More Christmas Pictures

Lincoln got to be Baby Jesus in the live nativity scene this year w/ all the McMahan boys being wisemen - ha. priceless

Our Little String Bean

For those of you who have either held our little bundle or keep up with his pictures (the very few I take at least - ha, yeah right), you know he's gonna have Jason's body! The poor thing has no hips or but and the skinniest little legs. To days' doctor's appointment in fact confirmed that we have us a little "string bean". The nurse came in to measure him and goes, "WOW - he's LONG!" And then the doc came in for the weight check and said he's on the low end of the percentage scale, but that he's fine and healthy (thanks to a check up and many wet diapers!). We just have us a mini Jason...tall and skinny :)
It's funny when the dc asks "Is he having frequent wet diapers?" Holy crap the kid's a freaking fountain!!! Anyway, then the terrible part - his shots. Poor thing turned a shade of angry red I had yet to see until today. But he's been asleep ever since. He'll get some yummy tylenol when he wakes up (our kid LOVES medicine!). Our doctors awesome...he was a missionary kid who grew up in Africa, has 5 kids, and takes them on mission trips when he goes. That's what we wanna eventually do w/ Lincoln and I'm excited our doctor can be supportive of that and help us with the process of making sure Lincolns safe and healthy when we do it. God's blessings are everywhere, aren't they?

Holding My Breath Again

Just when I thinks things are getting better with breastfeeding, I realize Lincoln has taken me for a ride on the rollercoaster from hell - the one where you get nauseated only to scream for delight, than thinking it's almost over only to realize that you re headed back up again - then down - then spiraling into a tailspin for the ground. The good news is that I like rollercoasters, but even this one's a bit much for me.

Christmas was GREAT! We had a wonderful time down in Crossett and then up here with my family on Christmas Day. Jason's gift was a hit - another suit. For those of you that know him, you re rolling your eyes saying "Doesn't he have like 50 of those??" Well, yes he does, but this is one he's been eying since I met him and it went on SALE! Couldn't pass it up and he loved it. He's gotta remain the best dressed coach in NWA. :)

As for Lincoln, he did awesome being passed around and hugged constantly...he loved it. But he is being quite the stubborn little fellow with this whole breastfeeding adventure! He just hasn't figured out how determined and strong-willed his mamma is. One thing's for sure: we have us one STRONG-WILLED baby!! But as Jason said, there never was a great leader who wasn't strong willed. If anyone out there has ever had great success breastfeeding only to one day have your child SCREAMING at the boob and refusing to eat from you - I'd LOVE to hear your story and how it ended up!

Also on a side note - don't go see Marley & Me. It was precious but SO not worth it in the end. I'm still recovering. It doesn't help when you have a son AND a lab who loves that son. Terrible.

Big Sigh of Relief...Let's All Take One Together!

Lincoln fed perfectly through the night, but I think it was due to the fact that he was 1/2 asleep - or maybe 9/10ths asleep to be exact. So just when I began thinking we were out of the woods, I wake him up for his breakfast, start guiding him toward the boob and "WAH! WHA!" at the top of his lungs....ugh. Totally frustrated. So I got out the pumped milk and the syringe (I'm stubborn too, and the rascals not getting a bottle!), a few squirts in his mouth, and the sucker latched on immediately and had ZERO feeding problems the rest of the day!!! My mom watched him today while I worked and I made sure not to leave a bottle so we could re-establish the breastfeeding, and he had an AMAZING DAY!! He has been awake and happy and smiling and then taken all his naps right on cue! And he hasn't cried AT ALL today! It's the craziest thing! I think that formula just finally got out of his system. I think we'll stick to the breastmilk for now! I will say that I got very nervous yesterday b/c I will be SO SAD when the breastfeeding days are

over! It's just such an amazing special time and moments I will always cherish. So I'm glad we still have this little bonding experience together. :)

PS. Jason's mom sent this pic of Jason when he was born...resemblance?????

