Christmas Fun

Well, Christmas is over and we had a great time with our families. It was nice to spend time with family. Lincoln made quite the haul with gifts. He is spoiled. He got almost all toys from the Dempsey side of the family and almost all clothes from the Griffin side, so it was a nice little balance. Ryan's parents got us a camcorder for Christmas! We are so excited. We have been talking about getting one, so it was the perfect gift. We have probably already taken at least 15 to 20 videos.

We spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's family.

As soon as we got there Lincoln opened up his stocking.

He was so cute. He got some little soft blocks and soft plastic cars, he enjoyed them and trying to eat them (as he eats everything now). After the stockings we ate and then opened presents. Lincoln slept through the whole thing. After we were finished opening his presents he woke up and we showed him everything.


Once again he decided he wanted to taste everything.

Lincoln has been almost sitting up by himself lately, but on Christmas Eve is when he did the best without help. He still kind of leans forward a little bit, but for the most part he does pretty good at not tipping over.

After we were done at Ryan's family's house we drove to Port Huron. The roads were terrible. We probably saw a good 10 cars (probably more) that had gone off the road. It probably took us an extra hour to get there, but we arrived safely.

Christmas morning my family all woke up at 7 am (as is the tradition) and sat on the stairs to wait for everyone. We took a picture of all the kids and grandkids and then went to open our stockings. After we open our stockings we go into the family room where the tree is and my dad hands out the gifts to everyone.

Behind Michela's head you can see the kitties watching us open gifts...and Yohann as Batman

Once again Lincoln slept through the opening of gifts. After all the gifts are open we all go out of the room and my dad hides the pickle ornament. For those of you don't know, the pickle ornament is exactly that, an ornament that looks like a pickle. Well it gets hidden and everyone tries to find it. The lucky person to find it gets an extra gift. I was the lucky one to find the pickle ornament this year. I think the gift this year was the best yet. I got a chocolate fountain! I was so excited! I have always wanted one.

It was great to experience Lincoln's first Christmas.

He was so cute looking at all his toys and everything. He is a very curious and active baby. I can't wait until next year when he is a little more responsive. It will be even more fun then.

Sick Baby!

My poor baby is sick. He woke up from a nap on Tuesday night with a nasty cough. It came out of nowhere. Then yesterday morning when it was still there, rattling around in his chest, we decided to call the doctor. Then before we went in I noticed he had a fever too...poor baby! Well when we got to the doctor's they told us it was a virus that was in his bronchioles in his lungs, and the best way to get rid of it would be to give him nebulizer treatments.

He had one at the doctor's office just to make sure it would help (she said he sounded much better afterward).

So we got our own little machine and are giving him these treatments.Hopefully they work. Every time he coughs I think my heart breaks a little. I feel so bad for him. My poor baby.

Frankenmuth...the Christmas Wonderland!!!

The first Saturday of every December we have a tradition of going to Frankenmuth with Ryan's family. It is one of our most anticipated trips of the year...maybe the most anticipated for Ryan.

Jerry, Jackson, and Mandy Richmond

For those of you who have never been or do not know the appeal of Frankenmuth...it is Christmas all year long. They have a huge store called Bronners where you can buy just about any Christmas thing you can think of. We also get fudge, and Bavarian nuts, flavored popcorn, and all sorts of treats, as well as have a huge chicken dinner.

Jackson waiting for our chicken dinner

This was, of course, the first time Lincoln and Jackson went with us.

Jackson looking at the train circling the ceiling

They got to see Santa and sit on his lap. They were both pretty fascinated with him and couldn't stop staring. We were just glad they didn't freak out. The nice thing about going to see Santa at Frankenmuth is it is free and you take your own pictures, so you can take as many as you want.

The boys posing in the snowman...waiting for Santa

Sitting with Santa at Frankenmuth

Thanksgiving

I know this is a little delayed...I'm a procrastinator, what can I say? We had a great Thanksgiving. We were going to have dinner with both families on Thursday, however there were some complications and my family could not come over until Saturday. So, we spent Thursday with Ryan's family.

Jackson and Lincoln with Great Grandma Dempsey and Lincoln's Aunt Mandy

Lincoln and Jackson are 7 months apart...
Lincoln will catch up in no time

I guess it worked out for the better because that way we could spend more time with each of them. I love Thanksgiving. There are so many things that I only get to eat on Thanksgiving. As it gets closer I anticipate it every year. I love that time together as a family too. I don't get to see my family enough, so when I do I try to soak it all in.

The four sisters....and Lincoln with Aunt Ashley

The family picture

When my family came on Saturday we also celebrated Yohann's 2nd birthday!


Yohann tried some of the frosting before we sang to him...
I don't think he liked it by itself

Laughing

So Lincoln just laughed at me for the first time tonight. It wasn't a big belly laugh or anything, but it was definitely a laugh, and so cute! I'm so glad I was here for it!

Nothing New

So there hasn't been a whole lot going on to write about. A lot if the same old thing, so I didn't want to bore you.

Lincoln is now three months old and still growing like a weed.

He is becoming a little more independent each day, which is nice because I don't have to pay attention to him every minute. A couple weeks ago he actually reached out and grabbed some of his links, and then just the other day he managed to switch them from one hand to the other. He has been learning to play in his jumper. He loves it! He just started actually playing with stuff instead of just looking at it. It is so cute because he studies really hard and then will hit or move something. I know as he gets older he is going to love it more and more. He is still just a little too short. He can touch the ground, but he kind of leans to one side or the other, or forward.

Oh how I love him!!

He is generally a very happy boy! Unless he is tired or hungry.

