Happiest Place on Earth

Yesterday was Lincoln's first trip to Disneyland! He was having so much fun, he just wouldn't stop screaming from excitement. Fortunately for us, a friend that works there was able to get us into both parks for free, rather than pay the $100 each person! (Thanks Connie!) We definitely needed a little vacation away from our busy lives. I really enjoyed spending time with my two favorite boys.

Here are some fun pictures we took:



Mommy and Lincoln getting splashed by the big fountain



Having a blast watching the fountain water burst



on top of the world!

 

High five random hand!

 


"The Circle of Life"



My happy little pirate baby

  


Lincoln didn't seem to like the first ride very much. He made such a serious face and tensed up.



but he did enjoy the caterpillar ride, he was so curious to see everything.



My cutie babbling away!



okay, he wasn't very into the Ants ride either

Your trip to Disneyland isn't complete until you've got a pair of Mickey Mouse ears!



Lincoln's rocking the '2011' party ears



I've got my 'Minnie' ears



Even [baby girl] got to wear 'princess' ears



As for Chris... well he just promised to grow his hair like this!

She's Almost Here!

OFFICIALLY IN THE 3RD TRIMESTER!

I can not believe I am already in the third trimester! It really has gone by so fast for me. (but I guess that's expected when I already have a baby to keep me busy!) I can't complain much about the first two trimesters. I just had a few bad headaches in the beginning and a couple vomiting experiences, but I definitely noticed once I entered my third trimester. All of a sudden I was extremely tired, and dizzy, and always out of breath. Now that Lincoln is crawling around and getting into EVERYTHING it makes things much harder. It's crazy to think soon I'm going to have two babies around!

Besides some anxiety, I'm mostly really excited to have another. I remember after giving birth to Lincoln I said I never wanted to go through that again and I swore I would never forget how painful it was... Well I guess I did forget. It might sound odd, but I'm actually looking forward to giving birth again. I just remember it being a beautiful experience meeting my baby for the first time, and I know what to expect so I feel more prepared, like I'll get the job done faster! ha ha! I'm also excited to have a newborn again, which I wasn't expecting to look forward to considering I just had a newborn a few months ago! Interesting how things work out that way. I really think that's Heavenly Father's way of preparing me. I'm excited for Lincoln to have a little playmate - I can already imagine them together. And of course, I'm really excited about having a GIRL! 

I'm trying to enjoy ever single second I have with my little Lincoln. They're only babies for such a short amount of time. It's amazing how fast they grow up.

Let's compare belly shots...

almost 7 months with [baby girl]

 6.5 months pregnant with Lincoln

Well one things the same... I still like my floral tops!

THE NAME GAME...

I am having such a hard time finding a name for her!! I always had names picked out for my kids when I was younger (like I'm sure most girls do), but now that it's for real I can't come up with anything. In middle school we read and watched a book called The Outsiders and I loved it so much.

 Especially Soda Pop, one of the characters I had a crush on. So... I was going to name my son Soda Pop and my daughter Lolly Pop! And then I thought it would be awesome to have triplet girls and name them Lolly, Lilly, and Laily! HA HA HA! I guess it's a good thing I'm not having triplets!

Another name I liked for a while was Victoria... I always wanted my girls to have a very feminine and strong name... but I'm not feeling it so much any more. Now with having Lincoln, we could easily stick with a presidential theme for the rest of our kids. I just don't want to be limited and I don't want any cheesy themes, plus Lincoln was such a great president that I'd hate to name another child after a so-so one. I'm not really a fan of miss spelled names or something completely made up either. I can't believe I'm having such a hard time finding a name!

ANY IDEAS???

We do however, have ONE name in mind and I doubt it's anything you would guess... but I don't think I'm ready to share it yet, I'm just not ready to hear people's opinion on it. Once I'm in love with it then I'll share it with all of you!

My 1st Mother's Day

This year was my first official Mother's Day! Chris was so sweet and  brought me breakfast in bed with a lovely card [tears] and a gift for a day at the spa - my favorite! It was such a great day. After church we went over to my grandma's house to see my aunts and uncles and cousins. I always enjoy getting together with them - I couldn't ask for a better family! After dinner with them we went over to visit with Chris' family where we always have a fun time! We're so blessed to have both families so close to us.

