I straightened my child's hair to prove a point

and that point is to never, ever do it again.

Quinn's hair has grown a least fourteen times longer since last summer.  I wanted to see exactly how long it was and what she would look with straight hair so I took care of it with my flat iron.  She was so good through the whole thing and was very still.  You should know before looking at these pictures that Quinn loves seefood.

It just doesn't do anything for her.  I mean she is still super cute but the curls are definitely her style.  Also, I wish I could look that good as a blonde.  Girl has some pretty spectacular locks.  Don't worry, the curls are back in full force and the heat did nothing to mess with them.

Five Fab Things Friday

Five thing that are currently rocking our world this week:

1.  Swimming.  The best decision we've made is to sign Quinn up for a swimming class.  She gets all her energy out twice a week and is completely wiped when we get home.  I've never seen that many laughs, smiles and screams from her.  She has absolutely no fear of the water.  The first day, the instructors told the parents and tots to sit on the edge of the pool and kick and splash in the water to get used to it.  Of course, my child is straining to jump in while I'm trying to hold her back.  She loves it which makes me a very, very happy mama.

2.  Friends.  I'm forever grateful for friends who will drop everything they are doing to jump our car after swimming so that Quinn and I can get safely home.  Actually, it was more like save us.  Some people are just freaking fabulous!!

3.  38.5 hour work weeks.  Friday's are definitely more enjoyable when you don't have to work an hour and a half of it.  The bonus is that Quinn is still at daycare until 5, so it leaves two whole hours of my day to do anything I want in a house full of nothing but quiet!

4.  Quinn's ever expanding vocabulary.  I love hearing her say new words that I didn't think she knew before.  I asked her last night to say sit, ship, apple and bridge.  All she wanted to say was poop though.   Husband said he's nominating me for mother of the year.  But for real, I'm trying to get her to say love you.

5.  Races and winning.  Ok, so I didn't win but the results of the 4 mile race are in.  I did it in 31:13 (7:49 pace).  I was the 14th woman to cross the finish line and placed 2nd in my age group earning a shiny silver medal that came in the mail yesterday.  This was my best 4 miles I've done to date.  I'm giving complete credit to Insanity.  It kicks my ass in the best way and I notice alot more muscle in my legs and arms.  My belly needs a lot of work still.  I'm confident in the fact that it will never be flat and I should just embrace the chub.

  Linking up with Laura from The Everyday Joys today.

Quinn's First Race

We have this event here in the Quad Cities known as the BIX.  It's a pretty big deal.  Well I mean it's a big deal if you're a crazed mom throwing your kid in her first race at the ripe age of 13 months or you're runner in need of punishment or you're a drunk who enjoys standing in the middle of the street with thousands of other randoms or you're a loiterer.  So you see, it's major.

I am that crazy mom that decides, whenever possible that Quinn can do anything that I force her to do.  Enter, the Jr. Bix...70 yards of one year old fun (also open to crawlers and kids up to 12 or something like that...the older kids run longer distances of course).  At the time, Quinn was extremely active for being only 13 months old so I figured why not.  The worst she could do was sit down at the starting line, wail like there's no tomorrow and embarrass the living shit out of me in front of thousands of people.  That's fine, I'm used to embarrassment...have you ever met my husband?  I'm kidding!  Sort of...

Come race day, we load our big runner up into the car and proceed to speed to the race because we are late (story of my life).  Barney drops us off a few blocks away and goes to park the car and is in charge of bringing the camera to the race with him.  Quinn and I take off in a dead sprint toward the race because the crawlers are already started and Quinn was up next.

If you want to see a clusterfudge, try to get your kid at the front of the pack (because the younger you are, the earlier you start) of hundreds of kids and their aggressive parents.  Wasn't happening.  I ended up having to pass Quinn over the gate to a volunteer and crawling on the ground, under said gate to get in with her.  

After they said go, we took off in a dead walk.  I was maybe, a little bit, trying to drag her faster in a attempt to finish first but she wasn't having it.  If there is one thing about her, it's that you go at her speed.  I let go of her hand a couple of times and she completely stopped and stared at the crowd.  Needless to say, I grabbed  her hand, we finished the race and someone got a medal.  It should have been me, I swear I was doing all of the work.  I kid, I kid.

I let Quinn go through the water fountain to cool off and then we grabbed a few post race treats.  My husband finally showed up and of course everything was my fault.  Whatevs.  We got in a few pictures and made our way back to the ghetto to get the car.

I can't wait until next summer when I can enter her in a bunch or races.  Race on!

12 Month & Family Pictures

As part of Quinn's baby photography package, we could get a few family pictures taken.  This is the first real family pictures we have gotten and I think we should commit to getting them more often...as in I need to invest in a tri-pod and take them via self timer. I loved the way they turned out.  All I need to decide is how if I want a collage of Quinn's pictures 3-12 months or a big family picture?

On another note, I found the most amazing website that has a ton of free actions for Photoshop and I've been experimenting with them all....it's a lazy photographers dream.

Quinn's First Birthday {In Pictures}

  

A success.