Lincoln's First Laugh

I totally stumbled on this. We were playing and I wasn't trying to get him to laugh, but he did after I sneezed, so I started making other loud sounds. Cracked us up!

Discovery of the Foot

Taking Lincoln to church has been an interesting job over the past couple of weeks. He does great during the worship segment, but when things get quiet for the sermon, he fills in the blanks. Today, though, as he was sitting in his car-seat, he lifted up his foot, and got a quizzical furrow to his brow. He discovered the foot. So he kept raising his foot and wiggling his big toe. That kept him occupied for a time and it was pretty funny to watch. (Yes, I paid attention... the sermon was from Galations and was about how as Christians we have two natures within us that are constantly battling for control.)

Anyway, Lincoln probably thinks his foot is still at the bottom of his car-seat, but he'll figure it out soon enough.

Learning to sleep at night

Bridget, the best Boxer

Time has been flying by. I can't believe it's almost been a week since we've passed along an update. The past week has been an interesting one. Lincoln, beginning last weekend sometime, started getting up 2 and 3 times in the middle of the night. This was especially tough on Sunday/Monday overnight and Monday/Tuesday overnight, as Jenn had full days of work ahead of her. Some of the times I was able to get him to go back to sleep without much effort, but other times he was quite angry and very hungry. To make a long story short, we've found most recently that by increasing his feeding frequency during the day, and not waking him for a last meal at night, he's slept much better overnight, getting up just once. If he's waking up because he's hungry (which certainly seems to be the case because he's chowing down around 2:00am) than that is totally fine with us.

His wake times have been fabulous. He's been pleasant and happy and a whole lot of fun for his mom. Naps are still a challenge, but we're going to make it. All children, it seems, have an area or two (or three or four) in which they're a challenge to their parents, and his ability/inability to fall asleep on his own seems to be ours at this time.

The poopy diaper that he gave to Sali in the last post was quite the monster clean-up job. What's interesting is that he went another six days after that until his next poopy diaper. ONE POOPY DIAPER IN A 13 DAY STRETCH...HOLY COW!!! We're not sure why that's the case, but he seems to be a bit more regular now. He's always very pleasant after a poopy diaper.

Finally, if you're enjoying the photos of Lincoln, they're not entirely our doing. The Parkinson family has given us two very nice lenses that have allowed us to make documenting Lincoln's early months both beautiful and fun. Jenn and I are thankful for their wonderful presents every time we photograph our little boy!

Camp Lincoln

Lincoln had a fun Craft Time during his stay at Camp Lincoln (Sali Harlan's home).
Lincoln's first Biology lesson.
Lincoln doesn't know it yet, but he's going to love S'mores!
Lincoln had gone 1 week without having a poopy diaper...and then... it happened.
Jenn and I are VERY appreciative to Sali and the ladies of ORU for taking such good care of our little man.

Late July Update

It's been a while since I've posted, so here's the latest:

Currently, he's on his first trip to the pool.  Jenn was meeting a friend at LCP, so we'll see how Lincoln does sitting outside for a time.  Of course, since he can't be in the sun too much, he still looks liked a bleached little baby!

Updating a previous post, Lincoln was an All-Star during his stay at Camp Lincoln.  Sali was a wonderful head counselor and she reported that Lincoln was a good little boy.  After both days, I had to wake him up from his nap to take him home, and he was in a pleasant mood for a good amount of time following.  He even stayed awake long enough to make a trip to see Aunt MarySue & Great Grandma Gates!  What a happy day!

Lincoln is continuing to grow.  He's filling up his car seat and stretching to the end of his activity mat.  After making progress in the "sleeping at night" department from weeks 7 thru 10, he's been getting up twice overnight for the past week, often with lots of gas.  He has made some strides in the "napping" department during the day, though.  On a couple of occasions, Jenn has been able to get him to nap in his crib.  This is a big step because previously he would only fall asleep in the swing or at times while being held.  Baby steps.

Jenn is enjoying being a stay-at-home mom for most of the week.  She recently updated her work schedule so that she now works every Monday & Tuesday and every other Saturday.  The change is that she dropped the every other Wednesday rotation.  This fixes our need for a baby sitter on some Wednesdays, and it gives her more time with Lincoln.

He really has been a joy to be around lately.  The underlying reason for his difficulty falling asleep (always alert and easily over-stimulated) is one of the things that makes him so much fun to be around.  He's so interactive, and you can usually count on him chatting with you or at least playing a fun game of "make the baby smile."

Lincoln is now 10 weeks old... and happy!

The Parkinson's visit was a lot of fun!

