oh boy

quentin has earned a new nickname... Q-dini. he is unbelievable. - he can:

• climb out of his pack n play
• climb out of his crib
• climb up and stand on his changing table
• squeeze himself under the baby gate at the top of our stairs and escort himself on down
• climb the hutch in the dining room
• climb over any regular baby gate
• unbuckle the buckle on his highchair
• and now this...

he can climb INTO his highchair.

step 1: climb up the thin part on the outside of the stairs

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step 2: step backwards into highchair

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step 3: turn around in highchair

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step 4: sit

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lord help us.

5 weeks old!

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caroline is starting to put together some nice stretches of sleep - like 5-6 hours most nights. she's also starting to get some strength in her neck and is able to keep her head up a bit. she still seems so small, even though i know she's getting bigger!! she goes to the hospital on monday for her repeat EKG - hopefully everything is still looking good!

hair today, gone tomorrow

last fall i realized that my hair was getting long. though i was tempted to just chop it off then, i decided that i could hold out another few months to grow it long enough for another locks of love donation. i had hoped to chop it off before caroline was born, like i did when i was pregnant with Q, but that just didn't happen. so yesterday, in the midst of one of the first true summer hot and humid days, i decided it was time and went off to the mall to find someone to cut my hair. - here are some "before" pics with dripping wet hair: -

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here is the damage. it's kinda creepy that my ponytail is just chilling on our bathroom counter because it needs to dry out before i can send it off to locks of love. -

- and here is my attempt to take my own photo to illustrate how short we've gone: -

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it is way shorter than it needed to be. after the ponytail came off the hair in the front was still down to my shoulders. i told the hair cutting lady that i wanted to keep as much of the length as possible, keeping it longer on the top and front and just evening it out toward the really short part in the back. she didn't quite get that, so she evened the top/front to match the back, resulting in a super-short 'do. that's what you get for getting your haircut at the mall. i don't really care, i just need to figure out how to style it in the easiest manner possible since i didn't stick around the mall long enough to let edwina scissorhands style it for me.

again!

another hour and a half in the bassinet last night... progress!!!

4 weeks old!

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caroline is 4 weeks old already! she went to the doctor today. here are her stats:

• length = 21.25 inches (64th percentile)
• weight = 8 pounds, 13 ounces (44th percentile)
• head circumference = 37.3 cm (63rd percentile)

not surprising because she looks like a long, lean string bean. she'll be going to the hospital for a repeat EKG at some point just to verify that everything is indeed ok with her heart (no reason to believe otherwise.) she's still eating like a champ - yeah! she's also been stringing together 5ish hours of sleep at night and actually slept for 2 whole hours in the bassinet last night.

1st haircut!

we took quentin for his first haircut today. we went here. it is a pretty cool place, with toys for the kids to play with and TVs with cartoons at each chair. while most of me feels it's criminal to pay $20 for a toddler's haircut, i am glad that the person wielding the scissors is actually accustomed to wiggly toddlers and therefore is less likely to decapitate my son. he did very well, especially once she turned the cartoons on. at the end he got a prize - a little rubber duck. and he threw a tantrum when we left, so i guess that means he enjoyed himself! -

here is the "before" shot, crazy curly mop head.

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and here we go!

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and the "after" - so nice!

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they also gave us a certificate to mark the occasion and a snip-it of his locks

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3 weeks old!

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time really does fly! caroline was really not in the mood for being photographed. really, she's only in the mood to eat and be held. don't you dare try to put her in the swing or the bassinet!

it's the end of the world as we know it...

quentin can climb out of his crib. i am sure that he has been capable of it for a while now, but just never tried it. i saw the "light bulb" above his head last night as he tried to swing his leg over the side, and sure enough this morning he mastered the escape. guess we need to start looking at beds for him!

open eyes!

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finally some pics with her eyes open! i was trying to get a good photo for caroline's birth announcement. it will be one of these - just need to decide which!! note: she is wearing pink and the headband to verify that she is in fact a girl since she is bald and a spitting image of her big brother :)

atti-TWO-d

oh boy. they are here (the terrible two's, that is.) whenever Q doesn't get his way, the tantrum begins - crying, screaming, kicking, throwing stuff. we went to a yard sale this morning to get him some presents for his upcoming birthday and he was mad as heck that i wouldn't let him play with all the toys they had there. i'm sure that having to share our time and attention with caroline is fueling the fire as are his imperfect verbal skills. it's going to be a long year!!

happy due date!

caroline went to the pediatrician today for another weight check. i was really nervous that she still hadn't gained her birth weight back yet, but she checked in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces so she is in good shape!

getting there

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quentin acknowledges caroline now, and even likes to point out her head, nose, feet, etc. unfortunately (for her) he also likes to point out her eyes, even if they are open.

2 weeks old!

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she actually had her eyes open, but she wouldn't look at the camera! caroline is doing well. she is still nursing well. at her last weight check on thursday she weighed the same as she did at the weight check on sunday. the doctor wanted us to start supplementing her feedings to help her gain weight. i had a breakdown because i really want her to be a good nurser and was afraid that bottles and formula, even if only as a supplement, would ruin the progress she has already made. but we came up with a compromise - after each feeding, i pump and then jeremy gives the pumped milk to her from a syringe so we can try to avoid nipple confusion. i think she's gaining weight - we'll see at her next weigh-in on friday!