All Smiles

Lincoln will now not only smile while he is awake, but after he makes eye contact with me. This is my favorite stage so far. :)

(Please ignore how silly I sound...)

Family Dinners

I really like this article about the importance of family dinners on PBS.org.

Sleeping Boys

My boys taking a little nap together. How cute.

Who does Lincoln look like?

OR...

Does he look more like my nephew, Matthew?

Go ahead... take the poll on the right hand side of the blog. :) This will be interesting...

RESULTS: If you don't count my vote... 4 votes for Matthew, 1 vote for Mindy, & 3 votes for Jesse. Crazy, eh?

2 Months Old!

I can't believe Lincoln is already 2 months old! He is growing so fast and learning new things every day. It is really fun to watch him grow and get stronger.

Here he is with his puppy again

And a close up

Lincoln can hold up his head a lot better now, but is still a little wobbly. My favorite: he has started smiling! I love it when he smiles for me. He can watch an object around the room. He has rolled over from front to back a couple times. He is such a cutie! We love you so much, Lincoln!

UPDATE: Lincoln had his 2 month check-up today (9-16) and weighs 10 lbs 12 oz (24th percentile). He's catching up quickly!

Shoes

Just a few more pictures of my cute baby. :)

Becca let us have Cohen's old swing - thanks Becca!

You may be wondering 'what the point are shoes?'
Cute pictures of course!

Jesse calls these pants his "pirate pants."
Now, who sells tiny eye patches? :)

He makes this face a lot. What's he thinking...?

How to Calm a Crying Baby

A few days ago, Lincoln was fed, clean & dry, and still cranky. Well I decided to get on with my day and get ready! This is what I discovered:

(You'll want the sound on... but not too loudly..)

Who would have thought a loud noise like a blow dryer would calm a crying baby??

Lincoln's Blessing Day

This Labor Day weekend Jesse blessed our little boy, Lincoln. Saturday, Ellie was baptized and there was also a baby shower for both Audrey & me. This brought everyone in both Jesse's family and my family to St. George. It was great to have all our family together.

My mom with the youngest 3 babies at the shower:
Max: 9 days, Lincoln: 7 weeks, Vanessa: 4 months

When I saw Amy's baby (Max) and how small he was (just over 7 lbs) - he made Lincoln look huge! Babies grow so fast - but if you see them every day it is a lot harder to notice exactly how fast they actually do grow. And Lincoln was smaller than Max when we brought him home! Crazy.

Jesse did a wonderful job blessing Lincoln in Sacrament meeting. I wish I had remembered to record it because I couldn't hear it all and I want to have it written down for Lincoln. If anyone can remember ANYthing - even just one phrase - please email it to me. That would be much appreciated!!

Family Picture :)

Lincoln on his big day

Afterward we all went to Terrel & Janet's house for lunch. Here is a picture of my family:

Jeff & Jackie, Tom & Angela, Jesse & Mindy, Darrin & Rachel
Craig & Mary

And here are all the grand kids on my side of the family.

Matthew, David, Vanessa, Veronica, Hailey, Hannah & Lincoln

Hannah holding Lincoln (he doesn't look too happy...)

Hannah, Rachel, & Lincoln

Thank you to everyone that came to the blessing and shower and especially those of you that had to travel! Jesse and I are lucky to have such an amazing family!

Warcraft Wednesdays... (nerd alert)

Do I really need to say anything else? Oh- here's a couple pictures (thanks Lindsay & Cody) to sum it all up.

McKay, Nate, Kurt, Matt, Jesse, Jonny

Matt & Nate are "out" but still "need" to be in the "action." :)

If you need an explanation, refer to Lindsay's blog or my previous post.

"They grow up so fast!"

"They" always say babies grow fast. Here's my little example:

8 days old

6.5 weeks old

UPS Man... or Trucker?

I love this little outfit we got Lincoln. He finally fits into it (0-3 months). Jesse calls it his "trucker outfit," but I think it looks more like a UPS man outfit. It's cute either way.

Sometimes Lincoln likes to pose for me...

I've taken Lincoln on a few walks with me. He seems to like walks and after 5 minutes he falls asleep in his carrier. Maybe it reminds him of when he was still inside me and all those hikes...

