A visit with Santa

After the Vikings game Sunday, we headed to the mall for a quick visit with Santa. We've gone on this particular Sunday (after Thanksgiving) in years past and learned that lines tend to be shorter. It proved to be good timing and we got right in. The girls spent time reviewing their lists with the big guy and had a nice visit. Regan wants a Furby Boom, some games and a Zoomer. Sidney wants the Doc McStuffen check up center, a Barbie camper and the Frozen dolls. Don't fool yourself, their lists are much much longer!

 We plopped Lincoln in his lap and snapped a picture too; Lincoln's first Santa experience was a success! He slept thru the whole thing.

One month

11/28/13

One Month Old

(and it's gone by much too fast!)

At one month, Lincoln: 

Continues to be the best nurser. He eats every 3 hours during the day and as of late, wakes only once around 4-5am for a feeding. 

Squeaks, squeals and sighs while feeding. All. The. Time. (this makes for some interesting conversations when I'm nursing in public). 

He is not great at burping. And does not like how it feels. Ryan is convinced he has acid reflux like the other two, and he's probably right. 

Spits up constantly; worse as the day goes on or if he lays on his back after a feeding. 

Loves to be held, but also has his moments as if to say "just put me down already"! 

Can fall asleep in the midst of this chaotic home. But if he's over-tired, all bets are off. 

Loves his bath, but prefers if the bathroom is not Grand Central Station during bath time. 

Dislikes being cold, and we always seem to have a big blanket around him. 

Started smiling more consistently. And it's the best part of my day. 

Wears size 1 diapers (Pampers) and 0-3 or 3 month clothing. 

Weighs....... roughly 12 lbs!! 

Thankful for...

With a newborn in our arms, we opted to spend Thanksgiving a little closer to home this year. Let's just say "there's no place like home"! It was a busy couple of days, as we hosted both sides of the immediate family and feasted on some good food. Sidney went to bed last night and asked her list of questions to stall; one of which was "are we going to kill the turkey tomorrow?". Bless her heart. And thankfully NO, we did not have to shoot the turkey today! 

Ben and Jon flew into town and brought two adorable pups all the way from DC for the holiday! The girls were simply in their glory to spend two days with the dogs. After they left (on the first day), I heard Regan say "I'm not going to wash my hands because it smells like dog and will remind me of the puppies". 

Eventually she washed her hands :) But I have to agree, those two fur balls sure are cute!

I'm pretty sure Lincoln got a little spoiled by all the attention too. 

This is what we are thankful for: three healthy kids surrounded by love. 

My mom has been wanting a family picture for quite some time (not an easy feat when Ben/Jon live half way across the country). Today she got her wish. We set up the camera's timer and viola: 

Happy Thanksgiving 

2014

Look who's smiling!!

11/26/13

The oldest. Our leader

Last evening we ventured to Regan's 2nd grade parent/teacher fall conference. I've always wondered exactly what my parents talked about with my teachers back when I was a wee one, and I feel so blessed to be on this parent journey. We heard Regan's lovely teacher talk about her academics as well as her social tendencies during her school day. We listened to stories that made us proud (she is reading well above grade level and grasping math concepts like nobody's business), and laughed at examples of how we know she sometimes gets distracted by chit-chat with friends (she's a girl, we should expect this!). 

But her teacher raved about one specific attribute, and that is how grateful he is that she will, whenever asked, work with anyone in the class. He went on to explain that some students prefer not to work with certain students who may struggle with reading or get a little antsy on projects. But over and over he told us that Regan is the student who will work with any of her fellow classmates. And, he, along with us, are thankful for that. 

She is our oldest, and we hope the others follow her lead. 

We are so proud of you Regan! 

Grandparents' love

Today was grandparents' day at Regans school. She was the luckiest girl to be blessed with all four grandparents attending. You can see she is just beaming to be surrounded by so much love. Thanks so much for coming to be a part of her morning! 

Tummy time

Lincoln is not a fan of tummy time. What you can't hear from this picture is his plea to pick him up. Sidney tries her hardest to entertain him but he's just not having it. Then again, none of our kids enjoyed this activity so I'm not real surprised. 

Sports minded

Despite their losing streak, the entire family got dressed up to cheer on the Vikings to yet another loss.  

I made this fleece car seat cover back when Sidney was born. We barely used it as people then commented on what a "cute boy" she was. I'm super excited to be able to use it with Lincoln, even though the Vikings are terrible this year. 

Gosh they are a cute group :) 

Sweet Regan thought that Lincoln would cheer up with her kisses. He wasn't really crabby, just his way of telling me that he was finished with my attempted photo shoot. 

Into Zone Defense

When we grew from two to three kiddos, we knew we would be going from man to man defense to zone. I'd be lying if I said it was all roses, because frankly, one kid can be difficult at times. 

