Lincoln at Two Years Old

Dear Lincoln,

I blinked and you're TWO (tomorrow)!

Your dad and I are totally biased. We think you are the sweetest, smartest, funniest, talented little boy in the whole world. You constantly surprise us with your new skills, words you pick up so quickly, how affectionate you are, and your ability to be so independent. You are incredible, my friend.



You are kind of an old soul, I think. You say hi to everyone, and this Christmas you loved to wish everyone Merry Christmas and wave "bye bye" to them... everywhere we went.  You like to play by yourself, you love to eat salad (and currently: guacamole? What kind of toddler likes guacamole?!) and lately have been in the habit of telling us when you're sleepy. You have awesome manners and always ask saying please (sometimes abbreviated to: pees? k.) and when you get anything from anyone you say thank you (tatu!)–I'd say 85% of the time unprompted. You love to clean up after yourself at meals and after playing and sing the "Clean Up" song (eemup! eeemup! eaaaeeewaaaa). You're the best. You tell us "love you!" a lot (nanu!) and it's the sweetest sound I've ever heard. We nanu very, very much! You give the best lip kisses and blow me kisses sometimes just because. It's the best.



You love to play pretend. You make soup, cah-key, and deeyas for us in your kitchen. Today you surprised us with cah-key cake. You like to play with cars and trucks and trains– you're currently a big fan of firetrucks so that was your Christmas ornament and "theme" for your birthday this year. We got you new firetruck jammies, a couple of firetruck toys and have a very exciting day planned for your birthday starting with donuts from Fresh Levant (gluten and dairy free so we can really enjoy them!), going to the firestation to see the firetrucks and then lunch at Chick Fil A. After nap all your aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and a couple close friends are coming over for pizza and s'mores to celebrate. You are so loved!



You also love anything that is musical. ANYTHING. Anything and everything is and can be a guitar, bass or bass-tar. You can imitate drums, piano and a flute. You love to sing all the time and it is my most favorite. This Christmas was the best, you loved to sing Jingle Bells and would ask for Christmas music (krees-mas) in the car. You especially super love "praise praise" music which is Elevation worship. You have a couple of favorites that you ask for by name: praise praise (Praise Goes On), Name (Resurrecting) and you can sing along to pretty much any song on the Here As In Heaven album.  You also love the Hallelujah (Hallelujah, Here Below) and Rain (There is a Cloud) and you sing your heart out. It is the greatest thing I have ever heard!  It's the best of the best of the best.

You love church so much. Sometimes to wind down for nap or bedtime we'll talk about who we see there and say night night to them. You love the girls that are in the one year old room with you, Miss Ashlee especially. You love Miss Martha who is in your class sometimes and that babysits you on Mondays while I work for a few hours. You go to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays and love Mrs. Kim. You used to say Tim but tonight actually while we were trying to get you to say your name you were suddenly clearly saying "Kim!". I think she'll be excited for that when we go back in two weeks. The first few weeks of preschool were rough and you hated for me to leave, but one day you had a blast (I think it was the day they gave you candy corn...) and you run in smiling, ready to play everyday. It makes me kinda sad (I miss you while you're there!) but I'm so glad you can have fun doing things without me sometimes. You also learn so much, and make beautiful crafts there with Mrs. Kim every week! She is amazing! We are excited because next year she'll be your teacher again in the two year old class.

You know Dada plays bass at church and he fixes iPads at work. Sometimes if I say "Dada is at work" you'll say "no bass, pad pad". You love your Dada so much. Sometimes if I have to go places on the weekends and you spend the whole day with Dada you are so happy when I come home! You love everything he does and want to do it, too.

You are halfway to being a big brother and told me all along that baby was a sister, but I didn't believe you! I like to think you guys have a special connection already. When we snuggle before nap, you like to pull up my shirt and talk to my belly. Lately you do it in a high pitched baby voice "heeeey baby! baby girl!" and it's the cutest thing ever. You also have a weird obsession with the mole on my belly, and always like to "find" it. Occasionally you'll give my belly kisses and it totally creeps your dad out, but I love it. You've come to really like your baby doll that we got at IKEA a while ago, and you carry him around and read him stories, and snuggle at night and at naps. You've always been a big brother, which is a little bittersweet, but it's always been you. You've always been the oldest. You're gonna nail the big brother thing. Lately you will point my belly out and announce "baby girl!" and then keep talking about whatever you were doing before. I'm a little sad about our "just the two of us" days coming to an end, but I can only imagine the heart explosion that will occur when I see you two together in the flesh.



