4 month old Lincoln!

Stats: 13 lbs 15 oz (little guy!), 25.75 inches, and very, very cute.

Lincoln is doing SO great on the formula! It makes me feel terrible that I apparently was giving him a belly ache for months, even on a limited diet, but I am SO grateful we discovered things as quickly as we did. He caught a little cold that went around our family and didn't eat much for a few days - so I think he'll start gaining just fine on the formula (he has doubled his daily intake since I initially weaned him). Lincoln just makes me smile constantly. He is getting more and more flirtatious and soaks up all attention he can gather. By gather, I mean that he purposely looks around a room and smiles at people (who often have no idea he is looking their way) just waiting for a response from someone. He is definitely not shy!

He wants to stick everything (that he can wrap his little fingers around) into his mouth - and is a drooly monster. He has finally gotten his toes to his mouth and likes to munch on them as well. He most enjoys sitting in the bumbo seat (independent and upright) or being down on a blanket free to kick and squirm. He can roll both directions, although it's currently a rarity to see it. He is a great sleeper (now :) and I am thoroughly enjoying it! I am sure he is too.

Here are a few more pictures from our impromptu photo shoot before his appointment...

Snow, snow, and more snow

Last week the weather station called for a blizzard and what did we get? Nothing! Well, cold temps. And I guess some people got an extra day off tacked on to their holiday weekend. (yay!) Since then, however, we've had some snow come through and Mason LOVES it! Last year he was intrigued by it, but didn't really want to be touching it or stuck in it -- this year he wants nothing more than to be rolling around in it all the time! There is a transom over our front door here and every morning as he sits at the top of the stairs to slide down he looks out and exclaims "SNOW!" as if he has never seen it before. Here are a few shots of his delight...

we're glad we got a good snowfall before we moved, he won't be seeing so much of this in TN!

Skating... the roller kind

When was the last time you went roller skating/blading? I say, too long! We had a pretty hilarious evening and managed to come home with all limbs intact... we vowed to not wait another 15 years before going again. After visiting the infamous Classic skating, I now feel our Utah County experience is complete!

Daddy and his boys...

I went out by myself the other night and as I left, this is the scene I saw - I couldn't help but take a picture :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

A quick update...

...about our sweet little Lincoln!

After months of tummy troubles throwing us for a loop over and over again, two weeks ago I went in to talk to our doctor about the craziness that had become life. Avoiding milk, soy, tomato sauce, and chocolate (that's right, even the chocolate rice milk and sorbet I mentioned earlier...) kept him fairly steady, but even then he was having reactions now and again and so it was a shaky house of cards we were living in. She looked me square in the eye, after telling me that 99.9% of babies would do fine on the hypoallergenic formula, and told me "you need to wean him". Armed with knowledge and the support of my amazing doc, I set about transitioning him over to the formula with the goal of being finished by Thanksgiving.

Here is my Thanksgiving weekend miracle: yesterday was his first full day just on the oh-so-stinky but good-for-him Alimentum formula and guess what? He went 10.5 hours last night (and ate 4 oz and went back to sleep for a couple hours). WOW! The poor guy has had a fairly rocky first 4 months with all his digestive woes, I am so glad he is doing so well and feeling so good! This formula will truly be worth every penny - and although I fully support breastfeeding and know how wonderful it is, in this case, as my doctor confirmed and now Lincoln has confirmed, this really is better for him - as well as for our family.

Go Lincoln!

Family Pictures 2010!

Is it too much to ask that your photographer move across the United States for you? Ah, how we will miss the talented Laurie Millar! Mason refused to nap the day of the shoot and was in a wild and crazy mood, and yet she managed to capture these shots - she is a miracle worker!

Here they are!...

Tennessee

Isn't it beautiful? (these are snapshots from our parents' places)

We've been away for a long time... I've basically been gone since Fall 2002 and we've been full-time gone since Fall 2005.

Although we have earned great educations, made the BEST of friends!, owned our first home, had our first two children, and much more while in Utah...

the time has come...

we're heading back!

It wasn't an easy decision and will no doubt not be the easiest move, but it feels right... so, we're taking that leap of faith and following the answered prayer.

So, our trip home for Christmas will be a one way trip...

Tennessee, here we come!

MSPI... oh my!

Milk-Soy Protein Intolerance.

MSPI, it is my new favorite acronym.

OK, maybe not favorite... most used and thought about, definitely.

