Lots happens in a week...

Jenn's visit with LeAnne was very pleasant and they chatted until late in the evening. In some areas they've diverged, and in others they've remained scarily similar. Funny how friends go. I've got to put a big plug in for Prelude. I had a man-date last weekend while Jenn and LeAnne were hanging out. Justin, a good buddy from church, and I checked out Prelude for the first time and it was a lot of fun. The band that night was pretty good, and the place was just really cool to spend a Saturday evening at. Cory did a bang-up job putting the whole thing together and it's well worth your time to visit on a Saturday night. (If you were at our wedding, you may remember Cory as one of my groomsmen.)

Lincoln has been showing interest in pulling himself up lately. It started in the bath tub, and has progressed to play time. Jenn had him at the Hudson Library during the midweek, and he was pulling himself up and down on one of the short play-tables that they have for kids. At home, we stand him up next to his toy basket and he stands for a good 5-10 minutes until he gets tired and has to sit back down.

He went to the doctor yesterday for another vaccine and check-up. He's still very small for his age, somewhere in the teen-percentile. If you'll recall a few visits ago how inaccurate the scale was. It makes me wonder if the same thing happened this time. But scales and percentiles aren't as important as the fact that he's healthy and growing well. He's consistently waving good-bye now, which is really funny to see. We're having little "chat sessions" where he babbles a bit then Jenn and/or I talk back to him, and then he babbles, then we talk. I'm not sure what he's thinking during these "conversations," but it's clear that he's learning how to exchange. Also, his Grandma Paulette has been working on a thing where she asks, "How big is Lincoln?" and he throws his arms up in the air as she says, "SOOO big!" This isn't as consistent, but he's getting it.

Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Doug are heading south for vacation this week, which means I have the clinic to myself. It's hard to know what to expect. I've had a C-section and a foreign body when I've been alone, but at other times it's been pretty peaceful. So we'll see. Because Grandma's out of town, Lincoln will be staying with Sali for a day (remember Camp Lincoln?). I hear she's looking forward to it.

Sometimes Lincoln gets a bit uneasy after being on his feet for a long time.

Jenn's working now, and Lincoln's been sleeping for a little over an hour. I haven't decided how we're going to spend the rest of this Daddy Day... it's still pretty cold outside so going on a hike is out of the question. This morning we read about David & Goliath, Jackie Robinson and George Washington from Bill Bennet's The Children's Treasury of Virtues. Lincoln will grow up learning Bible stories and of America's heroes.

An update on our house search:
First of all, our TV room is finished, and the walls look great (thanks, Em!). Our window treatments and wall-hangings are up and they look fabulous. Lincoln now likes to look at Teddy and George. The picture of George also allows us to tell him the story of God protecting George Washington and his soldiers and sending the fog to help them escape. If you're not familiar with the story, pick up a copy of 1776 and read it! The room is a lot brighter and looks very, very nice, if I do say so myself.

Flashback: Outer Banks 2006 Jenn and I are looking forward to Outer Banks 2009 with Grandma Paulette, Grandpa Doug and the Hopwoods! Lincoln's first trip to the beach!!!

We've looked a number of houses over the last two weeks, and its pretty disappointing. Out of 7 houses, one was very attractive to us, but was lacking a couple of the things that we need to entice us to move. The rest of the houses were simply not very nice. Sure they had their nice features, but, for instance, one had a hair salon in the basement. What would I do with a hair salon. Another had nice big closets, but it had major carpet stains and an orange refrigerator. I don't even have to describe the look on Jenn's face when she saw it... if you know Jenn, you can picture it yourself. Most of these houses are asking way more than we'd even consider paying for them, which is kind of a shame. So now we're taking things a bit more slowly and asking the LORD to work things out in His time. We were given a major gift with the house we're in now, and I have no reason to believe that when it's time to move along, we won't be afforded a similar opportunity. It's just a bit tough not knowing right now. So it's official, if you're planning on visiting or staying with us over the next many months, you'll be staying in our guest room, unquestionably the first or second nicest room in our house!

Lincoln is officially up from his nap now. He's been stirring for the last 20 minutes, or so. Thanks for reading and keeping up with our family.