You like to eat, and love a good pouch of yogurt or applesauce. You love a salad and veggies dip- dipped in ranch. Your favorite lunches are deeyas (GF quesadillas) or six grilled nuggets from Chick Fil A dip-dipped in Chick Fil A sauce. You drink water most of the time, but we like a good post-nap smoothie in your Nemo cup and a stroller ride. You request this by saying "roller, nemo cup?". Occasionally we'll go to Starbucks at get you cah-key (coconut milk) but you're a total spiller so we don't do this a lot. You do like coconut milk in one of my reusable coffee cups at home and will ask for a straw. You like waffles and pancakes (cake cakes) and request them for breakfast a lot. You eat at least one banana (patah) a day. One day you requested apple juice by name (and with the clearest pronunciation I've ever heard you pronounce anything). We don't do a lot of juice, but you love green juice, and recently some orange carrot juice we tried from the store. You don't seem to mind that gluten and dairy free life, and occasionally we let you eat normal people food and you love that, especially a good piece of peepsa.



In general, you are a very happy and chill kid. Learning to talk has been frustrating at times and sometimes there are meltdowns and occasional throwing of things, but you are learning to use your words. You do an excellent job of deep breaths and calming down to tell us something, even if it's that you need snats in the middle of the night. Lately you tell us when you're sleepy. If we catch you early you tell us with words, but sometimes you tell us with eye rubs and No, no nap! exclamations. You really understand how to use no and most times decline something or an idea we have with no want. I'm really proud of that syntax.



You love to sing your ABCs (ABCABCABCEEEEEEEPABCYZ ABCABC TIME ME YAY *applauds*-- or something to that effect) and other kid songs like Wheels on The Bus (up and down! up and down! up and down! allll down!) and Old MacDonald Has A Farm. You can count with us accurately to ten, and know that when people ask how old you are you say two. When we ask you to count in Spanish, sometimes you'll say no, no uno dos and if you oblige you usually get to cuacro before making stuff up (and finishing with applause and yay).



We have that special mom and son thing. You love to snuggle and I kiss all your ouchies and make them better in an instant. We make faces at each other across the room and I can make you belly laugh so hard in seconds. When we are both tired we drive each other INSANE. The other Sunday you stayed awake from 3-6am for no good reason and after we went back to sleep for a little bit we apologized to each other. I told you I was sorry for being impatient, and I'm not sure if you really understood but you said sorry and signed it (oh yeah, you randomly sign more and sorry). Sometimes you apologize on your own when you throw toys or do something you know you aren't supposed to, but lately even if you drop something on accident you apologize– "oh! sorry!"

You make me a better person, kiddo. Everything I ever wanted to be as a mom (wife and person too!) I am becoming because of you. Thank you for all the joy that you bring us, you make our days so sweet! We thank God for you every day. You were so handpicked for us.

Happy Birthday.

Love you so much always, forever and ever,
Mama

Lincoln at 18 months

Lincoln man, you are eighteen months old! That's a year and a half. It's kind of a big deal. 

And the best age ever. 

This is the first time you've reached an age milestone and you actually woke up looking bigger to me. We laugh because we look back at pictures of you when you were a little squirt, just a couple of months old, and we can't really recall you growing, you seemed like the same Lincoln, just with less teeth and hair. Your personality started shining through way before you could actually say anything– you've been hilarious for quite a while.

Lately? You are such a big kid. You love anything that goes– cars, trucks, vans, trains, planes, and will exclaim "TRUCK" whenever you see anything on wheels. This includes a trashcan that a janitor was pushing through Target yesterday.

You're all about eating with a fork, and mimic how I told you to "poke" your food with it, except it sounds like "poo poo" which you now tell us you did in your diaper. On the Fourth of July, actually, you told your dad you had to go number 2 (with some extreme grunting, I believe, I wasn't present) and he took you upstairs and you went poo poo on the kid potty! We were so excited and sang some songs and did a poo poo dance, you love to talk about poo poo now. Sometimes you tell the truth and you really did go in your diaper, and other times I think you're just telling us about poop. Not gonna lie, we loved your poo poo on the potty so much, if I were you I'd probably humble brag about that for a long time too...

You have become an expert kisser, especially on the lips. You lean in really close to my lips, say "mmmmmmmWAH!" and lay one on me, and I love it. Every once in a while you lick my face instead, which you think is funny (it is, it is funny). I am really taking advantage of the fact that you love to give kisses because I'm sure once the terrible twos are upon us, you may not enjoy that as much.