I bet you've never even heard of it!

I previously posted about Lincoln's issues with my diet and it has since become much more focused and much more of a reality. Actually, as of today it has become more of a reality than ever. Today I realized that I am possibly it for him. I'll explain:

The ultra expensive formula we believed he could eat... I just discovered that he could still react to. Last night he had a bottle of it and had gas pains in the night. Although Matt reminds me that I can't jump to a conclusion just yet with one possible negative association, it is still a possible link (and confirmed by other MSPI Mamas) and was a big blow to my psyche today. There is a good chance it might not work for him - and it is even possible for a reaction to not show up for 3-4 weeks (which means I'd have to keep up my supply of milk for at least a month in the meanwhile...). The next step past this stuff is only found at the pharmacy and is so expensive that I have read about people mortgaging their home to pay for it.

NOT EVEN LYING!

So, it looks like I'll be getting more creative with my diet as I search out milk and soy free options. Just so you know, I would take cutting out dairy (my fav food group) ANY DAY over cutting out soy. Soy=vegetable oil (among many other products). It is literally in. every. thing. Even gum. And some soda. Bread, margarine, deli meats, almost all processed foods, a large amount of canned goods, chips, crackers, cookies, some hummus, salad dressings. You get the idea! At McDonalds the only thing I can eat is their apples (no dip).

I have learned a lot over the past few months and will no doubt continue to learn more. I have learned I am stronger than I ever knew. I have gained greater empathy and understanding of those with food allergies/intolerances. I am trying new foods I never would have glanced at previously... and probably eating healthier than I ever have.

I am SO grateful for the internet and for the FDA who improved food labeling. Also grateful that this is something that Lincoln will eventually grow out of and not have his entire life.

...Now I think I'll go eat a pint of that Haagen Daaz Chocolate Sorbet that amazingly is MSPI friendly... and chase it with a quart of Chocolate Rice Dream. :)

(healthier, right?)

Cheers!!

Take me out to the movies!

We took Mason to his first 'real' movie - Toy Story 3 at the dollar. We went to a new dollar theater we had never been to and it was quite quaint and perfect for our little outing! He scarfed large amounts of popcorn and LOVED the movie - sat through the entire thing, no problem. Lincoln also did amazingly well - took a cat nap in my arms and sat on my lap content the rest. It was a great late- rainy- afternoon activity!

"I'm 2!"

Mason graced this world 2 years ago on October 26th and we cannot believe how quickly time has gone! As you can see there was a lot of Lightning McQueen going on for his birthday -- he has a true love for him :)

As we sang Happy Birthday to him he sat patiently listening - and as soon as we were done he instantly blew out both candles in one breath! I was taking pictures, not video, so I was completely caught off guard that we didnt have to prompt him to blow them out and missed the shot! Smart cookie!

He had his 2nd year appointment yesterday and weighed in at 27.4 lbs (40th % -- he was in the 15th at 18 months, so way to grow buddy!) and 34 inches. He is so much fun and is growing so fast! We really are loving this age (moments of defiance included, haha) and love our little boy!

Happy Birthday Mason!

P.S. I did make the cake - with the help of a wilton cake pan borrowed from my friend Amber! (no sculpting for me) Check out Ambers work at ABCCakes! She is amazing!

Pumpkin Carving!

I thought for sure Mason would love digging into the pumpkin... this picture tells all:

Not a huge fan.

In the end, Matt ended up doing most of the work and he did a GREAT job! A picture of the end product will be forthcoming...

Haircuts and more

Thanks to Ms. Katie/Auntie Katie (see her here at Haircuts and More), Mason has been looking well groomed since... well, basically since he was born. Thanks to her expertise and his regular attendance, Mason is pretty much a pro nowadays in the seat. Here are a few snapshots from his last (overdue) haircut!

Pumpkin Patch revisited

We went to the Pumpkin Patch last year with Granny Kay and went again this year with her! It is becoming a little bit of a tradition... but hopefully next year we'll be doing it somewhere in Tennessee. Here are a few more pictures from the trip there since we got some cute ones of the boys and our little family (thanks to having a 5th person with us!).

Granny Kay came to visit!

We had a busy and fun week of going.... playing, shopping, for walks,to Library story time, to McDonalds play place, to the petting zoo, to the pumpkin patch, to ride the train at the mall, and much much more! Mason was spoiled rotten (that is what Grannys are for!) and Lincoln got lots of snuggle time. It was a great visit and so fun to have her here! We miss you Granny!