This day made me really want to be the best mom I could possibly be. Some times I get so over whelmed with all the responsibilities of being a mom that I forget to enjoy all the blessings that come with it. I know I have a lot of growing to do spiritually and emotionally and as a wife and mother. I need to make time for myself (just 20 minutes a day) to ponder and work towards being a better person. My next step is to set some goals for myself to work towards.

It really is an amazing gift being a mom. I have such a wonderful mother to look up to, I hope to one day be like her. She is the kindest, sweetest, most caring person I know! She's always thinking of others and how she can help them. I've never heard her gossip or talk badly about anyone. She is always so happy and positive, even when times are hard for her, and she's always so fun and energetic! I don't know how she does it!  If I could just be half the person she is, I'd be the a great person too! I swear she has to have a free ticket to heaven! I love my mommy so much!

"Cage"

Every morning I put Lincoln in his "cage" with some toys while I shower and get ready... or sleep in a little more. He screams every time I put him in, but then he finds something to entertain him for a moment. This is the second time I caught him "reading" his book. It's the cutest thing. He lays on his stomach with his ankles crossed and stares at his book so intensely.

Then once he notices I'm around and watching....

"Mommy! Get me out of here!"

...he whines for me to take him out.

 Since I was just laughing...

"Ahhhhh!"

...he started being silly and yelling at me.

So I finally put him in our bed to take his morning nap.

 ...and now he's a happy little guy ready to get into more trouble!

The Easter Bunny Came!

This is Lincoln's first Easter! Chris and I picked our favorite candies to put in "his" basket then ate it. Ha ha!

Well here is my little guy all dressed up after church with his cousins Olivia and Zackery.

(Oh and I made his cute little tie... I'm pretty proud of it!)

Here are some more of our Easter pictures!

Poor Little Guy Can't Catch a Break

     Lincoln had been having a cough for a while and I finally decided to take him in to see the doctor. I expected the usual "oh it's just going around... it'll pass." Good thing I took him in... His oxygen level was really low and right when the doctor came in the room he had him use a nebulizer in hopes of opening him airway. Turns out he had bronchitis. They gave me a nebulizer to take home and use on him about every 4 hours. When he would play and crawl around I could hear how hard he was wheezing. It was pretty scary. On top of that, he had an ear infection and had to take an antibiotic twice a day. If that wasn't enough, the very next day he fell off our bed, almost 4 feet high! Fortunately all he had was a scratch on the side of his face. (You can see the little red mark in the next picture, it's by his eye and eyebrow.)

     Saturday night around 11 o'clock I noticed his breathing was very shallow. He was coughing, wheezing, and heaving and not inhaling very much so Chris and I decided to take him to the doctors. Since it was a week end night, the only thing open was the ER. Luckily they saw us right away.  

     Here we are in the ER using his nebulizer which is just a machine that vaporizes medicine in order to open up his airway. He did pretty well with the nebulizer as long as he got to play with it. It soon turned into Sunday morning. My mom knew he wasn't doing well the night before, and so she met us there at 1 in the morning with food for us. She's the greatest support!

     The doctors wanted to take chest x-rays of him to make sure everything was okay. We sang to him the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' while he was getting his x-rays and he did a great job of staying still. We waited another hour or so for the results and they told us that there is an abnormality in his x-rays! Of course that worried us right away, but we were not expecting the dreadful news we were about to get.

      They showed us his x-rays and told us that it looks like he has an enlarged heart.

     That was the last thing on our mind, that something could be wrong with his heart! So many things were going through my mind and I was just trying to hold back tears. They did some other tests on him for his heart but everything else came back perfectly fine. 

     They made an appointment for us to go in the following day (Monday) and from there we would see a specialist. It felt like the longest wait of our lives.