You're getting really good at talking, and for a couple of weeks you would get really frustrated because you couldn't tell us stuff, but you're getting SO good at it! You'll attempt to say pretty much anything, and some times it sounds like absolute gibberish, but you're attempting it and we're so proud.


Some of your words currently are: tuck (truck), CKKKK (car), boon (balloon), ball (ball), bock (box), Lobo (all dogs), bool (bull-- we went to a Durham bulls game, and there's a bull in your kid's Bible, so now you point to the Bible and say 'bull'), go, turtle, purple, toos (shoes), tocks, (socks), pits (pants), butta (belly button), nose, ot (hot), baba (banana), pool, watah (water), poo poo, and my current favorite: NACK (snack).

Suddenly, my name is mommy like 50% of the time. Most times I'm still mama, and sometimes I'm a weird combo of the two mama-ee, but literally one day it happened. Dada is still dada. Luna and Lobo are still lobo. And you've gotten great at trying to say other people's names. Our dermatologist, Tracy, nearly cried on Tuesday when you said teetee at her. You also said Sarah, say say. Working on our cousin's names (Oliver) and Aunt Cassidy and Aunt Olivia, but you've got Charlie down (also tee tee) and Gigi and Pop Pop.

You had a freaking blast at story time at the library on Tuesday. You sat on the floor when the teacher said to and did for a while, until you realized there was no consequence for running around. This is just like you do when friends come over to play, you run around shouting "yay!" and applauding. I didn't intervene until you knocked a baby over because it was hilarious and you were so happy to be there, I wanted you to run around and be happy.

You like to pray with us, most times. You at least know that when we say "let's pray!" we're gonna hold hands, bow our heads and talk to God. It's funny to watch you do it. At dinner, when we pray you'll stuff some bites of food in your mouth, one in each hand and sometimes tuck one in between your shoulder and chin (maybe our prayers take too long??) and hold our hands even with food in yours. You say "baaaaaaaby" at the very end (amen) every time. Sometimes you'll super enjoy a toy or a food you're eating and you'll be yay-ing and clapping and we'll stop and thank God for it for a minute. I have no idea if that's teaching you anything about God, but it is really helping me to slow down and thank God for these moments. They're my favorite, man. And God has really blessed us!

Tantrums come and go, and typically can be easily explained by frustration with communication, not getting what you want (waffle fries, ahem), missed sleep or teeth. It looks like all your baby teeth are in (!), just waiting on those two year molars. I'm sure they'll be here any day now, or wait to ruin Christmas.


You're taking one nap a day, eat a good three meals and two 'nacks. You wear size 4 diapers (should probably be a three for weight and skinnies, but your poops are fours) and 18 month jammies. Your 18 month pants are too big in the waist, but your 18 month shorts fit fine. Most 12 month stuff still fits, but I went ahead and packed it up since it was mostly cold weather stuff and it's July and one million degrees outside.


Dada puts you to bed every night, and you guys have an awesome special routine that occasionally I like to ruin. New diaper, PJs, brush teeth, lotion on your face, books, sound machine + music, snuggles, sleep. Lately you've been rolling around in bed falling asleep on your own, which is nice. You will babble and talk and sing to yourself and we love to hear it.


I put you down for naps on days Dada is working, and we snuggle and I look forward to it every day. I know some day you won't nap anymore or you'll hate my guts and I savor our pre-nap snuggles. You fall asleep pretty fast (toddle hard, nap hard-- as I like to say) and so sometimes I hold you for probably too long. You love your blanket, and your lobo and baby in your crib with you.

We love you, big kid! So thankful you are ours. You make our family so great and joyful.
Happy half birthday!


All the photos from this post come from a Real Life Session we had with our friend Amber from Langhoff Creative. We loved having her document our day and are so grateful for these images, we will treasure them! 

Almost 15 Months

Hey little monkey man,

I’ve been trying to plan do a little “update” on you (almost 15 months old!) but it’s been hard to find the time, and really narrow down what’s new and decide on a new "system" for documenting all the things. Every single day you are surprising me with new things, and I am surprised as it would seem my love for you (and pretty much every thing you do) grows larger than the day before. Every day I think “This is it! This is how much I love him! It’s so much!” and then the next day’s love surpasses that amount. It’s unreal! 

I’m just so proud to be your mom. (And all my Instagram followers can attest to that.) 

You are just a wonderful mystery to me. Lately you are super independent, you love to play your own games and explore and find things to carry around and dote on. It really doesn’t seem like that long ago you were living in my belly, kicking away, drinking placenta juice (um, I probably could have phrased that less grossly– I’ll explain when you’re older and your wife is pregnant) and your dad and I were blissfully unaware how you would quite literally change every aspect of our lives for the better. Life was pretty great before you but with you? Incredible. Completely incredible.

