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

    

 

   

 

 

 

 

Couldn't Wait to Join Us!

Looks like baby #2 was so eager to join our family! Once again around Christmas time (December 18th to be exact) we found out we were expecting another bundle of joy. Chris and I were definitely surprised/shocked to see my positive pregnancy test. I was pretty over whelmed. So many things were going through my mind; I wasn't ready to have another baby because I still wanted to only enjoy Lincoln as my baby, and I didn't think it would be fair for Lincoln, and when am I ever going to get any sleep! Once I saw it's little heart beat all my worries went away and I fell in love all over again. I really didn't "feel" pregnant at all but after talking to many of my friends about "after baby body" stuff, I started having second thoughts. And well, here we are once again. It just seems way too soon for me to be going through this pregnant thing again! ha ha. We're really excited about this new baby and I think it's going to be great for Lincoln to have a sibling so close in age, they'll be great friends. This baby is due on August 22, 2011 meaning my BABIES will be 11 months apart! I'm definitely nervous but excited at the same time. Now I'm anxious to find out what we're having!
Here is baby #2 at 11 weeks

I've been so tired with this pregnancy, and dizzy, and nauseous, but no vomiting! With Lincoln I threw up every day, so I wonder if that means it'll be a girl. I'm kind of wanting another boy... they'll just be so close in age that they'd be great buds plus they could share a room! I'd be happy either way though. I can't wait to find out what we're having.

the Latest on Lincoln {5 months}

Waking up happy this morning!

Lincoln's 4 month Well Baby visit

weight - 17 lbs. 8 oz. (75%)

height - 27.5 inches long (90%)

My little Lincoln is growing faster than I can handle! He is 5 months today and his personality is showing so much more! On January 20th he rolled over for the first time stomach to back. Then on the 29th he rolled over the opposite way and now he's a rolling champ! It's the little things that make us proud! He is so funny. Lincoln laughs so much now, at the most random things. He is so ticklish too! He's been figuring out how to make new sounds. His latest is the raspberry sound and he discovered his tongue too, he looks like a little lizard. He'll put his hand up in front of his face and just stare at it while he slowly keeps moving it. Ha ha it's so funny. He sleeps with his hands under his belly and his bum straight up in the air. It's the cutest thing! I can tell he's starting to teeth too. He's always put things in his mouth but now he's showing signs of pain. Poor baby.

I absolutely love every second I spend with him! He has a hard time sleeping on his own but I know that's my fault. I always want to hold him, I love it! I love staring at his cute little features and feeling his soft, smooth skin as he holds my finger.

One late, sleepless night as I was rocking him to sleep and staring at my beautiful baby, I wrote this little thing about him:

Words can't describe how much love I have for you. I am so blessed to have such a perfect little baby. You bring so much love and happiness into my life.

-I love your big perfect golden brown eyes; So curious to see everything around. And when you're dosing off you stare into mine and give me a little smile

-I love your perfect button nose and how you nestle it into my arm when you sleep.

-I love your perfect plump lips; When you cry, your sweet cry, you pucker your bottom lip.

-I love your perfect little ears that are so alert, the sound of my voice calms you even when you can't see me.

-I love your big perfect smile, especially when I can see your gums and you stick your tongue between them.

-I love your perfect baby giggle. It's so cute to hear and you laugh at the most random things.

-I love your perfect little fingers, always pulling on my hair and anything else you can reach.

-I love your perfect round belly, and I love blowing raspberries on it.

-I love your perfect legs and the cute chubby rolls on your thighs.; They're so strong you're already bouncing around.

-I love your perfect little feet and toes, that are sooo ticklish.

-I love my perfect little Lincoln and you will always be perfect to me.

Here are some of this this month's little moments caught on film:

Bath time with Daddy.




His first time at the baby gym.




My little old man.




Waking up grumpy from his nap.




Lovin' his bath.




Escaping from his chair.




Big boy holding his own bottle.




He loves watching his video.





Loves being in Grandma's arms.

Lieutenant Seymore

It's official. Chris commissioned into the Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant on 1/15/11. I guess technically you can say our whole family joined the military. At first I really had a hard time accepting our new life to come. I didn't want to move around so much having to recreate my home over and over again. I didn't want leave our family and friends behind. I didn't want my children to always be the 'new kid' in school. I didn't want to be without the love of my life for months at a time. It took A LOT of praying to finally be okay with this decision. I admire Chris so, so, so much for what he is willing to do for our country, beliefs, and families. I'm so proud of him in everything he does and continues to do for us. I know it won't be easy but it's a sacrifice we'll make for what we stand for.

Chris was asked why he wanted to serve as a Marine Corps Officer and this is what he said:

 

"I believe that there are 3 types of people in this country; Those who feel that their country owes them something, those who feel they owe something to their country, and those who don't feel strongly either way. I am among those who feel that they owe something to their country. I understand that freedom and safety from our enemies comes at the highest price. I am willing to do what it takes to be apart of keeping us safe. I know that I have what it takes to be a leader in the Marine Corps..."

 

I am so thankful to have Chris in my life and I'm thankful that my children have such a great role model to look up to.

These are some pictures from Chris' commissioning ceremony.

Getting sworn in by Captain Plascencia

I got to pin on his rank insignia along with his dad.

 Receiving his first salute.

Sword action

His dad and Uncle

 

 Chris' cover

my baby boy

found some these old clips of my little Lincoln when he was a couple months old!

LOVE him to pieces!