A Day at the Park

Last weekend was Spring Break. As usual here in Atlanta, the weather didn't cooperate the way we wanted. However, weather aside, the break was the best we've ever had (24 hours a day with Quincy!).

Our first visit to the zoo this season, part one.

Yesterday was our first visit to the Atlanta Zoo this season. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day so Tim slathered sun-screen all over Quincy's face---and her hair. Being bald, he thinks greasy sun screen goes everywhere on your head.

We, of course, visited the lions, tigers, elephants, etc., but what Quincy really appeared to like was petting the goats, sheep, and pigs. She was finally able to see, in real life, what a sheep that says "Baa" looks like, what a pig that says "Oink" looks like, and what a goat that says "Neh" looks like.

The pig was my favorite. He just slept through the whole petting-experience....that's relaxed!

Our first visit to the zoo this season, part two.

After the petting zoo we went over to the new children's play area. I wish I had that playground equipment in my backyard.

While Quincy tried a little of everything on the playground, we couldn't pull her away from the slides. She mastered both (the straight slide and the twisting slide) after one try each. However, that gave her a little too much confidence as the next time she went down she decided to try the straight slide head-first. I jumped at her to stop her, but Tim held me back telling me that we need to let her try things on her own. I guess he was right as she came down in one piece, giggling all the way.

Easter

Easter was a low-key day for us as Quincy was still a little sick from her Sickness-Du-Jour. However, there was no way we would let the day go without her very first Easter egg hunt taking place. Tim picked out her Easter basket---Hello Kitty!

At first she had absolutely no idea what was going on, but after the first egg went in the basket she was in a frenzy....she couldn't get them fast enough. Every egg she picked up wasn't just gently placed in her basket but slammed down instead. Hard. Every time an egg went in, we just heard "crack". She LOVED it! And, today (the day after Easter) it appears that she is finally back to being a Healthy Child. Finally. Keep your fingers crossed that it lasts....

The only picture that we could get with her bunny ears on...she didn't like them too well.....

Three Solid Weeks of Sick

Quincy went almost two whole months without even so much as a runny nose. That changed about three weeks ago when we had our first middle-of-the-night trip to the ER (104.5 fever...). Since that visit we have officially changed Quincy's name to Typhoid Quincy. She has had some sort of ailment every day since then...(kind of like her hypochondriac mother, but her ailments are real, not imagined).

Notice in the photo below the "Under Contract" sign in our yard. It took seven whole days of being on the market....what a HUGE relief that we won't have two mortgages (but completely bittersweet).


Last Wednesday it looked like she was finally getting well so Tim went out and purchased Quincy her very own rocket ship. But...she must have pick up another yet another virus on her latest mission to Mars as she became sick (again) on Thursday....just in time for my two aunts and my cousin (who have never seen Quincy before) to come in to town. Bummer for all....

For Erica....

About two months old, but better late than never!

Quincy goes to Court

Last month, Tim and I took Quincy to court to petition for a United States birth certificate. The laws vary state-to-state, but our state requires an appearance in front of a judge for the order to go through. Once the order has been met, we take the order to GA's Department of Vital Statistics and we fill out the form to gain her US birth certificate. I'm not quite sure how this all ends up as we haven't gone to Vital Statistics yet, but supposedly when everything is said and done, Quincy will have a certificate that lists Tim and myself as her birth parents. Neat, huh?

p.s. This is the face Quincy makes when we say "smile".


Quincy checking out the surroundings as we waited in the judge's chambers.
However, she soon became uber-bored and a tad fussy.....
The judge who handled our case was the Chief Judge for the Superior Court of Fulton County. It was actually an honor to sit with her and answer her questions. They weren't interview-type questions...she was actually very interested in the whole adoption process (and she couldn't get enough of Quincy...which we completely understand!!!).

It's been awhile----we've been busy---sorry!!

So, after months of working on our house until the wee hours of the night, we finally put it up on the market. Our real estate agent told us "your house is never perfect until the day you put it up for sale". She was right. It is perfect.....but too far from our jobs. Hence the move.....we wish we could take our tiny-little house and move it to the suburbs, but no-such-luck.
This picture is just sooo pretty I had to stick it in.....
Quincy just discovered pockets.....
Our new lot where our new monster/suburb house will be built.....hey, but I saw my very first blue-bird (ever) here on this day. So there ARE good things about selling out and moving to the 'burbs, right??? Tim and I have been trekking up to the model-house/show-room every weekend to pick out all the stuff that is required for the house (carpet, hardwood floors, tile, etc). Quincy likes to hang out at the top of the stairs and look at all the people on these days....

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

After we opened up our presents, we motored on over to the Grandparents to spend the big part of Christmas with Quincy's Grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Quincy had a great time....playing with all the boxes and paper!

Christmas Morning

We are trying very hard not to spoil Quincy. Our plan is to only get her toys that have some sort of educational value. The one exception to that rule is her new "cell-phone" (okay, it's a total fake with a recorded message that is our voices). We purchased this phone for her in the hopes that it would pacify her so she wouldn't pick up the real phone and make bogus phone calls. She loved it for all of one hour as we took it to Grandma and Grandpa's later that morning and it is now officially lost. Oh well.

Her BIG present she received is a table and chair set that is just her size. I stained it avacado green (sounds gross but it's actually really pretty) and her seat cushions are big pink flowers. When she laid her eyes on it Christmas morning, she literally squealed (and I mean squealed) with delight. She absolutely LOVES it!!! She sits at it every chance she gets to play with her blocks, puzzles, new xylophone (another Christmas present), etc. It was a good gift.....

Pictures for Christmas Cards...

Last weekend we had one of our good friends (who has a really nice camera!) come over and take some family photos so we could have some Christmas cards made. The dress Quincy is wearing was purchased during our time in China and I have been waiting for the day that she could wear it. When I finally put it on her, Tim and I just cracked up...she looked so adorably cute and funny simultaneously. The Christmas cards should be good....

This-and-That

One of Quincy's favorite places to sit is in Otis' dog-food bowl. While it's kind-of gross, it's also kind-of cute....

Yesterday we went to the "Pink-Pig" train ride at Macy's. I guess it's a long-standing Atlanta holiday tradition and since we live in Atlanta and we now have a child, we're playing the game.....
It was a little chilly, so we bundled her up in her new sweater that her BFF, Lucy, bought for her for her birthday and headed out....


When we got to the ride, she was more interested in her shoe than the pepto-bismol-pink Atlanta tradition. We'll try again next year when she's a little older and see if she likes it any better....

The First Hair-Cut (and Black-eye!!)

Quincy's hair was finally long enough to take her in for a much-needed trim. We took her to a funky children's hair cuttery in downtown Decatur that we had made reservations at a week prior. I was so excited as her hair really needed to be cleaned-up, but I was also excited as it was another "first" that I could take pictures of for her future photo album of life (Tim thinks I am sooo lame for doing this). The only problem was the night before we took her in, she fell and got her first official black-eye with a rather large face-scratch to go along with it. AND, as if that wasn't bad enough, after her hair cut, her bangs weren't long enough to hide all of her older, yellowing face-bruises and they became painfully obvious (when she falls, she falls face-first). Oh, well. It will just make her photo-album more interesting....

The pictures are before, during, and after-cut pictures with the last one being at dinner afterwards looking all spiffy...

Halloween...

Quincy went as a dragon or a dinosaur...not really sure what she was....but whatever animal she was channeling, she sure was cute!!

Oh! She actually went trick-or-treating down the street (we just stuck her in the front garden for a photo-op...)