I was pretty determined to document your first year well, and I am really glad that I did because it was a total blur. For some reason I thought things would slow down a bit after your first birthday, but I was totally mistaken. What was physical growth and leaps, has now been replaced by leaps in communication and daily skills. It seems they appear each day, just something new that you’ve never done before.

Like today, for example, you started saying “uh-oh”. Which is funny, because I’m 99% sure I don’t ever say that, but the girl we have babysitting you on Mondays while I work (her name is Meghan. We love her) says it all the time. Today in your stroller on our walk you dropped your water bottle and before I could stop the stroller you chimed: “uh oh!” just as clear as day. It was adorable. 

Today, you also let it slip that you know what several animals say! Lion (RAWWRRR), sheep (BAAAAH–– but in a kind of scream-o throaty way), cat (MOW MOW) and you kill the doggy sound (WOOWOOWOO) and then you remembered that doggy = Lobo and then you just obsessed over Lobo for a while.

Oh, your Lobo Obsession. We can’t believe how long it has lasted, but you are in love with that scraggly shedding black Husky. Every dog you see in the neighborhood is “Lobo?” and when you meet new people, wave at them or say “Hi!” the next word out of your mouth is “Lobo”. We are wondering if it has other meanings we just haven’t figured out yet, but I really just think you’re like “Hi, I’m Lincoln. Have you met Lobo? He’s great. Lobo. Oh, and also, Lobo.” Occasionally you’ll say Luna (kinda sounds like NUNA) but most of the time it’s all Lobo, all the time. 

A few weeks ago you started walking around the house with your hands behind your back. You just tucked them behind your back, and held hands with yourself.  It was the funniest thing, and just so cute and we didn’t get a picture. But it was so funny. You looked like such a proper little man. You only did it that one day, and have yet to do it since. 

Last week, you became really aware of forks and spoons and love to hold one in your hand at dinner. You occasionally try to eat with it, to no avail just yet. If I load it up you can get it to your mouth without spilling, but you can’t quite load it yourself yet. 

Speaking of mealtimes, you still eat like a total champ. You eat whatever we eat, and lately you ask to see what is on our plates (when I say ask, you point and stare quizzically and say “ooooh” or “oh”–- or whine a little…) to compare with what is on yours. Nothing gets past you! Last week you ate almost 3 whole tilapia filets off my and your dad’s plate, but would not touch the tilapia we cut up for you on your own plate! Cow’s milk cheese makes you gassy (sorry, you got that from my gut biome) and you love some goat’s milk yogurt and cheese. You loved broccoli up until a couple of months ago, and now you will not eat it. Such is life. Your favorite foods are oranges (GES), bananas (BABIES), strawberries (BAREES), and pita and hummus, which you never refer to as anything. You will ask for oranges and bananas by name. You never really liked drinking milk of any kind from a cup, but love drinking water from your Camelbak. 

But, your FAVORITE beverage cup is an empty Starbucks cup. This is the best, because I totally love a full Starbucks cup. You love to take pretend sips and say  “mmm” really loud, and it’s my favorite pretend game. Today on our walk we both had our coffee cups and water bottles. It was awesome. 

You love to open and close doors, and if anyone comes over you like to walk them to the door and say “bye bye” (all southern-like… baaaiii bye). You have gotten really good at navigating the step down onto the patio (the first time you face planted on the concrete. Oops.) and will usually wait for me for the next step down to the sidewalk. You understand “big step” and take huge lunge steps whenever I say that. It’s hilarious. You like to walk to the car and hold my hand in parking lots or our driveway. On Friday you fell in our driveway walking to the car and wearing shorts, it was really sad. You cried, and then I gave you the whole bag of veggie straws and you were totally over it. On Sunday you walked all the way from the nursery room at church out to the car holding my hand. That is by far the longest distance you’ve walked without being carried.

You love the “I’m gonna get you!” game, and will run away for a second, and then turn around and run at the person “getting you” with your arms opened to be picked up. You still love to snuggle, and it’s becoming less frequent, but you’ll take breaks from playing to come wrap your arms around my neck or snuggle my arm or leg (or face). Lately at night or before naps if I’m holding you you’ll wrap your arms around my neck and hold on really tight, as if to remind me to not put you down. We spend a lot of time snuggling, but it is always time well spent. There is no place else I’d rather be. 

