Sunday, April 29, 2007

It must be the shirts

Sorry Aunt Tory. I know the shirts you sent Cap'n Quinn are nice. And I know he loves them -- especially the one that says "#1 Minnesota Twins Fan."

Except there's a problem. They make him puke.

Well, at least two out of the four he's worn so far. And there's still one that says "Oh poop" that he hasn't tried yet. That'll make it come out the other end, I suppose. Which is more natural.

Ok, I'll confess. It has nothing to do with Aunt Tory's shirts. They're lovely.

Daddy is the bad guy here. Joined by the over-abundance of carrots and peaches that he fed our our little man the past two days. Apparently Daddy figures the good Cap'n has the same appetite he does. Except he doesn't. Which is why Daddy spent his Saturday night cleaning up an newly-orange chez lounge chair.

Otherwise it's been a good week for Cap'n Quinn. He seems to be over his big bad ear infections. And he was great entertainment for Daddy, as can be seen in the picture above, when he got sick with a big bad cold.

And today we took Dexie the Wonderdog on a nice long walk.

Right before he puked.

To put it all right for Aunt Tory -- one of Daddy's dearest college friends -- here's a collection of pictures featuring our little hero in several of her wonderful shirts:



























Sunday, April 22, 2007

Home to battle the bug

Cap'n Quinn has successfully invaded the north, only to return wounded, a victim of the region's most dangerous weapon -- its cool weather.

In other words, Quinn had a great time meeting Daddy's side of the family in Minnesota and North Dakota. But he came back with a chest cold and ear infections. He's a tough little fella, though, and he's handling it like a pro.

Our trip north was a great expedition.

We flew two hours on an airplane. Quinn slept.

We drove five hours to North Dakota. Quinn slept.

We did both of those things again. Quinn slept.

Quinn got baptized. OK, he didn't sleep for this one. Probably because it was a nice, private ceremony in Garrison at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church -- nice both for its poignancy and its brevity. He wore the same christening gown worn more than a century ago by a grandfather on Mommy's side of the family. It looked like big, long, baby wedding dress. But it wasn't, so we'll call it a gown.

Quinn got to meet his Great-grandma Sack in Inkster, N.D., and also see where Daddy went to school at the University of North Dakota. He also got kicked out of his first bar (slash restaurant) -- not that that's ever happened to Daddy (cough, cough) -- in Grand Forks, N.D., though that was due to some jerk of a restaurant employee quibbling over the details of some new state law affecting minors in places that serve booze.

While all that was fun, minus the getting kicked-out part, the most important part of the trip was meeting with Daddy's family -- especially Uncle Ken, Auntie Tara and Auntie Toni. While he had already spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Siemers, he hadn't met Daddy's brother and sisters yet. That doesn't mean, however, that spending time with Grammy and Grandpa wasn't great. They were pretty impressed with his cuteness skills when he was a few weeks old -- now they're charter members of the Cap'n Quinn Fan Club.

To commemorate the trip, here' s a collection of pictures to enjoy.

Hangin' with Daddy at UND's Ralph Engelstad Arena:













Meeting Uncle Wayne (Daddy's old college roommate) and Auntie Christina in Grand Forks:













Getting baptized:













Getting some love from Auntie Toni:












Proud Godparents, Auntie Tara and Uncle Hal:











Liking the view from over Uncle Ken's shoulder:












Getting inspected by the DeShaw family:











My Grandma taking care of me:

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Invading the north

We're off to Grandma and Grandpa Siemers' house tomorrow. And we're way more excited than Cap'n Quinn looks in the picture to the right.

Mommy and Daddy are hoping our wee hero can sit still or, better yet, sleep for the entire two-hour flight. That would be nice. It will be even nicer once we get there and don't have to worry about it any more.

Speaking of sleep, Mommy and Daddy are finding it immeasurably cute that Cap'n Quinn now prefers to sleep on his side. He's even getting used to sleeping on his tummy, though it always makes him cry for a few seconds. Now, once we've rocked him to sleep, he kicks his legs when we let him down into the crib and almost immediately rolls to his left.

For some reason, it's adorable. Sorta like everything else he does.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

We've got a fever

Someday even Cap'n Quinn might feel the fever that is running through Daddy's veins so strongly that he tried to put a man-sized hat on a baby-sized head.

It was, at least, one of Daddy's Minnesota Twins ballcaps. Which should explain which kind of fever we're referring to -- the baseball fever.

You can see by the wee captain's picture to the right that he shares Daddy's excitement over the Twins this season. The World's Greatest Sports Franchise in History, as the team is referred to in the Siemers household, may struggle in a increasingly tough American League Central Division, but Cap'n Quinn and Daddy are hopeful that Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer can make it to the World Series.

After all, what a great 11.5 month birthday present than to send our mighty hero a world championship?

There are still a few questions coming into the season: 1) Will any of the veteran free-agent pitchers prove to be smart signings? 2) How soon will the Twins need to call prospects Matt Garza and Alexi Casilla from AAA Rochester? 3) Can Quinn get any cuter?

I can answer #3 with a definitive, "Yes."

Mommy took the wee smiling one to a local Sears for another round of snapshots this week. Naturally, the results were astounding. He's a little showman already.

We'll leave you with a sampling which we'll call, "The cutest baby on the planet." :