The Quirk Family

Hello all! Since our last post, we have had an awesome holiday season! On December11 , we celebrated my mom, Theresa's and Brian's birthdays. On December 16th, we threw a graduation party for Sean, Brian's brother, who graduated from UMKC with his bachelors degree (that same day) in Business Administration. Congrats to Sean!
Joshua is doing great. He got his first tooth on December 20th, and his second tooth on January 6th. He is eating more solids now. He loves sweet potatoes and applesauce, and will eat carrots, green beans (sometimes), and peas (sometimes). He loves to munch on Cheerios and Gerber puffs, and I've also given him little pieces of noodles that he seemed to enjoy. He is not officially crawling yet, but he definitely gets to where he wants to be by either scooting on his bottom or on his tummy. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks like crazy - he just hasn't learned his hand and knee movements to start crawling. I keep saying it will be any day now! He does not sleep in his own room yet. This is probably our only difficult thing with Josh. He is so used to sleeping with me and nursing through the night. We are currently trying to get him to eat more during the day so he gets used to eating less throughout the night. Other than that, he is just the happiest little guy I know! He is always smiling and has such an awesome personality! Everyone who meets him just thinks he is super cute.

Noah and Evan are also doing great. They got to finger paint for the first time with our Parents as Teachers educator back in December. Evan jumped right in, but it took Noah about 30 minutes before he was comfortable enough to do it.

They are just now getting over another "virus" that caused colds, coughs, and an ear infection in Noah. I know that when I took Evan to the doctor this past Monday, he weighed 30.4lbs. I think Noah weighs just about 30lbs as well. They're skinny and tall, and still super blonde. Evan loves to wear his plaid "rippin" shirt, Christmas tie, and black shoes and say he is going to "go to work." Noah loves to play with any of their toys! Their favorite book to read right now is called Bob's Bedtime. It's a Bob the Builder book. They like to watch Brian's Batman cartoon DVDs, and also A Goofy Movie, which was one of my favorites when I was much younger. Both Noah and Evan really seem to love their baby brother Josh. They'll talk to him, play with him, and even snuggle with him.

Christmas was so much fun! We went to Brian's Uncle Mark's house in Smithville to have Christmas with the Millers on Christmas Eve. We went to midnight mass with my parents, John, Theresa, MJ, Mia, Aunt Max, and Aunt Ruthie. On Christmas morning, Noah and Evan woke up at 7:30am (even though they didn't get to bed until after 1:30 because of mass), and saw that Santa Clause had brought them Lightning McQueen Power Wheels. That is what they had asked for, so they were both very happy. He also brought them some Monster Trucks. For Joshua's first Christmas, he brought him a play table for him to stand and play at. He loves to play with it! That afternoon, our whole family came over at 3:00 to celebrate Christmas. Noah, Evan, Joshua, MJ, and Mia definitely raked it in with tons and tons of awesome presents! My personal favorite was the amazing kitchen that Uncle John made for Noah and Evan. I was speechless when I saw it. They LOVE to "cook" with it now. Here are some Christmas pics:

Sweet Miss Mia snoozing during the tamale makin'

Noah in his super cute Christmas outfit

Evan loving his Christmas outfit!

Josh playing with some paper at "Big" Uncle Mark's house on Christmas Eve

Noah and Evan checking out their Lightning McQueen Power Wheels

Joshua opening his gifts on Christmas morning

Brian, Miss Mia, and Laura on Christmas Day

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandkids! Mark and Sarah's little boy will be here in the Spring :)

Our attempt at a family photo on Christmas Day. Evan was eating ham.

Noah and Evan's awesome kitchen that their Uncle John made them for Christmas (Aunt Theresa funded it :))

On New Year's Eve, the weather was so amazing! We took all the boys to the park. They all had a blast - even Joshua!

Joshua turned 8 months old on January 2nd!

Miss Mia was baptized on January 8th, and Brian and I have the awesome honor of being her godparents. She looked so beautiful in her baptism gown, and was such a trooper during the whole mass. She was asleep during her baptism. It was a fun day - we got to spend so much time with so many family members, even ones from St. Louis and St. Charles!

Hi everyone!

