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.

Catch-Up for Mommy, Play-Time for Lincoln

Lincoln has been an all-star this week. He's just now starting to show interest in pulling himself up (only a little bit, though) and he "scooted" a bit while he was on his belly, and for those who know Lincoln, you know that this is a big step. On Thursday, in fact, he went down for a nap at 5:55 and we had to wake him up at 7:30 because he'd worn himself out pulling and scooting. Napping this long in the early evening is unheard of for our little man!

After I got home from work today I started a 1/2 Daddy Day. Jenn's best friend from early school through high school found her on facebook and they set up a time to get together. So they're having catch up time (11+ years!) while Lincoln and I play and laugh. He's getting funny with his sounds, and his laugh is really funny.

This evening I'm making my first visit to Prelude, a "coffee house/lounge" at Church in the Falls that was the brainchild of Cory Sheldon, an old friend of mine. If you were at our wedding, you may remember him as one of my groomsmen. Cory's a great guy and, I don't say this lightly, is the funniest person that I know. Not the type of funny you can teach, it's just something that he's got. So anyway, he had an idea for a coffee house with live music with a Christian bent, and Prelude was the product. I've been meaning to check it out for some time, now, and tonight is the night. I'm going with a friend, and Jenn refers to it as my "man date."

Cute baby #1.

Lincoln always smiles for Sunny, the puppet that he received for Christmas.

This is Lincoln's non-stressed poop face. If he were stressed, his eyes would be watering and his face would be red.

Lincoln in Boxes

While I was visiting over lunch, mom (Grandma Paulette) showed me a couple of pictures she'd taken recently. The toy box pictures were from today.

Lincoln was not placed here. He still won't crawl, but with enough reaching, he eventually scoots his way around.

And once he gets there, he relaxes.

Home Improvement & Photographing Middle-Schoolers

It's been a while since we've posted, and unfortunately I haven't taken pictures of Lincoln within the last week. Jenn and I have been very busy around the house. We hired a friend of ours to tile our kitchen, downstairs bath and laundry room, and boy does it look nice! A major improvement from the ugly linoleum with the holes in it. Jenn started pulling wall paper in our bedroom, but that was put on hold while we re-painted our TV room. If you've been to the Hopwoods, it's the same color as in Emily's kitchen. Now we're in the process of hanging window treatments (it's been almost three years, can you believe it!). And after the windows are dressed, we'll hang my Christmas presents (Washington Crossing the Delaware, TR & the U.S. Constitution). So you'll be in for a surprise the next time you visit the Gates Home.

Lincoln has been making great strides lately. He's waving "hello" and "good bye," he's napping less (bummer) but remaining happy and playful longer while he's awake (yea!), and it seems he's on the cusp of saying his first "real sounds." Jenn's been working on, "da da," with him, and so far he's been able to produce, "da." So it's a start.

The EDGE games finished this past Friday, and my contribution was to be the "official photographer" because their regular couldn't make it. It was a blast, and it allowed me to practice with a few different techniques. First of all, the room was pretty dark, even when the lights were on, and this presented a challenge. Also, because of the games (more on this below) and the talent show, there was a lot of movement to the night, and I had to stay on my toes. Thank goodness my Canon has a quick auto focus. The 50mm and the 28mm (both presents from the Parkinsons!) were perfect because of their low aperture settings. The evening concluded with the talent show, and holy cow(!), those middle-schoolers were good... lots of singing, dancing, and some comedy. I was impressed. Back to the game, it was called Chocolate Milk Machine. A relay, each kid had to run to a table, have Hershey's Chocolate Syrup squeezed into their mouths, then take a drink of milk, jump up and down three times, and then spit the "chocolate milk" into a pitcher. The first team to fill the pitcher won. It was gross.

As for my previous post, YouTube is not processing the video, so unfortunately, the pictures will have to do for now. I'll keep working on it. Lincoln is back with his Grandma Paulette for the day today so who knows what fun things he'll learn!

Reading a Magazine

There have been some interesting benchmarks that we've noticed lately with regard to Lincoln's development, and one of them is what he's willing to do with paper. At Christmas time, a mere 3 weeks ago, he didn't know much about what to do with paper. He wasn't interested in tearing, wrinkling, pulling, etc. That has changed. Today his Grandma Paulette gave him a catalog while he was sitting in his usual place in the Guest Room/Office and he had a bunch of fun for about 45 minutes.

(Video will be added when YouTube is cooperative.)