2 Months

Lincoln is 2 months old already! He had his doctors appointment and weighed in at 11 lbs 6 oz and 23.5 inches long... interestingly enough, he is almost the exact same size Mason was! He did great handling his shots - until later that night when his thighs got sore! Every time he moved his legs he wailed :( Luckily they already seem to be feeling much better. A few facts about him:

• he has the cutest, most heart-breaking "pouty" face you've ever seen (trying to get a picture still) - it typically only comes out when he is tired. That bottom lip stops you in your tracks.
  
• he LOVES Mason and smiles/talks to him all the time - they're really, really cute together!
• he has already survived a few accidental 'run-in's from his sweet, clumsy brother... and handled them well.
• he isnt a fan of the pacifier. At least I wont have to wean him from it later!
• he has done 5 hour stretches at night and did a 6 last night... his nights have been pretty inconsistent due to tummy woes, but I expect them to even out now that we seem to have that somewhat under control.
• doesnt love tummy time, but has rolled from tummy to back a few times... probably a fluke for now, but we'll take it :) He can get to his side pretty well though.
• He has already settled into our routine and our days are pretty smooth - love it! He eats typically every 3 hours and goes to bed between 7-8 and gets up between 7-8.
• is a happy lil' boy - I often find just smiling for no apparent reason! Cute.

Tales of September

We've been (among other things)...

Replacing our stolen items and getting forms notarized so can hopefully get this insurance claim in soon (today). I will be sooooo glad when that is done.

Good news: they caught the man who robbed us! They have an arrest warrant out for the

woman. The Salt Lake police picked him up for breaking the law up there and our officer drove up to question him (since he fit the description of the guy using our credit cards in the Walmart videos). When he got there the man fell to pieces and confessed. The court case *should* be pretty clear cut - we'll see what comes of his escapades.

Sad news: he chucked most of our belongings (minus a few cards and the electronics) into the dumpster in our parking lot.... and no one thought to look there before the trash was taken that day :( Ohhhh well. Live and learn. The location of the rest is yet to (ever) be determined.

(Hopefully our insurance claim doesnt go as this picture depicts...)

Various family outings such as... riding the new train at the mall! (to our surprise, he cried uncontrollably when he had to get off - what is it with little boys and trains?) It is actually pretty nifty - it takes you on a lap of the entire mall (see the wheels). Mason still talks about the "train... ride... mall".

My million dollar mouth: after Mason was born I had a tiny cavity... after Lincoln was born, I had a mouthful of work to be done! In all actuality, it is old work from my teen years that is coming back to haunt me. Needless to say, I will be so glad when it is all done (two crowns later). Big THANK YOU to my brother in law Chad for doing a fabulous root canal on me! :)

Also of note: heredity has struck, the fight is over, Matt is officially on a low-dose medication for his cholesterol. Feel free to tease him :)

A visit from Papa and Grandma -- Grandma had a quick trip to make so Papa stayed with us for a few days!

Cutting out EVEN more foods. Lincoln appears to be sensitive to... everything? I will now be living on rice and water. Not crackers, bc those might have butter on them. haha :) OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration. I am hopeful he will grow out of at least some of it by 3-4 months. Time will tell! At present I am avoiding all dairy, soy, chocolate, nuts, onions, and tomatoes. I am positive dairy is a problem and about 80% sure soy is (need to try some soy formula to find out for sure), and the others are maybes. For now it is just easier to avoid than suffer the consequences! On a positive note, he looks so healthy and I was able to take him off Prevacid down to just Zantac and am thinking I might even be able to take him off that soon. Hooray for good health! On another bright note, I think helping me lose weight. Win-win! :)

Attending our first pinewood derby! Mason ADORES the scouts and LOVES going to all the activities. It is a lot of fun for all!

I cant believe it is October already!!

Dairy Free

Dear Lincoln,

I must really love you.

