Typical Night

So this is a post that I can use when Lincoln has kids and is complaining about bedtime routines. Last week, Lincoln earned how to climb out of his crib, his grandparents even bought a bigger crib and he managed to climb out in about 30 seconds after it was put together. I am scared of crib tents, so this is our typical night now.

Let me backtrack and write what our nights USED to be like....starting at 7:30pm, Link would get a bath, get his allergy medicine, get his teeth brushed, get some books read, and get in the crib by 8:00pm. If he wasn't tired yet, he would just talk to himself until he fell asleep. It was really just too easy!

Now our typical night:

8:30pm, we start the bedtime routine (we have tried earlier, but get frustrated when it doesn't work.).

9:00pm, I start rocking him in the rocking chair.

9:45-10:00pm, I put Lincoln in the bed we made (2 queen beds pushed together)

1:00-2:00am, Lincoln starts *flip-flopping* around like a wild cat, which can last for hours

6:00am-7:00am, Lincoln, Dave, and I all wake up from our slumber party

I just have to remember that we have been carting this boy all over the country, and I have to be patient that as soon as we get our own place, we can start to get a better routine. But I so can't wait, until Lincoln's crazy toddler starts pulling the same thing, and I can say, "Booyah, you did it to us son!"

*flip-flopping* I thought this was a normal term, but it confused Dave the other night. I woke him up at 2:00am, and this was our conversation:

Me: Dave, please switch places with me in bed, Lincoln has been flip-flopping around for over an hour.

Dave: Sigh, here (he is pointing to his hand).

Me: What?

Dave: (still pointing to his hand) Well, I don't have any flip-flops right now.

Me: (trying not to laugh so I don't wake my flopping child up)

Cars, Trucks, Trains and especially Airplanes

Just like most little boys, Lincoln loves any moving thing with a motor. I never paid attention to train whistles outside or airplanes in the sky before I had Lincoln: I just drowned the noises out. It is amazing to me that his little ears perk up for any kind of moving vehicle.

For the past couple weeks, Lincoln has been really fascinated by helicopters ("copder") and planes. Lucky for him, his Papa has a private pilot licence and has his own airplane. We decided to fly to Portland when Dave came in from Charlotte last week. I was worried about how Lincoln would handle the noise and turbulence of a small plane, but he loved every second! He looked out the window, watched some movies, ate snacks, and even got to fly the plane for a little bit.

Besides flying in the plane, he got to see his Daddy, so I'm thinking it was a fantastic day for the little guy!

Small Things

This is just a reminder for me of all the small things that make me happy. We have received all "no thanks" for a couple jobs we thought might really happen, and Lincoln has now climbed out of his crib twice tonight, so really this is just for me, but you can read if you want.

It makes me happy when Lincoln crowds around his cousins. He adores the Huntsman boys, and I so appreciate the attention they give him.

Lincoln loves to help me bake. He does a great job with cupcake liners. (Sydney helped too.)

Lincoln likes to show affection by giving pats. He held on to Dave's arm and patted it most of the way back from picking him up from the airport. He missed his dad! I don't have a picture of the pats, but I also have to say that I missed Dave so much: we had never been apart for a week before. The sweet "love" email he sent me when he was gone was a small thing that definitely made my happy!

I think it is so cute when Link says "Cheese" for the camera. He doesn't do it often, because I can rarely get him to look at the camera. I got him this day though, and the picture caught the space between his front teeth, another small thing that makes me happy.

How do little boys make such great sound effects? It makes me happy when he throws rocks into the water and makes a "spasht" sound.

Dave held Lincoln until he fell asleep just now. That really makes me happy, and with that I will try to have sweet dreams and not think about all the "no's" from this past week.

The Craft Bug

I have never really been interested in crafty stuff. Actually, this post is going to make my mom flip: She is so crafty and would beg me to do projects with her, and I would always refuse. So, I don't know when I got it, but the Craft Bug finally hit me. Maybe it was all the blogs I have been reading...Zandi and her amazing hats; Jen and her monthly craft nights; Donna and her decorating; Natalie and her quilting; Rachel and her little bit of everything...

It started with a tutu. My SIL Amy and I decided to make some tutus together. I know I don't have a daughter, but I do have nieces. These were so easy to make, and I am happy with how they turned out. I can't wait to see pictures of Penny and Baby Girl Shinsel in their tutus. Dave will be upset that I am sharing this info, but Link LOVED the tutus. He honestly would put them on and dance around. Yikes, we need to get this kid some more dirt to play in!

Mama Shinsel also contributed to this craft bug. She handed me a bag of old jeans and said, "You could make a nice picnic blanket with these." I was laughing in my head, because tutus are one thing, but sewing machines are totally different. I had lots of help, and ended up with this great blanket. The sewing machine didn't even make me throw up like I thought it would! The front is denim squares in a random pattern, and the back and edges are a funky red cotton material. (Don't you love my model...he's giving you his profile shot.)

When we went to pick up material for the blanket, I found some Cars material. I need to explain that Lincoln LOVES the movie Cars. It makes sense that he likes it: it's just like Thomas but with cars and not with British accents. Anyway, Grandma already had most of the Cars characters, she bought him Cars dining ware, and now he has a Cars blanket. He carries it around everywhere!

I found a cute dress that was super on sale, but when I tried it on at home, it was too short. For the first time in my life, I thought, I can fix it. I am planning on sewing some material on the bottom, just to make it longer.

I realize kindegardners could do these projects, but I'm still excited about all of them. Now I just need some more ideas, so keep craft blogging my creative friends!

Stories from the Crib

Last week, I put Lincoln to bed in his pack-in-play at Grandma's house. Usually Link does really well falling asleep on his own. It is rare for him to cry. I was surprised when I heard him screaming on the monitor a couple minutes after I put him down. This cry wasn't a "I'm sad that I have to go to sleep cry." It was a scared/hurt cry. I walked down the stairs, and I will never forget this image...the door to Lincoln's bedroom opened slowly and out walks the little guy so upset. I should have known he would climb out one day: I started climbing out of my crib at this age and it is only fair that he do the same. I think he got so dang scared from the fall, because he hasn't done it since that night!


The weather has been warmer lately, so I put Link down for a nap in just his tee-shirt. When he woke up, I walked into his very dark room. I couldn't see much yet, but Lincoln was holding out something for me. He said, "This??" in a question form, and I was handed his diaper. It could have been much worse, he hadn't used the bathroom in his crib yet and it wasn't a number 2.

Non-related crib news, Dave is in Charlotte for a job interview with Bank of America. It is weird that we have flip-flopped hometowns for the week. Keep fingers and toes crossed for us!