March Madness

Hello!
It has been awhile since my last update but definitely not because we don't have anything going on!  In early March, we loaded up the kids and drove out to Colorado for a ski trip in Winter Park with my family.  It was a great time.  I was astonished at how great the kids were in the car out and back.  Seriously not a peep from them. I think it has to be all downhill from here!

So to continue with the ski trip, I am not a big 'ski bum' but I enjoy spending about 3-4 days a year on skis. The past two years, I missed out on skiing because I had just had c-sections.  So getting out in Winter Park, especially with the amazing snow and perfect weather, was a huge treat.  I did some recon before the trip and booked daycare for both kiddos for 3 1/2 days which was a perfect situation for them too!

We really enjoyed staying in a condo with my mom and sister Molly.  The kids had lots of fun being silly and spending time with family.  Here's a pic of Olivia on skis (this was more of a photo op... she was too little to actually ski but that didn't stop Dad from taking her out! :)

Jason spent the first 3 weeks of February working his tail off on a huge project to rebuild and upgrade the car wash tunnel.  Of course it wasn't a single-handed effort, there were several contractors and moving parts involved.  In the end, the place is much improved and the performance of the equipment is significantly better.  Every morning when he went to work (often leaving before the kids got up and returning after they were down), Olivia would ask "Where'd Daddy go?"  I would say "To fix the car wash."  After several days of this, she finally asked "Why can't he fix it?" and she said it should have been fixed by now!  Funny thing is whenever she sees something broken down, a pile of bricks or something 'messy' she says "Daddy can fix that."  She LOVES her Daddy too.

I believe in my last post, I noted that Quinn really started walking well in January.  Well, I can report now he is actually 'running'!  His mobility has developed faster than Olivia's did and I have hardly ever seen him fall down. She was doing puzzles, stacking things and putting things away when she was 10 months old (she was turning pages in books at like 6 months) and he is just starting to do those things.  Seeing the differences in their 'development priorities' is interesting.

With Spring here in KC and both kids mobile, I am excited for playing outside and going on walks very soon.  In fact, the outside playing together has already begun.  It is really sweet seeing them together and makes me so happy that they have each other to share their lives with too.

 Here are a few pics in the 'fun' grocery carts that we are always scoping out.  I've had a few people ask if they are twins since they are so close and Quinn is catching up to Olivia size wise quickly.  They wear the same size shoes almost and can fit into the same size clothes in a pinch.

Jason and I are doing well.  We've (meaning 'I've') been planning fun "date nights" on Saturday nights as we have a standing babysitter for that night.  We had a blast on Jason's birthday and on any random Saturday (and/or occasionally Friday) nights, we are out having fun.  I believe that a good balance between work and play is crucial to maintaining a good relationship.

Signing off for now. I am planning to keep this blog updated as much as possible without feeling too pressured.  Once every 2 months will be a minimum.
xoxo Claire

Likes and Dislikes

Hello!
2014 has started off at a fever pitch for us around here, and I do mean 'fever' literally!  Our little Quinn turned 1 on January 7th and his little body has been hard at work building his immune system.  I am so thankful that everyone was healthy on our wonderful Hawaii trip, but now that we're back, the bugs have set in. I guess things could be much worse than being in the comforts of home and treating little ones who are under the weather.

For this post, I thought I would recap all of our current likes and dislikes for the stage of life that we are presently in.

Daddy Likes putting Olivia down at night, watching 'Bond' with her on the iPad before bedtime, tickling Quinn until he giggles loudly and squirms, holding his little boy (even when he may be reaching for mommy!), overseeing bath time for both Olivia and Quinn, watching the kids interact with the dogs, especially Morton.

Daddy Dislikes going to work before the kids wake up and getting home too late to play with them, cold weather this time of year, waking up in the middle of the night to tend to babies (because he can't fall back asleep that easily).

Mommy Likes acting silly with the kiddos, conversing with them about anything, putting on music and 'dancing' with Olivia, playing 'cut the pickle', sing-a-longs in the car, weeding through the toys and donating some to charity, making sure rooms are clean and cribs/closets organized, seeing them play together and make up their own games, finding a good babysitter who is reliable and trustworthy.

Mommy Dislikes being puked upon in public, lollygagging (by Olivia) in the parking lot while trying to get everyone in the car, schlepping so much stuff around, picky eaters, a diaper bag without wipes, not having any time or flexibility to exercise.