Love,

Mom

Around Lincoln's 3rd week of life things started changing a bit - suddenly I couldn't lay him down for naps without him waking within minutes, he fussed in the stroller and never fell asleep, etc. I figured it was just personality blooming :) Cuddling a new baby is so, so sweet, but cuddling him 24/7 with a toddler around wasn't realistic - but I was prepared to ride it out. However, over the next two weeks things got progressively worse and it became quite apparent to me that a good case of reflux had set in for the little guy. Although not a spitter, you could see him tense up and gulp/sputter/choke as he refluxed. So sad! Of course the worst of it hit on a weekend (how do kids always know it is a weekend??), but I got him in to the doctor first thing the next week and we started him on medicine. How would you like having heart burn constantly? Anyway, after two days on medicine he seemed to be doing somewhat better... then the weekend came (of course!) and he crashed hard! It was a really loooong, somewhat stressful weekend of worrying about him - all weekend he looked not-so-healthy and all night he choked, sputtered, gasped for air as we ended up holding him all night long out of fear. Whew.

Of course, my 'googling' tendencies had kicked in and as I read about 'all things reflux' it seemed that many babies with reflux also have a dairy sensitivity - and as his health seemed to be getting worse I decided to cut out dairy.

Within two days we had a marked improvement.

Exit milk and ranch. Enter Rice Dream and hummus. (oh, and ALMOND milk! DELICIOUS!)

Enter LIFE change! Oh man, I am a dairy lover. Dairy for breakfast, lunch, dinner and in between!

So, here we are, a few weeks into this venture and I am dairy free and... handling it :) The fact that he is looking so good and feeling so good is what keeps me going. In a few weeks I will probably try a small amount of milk and see how he reacts to see just how severe his sensitivity... maybe I will be able to get away with a small bowl of cereal now and again... maybe.

Bring on the non-dairy recipes everyone! I am going to need them!

(P.S. there is a 50/50 chance he wont be able to handle soy either, so I am avoiding that too for the moment)

Robbed

*begin Cops theme music*

Thursday morning Matt went downstairs around 6:30AM to head out the door to work... he quickly felt the cold air as he reached the bottom of the stairs, creating the first thought "why is that door open?" followed by "where is my stuff!?" Wallet, watch, sunglasses, work laptop, the cat, and my entire purse: GONE. He rushed back upstairs and woke me with a "Jordyn, I need you! Someone came in the house, our stuff is gone, Sammy is gone - we need to find Sammy!" I love that his biggest concern was really the cat :) (we also checked, of course, to make sure both boys were still snug in their beds)

The next 24 hours+ have been filled with phone call upon phone call upon phone call. The police, credit card companies, our bank, our insurance, the detective assigned to our case, friends, family, neighbors, etc etc etc. It has been quite the whirlwind!

What we know so far: they managed to make two purchases on our cards - $1100 at one Walmart and $700 at a different Walmart (yay for lots of security cameras!). We know the $1100 was two laptops and will soon know what the other entailed. It was a man and a woman, late teens/early twenties. Amazingly, our detective is QUITE determined to find them! It seems the police are most alarmed by the fact that we were in the house asleep, particularly our children, when they entered. Whether we catch them or not, I have been really impressed by the Police Department! After living in Orlando, where it seemed like a murder had to take place to get any real attention from the police, I was not expecting much if any follow through on our small case. Surprise! I kind of feel like I am in an episode of a TV drama :)

Kudos also to American Express for being fantastic to work with- overnighted cards, a no hassle fraud case - they have been great.

Thankfully, after searching for an hour we found mr. kitty cat wedged between the tennis court, a tree, and a fence. All family members accounted for, we are SO GRATEFUL this went the way it did. It could have been much, much worse. Stuff is just that - stuff! It can be replaced. Although I will say rebuilding a wallet is a royal pain :) Blasted crooks.

Everyone check your doors!

...not even 'Happy Valley' is safe! ;)

Buried

Early August I quickly learned that taking two kids on a large grocery trip probably is better avoided. Can you find Lincoln? (I needed to step back further, the bottom of the cart is also overloaded). The kids were perfect... the shopping space, not so much! I also didn't think about where all of it would go after being bagged... I ended up with two carts on the way out and must have looked quite precarious as a young girl asked "uhm, can I help you with your carts?" Lesson learned!

We're here!

I really am here! -- busy here, but here none the less!

Life is really, really good.

The basic rundown:

I am still feeling great! This recovery was a piece of cake - so wonderful! No PUPPP, thank goodness. I am amazed at how quickly time is passing with the new pace of having two youngsters - where are the weeks going?? As I'm settling into the new 'groove' I look forward t

o picking up old hobbies and starting some new ones... underwater basket weaving, anyone? (jk)

Mason is still adoring Lincoln - there is truly nothing but love between them, it is soooo great! He still makes us laugh constantly throughout the day - he is more and more of a ham the older he gets. His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds and so he is also surprises us with words he seems to pull out of no where. It is a fun age!