Even Thought It's Ice and Not Snow - I'll Take It

There's nothing more fun than waking up in the morning and the news announcing that your school district has cancelled school for the day!!! Since I work in the schools, I still get to enjoy this underrated pleasure in life. :)
It's extra special for me, because my mother was coming to watch Lincoln today and tomorrow so I can go back to work (I say that with the most disgusting grumble). And now I get to WORK FROM HOME - :). And if this treacherous blizzard and horrific ice storm can sustain just a few more days, my maternity leave just got extended to January (with the exception of a little work here and there but no big deal).
Jason and I skipped church yesterday (yes - no excuses) and went Christmas shopping since it was the only day we were going to have a chance to do it before all the madness begins. It was a blast! We went to Pinnacle and I wore a light coat (purple light pea coat that's one of my new favorites now!) and my rainbows which was a perfect ensemble..until about 6:00 - holy crap how crazy is the weather when the temp drops 30 degrees in an hour!!!! By the way, I'm more obsessed (I say more b/c I've always had a slight obsession) with coats this season...I can't stop buying them or asking for them (Christmas...birthday), so if you out there who are dying to get me a gift for the holidays need any ideas, now you know. :)

Lincoln's doing great - he has started holding his head up on his own and it's pretty phenomenal. Maybe hes on track with this milestone, but I feel like he's a little early for this accomplishment??? Maybe not though. Nonetheless, it's pretty cool! Now a not-so-cool thing is that this week he has been having trouble breastfeeding all the sudden! It's like the milk isn't coming out fast enough for him and he gets frustrated and quits trying. Impatient little fellow. Well, he usually always gets over it, except for the last feeding we just did! He ended up getting SOOOO worked up and I eventually had to pour some pumped milk in a bottle. I only did a little though, and he ate that and then I put him back on the boobie and he ate the rest of his feeding just fine. Anyway this makes me SOOO nervous cause I DON'T WANT TO DO FORMULA!!!!! I know you guys know this, but I am a HUGE breastmilk advocate cause it' the perfect nutrition and the absolute best for your baby. I'm okay with formula every now and then, but not as his main source of food. It increases his risks for allergies and doesn't provide the same sort of protection breastmilk does. Did you know breastfed babies have proven fewer illnesses all throughout life than non-breastfed babies??? Anyway, hope today as a fluke :)

Life Just Doesn't Get More Precious

Lincoln's first smile caught on camera!!! How precious is this!! And it definitely wasn't a "gas smile"...ha. I can't tell you ho many times a day I go and stare at this picture cause it would be embarrassing!
So most of you know I started back work this week. Thankfully Jason's parents and my mom are keeping him these days before Christmas break, so the transition isn't all that bad...now January will be rough when we have to drop him off at his sitter! These past 2 days Jason's parents have been here and they have been wonderful!!! They cooked dinner for us and fixed our garage (it's been broken forever and we've had to park out on driveway). And if that wasn't enough, they even cleaned our entire garage out - and let em tell ya, THAT was a task!!!!!!!! So thanks guys for pending time w/ Lincoln and being so great!!
Just in case you are all there in suspense (ha), my talented husband has continued to lead the Panthers in an undefeated season...he's a stud, I know. And he has great help, to0. :) Tomorrow's another championship game in another tourney...I don't have my doubts.
Lincoln has been fun all smiling and playing this week- so precious and exciting!!! His only downfall is the hungry fella likes to wake up frequently for some milk - it's worth it, but man its exhausting!!! Tonight we're gonna try an experiment of giving him one bottle of formula right before bed and see if he sleeps longer. I'm not a huge formula advocate exclusively cause breastmilk is just so much better for the sucker, but we're gonna try one at night since it lasts longer in the tummy. We'll see how it goes. I will have to say I have LOVED breastfeeding and those moments!! Thanks to all of you who gave the advice early to "just make it through the first 2 weeks and it's wonderful!" SO true.

