Here Come the Teeth!

That's right. Since we've been in Destin, Lincoln now has two "half" teeth (not fully in) and has been pulling up on his own (from sitting to standing position) - well, kind of on his own. He grabs your arms, shirt, couch, ice chest handles - whatever he can grasp to pull himself up. Yeah for new developments!
We're still here in Destin, sadly leaving in the morning, but looking forward to celebrating Independence Day under the stars on the beach tonight!

And the Vacation Continues...

First off, Jonathan sent me this link to their blog with some of our recent photos that they took before we left for vacation. You can see them here: http://jephotography.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/mcmahan-family/
These are just a sneak peak and I'm loving what I see so far!!!

Vacation is still amazing. The weather has been perfect the past two days and today the water was as crystal clear as I've ever seen it here! Case in point (you can see our legs):

Lincoln has been relaxing to the FULLEST. Here's his "beach schedule" he pretty much set for himself (I let him set his own schedules since he's on vacation!):
7:00am - wake up (with Mimi & Papa)
eat breakfast
8:00am - take nap #1
9:00am - wake up and play with the rest of us who are getting up
10:00 - eat again & change in clothes for the beach
10:15 - oops, fall asleep again (nap #2) before heading out to beach
10:45 - wake up and head to the water!
11:00 - fall asleep under umbrella for nap #3 on the beach
12:30 - wake up and have some lunch on the beach
play in pool & sand
1:00 - come up to the condo for some vegetables
1:30 - nap #4 (this one's LONG)
4:30 - wake up
4:35 - bottle, bath, play
6:00 - go out to dinner, vegetables, bottle, play
7:30 - nap #5 (no joke)
8:30 - play
9:00 - go to bed for the night

*Yup, Lincoln sleeps about 17 hours/day - that's what I call a vacation!!!! :) Here's some more pictures from today:

The Much Needed Vacation

Okay. SO much to talk about that hasn't been mentioned yet on this blog. But either you guys have seen it on my facebook, read it in the papers, or heard it word of mouth, or maybe have no cue, but our family is about to make a HUGE move. Not huge in the part of distance or trekking across states, but huge in the sense of leaving behind a school system we love, a church we are passionate about, and some friends that have become close to our hearts (though they'll always be close...just not as close (distance) as we'd like!).
An opportunity was presented before Jason to take the head basketball coaching position at Bentonville High School a few weeks ago. After meeting with them and prayers on out part, he turned down the job. However, BHS contacted him again, this time making an offer hard to refuse on many facets. They said Jason was the coach they had in mind for their program and would work with our family to make it happen. And as of Friday morning, it has happened. Those that were around us during this time saw the agony and turmoil we muddled through - countless prayers and tears as we made this decision to leave behind something we've loved and head down new waters.
Here's the amazing part, though, folks: this move is going to enable me to stay home and raise baby Lincoln!!! This has been one of our prayers since we had the little guy - God is good. Simply said. We're planning on living in Siloam until we sell our house, so we could still be around for a while. So major changes in the McMahan family! But we're feeling good and confident about where God is leading us! This picture was taken Friday morning (on our way out of town for vacation) at the board meeting/press conference to accept the position. This whole process has moved FAST - in a matter of a week, Jason was approached and now he's the new head coach of BHS! How do we look in Black/Gold???? :)


In other news...WE'RE ON VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The little man all strapped in and ready to roll. Mama's in the next seat over, Aunt Amy in the back (3rd row), and Daddy and Uncle Nathan up front.


Quick stop in Crossett to visit Gran-Gran and Poppa...and eat some fried catfish.

Next stop? Biloxi!! Were we lost our money...oops. So I got little Lincoln on a slot to see if he was more lucky. :)

On one of our lunch stops, Lincoln lunged for a piece of fudge Jason bought, successful snatched it with his teeth and WOULD NOT LET GO! and yes, he got some in his mouth! oops.
This is what happens when mama turns her head - Jason feeds Lincoln coke! I guess we are on vacation.

And then, DESTIN!!!!!!!!


These shades never stay on for more than 2 seconds before he's examining ever intricacy of how they are made. Someone stopped us in Biloxi and said, "I've been watching you and your baby for the past while through different stores and I just had to tell you that I think he is the most observant baby I have ever seen!"
Yes, we know. :)
Nathan and Amy introduced us to this game. Me and dad won, thank you very much.

And then he crashed. So cute.
The newly-engaged couple.
So you might be wondering, "why are you writing this blog in the middle of the afternoon instead of being on the beach?" It's storming. Yeah for vacation. But we're here for 6 more days!!! I'll post pictures of our condo later - it's unbelievable! Gorgeous, huge, and beautiful view! The parentals really came through on this one (and we all have our own rooms and bathrooms!!!).

