Snot Snot Snot

This is how he woke up this morning. He like to sleep on his tummy now and so all his snot gets all over the sheets and then he lays in it.......sorry if this is too gross for some of you out there :)

Lincoln has his first cold right now and he is one snotty boy! He, like most kids, hates it when I try to wipe his nose or use the little aspirator to suction it out, so it's a battle all day long to sneak up and do it before he gets all upset. Just a little while ago Lincoln was playing in his exersaucer and he was leaning over playing with a toy when he sneezed and banged his poor little noggin' on the toy he was playing with! He was so surprised, I had to hold back a chuckle but he didn't cry :)

I am very thankful though that he is still able to sleep pretty well even though it's getting harder to breathe out of his nose. Hopefully the cold won't last long and he'll be back to his normal self soon.

"Choose"

I was listening to one of the Christian Radio Stations while driving and they were talking about picking one word to base this next year on. Instead of making a New Year's Resolution, using this one word to spur you on or that will describe what or how you will do things this year. I thought about it for awhile and was reminded of a blog post of a friend of mine where she talked about "choosing" her perspective. It hit me like a slap in the face because of the condition of my own heart that the moment. I wasn't choosing a good perspective about everything we endured this past year and it was getting the best of me and making me a little bitter. That's so hard to admit but unfortunately it's the truth. I kept focusing on how it wasn't fair that I didn't get a normal pregnancy, a normal birth, a normal recovery. I would find myself getting a little upset if a pregnant mom was complaining about going overdue because I would've given anything to go overdue.

I hate that my heart was so bitter, this whole situation that God threw us in was supposed to grow me and help me to rely on Him which I think it did but as soon as I had the chance to look back on it all and get back to normal life I would start to get jealous of friends with healthy full term babies etc.

All this to say my word for this year is "choose." I can choose to be sad about the things I missed out on or I can be thankful I was able to be pregnant for as long as I was.
I can choose to wish I had a full term baby or I can look at my preemie and be thankful he doesn't have any problems that preemies have.
I can choose to be upset about the fact that Lincoln was born at 31 weeks or I can look at the fact that I never had to be uncomfortable and hugely pregnant.
I can choose......
I can choose.....
and the list goes on and on.

My point is this year my perspective is changing. I am going to "choose" to be thankful and look at all my blessings and not focus on the things I wish I would've had.

I'm sorry this post is kind of a downer.....I've very embarrassed about how I've felt and all my complaining.
So here's to my year of "choosing!"

What word would you pick for this year? I want to hear other's words!

6 ish month Stats

Lincoln had his first "normal" well child check up today. It was his 6 month checkup but he's so off a regular schedule with shots etc. that he didn't have the normal 6 months check up. I think he'll get his "6 months shots" next month but that doesn't mean he was "shotless" today. Poor guy is "lucky" (lucky is loosely used because I think he's VERY lucky to get the shot, but he might have other thoughts, haha) enough to get the RSV shot every time we go see the Dr. Good thing he won't remember any of this otherwise he would HATE going to the doctor! So here are Lincoln stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz. !! He gained 1 lb. 1oz. since his last check up 1 month ago....woohoo :)

Length: 25 1/4 in. If there is one area that Lincoln is doing really well in it's his length/height. He made the 6th percentile today! I think he's going to be long and thin like his mommy was as a baby. Dr. Ernst said today that his Genetics don't help the fact that he was premature....neither mommy or daddy were big babies so that doesn't help his situation! :)

Head circumference: 16.5 in. He made the 5th percentile on this one too!

Weight to length ratio went way down last month but it turned and went up just a little this month. This low ratio doesn't help his clothes fit very well! Everything is too short or too fat. The clothes that fit Lincoln the best right now are the long 0-3 mo. clothes. They are just long enough (for now at least) and fit him so well weight-wise. Some 3-6 month tops are starting to fit lengthwise but they are all SO fat for him! The only things that fit really well right now are most of his 3-6 mo. pj's. He has outgrown the 0-3 month pj's by a long ways and the 3-6 month pj's aren't going to be long enough for much longer!

Lincoln gets to finally start eating some cereal now so I think tonight will be his first taste! :) I'll post pictures and video of that soon!

3 more months....

Today was supposed to be Lincoln's last Physical Therapy appointment but after seeing him and looking at what he is doing and not doing yet, the PT wants to keep seeing him once a month for the next 3 months. I was a little discouraged because from everything we had heard so far Lincoln was right on track and was quickly catching up to his actual age developmentally. The PT checked his neck for the tightness from the Tortacolis and can still feel a little tightness (I thought from the last visit that she had said that it was gone so that was surprising to me), and she said she thought he should be able to sit on his own and he's not very close, his reflux, and the fact that he's still so tiny. I think all that combined and from how well Lincoln was doing at the last appointment the PT said she probably just expected him to be doing more. So that was VERY discouraging. I was doing so well at not worrying about his weight or things he's doing or not doing because I thought he was doing well but she made it seem like he's slipping backwards sorta. So anyways......all that to say that we have PT for 3 more months and she said that when we move to NE that she'll look up a place where Lincoln can get PT up there too.