Before we left - still awake!

5 weeks and 6 days later...

Today is my due date!! Hard to believe I could still be carrying such a big baby! He weighs close to 10 pounds now, has definitely learned how to cry, and can hold his head steadily up for a few seconds. I was curious to see when Lincoln will reach normal milestones - like smiling around 5-6 weeks (since he hasn't smiled at me yet... he smiles in his sleep and randomly when he's awake) - and when he would "catch up."

This is what I found:

• The age at which your baby is expected to reach various milestones is based on his due date. So use your baby's adjusted age when looking at the milestones.
  
• Most premature babies "catch up" to their peers, developmentally, in two to three years. After that, any differences in size or development are most likely due to individual differences, rather than to premature birth. Some very small babies take longer to catch up.

I'm assuming he will catch up sooner since he was bigger than expected (5' 9" vs. 4')... and also of course he'll catch up sooner since he's my baby. :)

Here's to not having to endure month 9 of pregnancy!!!

1 Month Old

Lincoln turned 1 month old yesterday.

Here he is with his little puppy.

He likes to roll onto his side & stomach (yes, really he can).
He can track objects with his eyes.
He has a little temper.
He likes bath time.
He likes to eat in 45 minute intervals sometimes.
He dislikes being held while trying to go to sleep.
He doesn't like cuddling too much (much to my chagrin).
He weighs just over 7 lbs now (on a home scale... so not official).

Moms can be mean

Lincoln has always been a tired little boy... it comes with being premature, especially. Last night I wanted him to sleep well, but he kept falling asleep (after 5 minutes!) no matter what I did - tickle his ribs, feet, rub his head, change his diaper... So Jesse had the idea of getting an ice pack out. So I took off his clothes and yes, it made me feel mean, but we got him a little cold. (I would put my hand on the ice pack for a few seconds, and then put my hand on Lincoln. I'm not that ruthless.) Needless to say.. it made him wide awake and he got a full meal. He even slept well. Anyone have any pointers on keeping him awake??

Becca gave Lincoln this swing.
He stayed awake for about 5 minutes
and so I got a few pictures.

Later in the day I put him on his "tummy time" mat,
which he stayed awake for 20 seconds - maybe.

By the time I got a closer picture this is what I saw:

Gross! Maybe I should wait a little while after he eats to put him here? :)

PETA

You know those groups of people that do ridiculous things? PETA is one of them. I am not talking about their good intentions - I am talking about their protests that make themselves look... well, childish. I came across this photo & article and I think it is pretty funny. I would expect 14 year old boys to come up with something like this!

Click HERE to see the photo & article

Home Canning

A week ago, Nate, Audrey, Cody, Jesse & I made salsa from ingredients from our garden. We used the recipe found at this website but with a few of our own modifications (lime juice instead of lemon, less hot peppers).

It turned out really well! It would have been very nice to have found the food processor (it would have cut the time down dramatically), and a little more convenient with a pressure cooker, but the salsa turned out so well it is disappearing fast!

Jesse wants to can spaghetti sauce next (since we have an abundance of tomatoes...). We are going out to the garden to weed tonight if anyone wants to join us! :)

Bathtime

I think it is so cute when a baby is wrapped up in a hooded towel after his bath.
:)
Especially when he's wide awake.

A Link

Sasha Hight (the photographer) put some pictures of Lincoln on her blog - check it out HERE.

A Mother's Right

I was talking with Jesse today, and he asked me if I posted any more pictures of Lincoln on our blog... and I said no. He seemed a little surprised and asked, "Are you going to post one? And then another one? And then another one? And..." you get the picture.

This was my reply: "Every mother has a right to brag about how cute their baby is!"

Jesse didn't have a good comeback for that one... he just shrugged and said, "Ya, I guess that's true."

So if anyone thinks I post too many pictures of my new baby... now you know why. I just can't help it. :)

Photo Shoot of Lincoln

I had a photographer (Sasha Hight) come take pictures of Lincoln and they turned out so adorable! He was 8 days old in the pictures.

This is one of my favorites.
Cute smile, legs stretching out everywhere. :)