One More Thing...

Our baby's still missing. :(

Tricks & Idols

Our soon-to-be brother-in-law (wow - that was a lot of hyphenations), Nathan Hill, bought Lincoln his first pair of Baby Jordans a few months back...they finally fit and OH.MY.GOODNESS. They are the cutest things ever.


I was hoping Lincoln would like them as much as we did...you be the judge.


And I think I mentioned earlier that I finally got a new jogging stroller as part of my mother's day...?? Well we've been enjoying every minute with that thing!


And of course what's a post tonight without mentioning KRIS ALLEN IS THE NEW AMERICAN IDOL!!!! Okay, now that is over with, and now I can move on to the events that took place during American Idol tonight...It was Mr. Lincoln's lucky night cause his unruly parents let him forgo his nightly bedtime to stay up and watch the big finale (I promise he was rooting for Mr. Kris). But as we were watching, he decided to show us a few tricks of his own...there's one specifically he's been perfecting for weeks now. It's his own little "magic trick".

I asked the Linda, the lady that keeps him in the day (and has kept gobbles of kids over the past 12-15 years) her thoughts on this behavior(being that Lincoln likes to do his trick at least 5-10 times a day!):
Me: "Linda, why does he do this? Is this normal? Have any other babies you've had ever done this?"
Linda: "Um...no. I've never actually had a baby that eats his pacifier..."
Me: "Oh."
See below for a play-by-play:

Step 1: Make sure we're watching (we're always watching buddy)
Step 2: Find your passy on the floor and pick it up

Step 3: Start shoving it in your mouth
Step 4: Keeping it shoved in your mouth part way (almost there, buddy!)

Part 5: Magic - Make passy disappear (okay, almost disappear)
Part 6: Make passy re-appear - with a big goofy grin that screams "I tricked ya, didn't I?!"

Baby, you're too much fun. :)

Here Comes the SUN!!!!!

I can finally smell summer and it's about time! Next week is the last full week of work (in the school that is) before we begin our summer program, the sun's suppose to shine for the next 8 days, I'm working up a tan, and I'm finally getting in my groove of running again...no maternity clothes for me again this summer. I bought a new bikini the other day and I'm just excited I get to wear one again (I began to think at 9 months pregnant it might never be possible again).

We head for Destin in four weeks and I don't think it could get here fast enough.

Lincoln gave us an excellent surprise this morning: When you get the babies on schedules and all, the schedule doesn't allow for them to think "oh, it's the weekend; now's my time to sleep a little longer in the morning instead of waking up at 7:00..."

Yeah - doesn't work that way.

Or does it?????

Saturday morning, we woke up to Lincoln's cries and we looked at each other like "Who wants to get up at 7:00 today...who's gonna be the self-sacrificer..."

Then we both looked at our phones and realized the little booger decided to sleep till 9:00 - NINE O'CLOCK - without a peep till then! What???! We thought it was a fluke, but then he did it again this morning! Lovin this new schedule. :)

And then instead of taking 5 one-hour naps throughout the day, little man FINALLY took two LOOONG naps. And I'm glad cause that meant he was awake and laughing longer. His laugh is contagious and we seriously are a puddle of mush when he smiles. I'm not sure any baby out there smiles as much as he does. :)

So though tomorrow is Monday and it has the potential to be dreadful, summer is on the brink...I can feel it...I can smell it...I can even taste it (and it taste like Special K thanks to our diet for the next few months). Here's a pic from Mother's Day I just got from my mom with all us sisters and the little man.

258th Time...

I have been in a state of denial and have been in absolute dread over writing this post because by writing it, it means I am acknowledging some sort of reality I've been terrified I'd have to, but still and trying not to face. Benny (a.k.a. Benjamin Button, Benihana, Benito, Houdini...) has left the building and I'm afraid, folks, it's for good this time. You see, we've estimated (no exaggeration), that he has "escaped" from our house approximately 258 times in his short life of 3.5 years, and this time, on the 258th, I think the odds might have gotten the best of him.
It was the morning of Mother's Day when Jason accidentally left the door cracked while going to his car to get my gift. In those split seconds, Benny Houdini raced out the front door with Papi two strides behind him.
This is typical.
Not really a big deal.
They always come back at meal time. No joke.
This time Papi came back, but not Benny.
Still, not a big deal.
This has happened before.
Now, going on day four and no Benny??
BIG DEAL.
You see, Benny's part human and the dog doesn't get lost. Best case scenario, someone picked him up and took him in as their pet (had no tags cause we take them off at night so he doesn't wake up Lincoln - had a collar, though). If someone does have him, he'll "get away" in a matter of no time (being that we've spent thousands trying to keep him in our yard.
But what if he's hurt...
What if he's not even existent anymore...
That's the thought that brings tears to my eyes. He's my baby and it's hard to come to terms with that. But I'll be honest, somewhere around his 136th getaway escape, I started to comes to terms with this fact.
But the quote from my husband (who still has great hope, by the way) rings in my ears:
"Babe, it's not a Benny story if it doesn't have some crazy, twisted, miraculous ending where we're all like 'WHAT??!!!'"
So true. We already have a library of those stories.
Come home Benito.

