Complete and Utter Chaos

Did I get your attention? I know I am the worst blogger ever...the complete and utter chaos obviously describes me. Well, not too much has changed with our family. Our day to day lives are still pretty much the same. Ryan and I are still working full time, which means we don't get to see each other a lot. We usually only have a couple days a week that we really get to spend quality time together, which can be really hard. I miss spending time with him, and I'm sure Lincoln would like to spend time with both of us together more often.

I am going to go back a couple months and update you on a couple of the big events that have happened. Two months ago (as of today actually) my adorable little, emphasis on the little, niece Estee Louise Welch was born. She was 6 lb 1 oz, and was 19 inches.

These were taken when she was a little over a week old and super tiny. She is now starting to become a little chunkster, but is still just as adorable. Unfortunately, I don't have any more recent pictures.

Last month Lincoln turned two. I sometimes see glimpses of those notorious terrible twos. He has been throwing more tantrums lately, but he has also been becoming more familiar with time outs because Ryan and I don't give in to the tantrums. He is still behind on talking. He doesn't say very much, which makes communicating very difficult sometimes. I know if he really wanted to he could talk, he is just stubborn. He gets that from both Mom and Dad. Lincoln is still a ball of energy. He is so fearless...climbing and jumping off of everything and he runs nonstop. Luckily, Ryan and I have made sure that he is one tough kid, so anytime he falls or hits himself, he usually just walks up to us, has us kiss the spot he hit and goes back to playing, without shedding a single tear.

Lincoln has a little truck that he rides around in our living room. Something funny that he has started doing recently is he will either set up his little toy people in front of it and then run them over, or he will grab one of his stuffed toys, like Spongebob or Elmo, and he will drive off with them and then tip the truck with both of them on it. He is so silly.

One of his favorite things to do right now is color. We actually got him an art easel for his birthday and he colors on it all the time.

This is his latest masterpiece

Last month we also got Lincoln's 2 year pictures, and our family pictures taken. They were taken by Jamie Lewis Photography and we love them so much. We are still trying to decide which pictures to order. It is so hard to decide. Here are our favorites.

Love his blue eyes

This one is my favorite

Kisses for Momma

Hugs for Daddy

He is so photogenic

Such a boy, playing with the rocks

My two favorite family pictures

This is typical, crazy Lincoln


Love him


This is the face of mischief

He loves to swing

I think that is all for now...I impressed even myself with the length of this. It took a lot of motivation to actually post something. I have more I want to post, but alas, it is late. Maybe tomorrow...we'll see what happens.

Changes

Ewan is here!! My new nephew Ewan was born on Monday, February 9. He weighed 7 lb 10 oz and was 21 inches long. He is such a cutie though. He doesn't really look a lot like Yohann, so I'm excited to see what he will look like when he gets a little older. Yohann is still adjusting to being a big brother. I still don't think he quite understands, and I think it will probably take a little adjusting for him.

Lincoln's "big boy" car seat was a success! I am so happy. He likes it so much more. He hardly ever even makes a peep. He is always just looking around and playing with his toys. The only downside to the new car seat is now anytime we go somewhere and he is asleep in the seat we have to wake him up, rather than just taking the whole seat with us. A small sacrifice to make to be able to sit up front with Ryan again.

Lincoln is also finally cutting his first tooth! That first day I realized it was the worst. I didn't know why he was so cranky, but nothing would soothe him. I finally stuck my finger in his mouth and ran it along his gums, and sure enough, there was a tooth. I am actually wondering if it is a couple teeth coming in at once. It is that, or a really big tooth. However, every time I try to look in Lincoln's mouth he freaks out, so I still haven't been able to tell.

We also started him on baby food. Sweet potatoes were his first food. He LOVED them. He was so cute. He just kept lunging for the bowl, smiling, and making noises. My mom was here this week to help out Joel and Michela, so she watched Lincoln a couple of times and bought him some finger food treats and fed him some bananas as well. He is loving the baby food. We went ahead and bought him his first high chair since he is going to be eating more. My dad also came into town yesterday, so today he fed him some ice cream to see how he would like it. We figured it would feel good on his gums. I don't even have to tell you that he loved that.

With Grandma at the hospital

A couple other changes with us...Ryan and I both just got promotions at work. For any of you who don't know, we both work at the movie theatre. Ryan is now the head of the projection booth. He will now be making his own schedule, which is one of the best things. I got promoted to the manager of HR. I will be doing interviews and hiring, among other things. I have never done an interview before, so it should be interesting.

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.

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