Santa Baby

I did not grow up believing in Santa- my Mom always felt like he took away from the true meaning of Christmas and I agree. So we have decided that we are not going to teach our kids to believe in Santa either. We will tell them the story of Santa, but we won't pretend like he is real today.

I do, however, still think it is fun to get that yearly photo of them sitting on Santa's lap.

(mostly just to see their reaction)

Here is Kallen last year:

He sat on Santa's lap like he was another member of our family- no big deal! He was roughly 7 months in that picture.

Then there was this years attempt at a picture with Santa.

This is as close as Kallen would get:

he was handing Santa books.

This was on Monday (yes the same day of all the events in my last blog post) and Kallen was in quite the mood. My sister came down for the afternoon to help me get some christmas shopping done. We knew we wanted to try the whole Santa thing and there was absolutely no one in line so we went on in. I knew Kallen would probably have some hesitation this year, but I never fathomed it would go as bad as it did.

As soon as I pulled Kallen out of the stroller he started throwing a fit. I tried to coax him over to santa which resulted in kallen seriously on the ground kicking and screaming (he has never done this to me EVER). I was soo embarrased and thankful that there were not any other people standing in line to witness my childs behavior. I quickly gave up on the Santa idea (thus the above picture- I figured it was as good as it was going to get) and began trying to wrap things up and get us out of there before Kallen made any more of a scene. That is about the time that my sister looked at me and pointed to Kallen who was standing there, looking at the reindeer with his little pointer finger out, saying "boom boom". (his daddy taught him to shoot deer and in his defense what 1 year old would know the difference?) I about died! I'm pretty sure Santa looked at me like I was the worse mother in the world. He was probably thinking "what is wrong with these people!?" I quickly grabbed my boys and we high-talied it out of there!

Of course Lincoln was perfect:

Maybe next years Santa visit will go a little better. :S

It's chaos around here!

Sorry- this is another post without a picture but I just thought I'd give you a glimpse into my life.These are the events that have already happened today and it is only 11:00am.

• I could not find my phone charger and my phone was going to die any minute so I ran upstairs with Kallen to look. He quickly tore apart our entire room while I was searching through our suitcase (we were gone over the weekend) looking for it. I turned around and could not believe (ok actually with this child I can but he never ceases to amaze me) what I saw. Clothes strung everywhere, magazines/books all over the place, a huge smile on his face. Ok, I'll clean this up during his nap.
• I still hadn't found my charger and I had a feeling it was in the car so I began to weigh my options. Lincoln was safely sleeping in his pack-n-play, I would just run out to the car real quick, what's the worse that can happen? I had a little talk with Kallen, then ran out to the car and began searching as fast as I could....found it! As I reached the front door I had a moment of panic as I realized it was locked! then I remembered our garage door is currently broken so I slid it open and hurried inside. I walked into our kitchen to see my towel drawer (luckily the bottom drawer) completely emptied out, with Kallen standing inside it, holding the bag of cheetos that was sitting on the counter, happily chomping away. At least he hadn't dumped them!.....oops shouldn't have thought that- just as I reached Kallen he turned the bag upside down. :(
• With my phone charging, lunch warming up, and naptime just a few moments away Lincoln woke up completely soaked (time for bigger diapers). Kallen has been such a sweet brother today that I decided to change Lincoln on the floor so Kallen could "help" me. He was sitting by Lincoln's head giving him a hug when I slid Lincoln's diaper off and then it happened.....Licoln felt that fresh air and just couldn't help himself- he started peeing- and of course it shot straight up into Kallen's face. Kallen gave me a shocked look at first, then I watched it turn to anger but I was too slow to react- he spit on Lincoln, then (I hope accidentally) kicked his head as he was getting up. Now I had 2 screaming boys. :S
• At the moment their bellies are both full, they are both down for naps, and I just had to sit down for a moment before I start doing damage control on my house.

And this is why- if you ever just stop by my house- I am usually not showered and my house is not clean. :)

What Happened??

Where did the month of November go?

I feel like it was just yesterday that we came home with our new little baby- not sure how Kallen would react or what the next few weeks would bring. It is amazing how quickly you adapt to having a new baby around and next thing you know- you cannot imagine life without them!

Lincoln is already such a blessing to our lives! I prayed for a layed back baby and so far it seems that is just what he is! Poor little guy spends most of his days lying in the pack-n-play because his mommy is busy with his big brother who seems to demand ALOT of attention. But he doesn't seem to mind at all- he is perfectly content to just hang out wherever!

We do have a few challenges though: Lincoln is a spitter. You have to watch out because you just never know when that lovely white stuff will come shooting out of his mouth and nose. Kallen never really spit up so this is new territory for me.

