The White House

On the way home from shopping the other day, we approached the normal left turn into our apartment complex.

Cap'n Quinn knows the route. We've driven it almost daily for the past year as we returned to the two-bedroom cave we've called home.

From his perch in the backseat, Quinn made a request: "Can we go to the White House, Daddy?"

Before you get impressed about a two-year-old's political aspirations, the White House to which he referred is our recently purchased, four-bedroom home here in Oregon.

As Cap'n of the U.S.S. Fussy Britches, Quinn is a natural-born adventure-seeker. And the White House offers plenty of new territory for exploring. There's the candy drawer in the kitchen, the candy drawer next to Grandma's bed, and the candy stash in Grandma's purse. We have too much candy.

But we've also got a nice backyard and an inflatable pool, staples of summertime we've been sorely lacking.

Daddy's been happy to finally have a lawn to mow with his new electric push mower, and he's even happier to reunite with his big grill. Mommy is busy organizing all our stuff and picking out paint colors. Dexie has been tramping all over the garden and barking at the chicken in the yard behind us.

Maybe some day, we'll have chicken to cook on Daddy's big grill.

As exciting as the White House may be, the real excitement is a week away. The lil Skipper Keaton arrives to partner with the Cap'n on a whole new chapter of adventures. This blog will be changing, too, so stay tuned.

Storming the beach

Memorial Day brought us to Cannon Beach on Oregon's Pacific Coast in what we hope will become more than an annual expedition. The beach is too beautiful to enjoy only once a year.

Cap'n Quinn calls it his "sandbox," not fully understanding the term beach, but it's apropos. The world is his sandbox, after all, and in it we made sandcastles. This wasn't easy, having only one bucket and two scoops, one of which was broken. Next time, we'll be more prepared.

Posted as he is at the helm of the U.S.S. Fussy Britches, Quinn naturally did more than build sandy fortifications. We were also on the hunt for whales, braving the Ocean's treacherous shin-high breakers on the search for a Great White.

Alas, we never found one, but the ocean offered us a spent clam shell as temporary bounty. Quinn said no thanks, and went about his business.

It was a beautiful day, as most days have been this month while we await the final days before we move into our new home. It's been torturous, this wait, but it will be here soon enough.

We're already making preparations to build our own sandbox.

It will be slightly smaller than the one at Cannon Beach.

Big moves

July 8, 2009, 8:30 a.m.

Mark the date and time above into the annals of history. Another classy young man will grace this planet on that morning, at almost precisely that time.

Keaton Siemers, the Skipper, will finally join the good Cap'n Quinn, Mommy and Daddy on the U.S.S. Fussy Britches.

He will arrive on the most sequential of dates -- 7/8/09. If only is his Mommy's C-section were to start at 6 or 10 a.m. would it be more perfect.

But we're shooting for a whole different kind of perfect: the perfect baby, perfect son, perfect big brother, all living together in the perfect new house.

That's the other part of our new news. As of last week, we reached an agreement to buy a house a few mere blocks from the tiny apartment in which we live now in Beaverton, Ore.

With luck, assuming all goes well, we'll be living comfortably there by the time the Skipper comes to join us. His room will be neatly painted, probably some shade of green, just a few steps away from his big brother, the good Cap'n.

The long journey from uncertainty in New Mexico to discomfort in Oregon will finally come to a close. A new house, a new baby, a happy family. It's all just a few weeks away.

Stay tuned. This ship has set sail.

A man of many words

The other day, while driving his car, Daddy opened a can of Altoids. Every now and then, Daddy needs to tend to his breath. He took two.

Quinn, sitting the in his car seat, became curious.

"What eatin' Daddy?"

"Nothing," Daddy replied.

A few days later, after a dinner out, Daddy is again sitting in the front seat. He pops open one of the after-dinner mints the waitress left on the table.

Quinn, again in the back seat, got a scent.

"What eatin' Daddy?"

"Nothing," Daddy replied.

"I smell candy," Quinn said.

It became apparent at that moment, that Quinn, he of diminutive stature but rapidly maturing mind, had developed a Spidey Sense.

Suddenly, his nose has become a powerful tool with the power to sense anything sweet the second it hits the open air. That, and he's just learned a lot more words.

Ask him what a parrot says: "Polly want a cracker!"

What's Daddy's favorite movie?: "James! Bond!"

