Christmas Pictures

We went and got Lincoln's pictures taken at a new studio. It was fun, crazy crowded due to the holidays but fun. I don't know if we'll go there again just because they are very good at up-selling you and we ended up spending more then we wanted, but the pictures turned out great! 

Look closely it took him less then 10seconds to find the one dog in the picture and point to it. I was amazed because this was a book by Jan Brett and her books are so full of life in the illustrations. 

"Are we done yet?"

He was super upset once he realized the cookies weren't real. 

There you have our little photo session. 

Field Trip to the Fire House

Today we took a trip to the Notre Dame Fire Station.  With the weather getting colder we've had to come up with new ideas of places to play. I arranged for a bunch of us moms to take our kids to see the fire trucks. The fire fighters loved having the kids come visit and the kids loved every minute of the fire trucks.

Here is a portion of our group in their fire hats provided by the department. 

I was amazed at how much Linc loved it. He was saying "Truck" the whole time and wanted to climb in with the big kids. 

I'm so glad I have such a strong group of friends who keep us busy even when the weather is cold. 

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving. I am so grateful this year for my 3 boys. Ryan works so hard for our little family and I'm continually amazed at the depth of his brain. Linc is growing more curious everyday. He loves to bring me books and sit on my lap so I'll read to him. He also loves to explore and play with the big kids. Baby Brother is doing great, growing and keeping Mom slightly sick ;).

This year for the break we took our first day off and went into Chicago to go to the Shedd Aquarium. It is rated one of the top 5 aquariums in the nation. We paid more then we did last time to do more activities and it was worth every penny. They had dolphins, sharks, beluga whales, penguins, sting rays and tons of fish.  Lincoln was in heaven. In the basement you can do underwater viewing of the dolphins and other animals. There is also a massive penguin play place, where kids can dress up like penguins and climb and slide all over. Linc was a little too small to really get into the fun...maybe more for Mom's comfort then Linc's ability. He still dressed up and climbed around. This kid is full of adventure. If I wouldn't have stopped him he would have kept climbing and sliding until his head busted open. No fear.

Here is my little penguin. I promise he was happy, not happy to stop and take a picture though.

 They had this water table near the otters and Linc was soaked by the time we dragged him away. It was full of fake creatures so the kids could play as rough as they wanted.

 This is the basic view of our trip. Linc had his face plastered to each case he could reach. It was so fun to watch him walk in wonder from tank to tank. He would bend his knees and point his hands and make sure his parents were seeing the amazing things he was.

This shark tank was huge. We saw the exclusive Saw Fish, which is the longest fish in the aquarium. 

This isn't my picture but I wanted to show you how weird the Saw Fish looked. 

The aquarium had a water show. They did the new Christmas show for us and it was amazing. They had the Beluga whales and the dolphins doing all sorts of tricks. We sat on the front row and when they brought the sea lion out it was right in front of us. Linc loved the show and was completely enthralled. His favorite part was when they brought out their rescued dog. They showed how anyone can train any animal positively. AKA go adopt from the shelter. It made me laugh how excited that dog got him. Forget whales and dolphins this boy LOVES dogs.  

The aquarium was right on the lake. The stage of the water show looked like it was connected straight to Lake Michigan. So beautiful. We'll be going back very soon. 

Thanksgiving started off with Ryan at the ward's turkey bowl while Linc and I stayed warm inside watching the Macy's Parade. Linc loved all the balloons.

For Thanksgiving dinner we went to the grad student dinner at the North Dining Hall. It was $5 a person and delicious. We've decided thats the way to do Thanksgiving. Forget stressing over all the courses and cleaning up afterwards. Let someone else do it for you :) It was super fun and they decorated it so it truly felt like a big family dinner. Thanksgiving for $10 I'd say that was a hit to be repeated. 

 After a wonderful dinner we got home for naps and then I went out shopping with my girl friends. It was snowing all day and waiting in line for the deals was frigid. 

I felt slightly bad for shopping on Thanksgiving but since we don't have family to go visit I thought it was worth it. We are now completely ready for Christmas and at half the prices. 

It was so cold!!!! 

Happy Thanksgiving from Notre Dame. 

3D ultrasound

On Friday we had another ultrasound at a college in Michigan. This time they gave us a 3D ultrasound as incentive for coming in. The 3D didn't go as well as we would've wished since little Brother was facing my spine so we only got his ear but the images are cute still.

We also got a perfect profile picture. It is so perfect. 

little man's profile. How cute is that nose and those lips?

Here is a 3D ultrasound picture. You can see his had up by his face and his toes down by his elbow. 

there is his little ear and the placenta

this one is interesting but hard to see. Its a picture of his spine and ribs. It amazes me the science they have these days.

Another one of little man's ear and the back of his head.

I'm kind of thinking that when we're in Utah I might go pay for a 3D ultrasound so I can go with my family. I feel like living so far from family is hard for me to feel like they will have a connection with baby brother. Since he will be born and then we'll only visit once a year. I don't know. 

Anyway I wish we could've stayed longer and seen if baby brother would move so we could see his face but that profile picture makes it all worth it. 

Baby 2 update

Baby 2 is doing great. We had our 23week appointment yesterday. I feel him moving a ton now. Ryan has felt his kicks as well. Every night I lay in my bed and just feel him dancing. Its crazy how strong he's getting.

