Apparently, a pre-due-date delivery and a binary birthday were too much to ask for. Instead, it's business as usual here at the Gates home. Lincoln is still an only child as Lydia intends to cook for a few extra days. But we're not wasting our time!
We've been drawing on the driveway.
We've been going on walks.
I've been going to work, and Jenn's been getting some things in order that she'll may want to announce to you herself soon.
It's funny, the Rich Nathan podcast I just finished listening to in the car was "Meeting God While We Wait." Hmmm... waiting... we know about that!
It's Saturday at the Gates Home. It started early with Jenn developing a craft for Lincoln (huh? wow!). The Hairy Caterpillar!
Lincoln and I have been playing "baseball" in the basement. It consists of us using my old mini-bats from the old Bat Days at Indians' games and his soft, inflatable Thomas the Train ball. Lincoln holds the ball in one hand and hits it with the bat in his other. We using terms like "homerun," "pop-fly," and "line-drive." Sometimes when I hit it real far he'll yell, "Touchdown!" but then we have to have the conversation that "touchdowns" are in football, not baseball.
We then went to the zoo. Apparently everyone else in the greater Akron area went to the zoo, too, because it was busy. Lincoln walked the whole way until we were on our way out when he asked me to carry him. He was a very good, obedient boy for me today.
The Buckeyes are on (and winning big), and we're waiting for Lydia. Just a normal weekend for us here!
Lots has gone on since our last post. Lydia has not yet arrived. Jenn is feeling pretty good. She's not sleeping very well at night, but her feet are not as swollen this time around as last time around. She's 1cm dilated. Yesterday was her last day of work for the next 3 months. We're ready for Lydia to come!
Last Saturday morning we hiked in the drizzle...
... then in the evening we went to Chris and Val's clam bake. It was quite the production, lots of people, and tons of good food. Lincoln was a little shy for the first 30 minutes or so, but then he warmed up. After that, he was talking to everyone, walking around the crowd, wandering out in the rain, etc. He wasn't into eating "the inside of the clams." He only wanted to play with the "outside of the clams." We also discovered that Lincoln is great to take to a wine party because he'll fill himself up with cheese, crackers and fruit.
Lincoln is a champ with the spoon.
In fact, today he and I went to Friendly's to get a Cone Head Sundae and he ate his portion of it (of course I had some!) without a bib and only a drop of ice cream on his pants.
Mom sent this to me, and I'd love to credit whomever came up with this idea, but all I know is that it was a couple of people from LaGrange, TX.
Mom and Emily have been super-creative with some of their gifts to Lydia. Emily painted the letters and Mom made the lamp shade to match Lydia's sheets and quilt.
Our roof had been allowing water to creep in along the siding just along the side of our great-room. This was a downer to learn, and it was something that we knew had to be fixed before the winter time and before any ice-damming could occur. So we arranged for that to be done this past week, and the guys did an awesome job. The gutters were also re-routed so that now only a fraction of water will even go on that area of the roof, which ought to minimize any ice-damming.
The weather has been cold lately, especially at night, which means... SLEEPER TIME!
Finally, the dogs have always been good with Lincoln, but I think they wouldn't choose to have him around much. He runs into them and hits at them, even though he knows it's wrong. Betty, especially, usually gets out of his way. But lately he's been much better with her. We've encouraged him to move slowly around her so that he can pet her. She's been slightly more trusting, and it culminated today with this "photo shoot."
Today was our (mostly) annual trip to the Apple Orchard. You may recall that we had to put off our trip last year when Lincoln vomitted in the car. So it had not been since this photo that Lincoln had accompanied us on our fall family tradition.
Aside: I had mentioned in the last post the Lincoln's been sick lately. He's got a really runny nose and a tough cough. It's not limiting his play-time, or his desire for independence, or his ability to be funny. Earlier in the week he woke up crying very seriously. I went into his room and asked if he had a bad dream and he answered, "Yes." Since then, when he wakes up crying, he tells us that he's had a bad dream.
Then Jenn asked him on one occasion what his bad dream was about, and without missing a beat, he replied, "Ice cream." So I'm not sure he completely understands what we mean by "a bad dream."
Back to the events of the day, the house smells wonderful. The applesauce is cooking, and apple pies, apple dumplings and apple crisp is on the agenda, as well.
The Buckeyes started a few minutes ago. I DVRed it so I won't have to watch all of the commercials, but I'm getting antsy to watch, so I'll be closing up shop here shortly.
The days are ticking down to Lydia's arrival. Because Lincoln was so late, it's hard to know exactly when Lydia will decide to make her appearance. The possibility of her coming early really hasn't been on our radar. Hmmm... Will we look back to this blog post and laugh?
We had a bit of a rough night last night. Lincoln had been working on some sneezing and coughing spells, and last night he was up routinely with a nasty cough. Beginning at 2:30,
I sat with him in his chair, thinking that sitting up would help him breath better. Then we moved to his bed where I stayed with him to make sure he stayed on his propped-up pillows. Needless to say, I went to work tired this morning. I would have gotten some sleep because Jenn traded places with me at 5:55am and gave him some Tylenol and Vicks Vapo Rub, but by that time, Lincoln decided to start talking... a lot... because he was all the way rested and feeling better from his medicines!
The sneezing has persisted, but otherwise he's doing well.
Jenn went for another ultrasound today. If you were confused by my last note about her and Lydia, here's the explanation: She's supposed to measure in centimeters the same as the number of weeks she's been pregnant. At her last visit, she was measuring 4 cm less. There are a number of potential reasons for this, from the serious to the no-big-deal. If her placenta was failing and there wasn't sufficient amniotic fluid, that would be a bad thing for Lydia. But today's visit demonstrated that things are okay. Lydia has moved down (Jenn was very suspicious of this because of how she was feeling), and that accounts for the measurment change. Jenn and I were suspicious that things were okay anyway because why else would the put the ultrasound appointment off for a week?
If Lydia's life were really in danger, I'd think they'd ultrasound ASAP. But that's human medicine for you. Also, according to the ultrasound measurements, Lydia's measuring at 6# 5oz. We'll see!
Our busy month is blitzing by toward October. There are still events on our calendar, but they'll mostly be at the mercy of one big event.
On a completely separate subject, I want to high-light a website for a company that I like: Fleetwood Properties. The guy behind this business is a first-rate businessman that is doing a lot of good in the Akron area. He buys homes that are in awful shape, fixes them up, and sells them. They're usually in not the nicest neighborhoods, but because he makes them so nice, he helps out the property value of the area. It's also a way for folks to buy a nice house that they otherwise wouldn't be able to find. Further, providing good links to any website is a good thing when it comes to the search engines, so I thought I'd help him out a bit.