But my reasons for lack of posting on this blog in the last week aren't because things are crazy busy or difficult, it's because I am soaking up each and every moment of my time at home with these three. 

Much of my days are spent cuddling Lincoln, and with those squishy cheeks, who can blame me!? I keep wondering if I'm spoiling him (remember, I'm not the only one holding him all day, I have 3 other people who argue over whose turn it is), but then I read a form from a recent doctor's appointment that says "hold your baby often. You aren't spoiling him". And so, we hold, and snuggle and talk to him and love every ounce of him. 

I've tried to remember that just because we brought home a newborn, doesn't mean that the older two don't want to keep doing all the fun things we used to do. And so while I'm holding Lincoln, I will peruse Pinterest (man, I'm thankful for this!), and come up with art projects, meals/desserts and fun games. The girls were particularly happy with this project, all set up for them to dig in and work on after Regan got home from school. 

Sidney is full of energy and keeps me on my toes. She has been home with me much of my leave and I often remind myself that I need to be thankful for this extra time with her, despite my sleep deprived, wishing it were warmer, self. I'll sleep when they graduate :) 

Oh and here's the finished Pinterest project today; they turned out pretty cute! 

Mama's helper

Sidney loves to help in the kitchen, whether it's cooking, baking or cleaning up. She has always loved washing dishes and lately, I'm taking her up on her offers to help. 

I'm pretty sure my mom has the exact same picture of me when I was a kid :) 

Newborn

Here we are, a week into life with a newborn. And boy we couldn't be happier. Sure I'm sleep deprived, and the girls run my patience short with their whining antics (although that part isn't entirely new), but we are loving every second of life with a newborn. 

Here's a run down of how Lincoln is doing: 

* He eats every 2-4 hours, depending on time of day. Sometimes at night he can go 4 hours between feedings, and sometimes in the evenings he will cluster feed every hour. He nurses quite well in comparison to the girls (Regan was technically preemie so I shouldn't compare). 

* He loves to be held, whether it's the girls or someone else. 

* He stares at the light we have in our TV room like it's the most soothing thing. If he's crabby, we just face him towards it and he often quiets down. 

* As for diapers....he's giving me a run for my money! I think I have been peed on daily. And it's not for lack of "covering it up", because I do, but the second I pull the diaper down to give him a wipe or apply diaper cream, he's like a water spout. Shooting everywhere! 

* Sidney has helped me give him several baths and he is so content while she washes his hair. As for the rest of the sponge bath, I think he would prefer we skip them. 

* And despite being nearly 9 1/2 lbs at birth, yes, he still wears newborn diapers and clothing; a question I seem to field regularly.

Isn't he just a sweetie!  

Ryan thought I should pose with that "Just Born" sticker on my belly instead....funny man. 

A special thanks

We are forever in debt to Grandma Jan. She spent last week at our house cleaning, shopping, caring and loving up all 5 of us. She looked after the girls while Ryan and I were busy delivering Lincoln and recovering in the hospital, all while keeping my mind at ease. Mothers just seem to have a calming affect, even when the child is in her 30's! 

The girls will never forget their special time with Grandma Jan and neither will we! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

And I think she was the most excited to have us home so she could hold this little guy for hours on end. :)  We love you Mom!

The many faces of Lincoln

The little man of the house has a million facial expressions to show off and capturing them on camera has been so much fun. I find myself hitting that shutter button way too many times each day :) But I just can't resist. 

aww, he's just so precious!

Treaters

We had a great Halloween with our treaters this year! Ryan got to take the girls out door to door while I stayed back with the newest one and my mom answered our doorbell. It was a busy, fun filled night! 

Sid looked like the perfect super hero with her winter jacket under her costume. Regan was a pretty witch and Lincoln was mommys little monster! 

And the girls made a haul in just one hour!

Look at all that candy! 

There's a special place for the girls in the hearts of some of our neighbors and they were given WHOLE candy bars and extra goodies. 

  

Our family of five

On Monday October 28, 2013, our family went from four to five in just the blink of an eye. 

The even bigger news is we added a BOY! 

Lincoln Ryan was born at 3:28pm weighing 9 lbs 6 oz. 

He is one. big. boy. 

 

Ryan was so shocked to hear "it's a boy!", that he literally didn't have a reaction.
Stunned. 

I reached my arm out from the side of my bed to touch him and make sure he was still alive and said "you got your boy!".

Priceless 

We are all so very much in love with this bundle of joy

I had some fun in the hospital taking pictures next to the large window. Lincoln placed his finger in his mouth and gave us a double chin just as I snapped this photo. 

The girls are loving him up and all we hear is "when can I hold him?" minute after minute as they fight over whose turn it is to hold him. 

All in all he's a pretty lucky, special little boy and we are all so happy he is here!

