20 months

As the days go by, our little man is getting older. With the 28th come and gone, he's now 20 months old. Twenty?! We are well on our way to a 2 year old. And we are still so very much in love with him and all of the joy he brings to our family.  

He is interacting and just so much fun these days! Sidney was pulling him around on the hardwood floors using a big blanket as her sled the other day. The giggles from his mouth were heard throughout the house. Ryan finally shouted from upstairs with a "what is she doing to make him laugh so hard". Lincoln could hardly breath he was laughing so hard! He adores his sisters, they really do make his world go round. One of his biggest joys in life is having them take him for a ride in the pink Cadillac. It won't be long and he'll be the one giving rides, and crashing into mail boxes (Sidney was still the driver, despite the location of seats below....)!

When we leave, make a transition to a new room/activity, have to run an errand, I've learned that life is so much more smooth if he is allowed to say "bye" to the slide, the shopping cart or the car. Then he knows we are moving on quickly. It really works! Tonight it was his beloved toothbrush (loves to brush those choppers), and eventually I told him to say 'good bye' and he gave me the tooth brush and in his southern most accent says "bayyee'. My other go-to trick is to offer the neighbor's dog as a reward.....yes, it's a bribe, but it's innocent and it works! "hey Lincoln, stop playing in the puddles and let's go say hi to Sophie". Instantly stops and starts running towards the fence! When he fusses about adding shoes to his wardrobe before leaving the house: "hey Lincoln, should we put on our shoes and go say hi to Sophie?". Works like a charm!
(I can't find a photo of him with Sophie, so I'll instead you get him saying goodbye to my car and it's blown tire).

With a recent trip to the pediatric allergist, we are learning the ropes of a whole new menu. We walked out of that office, armed with answers and most importantly an action plan, but also with extremely heavy hearts. Yes, we realize in the grand scheme of life, he's healthy and that's all that is important. But this stuff is scary; really really scary. We've been lucky and have had to completely change our eating habits. In the reality of our family, it is a huge shift. I'm scouring the internet for food ideas, non-dairy alternatives, and safe restaurants. The peanut allergy is a breeze in comparison to egg and dairy; unfortunately, the reactions are both the same: life-threatening. And so, we will follow with the allergist for as long as we need to, and avoid all threatening foods. 

As for play-time, he has recently fallen in love with the play kitchen. In. Love! One session, he played for nearly an hour. He babbles and chats like I understand all that he is saying as he goes about cooking me meals and pushing buttons. He really does love the kitchen as much as the girls did at this age. He also has a love for cars, coloring (with a big sis nearby) and helping me to clean. We swear that the play-swiffer is by far, his favorite toy. It almost got tossed in the truck on our most recent Wisconsin Dells trip; he loves it that much!

We are soaking in the summer sun, his curly blonde locks and stinky sweaty feet as we enjoy all that 20 months has to offer! We love you Lincoln! 

If I had to guess, I would say he weighs close to 30 lbs, and he has grown in height so much that I'll have to measure him against his ruler. He's in size 4 diapers and 18-24 month clothes. He's becoming interested in the toilet and I'm getting nervous about training him but I know the time is coming soon :) He loves his family, his books and toys and being outside.
Happy 20  months buddy!

Day care!

Lincoln's 'school' (aka day care) uses this pretty fun app which allows us to receive real-time messages regarding feedings, diapers and naps. But the best part is the pictures they send out several times per day. 

Each time, we get a kick out of all the kiddos lined up listening to stories, brushing their teeth or waiting for their turn for sun screen. How these teachers get a group of 1 year olds to sit, listen and wait for instructions is simply amazing. We sure love these teachers!

Recently they initiated "water day" weekly. Each bright and sunny Thursday, they change into swim suits and play in sprinklers and with the water table. We have a giant water table at home so one would think that Lincoln is an old pro....

unfortunately, he is still warming up to a group of kids surrounding the water table-splashing and making a mess. We got this picture and it made me sad, though I know they just happened to catch him at the exact moment he was standing still and it didn't last long at all. They scooped him up and loved on him a little before he joined back in with his friends. 

Thanks to a great group of staff for keeping him happy and safe when he comes to school!