He doesn't know it, but he's about to be swaddled!This smile followed 3 hours of awake time.

It's clear to us who the cutest baby is.

Back to work

Jenn went back to work today.  I can't say she was excited about it.  Lincoln went to Grandma Paulette's place where he has historically been an all-star.

"Camp Lincoln" is almost here.  Because Grandpa Doug and Grandma Paulette are vacationing this coming week, Lincoln was in need of a babysitter.  Enter the ladies of O.R.U.  Sali Harlan, good friend of Grandma Paulette, offered to care for Lincoln on Monday and Tuesday, then the others from their circle of friends offered to be a part of his days, and now, as I understand it, things have mushroomed/snowballed into an elaborate "Camp Lincoln."  When I asked them to send me some pictures of the event to post here on the blog, I was informed that there will be much more than pictures.  It has been brought to my attention that there will be nothing short of professional photographs and collages outlining his time with his "counselors."  Lincoln doesn't know it's coming, but if he did, he wouldn't be able to contain himself.  It all starts on Monday morning!

Lincoln & Daddy, 9 weeks

Independence Day Weekend

Lincoln has been an All-Star this weekend.  He was an unbelievable champ at Blossom for the 4th of July concert (on the 3rd), and he even slept through the 1812 canon fire & fireworks.  We spent the evening with Grandpa Doug & Grandma Paulette and the Hopwoods.

Emily, Jeremy, Grace & Cole Hopwood
Then he took the longest car trip of his life (2 hours) to the Parkinson 4th of July get-together, and was a very good boy.  He broke in a new swing and napped very well in it at the Great-Grandparents Parkinson's place.

The hi-light of the Parkinson 4th was meeting Aunt Haley and Grandfather Dave for the first time. They'll be immersed in all things Lincoln over the next couple of days as they stay with us. Fun times ahead!

Aunt Haley holds Lincoln for the first time.
The Great Grandparents Mullen came for a visit.  Once again, four generations were present and we had a great time together.  Jenn made an awesome dinner and we got to play a lot of cornhole with the great weather.
Grandma Laura helps Lincoln sit up.
Great Grandma Mullen couldn't get over how much Lincoln has grown and changed since Memorial Day.  (That was the day we drove to their place and it was one of Lincoln's two worst days.  Great strides have been made since then!)  For those who have not yet met Lincoln, give Great Grandma Mullen or Great Grandma Gates a call and they'll be able to tell you all about him.
The first time meetings won't stop soon as tomorrow he'll meet Aunt Kristine & Uncle Geoff, Michael & Benjamin as they stop by on their way to Stony Lake.

Lots of bottles

Lincoln's learning what those hands and fingers are for!

Jenn had her CT yesterday to look for remaining kidney stones [as an aside, she was told the results of the CT would be available in 1 week... if we told our patients we'd have easily-obtainable test results in 1 week, we'd be out of a job in a hurry, but I digress...], and because they had to give her an IV contrast, she couldn't feed Lincoln for 24 hours.  She'd been saving for a while for him, so it wasn't a problem as far as milk went, just as far as the method of feeding.  Keep in mind that he's taken bottles very well in the past, but never more than 1 at a time.  This time he had to take about 8 in a row.  He took his consecutive bottles with ease, though we found that it was best for me (Ryan) to give him the bottles rather than Jenn because he seemed a bit confused sitting in her lap with a bottle.  This also meant that I had the pleasure of the overnight feedings.

We've reported previously that there have been nights that Lincoln has slept 6 hours in a row.  Last night showed us something helpful, though.  Because we were able to actually measure how much he ate at feedings, we were able to learn that he was very hungry at his overnight feeding, and this is why he was waking up.  He chugged his overnight feeding like it was the last drop of milk in Summit County.  So we'll see how things shake out with night-times as Jenn approaches going back to work.

Lincoln is going to his first concert tomorrow evening: The Cleveland Orchestra's "American Salute" at Blossom Music Center.  Uncle Jeremy, Auntie Em, Grace & Cole are coming along, too, with us and Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug.  We've been talking about Sousa and Tchaikovsky, America and patriotism, marches and loud canon fire.  Lincoln's face is usually expressionless as we discuss these important subjects, or sometimes he smiles or cries, so it's hard to say how he feels about it at this point.  Rest assured, though, that Lincoln will be raised in the patriotic spirit of his Great-Grandpap Donati and whether he likes it or not, he'll be intimately familiar with John Philip Sousa marches!

Boston Pops: Stars & Stripes Forever

Berliner Philharmoniker: 1812 Overture