We had the anatomy ultrasound at 19 weeks and our baby BOY is perfect. They checked my cervix closely looking for anything that might be in the way. (Linc's umbilical chord grew across my cervix and caused us major issues) They also checked his heart and it has 4 perfect chambers. We'll be doing another heart scan Dec. 18th to double check that everything is looking good.

We are still planning on following Doctor's orders and having a C-section at 37 weeks. At yesterday's appointment Dr. said he would go ahead and schedule a day and let us know. So we might know baby's birthday later this week. I'm still nervous about a C-section but after talking with my dr. I'm also a little excited. He is a big supporter of skin to skin so after they weigh and measure baby they will place him on my chest for skin to skin while they finish sewing me up. The reason we've decided to do another C-section this time is to get a closer look at my previous scar. Dr. said he would take his time and look at it closely so he could advise us on future VBAC possibilities. He knows I want to avoid C-sections in the future so I think he'll let me know his honest opinion on the chances I have.

I think we have a name picked out but we don't want to share it at the moment. It seems a little premature. Lincoln loves to give my tummy kisses. If I'm ever laying on the couch Linc will stop what he's doing (usually playing with his cars or reading his books), run over to me, lift my shirt and give my belly big fat drool-ly kisses.

Tomorrow we get to go to a nearby college in Michigan and get a 3D ultrasound. I did a free ultrasound there last week. Its free because they are done by students who are in need of practice. The school was so excited because my baby was only 20 weeks most babies they get are around 30 so they wanted me to come back again and threw in a 3D ultrasound as incentive. Ryan got time off work to come with me. I am so excited to see my baby again. It gives me such reassurance to see his heart over and over again. I'm pretty sure the students got the strangest request from me. They were trying to get me a picture of his profile as a souvenir and I told them I'd rather have a picture of a 4chamber heart. They got me both.

We'll see how he looks in 3D tomorrow.

His 4 chamber heart.

No doubt about this little boy. 

I was so shocked it was another boy. I didn't have a preference of boy or girl but I knew it was a girl. With Linc I knew it was a boy so I thought I'd be right. Nope. Ryan won this one.

He's little face. Oh so cute

look at that hand, so perfect.

It's a....

Linc @ 15 months

Says:(in his own way)
-Ball
-Dog
-Bottle
-Mommy
-Daddy

Can find:
-belly button
-ear
-hair
-tongue
-baby in Mommy's tummy
-nose (50% of the time)

Can:
-do 'touchdown'
-put a phone and remote to his ear
-ride a push cart
-put on sunglasses
-color with crayons and pencils
-beep Daddy's nose
-play sleeping baby
-play peek-a-boo
-play cars on the floor
-say prayers
-clap hands
-dance
-eat a full sandwich by himself
-reads books (in fact he will bring us books he wants us to read him as well)
-ride 6 hours in a car without complaining
-walk across a room

Lincoln loves Clayson (our neighbor) he will do whatever Clayson does, much to the annoyance of Clayson. 

I let the boys color on this box. Clayson lasted about 10 seconds, Linc colored for days. He even colored the walls once or twice. Oops.

My Notre Dame boys

he loves to beep Ryan's nose

He is blonde, blonde, blonde. I don't know where he gets it and I truly expect it to darker up as he gets older. 

He is a tough sleeper. He only sleeps in his bed or the carseat. He fell asleep on me a couple nights ago. I truly held him for a good hour or so since it NEVER happens. 

Linc now weighs a full 20 lbs. and that puts him in the 15th percentile. He's never been over 5% since we brought him home. He's a growing boy. We finally moved him into 12 month clothing. Even though a lot of his 9 month tops still fit him perfectly.

Happy Halloween

This year I really went all out for Halloween. I decorated my door to look like a mummy. A couple of the neighbor kids were nervous to trick or treat at my door. Oops, next year I'll make it more even more adorable. 

I had so much fun coming up with our costumes this year. I made mine and Linc's, we bought Ryan's because you can always reuse a pirate costume right? I love the fact that Ryan gets into dressing up just as much as I do. 

At the ward party.

Ryan is so proud of his pumpkin. He wanted a design where he'd have to pull out his drill.

The neighborhood party was FREEZING! It snowed during trick-or-treating (thank goodness Linc is still too small to go) and then it just got windy and cold. They set up a heated tent in the courtyard and everyone just hung out there with the live music, hot pizza and about 100 kids running around. Linc loved this scarecrow and dancing to the bluegrass music.

The day after Halloween was the ward party. It was also held indoors since it was cold. Linc was a hit with the slightly older kids. This is Naomi, our neighbor. She has really taken to Linc. I loved the fact that they both put their heads together when I was taking their pictures.

This is Hank and Bo. Hank loves Lincoln. He always goes out of  his way to bring him toys and make him smile when we're on the playground. Bo loves Hank, and just does whatever Hank does.

I remember at Primary Children's the nurse commenting on how Linc was a social baby. His heart rate would increase whenever he had a face to look at. In fact one time when his chest was still open from surgery I was asked to leave the room since his heart rate increased so dramatically when I was near. As he is getting older I'm realizing more and more what a social kid he is. We go to playgrounds and play places and he doesn't want anything to do with the toys unless the other kids are playing on them as well. One time I lost sight of him and discovered he had crawled up the tunnel slide since all the big kids were doing it as well.  

I can't wait to see how his social skills develop as he gets older.