Birthday Photos

Yeah 2 posts in about 30 minutes...Might should have opted for the nap cause the little man is STILL sleeping. Oh well. I thought I would post some pics from my birthday...it was a wonderful night! I have the sweetest husband and he really set out to make the day special - from morning till that night. :) He gave me shoes, extra sleep, lots of help with the little man, a surprise visit at lunch, and a fabulous date that night. We went to dinner and then saw "4 Christmases" - SO funny. I wanna see it again...highly recommend it.

before the date (notice Papi in the left corner)

the babysitter :)

Lincoln Time

Yep. Thrown away all my watches...let the batteries run dead in all the wall clocks and since I can't really destroy the tv or microwave clock, I just ignore them and pretend they don't exist...why? My life is run on what I like to call "Lincoln Time". :) So I really didn't throw away all my watches, but ALL of them have dead batteries and I have made it little priority to replace them because of what I said above. So that said I usually battle between the great decision of "do I sleep, or get on the computer and play catch up on all my social networking sites??" Computer won today and here's why...whenever I try and take a nap when Lincoln's sleeping, his naps are WAY shorter than mine and I ind myself grumpy, trying to force him back to sleep (which is majorly futile) and then we're all upset. So I'd rather just be sleepy :)

The Benton County Basketball tourney was this week (which we won, of course)...and after the game Jason and the coaches went up to the school to watch film till about midnight. Being the precious husband he is, Jason offered to just keep Lincoln with him since he was sound asleep and let em go home and get some rest. I later found out that Lincoln only stayed sound asleep for minutes after arriving at the gym and then woke up to screaming and inconsolable tears...Jason was desperate cause they had to get through the film so what do him and his boys result to making Lincoln happy? Jason puts some of his cherry limeade slush on his pacifier! And of course, suck suck suck away Lincoln went! So now the child doesn't ant my milk anymore cause it's not cherry limeade flavored (joke).

Another cute thing Jason did, he was responsible for getting Lincoln ready and to church since I was singing and had to be there early. When I get of stage and join my husband for the service, I look down and he had dressed our little man as Santa Clause since it as the Christmas service! He look hilarious - and absolutely adorable. Leave it to the husbands. :)

Lincoln is starting to not cry as much anymore and has started smiling and making the cutest noises!!!!! It's so fun and I can't believe I have to go to work on Wednesday!

27 Years Ago...

Can you guys what great event took place exactly 27 years ago today???

I'll give you a hint...

Yup - Britney Spears as born!!! :)

But so was I and I tend to think that's a little bit bigger deal (even though the Today Show didn't offer to throw me a birthday party this morning on-air). So I am super excited (and you can tell I'm a new mom) b/c me and my husband actually get to go on a DATE - that is by ourselves - where we can enjoy a dinner and a movie without worrying if Lincoln's gonna wake up screaming for mommy's milk (who knew that could be s enticing!). My mom is coming over to watch Lincoln and I have milk pumped to ensure his satisfaction while we're away, and Jason and I are going to eat dinner and then watch "4 Christmases" to get in the holiday spirit - SUPER EXCITED!!!!

And I think Jason must have told Lincoln it's my birthday this morning because Lincoln has been on his BEST behavior today!! It's been wonderful and almost tear-free!! WOW! Our little tricks seem to be working and his digestive system seems to be getting better...now if we could only figure out what's wrong with poor Papi's! The poor guy farts out loud about every ten minutes and just smells like he has a constant, slow leakage down there! ha.

Isn't it crazy that today, 27 years ago, my parents were having the same overwhelming feelings I'm having now - amazing. What a phenomenal experience. Now I know and understand why my dad tells me the same story about the day I was born over and over and over again, as if he's telling it for the time each time. I hope you tell me again this year dad. :)

Turkey Pants

Ha. This picture belw was taken on Thanksgiving Day...Jason called his pants "turkey pants"...he was precious that day :)

So I went to write this post the day after Thanksgiving, but having a tiny tiny little one at your hip will delay things drastically, I'm coming to realize! I posted the pictures and then don't remember what happened as to why I was never able to finish the post, but I'm guessing it was either picking up screaming Lincoln cause his gas was bothering him (or cause he's just spoiled!), desperately search for the Mylecon, feed Lincoln one of his 8 thanksgiving dinners for the day, or change an icky diaper - nonetheless, I'm finishing the post now.

