{ Silly Boy }

Oh how Mr. Lincoln loves his hands.  Even when he's sleeping he doesn't like them to stray too far...



Here he's practicing his "Thriller" =)



Hey, I'm just glad he sleeps!

{ Life Happens }

I love how life is full of little surprises.  It keeps things fun and interesting and exposes you to people and experiences you would have otherwise missed out on.  Sometimes I get annoyed when life doesn't go according to my plan, but those curve balls can be little (or sometimes big) gems.

We went on another date this week (go us!).  It didn't go as planned...and it was awesome.  We had some gift certificates for movie tickets and dinner compliments of the St. Luke's NICU.  (This was due to our crazy experience on our last day there which involved a code red, fireman, and switching rooms.  But that's a whole other post...)

Since there really weren't any movies at the 'nice' theater we wanted to see we decided to save our movie passes for later and go to the cheapy theater then head to our free dinner.  We saw 'Rango' at the $3 theater (glad that's all I paid) and then headed to Macaroni Grill.  I hadn't been there for years and on the way there I was getting pretty excited for that tasty bread they serve.  We arrived at about 9:45, walked up to the doors and they were locked.  Gotta love the Boise nightlife, right?  We sadly walked back to the car and tried to formulate a new dinner plan as we watched the storm clouds gathering in the sky.  The storm continued to grow as we drove around looking for a non fast-food restaurant that was still open.  This gave us a new idea.  We picked up a pizza to go and headed to the Capital High School parking lot to watch what how now become a spectacular lightning show.  We sat in the car, kicked our shoes off, tipped our seats back, ate our pizza and watched the brilliant display.  We held hands.  We talked about life.  It was awesome - way better than sitting across from each other in a restaurant.

We hadn't planned on a mediocre $5 pizza for dinner.  We hadn't planned on sitting in a high school parking lot for an hour watching a stunning lightning storm.  We hadn't planned on our plans changing.  But I'm so glad they did.  It was one of the best dates we've ever had.

{ Already?!? }

I can hardly believe it, Lincoln is one month old today!  Time has just flown by.  He has grown and changed so much in such a short time.  He gets bigger, stronger, and has more hair every single day.  He is just getting more and more interactive and fun, too.  We've tried tickling him in the past and he just kind of blankly stares at us.  This morning, though, Casey tried tickling him and he just smiled and smiled.  It was pretty much the most adorable thing I've ever seen.  Even more adorable than this:





Now that was pretty adorable - but our kid is even more adorable.  And cuter.  And smarter  =)  I could have stared at him smiling all day long.  Maybe tomorrow I will...

It may not seem like a big deal to some, but another big milestone today was Lincoln being able to hold his bink (pacifier) in his mouth all by himself for about 10 minutes.  Normally if he's upset and wants to suck we pop that baby in and he settles right down.  But he hadn't quite figured out how to keep it in so we were always having to either hold it in or constantly put it back in.  You can imagine how challenging this is when I'm by myself with him in the car.  Today though I popped it in his mouth at a stoplight and he was able to hold it in all by himself!  Driving in the car is so much more pleasant when he's not screaming =)

I just can't explain how much we love our lil guy.  He is an absolute joy to parent.  It's amazing to watch him discover himself and discover the world - I have a feeling that will never get old.

He is just the best thing ever!  Happy one month birthday Lincoln!!!

P.S.  Actual video of our smiley boy coming soon!!!

{ Sweet Baby Lincoln }

I haven't been as good lately about updating the blog as I'd like to.  I know people are looking here because I can see our counter increasing =)  Don't give up on us - we'll keep posting, I promise!  Here is a smattering of pics and a video of the lil bubs from the last week or so.  Enjoy!



Visiting Daddy at work



Almost a smile!



Snoozin'



Tummy time!



Wide awake

 

Aren't baby feet the cutest thing ever?


We had Father's Day Lunch/Dinner/Linner out at the Babendure Farm-ish.  A good time was had by all =)



Daddy and Lincoln snoozing



Hangin' with Aunt Kassi, showing off his new 'My Aunt Digs Me' onesie with a pail and shovel on it =)



Uncle Rick swingin'



What farm is complete without chickens?

 

And a cow!

 

He's cute even when he's mad.

 

Spending time with Grandma.



Three generations of Babendure boys



Handsome boy!

Gym time.
Yeah, he works out.

So as you can see, we're all still hanging in there and doing well.  We've at least managed to keep Lincoln alive for four whole weeks and I think he even likes us!  Mommy and Daddy got to go on a real date last week too.  Link stayed with Grandma Giesler while we went to dinner and a movie.  I think it was probably harder on us than it was on him.  I know it's healthy and good for us to have some grown up time though so we're going to try to make it a regular occurrence.  Anyone wanna babysit?

