A trip to the ER

We had a rather exciting afternoon today. We were hanging out at the park having a great time...







Quinn and Daddy were playing and swinging and having a ball. Then Jeff set Quinn down on the ground and he just started wailing and didn't stop. It took a little while to realize that he wasn't using his left arm. We walked back to the house and took a closer look. We couldn't see any obvious signs of damage, but there was definitely something amiss. After a call to a neighbor who is a nurse we took him to the emergency room. It was so hard to see him so miserable!



Fairly quickly the doctor came in and within seconds she'd fixed our boy right up. She just twisted his elbow and popped things right back into place. Guess his little arms couldn't take getting swung around and had gotten out of whack. Now we'll have to be extra careful to make sure it doesn't happen again. She gave him a popsicle to help ease his pain, but looks like someone else benefited from that one!



He was back to his normal happy self pretty quickly, which was quite a relief. It was quite a stressful few hours.



We celebrated by taking quinn out for Cuban food. He liked it!



Back to San Diego in the morning.

Christmas in Savannah

We spent Christmas this year with my parents in Savannah, Georgia and as usual we had an incredible time. We worried initially about how Quinn would do in a 3 story home with very long, tall and uncarpeted starcases, but to our surprise he didn't try attempt to stair ski. He seemed pretty entertained running laps through the living room and dining room on the second floor and when we had to keep him contained for anything there was a very handy vase:


For the most part we spent our time at the house cooking or walking through the park, but we also got in a little bit of culture at the Jepson Center (Savannah's modern art museum).


They had a pretty cool kids area. Quinn really enjoyed the magnetic wall.


Sadly Andy and Colleen spent Christmas with Colleen's family in Rochester, NY. We really missed not having them here this year, but look forward to visits in 2011. Santa was good to everyone. Quinn is still not sure what the holiday is all about, but really enjoyed playing with his goods. A Christmas tradition for us is to have eggs Benedict with mimosas at home and then to head to my parents' friends' (Ron and Jim's) house for milk punch (a mixture of half and half and bourbon). Here are a few shots from Christmas day:

With Daddy checking out Ron and Jim's fish


Strollin' in the square


Loving Big Willie


Even though the weather was FREEZING for our visit we braved the elements and went out to Fort Pulaski one day. It was a pretty cool place.

My mama and me


Nana with Q


Attempted family portrait


The whole clan


Good times with dad


Thanks to Emily for Q's elephant hat! It kept many of our heads warm and looks great too!


Flying baby


Can't believe our visit is almost over! The time with my family always goes so fast! What a great week we've had...filled with good food and drink, lots of desserts, gummi bears, and good times with all.

Pre Holiday trip to Beaufort

I had the opportunity to take a few extra days off before Christmas and decided that we were due a trip to NC, so Quinn and I loaded up and got on a plane without Dad. I was nervous about how the munchkin would do on such a long flight at such an active age, but he was a trooper and handled the travel days with ease. It felt like a very short trip, because we didn't have enough time to see/do everyone/everything we wanted to do, but I'm so glad we went. Below are a few of the highlights.

As soon as we arrived Quinn began noticing all of the boats. As we drove from the airport in New Bern to Morehead City he chanted "boat" the whole ride home. One of our first orders of business was to hit the Beaufort waterfront. He was awestruck by the many boats!


Most of our evenings were spent at Courtney and Melissa's house, but we managed one evening out with Craig and Michael at Ruddy Duck. This was Jeff's and my favorite restaurant when we lived there. They always do great Christmas decorations!


The crew...Courtney, Elise, Melissa and Michael. Unfortunately many folks were out of town, so we didn't get to see all of our peeps, but it was great to spend some QT with C and M and to finally meet baby Elise!


Quinn laughing it up with "uncle" Craig!


Another highlight of the trip was a visit to the NC Aquarium. Even though we live in San Diego and have a nice aquarium, it's nothing like the one in Pine Knoll Shores. I never realized how lucky we were to have such a great resource so close by! Quinn is finally at the age where he can really enjoy it. It took us over an hour to actually make it from the front door to the exhibits, because we were visiting with all of my old coworkers and volunteers, but he had a great time with all! He especially enjoyed running along the marsh boardwalk.



This was baby Elise's first time at the aquarium. I think she had a good time!


Another "must do" while we were in town was getting together with Matt, Allison and Eli. Eli is 3 months younger than Quinn and we've missed not getting to see him grow up in person. We tried to meet up at the aquarium, but since that didn't work out we crashed Eli's daycare Christmas party. Here is cute Eli getting some love from his mama.


These two boys know where the fun really is....outside!


Perhaps the best part of the visit was getting to meet sweet baby Elise. She is now 7 months old and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her baby brother next month. :) Quinn gave her a taste of what it will be like to share her quiet home with a rambunctious boy! I don't think she minded too much though. Quinn definitely loved her. Every night when I was putting him to sleep he's say "baby?" - wanting to see her whenever she was out of sight. He also said her name (sounds more like "Lees"). He doesn't say many names (just Mama, Dad, Em (Emily) and Lees), so Elise is high up there in his book! :) Here's a little smooch they shared:


The family! We loved getting to see you ladies! Can't wait to meet baby brother!!

One Year Later

Who says baby clothes last only a few months?? At the time I even had to laugh at myself for purchasing Quinn a pair of Patagonia capilene long undies (could not resist), but that was 14 months ago and the kid is still wearing them!!! Sure, they're getting tight in the thighs, but they are still great for keeping him toasty in cool weather and make great jammies.

The kid and I are getting ready to embark on a solo cross-county adventure. We're off to visit friends in NC and then headed to Savannah (where Jeff will be joining us). I'm a tad nervous about traveling alone with him, but hopefully he'll be a trooper and not disrupt the plane!

December has been an exciting month! First "Auntie Em" came to visit and then I went back to work. It's been an adjustment getting used to seeing less of Quinn, but he's enjoying his Daddy-time and getting to spend afternoons with Grammy. Daycare will start up again after the holidays. I have mixed feelings about working, but overall am enjoying being outdoors and meeting some new people.

Quinn's latest: LOVES the Moon, Stars, and Earth and enjoys going to sleep each night gazing up at the moon and stars on his ceiling. He discovered the Earth on a trip to the aerospace museum with Dad and has been pointing out photos of the Earth ever since.

Tide Pools

Emily and I went for a nice walk in La Jolla along the water...checked out the seals, sea lions and the tide pools.

Seal family

An evening visit to the OB tide pools. Quinn was afraid to touch! :)

Carved into the stone....poor Andrea

Balboa Park December Nights

Balboa Park hosts a holiday party festival each year. Vendors are everywhere and the museums are open late and free. We decided to brave the crowds and check it out. Quinn was impressed by all of the lights.

The photo doesn't show it well, but this little dog was covered in twinkling christmas lights!

Two AMAZING gingerbread houses on display at the Mingei museum

We met up with Billy and Denise at the tail end of our visit.

Boys with their boys

Hiking and a trip to Anza Borrego

Emily wanted to see the desert so we took a quick trip to Anza Borrego State Park. We found a nice road in the park that made for a great little stroll through the desert veg. Quinn loved it and walked along announcing "ouch" at all of the spiny looking plants.

Signing Daddy while sitting on Daddy

Group shot

Taking a break

Peace!

He was not ready to head back

We have a really great park within 15 minutes of our house. Mission Trails. We took Emily out for a hike up Cowles Mountain. It's the highest point in San Diego and offers stunning views of the surrounding area.