Thanksgiving was great!! Lincoln was very fussy that morning and we couldn't figure out what was wrong, but we thought it was going to be a LONG day at the grandparents house! But don't you know, that when we went over there (early - so they could take a shot a their soothing techniques!), he immediately stopped, and was angelic the rest of the day and night! Oh Lincoln. :)

The next day we went to my dad's side in the ole Fort...afterwards we took on the frantic crowds at the mall where my parents bought a beautiful coat for me for my birthday!!! It's red and I'm super excited about it! Jason and I went shopping at Pinnacle on Saturday and let em tell ya that Lincoln is quite the shopper! He just sleeps throughout the day and after we feed him he'll sit in his stroller and look at you wide eyed while making adorable noises! Love it. :)

Lincoln's seems to be getting somewhat better...we've figured out some tricks to help him get calm and reduce his gas problem that vary from positions when holding him to burping techniques. My favorite trick, however is Jason's invention that works like a charm!! He puts a drop of Mylecon on Lincoln's pacifier and he'll calm down IMMEDIATELY - literally. And it will usually last, too. Do all infants like medicine like this? He must be bored with drinking the same milk everyday - I would be.

Below are some pics from Thanksgiving...I also decorated my house yesterday wth my mom's help - it looks so pretty!! I'll post some pictures later.

Anyone Up For a "Baby Book Burning" Party??

Cause I think one of these would truly help my sanity and prevent any further damage from being done to my psyche (unless the damage is already too great beyond repair - Lord I hope not!). You see ever since I found out I was pregnant I was penciling advice given by friends, reading random parenting blogs, buying and borrowing any and every baby advice book I could get my hands on, then staying up to insane hours reading them in detail...all the while thinking "what's really so hard about putting your baby on a schedule? Surely we'll be able to figure this out and have a relatively "easy" baby...we're good with consistency...how hard can all this be???"
Then Melissa, the new mom, was given a brutal shot of reality - the reality more than anything, however is that I think I read too many books and now they're all running together and what one says, the other contradicts, and I feel like I'm in this never-ending circular mess of advice that really is now made a pile of mush out my brain that used to function fairly well (I thought at least). HOLY CRAP THE BOOKS ARE PUSHING ME TO THE BRINK OF INSANITY!!!!!!

Lincoln has had a difficult time this week transitioning to his crib and he's had really bad gas problems which result in hours of screaming bloody murder- not joking. So what do I do? I go to my trusty books....and I try everything they suggest - nothing works. So how do I eel? Like a terrible mom who can't figure out her child and is ailing because things aren't working like the books said they should. So by the end of the day yesterday, I had succeeded in to running in circles, plopping down on the couch and literally feeling like a complete failure. I mean, what would they say ("they" being the books!) if they knew my child still slept in a cradle swing at night because it was the only place where we could all 3 get sleep all through the night??? The SIDS police would be all over my butt and the books would put me in their "what not to do" book edition...or how the "wake time"?? Yeah, this work sometimes, but below is a classic example of our "awake time" yesterday after one of the feedings:

Put Lincoln on play mat for "awake time"....

5 minutes into "awake time"...

I know I'm not a bad mom and I don't want any books making me feel that way anymore...it's funny because things were going great until a few days ago when I busted out these books again and started feeling like I wasn't doing things right...why ix it when it wasn't broken at all!!! So instead of busting out the books last night, I prayed that God would help me not be frustrated and to trust my own instincts and to rely on Him versus freaking books.

