The latest and greatest

I feel like I haven't blogged in a long time! I guess it's only been a few weeks. We have been gone a lot, which makes for good blogging stories, but no blogs. Quinn and I headed up to Seattle two weekends ago to visit my sister and her family. My nephew, Gideon, turned one so we went to his first birthday party and hung out. It was really nice seeing them, our good friend Shannon, and being in the NW again. The green, water, clear sunny days. Reminded me of good memories. We had a lot of fun visiting and seeing the babies together. What is it about babies loving babies?
I did learn a few things from this trip when it comes to traveling with a newborn. The airport sucks. I can't go into this enough how difficult they make everything. I have read quite a few news articles about situations of holding a mom captive and questioning her over some breast milk. Well, this didn't happen to me, but it may as well have. There is something very vulnerable about being stuck for two and a half hours with a sick crying baby in a small tube you can't escape while you nurse your flailing baby next to the four new male strangers you just met. At one point the flight attendant told me I would have to take Quinn out of the Moby wrap I spent hours strategically getting her to sleep in for takeoff. It is safe, close to me, and for the greater good of all humanity that she stayed in it. I told her I am not taking it off and waking her up so she threatened to kick me off the flight if I didn't adhere to her rules. Coincidentally, I was chatting with the other friendly flight attendant in the airport beforehand, so she cleared it up and said they didn't exactly know the guidelines regarding the Moby wrap and that it was fine. The unreasonable flight attendant then spent the entire flight complimenting Quinn on how cute she was every time she walked by us. Flattery never hurt, but she was flirting with a soon to be crazy mom. All in all, it went pretty well. She slept the entire time there and made me work the entire way back. I think thats a fair trade.

Pictured above: the very dangerous in flight baby wrap! I like to think of it as more of a safety harness. 
While we were in Seattle, Quinn had her first full blown giggle. I was kissing Gideon's belly, which he thought was mildly funny and she thought was hilarious. I caught it on video and I have watched it too many times to count. Since then she has giggled a few other times and I can't get enough of it!

I couldn't upload the laughing video, but here are the giggle monsters. 

Last weekend for Fathers Day we made our first family trip away. We stayed in a hotel in Denver for the weekend. I haven't seen that much gear packed into the car since I went to the Dave Matthews Festival with four girls. Quick weekend getaways are definitely different now, but still very much worth it! We had a fabulous time going out to eat, taking Quinn in the pool for the first time, and people watching during the cities biggest nerd convention, Comic Con. We weren't aware this was going on prior to our stay, but so thankful it was because it gave us hours of entertainment. We had an amazing time just the three of us doing whatever we wanted to do. I am so thankful for memories like these, spending quality time together. What a special first Fathers Day. I always knew Kyle would be an amazing father. Anyone who knows him would agree. Quinn and I both are lucky girls.

One of the highlights of our Denver trip was going to Washington Park downtown. It really is an impressive park. Lots of water, people of all ages doing activities, and beautiful weather on the day we went. 

This is the one and only time this swimsuit will probably fit :-( 

Quinn is starting to recognize herself in the mirror. Lil mama likes what she sees apparently :)

Two weekends in a row of traveling and we are all still alive. Success!