{ Happy Father's Day! }

There are so many wonderful fathers in my life and I am incredibly grateful for each of them and all the ways they enrich both my life and my son's life!

My dad

My Papa

My step dad



My father-in-law.

Sorry you're sideways Harv - Blogger is just not cooperating tonight!



{ Three Weeks }

I can't believe our baby boy is three weeks old already! In some ways it feels like a whole new life we're leading and in some ways it seems like he has blended right into our world.  We are just so in love.

Lincoln is getting so big and strong. He has always been great at holding his head up but he is able to do it for longer stretches of time now. He has been accidentally smiling for a week or two now but they seem to be coming more frequently and sometimes intentionally! He put on quite the show for Casey and me this morning. Those little gummy grins just make my heart melt. Lincoln has also just about perfected his nursing skills. This boy loves to eat – he’s definitely got some Richner genes in him! I love that when he’s nursing his hands are usually right up by his face or clinging to me as if to say “Hey Mom, you’re not going anywhere until I’m done.” He likes to stick his pinky out while he eats too - such a refined young man.

He is a great little snuggler and loves to snooze in the crook of your arm or on your chest. He doesn’t mind being swaddled as long as he has his arms free so that he can put them by his face. He always has his hands up by his face – it must be how he was positioned in utero because he is not comfortable unless his hands are there. His legs on the other hand, he loves to stretch out. I joke that he is loving all this space in first class after being stuck in coach for nine months.  He is also beginning to interact with the world.  Link loves to stare at faces and if you stick out and wiggle your tongue he'll try to mimic you by sticking out his tongue (sometimes).  If you put a toy up to the side of his head and jiggle it he'll turn toward the sound.  He is just getting more and more fun every day.

Life with a newborn is of course not all rainbows and sunshine.  There are lots of diapers, lots of spit up, and lots of crying.  The nights are short and sometimes it seems that all I do is breastfeed, change diapers, repeat.  But he is so so so worth it.  The good outweighs the bad (I wouldn't even call it bad, more like the "not so fun stuff") exponentially.

He is just the best thing ever =)



{ Grandpa Time! }

My Dad came to visit Lincoln us this past weekend and we all had a great time.  Lincoln and Grandpa did lots of chillin' and snugglin' - this gave Mommy and Daddy a chance to have a super awesome afternoon "date" to Lowe's.  We held hands while walking down the fence/pavers aisle and cranked the radio up way too loud on the way home.  I know I know, so romantic!  Actually it was really fun to have some grown up alone time.

I'm so glad my dad was able to come down to visit.  We had a nice relaxing weekend and my dad and my son got to spend some quality time together.  It's so fun seeing my dad as a grandpa =)

{ Ladies Night }

Thursday night I was feeling brave and left the boys at home while I went to a movie with my family.  Mom, Aunt Sessie, Katie, Grandma and I went to see Bridesmaids.  Holy cow it was HILARIOUS - I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard!  I totally got my $10 worth.

It was so tough to leave Lincoln even though it was only for a few hours and I was only a few minutes away.  I knew he was in fantastic, capable hands with Casey but man did I miss that little baby boy!  Coming home to his sweet lil face was the best. thing. ever.

{ Look Ma - No Hands! }

Used our front pack for the first time yesterday - LOVE it!!!

{ Smile! }

{ Out & About }

We had another family outing on Saturday!  Aunt Kassi had a soccer game down at Ann Morrison so we went to cheer her on.  (Apparently we didn't cheer loudly enough as her team lost - boo.)    Again, Lincoln was super well behaved.  He mostly slept but did wake up hungry twice.  This may not seem like a big deal to mamas who have been nursing for years or to those of you who have never breastfed, but I fed Lincoln in public for the first time.  I used my hooter hider and really I don't think anyone took notice.  It was a big milestone for me - quite empowering!
It felt great to get outside and have some time together as a family.  I hope we have more nice weather so we can make this a regular occurance!

{ Opa! }

We had our first big public outing as a family yesterday - we headed down to the Greek Food Festival for some tasty ethnic cuisine.  The food was phenominal as always and Lincoln did great.  He pretty much slept in his stroller the entire time.  He did start to get hungry right as we were ready to leave, so that worked out perfectly.  I was nervous about how it would go but he is such an easy baby it was really no big deal.  I'm looking forward to many more outings as a family of three =)

I neglected to take any pictures so here is a pretty picture of Greece for you to look at instead:

(Credit)

{ Happy Birthday Aunt Kimmy! }

Aunt Kimmy's birthday was on Monday so Lincoln put on his party hat to help her celebrate!

{ Bath Time! }

Lincoln liked tolerated his second bath at home much better than the first one!