It's The Little Things

The main reason why I started this blog was so Quincey could have a "baby book" when she gets older but also, it's the little things that slip away from us and are forgotten that once meant so much.  So, I wanted to be able to remember the little things to share with Quincey one day like......

She always holds her thumbs like this.  She has since day one.  It reminds of the game you play with a baby when you tell them, "Oh!  I got your nose!"  But, no matter how many times I try to take her thumb out and make a proper first, she goes back to holding her hands like this (mainly the right hand).

Another little thing....  When Quincey had gotten her shots, she was fussy fussy fussy and Joe was on the hunt to find something that she would like.  She has always loved her Sunveno baby sleeper from her Uncle Johnny and Auntie Jessica so I had her laying in that.  Joe remembered that it had origionaly came with an detachable arch with three toys hanging from it that we had removed.  He found it in a closet and attached it.  Within seconds Quincey noticed the elephant and since then, can not get enough of it.  She will just lay there and smile at that elephant forever.  She especially loves it when daddy comes by and shakes it!  So fun to see the things they chose to like and no like.  I would have never guessed that little elephant would bring her so much joy!

 

And one more thing... I can't really get a picture of it but, Quincey has one super long hair on the left side of her head.  How she has one hair that is like two inches longer than the rest beats me but it's the cutest thing!

First Times Are Happening

Quincey enjoyed her first fire.  

She loved it and just stared at the flames mesmerized.  How sweet it was to sit by our fire after a great memorial day weekend enjoying our quality time as a little family.  We get such joy out of seeing Quincey explore her first time doing things.

Quincey's first time holding her first toy!

It may seem like a stretch but, we have been working on her reaching out and grabbing things and, although she hasn't done that yet, she is realizing that she has control over her hands and feet.  She will just stare at her feet and wiggle her toes until she freaks herself out and starts to cry :)  And, she has been consciously pondering her fingers so, I placed one of her toys in her hand and, instead of dropping it like she normally does, she played with it, put it to her mouth, and obviously knew that it was her little fingers controlling the butterfly.  Yay Quincey!

Also, I have been putting her feet in the grass on our daily trips to the park.  She likes to set her foot down on the grass and then pull it up really quick.  It's been a great way to get her to focus on her feet and start to realize she has control over her legs as well.

Big Things Happening For Our Big Girl!

The time had arrived.  Immunization time!  Honestly, my perspective on these shots drastically changed since COVID-19 reared her ugly face.  Initially, I was hesitant about the vaccines.  I've heard the horror stories about how they cause autism etc. so I asked my midwife long before Quincey was born.  She assured me that this was not actually the case but still, being a first time mom, I was putting a lot of thought into these shots and wanted to make sure they were all necessary not just the standard practice.  I'd rather Quincey get prescriptive care than cookie cutter care; however, two things changed my opinion and took away all hesitation.  First, I wish we had a vaccine for Covid-19.  I have, as we all have during this time, seen the difference a vaccine could have made for not just our family but the whole world and wouldn't hesitate getting the vaccine if there was one available, but also, my sister told me something my dad told her when she was also hemming and hawing about whether or not she should get her first child all the standard immunizations.  He said that we wouldn't be questioning it if we would have lived through the time when polo or diphtheria, or all the other nasty diseases were striking people down left and right.  We would have wished we had a vaccination and wouldn't show such hesitation.  Good Point!

So, that combined with being in the midst of a pandemic without a vaccination eased my mind but, when the time came, my heart hurt for my little girl.  Joe told me to be brave and set a good example for her-even at this young of an age which, when it comes to needles, is not easy.  I hate shots!  So, I held onto her nice and tight and waited for the first poke letting her know that all would be okay.  3 shots and a screaming baby later, it was all over with.  She actually didn't cry for long but, by the next morning, she was inconsolable for two days.  Poor little thing.  You could tell she just didn't feel good and her little body was fighting hard with her first immunizations.  It was a joy for her to wake up on that third day and have our smiling happy baby back!  And, although it was a tough step for a first time momma, I'm grateful that we have the ability to immunize our children.

 

The Logan's Landed... Again!

It seems like we have been waiting forever to have family come visit after Quincey's birth.  Grace and her family have been really wanting to come and meet Quincey but the infamous Covid-19 has stalled everything, but she didn't win this time!  After two weeks of quarantine and taking all necessary precautions, the Logan's finally landed in Albuquerque to meet our little peanut.

I was literally counting down the days and finally the hours for them to come. 

It was so sweet seeing them absorb Quincey in love.  And so fun to be on the receiving side of it.  For all my life I have been the one traveling near and far to be with the sweet babies in the family but not this time. This time, we are on the receiving end of all that traveling and love giving.  

 

 

Quincey was wide eyed the first couple days and slept better then she ever has.  As much as I try to keep her busy and full of new experiences, this was her first time around people and there's no way I can stage that for her.  She got to soak up all the different voices, different squeezes, and different kisses from all the different family members for three full days.  And all that basking in love tuckered her out!  The first full day they were here, she slept from 7pm to 7am!  She did wake up two times to feed but that is the longest night sleep she has had by far.  

 

In between all the sleeping and copious amounts of snuggles, she got to go to the mountains.  She enjoyed her first picnic and, while the Logan's hiked up to McColley hot springs, which they never did reach, Quincey and I hung back at the picnic area.  You will never believe what she did the whole time... SLEPT!  Trying to feed her with people around was quite the adventure.  I have never been around other people and needed to cover up so was quite excited about getting to use my spiffy cover that was gifted to me.  But, what a debacle!  It took 3 of us to achieve its purpose!  I definitely need a little practice before venturing out with it again!  But what a nice time it was with family in the woods.  Feels like home being with these guys!

