Some Evidence

Evidence that, yes, I am still alive and well (as I sat here and realized it's been over a week since my last post!) and that Lincoln really is "doing" all I claim he is. So here's some proof in pictures (cause he's just so darn cute):

Him and Bruce Wayne have become quite good buds. He's the only dog in recent pictures cause he's the only kind soul that doesn't take off running when they see Lincoln headed their way - God bless you, Mr.Wayne.

His 2 new favorite toys: (1) pale of Jenga blocks (2) my linen bin full of all my socks

So here's one of his "latest"...he takes out all of the jenga blocks, and then puts them all back in the pale! He also does this with random items on the tables - he'll take them down, throw them on the floor, then go pick it all up and put it back on the table (then repeat the process 5-10 times).
He signs "more" (though sometimes his sign language for this resembles more of a clap) anytime he wants more food. Dad has an orange here - a treat they share and one of his favorites.

He waves "bye-bye" on cue and when others wave. And sometimes he'll even say "B-B-" when he does it. Can't wave hello though...

He claps when you say "Yeah!!" or when others are clapping - even the others happen to be on TV. He cheered Roger Federer on today and clapped every time a touchdown was scored at the football game Friday night - no joke. He's got this one DOWN. He can free-stand for about 10 seconds with perfect balance. He then just sits down (doesn't fall down anymore) and we swear the guy could walk but he's simply not interested.

Then just some irresistibles of the cutie: He loves his rocking chair. He can get out of it on his own and we're working on him being able to climb in it...

Now this precious face is when daddy was fixing him a late dinner of tacos and wouldn't fix Lincoln a plate...and he knew daddy wasn't fixing him anything.

So he joined Papi (right corner) in begging for a bite (he doesn't eat tacos yet).
He gave me this pitiful look when daddy wouldn't share. Then he broke out the big guns.But don't worry - he got over it (when daddy shared his orange).

So there's some proof of our little one's accomplishments...just a little over 10 months old. :)

8 Days and Counting

That's the number of days we've had the Beagle back AND he's managed to not dig out of our backyard - not even try. I'm starting to wonder if it really is Benny or if I randomly stole another dog that belongs to someone else. He's had a bad cough and I took him to the vet yesterday (who gave him meds for kennel cough) and asked the vet about Benny's weight. You see, when he left, he was pushing 50lbs (which is considerably overweight) and when he returned we gasped b/c he was SO SKINNY. But the vet looked at him, than at me (almost in a scolding, grandpa kind of way) and said "Don't you be lettin' this beagle gain anymore weight! He's in perfect rabbit-hunting condition and he needs not gain a single pound more - his vacation did him some good!"
So thanks to the scolding and feeling like I foster obesity in my house, I am now trying to get used to the skinny Benny. Again - maybe he's not really my Beagle...? The question keeps beckoning me...
Tonight is the first Bentonville football game, which rumor has it, is quite the experience. Bethany Cole and I are headed over after school to meet up with our husbands and Jennifer Power (aka. Hausser) and her husband to have dinner before the game. So i=I guess it's officially time for me to put away the maroon (wipe a tear) and bust out the Black & Gold. :)
Oh, and we can now add waving and somewhat saying "Bye-Bye" to Lincoln's smart list. Yes. He did this all night long...Mickey Mouse was on TV at one point saying "Bye...see you next time" and Lincoln waved good=bye to Mickey Mouse - twice (yes, we rewinded it just to see whether it was a fluke).
So I'm sure many of you are off to celebrate this glorious 3-day holiday in style and excitement. Us? Fixing up our house. Labor on Labor Day...sounds appropriate. Or are we missing the point?