You love Dada (obsession rivals that of Lobo) and I think you associate music with him, which is totally understandable since he plays bass and practices in front of you all the time. When “Shine a Light” comes on in the car (we have the Hear As in Heaven album on repeat– my radio is broken) you exclaim “Dada!” and dance. You get super excited to see him when he comes home from work, and will ask for him sometimes when it is nap time. He is currently home a lot more since it is track out and you love it. You get to see him more, and I get to see him more and I get to change a few less poopy diapers. I love you, but kid. Your poop is gross.

I’m pretty sure you love me, too. You still call me “Dada” sometimes (what the heck is up with that? See “lived in my belly” at the top...) and you love bedtime with him and reading stories and brushing teeth, but sometimes you just want me to hold you (again: totally okay with this, always and forever). You tell me night-night when it’s time for bed, and when it’s nap time we’ll sit in the chair in your room and play peek-a-boo, or tickles, or read a book, or just talk about life (Lobo). These days are the sweetest gift. Just the two of us. I definitely have work to do, but I am savoring this time because if life has taught me anything, it is that seasons come and go quicker than you’d like for them to. In August you’ll be starting pre-school, and so begins the end of our days just the two of us. Sad? Yes. Good for both of us? Absolutely. Did I cry filling out the application? Yep. Do I need to sleep more at night? Totally. 

I came downstairs today and Dada was cooking dinner with you in the Ergo on his back and you were like “Mama?” and it was really funny, because you were clearly trying to not be on his back anymore. As soon as you saw me you tried to leap out and exclaimed “done!”. Occasionally you are All-Dada or nothing, and some days you just want me to snuggle you. I kind of miss being your Number One, but I guess it’s time I share you with others since I pretty much had the first year and some being the preferred parent. Also, your Dada is so great. You are already learning so much from him. Me and your Dada are a team, and we try to do everything together. Keep you safe, cook healthy meals for us, keep our house clean, keep the Lobo hair outside or in the garage… and you love to help too! If we are cleaning you will find the broom and “help” us sweep, and you love to take things out of the trash or recycling and put it back in, or put other things in (RIP remote control). You are already such a good team member. 

You are currently getting your 1 year molars and some other teeth and it’s pretty terrible. You are experiencing short bouts of rage, and occasionally you lash out (read: bite) something, which again, is totally understandable considering the current teeth situation. We’ve had lots of conversations about biting mommy, and how we can’t. We can bite muffins! Or cookies! or babies (bananas!) or ges (oranges). But we can’t bite mommy, or dada, or Lobo because it’s ouchies. And really, we only had to talk about that twice, and you haven’t tried to bite me since. You did bite the metal trashcan today (um, ouchies for you) and you tried to bite the wall yesterday in the playroom, but that didn’t work out because of the shape of walls vs. shape of human mouths. But it’s all good. We’ve got baby Tylenol and tomorrow we are going to make smoothie popsicles. I’m also hoping that when you learn some more words you’ll use those instead of your teeth to bite things. According to your Aunt Cassidy this is something called “payback” because I was a biter, as a kid, but as far as I can tell she doesn’t have any marks to prove it, so that’s all hearsay.

It won’t be long before you are two years old and learning more and more about being independent and your emotions and we are getting lots of good practice in lately being patient and learning how to communicate with you. You were not excited about waiting for the egg hunt to start at The Hop last weekend. You do a great job of calming down when you get frustrated (like, when forks are hard) or when you can’t do something on the first try (you used to get really mad at the corn popper walker thing) and even though you can’t say a lot of words, somehow we know that you are listening and understand us. This is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. 

You know that bedtime comes after dinner (you seriously are like “all done! Night night” most nights. and when you’re ready for a nap after lunch, you are all about “night night”. Sometimes I try to distract you with toys in the playroom (oh yeah! we have a playroom now!) and you’ll walk over to the door and tell me “night night”. 

Any-who, I could write volumes of all the things you do and things I love about you (like, your chubby toddler thighs, I am obsessed with your little legs and feet and toes) but most of all I want you to know that we are so grateful that God picked us to be your parents. The journey to this point was a roller coaster for sure, ups and downs, turns, and spins, and some upside down time, but it was so sweet, and so necessary. Before you were born I wanted to be a great mom, and I had traits in mind of what a great mom would be, and it was on the roller coaster that I really learned how to ride it and those traits really began to grow. Almost 15 months (+39weeks and 4 days of gestation) of being your mom has been the greatest gift, and I can’t wait for the rest of forever to watch you grow! You're so much fun! 