Olivia Likes talking and expressing herself, "Quinnie" and being a big sister, learning to use the potty, going to the car wash, going to ride Willie, getting the 'grocery getter cleaned, wearing skirts and dresses so she can twirl in them, wearing butterfly wings and dancing around, MUSIC, graham crackers, milk, singing Twinkle Twinkle, her "PUP-pad" (iPad), telling Morton and Vanna what to do, her loveys - it is a big slumber party in her crib every night.

Olivia Dislikes really any 'new' foods and too many foods to even count (she is picky!), being dirty (she likes washing hands and wiping the table off), having mommy help brush her teeth, getting PJ's on after a bath (she likes to run around naked!).

Quinn Likes feeding the dogs table scraps and pretending that he isn't doing it WHILE he is doing it, big sister 'VEE-a', being held, being covered with his green blankie while being held, his glow worm night light that plays soft music (its the only thing that doesn't get booted out of the crib come morning time), exploring and having freedom now that he is upright and mobile.

Quinn Dislikes being put down unless it is his idea (did I mention he loves to be held?), being sick (!) and getting high fevers, the snotsucker, having lights on his room at night, anything on his highchair tray if he is not hungry (it all gets pushed to the floor!).

Poor Quinn is currently on the mend from RSV which is a virus that can affect young babies seriously and impair their breathing. He has been a trooper with all of the albuterol/nebulizer treatments and he is improving each day.  I might also mention that January 18th was the day that Quinn really started walking on his own a lot! It was almost a year to the day when Olivia started really walking too.

Here is a picture of Quinn with Mommy about a week before his first birthday. I know the pic is fuzzy but I LOVE LOVE LOVE his big bright smile!  I think his facial features and chin/bone structure looks a little like Jason in this shot too.

Stay healthy, warm and safe in this Winter season.  Take care and Love Always, Claire

Destination

Hello!
The Cunningham clan is excited to welcome in 2014 in just a few hours. The coming year will no doubt be fun, busy and as challenging as ever. Seeing these babies grow so fast makes me want to slow down the clock sometimes, but then again I am excited for what will come when they are more independent and less demanding of our time and constant attention.

Just yesterday we returned from an incredible week-long vacation on the big island of Hawaii with my parents, sisters and their families. Before we left (at 4 am on Sunday the 22nd), I told Jason "remember, its the journey not the destination..." to help me mentally prepare for the 18 hour travel day that lay ahead. He corrected me and said, "no, in this case its all about the destination!"

The long flights over and back were something I was dreading with the kids, but all of my anticipation and concern turned out to be for nothing. Both of the kids were great and absolute poster children of good travelers. I am quite certain that there were adults on every flight that fussed more than they did put together!

In preparation for the trip, I had been talking to both of them a lot about Hawaii, teaching Olivia to say 'aloha' and telling her about the ocean, whales, turtles and so on. It was absolutely precious when we came in for landing in Kona, she looked out the window and said "Ocean!! Daddy, there it is!" We climbed down the staircase to the tarmac and she started running excitedly and calling for the whales - "whales, I'm here! I'm coming whales!" I believe she expected them to be all around, on land, water, waving and grinning at her like the whales in her books. The airport workers got a good chuckle out of it. We did go whale watching and saw a few splashes off in the distance (btw, I don't recommend taking a 1 YO on a 3 hour whale watching catamaran excursion on high seas). Unfortunately she was a little disappointed on the whale front, but she still really loves whales and doesn't appear to be holding it against them.

We swam in the ocean almost every day we were there. In the evening, I took Olivia to watch the beautiful sunset from "our" spot on the beach. The stars were so bright and she sang 'twinkle twinkle' to them each evening. Honestly BOTH kids had an absolute blast doing island activities and playing with cousins, aunts/uncles, mom/dad, grandma/papa and just about anyone else who would give them attention. Each evening, we all fell into our beds to get rested up for another fun day to come.

On almost every trip we have taken with the Olivia, by the end of it, she is asking to go home. She loves being home, her bed, loveys, dogs, etc. But on the last day in Hawaii, she was asking to go to Hawaii. I think this little one has found a special connection with that island! We will have to save money and plan another trip over there someday.