 

Look at me trying to feed her!  Ridiculous! 

This was such a cute video!

I have also been wanting to paint our huge brown wall in the living room but, doing that with Joe working and Quincey in one arm was not going to happen so I took advantage of all the willing hands that arrived to pass her off to them while Afton and I painted the wall.  What I thought would be an hour long project essentially took all day.  The wall did end up needing at least 3 coats of white paint in order to cover up the dark brown but, I got it done and had a great time spending quality time with Afton in the process.  She has gotten so big and mature.  I just love seeing the beautiful, quirky, silly, and full of spunk, girl she has become.  Seems like not too long ago she was the one getting passed around from person to person to get snuggles.  

Speaking of Afton... watching her and Gideon with Quincey was probably the most precious thing about the past week.  To watch some of my favorite children in the whole world shower my child with so much raw and pure love was so touching.  I found Gideon bouncing Quincey on his knee while Afton serenaded her with a song on the ukulele.  And the contentment on Quincey's face was priceless.  She was just loving the bounce Gideon was providing and the music that was flowing from Afton.  It was like watching something come full circle.  I am so glad I have invested as much time and energy into those children so I have an established relationship with them that makes them want to invest the same amount of love and time into my child. PRICELESS!

 

 

And Quincey just loved her Uncle Jason.  Of course, anyone that knows Jason knows that he has an extremely soothing presence and Quincey got to taste that first hand.  He was able to put her to sleep-lights out-no problem and she just seemed to become butter in his arms.  Jason has been a huge influence in my life and I have always felt like our relationship would be more adequately described by dropping the in-law portion of brother. I mean, he has been in my life since I was 10.  Talk about having something come full circle!  Having Jason to my home, with my husband, and my child is definitely a full circle.  I have always looked up to him and respected him.  Right before they left, he told me that he thinks we are doing a great job.  That meant a ton to me because I respect him and his opinion so much that to hear him tell me that I'm doing a good job was a big deal.  Big brother may just be a wee little bit proud of me and that's pretty cool!

And Grace, well Grace is just such an amazing sister and Auntie to our little girl.  Out of all of them, I was most excited for Grace to see Quincey again because I know how it is to be the auntie counting down the miles to reach my babies.  So, I was very vicariously excited for her.  She told me that as much as she was trying to get her fill of Quincey she just couldn't get enough of her and I knew EXACTLY how she felt.  All the times I have pulled out of my sisters driveways and driven away from my nieces and nephews still feeling like I haven't gotten my fill of them was exactly how she was feeling.  Being with my sisters sweet babies was just like breathing in a much needed breath of fresh air and I could tell she was breathing that same air in with my baby that I had so many times with her kids.  It's so fun to see my sister get the same feelings from my little girl that I got from hers.

 

Finally, their last day, Joe was able to sneak away from work for an afternoon and took them up the Sandia mountains. I stayed back to snuggle Quincey in bed and take a nap.  

I am so glad that we got this time together.  Let me repeat myself... I am SO GLAD we got this time together.  It went by way too quickly and I'm not just saying that.  I really feels like they were only here for a day.  

Not even a day has gone by since they left and I am already looking forward to the next visit.  I'm trying to just be glad we got this time together but it also gave me a big juicy taste of how much I love being with my family and how much I want to share my little gift with them all the time; all of them.  How I would love to make the journey to Dessa's lake house in Coeur d' Alane this summer or plop down on my couch in Newcastle while my mom and dad look over my child with joy, or just pop up to Greeley for a weekend is overwhelming.   

I long for the day that Covid-19 buries her ugly face and is no longer a factor in when and how I get to see my family!  But until then, I'll be extremely grateful for this time with the Logan's!

Guitar Time!

Quincey loves swinging in her chair and listening to her papa play his guitar.  

Seriously, when she is not happy and a jittery mess, Joe starts to play for her and she immediately calms down.  

Baby Schroeder Keeps Getting Bigger and Cuter!

Little Ms. Schroeder is one week older!  7 weeks of breathing air under her belt and she has already changed so much.  Maybe it's because I'm not completely new at this anymore but she doesn't feel as fragile as she did and seems so much more like a little person.

We tried out shoes for the first time.  She wasn't a fan of me putting them on but didn't mind once they were there.  I just couldn't get enough of how cute she looked in them!

Also this week, our air conditioner upstairs was on the fritz so we have been improvising to try to keep the bedroom cool for Quincey so she sleeps better.  Yesterday Joe had enough time to try to fix it. What he thought would be an easy project turned out to be much more in-depth then anticipated.  It required three separate trips to Lowes, numerous trips to the roof top, and lots of patience.  Finally yesterday after having to replace the switch, rewire screwed up wires, a new pump, and jimmy-rigged copper tubing, we have air conditioning and it feels GREAT!  I don't know how my husband learned how to do all that but I'm grateful for the cool air and a husband that is still alive after dealing with live wires all afternoon!

Quincey also developed eczema over the last couple weeks.  First she had baby acne and so we were washing her face to take care of that and then the acne quickly turned into eczema that seemed to cover the whole side of her face over night.  Poor thing.  It didn't seem to bother her or itch and she was still a happy baby but we definitely wanted to get a handle on it.  We tried lotions and badger balm until we broke down and headed into the Coronavirus strickin' world to find baby eczema cream.  That stuff has been a dream!  POOF!  GONE!  It pops back up here and there but within two days the majority of it was taken care of.  

Quincey has taken longer naps this week and has been much more settled.  She gets ants in her pants at night sometimes and doesn't want to settle down but during the day she has enjoyed relaxing in her swing, likes tummy time more, and finally liked sitting in her chair for the first time!  She goes night night awake in her bassinet and puts herself asleep.  

Couldn't ask for a better or more adorable baby!