All my love, Mama

Lincoln is 8 months old!

The Stats:

• 18 pounds 5 oz ( that is 3+ pounds in one month!) 

• size 3 diapers,  squeezing into some leftover size 2s during the day 

• 9 month PJs, wearing a variety of 3-6month onesies to 9 month pants 

• 6 visible teeth in your mouth! 

Likes:

• dada! loves when he makes drum noises or puts you on his shoulders

• mama holding you, always. 

• pulling mama's hair

• giving kisses

• music

• Facetime, any "beeps" the phone makes

• the button to the lamp in your room

Dislikes: 

• strangers, you do not like to be held by someone you don't know unless it is on your terms or you've been formally introduced

• green vegetables like broccoli, green beans and peas

• loud noises when you are sleepy 

• getting teeth 

Schedule:

• wake from 6-7am nurse, breakfast, bottle at 9am before nap, nap, play after nap until bottle at 12, lunch, play, down for nap at 1-1:30, nap, bottle around 3pm,  play until dada comes home, play while we make dinner, dinner, bottle and bed between 6-7pm. We love having some predictability to our days these days! 

Personality and new tricks: 

• sitting up like a champ, downward dog to get from belly to sitting sometimes 

• crawling!

• pulling up on any and everything, crib, oven, mama's legs, doorways... 

• cruising in your crib

• screeching/squealing still, when super happy and when super sad

• stranger danger to the max! even when mama is in sight you'd rather she hold you

• loves to walk when we hold your hands, will crawl to us and use our hands to pull up to walk 

We're so excited because:

• we have a date night swap with our friend Sarah and she loves to babysit you!

• Maria comes on Tuesdays to play with you while mama works

• we think you are going to walk soon! 

• you are growing so much, it is a joy to watch! 

Lincoln is 7 months old!

The Stats:

• ~ 15 pounds
• size 2 diapers (we have 7 1's left, determined to use them before you're too big!)
• Mostly 6 months clothes, some 0-3 onesies still. 6mo footie pjs

Likes:

• bathtime and squeals with delight when bath is over! loves the towel, lotion, PJ process
• Luna and Lobo
• eating all day
• jumping in the jumperoo 
• solids, specifically carrots! 
• trying to steal mama's food 
• rides in the stroller 

Dislikes: 

• when people leave the room 
• the vacuum cleaner
• kiwi and plums 

Schedule:

• eating 4-6 times a day, 2 big naps and sleeping well at night, usually waking once or not at all. 1-3 bottles during the day depending on mama's work stuff; solids 1-3 times a day depending on our day 

Personality and new tricks: 

• squealing/screaming always. When happy! When mad! When bored!
• says an undeniable "mamamamamamama" when sad/want to nurse/don't want to nap
• sitting up well! Occasionally falls, but usually falls gracefully into tummy time
• almost crawling! Scooting and crawling backwards. 
• "walking" while we hold your hands 

We're so excited because:

• crawling is imminent!
• we are going to make a fun upstairs "family" room with all the toys so we can play once you're mobile
• going to the pool on Friday 
• you are a joy! 

Lincoln is 6 months old!

The Stats:

• 14.5 pounds, so tall 

• size 2 diapers but still squeezing into our leftover 1s during the day

• rocking 0-6 onesies, 6 month sleepers. Still mostly 0-3 onesies. 

• there's serious teething action happening but still haven't popped through

Likes:

• sweet potatoes + bananas, not a huge fan of plums or avocado (unless mixed w/ banana)

• bathtime is the best! so happy and splashy!

• music, falling asleep to the Rockabye songs

• giving kisses, grabbing faces + hair 

• daddy! so much. 

• sleeping flat against the corner of your crib

• rolling all around everywhere, occasionally trying to "crawl" but content to play on your belly 

• Luna and Lobo! 

Dislikes: 

• not being able to chase us around quickly!

• not being entertained 

Schedule:

• Up until your 6 month birthday it was: wake 8:30, eat every 4 hours and two big 2-3 hour naps, bedtime around 8pm and sleeping until 5am! Between the 28th and today you have started going to bed at 7, waking at 7 and eating every 3ish hours around the clock. We really liked the 4 hour schedule so feel free to do that again anytime you want.

Personality and new tricks: 

• belly sleeper all the time. You will roll to your belly as we lay you down in the crib. 

• rolling all over the place! getting into things, grabbing everything, food while we eat, toys, plates, clothes... 

• so chatty! you have some distinct happy coo gurgle noises that you do when you're super happy and fed and a lot of grunting and a "whine" noise when you are not happy. Not a big cryer unless you are hungry and we are postponing meal time with a diaper change. 

