{ Goodbye }

Putting my feelings into words seems impossible.  Each sentence I type I then erase as it seems so incapable of capturing the depth, love, and scope of such a great man.  My life was changed for the better by Don Scott.  His wisdom, passion, and dedication to others have made this world a better place.

You are so missed by so many.

Don F. Scott

9/16/47 - 8/10/11

{ Water Baby }

We took Lincoln to the pool for the first time this week.  I thought it would be fun to see what he thought of the water and he has these adorable little trunks and swim shirt I've been dying to put him in.  Oh, and some adorable little red sunglasses.  He actually did great splashing around and enjoying the water from my lap.  (Although in the only pictures we captured he was screaming his head off.  He did get happier with his toes in the water, I promise.)  We held him up and dipped his little feets in the water and he didn't seem to mind.  But oh how he HATED those red sunglasses.  I think he didn't like that they made the world dark and/or having that strap around his head.  But he looked so cute in them so of course we left them on long enough to snap a few pictures.  Poor kiddo.  I'm hoping he likes the water and his shades a little more next year...

Other random updates:

Lincoln has slept 6 hours straight for 5 of the last 7 nights.  What a good boy!  Mommy and Daddy love this!  The other nights he slept at least 3-4 hours.  Wohoo! 

He has started crying real tears when he cries. It makes his wails so much more pathetic!  I hate it when he's sad  =(


From birth Lincoln has sneezed two or three or four times in a row. I had never heard him sneeze only once. This past week he has had a few solo sneezes. Not particularly exciting I know, but it's something new and I don't want to forget about those cute little sneezing fits he had when he was little.

I'm proud of myself that in Lincoln's first month of life I managed to read an entire non-baby related book and made a festive patriotic shirt for Lincoln for the Fourth of July.  Go me!

{ 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.

{ 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?

{ 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 =)



{ The Countdown Is On }

I cannot believe we are already almost 38 weeks.  Lincoln is full term!  It seems like it was just a few months ago that we found out we were pregnant and here we are making the final preparations to welcome our son.

Physically I've been feeling pretty good but over the last few weeks I think I've approached the uncomfortable home stretch.  It's getting harder and harder to get comfortable at night.  I wake up several times but I figure this is just practice for when Lincoln gets us up at night, right?  He has dropped which has me both excited and apprehensive.  It means he's coming soon but it also means he's coming soon!  I can breathe a little easier now that he's lower but the bathroom and I are now even better friends.  I didn't think it was possible to pee even more frequently! 

Emotionally and mentally I think Casey and I are about as ready as two first-time parents can be.  We already love this little boy so much and cannot wait to see his little squishy face.  I love to day dream about what he'll look like.  Will he have dark hair, light hair or no hair?  Will his beautiful little eyes be dark or light?  Will he have gorgeous long eye lashes like his daddy?  Will he be relaxed and mellow like his dad or more feisty like his mom?  I am just *so* excited to meet our little boy.

His nursery is pretty much all finished.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  It is fun and playful but still tranquil.  I look forward to spending many hours in there with Lincoln.  Call me crazy but I'm even looking forward to those middle of the night feeds when it seems like there's no one else in the world but the two of us.  I still have a few things to hang on his walls, but I'll try to take some pictures later today and post them here for you to see. 

I still can't quite fathom how much our world is about to change.  We are about to become parents.  Parents!  We will be in charge of loving and shaping and molding a little person.  I know there will be hard times - sleepless nights, fears of inadequacy, etc. - but there will be so many good times.  So many snuggles and laughs and memories.  I can't wait - bring it on!

37w0d

{Life}

Where have the last 16 weeks gone?!?  I can't believe it's been that long since I've last posted.  If life is speeding along this quickly before baby I can only imagine how quickly it's going to go once he's here!  I know I've said this before, but I'm going to try to be a better blogger.  Once Lincoln (he's a boy and he has a name!) is here I'm hoping to keep the blog updated with pictures of his ridiculously adorable face and all of the exciting things he's doing (you know like sleeping, eating, pooping, etc.).  Yep, this will probably turn into a mommy blog with the daily happenings of life with a baby.  Fair warning: this probably won't be the last time you'll read the word poop on my blog.  Hey, it may not be the most glamorous life, but it's my life and I love it!

So what have we been up to over the last four months?  Quite a lot actually...

We spent our first Christmas in our new house.

We had a party to find out the gender of our baby.  Kassi made this adorable baby carriage cake.  We had the ultrasound tech write down the gender and she colored the inside of the cake to match.  With friends and family gathered around us we cut into the delicious cake and found out...

...it's a boy!  We are having a son!  My mother's intuition was right all along.  (I'd thought he was a boy since just a few weeks into our pregnancy.)  After much brainstorming and discussing, he has a name.  Lincoln will be joining our family this May :-)

Here we are at 24w1d in Lincoln's nursery.

We headed up to McCall for Winter Carnival with my family.

Just look at that scene.

I *heart* being back in Idaho.

While in McCall we celebrated Kate's 15th birthday.

I can't believe she's 15 already!

So refined at such a young age ;-)

I really have no explanation for this picture.  Apparently someone was helping Casey get into party mode (my guess is Kate).  He's smiling so it must have worked!

Baby Lincoln has been growing...

(25w1d)

...and growing...

(27w2d)

...and growing...

(28w1d)

...and growing!

(30w0d)

This was taken the day of my AWESOME shower thrown by Nicki!

I found a little time to work on some projects for the baby.

This is his business casual attire :-)

A few weeks ago we went up to Tamarak with the Crafts for a quick getaway.  The boys went snowboarding and the girls hung out in the cabin to read, nap, watch movies, and relax.  It was awesome.

We love mountains and snow!

