We're back, part 3

It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's a doozy. Quinn sometimes throws a fit.

Dress from Grandma M. Hat & Sunglasses from Mia.

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We can't get Quinn to do hats. She almost always knocks it off her head (like in the pic, below). 

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.

Mommy & Quinny self portrait

Easter Sunday. At 1PM when Cora was on couch sleeping and Easter Baskets were only a few feet away from her... I knew we were going to see Dr. Davis the next day.

Check out Quinny tabled-up with the big kids!

James & Sean Groeber. March 2013.

Quinn and Annalisa Groeber, soon to be best of playmates. 

As a side, look at the size of Quinny's ears in this picture. She is definitely Fred Hill's grandaughter!

Hot pants and high heels. Cora Jane Messal.

Notice that is her baby carrier in that wagon.

Cora & Quinn like to pull shoes out of the shoe closet. This morning in particular, they tried on every pair of shoes I owned. Landon sometimes complains about it; I use it to teach Cora about matching & sorting when we are putting them all away. 

We are back, part 2

Oh, the guilt. The agony. Quinn's first birthday pics are in this pile of photos. 

I am a HORRIBLE mother. 

I will own it. 

Quinn, I documented every moment of your sister's life. Someday, when you read this, what I want you to know is that I was a much better mother with you than I was your sister. Seriously. It might feel like I wasn't following you around with a camera, but honestly, I enjoyed you so much more. I don't mean that I didn't enjoy your sister. I really did. But with you, I'm much more relaxed. I am much less neurotic. 

And somehow, I do not have pictures of you taking your first bite of cake. I cannot even think about it. 

Sweet Quinny checking out Pearl. She is Pearl obsessed. Quinn hit the usual's first: Mama, Dada (in no uncertain order), then Pearl made top 5. 

Just a typical day in the kitchen

Quinn's first basketball game. Big E's team (Charleston Southern) did really well this year in their tourney; we caught a few games.

With Alli, Cora's adopted  big sister. Alli is so good to Cora!

Here, Cora was declaring that she does not like the carwash, but she likes the car blow dryer.

Hide-n-go-seek has become a favorite past-time at the Messal house.

With Danielle & Scott, Trevor & Tracy, at a Charleston Wine & Food Festival Event.

Trevor only looks homeless. 

I have NO clue where we were here. None whatsoever.

Quinn's first birthday. How happy!

This series of pics was awesome. We totally missed the timing on the presents. When Cora turned 1, Sharon and Aunt Feather gave her the doll bed they had when they were little. When Quinn turned 1, I gave her the one my Papaw Dennis made me. When the bed came out, Cora was devastated. She just stood there with her head down for what felt like forever. It was just a miss on timing - Cora had presents, too. It was heart breaking - I have no idea how to teach her to not expect presents on other people's birthdays. It was a really hard thing to watch.

We have more pics, I promise. But they are on the external hard drive, which is packed-up, because we are homeless for 4 weeks starting today (story to follow soon). I include these pics as a place holder just in case...

I cannot believe it has been a year. Was there life before Quinn? I can't remember it!

We are back, Part 1

In January, I ordered my old blogs printed from a site called "Blog to Print". The blog has become our family album. I was totally unimpressed by the layout, the picture quality, etc. As a result, I decided to revamp our photo album, instead loading them into a Shutterfly book and sharing that with our friends and family.

 I kept that up for 1 week.

Then we entered the busiest 4 months we've had yet.

The good news is, we've been busy for all of the right reasons. Landon got a new job (his ideal job) and that plus school kept him out of the house Monday-Thursday, 7AM - 9PM. In his downtime, he studied. Around Easter, we found a house we love in our favorite neighborhood, and decided to buy it and sell our house. That was a little nuts (more to come).

 Long story short, we're left with 4 months of very few recorded memories. Quinn learned to walk. And talk. Cora has mastered the alphabet and is counting pretty darn good. The list goes on of memories I didn't record. It makes me sad.

 So, we are back! First, some catch-up pics.


This would be a great pic for a caption contest.
My caption would read, "Will this child EVER learn to just get up and fix her own breakfast?!?!"

Sweet, sweet Quinn-iken.

Rainy Friday night dinner at Okra Grill

Superwoman!

Valentine's Day

Another caption-worthy photo. 

"I already told you... no junk food today!"

Dinner night with Zoey & Max, neighborhood favorites

With Miss Aimee

Quinn showing her bestie Annalisa the ropes

Somebody got into Mommy's lipstick.

Please reassure me that there is not a mother in America that actually cleans her child face off instead of grabbing a camera. Please. 

I am finished, Mommy, come get me

It was Wednesday this week when Cora decided to throw a humdinger of a fit before school.
She woke up too early, and had been downstairs playing with Daddy since 5. By 7:30, she was starting to wind down.

Quinn woke up, and Cora and I went up to get her. Cora wanted to get in Quinn's bed (a great trampoline with rails). After I cuddled and changed Quinny to go downstairs, Cora declared she wasn't finished. I picked her up out of the crib anyways.

Cora flung herself on the ground. She stood-up to jump up and down then flung herself on the ground again. She wailed and kicked. In a wonderful "mother-of-the-year" moment, I picked Quinn up, walked out of their room, closed the baby gate behind us, and told Cora I would come and get her when she was finished.

The fit lasted a good 20 minutes. Wailing. Crying. Kicking. "I don't like you's".

Then, out of the blue, I heard a sweet, angelic voice from the heavens (or the balcony of our house) saying, "I am finished Mommy. Come get me."

And just like that, it was done.

[Disclaimer: this fit happened in February, when I first started this post, and about the time I ran out of time to blog. The fit was thrown with such stunning and dramatic flair that I still remember it, like it was yesterday...]