Wisconsin Dells

We decided to take an early summer vacation and head east to Wisconsin Dells. After much research and debate, we booked a 2 bedroom condo at Chula Vista (because let's face it, a typical hotel room isn't much fun when traveling with 3 young children who need their beauty sleep). Having been to this resort roughly 6 years ago, we had a good idea of what to expect. And they didn't disappoint!

So with the resort booked, all we needed to do was travel there. (Rewind to...and stay healthy! Sidney landed with strep throat just 5 days before we were to leave and I prayed my heart out that no one else would come down with it). We packed and packed and packed a little more even though I promised to use everything we brought, with the exception of an extra outfit for each kid that I was hoping we didn't need. 

We hopped in the car Saturday morning, with a 3.5 hour trek ahead of us. We all figured Lincoln would be the trouble maker....but that darn Sidney, well traveling with her deserves a post all of its own! Keep in mind the girl screamed all the way home from the hospital nearly 7 years ago, and the only thing that's changed, is that she has words to use for whinning instead of screaming. At least every 15 minutes she needed an update: how much longer?, I'm hungry, can I have gum?...you get the idea.  Oh but we love her! 

Eventually, we entered The Dells and since we were ahead of schedule, we opted to spend a little time at Deer Park. It was on our list "to-do" anyway and this was perfect timing. As predicted, the kids just loved it! The girls had been there on our last trip to the Dells, but only Regan could somewhat recall the experience (with the help of some pictures). After paying an outrageous fee, we grabbed 3 packs of crackers and set out to play. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Side note: go to this place, it does not disappoint! 

He was only mildly nervous, but even then, not nervous enough to keep a distance. Nope, he wanted to be right there in the middle of the action. 

Sidney was out of crackers after just a few minutes, her thought was "just feed them and they'll leave me alone!"....wrong! They thought she was THE BEST thing around because she handed out crackers left and right!

Lincoln just slays me, he really does. The way he would put his hands together against his chest and squeal with delight, we knew he was in toddler heaven! 

After checking in and grabbing dinner, we headed to the resort's waterpark. And the kids were in love!....wait, let me remind you all that I realized I had brought FOUR kids to the Dells. Ryan turns into a kid when we visit waterparks. The guy just can't get enough! It took until our 5th trip to the waterpark (and 2 days later), before I got to go down my first slide :) In his defense, I never asked and Lincoln preferred to hang with me so we just went with it. We spent a lot of time getting wet during this trip but it was so much fun. I didn't bring my camera to the parks with the exception of one time because I have been burned in the past and it was stolen. I did manage to get a few pictures/videos during a trip to the outdoor park. As for Lincoln, he managed to get himself down several of the kiddie slides after a little prompting. After he went down once, that is all he wanted to do! Over and over and over again. We climbed a lot of stairs and took a lot of naps :) 

Lightweight Sidney has a tendency to land like this when she comes shooting out of a slide...

To say we were all impressed with Sidney's bravery is an understatement. The yellow slide pictured below (Regan is on it) is an 80 foot drop. EIGHTY FEET! Straight down! That's as tall as an 8 story building! And both girls marched right to the top, sat down and down they came. Unbelievable! They later commented "it doesn't even feel like your body is on the slide"....yea that made me feel good about their safety! Especially as I watched their bodies ping-ponging side to side!

Click HERE and HERE for a couple of videos. 

The one major outing we took outside from the resort was to hop aboard an Original Wisconsin Duck. It has been decades since I had been on one, and we thought it would be a good family adventure. Boy were we right! Ryan was rethinking this idea as we boarded, feeling woosey from the morning water slides, but he found his bearings and we had a great time. Snuggled in tight, we saw deer, loads of trees and some pretty amazing sandstone cut outs along the river. We learned some remarkable history, not only about the Ducks themselves (those suckers were used in WWII!) but also about floodings and famous houses along the river. The girls listened carefully, asked questions and best of all, retained the info and are so excited to share their knowledge with their friends. Lincoln sat on my lap for the full 60 minutes, just taking it all in. He loved that "ride" and I'm sure he would've sat for another 60 minutes had it lasted that long.

On an unrelated note, during the car ride back to the hotel there was a little catastrophe in the back seat as Sid screamed: 

"Mom I have a bloody nose!"

"Sid what happened?"

"Lincoln had his finger up my nose"

Wait, he what?!

