Longest Post

So much has happened in the past week, I'm sure this will be the longest post of the year. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have Dave home from work for 4 days!

Before we left for Hickory, Savannah, Lincoln's neighbor friend, helped bake some cookies. My tub of 100 cookie cutters doesn't have any Thanksgiving or Fall related cookie cutters, so we used cars, trucks, bunnies, hearts, etc but we decorated them with autumn sprinkles. I know what you are thinking, I tried with Halloween cookies, and it didn't work out so well. I thought if Lincoln saw Savannah concentrating on decorating instead of eating, he might do the same. And he did, pretty much.




Lincoln's cookies, mostly cars, trucks, fire engines, and dogs...





Savannah's cookies, mostly hearts, butterflies, and bunnies...

We invited the "K" family up to turkey dinner in Hickory. They are a fun family of 3, who go to church with us and are living far away from their home in Utah. Tyler is in his first semester of the MBA program. Mason is just a couple months younger than Lincoln, and is so easy. Sometimes I forget he is around, because he is so quiet and easy to entertain. Here he is showing off the turkey hat my Aunt Monica sent to Lincoln. The turkey hat was amazingly, a big hit.

Lincoln in the turkey hat... I know my mom's hands look scary, and they aren't clenching Lincoln, she was just steadying him as he was spinning around in circles.

Even Big Bunny got a turn with the turkey hat.

We had 3 different turkeys for dinner, a brinned baked, a plain baked, and a Cajun butter injected fried one. Is it hard to guess which one was the most delicious? The fried won hands down...too bad mom forgot to put it away in the fridge that night. We woke up to a nasty turkey smell on Black Friday.

I just left myself a great intro into my next paragraph. My fabulous husband and wonderful dad went out at 3:30 am on Black Friday to score my Christmas present. I DID NOT ask them to, just so you don't think I'm an awful, spoiled wife. Dave volunteered and Dad is always up for an adventure with his favorite SIL. They went to Target for this...




It is a Dyson DC17, and I am loving it! I have wanted a Dyson for 5 years, ever since my MIL bought one and cleaned Shinsel Manor, if you ever saw Shinsel Manor, you know why I fell in love. Some women would think that it is awful to receive a vacuum for a Christmas present, but it doesn't feel like work when I vacuum with my Dyson, and I really like functional gifts.

I do love Christmas time, especially now when everything is so new and fun for Lincoln. We picked out and decorated our Christmas tree tonight. There is nothing better than the smell that a Christmas tree puts out! I'm thrilled that we were able to have a real one this year. Lincoln kept saying, "Hooray, hooray" as Dave put the tree inside and secured it in the stand. He has had fun with all the ornaments, and I know that I will be picking them up off the floor everyday. I only got one picture, because the camera batteries died, so I'll have to take more later.


After church, we took some quick pictures for the Christmas card. This isn't the picture we are going to use, but I still like it.


Dang, I have some cute boys!

Finally

Finally, I get to write that Lincoln stayed in nursery the entire time at church today...all 2 hours! There were no tears, and he kept playing when I came to pick him up. He was fine without me.

I have had some proud mommy moments this week. Besides nursery, Lincoln has used his big boy potty twice. I'm not really starting potty training yet, but I'm excited that he isn't afraid to use it now. I'll really start the nightmare of potty training after Christmas.

Last Christmas, Dave's brother Brent and his family gave Lincoln some board books about food and colors. He loves these books and has them pretty much memorized. I read the first line, and he can recite the second line on the page. My proud mommy moment is when we got to the blue page about blueberries. One of the lines is that they are blue, round, and cute. After he recited the line, he took my face in his hands and said, "Mommas cute." That's my sweet boy!

Here's the handsome boy in his church sweater vest. He had nice corduroy pants on too, but the sweatpants took over after church.

Happiness

I have been overwhelmed by the phone calls, thoughts and prayers from family and friends. I really, really, have appreciated them and have felt them work. I decided to see my old doctor who delivered Lincoln, because I just didn't want a stranger to have to tell me bad news. I was absolutely shocked/happy when Dr. L pulled up a picture of a baby on the ultrasound screen. Yep, sorry to scare everyone and make them worry, but I am still having a baby!!! Dr. L said it could have been a miscarried twin, a broken blood vessel in my cervix (which bleeds like a head wound, and sorry yes I did type the word cervix), or it could have due to my blood type (I'm A negative). I'm not supposed to worry about what it was, just that I still have a baby. My due date is 6/23/2011.

This pregnancy was so different that it was with Lincoln, I was convinced I was having a girl. Now, I don't feel pregnant at all, just like before, so I'm guessing it's another boy. Whatever it is, I'm keeping it!

I'm not sad I published my eariler post: I really did need the support of friends and that prayer network. Thank you, thank you for thinking about us, and please keep praying!!

Lots of love,

Julie

Can't Sleep

I havn't been able to sleep all night. I feel so heartbroken right now. I really didn't want to cry again today, but I guess I just I'm not ready to get over this yet. I carried a baby for 9 weeks, and yesterday I lost it. Just during the middle of the day, out of no where. I had still been feeling very pregnant, so I am shocked. I have an ultrasound tomorrow to confirm what I already know: there won't be a baby in the picture. It is strange, because yesterday I still had some glimmer of hope that maybe there was another one in there; however, I slept off that hope and I don't feel pregnant at all today. Please be thinking of me and Dave during this time. I have already felt the prayers of family members, for which I am very grateful! I am also thankful that I didn't experience any physical pain, and that a lovely friend came to pick Lincoln up when I couldn't reach Dave at work.