4 Months...10 Months...All at ONCE

Lincoln turned 10 months old Saturday and I turned the corner in my pregnancy, away from the dim, grim, exhausting, nauseating corner known as the first trimester. Yep - officially out of that mess again and entering the blissful trimester #2!
My 4-month doc appointment was short and sweet, delivered awesome imagines of the the new little baby (which is still 100% all boy, by the way), and gave the peace of mind that God is watching carefully over his little development. I must say, this pregnancy is FLYING by (no complaints here) and sometimes I have to remind myself that I actually have another being growing in my belly. I'm sure by the end of this trimester, though, I won't need reminding given that I'll be half the size of a waddling barn. :)
And in Lincoln news, in the past couple of weeks, he has learned to clap anytime someone says the word "YEA!!!" in an excited tone, signs "more" consistently every time he wants, well, more, and knows what "NO" means and will shake his head when he hears this word (the cutest thing ever). It's so amazing to us to watch his language development!
He has now graduated to expert crawler/cruiser and we think it's a matter of time before his first little steps take stride. In the past few days, he'll be standing, holding furniture, and then he'll let go and balance himself. He then looks at us, while balancing, with a huge grin on his face. Sometimes he'll even clap because he's so proud of himself, but this usually results in him falling down. Oops.
I've always become more relaxed on what I will feed him. I am giving him more solids instead of the straight pureed veggies and fruit. That's my developmental step.
So happy 10-months sweet Lincoln. I can't wait for you and your baby brother to meet!

The Prodigal Son

Three weeks ago Jason and I drove by the Animal Shelter here in town and I said "You know, I should just call them again - even though it's been 3 months, and see if they ever found a beagle on the side of the road...just for closure." Jason then responded with "I sure would like to find that Benny before we move." To that response I gently told him Benny was gone and I just didn't think there was much hope for that.
That was 3 weeks or so ago.
Today I drove by the shelter again and it reminded me I never did call. So I looked the number up on my navigation system on my phone and, though I felt entirely stupid for even calling - I called just to check.
Surprisingly they said they actually have a dog that somewhat matched his description. I then re-explained that he doesn't really look like a Beagle and gave some more specifics about him (trying to save myself the pointless trip). Then I said "The dog's been missing since Mother's Day." I got a sympathetic "Oh - this dog was just brought in the other day...but you can come look if you want?"
What the heck. I was in the area, so I stopped by. No high hopes. Zero expectations. Feeling quite ridiculous to even be going, to be honest.
The worker leads me back to the cage, I peek in (kind of nervously for some reason)...and folks, I met eyes with MY beagle that I had assumed gone forever. That's right - it was Benny. My eyes welled up with tears and I looked up at the worker and exclaimed, "That's my dog!!!!"
He was 15lbs lighter, unbridled in his behaviors and the pound said he was brought in a few days ago, covered in fleas and ticks, found wandering the streets. I asked what street, and sure enough, it was the street I lived on when I first brought him home as a puppy - clear on the other side of town.
So after all this time, our prodigal beagle whom we loved to hate, has returned. we're now again a family 5, going on 6. :)
We might have terrible luck with dogs getting out, but we sure have amazing luck with finding them!

Funny Story

Funny thing happened last night...but as always, I must share the back story:
My husband started his new job in Bentonville last week and since then, has been meeting teachers and coaches and others in the community on a continual basis (he's Mr. Social). He'll come home telling me about some interesting people he has met, most of which he really enjoys thus far, but there has been this one couple that he has talked about MANY times over the past week. The wife is a volleyball coach and her husband coaches track. She's 5 months pregnant (one month ahead of me) and he keeps telling me how he really thinks I would like her and how he can see them being some of our good friends while at Bentonville.
Last night Bentonville played Siloam in volleyball (big rivals apparently) and Lincoln and I drove out o watch and hang out with Jason.
While we were watching, Jason pointed out (from behind) the volleyball coach he had been talking about and then found her husband from across the way and did the same. He really wanted me to meet both of them.
So after the game, a very familiar girl ran over to me saying, "You're Jason's wife???!"
Yes. This girl Jason's so desperately wanted me to meet cause he thinks we could be good friends is in fact an old friend of mine from Ft. Smith - Jennifer Hauser (well, Power now that she's married).
We both died out laughing because we had both been hearing about the other for the past week but had no clue we already knew each other!
By the way - Jason's face during this exchange was priceless. :)
So yes, Jason, we can be friends with them. Small world, but super excited to already have a friend there.