Quinn is starting to walk some, and on the Hawaii trip, he really turned in to a chatterbox, trying on several new words and phrases. We got the kids some cute Hawaiian outfits and Quinn really rocked his little ensemble. He must be going through a growth spurt too because he has been eating a lot.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Love and blessings to all in 2014 and beyond.

~claire

Thankful

They say time flies when you are having fun.  Time has been flying around here, that is for sure!

I recall that before Olivia was born, I heard all kinds of things from people about how children change your life.  I heard everything in the gamut from good to bad, including how wonderful parenthood is, how you will never sleep again, how your relationship will change, your freedom will be lost, kids are expensive, yadda yadda and on and on.  Only one person nailed it for me though.  He said "You are in for a ton of FUN."

Of course, it's not always fun.  There are challenging times, but, as my brother in law Marc noted, just like everything else, in the end it's about 99% perspective.  When I look back at the past few years and the whirlwind of change for me and Jason, I feel absolutely so blessed and thankful for our family.  When you come from a place of thankfulness, it is hard to not see the fun in it all.

With a brief update here, I can say the kids are doing great.  Quinn is starting with some words now.  My sweet baby doll says "Mama" a lot.  He also says "VEE-a" for Olivia (Olivia calls him "Quinny" which is really cute).  He claps hands and waves now too.  A little tummy tickling will get him started on a funny cackling belly laugh.

Olivia is really into dolls and stuffed animal loveys.  I think she wants to start an orphanage so she can play mommy for all of the babies.  She is talking a lot and is one of my favorite people in general to spend time with and converse with.  She loves singing and music. Some nights instead of reading books before bed, we will rock in the chair and sing songs together.  She is really playful and goofy.  I believe one of her objectives is to stir up fun in any way that she can.  Though she has moods that come and go at times, she is a bright spot in everyone's day that comes into contact with her.

Here are a few recent pictures of everyone.

I'll leave you with an Irish Blessing from the Cunningham family:

May your troubles be less 

And your blessing be more 

And nothing but happiness 

Come through your door

Love, Claire & Family

Halloween Goblins

Hi all!
We're all doing well and staying really busy at work and play. Jason and I are putting together a deal with the bank to purchase the car wash building and land that we have been renting for the business that he operates in Overland Park. Once that closes, hopefully in the next few weeks, it will be a big weight off of our minds! Earlier this month we took a trip to Phoenix for Jason's mom's wedding, and it was great to take the kids on a trip like that.  My dad says that traveling with kids instills flexibility in children (and I think in their parents as well!). The airline accidentally routed our luggage to the opposite coast, but thankfully it caught up with us before the actual wedding; needless to say we got quite a workout in 'flexibility'on the trip!

We took Olivia to the zoo outside of Phoenix again this year and it is funny to note how different the trip was this time. She was so interactive with the animals and really soaking it all in.

We fed the ducks these little pellets that they sell, and there was a pushy swan that insisted on being fed. When I ran out of food trying to lure it away, it actually struck out and bit Olivia on the fingers! There were some tears but she was a real trooper. After that, she then announced that she wanted to feed ALL of the animals, even the alligators, tigers, etc. She had her first carousel ride too which was a really fun experience.

Quinn is very inquisitive, exploring things all the time.  He's particularly interested in the dishwasher and toilet (!).  He's quite a climber, moving swiftly up the stairs and climbing on top of tables, etc.  He is one that we need to keep a very close eye on these days, that is for sure!

For Halloween, Olivia was a white butterfly-angel (butterflies are her favorite!); Quinn was a pumpkin.  Mommy didn't dress up but if she had, she would have been the Tooth Fairy and sprinkled some magic teething powder to help these little ones out (they are both teething a lot now!)

Here are a few pics from a studio photo session that we had a few weeks ago.

 Love all, claire

Lightning McQuinn

Hi all!
I know it has been awhile since my last post but work and home life have been really busy and I don't see any breaks in sight.  Life is good so I have no complaints, but I may be scaling back to one update per month from here on. 

The kids are doing great.  As you can imagine from this blog's name, Quinn has become a quick crawler.  He is very curious and in to everything. We must be really diligent about keeping the baby gates closed now because he is like Houdini trying to escape from rooms these days.  It is a lot of fun to watch him explore things and Olivia and I like to have crawl races with him in the rec room.  He is pulling himself up and standing.  The other day he even let go and balanced on his own standing up.  He started scaling some stairs and made it up 4 or 5 steps before Daddy picked him up.  He was giggling and excited about his new adventure!