Facebook

Do I still exist on Facebook friends? I just tried to log on and it said my account was disabled due to a fake name. What?? I guess they think Shinsel is a made up name? Let me know if I still show up or not please.

Sickies

We have all been a bunch of sickies around the house lately. Dave and I have taken turns sleeping downstairs so we won't hear the other spouse or child snore/cough. Dave's boss even sent him home Friday and Monday to do work at home. I didn't mind that part. It was nice to have him close, even though he was in front of his computer. I bought some humidifiers for our bedrooms, and Lincoln calls it his "cool steamer."

Anyway, besides not feeling very well, I have some news....Dave grew out his goatee again! I love his facial hair. I was sad when he had to shave after graduation to interview for jobs. He doesn't usually let me take pictures of him, so this is from April.

Just so I won't forget

Lincoln is completely binky/pacifier free!! It has been over a week, since he first said his binky was broken. I don't know if there was a little hole in it, or if it didn't feel good to suck because he had a cold. Either way, I told him I couldn't fix it, and he was fine with that. He hasn't asked for it since.

He is so picky about what he wears. His favorite shirts have monster trucks, cars, trains, helicopters,etc. The one exception is his keywork shirt made by his friend's mom, Jen. This makes it tricky to put coats or sweatshirts on, because he HAS to see the design. Good grief!

Lincoln sleeps in a big boy bed now. I don't think he really cares where he sleeps, but he loves to jump on his bed! In face, he is jumping all the time. He jumps to dance, he jumps to move into another room, and he jumps from furniture to furniture.

His favorite movies right now are the All About series. They spotlight different modes of transportation, so you can see why he loves them. We went to a new library in our area, and they have all of the movies, so Lincoln was a happy boy. Right now, he is watching the sepisode about Fire Trucks. They are so cheesy and have really horrible actors, so I try not to be in the same room when he is watching them.

I say this every month, but this has been my favorite! He has such a personality, and it is nice to understand what he wants and communicate with him.

Kid Co-op

3 other mommies and I have started a kid co-op. We take turns watching all 4 kids one morning a week for 3 hours. I was worried how Lincoln would do, because he still doesn't stay the entire time at the church nursery by himself, which is 2 hours long. Imagine my surprise when I didn't get a phone call to pick him up that first week! He did so well: he didn't even cry. I was happy to get my entire house cleaned, workout and take a shower without any interuptions.

Last week, it was my turn to have the kiddos over. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The kids pretty much entertain themselves. Even though they don't really interact (except to steal a toy), the play well just because there are other kids around. They are about the same age, except for Sean, who will be 18 months soon (he is so dang cute!).



Here are some of the activites we did:

Drew Masterpieces....thank you crayola for Color Wonder products!!



Played Piano



Got creative with the trains on the DJ table



Watched Blues Clues, except Eli had to make a quick business call on the Elmo phone



It is amazing to see such personality differences in kids the same age. Eli is just a chill dude, who bobs his head to any music that is on. He doesn't get upset when other kids take toys away from him. Lincoln had a hard time sharing his toys in the beggining, but warmed up when we started jumping on the LoveSac(a huge beanbag chair). Sean is into everything and loves to climb/throw stuff. He didn't like it when I even looked like I was going to leave the room. Shay is just a doll, and she has a Gucci bag to store her diapers and snacks. She does really well sharing, probably because she has 3 other sisters to share with.

I'm excited that this is going well. I think it has even helped with nursery. Lincoln wanted to go in this week, and I was able to be out of the room for an entire hour. The only reason they had to get me was for a diaper change. After he had seen me, it was over, but I am hopeful it will only get better.

Shout outs

Today I need to give a few shout outs to some people...

Shout out to my neighbor Mikilani, who drove over to my house, to tell Dave to answer his phone, because I was locked out of my car at the downtown library.

Shout out to Lincoln, who was unusually well behaved while waiting 1 1/2 hours outside the library.

Shout out to the homeless person who entertained Lincoln while I was trying to explain to Dave over the phone where the extra keys were hiding.

Shout out to the man in the very saggy pants, who let me borrow his cell phone, to make a long distance phone call (Dave's still has a Charlotte number) because my phone battery died.

Shout out to the fire trucks, ambulance, and police cars who kept driving by and kept Lincoln happy.

Shout out to Dave, who finally found the keys and came to rescue us.

Shout out to the Halloween candy, which I consumed a lot of when I finally got home.

My Skeleton

We can put the skeleton costume away now, all the parties, trunk-or-treats, and trick-or-treating is over. It was a great Halloween season! Lincoln enjoyed trick-or-treating very much. I think this picture sums up his amazement that he was getting candy...

We went trick-or-treating on Saturday night at Old Salem, a colonial village in Winston Salem. They had people giving out candy at all the houses/stores. It was the perfect walking distance for Lincoln and it wasn't really crowded. Lincoln thought it was perfect, because he got to eat his candy on the way to the next candy point.



On Sunday we past candy out to the trick-or-treaters and Lincoln helped himself to candy everytime someone came to the door. Halloween is over and now we can look forward to Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving and wish it got more credit! It seems like right after Halloween, Christmas season begins.