My Do It

"My do it" is a phase we hear often from Ben these days. Everything is "my do it, my do it". It's fun to watch him assert himself and try new things. He's very persistent and likes to either do things all by himself or at least help out whenever he can. We captured a cute moment when we were getting ready to put Quinn to bed one night, Ben insisted on being the one to hold Quinn and help feed him his bottle. Quinn really didn't care who fed him the bottle, he just wanted to eat!

Quinn the Walking Machine

Quinn's PT Melissa getting him all set to go!

And he's off!

Getting those feet to go

Hi Mom! Here I come!

Aww man, Melissa is making me work again!

We recently got to bring home a walker for Quinn to use. He tried it out a few times at physical therapy and seemed to really enjoy it. It was fun to see him cruise around and discover that he can use his legs to be upright and move! We are so lucky to have a great facility at Gillette's in Maple Grove and I think Quinn really likes his PT, even though she makes him work!

Banana's anyone??

Here Mom - you try it!

Hmm, this is interesting...


OK! I think they taste pretty good!

Quinn is an eater - he really likes to eat. He is totally off baby food and is on to eating meals with the rest of the Kollasch clan. He recently tried bananas, it took a few days but he eventually discovered that they weren't too bad!

Quinn turns 1!

Enjoying that blue frosting!

Checking out one of the Oreo "wheels".

The big cupcake cake that fed everyone else.

Quinn is getting the hang of opening presents and I think he likes it!

Mom, Quinn, and Dad. It's so hard to believe that 1 year has past by so quickly. I will always remember the first time I saw Quinn's face and how fierce the love we have for him always will be.

Our little guy turned 1 on April 17th and we celebrated with a little party at the Kollasch Speedway. Quinn enjoyed "tasting" cake and opening his presents. He had lots of help from big brother Ben and some cousin and friends. He was pretty tired after all the festivities but thought he had the best 1st birthday ever!

Quinn @ PT - learning to walk!

All strapped in and ready to go!

Getting ready to start!

Look Mom - I'm walking!

Working on getting those feet in the right position.

Quinn has continued his physical therapy at Gillette Children's Rehab in Maple Grove. We have done lots of things but I think the most exciting has been Quinn recieving gait training on a treadmill with a special harness. I took Ben with me to Quinn's PT session this week and Ben "encouraged" Quinn by patting him on the head as he was getting strapped into his harness. Overall Quinn has made impressive progress from where we were in January. He is still having some lower leg/hip/trunk difficulty. Chris and I have made the decision to take Quinn to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore where they have a Transverse Myelitis Institute and the Kennedy Krieger Spinal Cord Injury Center for a 2 week intensive PT course and consultation. We want to make sure that all of Quinn's options are being fully investigated and exhausted. We are still waiting to hear exactly when we will be making the trip out east and we can't wait to get out there and see what they have to say!

Easter Egg Hunt

There's an egg!

I think Leo found the Golden Egg!

The kids after the hunt: Olivia, Leo, Stella, and Ben

Quinn taking an opportunity to check out the Easter Baskets.

Get those bubbles!

We got together with our neighbors and found out that the Easter Bunny had also hidden eggs outside our houses too! Ben, Leo, Stella, and Oliva went in seach of the elusive Golden Egg, the egg with a special prize inside. After the hunt Olivia got the kids going with a bubble chase!

Easter Morning at the Kollasch's

Thank you Easter Bunny!

Ben testing out the wheel-barrow by hauling his blankie.

Quinn, the One Sock Man, wants to know how the Easter Bunny got M&M's in a carrot!

Quinn LOVES his new boots!

But is not so sure how to actually walk in them.

We woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had visited our house and left some goodies for the boys. He also hid the eggs around the house and Ben got to practice his egg-hunting skills. He managed to find all of 14 of them (at least the Easter Bunny thinks he hid 14 eggs). The boys got some new boots to wear at Mama and Papa's house since it will be a little muddy up there once they move in. Ben also got a cool wheel-barrow to help Mama haul stuff around the yard.

Quinn meets Zach

How's it goin' Zach?

Mom, we are sharing our snack!

Let me help you with that Zach. If you don't want it, I'll eat it!

So full! Nice shoes you have on Quinn, are they my size?

We had a fabulous Easter party at my cousin Becky's house the Saturday before Easter. She hosted over 40 members of our family and it was great to see everyone again. Quinn got to hang out with his cousin Zach who is about 1 1/2 months younger than Quinn. They shared some snacks, discussed strollers and crawling techniques, and how much they like to sleep through the night. The subject of older brothers also came up, not sure what was discussed on that one...

The Zoo

Quinn taking it easy in his stroller.

Ben loved to show Quinn the animals!

Quinn - there's a goat.

Ella (in pink) petting the baby goat.

Ben and Ella enjoying a cookie while waiting for the rain to let up.

My mom and I took Ben, Quinn, and my cousin's little girl Ella to the MN Zoo. We wanted to see the Wells Fargo Baby Farm Animals exhibit that opened on April 1st. We managed to see the farm right before the rain started pouring down. We rushed back and forth between whatever shelter we could find until we made it back to the car. Ella loved the sea otters and Ben liked to watched the animals from a far. The tiger got a little too close to the glass at one point and I don't think Ben appreciated it at all. Both Ella and Ben were fantastic and Quinn had a leisurely stroll in his stroller.

Waking up is hard to do....

Ben looks like the one that needs a nap!

Quinn is not ready to be awake yet!

Ben with his stuff that he brought to show Quinn.

Quinn is checking out his own Twilight Turtle.

Ben usually gets up before Quinn and once he hears Quinn making some noise on the monitor he wants to be the one to go in there and get him up. One day, Ben wanted to do a little Show and Tell for Quinn so he brought in his penguin, Twilight Turtle, Gloworm, and blankie. Quinn had a hard time waking up and wasn't really interested in all the neat stuff Ben brought to show.

Target Field - Welcome Outdoor Baseball!

Papa, Quinn, and Ben at the game.

The scoreboard in left field. They are presenting the President of the Twins with a Gopher Baseball jersey.

The outfield.

Mom, Quinn, Ben, and Chris

A tired boy after a day at the ballpark!

We took the boys down to the brand-new Target Field, new outdoor home to the MN Twins to watch the MN Gophers play a game as a test-run for opening day. The weather was good, we have had an amazing Spring here, and the new stadium was BEAUTIFUL. It was fun to see all the people there to watch the Gophers and Ben loved the atmosphere. He helped Papa shell peanuts, ate some snacks, and watched a little baseball. It was also our first outing in the minivan with 6 poeple inside. It was sure nice to only have to pay for one vehicle to park!