The Long Awaited Trip

It's finally here folks. The ten-day marathon trip to Destin begins tomorrow and we cannot wait to savor every tiny second of every moment. The food (considering we've both been on a diet for the past 2 months), the tennis (we stay at a racket club/condo thing), the sun, the sand, the water, the relaxation, Biloxi (a side note), family, soon-to-be family, games, relaxation, TCBY (oh yes - I am looking forward to this one), the amazing shopping Jason and I have so fervently been saving money for, relaxation, Lincoln's first beach experience, fish fry with Jason's family on our one-night stop, reading, music, relaxation...did I mention how much Jason and I NEED, CRAVE some relaxation???
Jason and I have recently been contemplating how much God has blessed us in our marriage and our family, and this trip could not have come at a better time and WHAT A BLESSING. This week has been anything but relaxing for Jason and I (I'll share at a later time), and we're ready to revel in the peace and grace of God. I cannot think of a better place to reconnect than in the magnificence of his creation. The ocean in the night has always given me an overwhelming sense of the power of my Savior. When I lived in California, there were many of nights I would spend just contemplating this magnificence - something so vast and powerful in sound, smell, sight...touch. There's something scary about the waters and all the sensations you take in when in the presence of the ocean in the nighttime, lighted only by the glow of the moon. But there's also something powerful and comforting, providing a mix that I could only ever explain as God.
So stay tuned...I'm taking my computer so I can post pictures along the way.

Happy Father's Day

What a great and necessary day to honor my amazing husband and my phenomenal dad. I know I've mentioned this several times (probably to the point of annoying-ness) but for those of you that have never read my blog until now, MY HUSBAND IS AN INCREDIBLE FATHER! I try to do my best to tell him this on a regular basis, but I know I fall short of conveying my true feelings. And oh my gosh does Lincoln love his daddy! He even admits that Lincoln's already headed down a path toward being a full-out daddy's boy. :) Lincoln and I got up early this morning and put daddy's gift together (6:30am - Lincoln's choice of time). We were quiet and let daddy sleep in. Then we woke him up later with kisses and gifts. Here's Lincoln after the gifts were opened:

And then Lincoln thought it would be a good idea to eat the paper:

Then his party slowly started to deteriorate:

But mommy knows how to make it better:
Then we got dressed (in daddy's Air Jordan outfit), and headed to Mimi & Papa's for lunch (we all fell back asleep this morning, straight through our alarms for church! oops.)

Then we ended the day by all heading to the pool with Mimi, Amy, & Nathan...working on those tans, gearing up for Destin in FIVE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun Day!

This morning Jason let me sleep in (which I did until 9:00), then Lincoln went down for his nap at 9:30 and yes, I took a nap, too. Pathetic. It was wonderful. We went out to eat at a local Mexican place for lunch and then came home for Lincoln to take nap #2 (this time I pulled weeds instead). I know, probably not sounding like a fun day at this point, but it got better.
After Lincoln woke up (and Jason), we went here:
And then after some time in the sun (preparation for our 10-day vacation NEXT WEEK!), the Mister ended the fun like this:

After nap #3, we did a family photo shoot with Jonathan Edward Photography. We got Lincoln all snazzy looking and I kept a bib on him until seconds before the first shot. It was all going great! Lincoln was in a good mood, the lighting outside was perfect, it was a little on the warm side, but the breeze added some relief...and then...it happened.

Lincoln ate grass before we could move a finger.

Do you know happens to dogs when they eat grass?

The same thing as what happens to babies.

They puke.

And puke.

And then when you think they're done...

They puke some more.

Except remember we had just began the family photo shoot.

So everyone looks at me, "Doesn't he have another shirt in the diaper bag??"

Crap.

His shirt was white and I'm just hoping photoshop can work magically. We'll see. Other than the puke fest (which is the most he's EVER puked in his little life, by the way), the shoot was awesome and I'm SO excited about some of the preliminaries we saw!!

Separation Anxiety

I've recently been getting the frequent question of: "So is Lincoln starting to experience separation anxiety yet?"
And each time I ponder the question and realize that my answer is always the same: "Um, no...".
And each time I answer the question, I can't help but think "wow - should he be crying every time dad and I leave him? Oh my gosh! Does this mean he doesn't care if we're even around? Even worse, does he care that we're even there with him? OH MY GOSH! My child doesn't scream when I leave!!!!"
Don't worry. I've been able to grasp my spiraling emotions before they disappear into sheer oblivion and I've realized none of the above are true. In fact, we're thrilled we can leave Lincoln with friends or relatives, in the nursery, and that he can be passed down the row at basketball games like he's a shiny new part on an assembly line - all without tears. Actually, he's probably got his pacifier stuck half-way in his mouth with a sheepish grin swiped across his face. He's well-adjusted, as I like to put it. Though I hate leaving him when I work, the socialization and skill building part of this aspect of being aorund 4 little kids everyday is thrilling to watch and very beneficial, I've come to realize.

Now on the other hand, I do have another child who has recently been expressing extreme separation anxiety and we cannot figure it out!
Enter...Mr. Bruce Wayne.
Yes. Bruce has recently been crazy clingy to me (only me) and it's SO strange! And it gets worse when Jason gets home...like he's in competition with Jason. It's hilarious. But the poor soul won't leave my side, follows me around the house when I'm doing chore stuff, waits for me outside the shower, and nudges his 80-pound body in-between mine and the couch when I'm watching TV.
Here's the proof:

He's just a big white ball of love, that Bruce Wayne.
For the record, I had a fantastic day shopping and playing with Lincoln today! Jason was at team camp all day so I got to hang out with the little mister. And yes, Lincoln took 3 naps and SO DID I. Fabulous.


Stay tuned.