Update and Quinn's Big Night Out...

Hey, all!
Sorry I'm not doing as well as I thought I might at keeping up with the blog. I'm not sure where all he time goes, but this newborn thing is VERY time consuming... Turner and I JUST realized today that Christmas is next week. Yikes! Sorry, got to pause now as Quinn is ready for some food!
:-)

And somehow two hours later I'm back. Things are going pretty well. Today is my first day at home alone with Quinn and it has been reasonably uneventful. We've eaten a few times, fed the dogs, done a load of laundry, worked on address labels for Christmas cards, washed bottles, and had some tummy time and a sing along... I imagine we'll get into more of a pattern and hopefully get more done after we get the hang of it a bit more.

Turner's mom left on Sat morning to go back to Greenville. This is a picture of them on Sat. morning befoe she left. I think she had a pretty hard time leaving Quinn. I'm not 100% sure she wasn't ready for a break from us, but I don't think she was ready to say goodbye to her grandson. We all miss her a lot. She was more help than I even could have imagined and I think Turner and I both learned a lot from her. The good news is that my mom will be in for most of December and then it sounds like Quinn's grandmother will be back in early January for a conference at least so he'll get plenty of grandparent time. We're hoping that his Granddaddy can come up in January too so he can get some more quality time with him.


Here's a funny shot of Quinn. I'll admit it isn't his most flattering picture ever, but he was hanging in his Rainforest bouncy seat trying to figure out the whole rainforest situation and he was making a funny face so I thought I'd share it. For a newborn, I'm amazed out how mobile he is... He can lift his head and control his neck pretty well AND last night, he managed to wiggle all the way to the bottom of his sleep positioner while swaddled. His daddy calls him a Wiggle Worm a lot and I'm thinking that may be one of his most appropriate nicknames.


Now, on to Quinn's Big Night Out. Last night Frank, Amber and Corrie were planning to come over and hang out. After talking a bit about what we wanted to eat, we ultimately decided that Thai was the most appealing, however, we also all needed to go to Target and there isn't a Thai place near us so after some careful consideration, we decided to try meeting at Target and going out for Thai afterwards. Our trip toTarget went well as Quinn loves to ride in the cart in his carseat (and sleep) and then it was off to the restaurant where he slept through most of dinner as evidenced by his big night out picture.


We figured who better to accompany us on our first dinner run than Frank and Amber who have been there themselves and not that long ago. What a difference a few months make in baby-time, though... Corrie was a little bit (ha!) more alert and entertaining at dinner. She actually wasn't all that interested in Quinn himself but was such a sweet and funny girl! It's amazing that they are really only 8 or so months different, but it is SUCH a difference right now.



This is our family night out photo... We figured Thai was a good option as it tends to be reasonably quiet and not very crowded. The weird set into the wood booths worked well also as we were able to have Quinn right by us (granted, he slept all the way until the end and then took a portion of a bottle before we headed home). He was a little on the angry side when we left the restaurant, but he calmed down pretty quickly and then settled back into his regular (as regular as he gets right now!) routine last night at home.


Here's a Gallina family photo. I am SO glad that Frank suggested trying going out as I figure the first time is the hardest, so now I know it can be done. We were by far the most popular table at the restaurant, though I don't think anyone much card about me, Turner, Frank or Amber. The kids were a big hit, though!


Here's a final funny Corrie shot... See her two big girl teeth she's showing off. She and Frank were cracking me up at the end of dinner. Right now she seems convinced that her dad is kind of an amazing beat box artist... I'm wondering at what age she'll figure out that he isn't a pro... Either way, their song and dance routine could definitely win some awards but I think that Corrie gets most of the credit for that!

Hope all of you are well.
Miss and love everyone,
J