit

Wildest Animals

Quinn and cousin Kyan weren't too interested in the other animals at the park, but they are starting to enjoy each other more and more.

Here they are enjoying their teething biscuits.

Quinn wonders whether Kyan has the better treat

Or maybe Quinn has the yummiest biscuit

Mmmmmm cookies!

A House in Sight!

Well the end of limbo land is finally in sight. After multiple setbacks and delays we're looking like we're finally going to close on our house this week! As gracious as Phyllis (Jeff's mom) has been to have a house full of black cat, baby, toys, and fur, it will be nice to finally have our own space again and to have access to all of our things that have been in storage since December. Below is a photo of the house-to-be (The ridiculous shrub-archway will be the first thing to go).

And here is the backyard/canyon - a huge selling point for us.

It's exciting to move to a new city, but it's also full of many challenges. I've really been missing our friends for the past week or so. Hopefully once we're settled in a house we can set about the task of getting to know some people around here. Although I adore spending all day with Quinn, the conversational abilities of an almost-10-month-old are not doing much to meet my social needs. Hopefully we can find some foodie buds with whom to share frequent dinners. Once we're in a house we'll finally be able to entertain again and I'm sure we won't waste any time...

The happy kid in action, surrounded by toys and diapers, wearing a cute little hat that we just rediscovered:


This is Quinn's last week at home with mama. We're going to ease him into daycare starting next Monday (I start working full time on March 15). There's not much new to report...he's still up to his old tricks of blub-blub-blubbing (himself and us), carrying socks around in his mouth, and feeding his best friend, Merlin. He has finally decided that he likes to wave and especially enjoys waving at himself in the mirror. :) Also, just this morning as I was putting him in his crib for his nap he let go and stood up by himself for a pretty long time before plopping onto his bum.

Here he is this morning just before his first mini haircut (see the hair over his ears?):


And after his haircut trying to feed kleenex to Merlin through the glass:

I guess the main Quinn news has to do with his sleep. I realized that getting up 2+ times per night was starting to get to me and was making it difficult to leave him at home for an evening out (because his first awakening was around 9 or 10). So we started putting him on more of a schedule...meals, naps. At the same time we've stopped giving him the pacifier at night, stopped nursing him to sleep, and have cut out any nighttime feedings before 2am. The result: a few tears here and there, but he's slept from 7pm to 6am several times. If he does wake up it's been after 3, so at least he and I both get a nice long stretch of sleep. This is a vast improvement for us.

And I thought I should add one last parting shot: