20 Months and 25 Weeks

Lincoln is 20 months old! If I had one word to describe Lincoln, it would be "opinionated." He has an opinion about everything!!!!! Seriously, he has an opinion about which socks to wear, who sits next to him in the chair, which lid goes with which cup, and on and on. If I had one more word to describe him, it would be "bossy." He is too bossy these days!!!!! He loves to tell people no-no, move and get up. He loves to tell who's turn it is to throw the ball or which song to sing. He loves to boss, period! If I had one just more word to describe him, it would be "perfect." He's just the best, smartest, cutest, most perfect kid around. Of course, I'm his Mom so I'm allowed to say such things! Here are the details about Lincoln at 20 months.

Weight - 24 1/2 pounds - we'll never get past 24 pounds!!! He goes on eating sprees then boycotts food for a few days. He's become pretty picky, and I hear Kevin and I were both like that at his age. I can usually count on ham (if I buy the right brand at the deli), rotisserie chicken, peas, mashed potatoes, and graham crackers. New likes this month: homemade waffles (#1 Mom!!!) and apples

Height - 33 inches - He's getting taller bit by bit. I think his height goes with his weight, and he looks pretty proportionate.

New Words - There are a million! He repeats EVERYTHING we say and sometimes uses the words correctly later. I describe everything, and he really soaks it all up. My favorites right now are stuck, momma cooking, and help Lincoln.

Smart Stuff - He can identify the colors red, yellow, blue and green. He can count to four. He can get to D in the alphabet. He can describe the ornaments on his tree (Elmo snowboard, Big Bird presents, etc). He helps out with the words to Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat, Hokey Pokey, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, the alphabet, Jingle Bells, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, C is for Cookie, People in Your Neighborhood, Five Little Ducks, and so many more. We sing A LOT!!! He comes home from school singing and doing all kinds of hand motions and dances, and I often ask his teacher for translations. Surprisingly, he's usually pretty close!

Lately Lincoln has decided he's a pretty funny kid and is always doing silly things. He loves to make us laugh. He likes to hide then come out and yell while you're "looking" for him. Thanks to Bubbles, the shelves are bolted to the wall. No tumbling over!

The nut crackers have been renamed nut cookies by Lincoln. He really likes to talk with them and check out all of their decorations.
I guess he thought Daddy's magazine was boring and it would be more fun on his head! Seriously, it never ends!!! Thanks for keeping us entertained, Linc.

I will be 25 weeks into this pregnancy in a day or two, and all is going well. My latest doctors appointment was uneventful. All they do right now is measure, which I could totally do at home. It would save us all an hour! The little one is doing lots of kicking right now, and I'm glad for that. We talk about the baby to Lincoln all the time, though I'm sure he has no idea what's going on. We're down to just a couple of names and hope to decide soon. If I could get over the fact that I'm allergic to being pregnant this time, I'd be enjoying this one a lot more. Every couple of weeks I get a serious round of allergies, but that's really my only complaint. I can't wait to meet the little guy and see if he's anything like his brother. I'm not sure what I'll do with two opinionated, bossy, yet perfect little boys . . . but we'll soon find out!

Sunday Girlfriends

Lincoln has been loving all the girlfriend time lately! He gets to play on the playground at church each Sunday after the service . . . he starts asking to "play" right when we get there, and can't wait to meet up with his ladies! Elise, Alexis and Emily are really fun to play with. Well, Emily is really too little to play, but he loves the big girls. He chases them all over, but usually takes a break to climb a bit. He's quite the climber! (Luckily he hasn't followed them to the sandbox yet!!!)

Happy Thanksgiving

This is Lincoln saying "Cold"!!! Wednesday it was 80 degrees - Thursday it was 38 degrees.

There are so many things to be thankful for . . . our health, safety, families, friends and many more blessings. I'd also like to mention how thankful I am for a few not so obvious things.

Frozen Sweet Potato Fries - I've mentioned often that Linc loves these, and I'm so thankful that they come already cut and flash cooked. All I have to do is bake them for 15 minutes! So much better than cutting a real sweet potato and baking for an hour!

Sesame Street - Elmo and the gang provide lots of entertainment, education and elation. Linc loves each character and tells us their color and what their sayings are. Some of them have nicknames, his favorites change by the day, and they've helped him learn his colors, sounds, body parts.

The Magic Bullet Blender - I don't use this one as much as I used to, but nothing beats a super fast healthy smoothie. A banana, a cup of Yoplait peach yogurt and a splash of OJ is a quick fix. Kevin thinks I should add ice cream each morning . . . I think that goes against the healthy part!

Allen Wrench - We put together the entire Ikea playroom with just one Allen wrench . . . seriously, what a tool!

Old Navy's Thanksgiving Day Sale - Yep, we went to the mall on Thanksgiving Day. We had been cooped up and busy all morning, so we headed to the Galleria after Linc's nap to hit up Old Navy. I couldn't believe they were open on Thanksgiving Day. We left with three big bags full and a little lighter wallets.

Palmer's Stretch Mark Cream - This stuff worked it's magic when I was pregnant with Lincoln . . . I'm hoping it still works miracles.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope your day was full of good food, rest, and fun with family. We had an abundance of all this year.

Such a Smartie!!

Breakout the IQ test . . . we've got a genius on our hands! Lincoln loves to count and can go up to four. The best part about getting to four is that you get to throw the ball. I'm not sure why four is the magic number, but whatever! Enjoy!

A Real Playroom . . . Finally!

Our house came with this awesome playroom, but we've never fully utilized it. Our cats were living in it for a while, but they've since found happier homes. Lincoln's toys were all piled in it for a while, but the clutter was driving me nuts. Ikea to the rescue!!!!! We made a family trip to Ikea on Sunday afternoon and hit the jackpot. I'm sorry (or maybe glad) that I don't have real "before" pics, but I'm sure it's been noticeably messy in the background of many pictures.

Kevin worked hard getting everything set up - and only bled once! The good thing about Ikea is that they have cool, inexpensive stuff. The bad thing about Idea is that you have to put everything together. I had thought this looked like a Thanksgiving project for Bubbles, but Kevin stepped up and shared my enthusiasm. I did the chairs and occupied Linc, and he did the rest! Lincoln needed to help a little! He totally knew what to do with the screwdriver. Perhaps he'll be more handy than his Mom and Dad.

View #1 - All the storage a kid could need! I have most of the bins filled with books, legos, trucks, and the like. Cute stuff!

View #2 - A full toy box of bigger stuff and a perfectly sized table. I'm sure he'll be scribbling all over it soon . . . looks clean now, though!!!

I'm so proud of Linc's new and improved playroom. It finally looks real! There's much more room to actually play, and the clean up seems easy. At this point, he really enjoys putting things away. I hope that habit continues!

Dallas World Aquarium Outing

We all found ourselves at home on Friday with not much to do, so we headed downtown to the Dallas World Aquarium. Turns out it was Field Trip Friday for all suburban Dallas second grade classes, so we had lots of company at the Aquarium. Lincoln was amazed at all the kids! The Aquarium itself was pretty cool, too. We were surrounded by sharks at one point . . . yikes!

On the lower floor, the sharks were swimming above our heads in a see through tank! Linc stared up at them curiously. "Look, Mom!"
There were exhibits for different parts of the world, and we saw really cool fish! This one kept giving us a grumpy glare.

Believe it or not, this is a fish. It has adapted to look like the plants in the water to avoid being eaten! It was really cool.

Of course, we loved the turtles. I still haven't figured out what to tell Lincoln that a turtle says. I've been thinking on this one since our trip to the zoo, but I haven't come up with anything. I guess their not big on talking.

More turtles along with a few fish.

The second graders we were hanging with loved this iguana. Kind of creepy if you ask me!
Lincoln was so good to stay in his stroller, and most of the animals could be seen and examined from his vantage point. He did wave up at the owls though.

Surprisingly, there were more than just fish and water animals. There were lots of other animals like birds, flamingos, and even a tiger.

We had a great time at the Aquarium and decided to stroll through the West End for a bit afterwards. It was lunchtime, so we picked Hoffbrau. Lincoln was getting kind of antsy, so I pulled up a Cookie Monster video on my phone. Whew - Sesame Street to the rescue!

I would definitely recommend the Dallas World Aquarium as a family outing. It was a bit pricey, but we enjoyed ourselves. The million other kids didn't get in our way, and they kept Lincoln entertained. All in all, it was a fun Friday!

Thanksgiving Feast at School

Lincoln's school invited all the families for a Thanksgiving Feast at lunch . . . and they really did have a feast of turkey and ham, sweet potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole and rolls. Linc and his buddy James enjoyed a bit of lunch. (Note: This picture is a bit misleading because it looks like Lincoln is eating! He only liked the roll and sweet potatoes, but James demolished his whole plate! The kids who had Moms visiting didn't eat at all, I guess because they were so excited!) Don't worry, we stopped at McDonalds on the way home. Can't let the little guy go hungry!

Lincoln's other bestie is Liam, and we're sad to say he's moving to Chicago in a couple of weeks. We'll miss him so much! They've been together since they were in the baby room. Excuse the food on their mouths . . . we hadn't made it to clean up yet!Cooper is one of Lincoln's newer friends, and he's lots of fun to play with. Linc has to keep him in line though. Ms. Jennifer told me about Lincoln directing Cooper away from trouble like digging in other people's backpacks. Linc repeated "no no Cooper" until they moved on to a new idea. After lunch, they had fun playing peekaboo with Cooper's nap roll.

We are very thankful that Lincoln loves his school and his teachers. Every morning he runs to the door yelling "school, school" with so much excitement. Every afternoon he tells me all of his friends names and laughs. I put together the teacher's Thanksgiving gifts with love and know they love Lincoln too.