• silly faces are your favorite

We're so excited because:

• you're super close to sitting up

• eating real food is fun

• mama is working from home now!

Lincoln is Five Months Old!

The Stats:

• probably around 13 pounds
• size 2 diapers at night, size 1s during the day until we run out 
• rocking 0-6 onesies, 6 month sleepers
• one tooth coming in on the bottom

Likes:

• going to bed really early (6pm some days!) 
• bathtime
• music, when we sing to you
• giving kisses
• playing with and laughing at daddy
• for mama to hold you when you are sad/tired/mad at your tooth/gassy  

Dislikes: 

• still not a huge fan of tummy time (but way better at it!)
• that you can't crawl, sit up, walk! obviously frustrated lately, you want to move so badly. 
• when we try to get your boogers out

Schedule:

• you love to sleep in until 9:30-10 and then eat every 3 hours, napping 2-3 times a day. you've given up nap #4 recently and decided that you'd prefer to go to bed really early which is adorable (old man). still waking 2-3 times at night to eat, although you slept "through the night" (8pm-4am) a few weeks ago. It was a one time event :) 
• naps are about an hour and a half, unless we are late putting you down then they max at 45 minutes. 
• you love to nap in your crib and stretch out, you don't really sleep when we are out and about running errands anymore.   

Personality and new tricks: 

• sleep on your belly with your feet in the rails 
• roll to your belly for playtime and sleeps, working so hard to roll to your back. You've done it once in your crib and almost had it today while we were playing, but can't quite figure out that one arm.
• trying to sit up, always. In the swing in the rock-n-play, while playing on the floor, while snuggling... working on your core muscles! today you loved sitting up and held on to daddy to keep you steady. 
• super smiley and love when we make silly faces or make funny noises at you. 
• you love to give mama and daddy kisses! we'll kiss you and you open your mouth and kiss us back. drool and all!

We're so excited because:

• we're going to the beach in a couple of weeks!
• you are going to try real people food really soon!
• we survived the 4 month sleep regression (and it was as terrible as they say)! 

Lincoln is 4 months old!

The Stats:

• Upward of 12 pounds, official weigh in next week!
• size 2 diapers at night, size 1s during the day until we run out
• 0-3 onesies still, some 3-6 sleepers 
• Pretty sure you are working on some teeth. All the drool, moaning and groaning, fist/paci chewing at bedtime has me convinced. 

Likes:

• when we talk to you
• laughing at daddy, he's hilarious
• being held by mommy :)
• rolling around on the floor 
• sleeping on your belly or side 
• smiling and talking to anyone and everyone!
• bathtime
• music

Dislikes: 

• mean ole burps and toots

Schedule:

• always evolving; eating every 3-4 hours during the day, waking up 1-2 times at night to eat; you seem to like an hour to an hour and a half of playtime before needing a nap again

Personality and new tricks: 

• you're a thumbsucker! As much as I would like for you to take and love your paci, you seem to prefer to hold on to the paci and suck your thumb. Many mornings I come in to find you sleeping on your side sucking your thumb like a cutie. 
• rolling to your belly! You did this for the first time for our babysitter (stinker) and only do it on occasion. A few times for naps you've ended up on your belly and slept so long! You still don't love tummy time, but sleeping on your belly, you like. 
• high pitched squeal. All day long. It is so cute. You raise your eyebrows and squeal it up. 
• laughing! You love to laugh at Daddy. Every once in a while I can get a chuckle out of you or at least a big open mouth smile. I love it. 
• you've surprised us recently by falling asleep on your own some for naps! A few times you'll just play until you fall asleep but sometimes you just have to wail a little bit. 

You're growing so fast! We love you so much! 

A Letter to Lincoln: Happy Easter!

Baby boy, it is your first Easter! A day filled with bunnies, Easter egg hunts, fancy church clothes and baskets of goodies. You will not really remember today because you are so little, but our day is a little different. No bunnies here, no hunts and we went to church last night and we are both still in our PJs. Daddy played bass this weekend at church (he's really good at that bass thing) and so we went to Starbucks and Bojangles in our pajamas, perhaps a new Easter tradition for the two of us. I had the absolute JOY of putting your first Easter basket together! My parents always did this for us when I was growing up and it was so much fun making a basket for you. I got you two books, some Boogie Wipes (appropriate, since we both have a cold. Yuck.), gas drops and a motorcycle onesie. I bought a little basket because, let me tell you, I could have kept buying and buying and buying things for you... the struggle is real. My parents always said, "The Easter Bunny came!" but I don't know yet if we'll lie to you about that. Time will tell.