First Tooth

At long last, and just shy of 9 months of age, Lincoln's first tooth has erupted. And in classic Lincoln fashion, where little that he does fits with the norm, it appears to be the second upper right incisor, and not a lower central incisor. He was a bit more fussy yesterday than normal, but he's not nearly as "drooly" as we'd expect. When I can get a look in his mouth, which isn't very often or for very long, it looks like there one just medial that's about to come in, too. Jenn and I have said for a while that we'd like for him to not get his teeth for a while, and then for them to come in quickly... we'll see!

Getting Bigger...

Jenn weighed Lincoln at home today and he's up to 18 lbs. There are babies we know of at church that are younger than he is who are in the 20# range, but for Lincoln, 18# is phenomenal. At his doctor's visit when he had Roseola he was 15.5#, and that was on Dec. 11. In five weeks he's gained 2.5#. He went for several months at a time early on in life without gaining 2.5#. So he's becoming a bit of a porker. If you've seen him eat, this wouldn't surprise you. His eating volume also explains his pooping volume. We're running through the diapers at the Gates home!

The work continues on our house. A friend from Vineyard Cleveland is coming on Tuesday to tile our kitchen, downstairs restroom and laundry room. That'll take a couple of days to finish, so we've been trying to get stuff ready so we won't have to be in those rooms. We're also pulling the border wallpaper in our bedroom. I can't find our "before" pictures right now, but for those who have seen our room, you may recall that the crazies who lived here before ran border wallpaper around the windows. Then we've got to prime the walls in our TV room so we can paint it a new color (Jenn had grown tired of the darkness of the cranberry color). So if we end up not moving, we'll have made great advancements in a short period of time!

Speaking of the TV room, my Christmas present from Jenn was recently completed at JoAnn's. She had my U.S. Constitution and Theodore Roosevelt posters framed, and they look fantastic. The matting on the Roosevelt will need some touch-up, so I have to take it back, but the frames and the mats are very impressive, and they'll be going in the TV room with the Washington Crossing The Delaware when the walls are finished.

Bridget is the best dog for a little boy, and Lincoln loves his Boxer.

Faces of Lincoln

Lincoln can make a bunch of faces, and it's funny to watch him go through the motions. His mom and dad couldn't be prouder of him!

p.s.

Middle School Mayhem

Like I said in my New Year post, I'm not big on resolutions anymore because when I break it/them, I just beat myself up over it. So I didn't want to make any resolutions. One thing I've tried to be more intentional about is looking for areas to volunteer at church. My first opportunity came with The Edge Games, the big middle school ministry activity that HCC puts on every January. Five hundred-plus middle schoolers come every Friday evening for three weeks for big-group Olympic-style games followed by a good message. It's been a long time since I was in middle school, so I've forgotten much about that stage of life. Just a few minutes there reminded me that that's a tough stage. The girls and the boys are on different wave-lengths, most of them are pretty awkward, it's hard to get them to focus and pay attention... it takes some special people to lead a middle school ministry. I know I couldn't do it, but it was really neat taking small role in the evening. It was also an interesting glimpse into the future of our lives with Lincoln... it won't be long before he's a middle schooler!

Another neat part of last Friday evening was that one of the other volunteers is a guy that I met in a church meeting several months ago. He's also a veterinarian. What a small world! (wink, wink) It was great to have that familiarity. Then he asked me a funny question: "So you have a middle schooler?" I said, "No, my boy is 8 and a half months old." He looked at me funny and said, "So, why are you here?" No doubt wondering who would spend extra time with a 12 year old if they didn't have to. But it was a very fun time. I came home with fun stories for Jenn about the crazy games and watching the kids fall over after the dizzy bat race. I can only imagine what fun stuff will come this evening.

A big chunk of the kids that come are not part of the church so it's a good outreach to them and their families. Todd and Jonathan, the guys who head up The Edge Games, do a fantastic job of finding fun games that are great for bunches of kids. And with such a big operation, they need adults to supervise and set up the games. That's where I helped out. You may notice the guy in the Ohio State t-shirt... that's me.

Edge Games V 09 Week 1 from edgehcc on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

Today is Dad's birthday, and we needed a picture of the Birthday Boy with Lincoln!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful Dad and a fantastic Grandpa!

Mid-January

The arctic air is moving in and it's supposed to get into the single digits over the next couple of days. Brrrr. Good thing Lincoln's got lots of warm gear! Thanks so much to our families for giving him such cute and warm clothes for Christmas! A big thanks, also, to Larry & Marti for the remote control for my camera! Now I can get in front of the lens every now and then.