The doctor was explaining things to Chris and I and he said that he and the radiologist looked over his x-rays and everything seems to be fine. Apparently it was just his "thymus shadow" that was making it appear like his heart was bigger than it actually was. He said that in babies the thymus is pretty big but when they're sick it swells and gets bigger. As you get older the thymus shrinks down and becomes an organ that hides behind your heart. Phew! So it was just a BIG scare! We're going to take x-rays again at his 9 month visit when his cough is completely gone just to make sure everything really is okay. 

      The VERY next week Lincoln broke out in hives. It looked like a bunch of bug bites all over his body, but it progressively got worse. Turns out it was an allergic reaction to some food he had the day before. I took a picture to keep an eye on it and to compare whether it was getting better or worse. That night it got worse and spread even more.

     You can see the rash was really bad on his under arms and later it almost covered his whole stomach then sped to his neck and eyelids. It cleared up the next day so I was glad about that!

     Not to mention he is constantly falling and hitting his head on the tile floor. He just doesn't give up, no matter how many times he hurts himself he still insists on pulling him self up to stand and climbing up what ever he can find! Is this just the the beginning to our trips to the ER?? Maybe these are just the "perks" of having a BOY! One things for sure, he's definitely a tough little guy...

Courtney's Gettn' Hitched!

Today was Courtney's bridal shower. It was fun putting it together along with Nicole, Jessica, & Shelley. She's getting married in a month! May 14th! YAY! Courtney's colors for her wedding are royal blue & orange so I thought it would be fun to make cupcakes in those same colors.

It was my first time making fondant flowers, they didn't turn out as nice as I had envisioned them but I'm pretty proud of how they turned out non the less.

The Joys of Motherhood

You will not believe what happened to me this morning! I was changing Lincoln's diaper on our bed... nasty diarrhea poop! I kept gagging and gagging and I finally threw up but I was holding it in my mouth because I didn't know where to go and I didn't want to leave him on the bed. Then I threw up again so it had to come out! I reached for the container on my nightstand that holds his bottles, and medications, and pacifiers and threw up in there while I'm holding on to one of his feet and he's trying to crawl away wiping his poopy butt everywhere. I wipe him up a little more and put him on the floor diaper less while I continue vomiting and cleaning up my vomit. Then he pees a huge puddle in the bathroom area by my vanity. I keep moving him away from it while I wash the container and his pacifiers. He found his puddle of pee and now he's playing in it! Okay, bath time!! I'm taking off his pee drenched shirt and hair that got stuck on his wiener from the floor. Now he's smiling at me enjoying his bath. (Oh and this is bath #2 because bath 1 got dirty fast!) What a way to start the day!

 

Oh boy!

Here's the proof...

...they better be right this time!

the Latest on Lincoln {6 months}

Lincoln's 6 month Well Baby visit

weight - 19 lbs. 8 oz. (63%)

height - 28.4 inches long (90%)

My baby has been reaching so many milestones this month!

>> March 3rd - first day eating solids

>> March 6th - his first tooth came in (bottom right)

>> March 11th - first time drinking from a sippy cup

>> March 17th - officially crawling on hands in knees

>> March 23rd - first time I noticed him passing objects from hand to hand

>> March 28th - pulled him self up onto his feet
>> March 30th - second tooth came in (bottom left)

He is such a strong little guy and extremely active. Now that he's crawling he's always pulling things off the shelves and putting everything he finds in his mouth. He is so fast! I thought putting covers on the outlets was enough but it looks like I need to do a better job of baby proofing my house. For the longest time he would get up on all fours and rock back and forth. It was so funny to watch. Since he was five months old he would do the "stomach crawl" where he'd get up on all fours, then dive forward, then get up again. It was hilarious to watch! Now he's climbing all over the place, it's hard to keep up with him. He is still drinking about 4-5 ounces of milk about every 3 hours. He's wearing 9-12 month old clothes already. He's getting better at mimicking words, just today he said Mama! and he loves his dad! The second Chris walks in the door or even hears his voice, he's all smiles. It really is amazing watching him develop and learn new things. I love my little guy so much! One thing that continues to be a challenge for me is not getting any sleep at night. He usually wakes up between 3 and 5 times a night just to eat. No one else can calm him or put him to sleep, only me! As much as I do love spending every second with him, I have to admit it gets exhausting some times. (It's actually happening right now! Chris is holding him but he's crying hysterically reaching for me to hold him.... Okay I'm back...) I've been having to wear him in the sling around the house just so that I can get somethings done. I'm hopeful that my nights will get better... (with a new baby on the way?! Ha! Who am I kidding!) I guess I'm just going to have to accept it for now. Ha ha!