All the bunnies, eggs and baskets aside, Easter is a celebration of a bigger story. You see, the days leading up to the first Easter were so sad. This guy, Jesus, he had healed people. He had walked on water. He had performed miracles that only God could do. Lots of people were following him, believing him to be God's son, the king that would reign on the earth over everything! The guy that was the king of the land at that time did not like this and he demanded that Jesus be killed. And so he was. For days the world was so sad because they had really believed that Jesus was gone. But something great happened! On the third day some women went to where Jesus had been buried and he wasn't there. He was alive! For years and years and years it had been written that Jesus would do this, making us able to be with God again (keep reading.. some people named Adam and Eve kinda ruined that for us) making the first Easter the best. day. ever. So every year we celebrate this day, the day that Jesus beat death. Hooray!

I recently started understanding this better. You see, I borrowed a lot of money to go to college. When you borrow something it means you have to eventually give it back. The idea was that I would borrow money to graduate from college and then when I started working I would pay it back. I did not really realize that when I started working as a teacher I would also have other expenses, like a house or food or gas, or a baby... so it is taking lots of time to pay back all the money I borrowed. Your dad and I decided to pay it off as fast as possible so we got extra jobs. Before you were born I was waking up at 5am to work before I went to work, then I would work on the way home from work, eat dinner, and then work until I fell asleep at midnight. Mama was tired. I was also pretty sad. I didn't get to spend time with your dad or any of my friends or other family members. I just worked all the time trying to earn my freedom from all that debt. It was exhausting, but I was focused on the day when we would make the last payment and we would be free!

So, back to Adam and Eve. They disobeyed God. He told them specifically not to do something and they big fat did it anyway. That began our separation from God. Because they didn't do what they were told to do they were no longer allowed to live with God and neither were their children or their children's children, or their children's children's children's... etc, which means us. But then, Jesus came! Before Jesus people worked like I worked to pay off my debt. They tried to do the right thing, to be good people, and if they didn't they had to make payments to God in the form of sacrifices. It was hard times. They constantly fell short and didn't do things right which made them and God sad. So when Jesus died (and then promptly became not-dead!) he paid off all those bad things that people did. For the first time since Adam and Eve made a bad choice people could be with God again if they believed that Jesus died for them! What an awesome guy, huh? Can you believe he died for everybody! So every single person in the world could be with God again. Because of Jesus we don't have to exhaust ourselves trying to be good enough for God. We just have to believe that Jesus was and that Jesus exclaimed that he was enough by his fancy shmancy stomping of death on Easter. Easter was that day that made us free from our sin. Jesus paid our balance in full that day, which means we are free!

So, you may be wondering how Easter became to be about bunnies and eggs. Your guess is as good as mine. One day when you are bigger (maybe next year!) we'll decorate Easter eggs and dress all fancy for church, but in the meantime we will hang out in our PJs and enjoy our freedom. Love you little guy, happy Easter!

Lincoln is 3 months old!

The Stats:

• 11 pounds 3 ounces
• size 1 diapers 
• 0-3 clothes, working those size 3 Carter's clothes like a champ; we've recently had to get some footless pajamas because you're so long! 

Likes:

• bathtime
• talking to daddy
• napping for 45 minutes and not a moment longer
• mornings 

Dislikes: 

• the moment when we pull a onesie over your head
• middle of the night diaper changes, you're all business when it comes to night eating 
• going down for a nap. you fight it hard!
  

Schedule:

• because I am back at work we have you on pretty good morning routine.  You kept it up over trackout which is great and you're back to eating every 3 hours instead of 2.5 which is way easier to keep track of. You wake up at 6am, I feed you and you go right back to sleep until 8:30am. You eat around 9, play for a little while, go down for a nap at 10 and then eat again at 12. The afternoon can be kind of a question mark but you're in bed by 8:30, sometimes you want to eat at 11, but lately you've been going to 3 or 4am which we really appreciate! 

Personality and new tricks: 

• you are so happy in the morning time and after you eat, you just love to smile and talk and laugh! it's our favorite.
• you've started rolling around and spinning around in your crib. You seem to like to sleep sideways instead of the way we put you in there. I've yet to see you do it, but you are inevitably in a different direction in your crib when I come to get you after a nap or for morning or nighttime wake ups!
• you love to suck your fingers. I am trying desperately to get you to suck on anything else, but your fingers are your favorite. 

Lincoln, we love you so much!