Lincoln had a few rough days before I realized he had developed painful reflux -poor guy. He has since started Zantac and is returning to his old self! Hooray! He is sleeping well (he was doing longer stretches before the reflux set in and now since the medicine he seems to be getting back to those stretches) and growing so fast and getting more and more alert. He is spontaneously smiling nowadays and I LOVE IT! Also to note, since we had a visit to the doc for the reflux, we know that at 4 weeks Lincoln weighed in at 9 lb 14 oz - gaining weight like a champ!

Matt is busier than he has been in years... seriously. Down market? It is really unreal how busy he is right now - he just had his best month since 2007. Go figure! He is also in a bowling league (for fun) and really enjoys it!

And because I cant have a post without a picture: here are my boys!

more posts to come!

Sweet

Mason, so far, has nothing but love for his new little brother. If Lincoln is fussing he immediately springs into action seeking out remedies - alerting me and offering tools such as diaper rash ointment, a pacifier, the boppy pillow, Lincoln's blanket, etc. It is adorable! He loves to kiss on him, pat/rub his back, and wants to greet him first thing in the morning. It melts my heart! :)

Stroller Love

My splurge for baby #2 since he is the same gender as #1: my stroller.

Cost? rather not say :)

Regrets? none!

I bought it in the spring and have been quite pleased with it as a single stroller all summer

(I use my stroller daily... well, at least 5 days of the week).

This week I have been able to test out its double-stroller awesomeness: heck yeah, it is amazing!

Love love love it!

See the two configurations for baby/toddler below (it will also carry two bigger kids). Also note the look of sheer glee on Mason's face. He loves it too.

Happy traveling!

Lincoln David

And here... ladies and gentlemen... is my book. It IS for my record keeping after all, not to mention I am often long winded with stories, so here we go! :)

Contractions were getting old. REALLY old. On Wednesday evening when I talked to my Mom I told her they had started again and she asked if I was timing them… well, of course not! I had been having contractions on and off for days and would have lost my mind if I had been timing them – in fact, I was working as hard as I could to completely ignore them. For whatever reason though, I decided to watch the clock for a bit. Lo and behold, at that point they were 7-8 minutes apart consistently. Surprise! However, since I hadn’t timed any of the others, I didn’t know how much value to put into that knowledge. After putting Mason to bed I hopped in the bathtub to try to relax and see where that would take me… they just continued slow and steady. I then went to bed, frustrated, tired, and figuring they would be going away within hours as they had been for days.

The contractions kept coming and I kept my eyes shut and tried to ignore them. I finally decided to peek at the clock… 2:30 AM. My thought: ONLY 2:30?!?! It felt like it should have been nearly 5 or 6! I realized these contractions must have been keeping super regular. I then timed a handful and found them to be 5 minutes apart. I woke Matt up at 3 AM, telling him “this might be it…”, at which point he started timing them for me. We went to 4 minutes apart within 30 minutes and at that point we both agreed we needed to hit the road. I really didn’t want to be wrong and too eager to leave since other people had to be involved to take care of Mason for us – but we also didn’t want to miss our window of time because I had tested positive for Group B Strep and needed two rounds of antibiotics before delivering to reduce risk. So, off we went!

We arrived to the hospital around 4:30 AM and I told the nurse I needed to check in at which point she asked if I was being induced that day. “Oh, no, I am in labor… *Smile*” I think they thought I was crazy. A huge difference between this labor and Mason’s was NO BACK LABOR! In between contractions I felt like myself and could communicate – it was sooo great. They checked me and found I was at a 4 and checked me 45 minutes later and I was at 5. We were there to stay!

I ended up with a FABULOUS nurse (shift change at 6 AM)– for whom I am so, so grateful. When I asked my first nurse for some water she gave me stinking ice chips saying, “sorry, you can only have these when you’re in active labor”. Yeah, yeah. My second nurse slipped me apple juice J She had 4 children – two with an epidural and two without, the most recent without and only 3 months prior. When the contractions were back to back at 8 cm she pushed on my knees while instructing Matt to push on my back, trying to relieve some of the discomfort. She also massaged my feet and worked on a pressure point found there to try to give me some comfort. How about that for going above and beyond?? I also labored in their huge, awesome Jacuzzi bathtub for a little over an hour.