Who's the big brown elephant-like creature on Sesame Street: "Snuffyuckabus."

Even his greetings are getting, for lack of a better phrase, more grown up.

Mommy and Daddy were standing in the kitchen this evening and in walks Quinn.

"Hey guys. What doin'?"

Hey guys? Where did that come from? We cease to wonder.

Next year, he'll be doing our taxes and babysitting his brother.

Vegetable extraction

Of all the titles bestowed upon a Daddy, "chief vegetable extractor" is among the least desirable.

A few weeks back, Mommy was away preparing our house in Albuquerque for its upcoming sale and seeing that all of our worldly possessions got packed in a truck. (The house sale itself being a tale worthy of title "momentous.")

Meanwhile, Daddy and Quinn were left to fend for themselves. Being the temporary bachelors they were, the boys shared a pizza on their first night together. On night two, Daddy decided to be responsible and serve a proper meal, vegetables and all. Green peas it was.

Before long, Quinn had a finger deep inside his nostril and a guilty look on his face. Using a flashlight, Daddy spotted the offending green sphere nestled comfortably where his fingers couldn't reach.

Extraction attempts by tweezer and a suction didn't work. After several calls to an on-call nurse, and a few regretful curses, Daddy was ready to throw in the towel and make a trip to the emergency room. A pea stuck up a nostril isn't a critical threat, but the nurse warned against it.

So in a last ditch effort, Daddy, at the advice of the nurse, shot a poof of air up Quinn's clear nostril. With the force of a BB gun, the pea shot out from his nose with a boom. It was a momentous occasion. Both Quinn and Daddy cheered. Today, in my memory, it all happens in slow motion, like a made-for-film recreation of a historic moment.

The next night, Quinn and Daddy went out for buffalo wings.

Paci no more

The Paci Fairy came to town recently and in her wake she left an airplane and took those paci's away forever!

Quinn was more than happy to give them to her and even put them in an envelope with stickers all over it. He left it on the doorstep and she came and left us a Little People airplane. Life was great for all of about 2 minutes, until he realized that the paci was gone for nap-time.

It has now been over a week and he sometimes asks for it, but he goes to sleep without much fuss and mommy feels good that it wasn't too traumatic.

Coming soon ...

Quinn arrived in Minnesota's frozen tundra to prove that big news travels even in the frostiest of weather.

As forecast in the picture above, Quinn's about to be a big brother. That's right, Mommy's got, as Quinn put it, a baby behind her belly button. Coming to Oregon and the rest of the world, July 2009.

He delivered the news to Grandma and Grandpa Siemers last week at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport via the medium of a t-shirt, embroidered with the words "Big Brother." Not exactly subtle, but it did the trick.

With that surprise out of the way, we got to spend some good times in some freezing cold, enjoying -- if that's even possible -- temperatures far below zero. 

Quinn, however, wasn't afraid. He dove right into the snowbanks -- with the help of his Daddy, a necessity since the snow banks were taller than him. 

He rode Grandpa's tractor, played with his cousin Abby and got reacquainted with his aunties, uncles, and grandparents. 

And then it was time to meet T.C. Bear, the mascot of Daddy's favorite baseball team, the Minnesota Twins.

As for that baby, it's got a lot of growing to do -- behind Mommy's belly button.

We'll keep you posted.

Santa came, but what about the cookies?

Quinn laid his head to rest on Christmas Eve at ease, knowing Santa would come and deliver presents. Of course he would. Quinn's been a good boy this year.

He did, however, go to bed worried about the cookies.

Quinn is still learning Christmas tradition. We explained to him that Santa has a lot of flying to do. The world's a big place. A fat guy with a fleet of flying mammals is bound to get hungry, so we leave him cookies and milk. (Quinn also doesn't understand general nutrition, which makes this story plausible.)

Cookies, however, are like rare currency in this house, and giving them away to some stranger in a red suit -- presents or not -- wasn't going over well.

But once he woke up and and saw how Santa filled his stocking and left a pile of presents under the tree, all was forgiven.

Quinn came away with a bounty: a new tricycle, a talking Elmo toy, lots of good DVDs and Hot Wheels cars, and a race car track. That's just the short list, and the list of thank-yous is even longer. Even Dexie came away happy, though her new chew toy has been largely obliterated.

