CONGRATS ROB!

One of my best buddies, Rob got engaged this past weekend. Rob has been one of my very close friends for quite a long time. I could not be happier for him! It is pathetic that I don't even have a picture with him and his fiancee because I HAVEN'T EVEN MET HER! I know she must be a very special girl to put up with this guy....

hehe! Just kidding Rob. Looking forward to meeting the future Mrs. Simpson!

There's a First Time for Everything...

unfortunately that also includes colds.

David has some major congestion which makes it hard for him to breathe, especially when he is trying to sleep. Lucky for us he is still his happy, little self!

Praise God, the cold seems to be getting better already and we only have had a couple of days we have been dealing with it. We've done all the home remedies (vaporizer, propping up is mattress, vapor bath, saline nasal spray) but other than those things there really isn't much you can do for such a young child. Please pray that he makes a full recovery soon!

Other than that, my mom just left today after a visit this weekend. Henderson was over the moon that she was here and had the best time with Nannie. She was kind enough to let Stephen and me go out to dinner and a movie on Saturday night. It was so nice to get out on a date - we haven't been able to do that since David was born.

Mommy Ears

Does this happen to anyone else? I swear I hear a baby crying even when there is no baby crying. I'm telling you, I have been sitting, holding David and Henderson is right there with me and for a second I will think "oh no! The baby is crying." Whoa. I think I might be losing my mind.

Now at night, my mommy ears are on full alert and I do hear every grunt, sneeze, cry, etc. I wish I could just turn the monitor off, but in my house we have a split floor plan. I would not be able to hear any sort of crying if I did that (not to mention we are addicted to our white noise machine and we run it on full blast). I'll do that crazy mommy wake up thing where your heart starts racing and you stop breathing for a minute so you can really "hear" if something is going on. I promise you that half of the time I do this, it is nothing. The other half of the time, I am sending up little prayers like "Dear Lord, please don't let my child wake up. Please allow him to soothe himself and settle back down!" Then, regardless of if I have to get up or not, it takes me 30 minutes to fall back asleep. This never happens to Stephen. Why is that? Anyway, so even though my baby might be sleeping through the night, I'm not. I remember this happening when Henderson was little bitty as well. SO I guess it gets better? Until they are teenagers?... I know I am going to be just like my Dad who never could fall asleep until we got home.

So now really, does this happen to anyone else?

Growing and growing...

Wow, this boy is growing too fast! He will be 4 months old in a couple of weeks and I can't believe it! He is still sleeping like a champ (usually about 7:15 pm - 7 am). We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives. Pure joy!

He is starting to laugh which is so much fun. He also loves to squeal and he is pretty darn loud.

He loves to watch Henderson (but I think this might be because he is scared he might do something to him:-).

2 Year Old Check-Up

Henderson had his two year old check-up today. I was so nervous about it before hand and worried that he would be screaming the whole time. I came very prepared with a small arsenal of items to distract him, but really I didn't even need them. Henderson was awesome!

I luckily did not have to take David with me and Stephen dropped him off at Honey's on his way to work. The appointment was during David's morning nap so I was so glad that Honey could keep him at her house!! Henderson had to get one shot (we were supposed to get it at his 18 month check, but he was sick then so they decided to wait until this appointment). I had a lollipop ready. He cried for about one second and then wanted to eat the candy so that was a good distraction. He then wowed the doctor with all of his skills:-) He was telling her about how he knew all of his letters, colors, and could count to 10. He told her what his name was and how old he was. He also mentioned something about wanting to "go home in mama's car!" hehe.

Anyway, all in all it was a good trip to the doctor and we don't have to go back for another well check until he is three!

stats:

weight 28 lbs (I think she said 55 percentile)

height 34.5 inches (50th percentile)

We discussed how the new regulations say a child should be rear facing until they are TWO (as I am sure many of you have heard). HHL has been forward facing since he was one and we couldn't have gone a minute longer. I am DREADING trying to keep David rear facing until two. He already hates his baby carrier and wants to be able to sit up more (just like his brother was). I have a feeling he is going to feel the same way about rear facing (especially while his big bro is forward facing!!)

Big Deal!

So this is kinda a big deal here at the Lincoln house... Henderson asked me to hold David. He kept saying to me "Mama, Baby hold you!" Henderson says "hold you" to me when he wants me to hold him, so I first thought that he wanted me to hold David. When I picked David up, Henderson kept getting mad and saying "Baby, Hold you!" So I asked Henderson if he wanted to hold the Baby and he says "Yes, ok!"