Moving?

We've made brief mention of moving previously, so I figured I'd set the record straight as far as we know right now. Jenn and I are very happy with the house in which we are living. It has all the room that we need, the bedrooms are great, the kitchen is a good size, the fenced-in back yard is awesome, the work bench is great, our bathroom is awful but we can work on it over time, our deck is fun to use in the summer, and the location is very convenient for our ultimate trifecta of work/grocery shopping/church.

Our current house does need some continued work. We've pulled a ton of wallpaper and done a bunch of painting. The kitchen floor is really bad with several holes in the linoleum, our bathroom is a logistical nightmare: no door to the bathroom, the toilet is literally out in the open, the vanities are about 6-12 inches lower than a comfortable level, the shower conjures up images of Stony Lake (really small, for those not familiar with Stony Lake), and the front landscaping needs work.

So why consider moving? With interest rates as low as they are, and with this being a buyer's market, we've decided to see what might be available to us. We're looking for a house that can have an extra bedroom for our out-of-town guests and have a kitchen that Jenn has in mind. We're also looking for a neighborhood with nice sidewalks for us to use as a family. As it stands now, we have the luxury of both not having to move and of having a home that is an ideal starter home for Hudson. If there's a family that is looking to get into the Hudson school system without having to break the bank, they couldn't do much better than our house. So why not gather information?

Jenn's been looking into homes that are in the Woodridge/Northampton section of Cuyahoga Falls. This would keep us close to church, close to a grocery store, and very close to the clinic (<5 minute drive). You know how Jenn gets when it comes to research? She's all over it in the most thorough way, so if there's a house that looks like it could be for us, she'll find it. Joe Grecco, our realtor, and Aaron Barnhardt, our lender, have been fabulous to work with in terms of expanding our options and giving us good advice. Both are Christians who share a similar vision and philosophy when it comes to family, finances and faith.

One of the things that we struggle with is being content. It's so easy to always want more and to not be happy with what the LORD has given to us. Jenn and I have been blessed beyond what we could have imagined a few years ago. It's a daily struggle walking the line between a) being content with what we have (a very nice house) and b) being responsible for our family and being as the best stewards with what we have as we can be. So if we write to you with a new return address, you won't be taken by surprise. But if we have Lincoln's high school graduation party at our current home, you'll know that we gathered lots of information and determined that our current situation was best.

Snow

Inspired by some photos a buddy of mine took recently, I decided to play with a long shutter speed & show the snow we've had in the last 36 hours at the same time. This was shot from one of our sliding doors that leads to our deck and back yard at around 4:00am. I haven't heard an official measurement, but there's at least 10 inches on the picnic table.

Snowy Day in Hudson

We're getting hammered with snow today. I've shoveled the driveway a couple of times, and my new neighbor came over with his snow-thrower to help me with the deep stuff. My snow-blower, a hand-me-down from Dad, has officially pooped out after more than 20 years. I can't complain at all. It was good while it lasted, which is a lot longer than anything else that is produced today. Jenn had to work today up in Mayfield, so she took the Envoy for the 4-Wheel-Drive, and she said she needed it!

Lincoln has been an all-star today. He ate more than I've ever seen him for his second meal: apples, dates, carrots, barley, oatmeal, mangoes, and bok choy. His belly was pretty big, as you may be able to see.

From the "Lincoln's Newest Thing" file: Lincoln has just begun picking up particular toys and placing them in their containers. For instance, with his Busy Ball Choo Choo, he takes the balls out of the Choo Choo, puts them in his mouth for a couple of seconds, and then places the balls back in the Choo Choo. Similarly, with his stack of rings, he's trying to put the rings onto the peg. This latest development has come in just the past couple of days.

I'll try to get a picture of the dogs out in the snow. It's up to Bridget's chest, but they don't want to spend an extra nanosecond out there so it's hard to let them out and get the camera ready in an instant.

Our Little Bear

Lincoln's Grandma Paulette found a bear suit for him to wear when it's cold outside. He's a little hotbox when he comes out of it!

Jenn, Lincoln and I went to visit our friends, Eric & Allyson, with their new son Sammy Kiya (kee'-uh). Wow, what a cutie! Lincoln loves looking at babies, and Sammy held his attention for a while. I can't imagine inheriting Lincoln at 5 months of age and expecting to be able to know all about him, but that's what the Lengachers have done with Sammy, and they're doing a great job.