Chrysalis Forms

We were certainly given the caterpiller in the nick of time. Sometime between 9:00am and 11:30am he shrunk down, dropped something from his head and formed his chrysalis. Metamorphosis is amazing. It's a good thing he evolved that way. (/sarc)Lincoln was a good helper for me as we cleaned up the basement today. He put all of his toys away without any complaining, and he even wanted to help with the sweeping.Then tonight he had a bubble bath. Lydia was fascinated with seeing Lincoln emerge from the bubbles completely covered by them and she hasn't stayed in one spot like that since she started crawling.

Lincoln Goes to Blossom to see Bugs Bunny!

Lydia is saying words. That's right. I mentioned "bye-bye" in a previous post, and she's added "dog," an occasional "da-da," and this evening after Jenn always finishes her Goodnight Moon story time with, "Night-night, Moon," Lydia pointed to the book and let out a "nie moo." Jenn and I were independently thinking that she knows many words in her mind, the limiting factor is just getting them out. Once she figures out how to form the words, we're anticipating a verbal explosion. Time will tell.

Last night was Lincoln's latest night ever as Jenn and I took him to Bugs Bunny Goes To The Symphony at Blossom Music Center. Jenn and I have been to this show a couple of times now, and after showing Lincoln some old Looney Tunes over the past couple of weeks, we felt he was ready for the big time. He had a blast! We stayed for the whole thing, even the fireworks at the end, and he got to bed around 11:30pm. Yikes! The orchesray played the score for "The Rabbit of Seville," "What's Opera, Doc!" and many others. This is the second show we've seen at Blossom where the orchestra played the score for a motion picture, and Jenn and I decided that we'd go to see just about any movie if the orchestra played along with it. They're simply fantastic.Today I put the ladder on Lincoln's bunk bed. We decided that he's a careful enough kid that he could handle it. He's gained a ton of confidence even today on the ladder. Honestly, it's Lydia that we'll have to worry about... she's a crazy climber already! Anyway, he looks like such a big boy climbing the ladder. It was one of those, "Our son is growing up!" moments for Jenn and me.

Katie Ruhl, a friend of my parents and a member of their church and small group, had a Monarch Butterfly caterpiller that she wanted to give to us so we could see it form its chrysalis and emerge into a butterfly. My first response had little to do with the butterfly. It was, "My goodness, my parents have such good friends that they think of the grandkids of their friends. How cool is that?" Then I thought about the caterpiller and the fact that I hope we don't kill it, and how cool will it be for Lincoln to see what will come, and I hope I can get some good photos of it. So here he is now...I'm not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post, but our home study was approved, and now we're in the immigration-phase. This takes a while, so we're in a holding pattern. No big deal, it's just the way it is. We continually pray for "our baby in China" and that "God will prepare our home for the day the baby comes to live with us." Feel free to join us in this prayer.

Bedtime Routine

After a lengthy absence, it's video time on the Gates blog!!!

Lincoln and I have a bedtime routine. He even refers to it as... "My routine." First I say, "I think you need to tell Mommy a few things."

Lincoln then finds Jenn and says, "Goodbye. Night, night. Love you," and gives her a hug and a kiss. Then we go up stairs to his room. He goes potty, brushes his teeth, puts his nightime diaper on, puts his pajamas on, gets Bear from the top bunk, we read stories together, he climbs into bed, we sing songs, say our prayer, and then finish with a kiss and a hug. Sometimes we'll play a bit between the steps, but we always go in that order. What follows was a portion of our routine this evening.

More Napping

These photos just don't get old for Jenn and me. Perhaps it's because he didn't sleep like this worth a darn for many months.
I had a patient show up at the clinic after we were closed and I was finishing up my paperwork, and the patient needed to have her chest tapped... but my staff had left for the day. So Jenn came to help me out and Lincoln was a trooper. He ate his pancakes for lunch in the break room while we cared for the cat in the treatment room... it really was a family operation today! Lincoln is increasingly learning what Jenn and I do, and it's pretty funny to watch his little mind work. The crazy thing to think about is this: if he does what I did, then he'll move from eating pancakes in the breakroom to saving the cats in the treatment room. Holy cow!

Big Boy Bed

Lincoln is adjusting to his bed quite nicely. This was his nap time today:
He was also a champ today while I painted his room. He sat on the top bunk and read his books while I finished the second coat.
And to close out today's post, a Gretel portrait:

A Room & A Name

The fun never stops at the Gates Home! First on tap this weekend was to get Lincoln's "new" room underway. He's keeping his room, we're just shifting the furniture to the new baby's room (more on this below). A while back we bought a bunk bed set, and it's been sitting around apparently waiting for this weekend! Jenn picked out some great bedding for Lincoln's new furniture and also for the baby's new room.

It didn't take long to put the bed together, and Lincoln wanted to be a part of that, so we all had fun as a family setting up the new "big boy bed."

Climbing In

Climbing Out

Then we picked a blue to go with his bedding, and I started the painting process (I can't say I really missed it, but this was a different kind of painting. Norton painting was: "Get this looking nice so someone will hopefully buy it." Forest Edge painting is: "I really like this color, let's make this room look nice for ourselves.") We'll post a finished photo soon (hopefully!).
Drumroll, please.

And now the moment that many of you have been waiting for. There were two names that Jenn and I were volleying back and forth in our minds. They were both relatively uncommon names today (there were three Jenns in the waiting room at the OB's office on Wednesday... Jenn doesn't want that for our daughter!) and they both sat well with us. So we put it to Lincoln, and one of the names he pronounced not-so-perfectly while the other he said very articulately.

And her name shall be: Lydia Gray

We will now be referring to the arrival of our daugther as Lydia's arrival. Lincoln is already calling her by name, and we will be doing the same. This has been a bit of a different pregnancy for Jenn (not better or worse, just different), and judging by Lydia's activity level, she's developing a personality already. It remains to be seen if Lydia will be more of a schedule keeper than Lincoln... we're hoping to meet her in mid, not late, October.