Getting the Giggles

Someone was having LOTS of fun playing baseball tonight . . . well, we didn't really play a lot of baseball because we were being too silly. I just love when Linc gets the giggles. He thought this game was hilarious, and I would have played all night. I hope Baby Boy is hearing all of this fun, and I hope he's ready to play soon. This laugh will make your day!

Leaves

We spent some time outdoors enjoying the nice cool weather and the crunchy leaves. We LOVE leaves!!!! I'm sure if we raked a big pile, Linc would enjoy diving right in, but the allergy sufferer in me can't allow that! I sure hope he doesn't develop any allergies because the leaves are too fun. We love throwing them . . .

carrying them around . . .
and of course crunching them!

We're glad fall is finally here!

Arkansas Trip

Lincoln and I made a trip to Arkansas earlier this week, and we had a blast! It's been a while since our last visit because Mimi, Bubbles and Ally always come to our house. We decided to take our fun on the road . . . and in the air . . . here we are waiting on the plane. Linc had a touch of the stomach virus a few days before we left and hadn't had much of an appetite. I guess the anticipation of traveling made him hungry - he ate an entire large order of fries from McDonald's waiting on the plane! He's a pretty calm flier, thankfully. A few books and Elmo make the 45 minute flight fly by . . . oh and a few Reeces pieces help too. (It sure sounds like I provide a healthy diet for him, right? Hey, whatever gets us there!)

While we were in Newport, we did lots of playing. Bubbles had a cool ladder in the back of his truck, and Linc loved to climb across it.
There were lots of leaves and sticks in the yard to play with. Lincoln always wants to go outside, and he stands by the door saying "outside, outside".

Hmmm . . . another ladder to climb! Doesn't he look like he's standing on top of a mountain after discovering a new land or something?!?! Too funny!

Other than ladders and outside, we also visited Auntie, Patsy, Poppa and Memama, church, school, Ally's dorm, and lots of friends. There was not enough time to see everyone, but there never is! Linc had so much fun and behaved really well. Bubbles and Mimi report that it's pretty quiet around there without Bossy Lincoln telling everyone what to do. (And what not to do . . . he loves to say "no no, Bubbles" or "no no, Mommy") Mommy was a bit under the weather with more pregnancy allergies. I swear I'm allergic to being pregnant! We had a pleasant flight back and were glad to be home. Daddy was glad to have us back, though he must have enjoyed lots of pizza, no Elmo, and complete control of the tv for four days.

Ball Practice

Lincoln's first shoot-around was tonight in the play room. He, Kevin and Eric took turns shooting and dribbling the basketballs. Linc thinks he can dribble, but he's just not there yet. He does love the concept, though! They all took turns nicely . . . Lincoln would call out who's turn it was to shoot, and he rotated pretty well. Sometimes he would forget to call on himself because he was having such a good time watching the big boys.

Post-Halloween and 21 weeks

We've been working on a Halloween Hangover this week! The big night was so fun, and it's taken us all a few days to recover! Linc has been lucky enough to snag a mini Hershey bar for dessert a few nights, and Daddy has been happily riffling through Linc's candy bag (but only when Lincoln is not looking). I developed a severe cold/allergy/overload of congestion on Tuesday but am finally getting some air now. The Neti Pot and I haven't been getting along lately, and I'm just about finished pouring water up my nose only to have it stay there! Come on congestion . . . move! Just another lovely benefit of pregnancy I guess. While I was busy not breathing, Lincoln came down with a single-occasion vomit. He was kind enough to get sick while snugly strapped in his car seat, and I'm still trying to get the smell out. I had just purchased a cover, so that washed easily. I used carpet cleaner on the regular cover and Cloroxed the other parts, but this morning I was informed that it still reeked! (I can't smell because of the aforementioned congestion. Finally there's an upside!) This afternoon I took apart the entire car seat and washed every inch of it. If anyone is interested in a puzzle, there's a car seat in about a dozen pieces at our house . . . come on over! Luckily, Lincoln hasn't been sick anymore, and he was just sweet and a little cuddly today.

My latest appointment with Dr. M revealed some big news . . . we're having a BOY! (There's plenty of photographic evidence, but the vomit didn't allow me to get to the scanner today. Take my word for it!) The baby looked great during the ultrasound, all the organs are working properly, and he even waved at us! So cute! I'm so glad Lincoln will have a little brother, and I'm so glad I never threw away a single thing of Lincoln's! We have a closet full of boy clothes, toys, equipment, etc.

Just a note: Lincoln is obsessed with balloons! I brought one home from work, and he was in heaven. He tried to hold it during dinner and a diaper change. He let it loose once and screamed so loud I thought he must be hurt. Nope, just needed the balloon from the ceiling. Enjoy the cute pic from last week's balloon.