Okay - I feel better. Now some more precious pictures from yesterday...I'll post about Thanksgiving tomorrow and put those pictures up. :)

Precious

I had to get up earlier than Jason this morning b/c Lincoln had a very early dosctor's appointment (I'll get to that in a minute). When I got out of the shower, Jason had gotten Lincoln and they had fallen asleep together...oh my gosh, the most precious thing EVER! I was scrambling all over the house for the camera and had a hard time remembering where I put it last, but thank goodness I finally found it to get the shots below...so freaking cute!!!

I took him to the doctor this morning b/c for the last three days he has been screaming (I mean the kind where whoever was walking by would swear I was abusing the poor child) after I feed him. He curls his knees up to his chest and I just can't stand to watch him do it! I know it's probably just gas and there's not much doc can do about it but I wanted to make sure. Well, he's fine...doc just gave us some tips on how to help his little tummy. He said it was more than likely due tot he fact that we've started giving him one bottle a day of breastmilk to get him used to a bottle for when I go to work. So the little sucker's fine...and still gaining weight - he's 8lbs 8 oz. :)

And today he has been angelic!!! Taking his naps and not being fussy at all! We're going to watch the Panthers again tonight - very excited about that!!!

And Bruce - just b/c he's pretty :)

Guess Who's Back??!!!

Oh yeah - Jack's back. It was last year at about this time that I was a pathetic loser and watched seasons 1-5 of "24"...that's 120 hours (hours, people) of Jack Bauer...and the REAL pathetic part is that I accomplished this amazing feat in a matter of about 1.5 months.

So SUPER EXCITED for the start of a new season tonight - especially after waiting, oh so patiently, for an entire YEAR for this return. And I think they wrote the new season for me - Africa, refugee camps, civil war, fighting international injustice???? Yeah, Jack's back and I'm excited.

In other news, Jason's parents came down for the weekend to see Lincoln and watch some Panther basketball. It was fun having them visit and Jason's mother gave us great gift of sleep last night!! She stayed up with Lincoln and we slept a whole entire 6 hours STRAIGHT. SOOO exciting! Especially since I had to get up super early to sing in church. What a blessing!!!!

Lincoln's doing good. He has been having a real gassy tummy lately...I think it's because we've been introducing a bottle a day...maybe?? I think it's getting better though cause he is sleeping right now for (what seems like at least) the first time since Thursday. :)

My Husband...part 2

So last night was the start of Panther Basketball 2008-2009...so naturally it brought back memories of last year which literally was a Cinderella story and such an amazing accomplishment. To back up, for those of you who don't know, the Panther's were State Champs and definitely the underdogs who had NUMEROUS upsets throughout the season! I give lots of credit to the amazing head coach and his coaching staff. Hey - I can do that cause I write this blog - not Jason :) Jason and that brain of his seriously AMAZED me last season. The guy's brilliant when it comes to basketball...seriously. Again, I know I'm his wife, but a state championship in your second year as head coach doesn't lie!!
So here we go, starting a new season, losing a chunk of last year's team - and last night we played Springdale which has some pretty good talent!! Throughout the game they were beating us, sometimes as much as 15 points. We didn't have the lead until the last couple of minutes, and were truly out-talented - but not out-coached. :) So here comes the brains of my brilliant husband, shuffling his cards around, and low and behold we freaking WON the game. I don't know how the hell he does it to be honest!!!!! I've stopped trying to figure it out and just enjoy the fact that I'm married to one hell of a coach!!!
In all seriousness, God has truly blessed Jason as a coach - it's unbelievable how hard that guy works and I know God recognizes that and honors him for it. I really am excited to see what God has in store for Jason's career...I love just sitting back and watching him utilize his gifts of communication, of leadership, of connecting with young kids and creating passion within them - as I've said before, Jason definitely doesn't lack in the passion arena. :)

Here are some press pics from last year's championship....what an amazing time! And we had just found out we were pregnant the week before the state finals...crazy times!!!

Visit to Nana's (Lincoln's Great G-Ma)

Just some pictures of our visit yesterday...and some other ones cause he's just so stinking cute.