Cue some quiet giggles from the front seat. What the heck?! 

The things these two do...

While we are sad that our summer trip is over, we are so happy to have gone. When we tucked the girls into their own beds tonight, I commented at how much fun it was to be on vacation and Sidney says "it's not vacation! It's not vacation unless we go on an airplane". 

Oh that girl, she has some high expectations in life! Guess we better plan a "real" vacation next time!

Summer time fun!

We're working on a little summer backyard fun around here. Most days I wish I could just stay home and enjoy the sun with the kiddos. Because on "home" days, we sure seem to have a good time!

Don't be fooled, Sidney knows how to swim. She wanted to try on Lincoln's floaty for size and ended up getting stuck. First and last time she tried that! 

Lincoln has been in the pool only a few times. He doesn't have a strong desire and frankly, with the lack of super warm temps, I'm not eager to stand around with him in the pool. Most days he is content to play at his water table or sit beside me and splash his toes. It won't be long and I'll be catching him off the board, so I'll soak up his timid approach to our pool. 

The summer has started out with a bang of scheduled activities, play dates and tournaments. I sure love hanging out with the kids and finding some extra fun when the time allows. Please summer, slow down!, we have so much to enjoy! 

Rain rain

We may have gotten a tad wet at Regan's game recently. In the end, I had to let Lincoln stomp in puddles, run around and let the rain hit his head. Because as another parent commented "pick your battles". He wanted nothing to do with an umbrella, and though he wore  his coat, he refused to leave his hood up.

 

And when he insisted on messing with Ryan's lemonade, I figured "what the heck!" Might as well add stickiness to his wet clothes. 

We were drenched! 

He talks

Lincoln always seem to slide under the "milestone deadline" just in the nick of time. In the last week, he really has started to verbalize more, and more, and sometimes more (I swear he says "oh sh*^" sometimes). 

This past weekend, he and I shared the swing post-bath and he told me a few of his new words. I happened to video our chat and am so in love with his cute voice. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/C81OBe4O1Ts

The girls are loving this stage, and ask him to repeat everything (again, maybe not always a good thing!). Tonight at bedtime, Regan had an "ah-ha" moment as she talked to me about Lincoln's words and commented that although we understand him, not everyone does. I love that she just gets it. Their age difference is really a beautiful thing to be a part of. 

We love Lincolns newfound ability to talk and repeat and know that the fun is just beginning! 

Fastpitch tournament

 Regan's fastpitch team played in a tournament hosted by our city this past weekend. I love that the organizers of this tournament recognize that at the 8U stage, these kids are satisfied with a 1 day tournament and they wrap it up at that. The older kids play for 2 even 3 days, but we are content with 3 games in one day. 

Regan's most favorite position is catcher, and this honestly surprises us a little. For starters, she tends to prefer a little more relaxed position and a little less effort in picking up the ball. Catching is a tough position as you are constantly moving and have to be paying attention. We couldn't be more proud of her for proving to coach that she not only enjoys to catch, but she is pretty darn good at it. 

She's a little slugger out there too I tell ya. Ryan was giving her a little pep talk between games and commented that she used to swing just to make contact, now she swings to hit the ball hard. And the best part of his comment, is the smile that stretched across her face. 

As for the siblings during the tournament?, well, when you're 19 months and your sister plays games through nap time, you nap too. This little guy took a 2.5 hour nap in his stroller. Sure we had to pace a little bit, but it was so much easier when he was sleeping! The final game he opted to run, trip, play and fall (at one point he was the one with an ice pack and a gash on his elbow!). 

And when you're 6 and thin as a rail?, you eat. And eat. And eat some more. Here's she's snacking on some dried mango. Thankfully she has a few good buddies that are also siblings so those 5 kiddos have a good time racing around making up games and playing. 

Regan's team took home the first place trophy from their day long tournament! And the slew of parents, grandparents, siblings and friends couldn't have been more proud of them for their efforts. They played hard, they made plays (even a double play!), they hit balls (even a double!) and cheered to their hearts content. 

They are pretty proud of themselves and have an amazing group of coaches (in red) that are showing them the ropes of how to have fun and how to win and to have good sportsmanship. 

It was so great to have Hope along for the day. Regan took home the game ball in the final game too! Definitely an all-around wonderful weekend for our little slugger!