Some of this month's little moments caught on film:




His first time trying rice cereal.




He was so tired in this picture. I just thought it was so cute.




Ready for a night out.




Being silly.




Trying out his new sippy cup.




The first time he pulled him self onto his feet... now he does it all the time.




He likes his little toy dog

Can you see that scratch on his cheek? That's the result of pulling off the spring door stop off the wall. He's already pulled off two of them!

Quadruplets?!

Last night I had a dream that I gave birth to 5 babies! I was so glad this was a dream, even though labor and delivery in a dream is much easier than in real life. Then I remembered that this dream was almost a reality for me!

The first prenatal care appointment we went to was on January 3rd. Chris and Lincoln were both in the room when the Mid-Wife was doing the ultrasound. She wasn't saying much, just looked at the monitor for a while. Every now and then she would let out a "hmmm" or "uhhh". She finally asked, "do twins run in your family?" Chris and I quickly looked at each other and I started laughing, I was so shocked I didn't know what else to do. (Keep in mind I'm still trying to adapt to the idea that we're even going to have another baby this soon). The Mid-Wife left the room to get a doctor. Chris was freaking out more than I was. I was starting to think that it could be a good thing because I would be getting it over with and be done with having kids in one shot. (I guess it would technically be in two shots). SO many thoughts were going through our minds in just these few minutes while we were waiting. The doctor comes in and is staring at the monitor for a while. She finally says "there's four!" Then she asked if I was on any fertility medications because this is very rare to be happening. They kept inspecting the four sacks on the monitor. They said that it looks like these four eggs all got fertilized but they only saw one that was definitely developed into a fetus. I was to come back in about two weeks and in the mean time there were three possibilities that could happen: 

-The other eggs could also be developing so there would be more than one baby.

-The undeveloped sacks would resolve and there would just be the one baby. 

-My body would flush out the extra sacks and I could miscarry altogether.

We left the hospital more confused than ever. I tried not to think about it for those two weeks. It felt like the longest two weeks ever!

This is the clearest picture we got with all four sacks.

We had two more ultrasounds done and everything looks great. There is only one baby and it seems to be growing strong and healthy.

Pregnancy update:
I started feeling movement around week 15 and at 17 weeks it was a lot more noticeable.
We find out the baby's gender on April 6th. I'm really thinking like its a girl... This pregnancy has been so different from the first. I have sweets cravings all day long, I constantly have migraines, I've been getting some blemishes, and I haven't thrown up at all with this one like I did with the first.

We'll see... 12 more days!!

My Birth "Season"

Birthdays are so over rated! ha ha ha! Anyone who knows me, knows the whole month of March is dedicated to ME! ha ha. It's really just an excuse to buy myself lots of things and get my way with Chris. (wow I sound like a total brat!) Everyone deserves to get a little spoiled some times right... To tell you the truth, I don't really ask for much. It's just fun to throw out there that it's my birthMONTH! Ha ha ha.

 My mom, sister, grandma, and grandpa had prepared my favorite cake for me; Chocolate with raspberry filling! Ugh I want some right now!

We went out for dinner another night and Chris got me some new white Chucks!

I took a MAC Pro class on bridal make-up given by the very talented Christopher Del Castillo. It was great and the best part was I got $100 worth of make-up! I am seriously addicted.

I always told strangers I was at least a year older than I actually am just because I didn't feel like being judged for getting married at 19. Being 23 still sounds young for being married,  having a baby, and being pregnant but I like to just consider myself a head of the game. ha ha

HAPPY BIRTHMONTH TO ALL MARCH BABIES!!

more clips of my Linc-a-dink