Happy Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

I woke up this morning to a Holiday I am finally blessed to indulge in! Jason and Lincoln got up early without me and were busy preparing my Mother's Day surprise. Lincoln had finger painted a homemade card, and Jason had the article framed featuring Lincoln in the paper this morning: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/Sports/27635
Then he had a plan to make cards on the frame with the dogs' footprints. However, there were only Bruce's prints. Apparently the other renegades ran out the front door when Jason was bringing the paper home. BTW, Papi has returned, but still no Benny. Usually we don't worry about him, but it's getting kind of late and I'll admit I'm a little worried....hmmm.


Here's more pictures:


Jason and Lincoln matched in church today.

Below: Jason and I went in to wake Lincoln up Friday morning and found this...he apparently did NOT want to get up. Amen buddy.

He's on the new kick where he likes to feed himself.

This was tonight right before dinner. We tried sweet potatoes for the first time.

I think he liked them. :)

Sorry About the Time Lapse

This past week has been eventful...Lincoln's 6 month check-up, Jason's birthday, my sister's birthday, birthday parties, date night, Mother's Day party (gearing up in about 30 minutes), and the first few days of sunshine in what has seemed like an eternity of tornado watches, hail, and gloomy skies. I've quite enjoyed myself.
Lincoln's stats were pretty funny this visit. The boy who has forever been in the 25% for weight now resides in the healthy 75% - quite a leap big man. The only thing we've added is rice cereal and vegetables - who knew they could be so hearty. BTW, he loves his green beans now - I won, and oh it feels good. :) His height is still a little shabby - 30%, but oh that monstrous head - 95%. Hilarious. It explains why the beach hat we bought him for 12-24 months didn't quite fit. Just more house for brains buddy.

Last night was our date night in honor of Jason's birthday. He got to choose the movie. He decided Thursday it was going to be Star Trek...NOOOOOOOO!!! So secretly I wished it would be sold out to all those nerdy fans, and we would be forced to go see Ghost of Girlfriend's Past or something of that nature. Then I get the phone call yesterday afternoon: "Honey, I went ahead and bought tickets online in case it's sold out!"
Perfect.
Funny, though, cause I actually thought it was better than expected (mind you my expectations were LOW), and he thought it was way worse than expected. So we ended up meeting somewhere in the middle on that one. He was hoping it would be modernized like Transformers was. Yeah, but did he not catch the title was Star Trek????
Nonetheless, we enjoyed it all.

Then in a few we're headed over to Mimi and Papa's house for birthday/Mother's Day party. Speaking of which, my mother's day present arrived early - a jogging stroller!!!!! Couldn't have been more excited. And on those few sunshine days this past week, you better believe we were out working up a sweat.

Finally Time to Relax

This weekend was finally RELAAAAXXING!! My amazing husband volunteered to get up w/ Lincoln Saturday morning and let me sleep in since I haven't had that luxury for some time now. It might be about time for another "Amazing Husband" post. :)

Saturday was perfect: stormy weather, extra sleep, NOTHING ON THE SCHEDULE (except for big game 7 of Celtics vs. Bulls - husband considers that "on the schedule")...so I took advantage by being somewhat of a little homemaker - funny, I know. I got the urge to make some baby food for Lincoln. But since carrots are the only veggie he definitely likes, I bought four bags of carrots, then got to boiling and blending like a mad woman until I had enough mushed carrots to last our family for a year (bought too many apparently), and created an aroma that filled our house with "carrot freshness"...mmmm. But since, today, Lincoln has developed more of a taste now for his green beans and squash, SOOOO get ready for some more chopping, boiling, and blending coming up (if anyone wants to come for dinner, call me up).


Church this morning was amazing. I really enjoy Sunday mornings for numerous reasons. I got to help lead worship again this morning which is always an exciting experience for me and a way I truly enjoy serving in my church. Then today I broke all rules and plopped Lincoln in the bed with me for a nap. He sleeps fine in his crib now, and I just wanted a little company for my nap, so under the covers he went and we slept for a glorious 2 HOURS! Beautiful.


And then of course, there were pictures this weekend. :)





Picture below is "pre-spit-up-carrots" picture in his crib (well, pre-MAJOR-spit-up-carrots):





And then POST-spit-up-carrots picture:




And then tonight, the classic story where dad's changing his diaper, goes into the bathroom for a bit, then comes back to Lincoln to find him soaking in pee (he of all people should know by now to not leave an un-diapered little boy for even 2 SECONDS!). People, the kid had pee dripping from his EARLOBES. Funny. So this is where he ended up:

And then he got to read a book with daddy before bed. By the way, Lincoln's bedtime was 9:00, then gradually shifted to 8:30, then he started becoming more sleepy at 8:15, and now, we try and get him to stay awake till 7:30! Crazy.

Below is a picture of Lincoln (w/ some old-timing photoshop), that really looks like some of my baby pictures - finally! he does look like me, some! Had to post it. Wish I had my baby photo so I could prove it, but just trust me.

And, sadly, when I was younger I might have been slightly bossy, stubborn, you know, all those good qualities that eventually make good leaders (ha, let me humor myself). And here's my little darling - looking again, like his mama.

"Woman - get me my bottle!"

And of course, what's a weekend without the furry crazies. We have a window in out kitchen that Mr. Benny the beagle destroyed a few years ago - well, we call it destroyed, but he calls it a homemade doggy door that he freely uses when the weather's nice and we open all the windows. Bruce, however (who weighs 60-70lbs more than Benny, mind you), wants to also use it as a doggy door:

But just can't quite succeed. :) Poor Bruce. Life's hard to be in the Big & Tall classification.