Well, we're all moved in to our new house! We closed on Friday, November 4th and officially moved in on November 5th. We've been here for 4 weeks, and are adjusting well. The boys all seem to be adjusting well too. The first night, Noah was upset because he said he "needed to go to his little house," when it was time to go to bed, but he seemed to get over it quickly as we reassured him that we would be there with him. Noah and Evan's room is almost completely finished/decorated. They have Buzz Lightyear and Woody "fat heads" on their walls, which are 6 ft stickers of the characters. Brian painted Noah and Evan's names in the Toy Story font on one wall, and we hung Buzz and Woody posters on another wall.

Noah and Evan's mural in their room

Brian just finished Josh's mural today...it is AMAZING!

Joshua's mural - AMAZING!

There are still several things we want to do with the house, and are getting them done little by little. Everyone who comes to see it seems to like the house. We certainly do! It's great after living in an apartment with three kids.
We've all been pretty busy lately, as usual. In late October, Noah and Evan had their first trick-or-treating experience at St. Regis' trunk-or-treat, and we also went to Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah's annual Halloween party. Noah and Evan were both Captain Hook, and Joshua was a crocodile.

Trunk-or-treating!

Evan messing with Josh

On Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah's couch

Noah also had an appointment with an ENT at Children's Mercy to check a "bulge" on his neck that we had been concerned about. It turns out that it is just a part of his anatomy, and nothing serious and nothing to worry about.
In early November, Joshua and I both had doctor's appointments. I had my bi-yearly breast cancer prevention appointment, and everything went very well. Joshua had his 6month check up on November 8th. He weighed 17lbs, 13oz (45th percentile), was 26 3/4 inches tall (75th percentile), and his head circumference was in the 90th percentile. He is a very healthy little boy! He received his 6 month immunizations, as well as his flu shot. He is still nursing, but also eats rice cereal every day. He also tried green beans on November 11, carrots on November 17th, peas on November 26th, and sweet potatoes last night. He didn't like the green beans at first, but quickly learned to like them and he now eats them, carrots, and peas very well! I am making all of his baby food, just like I made Noah and Evan's. Joshua turned 7 months old yesterday, December 2nd. He is growing up so fast!

Joshua playing with Noah and Evan's toys

Chilling with Daddy

First bath in the new house!

My big man!

Trying carrots

6 months old!

Loving on cousin Mia :)

6.5 month photo

First Turkey photo!

All smiles while shopping on Black Friday!

Superman!

Noah and Evan are doing great! I think they are growth spurting, because it seems that they are ALWAYS hungry! One of their favorite things to do is to open the refrigerator door, look at us, and say, "hungry, hungry, hungry," while laughing. They love to eat plums, apples, bananas, tortillas ("real" ones, which means the ones my mom makes), fruit cups, cocoa puffs, cinnamon toast crunch ("crunchies" to them), and carrots for snacks. Their favorite meals are chicken bowls from Chipotle, chicken and noodles, and pizza. Their vocabulary is still getting better and better each day. For the most part, they play very well with each other. They occasionally fight over toys, but are usually willing to share and take turns. Their favorite thing to do is to wear their "rippin' shirts" (plaid button down shirts that Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike gave them) unbuttoned and run around the house.

Noah in Michael Jude's play house

Evan and Noah baking cookies

Evan in my boots

Noah in his cool dude sunglasses

Noah in the bathtub at the new house

Buzz and Woody ready for bed

Evan eating a hotdog at the Comets game

Playing in the leaves after our family photo shoot

Evan in a funny hat at Lowe's

Noah in his tunnel

Cool dudes!

In the past few weeks before Thanksgiving, we went to a Comets indoor soccer game to celebrate our Aunt Ruthie's retirement, had Brian's family (his mom, brother, and grandparents) over for dinner, and also went to Michael Jude's 3rd birthday party. Noah, Evan, and Josh had a blast during each event!
Thanksgiving was fun. We were able to spend the day with family and friends at my parents' house even though Noah had been feeling under the weather with the croup. Evan and Brian both got sick the next Saturday (Brian got bronchitis), and Joshua got croup this past week and is just now getting over his cough. I've luckily just had a runny/stuffy nose through all of this. I am now praying that everyone is healthy within just a few days. It's been a rough week and a half to say the least!

We got our family photos taken back on Saturday, November 19th. I think they turned out pretty well!

This past week, we've decorated for Christmas and also adopted an "elf on a shelf," whom Noah and Evan have named Buddy. He is here to watch and listen as Santa's helper. Each night after Noah and Evan go to bed, Buddy magically flies to the North Pole to let Santa know how they have behaved that day. Noah and Evan love to wake up each morning and see what kind of mischief he's gotten into since he got back to our house. Here are his adventures so far!