Last Night's Conversation

Yesterday after church (and the traditional 2-hour nap), Jason and I decided to start cleaning out the house, getting it ready to sell (or for the new baby's room - which ever comes first). Background information that is pertinent to this story includes the fact that my adorable, great husband takes up 80% of the closet space in our house (HOUSE - not just our closet). All of his suits and dress shirts consume the entire guest bedroom, of our drawer space, his clothes occupy 9/11 drawers, and in our closet alone, my clothes reside in only 3/7 spaces (who gets the top shelves in there? you guessed it: the 6'5 man).
So last night he decided to "consolidate" his clothes and make more space for the new baby and clear out clutter. And he sure did get on a roll. He worked for hours re-arranging and organizing. Now mind you, the man has an INSANE amount of basketball shorts and t-shirts...but his shoes more than quadruple the amount I have (sad, I know).
So as I'm folding clothes from all the laundry we did that day and preparing to put them all away, he says:
"Oh babe - let me show my new system (system??)..."
"When you put my clothes up, I now have separate shelves my basketball shorts need to be divided into...this shelf is for all Razorback shorts, this one for Bentonville shorts, and this one for all miscellaneous ones."
Seriously??? The only words that came to mind as I figured, "He must be joking...".
No folks. No jokes here.
In fact, he furthered to show me how he now had designated drawers for Razorback t-shirts, Bentonville t-shirts, plain t-shirts, and then all others...
And then it got worse.
I went to hang up some of his shirts (which are are also color-coordinated now) and he stopped me with a grin on his face as I reached to hang one on a plastic white hanger.
"Honey, do you see the pattern??" He said implying I was obviously doing something wrong.
"Um, I'm hanging your colored shirt with the rest of them...??? What's the problem??"
"Babe, these shirts all go on metal hangers...the white hangers are used for the shirts on the opposite rack now."
OH. MY. GOSH. are you SERIOUS!!!
So the remainder of the night was spent with me calling him a nerd and telling him I never new what a neurotic husband I had on my hands.

4 Days and Counting...Finally!!!

Here comes the countdown to my beautiful little sister's BIG DAY - the day where finally marries her junior high sweetheart and my senior prom date (ha - he was a good friend)...where she gets to start popping out little cousins for Lincoln and the mystery guy in my belly...where students loans are no longer paid by the parentals (I experienced this a couple of years ago)...where Jason and I will FOREVER get to have super fun double dates (they've been sporadic with these two over the years!)...where I no longer have to take up for my sister and threaten those that hurt her, cause she have her man to do all that dirty work (though don't get me wrong - I quite enjoyed it)...but most importantly, it's the day where I get to see my amazing sister continue on an incredibly journey that God has been so faithful to provide for her and Nathan and watch God use them both in mighty ways. What a good day it's going to be!
And here's the countdown:

Today - work, then head to the Fort for the evening with mom getting our nails done, shopping (I know, it's the Fort, but whatever), and some dinner

Thursday - doctor's appointment, work (the irrelevant things), then black/white BACHELORETTE PARTY!!! which will consist of dinner and party in our reserved room at Mohito's, then hitting up the infamous Dixon street (which hasn't been "hit-up" by me in what must be 20-something years)...pregnant lady + Bachelorette night should be interesting, and probably ending the night w/ me driving everyone home to Amy's house in the monster tank Expedition.

Friday - wake up and head to the Fort!!! Hang out with the in-laws and pass off the Mister Lincoln for the next 48 hours (they're in charge!), check into the hotel downtown, a little lunch and decorating, Rehearsal Dinner, and then off tot he town with the wedding party (tentative plans include Rib Room, Papa's, Karaoke, maybe a little Electric Cowboy??) - ha. should be REAL interesting.

Saturday - all the girly stuff, rehearsing two songs at the church with Stephen since he won't be there Friday night, pictures, then "da-da-da-da" (suppose to be the wedding song) - HERE WE GO!!!! Needless to say, I'm crazy excited. Fun times headed our way.