So Much To Say!!

Did Someone See A PANTHER???
I did. On the freaking prowl again, gettin' in people's heads, creating holy terror for those who try and match it's ferociousness...Yes. Here they come. Straight from the depths of the mysterious jungles to the great plains of, yes, no other than Alma, Arkansas. What more intimidating territory could one ask for? Right.

Nonetheless, my ever so brilliant husband did it again and the Panthers are in fact on their way to the state tournament this Wednesday. You're amazing baby. You see, I have this facial expression I make (see the photo n the left of our blog where we're on the way to the hospital)...it always reads the same expression that Jason has now come to know so well...the expression being "Here we go!". He says it's the face I had as I walked down the aisle...the one when we found out we were pregnant...and then on our way to the hospital...I gave it to him last year at this time before the state championship game...sometimes it's followed with a quick wink...and today, babe, I have it again as you take your boys down the state title road again. A road most have said is impossible for Siloam, but one that you paved, and then charged down last year, and are starting that trek yet again. So Panthers, here we go. (I think the Joker also had this same expression in the Dark Knight...mine's not so freakish and twisted...hmm).

Anyway, game's at 2:30 at Alma Wednesday...I'll keep ya posted how they do.

Lincoln's Latest...
In Lincoln news, this is an exciting time for us cause exactly one year ago tomorrow (Sunday), is when I took that pregnancy test (okay - I took 8 just to make sure) and found out the little man was living in my belly!!!! I can't BELIEVE it's already been a year since that moment - one I'll never forget for sure.

Mr. Lincoln found his feet today...and what does he try and do with them? Shove them in his mouth. Impressive thing is he's actually a hair shy of being extremely successful with this task! Mamma's so proud...he can't even talk but he can already put his foot in his mouth (haha...lame I know).

Now in SCARY news, there's been an odd discovery made recently that Jason and I are in debate about. First off, this is no exaggeration (ask my parents)...but it all started a few weeks ago when the little angel got upset.

We rocked him...no success.

Walked him...no success.

Laid him with his toys...no success.

Gripe water...no success.

Pacifier...no success.

ESPN???? (dear Lord I hate admitting this)...freaking SUCCESS. It's a fluke, right? My child really doesn't calm down to ESPN...right? So we began testing the theory (because off course my husband was so humored by it), and after extensive testing, it's not ESPN, it's BASKETBALL. You've got to be kidding me. I've even tried other TV shows and even other sports (thinking it's just the colors), but no. Basketball. Only basketball.

For a long time I just said, "Oh it's the movement back and forth and the colors, and it doesn't have to be a basketball game - maybe he just likes the TV??"

But then after attempting to calm him last week, I heard myself utter words I never thought would leave my lips:

"Babe! What channel is ESPN???!!!!!"

I say it's the past paced movement.
Jason says it's a gift from God.

But there you have it. When I'm up in the morning and need to get ready, I pull up a DVR game Jason has saved (since basketball games encompass 90% of our DVR space) and let the little man eat his heart out while I get ready.

And below are some latest shots of the little rock star. He's been so cute to see with Bruce Wayne - I think their gonna be pretty good buds. He's started LOVING to pull and tug his ears. Today I looked over at him and he had reached out for Papi's snout, with both hands, and was, yes - trying to shove Papi's snout in his mouth! Don't worry, mommy got there before he actually did it. It was still pretty hilarious though.

And this picture below is one of my favorites. After watching their basketball game together (apparently now both of their favorite things to do!), I captured this shot. Precious.

I'm Still Alive

But barely. I haven't posted on here in ages it seems. This week has been that overload crazy BUSY BUSY week where in the midst of it all, somehow, Jason, me AND Lincoln all decided to get sick at the exact same time...not a good thing.
So our little Lincoln, who was sleeping through the night last week, now wakes up on the dot at 3:30 every morning. I know I'm suppose to let him cry it out, but the poor thing is so snot nosed and when he cries for a long period of time, he has trouble breathing because his nose gets double snotty! He sounds so tragic, poor guy.
So were're up...from 3:30 on...and resultantly, Jason nor I aren't getting any better because of lack os sleep. At least Lincoln sounds better today. Maybe he'll start feeling better and get bck in his routine??

That's my prayer - my plea!!!

Lunch Breaks

Aren't they nice? Whoever decided that us hard working Americans need 30 minutes to do nothing and re-fuel...thanks. I truly am appreciative, but not too excited considering I have been to Africa and now know what other parts of the world do...in Africa, everything shuts down at noon and everyone goes home for "lunch" (I say that in quotations because I also found out through my AIDS education that most people use this time to have sex - no joke; there's lots more I could say about that stuff I learned but I'll save it for another post). And then when everything shuts down at noon, it may or may not open back up. So we always had to get all of our errands done by noon in case those "eating lunch" decided they were having too much fun to come back.
Yeah, but not us here. I am writing this over a turkey sandwich from school cafeteria (appetizing) while simultaneous listening to this soulful song on repeat that I just found out I am singing in church on Sunday morning and should probably learn by then.