I hit a 6 pretty quick… and then stalled at a 6 for several hours. Lame-o! I have no idea what was going on, but I finally got to a seven maybe 3 hours later (time is a little hazy at this point). When I got to an 8 they told my doctor to hurry over and at that point, as mentioned earlier, my contractions became never ending. Not totally fun. When Dr. Savage arrived I was at 9 and she asked if I was ready for her to break my water and I said, “yes, lets get this show on the road!”. She explained it would make things go quicker, but how much quicker was up to my body. She broke my water… I had one contraction… and went into pushing mode. Talk about FAST! She then asked how I wanted to deliver, since I had mentioned wanting a different position than flat-on-your-back – my response? “I don’t care, whatever is the fastest!” Can you tell how I was feeling??? Everyone chuckled and my doctor said, “I am pretty sure it’ll be fast regardless of how we do it.” So, since I was already laying on my side, I declared, “then this is how I’m doing it!” With a great team around me, I pushed through two contractions in less than 5 minutes and gave birth to beautiful, perfect 8 lb 4 oz Lincoln David at 1:02 PM on Thursday, August 5th. I had two stitches internally and have recovered so fast – I am so grateful! I feel GREAT! It probably doesn’t hurt that I was so miserable the last few weeks, particularly the last week, of my pregnancy – the comparison of how I feel then and now is drastic.

With Mason he was wisked away to the NICU and I didn’t see him until 5 hours later so this experience with Lincoln was completely new and different. He was immediately placed on me and left there and wasn’t ever taken from us (even when they bathed him, the nurse brought a cart to our room and did it right there with us – several hours later). It was so wonderful to have that time to bond as a family and meet our new little one!

So, now we’re home and our family of three has become a family of four! It is unreal and at the same time so natural to have Lincoln with us. We love our little guy!

Baby on the mind (written 8/4)

Katie made me laugh pretty hard with her last two comments on here -- she noted that I first titled a post "water water everywhere" followed by "child labor" -- water, labor? Apparently I am subconsciously inserting child birth into all aspects of my life. ha!

And yet, here I am, 39.5 weeks with large amounts of false labor and still with a bun in the oven! The last two nights I have started contracting as soon as I've laid down and continued to do so for several hours, only to have it finally subside sometime mid-nights sleep. Which has meant... not much sleep. I never had any braxton hicks let alone false labor with Mason, so this is a whole new experience. Luckily I haven't been making any mad dashes to the hospital, but I am definitely eager to get this show on the road.

(I planned to insert a recent picture here...)

Child Labor

Eureka!

I don't know why I didn't think of this before!

Mason has been throwing away lint and dryer sheets for me for some time now... but, thanks to front loading machines, he can also easily switch laundry for me! Here is a short clip of his skills. I hope his desire to help continues on for a long, long time!

Don't mind the exhaustion you (I can) hear in my voice.... Lincoln has got to come out soon.

(a post about that is coming...)

Water water everywhere

...no good reason for this post except that I like this picture! We have had so many fun days of water parks/splash parks/kiddie pools this summer... I don't want them to ever end. This is from a local public pool (quite nice and fancy for a public pool!) and Mason absolutely loved this slide to pieces. I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of my maternity suit!

Mmmmm, flour

We are currently Webelo leaders (cub scouts - so fun!) and the other week we played "snowy mountain" as part of the activity -- whoever causes the flour mountain to collapse has to retrieve the chocolate chip with hands behind back. Can you tell who was a little too cocky when cutting away at the flour dome? Priceless!

Grown up

For what ever first-time-parent-reason, we had been cutting corn off the ear for Mason this summer. The other night I thought, why have I not just given him an ear? So, we broke off part of one and handed it to him... at which point he refused to pick it up until we put holders in it (how dare we just hand him a corn cob?!?)... at which point he then scarfed almost an entire ear of corn. It is official: he is grown up (whether we realize it or not) :)

Plugging Along

I am at a grand 37.5 weeks now and anxiously awaiting "d-day"! The weekly doctors appointments make you realize just how much of a ticking bomb you are and help make it feel like it is really about to happen. Other things also signal the end is here:

Waddling? check.

Walking at a comically slow pace? check.

Swelling (minimal, so far)? check.

Nesting? check.