On the Olivia front, I thought I would discuss her growing cast of loveys and other favorites.  Olivia has always let us know what she likes and dislikes.  She has a long memory in terms of these things too.

Drink: milk and water
Food: macaroni and cheese, craisins, scrambled eggs, black olives, shrimp, chicken
Movies: Cars and The Lorax
iPad (she calls it her "pa-pad")

I thought for a split second that she was going to start potty training a few weeks ago because she showed interest and actually used the potty a few times, but now the potty is something that she makes her two babies use. She pretty much refuses to use it herself at this point in time.

I've helped her name a few of her loveys, but usually she comes up with the names.  Here is a picture of most of them except for the Froggie who was lost somewhere, but she still asks about him, may he R.I.P.

In the above picture we have Dolly, Baby, the horses who belong in the stable (Nemo, Shadow, and Rob), Flopsy Mopsy (back row), the horses who get a lot of play time Bob (current favorite) and Blanca who are sitting on the green blankie which has been a favorite since she was 3 weeks old, the iPad, Scotty, Froggie (former version), and Sleepy Bear.

I am trying hard to schedule another photo shoot for the entire family so hopefully next time I will have some decent pictures of us to share!

Take care. Love, claire & family

Grocery Getter

Hi All,
We're all doing well and so far have been successful keeping up with our little ones.  As I said last time, Olivia is learning new words all of the time and she loves pointing things out that she knows.  She like to point out "daddy's truck", and when we are driving she points out other trucks on the road too.

The other day Jason taught her to call my car "grocery getter" and she surprised me with it out of the blue one day, and we all had a good laugh.  Now she calls my car that all of the time, and I know she enjoys the giggles that she gets when she does it.

These days Olivia LOVES playing with the play kitchen set that our friends gave to us after their little ones outgrew it. The set contains all kinds of play food, dinnerware, utensils, you name it.  I have been teaching her names of vegetables (corn, tomato, peas, carrots, potato, etc). I figure if we are not going to eat a lot of vegetables these days (she mostly refuses them) then at least we can talk about them!

Speaking of eating habits, Olivia absolutely LOVES eating olives (maybe that counts as a vegetable?). They are the perfect finger food for her as she sticks her little finger right in the center of the olive to pick them up. She also loves shrimp, steak, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, craisins (dried cranberries), eggs and graham crackers.  We are always trying to expand her palate and I know it will come in time but we are not really there yet.  She drinks only milk and water. I got a wonderful juicer and have been making fresh juices at home, but she absolutely refuses to try it.  Something tells me this is only the beginning of that kind of behavior!

Back to my blog series on motherhood, the topic of food and eating habits is very important one for raising little ones as what you do there sets the tone for the family as a whole probably for years to come.  When you have a little sponge (like Olivia) watching your every move, it is important to make good food choices.  While we want to allow desserts and not get crazy about withholding sweets, we are trying to teach moderation with the unhealthy stuff and keep more of the healthy stuff around the house.  Luckily Jason generally leans towards the healthy side and doesn't snack a lot so it is easy for us to be on the same page.  

In the first year of a child's life when you are nursing an infant, a big part of the mom's life revolves around feeding the baby.  I am not complaining though because the benefits by far outweigh any other aspect. Nursing is really incredible for bonding, and the mother-baby bond from nursing is the first 'relationship' that a baby has.  It also keeps me constantly in tune with his needs. At any waking (or probably even semi-conscious) moment I can tell you when he nursed last, when he will be hungry or when I will need to pump.  Sometimes when he is fussy or I can tell he has had a 'rough' day, I will snuggle and nurse him for comfort (then again that's probably a two way street!) :)

Another current benefit of nursing Quinn is that he is my little fat-buster, like a baby personal trainer!  The child is a voracious eater, and nursing is no exception!  It is a great way to burn calories.  With Summer coming to a close soon, I am making a push to exercise more and drop a few more lbs. of baby weigh before Winter sets in and it gets even harder to do.  I am trying to be practical about it and not stress over it either.  Bottom line (no pun intended) is that I need to be able to keep up with these little suckers as they have me outnumbered and are getting smarter by the day!

Here are a few pictures to share.  Olivia wanted to put her butterfly wings on Quinn the other day. He was a good sport about it.

Take care all. xoxo claire