After work today, I am headed to pick up Lincoln and we are off to the duo game mess in Little Rock this weekend - thanks ice storm. We play Greenbriar tonight and Morrilton in the morning - ouch. Sounds exhausting. Poor guys. The fun and exciting news is that Lincoln gets to see his grandparents who haven't seen him in months! They're gonna go crazy with how much the little fellow has grown!

Speaking of grown, Lincoln had a well visit today for his 4 month deal...he weighs 13.7 lbs. and is in the 20% for his weight supposedly...he is 24 in. long which they said is a little small. He was really long last visit and hasn't grown much more. I asked the doc why that is and he said that he'll probably catch up, some take longer to grow, and then he said it could just have to do w/ genetics. Did he notice my husband is 6'5??? :)
Lincoln did AMAZING at his visit! He as quite the show off, talking, laughing, doing his cute high pitched squeal, and trying SOOO desperately to show doc how good he can roll over and how all he's lacking is to roll that one shoulder. He was adorable and knows how to make mommy proud.

Some of Life's Greatest Joys

1. Seeing my sweet little baby look up and smile at my face...because he knows I'm mom (I'm a mom!)
2. Holding my husband's hand...feeling protected, loved, and important.
3. Being blessed with an amazing family who is so supportive.
4. Beating Harrison by 25 points - on our home court :)

Go Panthers.

More Butt Pictures

My friend Meredith gave Lincoln this adorable outfit...he's finally big enough to wear it and it looks so freaking cute on the little guy - thanks Meredith! I think you can see by the pictures that he's quite fond of the overalls. :)
Ha...and check out the pictures below...Lincoln's grandma MacMahan got him the cutest diapers ever - they have his name on the buttocks! Another item I thought he'd be able to wear months ago, but no. He just grew a butt big enough to fill them last week.
This is Lincoln, NOT wanting me to take a picture of his buttocks...
And these are the ones where mommy won the battle. :)

By the way...we have now had TWO consecutive nights of Lincoln sleeping from 10:00pm - 7:00am...UNBELIEVABLE!!! Our little plan and method has worked like a charm. :) I wished I would have known how easy that would have been and we would have done it a month ago!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Today is very exciting because we get to spend the morning w/ the little Valentine, and here in the next hour, we're dropping him off at his Mimi and Papa's house. They've offered to keep him until late tonight so Jason and I can try and find some romance in the midst of this crazy thing called parenthood - SO excited. And what are we doing?? Absolutely NOTHING. Well, not entirely, I guess. But nothing extravagant or anything. We're staying home, cooking
Fillet Mignon's and just spending uninterrupted time together - now that is priceless and the best gift ever. I'm so excited. :)

And check out what this little rockstar did last night...we saw daddy coach (and won again in the last seconds!!), then came home and put him to bed at 10:00. Jason's brother and his wife stayed the night last night and we let them sleep in our room cause it was our third night of C.I.O. and we didn't want them having to stay up and here Lincoln scream. And we couldn't NOT do it tonight or we start back at square one.
So, we put him down at 10:00 and the little booger did not make a PEEP - a PEEP people, until 7:20 this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I know I shouldn't get crazy excited yet, because who knows if this will last, but this is the first time he has EVER done this, in his CRIB, and I'm SO excited that I might see more sleep in my future. :)

These pictures below are Lincoln's Valentine photos with his puppy his Grandma and Poppa McMahan sent him... I was disappointed that I never could flash at the moment he was smiling...he sees the light on my camera when it focuses, and he always stops smiling because he gets so intrigued by it. Oh well...he's still stinkin' adorable.

Night #2 of C.I.O

Well last night was Jason's turn to stay up w/ Lincoln in attempts to help him get through that night feeding (or very early morning, to be exact). So before bedtime, I coached Jason up BIG TIME:
"Okay honey - now he's gonna scream starting at about 4:00am...and it's gonna be hard to listen to and you're gonna think the little fella is suffering and possibly on his death bed, but DON'T GIVE IN. If you feel like giving in, come get me first and I'll take over! Now he'll cry like this on and off for about 3 hours until he's suppose to get up. You'll be miserable. You'll wanna give up. You'll say it's not worth it. But DON'T GIVE IN. The end results far outweigh this one night. Did I mention, DON'T GIVE IN????"

So I get up this morning at my usual time, walk into the living room where Jason is asleep on the couch. I hesitate waking him up because I'm sure Lincoln was screaming all night and what if he just FINALLY fell asleep?? But then I figure he'd rather be in the bed, so I wake him.

"Honey - how'd it go??" I say with a sheepish look, scared that the answer is "awful!"
Here's what he said...

"Oh he woke up at 4:30, cried for about 20 minutes, and he's been asleep ever since."

What?! You mean our child, only on the second night of letting him cry it out, only cried for 20 minutes??? WHAT?! How could that night be so drastically different than the night I had w/ him when it was my turn?? Couldn't believe it. So excited. So proud. And all those speeches I gave him to pump him up last night...not needed apparently.

So I'm hopeful this is the turn of a new era for Lincoln's sleeping habits - wouldn't that be amazing!!! But I'm not getting my hopes up yet, because tonight is my turn, and well, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm just not that lucky. But it can be done, people...it CAN be done.

It's Friday. Go Panthers.