Christmas has come and gone and the only trace of it in our house are the straggling decorations I’ve yet to put away. In a very uncharacteristic move of mine, I took the tree down the day after Christmas.  While I love the beauty of a Christmas tree, ours was beyond a fire hazard it was so dry. Plus it was such a temptation for Quinn. I was done pulling her away from the tree for the 453456532 time in fear that she’d actually chomp down on the little lights.

It was a year like none other for me. It was the first time in my life that I did not spent Christmas with my parents. It had long been a request of Jake’s, even before Quinn was born — that he wanted us to have our first family Christmas, together, in our house. I was both excited and a bit sad at the idea. And while I know that as a family we will spend many many more holidays seasons with my parents, this year was a passage into the next season in our life. I was happy to be able to celebrate the holidays, with just us and our new family.

Christmas morning came and we plopped Quinn down in front of her gifts and let me say, this girl knows what to do when you put paper in front of her. She happily tore the gift wrapping off and was thrilled at the prospect of all of this delicious paper. Luckily, what was inside the colorful paper was a good distraction from her unending pulp cravings. She loves her new toys and is especially thrilled with this one and this one.

While the day started out almost like any other day, it quickly got into full swing. I began preparing our first family turkey.  Thanks to Arctic Blast 2008, the city of Portland had been basically shutdown for the past 5 days. However in spite of the weather, we invited Jake’s folks over for dinner. And there was no way his parents were going to set a rubber tire on the roads, but Jake was more than happy to venture out in the all wheel drive Volvo.

It was during this time that Jake was gone, I checked on the little 13 pounder turkey and had a momentary freak-out when I saw the little “button” had popped out. WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO? After being unable to reach Jake or his parents by phone to have them answer this question, I took a couple of deep breaths and got my bearings. I placed the ever hovering baby in her highchair (who can by the way say “HOT” but does not yet really know what “HOT” means), and took the bird out of the oven. I double checked the temp with our trusty thermometer and sure enough, it was ready to devour.  Jake returned with his parents and we had a great time. I don’t think I was ever so excited to see family members. Being cooped up in the house for over 7 days straight was really wearing on me.

Our Christmas continued yesterday when we headed over to my in-laws for a celebration with Jake’s brothers family. Quinn had a blast, despite barely napping prior to the event. She is in awe of her older cousins, and loves watching them run circles around her. The day was not without it’s baby milestone either. Quinn took 5 steps on her own. And can I just say that it was very cool of her to tackle such a milestone in front of many family members. We kept trying to get her to take more steps, but she’d do the baby-lung-forward thing where she just falls into whoever is closest to her.  But still, she did walk on her own.

So today is Sunday and the Christmas celebrations are finally over and done with. Even more importantly, the snow is FINALLY melting, which I am very thrilled about. I can now continue my rigorous routine of running to Target for a never ending need of baby diapers, wipes & other miscellaneous super essential must have items.

Quinn turned 10 months old this week and can someone please shoot me for ever even thinking that a newborn was a handful?!?  I mean seriously, she used to just lay around, crying when she wanted to be held or fed, or changed, but honestly, she has never cared whether she’s got a loaded diaper or not.  Yes, I heard many people warn, “oh, just wait”, but just like anything, until your here, you cannot appreciate those words.

So where she used to remind me of a delicate little wall flower, she now reminds me more of Wile E. Coyote, creating a path of destruction wherever she goes.  Her destruction is two-fold, one part: curiosity, second part: unsteadiness.  She crawls at an alarming pace which is fine, however once she reaches her final destination — usually my shins, she pulls herself up on my pantlegs and wobbily stands as if she’s walking a tight rope and is about to lose it.

Her sole purpose in life right now can be summed up below:

1. Stand at whatever object is near her, then reach out to the next object and *fall* towards it, hoping she is still standing. Result: Potentially could land flat on her face, kissing the hardwoods.

2. Find a bookshelf and pull books off one-by-one. Result: Cries when one hits her toe.

3. Making her way to the potted Palm Plant, pulling off little pieces of the bark and trying to eat them. She also loves to grab handfuls of dirt and toss them on the floor. Result: Get’s pissed when I remove her from this activity, usually cries.

4. Pulling wipes out of the container, one-by-one. Result: She pulls one out, I quickly shove it back in, so the game can continue and so we don’t have a pile of unused wipes that need to be tossed. Yes, I pick my battles.

5. Find a drawer and remove all contents inside. Her dresser drawer is the best for this activity, as her clothes are small and can be removed easily. Result: Her bedroom is usually very messy with clothes and such strewn across the floor at any given moment of each day. I also have given up on keeping her clothes folded “nicely” in the bottom drawer.

6. To find me, lurking somewhere, out of her view. When she’s sitting playing, I quietly exit the room to complete some luxurious task like *peeing* (I know, how dare I). However within moments her little Mommy Radar goes off and she’s on the move. Result: She reaches me before my *task* at hand is complete.

These six activities, plus the 500 I’m forgetting to mention, happen everyday, throughout the day.  Multiply these activities by her unsteadiness, clumsiness and her unearthly amount of curiosity and you’ve got a day in the life of Quinn and Christine. Which when I think about it, I am completely and utterly amazed at how quickly these little blobs calm infants, become little people. She amazes me with what she knows. She amazes me with her personality which is full of energy, spunk and this undying determination. She loves to make Jake and I laugh with her little games of saying “ahhhhh” after taking a drink of water, or copying how we chew our food — she chomps her gums/teeth together loudly. The little person that she’s becoming makes any amount of exhaustion that I feel at the end of the day, so worth it.

