An Asian-Inspired Evening

The Chinese Lantern Festival is in its last weeks at Fair Park, so we made sure to go see it.  I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but it was really extraordinary.  The lagoon and surrounding area was lit with a soft glow from huge sculptural lanterns.  They are hard to describe, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.  Mia liked the dinosaurs and the mermaid the best.  My favorite part was the huge dragon.  Upon closer inspection, the dragon scales were actually plates.  I thought that was pretty clever.  I'm not very good at taking pictures after dark with my little camera.  I think it might be time to upgrade to a better one.

The Name Game

I'm addicted to BabyCenter.  There's no denying it.  I get on the website multiple times a day.  I used it a little when I was pregnant with Mia, but I've been on there pretty much every day since I found out I was pregnant with Quinn.  I really LOVE the birth boards.  I joined Q's immediately and became connected with thousands of other women who were also due in September 2012.  It gave me a great sense of support to be able to communicate on a daily basis with women who were in my exact same situation.  You can ask questions, give advice to other moms based on your experience, or just have a laugh at some of the hilarious stories that other ladies post.  I was reading a thread on my fellow Sept '12 moms board about their birth stories, and I nearly peed my pants I was laughing so hard.  Just before Q was born, I found that BabyCenter also had boards for Breastfeeding Moms and Pumping Moms.  Since I knew I'd be doing both, I started following those as well.  Now, I get on those more than Q's birth board.  I've gotten so much good information from there.  I like to get on BabyCenter on the iPad in the middle of the night when Quinn is nursing.  What better time to read about it than while actually doing it?  Haha!

Today, I saw that BabyCenter has released its "100 Most Popular Names of 2012".  Each year I cringe a little when these lists come out.  I love my name, but it became extremely popular right around the time I was born.  Everywhere I go there's always at least one other Jessica.  All of the time I have patients tell me when I introduce myself that they have a daughter, granddaughter, niece, etc named Jessica.  My mom promised me that it wasn't common when she named me.  (Love ya Mom!)  I knew when I had kids that I would like them to have names that were beautiful without being popular and rare but not to the point of being weird.  When we chose Mia's name, I had NEVER in my life met anyone other than sweet little old ladies with the name Amelia.  I thought it was a lovely name- classic and strong.  Wes suggested Mia as a nickname, and we loved it as well.  I felt like Mia was still fairly uncommon, too.  Fast forward almost four years, and it is as you would expect.  The name Amelia is #20 on BBC's list, and Mia is #9!  What?!  At least I can tell her one day what my mom told me, "Sorry sis, it wasn't common when we named you."  We went through the same thing when choosing Quinn's name.  Boy's names are harder (I think) if you want something a little more rare.  Quinn is nowhere on the list.  Woohoo!  So to "future Quinn" I will say this now: I have heard of exactly one other boy with your name.  There, now we'll see if his name gets popular too!

I need to do a catch up of Quinn's weekly pictures.  I take them, but it's been crazy busy around here lately.  Here are the last few weeks.

Quinn at 12 weeks old

Q at 13 weeks old

Quinn today at 14 weeks old

 

Christmas Fun

We took the kids to the Dallas Christmas Parade.  We didn't leave quite early enough, though.  Traffic was horrible.  Even though we only had to drive across the river, we got stuck in the middle of downtown and couldn't find anywhere to park.  Eventually, we were able to park by the Main Street Garden Park and walked immediately to the end of the parade route which was at the Adolphus Hotel.  Thankfully, the beginning of the parade was getting there just as we were.  Mia enjoys looking at the huge balloons.  The Raggedy Ann balloon starting drifting down toward our side of the street.  I really, REALLY thought our little family of four was going to be buried alive by Raggedy Ann.  The balloon wranglers got her under control before she could take a complete nosedive.  There were lots of festive costumes to see in the parade.  Mia kept pointing to all of the girls in the parade and claiming that they were princesses.  Not all of the floats made it down to where we were.  I guess that's what we get for showing up at the end of the parade route.  It was still a lot of fun to see, and Mia loved it.  That's the most important part.

This is when Daddy pointed out to her that Curious George was coming toward us on a fire truck.

 Q's first Christmas parade-snoozed right through it!

Grambling marching band: These guys were awesome!

 Mia was excited to see Biscuit the Dog.  She loves his books.

 

 

Kicking Off the Christmas Season

Our first Christmas activity this year was to go to the Dallas Christmas tree lighting in downtown Dallas a few weeks ago.  We met friends at Campisi's just like last year for dinner beforehand.  Mia is more excited about all of our Christmas activities this year.  She understands better all of the fun aspects of Christmas.  We still have to stop in the hallway at school every day so that she can point out the baby Jesus.  Mia thinks it's so cool that he gets to have his birthday on Christmas Day.  We walked by Neiman Marcus to look at the window displays.  They had a tube that kids could crawl through that weaved in and out of the windows.  It looked like a lot of fun, but our kids were all still to short to be allowed to do it.  They were close, though.  Next year, I bet.  We dawdled a bit too long at Neiman Marcus and missed the actual lighting of the tree at the Main Street Garden Park.  We made it down there to see the tree and play in the park for awhile.  The kids were exhausted by the time we left!

 

We saw this tree made out of vintage car parts!

 

Neiman Marcus windows: Mia, Reese, Riley, and Pearson

 

In awe of the giant treats

 

Tree in Neiman Marcus

Tree in the Main Street Garden Park