Since we spent Christmas without our extended families this year, we shot a few videos of Quinn's Christmas excitement. Thanks, and enjoy.

The days before Christmas

Thanksgiving here in Oregon was mostly uneventful. But the days after have been busy.

We've picked out our Christmas tree, watched as Portland lit its own big tree Downtown, and started getting ready for the holidays.

Here's a few pictures to show what we've been up to.

It didn't seem that long ago ...

Around this time of the year, expect to hear us say this a lot:

It didn't seem that long ago ...

As in, it didn't seem that long ago that Daddy stayed up all night with a curious newborn boy, fighting sleep because he was too afraid to doze off and roll over on him.

As in, it didn't seem that long ago that the little fella first filled our house with big cries and big smiles, big smells and big thrills.

As in, it didn't seem that long ago that this wonderful little boy started to grow up, to learn words, to throw balls, to walk, to ....

You get the picture.

Quinn turned two on Friday, and he's now a bonafide little boy, full of little boy mischief and little boy charm. He celebrated his second big day in customary style, a two-day celebration featuring big spoonfuls of ice cream, pizza, Elmo cupcakes, a roomful of balloons, a gigantic jungle gym, a whole bunch of friends and a brand new wooden choo-choo train.

"Chugga chugga!," he likes to growl.

Some day soon, we'll look back to now and reminisce. We'll talk about how Quinn repeats everything we say, including the words he shouldn't. We'll look at the picture of him in his new Minnesota Twins cap, and recall how he preferred to wear it over his eyes, as if seeing wasn't that big of a deal. And we'll watch the videos of him entertaining himself just by climbing up one side of the bed and climbing down the other.

And we'll say, it didn't seem that long ago ...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A New Trick and the Diva

Quinn has found much happiness in the form of mom and dad's bed. He scales the side like a professional rock-climber using the comforter as a grip until he lands on the top. Proclaiming a squeal of delight at his fortune, he then proceeds to slide off the other side or the foot of the bed, whichever strikes his fancy at the moment. With a ready-set-go and a cautionary "careful" he slinks to the floor and starts all over again. He really could do this all day I think. Here's the proof...


And the diva well, here's the proof in that as well.































In mommy's defense she DID NOT do that to her little boy. He did it himself..well maybe I helped a little.

Quinn invites you over for dinner

The almost birthday boy got an early birthday present from Grandma Smith in the form of his very own table and chairs. I think Thanksgiving turkey dinner will be great spent around the colorful table this year. He's been spending alot of time sitting at it coloring, and putting his new dinosaur (a-saur) puzzle together. He now eats dinner sitting at his new table and eats much better! Of course he has to be watching Elmo, Cars (courtesy of cousin Abby, Aunt Tara & Uncle Hal) or one of the many other videos we have now accumulated. Who doesn't like to eat and watch TV?

Mommy also got a new camera which she has been trying out and trying to learn. Might help if she actually read the manual for it. She hopes this camera is quick enough to catch the Tasmanian devil in all of his various acts throughout the day, so maybe we can keep up with this blog.

We leave you with pictures taken with the new camera. Enjoy!

The Great Pumpkin

Today marked our annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Patch.

It's a day in which Mommy tries in vain to get Quinn to pose in front of a collection of pumpkins, only to see Quinn look every other direction and show more interest in the hay.

It was a fun, muddy day. And here are the pictures (and video) to prove it.

Dennis the Handsome Menace

The terrible twos have arrived, even if Quinn's second birthday hasn't.

Our little hero has gotten the grabbies. Apple on the counter? Grab it. Headache pills? Grab it. Mom's headache cream? Grab it. And usually try to eat it.

We've had a few near-miss disasters (and, subsequently, a few near-miss panic attacks), but we've survived them all. There have been calls to poison control, one serious mouth washing, and a cut lip. But we've survived them.

Not only has Quinn survived, but he's more handsome than ever, thanks to the stylin' haircut Mommy got him.

Here's a look at the new 'do, as well as some videos.

Have fun. We sure are.

A lot of ground to cover

It's been way too long since our last post, so here's a rundown of our very busy month:

Mommy, Daddy and Cap'n Quinn visited Seattle at the beginning of September. We had fun walking through Pike Place Market, the place famous for vendors throwing fish at each other.