We officially kicked off the Christmas season in our house this week. I had grand plans in my head of traveling out to the country and hand picking Quinn’s first Christmas tree, however it was a Monday night, and our window of opportunity was less than an hour, so I settled for a lot that is less than 1/2 mile from our house. My only criteria for this year was that it was a Noble & it was 4-5 feet tall. I think Jake was very happy to see that the tree lot’s options were limited to less than 6 trees to choose from.

Anyway, we brought it home and this is how the evening went…

Near dinnertime, Jake said he was heading out for a quick errand. I quickly bogarted his “outing” and asked, if Quinn and I could tag along and pick up a tree while we’re out. He agreed with little reluctance. Here are Quinn and I, sitting in the car, waiting for Jake while he popped into the grocery store.

Here he is walking back to the car, clearly beginning to regret this decision.

I brought along the camera so I could document the actual “picking out the tree” process, but I forgot. So, after the tree was in the car, and Jake was paying, I quickly snapped this photo of the tree lot from the entrance. Lame.

This was a two night process by the way. So the following night I brought up the decorations and let Quinn bless them all with baby slobber.

While waiting for Jake to finish work, Quinn and I passed the time waiting for the Tree trimming ceremony. This is a game I like to call, mommy-is-a-jungle-gym-and-baby-climbs-all-over-me.

Further photographic evidence of me being a human jungle gym. Look at the rage in her eyes folks. Somebody save me.

By the way, you’ll see that the tree is lit in the back ground… I had covered it in lights earlier that day, as well as some straight up MacGyver style baby proofing.

Bungee cords wrap the tree, which wraps around this exceptionally heavy table. All is covered in a holiday table cloth, which I’m re-purposing as a tree skirt. Which by the way, is a little money saving tip. Tree skirts are ridiculously expensive. I picked up this table cloth at Joann Fabrics for 11.99. The tree skirts were $50. Anyway, my baby proofing seems to be working. It would take much force for Quinn to tip this entire unit over.

Let the trimming begin. Jake let Quinn select which ornament to place on the tree… I have not yet purchased a “baby’s first Christmas” ornament.

Trimming complete. Mandatory family photo, which actually turned out good. And by good, I mean, we’re all looking at the camera and baby is smiling! (“Good” in no way references the actual quality of the photograph, as this camera and I are barely on speaking terms.) Did I mention this is what I want for Christmas?

Behold, the Olsen Family Christmas Tree 2008. Happy holidays!

Thanksgiving came and went so quickly, the only way I can be sure that it happened is by my current disdain for turkey/cranberry sandwiches.  The day of thanksgiving was spent at my In Law’s house and a good time was had by all.

The next we boarded the train for my parents house (my new favorite mode of transportation with baby in tow). While the train was loooonnnggg (6 hours), it does provide us with the “freedom” that little miss Quinn seems to enjoy. She was entertained by the passing scenery, unfamiliar faces smiling at her and of course the red “Emergency” handle at the base of our window.  She was a gem during the ride and the most exciting part actually had nothing to do with her.

The three of us were stretching our legs in the vestibule (the sections between the cars where bathrooms & doors are located). We spotted the “handicapped” bathroom and I decided to take advantage. It’s this great big bathroom with this fancy door that is automated. You push on the handle once to open/close and and vvvwallla… like magic the door SLOWLY opens and shuts. Anyway, I was taking care of “business”, taking special care to not let one inch of my skin touch the filthy toilet when the large door begins to SLOWLY open and a strange man is standing there. He yelled “OOPS” and walked away as I tried to close the door while saying “OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH”… Of course the door could not close quickly, so my backside was on display for what felt like 5,000,000 seconds. When the door finally shut, Jake who was standing just out of eye shot, realized what had happened he yelled, “YOU’VE GOT TO LOCK THE DOOR”. Good grief, it was horrifying to say the least. My apologies to the poor guy. Anyway, lesson learned.

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There was a huge family gathering the following day at my parents house, and by huge, I’d say about 40 close relatives. I was excited for Quinn to be able to play with some of her other baby cousins and watch the other kids run wild. I knew the day was a bit “off” when she shorted herself a nap for that day. A baby operating on minus 1 nap already puts you in the negative.

The party was in full swing and if there was one piece of entertainment for these 40 people, it was the babies. At this party there were 2, including Quinn. The second chubby-cheeker was my 2nd cousin Hailey who is 6 weeks younger than Quinn. The aunts and cousins where all over these babies, as they should be, and while Quinn tried to make an attempted to be social. She just wasn’t havin’ it. She became ultra-clingy to me and very fussy. Even the attempts to have Daddy hold her were an exercise in futility. She’d just whine and cry for me — reaching those little chubby arms out in my direction. I felt bad for her as I could tell she just wasn’t enjoying herself.

She made it through the evening and as soon as the last person left it was time for a bath, in which she brightened up about 100%. In the hour leading up to her bedtime, I couldn’t keep her quiet. She was so excited, talking up a storm.

Slowly but surely she’ll learn to love those family gatherings — in fact, I predict this time next year, the tears will be flowing when she see’s the last cousin head for the door.

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The rest of our time up north was great, but went by too quickly. I was able to squeeze in some time with my good friend Cassandra and her daughter Addision and Quinn got some good quality time with Grandma & Grandpa Lint.