All I can do is laugh at my body and its current antics! When I get up from laying or sitting I feel like I have to jump start my hips to get going! I have also been continuing walking 30 minutes 3-5 days a week and I can only laugh that even a turtle could probably beat me nowadays. And then the random projects that seem important... like reorganizing closets. We have only lived here a month and a half you know -- how much organizing could a closet need??

Come out anytime Lincoln - the closets are ready for you. :)

Bear Lake Bound

We really wanted to take some sort of a family vacation this summer and suddenly summer was passing us by and we realized we hadn't planned anything yet. Whoops! So, we brainstormed what our options were and we thought of Bear Lake - a nearby destination that neither of us had ever been to. Perfect! I found and booked a little condo for two nights and off we went -- armed with only the knowledge that we HAD to have a raspberry shake while we were there (that was the comment we heard out of every person who heard we were going).

Thankfully, Mason was a gem on the ride up and the ride back - maybe he'll be a good long distance car traveler yet! (I had to take a picture of him actually sleeping in the car because it is such a rare thing to witness!)

Here is our one bedroom condo we got -- and it was discounted because it wasn't "updated" -- what do we care if it isn't updated??? Sweet!

Saturday morning after breakfast we headed to rent one of these nifty bikes we saw as we drove in the night before --- I think we might have to buy one someday. How cute! Matt was a trooper and let me take breaks when I would have a contraction.. don't worry, he didn't have to peddle by himself too often :) We figured out later that we went about 5 miles or so round trip. Next time I told Mason he is peddling and I am sitting in the basket up front.

We were so lucky that Grandma & Papa were able to drive down from Wyoming Saturday and join us for the day! Mason was absolutely thrilled to see them & kept them playing hard all day. Do you see the look of pure joy on his face in the picture?? Love it! We ate lunch in this great "covered wagon" in the middle of town.

Some random pictures for you... yes, we had THE raspberry shake (at the joint the bike rental shop recommended, no less) and yes it was delicious! BUT, we bought some chocolate covered fresh raspberries at this chocolate shop in town and I must say... they were AMAZING. Seriously, forget the shake. I saw them being made when I walked in and I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I asked the owner what they recommended. The lady said her record was 347 bags sold in a day (small bags costing $3 a pop!). I now understand why - they're worth the $3. YUM.

Seeing as Bear Lake was a frigid 63 degrees, no swimming in the lake was to be had (we did go swimming in the condo pool). However, we did go and dip our toes in... Mason didn't want to leave. I am sure if he had gotten in further he would have changed his mind.

It was a great weekend and we are so glad we went!

36 weeks and counting

This week's picture is brought to you via Bear Lake! (that post will be coming later...)

I am counting. OK, maybe counting isn't the right word for it... more like 'I am continuously sending Lincoln subliminal messages that he can come out anytime now'. There is certainly a reason you're pregnant for around 40 weeks (besides all that developmental stuff... :) - because by the end you are SO ready to get "your" body back that you are ready for anything just to get that baby here. I am actually excited for labor! Sick, right??

Besides that aspect of it, we ARE truly excited to meet this little boy and welcome him into our family - and he'll be here SOON! Yay!

Little Fishy

Mason and I took the parent & tot swim class through a local public pool and just completed 2 weeks of swim-bliss. Ok, mostly bliss :) He still isn't a huge fan of laying on his back, but he is otherwise in love with water. Hooray! I have always loved to swim and hope he continues to feel the same way. We took the class with Mason's buddy, Packer, and it was so much fun! It was basically a bunch of games to get them accustomed to various activities in the water - blowing bubbles, paddling their arms, kicking their legs, going under, learning to turn around when the water gets too deep, etc. Hopefully we'll get in a lot more swimming before Lincoln arrives!

Illuminations indeed!

What a spectacular fourth of July weekend!! I think every holiday should be celebrated for at least 3 days like this one was -- dont you agree? We spent the weekend swimming, shopping, going to our first Stadium of Fire ever with the Lowells!, church, long naps for all of us, BBQing, fireworks in DC, Boston, and NY via TV, a great Freedom Festival breakfast w/the Footes, an over two hour long grand parade, checking out the booths downtown, more swimming and more BBQing! It was a little sad coming back to reality today :)

We are so grateful to live in this great country!!

God Bless the USA!

Stadium of Fire! We always watched the fireworks from a hillside which provided a great view - however, it was definitely better from inside! Good show!

Some snapshots from Mondays parade/time downtown -- Mason got this flag for free and it has become his newest prized possession.