Happy Late Easter!!!

Anthony did a great job summing up the birth of Eliot.  The only addition I would make is that Anthony was the best coach a girl could ask for.  He was my supportive, massaging, cheerleader through every contraction. I couldn't have done it without him.  In fact, he was so good that the midwife was very hands-off.  She didn't need to step in much at all until I started pushing, I think because she could see that Anthony had everything covered.  

So, back to Easter.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

I love this face.  Ira's trying really hard to balance the egg while attempting to smile for the picture. 

Mmmm.  Easter Breakfast.  Ira passed up his cinnamon roll for a bowl of jelly beans. 

The day before Easter, Grandma, Ant, and Ira went to the Danbury Railway Museum to ride the Bunny Express.

I'd be freaked out too Ira.

Hanging out at home.

Brother bonding?  And we were wondering if Ira would regress. 

Ira absolutely adores Eliot.  Sometimes to the point where it's hazardous to Eliot's safety. 

 Mom and Dad were lifesavers!  Ira had a blast with them, and I cried when they left.  

Hope everyone is doing well.  Next post, I'll try and keep the pictures to a select minimum.  I just can't help myself. 

Eliot Spencer Quinn

Our spring blossom has sprung! It's a boy so I don't know how welcome the analogy is, but we'll go with it.

The labor went well, below are the cliff notes from my perspective, for full details you can call and chat with Sharon, she would love it.

Name: Eliot Spencer Quinn
Weight: 8 lbs. 15 oz.
Height: 20.5 inches



Tuesday April 3rd, 2012
4:30 AM - About the time early labor started, this is when Ira woke up and Sharon couldn't get back to sleep.
10:00 AM -We already had an appointment with the midwives so we went in for that, they said it could be labor, but contractions weren't consistent enough to warrant staying. Probably still early first stage labor.

So we went to Costco and stocked up on food and treated ourselves to a Costco lunch.

~ 3:00 PM - Contractions became more consistent at about 5-6 minutes apart, Sharon got more focused. Del and Mary Lou arrived from PA to help out with Ira. - Perfect timing.

~ 6:45 PM - Checked-in to the CT Childbirth and Women's Center - They are amazing! Sharon described it as 'Heaven'. The midwife was supportive as was the nurse on duty that night. - Dilated: 5 cm
~ 9:15 PM - Waters broke (literally burst) - Dilated: 9 cm
~ 9:30 PM - Second Stage Labor started - big pushes
~ 9:50 PM - His head came out slow and after a few pushes the rest of his body was not following. The midwife sternly commanded Sharon to flip out of the sitting position she was in and to get on her hands and knees. One of the babies shoulders was stuck against her pelvis, known as shoulder dystocia. We had an anxious few seconds, that seemed a lot longer, as the skilled midwife did a few maneuvers and the baby was born.

9:54 PM - Official birth time.

He didn't look good after coming out, you can see he is still getting all his color.
The flash didn't help either.

Cheers to mom! Sharon did really well.

Happy new father

We are all home, healthy, and happy.

Ira has been taking well to the new addition. He was a little hesitant at first, but he now affectionately calls it 'My(his) Baby' after some bonding time this afternoon.

Ira was his usual observant self when we first got home, not sure what
to make of the new baby.

He warmed up fairly quickly after he was able to get some alone
time with one of us.

A proud older brother.

Ira loves holding Eliot.

Some good bonding time...
may he always be so gentle and protective...

Thank You Mary Lou for being here with us! 

Ira and Eliot have taken well to Mary Lou.

Celebrating Eliot's birthday with a yummy cake.

She has been a huge help as we start to adjust our lifestyle for a family of four.

I don't know how Sharon is going to survive the three of us.

Ira Moving

Despite some health concerns with Ira he was a gem during the move.

Of Course he loved the boxes

He was really cute. He would curl up inside the box and close the
top and yell, "Where is Ira" 

He would then explode out of the box.

This hat caught his eye while we were moving and he
won't let us take it off. He even slept with it on a few times.

Christmas Morning

My expectations for a Michigan winter have been all but destroyed. I thought this was snow country, but Christmas has come and gone with only the slightest flirtation of it being 'White'. Deep down I like snow, but perhaps because the last two years we had enough snow to be snowed in for a couple of days I haven't minded the mild winter. So while we didn't have the typical weather, Christmas was great. Ira loved his presents, and Sharon and I have had time to relax and get a lot of things done that we otherwise feel to exhausted to accomplish, this is especially good given the approaching move. 