I think maybe he has asked to hold David one other time, but it was only for a second. This time, he loved it. At one point, I tried to pick David up because I thought Henderson was getting tired and he said "No Mama, Baby sit!" I even had time to grab the camera! I took a ton of pictures but you get the idea from these...

And my ultimate fav... He's really being a big brother here...

David says "ok, Mom time to wrap this up!" Needless to say this was the point where I had to pick David up. Henderson was still mad and wanted baby to sit some more, but David had had enough!

Best TWO years EVER!

Some times the days feel long, but the years are so short! I simply can't believe that I am the mother of a two year old. There is not a single day that I don't thank God for giving me Henderson. He is such a precious gift. I thank God for allowing me to know the love a parent can have for a child. It is a feeling unlike any other and my heart just wants to burst when I look at my boys!

We had such a great weekend and I am going to start by saying that these two kids had a very large part in making Henderson's birthday such a great one...

The whole time they were here, Henderson was in absolute heaven. Stephen and I talked about how we think he might have had more fun this past weekend than he ever has in all of his two years. Henderson boo-hooed when they left on Sunday (and I'll have to admit that I did too!)

My mom, Jenna, Jack and Mary Beth got here on Thursday. Friday was Henderson's actual birthday and that is when my dad and Carter arrived too. We certainly missed Frank, but totally understand that he couldn't make it.

Saturday, we had a family cook out and did a little swimming over at Honey and Grandpa's house. Poor Aunt Julee was sick with strep throat (hope you're feeling better Juju!) Since two of Henderson's favorite things are buses and Elmo, I combined the two to have a Elmo/bus theme going on.

Please check out the adorable bus shirt that Aunt Katrina made for Henderson. He absolutely LOVES it and talks about it nonstop. (He also got a train table from my parents which has provided many hours of entertainment. I can already picture him trying to keep David away from it.) He also got a shopping cart from Honey and Grandpa. It is so stinking cute. Honey had it all fixed up with all sorts of things in the basket. She even had a six pack of juice boxes on the bottom. He will NOT let me move the juice boxes to the fridge. They must stay on the cart. So funny! My dad took a lot of pictures and I told him to make them "public" on his Picasa. So if you want to see any of the pics then click on the link on the sidebar. Please ignore any pictures of Mommy... post swimming with wet hair.

I had to throw in a picture from the birth. Look at that angel!

Henderson is such an amazing little boy and we have LOVED every minute of watching him grow. We can't wait to see what the coming year will bring. Now watch us try and make it through the "terrible twos".... stay tuned!

Congratulations!

My friend Sarah had her sweet little girl this morning!

Evelyn Margaret Soshnik was born at 7:48 am weighing 7 lbs 3 oz!

Congratulations to Sarah, Brad, and big sister Julia!

High Ho, High Ho

I went back to work yesterday. It is safe to say that I made it through the whole day with no tears. I actually was able to go and pick up Henderson from daycare at lunch time and bring him back home to stay with Honey. I haven't been able to pick him up from there in such a long time. It is sad to say I didn't even know what his teacher looked like!!! Anyway, when I got there he was just sitting around a table eating lunch with all the other little kids. He looked like such a big boy (and I almost cried then). He actually gets to start and First Methodist in the fall in their two year old class. Our church (Park Avenue Methodist) only has a 2 and a half year old class which Henderson just missed the cut off for. He will be going there 3 days a week (T, W, TH) from 8:30-12. It will be nice because we will actually know some of the other kids in his class (like his pal Julia!!)
Anyway, back to the work thing... the day went by pretty fast and it was great to see my kids again. I had 4 new ones too! My last child of the day didn't want to leave and ended up running back to my therapy room and locking himself in. I will have to say that was a first for me!
I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or completely annoyed (since I was ready to get home to my boys!)

I just have to say a quick THANK YOU to my sweet, angel of a mother-in-law, Kathy. I know I could NEVER show or express to her how grateful I am that she is willing to keep my babies for me while I am at work. It is so comforting to know that my little guy gets to stay with her all day and she is wonderful about keeping everyone on a schedule. I know it has got to wear her out having both boys with her in the afternoon, but she always reports that they had a great time!
We love you so much Honey!!! I'll bet everyone wishes they had a mother-in-law as wonderful as mine, but this one is taken and you can't have her:-)