gotcha!

At six weeks old, he already knows how to make our hearts melt.

okay, it's official...

he is smiling!

And I am on a mission to capture it.

Monday night I was downstairs with him and Jeremy went upstairs quickly. That's when it happened. I was talking to him and rubbing his nose and a beautiful smile appeared. Jeremy was bummed and I caught him later trying to do exactly what I did, but apparently Q was over it.

Three days and nothing.

Then this afternoon he was all smiles. Big open mouth, toothless grins. It gave me chills.

I can't wait to see it again. And more importantly, I can't wait 'til Jeremy experiences the joy first hand.

ETA: More smiles tonight and this time Jeremy was right there. But the camera wasn't.

a few bits of randomness

• My parent's just got a new fridge. That wouldn't be very notable except that their old one was FORTY-NINE YEARS OLD. Seriously. It was a wedding present from my mom's uncle. At the time it was a top-of-the-line Westinghouse. Eventually it became both my mom's worst nightmare and a big family joke. Many times during their marriage, my mom secretly wished that my dad wasn't quite so good at fixing things!
• The day after my parent's left, Quincy turned into alien baby. Gone was his content, pleasant nature. We feared this new Quincy was here to stay and we mourned the departure of angel baby. Well, yesterday our little peaceful guy returned. I think he was having a growth spurt. (I'd say the 1-2 hourly feeds seem to point in that direction!)
• Speaking of growing, he is nearly out of newborn clothes and soon he'll be in his 0-3 stuff. It's going too fast.
• Speaking of clothes, whoever thinks it is not as fun to dress a boy as a girl is seriously misguided. Unfortunately, boy clothing is every bit as tempting!
• We've been having an incredible winter, at least until today. (We just got hammered with some hail.) Anyway the weekend was blue-sky perfect. On Saturday we went for a long walk by the river. The dogs were so well-behaved. No barking. Just lots of playing, running, and obeying. On Sunday we did a walk by the sea. There were so many people out enjoying the gorgeous weather. Some big exhausting runs were so needed. As much as I didn't want the baby to interfere with taking good care of the dogs, that's not really possible. There are only so many hours in a day afterall. I'm hoping that once the baby is in more of a routine and I'm feeling more on top of things (you experienced mothers are probably secretly laughing at my naivete right now!), a long walk will once again be a part of each day.
• We are still awaiting Q's first real smile. Last week I thought he made eye contact with me and smiled, but as time passes I think that was just another of his automated smiles.
• Jeremy has become OCD about the kitchen. I'm loving it. The other day he actually got on my case for leaving a couple dishes on the sink instead of putting them in the dishwasher. He said, "Come on, it's not that hard." I know! That's what I've been thinking and occasionally saying for years! Fatherhood is certainly agreeing with him.
• Speaking of fatherhood, I got to spend Father's Day with my dad this year. What a treat! Plus by celebrating the US Father's Day, Jeremy gets two Father's Days this year. (The NZ Father's Day is in September.) Lucky him.
• I just gave Q his first real bath, not counting his hospital bath and the top and tail sponge baths I've given him. He totally loved it--he didn't want to get out. So maybe he has inherited something from me other than his worry lines...a love of water. Let's hope!
• And finally, a couple parting shots...

proof

of the love of a little boys' grandparents...

Some photos are priceless. I'd definitely put these in that category. I'm not sure how we would have managed the first month without the help of Quincy's Nana, Poppa, Oma, and Opa.

The timing of Jeremy's folks arrival couldn't have been more perfect. I had a caesar scheduled for the Monday but went into labor v. early Saturday morning. We arrived at the hospital at 8am. My in laws' flight was scheduled to arrive about an hour later! They made it just in time. Jeremy's dad was seriously proud. My mother-in-law stayed on until Friday. What a huge help that was. It was so good having her here to help with cleaning, cooking, and just holding Quincy to give me an occasional break. Her reassurance and advice in the early days was priceless.

My parents arrived the following week and stayed for three weeks. It went too fast and we all wished for just one more week. Being together after nearly two years was a real treat. They were the world's best company. They fixed, mended, washed, cleaned, cooked, hammered, ironed, nursed, reassured, carried, cuddled, constructed, and repaired their way into the visitors' hall of fame. Having them share in our everyday world and seeing them bond so well with Quincy was priceless.

Oh, and one more thing...My dad is beyond clever. Jeremy and I were constantly amazed at his ability to fix all sorts of things around the house with random found objects. To call him resourceful is an understatement.

what do you get...

when you combine

• 1 sentimental, slightly obsessive mother who loves to take photos
• 1 (v. cute, at least in his parent's eyes) 4-week-old newborn baby
• 2 parents visiting from 6,000 miles away?

About 2,000 photos!

My dad worked out that poor Quincy would be photographed approximately 260,000 times by age 10.

A few current favorites...

I swear I won't always think the world revolves around our little sprocket, but forgive me if I act like it does for the time being. It's all just so new. And he's a bit on the needy side. :)

where has the time gone?

Well, Quincy is just over 3 weeks old already. Time has flown, and I reckon it's about time for some new photos...

Two of my favs...

As if that wasn't more than enough photo love, you can view them as a slideshow: {Q-pics on flickr}

We get to enjoy my parents for one more week. More details on our new world then.