The PT also made the comment that "I like to keep an eye on the preemie white boys." For those of you who don't know what that means, statistically they have found that out of all preemies white males do the worst developmentally. Like in the NICU when a nurse told me I had a lazy white boy, I was SOOO offended but then later realized what she meant. So I understand where she's coming from and I'm glad she cares enough to want to make sure Lincoln continues to do well.

Christmas is Over

I finally took down the Christmas tree and all our decor today. I've been in denial that Christmas is really over already and it's the middle of January. I always hate the day that I have to take down the Christmas stuff not only because I love the Christmas season but our house always looks so BARE after all the decorations are taken down! I'm sad :( That's all.

I'm 6 months old!

Lincoln Tyler is already 6 months old! I'm a little late on getting this posted since he turned 6 months on Jan. 6 but hey you do what you can when you can when you have a baby (I'm learning this slowly). Lincoln has his 6 month well child checkup next Friday so I'll post his new weight and height then.

Here is his 6 month picture with his bear. I can't wait to line all these up after a year and see the progression!

He is all smiles lately and it's so fun to see this first thing every morning. How did I get this lucky?!

And then he toppled over and attacked the bear. He's looking at me like, "quit taking pictures and help me get back up!"

Lincoln Tyler is already 6 months old! I'm a little late on getting this posted since he turned 6 months on Jan. 6 but hey you do what you can when you can when you have a baby (I'm learning this slowly). Lincoln has his 6 month well child checkup next Friday so I'll post his new weight and height then.

Here are some of the things Lincoln is doing lately:

*Sleeping through the night (he's been doing this for quite awhile but just thought I'd mention it since he's such a good sleeper!)
*Rolling from tummy to back
*Rolling from back to tummy (he did this for the first time Jan. 8!)
*Starting to "scoot" forward a little to get a toy. He'll be crawling before too long!
*He's not sitting on his own yet but he's getting SOO close!
*Lincoln likes to play games with us by copying a sound we make. I'll say "ooooohh" and he'll say something like it and we'll go back and forth like that quite a few times before he gets board and wants to move on. :)
*Lincoln has started actually "playing" with the toys in his exersaucer instead of just focusing on trying to keep his head steady and upright....

He is such a joy to us and every day just brings more fun with it as he learns new things and interacts more with us. I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!

Kaely Rocks!

My awesome friend Kaely made Lincoln this bib for his baby shower and she needed a picture of him in it with her.

Here is the best smile but you can't read the bib.

Then Lincoln decided to stick out his pouty lip for this one.....

I guess we'll have to settle with the "indifferent" look! Thanks Aunt Kaely! :)

Christmas with Tyler's Family

We finally were able to have Christmas with Tyler's family New Year's Day. Everyone was able to make it and we had a great time!

Lincoln's first tractor :)

Checking out the new Gator! Can't quite reach the pedals yet...hehe

Tuckered out and cuddling with Great Aunt Marta

Christmas made Lincoln very sleepy apparently.....taking another nap with Grandpa

Jarrod and Tyler showing off their awesome Mario Cart skills

Christmas with Marie's Family

Christmas looked very different this year for many reasons. First because it was Lincoln's first Christmas! He had no idea what was going on but seemed to like his gifts :) We spent Christmas Eve with my family and since it was so cold and snowy my mom didn't make us do our little "tradition" of running outside around the house before we get to open presents. We had a great evening with family and got lots of fun gifts! Lincoln got a Leapfrog play and learn table. He loved watching all the lights blink and listening to the abc's and counting to 10. We also got to unexpectedly spend Christmas day with my family since we were snowed in and so we got lots of family bonding time playing Monopoly and Scrabble :)

Happy New Year!

2009 brought a huge change to our lives as we welcomed Lincoln into our little family. It was not an easy pregnancy by far and God has taught us so many things this past year that I hope I learned and don't have to be put in a situation like that again in order to relearn those things! It was amazing to see how God has orchestrated our lives this past year and brought so many blessings to our family.

I finally graduated with my Bachelor's in Education this year as well and I'm finally able to put to use all those long hours studying and sitting in lectures by working at Rempel Inc. full time. This is my dream job and I've wanted to do it all my life. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I love being a stay at home mom!


Decisions that we have made in 2009 are going to soon bring some big changes for our family in 2010 concerning Tyler's job.....more to come on that later.

I'm excited to start a new year with my boys and ready to see how God will use and grow us this coming year.