The picture on the left is one of my favorites

Chillin' and hanging out with Grandma Dempsey

He loves eating his hands...sleeping with Dad

We just recently started feeding Lincoln cereal occasionally. He seems to really like it. I can't wait to feed him actual baby food. I think he is going to love it. Plus he will not speed through the formula so fast. He eats so much. He is definitely a growing boy. He has been doing a lot better with sleeping too, which is very helpful to my sanity. It was definitely beginning to wear on me. He sleeps through the night for the most part. So he is doing much better.

Next weekend we are going to Frankenmuth. We are so excited. He is going to see Santa, and get his picture taken with him with his cousin Jackson. Next year will be the good year though, when he can actually understand what is going on and can enjoy it.

I LOVE being a Mom!!!

Update

So I haven't had a post in a while so I figured I would try to update everyone a little. Lincoln will be three months old next week, but Ryan and I decided he is so big, he looks more like he is six months.

We started putting him in his jumper. He can't hold himself up completely, but he can still jump a little bit. He doesn't really do anything in it, but he is still pretty mesmerized by it. I think he is almost able to sit up by himself. I don't think it will be much longer really. He loves watching TV with Mom and Dad. If we are feeding him while we are watching TV he will turn his head while eating so he can watch too. Or if we are watching TV and holding him so he can't see, he will start to fuss, but will stop once he is sitting in front of you watching. He still smiles a lot. I think he actually almost laughed the other day, but not yet.

Daddy said "Hi" to him and he smiled REALLY big!
It looks like he is laughing. He loves Daddy.

I think he is going to have the cutest laugh. I still love when he coos. We haven't taken any pictures recently with our camera (only with our cell phone), but I will try to post some on here soon.

Working Girl

So today was my first day back to work. It was kind of surreal. I thought once I had Lincoln that I would want to stay home with him all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love him and love watching him grow, but I need that little bit of change thrown in there as well. I am only going to be working a couple shifts a week, so I still won't be away from him that much. It gives Ryan the chance to bond with him like I do too, so that is good.

Today was Ryan's first day alone with him. He said he wouldn't be able to do it. He would get too bored. A lot of times I do get bored. I usually end up passing out with Lincoln sleeping on top of me with the TV on. That is a common occurrence since watching TV is pretty much all I do. Right now it is hard because he is so demanding. He still doesn't really do that much and I have to keep him happy, but he is slowly being able to occupy himself for longer periods of time.

He has discovered his hands, so he gnaws on them. Last night we tried to give him a toy link to hold on to so that he would try and chew on that and get used to holding something. I think when that happens, when he is able to hold and play with things he will be easier to manage, and I will be able to accomplish more in a day. I'm sure other people are able to cope and still get stuff done, but I just find it too difficult. Not to mention that he is cranky half the time from lack of sleep. For some reason we have an insomniac baby who hardly ever sleeps during the day. I can't wait until he can hold himself up a little better too so we can put him in his jumper. I'm pretty sure he is going to love that. He is changing fast.

Sleepless Nights

So I don't know what is going on with Lincoln right now, if it has something to do with the shots he got or what, but last night it was almost impossible to get him to stay asleep. He would fall asleep on me and he would be dead to the world, but I would put him in his crib and a couple minutes later he would be awake. He fell asleep on me at about 1:00 am, and I ended up falling asleep too. At about 2:30 or so I tried to put him down, but right as I walked into his room he opened his eyes. I was so tired. He hadn't slept hardly at all for the whole day. So Ryan ended up taking him and tried to get him to go to sleep (since I had to be up at 7:00). He finally ended up just putting him in his swing and letting him sleep there...that is the only place he would stay asleep. I asked him this morning when he finally decided to just put him in his swing and he told me it was like 5:00 or something like that!! Mean baby!! Hopefully today is not a repeat of yesterday. I don't know if either of us could take it, especially since Ryan has to work tonight. I can't wait until he can roll. Then I can put him to sleep on his stomach. I think he sleeps better that way.

SHOTS!!!

Yesterday was Lincoln's two month doctor's appointment. He got his first round of shots. It was very traumatic for him. I had to hold his arms and legs so he wouldn't move. He screamed so loud and probably hated me for a little while. After the shots were done and I was trying to calm him down he had the saddest look on his face, like he was saying, "How could you Mom?" Good thing he's still little and can't really remember.

We also got his measuring done. He is 25 1/2 inches long with a 16 inch head and he weighs 14 pounds, 5 1/2 ounces. He is growing like a weed. He was in about the 95th percentile for weight and a little above the 95th percentile for length. At least he is growing proportionately. He is going to be bigger than his cousin Jackson though with no problem. He is 19 pounds 8 ounces, but he is 7 months older than Lincoln. I've just come to accept that I have a giant baby.

Trunk or Treat

Saturday was the church Trunk or Treat activity. Ryan and I are in the primary, so we always help out. Grandma and Grandpa Dempsey came over earlier that day and brought Lincoln his first Halloween costume.

Grandpa putting his hat on Lincoln


He is the cutest tiger

Ryan carved a pumpkin for the pumpkin carving "contest".
They never said who won though.


The pumpkin next to Ryan's is Joel's...it is the Joker
At least there were other pumpkins this year. Last year ours was the only one.
Ryan always has fun carving it though.


Lincoln even had a pumpkin this year. It looks like him doesn't it?


We had an activity booth that we ran. We were in charge of the "Balloon Spiders". Lincoln ended up falling asleep and Ryan was holding him, so he disappeared and went and did some other stuff, leaving me all alone to try and help continuous swarms of kids make their balloon spiders. I definitely needed another person helping me. Luckily most kids came in with their parents, so they could help out.


Yohann was a dinosaur and Kamina was a turtle




Jessi and Devin were chefs and Myla was the lobster in a pot...so cute!

It was a pretty fun night all together. We always have fun at the primary activities.