Christmas day was great. I loved watching Ira get excited about each present and want to play with it before moving onto the next gift. We enjoyed attending a musical church service, preparing a Christmas feast, and virtual visiting with family.  It all made for a Merry Christmas.

We love you all and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Ira enjoyed himself like every little child should.

Ira loves this little PEZ truck.
One of his favorite presents for sure.

This his happy face when posing for the camera.

We got some letter for the fridge,
 Ira really likes them.

Ira got a ton of underpants so we can start again
 on the potty training.

Let the holiday traditions begin

Christmas Eve has arrived! I'm actually a little disappointed in myself, I really didn't have Christmas on my mind much until yesterday. For those who don't know, we finally heard the 4th and last rotation for the program I'm in will be in Danbury, Connecticut. We will move the first week of February.  With such a short timeline the last few weeks and days have been full of distractions and the sudden urge to make sure things wrap up smoothly with this rotation. It wasn't until yesterday I realized how unprepared I was for the Christmas. I shamefully admit I was one of those people running frantically through stores picking up 'last minute' gifts yesterday. One would hope I had made more progress since my teenage years when my brothers and I would go Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve; one day is all the progress I can report.

Luckily, we are staying in Michigan for both Christmas and New Years. We will be starting our own family traditions as this will be our first Christmas with a child, away from family. We kicked things off today with a Christmas Eve Aebelskiver brunch. You may remember me mentioning my family making them for Christmas in an earlier post. We received the strange and ever so helpful Aebelskiver pan as a gift this year and couldn't wait to put it to use. You can find the recipe I use here. What are some of your favorite holiday food traditions?

He really liked them, despite his the disgust on his face.  It's really just his camera smile.

We wrapped presents and braved putting them under the tree today. Ira has been good about not playing with them. He can feel the excitement in the air, and loves all the sugary things to eat. He's been pretty cute and funny the last couple of days. What would a family post be without some highlights of him.

He loves helping out in the kitchen. He insists, "No, I do it"

You can't let those beaters go un-licked!

He likes all the shiny and glittery ornaments everywhere. We decided to do some Christmas Art with some old glitter glue we had lying around.

The Ira in boots picture of the day. He's still obsessed with them. Since he can put them on himself you never know when he will come around the corner and be wearing them.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Garden of Eden... Prairie

Hydrangea - One of Sharon's
Favorite Flowers

We always talk about how much we want a garden in our future home. This year we decided we should start learning on a smaller scale so we are further along the learning curve when we have a place to do a larger gardening project.

As we pulled up to the gardening store I suddenly felt extremely unprepared. All we had thought about was what we thought we could grow. I had no idea what we needed, if we should start with seeds or with something that was already growing, how big the pots should be, what could grow in a pot, etc...

Herbs: Rosemary, Cilantro, and Basil

We were blessed to run into a cheerful lady that held our hands through some of the bigger decisions. We're starting simple. We're trying a tomato plant and some herbs and we got stuff so we can hang them all on our porch when it gets warmer. It's the first year and I hope we can keep at least one plant alive through the summer.


Wish us luck.

We are trying the 'Topsy Turvey' Tomato planter where you
hang it upside down. We didn't want any of our plants to be
in Ira's reach.

The Ira Update:
He had his 15 month check up, he came in with the following measurements:
Height: 32 Inches (~80 percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs 4 oz ( ~25 percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 3/4 inches (75 percentile)

His latest mannerisms:
He keeps saying something like 'Bus' or 'Bush' at everything. We can't figure out what he's trying to say, but he says it a lot.
He started climbing. He climbs on all the chairs, the bean bag, the little night stands next to our bed, etc...
He started walking backwards today and found it pretty entertaining.
He is more vocal than ever. He laughs a lot and gives out little yelps of joy and screams of attention that are often hard to ignore.

Other Life Updates:
- We celebrated our 4th year being married.
- Sharon starts a cake decorating class, expect pictures in the future.
- We had a happy Easter Sunday with friends.
- We are all a little sniffly with some sort of head cold that's been going around the area.

We wish you all the best.

P.S. Several family members have asked why only one spouse gets an email update with the blog; it's because I can only indicate 10 people to send update to and that's barely enough to send it to one person in each family. However, I found a way around it, if people sign themselves up. If you go to the blog there is an area on the left of the screen where anyone can put their email address in and they will be signed up to get an email whenever we update the blog. So let your spouse or whoever is interested know, or sign them up on the blog.