Lincoln Lately

Lincoln is already almost 7 weeks old. I can't believe it. When we took him in for his two week visit, he was not quite back up to his birth weight, so I was anxious to take him in for his month check up. I needn't have worried. They expect babies to put on 4-7 ounces per week at this age, and he has averaged 9 oz per week since his two week visit. He's up to 10 lbs already!

He is also starting to get a sleep routine going that includes 9 hours of sleep at a stretch each night. I'm hoping to get up to 12 very soon though.

We just discovered the bouncer in this picture, and he really loves it. As a result, so do we :).

It's nice to feel like we are developing a routine though our upcoming vacation could really put a dent on that. Once we get home though we should really be able to start establishing a routine, and for the first time I'm starting to feel like we are going to be able to make this five person family thing actually work.

The Many Faces of Juliet

Glam girl, grown up girl, tomboy, baby girl. And yes, she strikes these poses all on her own.

Sweet Sleeps

One Day. One Bed. Two Boys. Two Naps.

Happy One Month Lincoln!!

My sweet little man turned one month old last Thursday. I can't believe it! He has done so much in one month--visited my parent's house, visited Bryan's parents, hosted extended family at our house for several days. He even went out to eat once and to the grocery store once.

He is such a sweet little guy. He loves to cuddle with his mommy, and he will gladly nap on me from time to time. Neither of his siblings did that. But, Lincoln also sleeps in his bassinet every night without problem. We haven't tried out the crib yet though. He is a good night sleeper. For example, last night he went to sleep at ten, got up at 12:00 for a quick bottle, slept until 7:00, had another feeding, and then slept until 10:00. We've gotten the hang of feeding much more quickly than I did with the other two as well.

I'm anxious to see what he will weigh at his one month appt, but we haven't had that yet.

What We've Been Up To

Outside of learning to be a family of five, we had the great privilege and fun of having a big family event this past week.  We threw a surprise party for my grandfather who turned 75 this summer.  So, we loaded up for our first road trip with Lincoln and drove to my parent's house in Eastland where we stayed all weekend long.  Then, we took my grandparents, parents, and my uncle, his wife, and their three kids to Fossil Rim, which is a wildlife preserve where you can go and feed the animals in a safari-like setting.  Then, my uncle's family headed up to our house to stay for three days, which was awesome because they live in California, so we only see them every couple of years.

My uncle is an amazing photographer, and when he left, he gave me a CD with 485 pictures from the week on it.  I haven't been through them all yet, but I picked out some of my favorites so far that are pretty representative of what we got to experience last week.

Here's my little man showing off his muscles and asserting his place in the family :)

 

My middle child stealing my morning cup of tea and getting away with it in her usual fashion of just looking so durn cute as she does it :)

 

My eldest showing off his new found confidence in the water, thanks to his cousins and a new pair of water wings

Robby hanging with his older cousins and loving absolutely every second of it.

My grandfather with all of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren (with the exception of one son who was unable to travel for the event)

Me letting my inner animal out at the wildlife preserve and begging my cousins in the truck in front of me to feed me their skittles.  (They didn't fall for it . . . can't imagine why)

Juliet being taken care of by my sweet cousin, who did an amazing job of helping out with all of the kids this weekend

My husband showing off his inner child in the pool, where we all spent large parts of the week (rotating between four different pools)