My Baby is 3!!

Today is Quinn's 3rd birthday! Can you believe it? I sure can't. I'm going to do a run down of his birthday week festivities (because I know you can't wait), but I just wanted to take a few minutes today to say that even though he can be a definite handful (and then some) and is currently going through a serious testing phase, I love Quinn more and more all the time. every day I find another reason to be overjoyed that he is my son. I am so blessed that God chose me to be his mom. He is smart, funny, social, adorable, and just overall wonderful. I barely remember my life before him, and have no desire to know life without him. He is a great reason to get out of bed in the morning.

From this:

To This (at least he has his eyes closed for continuity):

Donald and Donald

People might not know that Quinn's first name is actually Donald. Although I think I may have blogged about it before, so people might actually know. Anyway, Ross' first name is also Donald, and he said it was important to him, so I went with it. I do believe that I deserve full naming rights on any subsequent children, even if we decide to go Duggar style and have 20 (which we won't).

Anyway, Quinn has no clue his name is really Donald Quinn. I did buy him a Donald Duck thingy for his Croc, but I think he just thinks its because he likes Disney characters. I have no idea how/when we're going to explain to him...maybe when he starts asking questions.

People wonder if I'm bothered by it, not really. Like I said, it meant something to Ross. If it hadn't, I would have pushed for something else. I do have a friend whose husband wants to do the same thing and I told her to go for it...mostly so my kid will have someone in the same situation!

Three Shows You Probably Didn't Watch

In the past year or so I've become better acquainted with some TV shows that were prematurely dumped. All three were great shows, but had a type of humor that often doesn't appeal to a broad audience. Its unfortunate that TV often has to cater to the somewhat base humor that many Americans seem to favor. Now I can laugh along with the more "dumb" humor at times, but intelligent humor at least makes me feel smarter for laughing.

The first show is Better Off Ted, which Ross and I watched when it aired during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 TV seasons. It was a smart, funny, offbeat workplace show, based in the offices of Veridian Dynamics, a company that did, well, everything, and stopped at nothing to get on top. This show was very well cast, had great chemistry, and was just different than other options out there. It is available on Netflix and all over the place.

The next show is Arrested Development, which aired from 2003-2006. I watched it via Netflix Instant. Now, you probably heard about this show, as I do remember it when it was on and remember the campaign to save it. I guess I should have listed. It revolves around the crazy antics of the Bluth family, whose dysfunction leads to hilarity for viewers. The center of the family is Michael, the most normal family member, although that's stretching it a bit. It is his job to keep the family business running while his father is in jail. Over 3 seasons you do grow to care and love the Bluths, even though moral shiftiness seems to be a family trait. I truly enjoyed this show, although it did start to slip towards the end. But the Christmas episode from season 2 is one of the best 22ish minutes of television ever.

I started this blog post while watching the final episode of Freaks and Geeks. I DVR'd all the episodes from the IFC channel, but its also available on other platforms. It aired during the 1999-2000 season, and was cancelled after only 12 episodes had aired. There are 18 completed episodes floating around, all of which aired on IFC. This show was awesome. Set in the early 80's its unique capsule of the era really resonants. It portrayed high school in way that it hadn't been before, and hasn't been since. Launching the careers of several big (or biggish) names (Judd Apatow, James Franco, Busy Phillips, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel), it had a great cast, fabulous character development/interaction, and its overall feel was just good. I had a few annoyances...James Franco's character irritated me most of the time, I didn't like what they did with Cindy Sanders, and I was a bit disappointed in Lindsay in the final, unaired episode (although I do understand why she did what she did). But has there ever been a character as awesome as Bill Haverchuck? I do think he is my favorite TV character of all time.

Go give these shows some life in their afterlife. You'll be glad you did!

The Week in Quinn

Now that Quinn is "almost 3" and his birthday is "coming up" (can you tell he likes to remind us?), he is busier and more fun (and sometimes more trouble) than ever. It is just amazing to see how much he has changed in the past year, heck, even in the past month. His verbal skills have really grown, and now if we can conquer that monster called potty training, we'll be set!

On the potty training front, he's pooped 3 times in the potty since yesterday!! This is a miracle, as he had only pooped once before and refused to even consider it since. I've been letting him wear big boy underwear on non-school days, and it has gone mostly well...until today. We went to storytime and the mall and before we left I stopped at the bathroom. I went and he said he had to, but then when it was his turn, he declined. Now I realize I should have pushed the issue a little, but I didn't. And on the way home I told him he had to go to the potty right when we got home. What did he then say? "I peed in my underwear." And by golly, he was right. While I was somewhat upset, I really do think it was partly my fault. I learned my lesson.

Quinn is still loving school. He like to yell "School, my favorite!" when we pull in. I truly feel blessed that he is doing so well and enjoys his teachers, his classmates, pretty much everything.

Sunday we drove to Sarasota to attend the birthday party of one of Quinn's best friends, Beckett. We all had a great time. Another thing I feel blessed about...Quinn already has great friends with great parents! Below are some pictures from the party.

Nothing more exciting than a fire truck at a 3 year old's birthday party! Quinn was very excited to see the fire truck pull in. He even got to help spray some water.

Here is a great picture of Quinn and Beckett. I swear Quinn was having a good time.

The birthday boy blowing out his candles. He is too cute.

Almost better than a fire truck...cake!!

Who knew toddler sack races could be so fun...and miraculously injury free?

Quinn wanted to race again, but all his competitors had found other interests. So Beckett's dad, Sage, very nicely hopped in a sack (that does sound a little odd) and "raced" Quinn. Being that Sage is well over 6' tall, I'm sure it was not the easiest, but I know Quinn appreciated it.

So that is some of our activities of the past week. Oh, the other night he asked me to "double" his water. Where did he learn that from?