Also- I am still having a lot of trouble getting Lincoln to burp after he eats. This results in lots of gas and some tummy aches. I am up for any suggestions you guys may have! I have tried burping him on my shoulder, rubbing his back, face down over my legs, and rotating his little legs while he lays on his back. We occasionally get a burp but not very often. I have also eliminated dairy from my diet which does seem to have helped with the upset tummy. Bummer for me but worth it for now. :)

We did get some GREAT news this week! Lincoln had his cardiology appointment on Tuesday and THEY DID NOT FIND A HEART MURMUR!!! This was exactly what we were praying for and I was so excited to hear the doctor say he was just fine!! They weighed him while we were there and my tiny little boy who started out at 5lbs 12oz a few weeks ago weighed 8lbs 4 oz! I think we may have a little chunker on our hands...his brother did not gain quite that fast. :)

All in all things are going really well around our house! I am LOVING life with 2 boys! And although it presents its challenges- the good far outweighs the bad! Yes there are days when I am completely exhausted, yes I am sleep deprived, yes there may be times when I go a little too long without a shower, yes there are days where I really have no recollection of what I ate (if I ate anything) the entire day, but then there are the sweet moments like when Kallen thinks Lincoln needs to kiss his finger whenever it is hurt, or the countless times throughout the day that Kallen wants to hold his brother and then he just sits there stroking his head. (I'm pretty sure that is the biggest run-on sentence ever) I love watching my boys bond already and I can't wait to see what the next few months will bring as Lincoln becomes more alert and able to respond!!!

Twins

Here are both of my boys at 1 month old:

I think seeing this really put into perspective for me how much they really do look alike.
I know people kept telling me that- and I agreed they looked similar- but WOW does this picture show how "similar" they really are!
I think the only way I would know who was who (aside from the clothes) is that Kallen had an almost perfect complexion and Lincoln has some baby acne.
It will be interesting to see how Lincoln changes here in the next few months!

Smile!!

These are things that made me smile over the weekend:

Ok, this first one seems strange because this is a picture of the huge goose-egg that Kallen got right before I sent him home with Grandma Tammy. He was running into the kitchen and tripped and fell right into the corner of the chair. It was one of those injuries that swelled up instantly- poor little boy. But it made me smile because he only cried for about 2 seconds and then was over it- but for the next hour he would randomly look at me and carefully put his hand on his forehead and say "ouch". I just thought it was cute. :)

This one makes me smile because of the context of the book (read the title) and how tuned in Kallen was to what his daddy was saying. What can I say- we teach 'em young around here. :P

I just LOVE this picture of Aunt Stephy and her nephews!

Matching Brothers Shirts!!!

2 week checkup

This sweet little boy had his 2 week check up yesterday.

Because of his time in the NICU they had us do a 1 week weight check last Monday. I still couldn't drive so my Mom drove us to the doctor (that brought back memories :P) and kept Kallen entertained for me while we headed into the clinic. Lincoln was back up to birthweight which was 5lbs 12oz (I think we left the hospital at 5.6).

I knew over the course of this past week Lincoln had started to outgrow his preemie clothes so as we headed to the doctor yesterday I was just hoping for maybe 6 lbs. Well, this little guy shocked his momma when he weighed in at 6lbs 12oz!! His length was 201/2 inches (he was born at 18") which put him in the 78th percentile for height and the 20th percentile for weight.

We did receive some bad news though.... our pediatrician detected a heart murmer. :( He wasn't too concerned about it and said most of the time they correct themselves, but we have an appointment with the cardiologist on the 30th just to make sure nothing major is going on. My mother-in-law told me that Shawn actually had one when he was born and it just fixed itself over time so that was encouraging to hear!! I think maybe because of his time in the NICU I seem to be a little more on edge with Lincoln than I was with Kallen. Lincoln still just seems so small and fragile to me so when I hear about little things I find myself getting worried. (not a problem I usually have) But that is something I am just going to have to hand over to God!

All in all things are going really well around here! Kallen seems to have gotten through the rough patch and is now adjusting really well to having Lincoln around. I'll have to do another post to tell you about some of the funny things that have happened already! :)

No Brain

There are alot of things I would like to blog about: Lincoln's Birth Story, so far what life is like with 2 boys, some of the never ending thoughts and emotions going on in my head; but lately I barely have time to lift my computer, let alone blog about anything. That and I have been so exhausted I can't even seem to finish a thought in my head these days. So I'll just give you a couple pictures for now- and hopefully soon I will get some of my brain back.