We then walked along the Puget Sound waterfront and looked at all boats. Quinn loves boats. Mommy does, too. Especially the big cruise ship. She kept telling Daddy that he needs to take her on another ride on a cruise ship.

After that we visited the Seattle Aquarium, where Quinn saw his two favorite fish: Dorie and Nemo from "Finding Nemo," his favorite movie. He also enjoyed watching the sea lions.

Finally, we visited Uncle Sean and Aunt Kelly on the day their baby, Breanna, was baptized.

A few weeks after that trip, both Quinn and Dexie the Wonderdog got sick.

Quinn got a bad fever, reaching as high as 105 degrees, putting a scare into both Mommy and Daddy. It turned out to be nothing more than a virus that needed to run it's course. It was made to seem worse since Mommy and Daddy weren't used to giving the good cap'n large doses of medicine. They were used to giving infant doses of Tylenol, but Quinn's a pretty big boy. Once the doctor gave us the OK, we gave him the right doses.

Quinn enjoys his medicine -- a little too much. He even asks for it when he isn't sick.

Dexie, meanwhile, got the best present on Daddy's birthday: a visit to the vet. She's been fighting either fleas or allergies. Lucky for us, it was allergies. But that means Dexie, just like Daddy, gets a daily dose of allergy medication. She also had some stomach problems, which seem to have passed -- again, lucky for us.

The biggest news, though, is that Mommy is back at work. She's spending her weekends at Tuality Hospital in Hillsboro, Ore., leaving her two men to fend for themselves while she's earning some bucks.

But Daddy and Quinn do alright. So far, anyway.

Here are a few slideshows to enjoy. The first is of our trip to Seattle, the second is of our visit to the park today in Beaverton, and the last is some photos of Quinn helping Daddy with some hammering and of his experiment to determine what happens when you shove Cheerios in your nostrils.

The answer: A funny picture.

Wish you were here

Dear Daddy,

I hope you and Dexie are doing OK. We're having a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house in Pennsylvania! Can we have a horse and buggy?

Mommy took me to the zoo the other day. I got to pet a deer. We should get a deer. They're like a horsey, but closer to my size. I could ride it and you wouldn't have to put me in the stroller any more. Mommy said that it might give me ticks, but I don't know what those are and they sound like they could be fun. So let's get a deer.

I also got to meet lots of new friends. I saw my aunties Shari, Penny and Juniper. I got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Crissman and Mommy's aunties and uncles. And I got to see my good buddies Elliott and his little brother Parker. Can we get a little brother? I'll let him ride the deer, OK? I promise.

Grandma took me for a ride in the wagon. I don't know where she was taking me. I just hung on tight. Grandma's doggie Holly was close behind in case I fell out. But I didn't. We really need a wagon. We should get one. Wagon's are nice. The deer could pull me and my new little brother at the same time. Fuel efficiency, Daddy!

OK, Daddy, I'd better get going. I need some rest. We're going up to Grandma and Grandpa's camper tomorrow. I have a feeling we might need one of those, too.

Love you and miss you,

Quinn

Live from Amish Country

Quinn and Mommy are on vacation to see Grandma Smith in Pennsylvania, leaving Dexie and I to fend for ourselves.

We sure miss them, but luckily Daddy found this great All-Quinn-All-The-Time TV channel. We've got a live feed to the Smith headquarters in Smicksburg, Pa., so we thought we'd share it with everybody else.

The little man and the sea

Upon his first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, Quinn stared out at the expansive, white-capped landscape, and said: "wah wah."

So it's not the most profound statement. Still, Quinn's first trip to the beach -- despite the dismal weather -- was yet another landmark reached at the ripe old age of 21 months.

The water was cold, the wind was blowing, and Quinn had sand in his eyes, but he still couldn't get enough of the salty sea water. Holding Daddy's hand, his bare feet sloshed along the Pacific Shore at Cannon Beach, the ocean waves -- nearly surfable white caps moments earlier -- dissipated to a benign slap at his ankles.

He made friends with the sea gulls, collected a bucketful of rocks, helped Mommy and Daddy make a sandcastle, got wet and sandy enough for it to be a messy problem. Then we ended the day with some seafood and a nap on the hour-and-a-half ride home.

Next time -- and there will be plenty of next times for our little man of the sea -- we hope the weather will be friendlier
.
But for this time, it was a day that ended with a wave to the Pacific, and another profound statement:

"Bye bye wah wah."