Lincoln's 4 Month Check Up

Today, little Lincoln had his 4 month check up and came in with the following stats:

Height: 25 inches (31st percentile)
Weight: 15 pounds 14 ounces (52nd percentile)
Head: 42 cm (42nd percentile)

He's a perfectly healthy little boy!  Looking back at Eli's 4 month check up, he was 14.1 pounds and also 25 inches long.

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was so incredibly wonderful!  We had a great time with the Strauss side of the family the weekend before Christmas, went down to visit the Greats in Bowling Green on Christmas Eve and stayed home all day on Christmas.  I was so nice to not have to run all over the place and just enjoy sitting at home playing with all of the kids new toys.

Santa was so nice to Eli this year.  Some of his favorites?  The Marble Run, Magformers, a United States puzzle and a magic wand.  He even got a surprise call on our way to church Christmas Eve from the big man himself!

Lincoln?  Didn't realize what was going on.  And, the little Fisher Price car he got from Santa is a hit with big brother for now, not so much with little brother....but give him a few months.

Call from Santa:)

We Have a Roller!

Friday, we were getting new carpet installed and in doing so, Lincoln and I were kind of stuck in the kitchen/family room area.  But, once our dining room was done, he and I went in to check it out.  I laid him on his belly to look up at nightlight that is a little snowman with glitter and it happened!  He rolled from his belly to his back!  I sense in the next few days, he's going the opposite way, because he's almost there, but can't quite get his shoulder over!

On another note, he's also intentionally taking objects in his hands and putting them in his mouth:)  Guess we're looking at Lincoln-proofing the playroom soon!

Please, Time, Slow Down!

I can't believe how bad I've been at keeping this up, but I'm going to do my best to recap the last several weeks!

Thanksgiving

We had the Jarnagin's here for Thanksgiving and it's magical to see Eli play with Ada and Mae.  My heart hurt when he had to say good-bye to them. He plays with them like doesn't play with any of his friends.  It's indescribable fun and instant best friends.  It's running around making up games and being silly.  It's unconditional love and lifelong memories.  I loved having the pitter patter of tiny feet running around the house and cooking for an amazing family.  We were so fortunate to have Ben's Aunt and Uncles join us for a turkey day feast cooked by yours truly.  While it was a cruel joke that life played where I could cook all of this delicious food, but not allowed to eat it.  

It wasn't all fun and games though.  Our dear little Lincoln was very unhappy most of the time, so my mama instincts kicked in and off to the doctor we went.  With treatments for acid reflux and eczema in hand, our little Lincoln turned it around and showed his jolly side off to his family

We did venture out of the house a few times, once to go swimming at the hotel Nana and D were staying at and another to head down to visit Ben's office and it's amazing views of Canada and Campus Martius.  We grabbed some dinner at the Hard Rock and while we waited Nana and the grand kids danced in the beautiful lobby.

What a great time we had hosting the festivities and I look forward to doing it again!

More Visitors

We love having visitors at our house and next up with Aunt Andi and Marigny all the way from Hawaii!  It was so nice having another little one around for Eli to play with and for us to get to know her a bit more.  It will be a while before we see them again and this also breaks my heart.  Eli just loved having Marigny here and showing her all kinds of toys and things to play with.  

Christmas in the Village happened while they were visiting and we took an adventure out to join in the fun!  Eli LOVED the train and got his picture with a reindeer.  While we didn't stay long because of the cold, it really put us in the holiday spirit!

Random Updates

And there are random updates on the kids.  First up is Lincoln!  What's he doing?  Everything!

• He's more attentive than ever and nothing makes him smile more than seeing his big brother.
• He's sitting up pretty well and very nearly on his own.
• He's exploring the jumperoo, which I think he is going to love more than Eli did.
• He's talking like a crazy man and exploring the volumes of his voice.
• He's not sleeping....well, he sleeps, but he's not good at it, yet.
• He's a hand chewer.  He is happiest when he is jamming his whole fist in his mouth.
• He loves being "under the sea" in his jungle gym and playing with his O-ball rattle
• He loves being carried facing forward
• He does not love being in his car seat....still

Ok, Eli's turn!

• His vocabulary is growing every day and amazes me
• He can spell several words including: stop, go, bus, car, Eli
• He loves to do art projects and baking with mommy
• He is back in swim lessons and he is becoming quite good
• He is very much into Paw Patrol, the cartoon along with Pepa Pig and a few little cartoons that are in French and Spanish (thanks You Tube)
• He is super excited for Christmas and loves Christmas lights
• He loves reading books and he lets me read Meet Me at the Moon most nights because it's my favorite book.  But if we are reading before bedtime, it's all about The Book with No Pictures.  If you have kids, BUY IT!  It's hilarious, but don't read it at bed time
• Eli is still in the Goddard School and we couldn't be happier.  He is moving to a new Pre-K class in January and transitions are hard for him, but he's learning and growing SO much

So....there's the kiddo updates!  I'll be posting TONS of photos soon and you had better believe there will be a million from Christmas coming soon as well!

It's a few days before thanksgiving, but I was reminded of what I am so very thankful for over the weekend.  After having Lincoln, I had been having these episodes that we thought were just anxiety and treated it as such.  Over this past weekend, I was in so much pain I went to urgent care knowing it was not anxiety.  Turns out I picked the 'go straight to the hospital card.'  

I had pancreatitis and that is a very serious problem caused by a gull stone blocking the bile ducts leading to the small intestine.  This can be life threatening beause basically my pancreas was trying to eat itself.  Long story short, I did not want to be in the hospital and certainly not over night.  I wanted to be home with the boys so badly.  After a night on the hospital, I was allowed to go home to have my gull bladder removal surgery done outpatient at a time of my choosing.

What does this have to do with being thankful?  I am thankful for my in-laws who dropped everything to take the boys, my close friend Bethany for taking me to the urgent care so early in the morning, and my husband who sat by my side.

Tonight when I was putting the boys to bed, I was rocking Lincoln and Eli was scared of the loud wind.  Ben had gone to work out so it was just me.  Eli, Lincoln and I all rocked in the rocking chair together and I was thankful that the team of doctors made sure I could have this moment. It's a moment I will never forget.

Just a few photo's of some super adorable kids