Como in the fall

Ryan enjoyed one more day of golf today today. And I waddled my way through Como today with the girls; though slightly concerned that I was going to go into labor at any moment! 

We made it and boy was I glad to have had all day with the girls :) 

We had the entire Sunken Garden to ourselves. That has never happened! 

It was so much fun to stop and smell the flowers, take some pictures and not have to fight a small crowd. 

Regan climbed up on this brick wall, and waited for me to come by to take this adorable picture. Oh these girls melt my heart! 

Pumpkin carving 2013

We dug out the guts of our pumpkins and carved 'em this weekend. Ok, I'll be honest, Ryan does the carving, and me/girls do the gutting. It works out well and the girls have really started to get into over the last year. 

Just look at that face! 

We'll have to wait until later this week for a picture of his final work....

Update-baby

Here we are, 39 weeks pregnant. Yes, still pregnant. Funny thing is I really do love being pregnant. Most people call me crazy for saying that, or look at me like I've lost my mind. Maybe I have :) But I really do love this most amazing and unique experience. Sure I'm uncomfortable at this stage of the game, there's sciatica pain that makes me stumble when I stand up, crazy belly button pain explained away by muscles being pulled in all directions, heart burn that doesn't burn but rather feels like a giant gobstopper stuck in my throat and feet that are mildly swollen each evening. I haven't seen my toes in weeks, maybe months, but my lovely husband painted them orange recently....perfect for the season. It's comedy hour watching me try to get off the couch or roll out of bed in the morning. It's slim pickins' when it comes to clothing, not much fits around this belly anymore, and there's no way I'm spending any money at this stage. So I may be wearing the same pair of pants until baby is born!

And yet, I still love having this gigantic belly staring at me in the mirror each day. Right now, though, we are all very excited to meet this new one, and super hoping s/he will make his/her debut this weekend. Because at the end of the day, we are ready. 

Life lately-in the fall

We are plugging along and keeping busy this fall. 

Regan's been working hard on adding minutes to her daily reading as she participates in the school's Read-A-Thon. She does quite well (most days) and has finished more chapter books than I can count. Her preferred books lately are the 'Bad Kitty' series and she even convinced Grandma Jan to buy her a new one last week instead of waiting on one to be available at the local library. 

She still enjoys arts and crafts over any toy in the house. Together we enjoy playing board games and she's become a wiz on the school-related websites for learning. Anything to motivate more learning!

Our determined Sidney has recently mastered the monkey bars, from end to end. And her "I can do it by myself" attitude shines from morning to night in every aspect of her day. Don't bother trying to help this girl because she's just going to tell you to "get lost", usually in a much more tactful manner :)

Lately she's been talking about anything and everything "online". I think it's a term she picked up and can't get enough of. And I can't help but laugh, thinking I was pushing 16 years old before I even knew what that word meant. 

As for me and Ryan, we are soaking in the love from these two cuties. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of drama when you have 2 little girls. But when one or the other asks you to snuggle in bed, or listen to them read a story, we can't help but take the time out of our busy evening to love them up. Life is busy, and about to get even more busy as we approach our due date. Each of us are so very excited for this growing family. 

Pumpkin

The girls painted this "pumpkin" today.....

that is one special pumpkin :) 

Fall photo shoot 2013

We missed the mark on this year's fall photo shoot, by one weekend. But today I took the girls to the annual spot and thankfully we found a gorgeous spot for a few pictures. I was a bit saddened because the usual tree had already dropped all of its leaves, but thankful we found this one to use instead. Plus I liked the pond in the background. 

It was a bit chilly, and SUPER windy, so we got just a few shots but I think they'll make some amazing photos and I know the memories we create each fall at this park are something we will all cherish. 

Gosh they are growing up way too fast! Click HERE (2012), and then HERE, to find the link to 2007-2011.  

See the fall colors 2013

Each year, we venture to a local ski hill and ride up the chair lifts to see the fall colors (click here , here,  here and here for previous years). And each year, we comment that they've missed the mark by about 7-10 days in terms of "peak" color. But nonetheless, we keep going back and have a really great time. 

There was a break in the rain/hail tonight, so we made a bee line for the hill in hopes we wouldn't get soaked. 

Turned out to be great timing.

We know that the girls' favorite part of the evening is always the ride up to the top; and who can blame them!

Once on top it was bon fires, s'mores, music and fun. Sidney impressed Ryan with her hoola abilities; something he hadn't seen her doing yet. She's pretty awesome at it and can go for quite a long time; clearly taking after her big sis.

We headed over to the raptor center viewing just in time....dinner time that it! This owl was given a dead mouse (yea gross, but pretty cool at the same time). She looked around for a minute and then in 3 quick bites, it was gone. Ewwww! 

We ran into some family friends who offered to take a family picture, as she put it, one more picture as a family of 4!