There were other happenings over the last 4 months as well.  My dad has been sick so I went up to Seattle a few times to visit him and help take care of him.  He is doing AWESOME now, feeling so much better, which makes me a very happy daughter.  Casey and I have both been busy with work, continuing to get settled in our new house, preparing for baby, and hanging out with family and friends.

Our pregnancy has been cruising along without complication which is just how we like it.  My blood pressure is still normal and if all goes to plan he'll be here no sooner than April 23rd (37 weeks).  I'm hoping he cooks just a bit longer than that, though.  The only real hiccup we've had pregnancy-wise is that last Saturday I got into a car accident.  It was fairly minor and not my fault, but it was terrifying nonetheless.  I was just so worried about Lincoln.  I feel him move quite frequently these days but of course I didn't feel him moving at all after the accident.  There was a forty-five minute span between the accident and getting hooked up to the monitor at the hospital and those were the most nerve-wracking minutes of my life.  Hearing his little heart beating away as soon as they hooked me up was the best sound ever!  Even though everything looked good they still kept us there for 4 hours for observation.  We were discharged later that night with a clean bill of health.  We're still dealing with all of the insurance stuff but that's easy cheesy compared to dealing with pregnancy complications.

So all is well with the Babendures.  You can look forward to another post soon (definitely within the next 4 months)!



{Field of Dreams}

To anyone else this probably just looks like a big patch of dirt and overgrown weeds, but it is our field of dreams.  This will be our home for the next decade or two.  The place where we will celebrate anniversaries and birthdays; where we will host holiday meals and play board games with friends; where we will inevitably have our share of arguments, but also where we will grow stronger as a couple; where we will bring our children home from the hospital; where we will watch them grow and play and learn.

They should be breaking ground any day now.  I can't wait...

{Life Happens}

Wow - I cannot believe that summer is almost over and it's nearly September. I am so excited for fall and all that it entails... sweaters, leaves changing colors, apple cider, football, crisp days, soup, and of course moving into our new house. Ooo - I can't wait!

*** Warning - this is a SUPER long post. I am mostly writing this for us, as a record of the crazy summer we survived. I'd love to have you read it but my feelings won't be hurt if you want to just skip ahead to browse through the pictures. Just tell me you read the whole thing and I'll never know the difference ;-) ***

This summer was probably the most stressful periods of my entire life thus far, but also one of the most exciting. At the end of May we found out that Casey got the job he had applied for in Boise - we couldn't have been happier! Just a week or two after he found out Case was on the road to Boise with me to follow about 3-4 weeks later with the kitties and all of our belongings. Because there was still a lot of packing and cleaning to do my mom planned to fly down, help me finish things up, then drive up to Boise with the cats and me.

So Casey started his new job and I finished up mine while applying for my old job back at St. Luke's. We hated doing the long-distance thing again - reminded us of the days when I was in school up in Seattle and Case was in Boise. But we managed to survive :-) We got to see each other in Seattle though in the middle of June at my best friend's wedding.

The happy bride and groom.

Now just so you know, I have been looking forward to Nicki's wedding since we first became friends almost ten years ago. She is such an amazing person with so much love to give and she definitely knows how to throw a party so I knew her wedding would be wonderful. Once she met Donny and they became engaged I knew it would be absolutely incredible. I took the whole week of her wedding off and flew to Seattle to participate in all things wedding. It was so much fun to spend that week with Nick. We got a lot accomplished but we also stayed up late laughing hysterically and sharing our hearts with each other. I also got to see a bunch of Nicki's family that I haven't seen since college. They are like a second family to me and have always counted me as one of their own. Because Nicki and I have lived apart since our college days I hadn't really had the opportunity to spend too much time with Donny yet so it was great to spend some time with him and with the two of them together. Casey flew up for the weekend so we got to see each other here and there when I wasn't performing my very important Maid of Honor (aka Best Woman) duties. It was so nice to be together again. Case is truly my better half and I miss him so much when we're not together.

One major Matron of Honor duty: keeping that train clean and beautiful.

The wedding itself was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever had the honor to attend. Nicki was absolutely radiant and the whole affair was so well thought out and executed. She and Donny were so genuinely happy and loved celebrating with so many friends and family. Here's to many many happy years ahead for the Heatons!

First dance as man and wife.

Casey and I had fun together at the reception - I even got him to dance with me! Our time together was short but sweet as he flew back to Boise the next day though for another friend's wedding.

Once I got back to Scottsdale from Nicki's wedding I kicked it into high gear to finish up the packing. Thank goodness for Netflix or I may not have survived that many hours with cardboard boxes and a tape gun and stayed sane! We were so blessed to have professional movers load and drive everything for us. Thank you St. Luke's! We were hoping that would happen but thought there was no way due the current state of the economy. Yay for being a nurse :-) At the risk of sounding like an ingrate it was rather challenging to arrange all the details of packing, loading, and moving all of our belongings from one state to another. I can't tell you how many phone calls were made and texts and emails exchanged in order to coordinate everything. I was still working full time, trying to pack up (while keeping track of what went into storage and what went to the rental), coordinate all of this, and we were trying to find somewhere to live once we actually got to Boise. We had several leads on rentals but they seemed to keep falling through. Eventually, though, it all worked out and we got a sweet deal from one of our camp family friends. (We are living in a rockin' senior community cul-de-sac. It's fantastic and worthy of it's own post - hopefully I'll write it up soon because it's truly been a memorable experience.) Oh, and our annual family trip to McCall was planned for that next week too. It was crazy! Or so I thought...

I finished my last shift at Chandler Regional on Friday and the plan was for my mom to fly down Sunday, spend a few days helping me tie up all the loose ends and then drive up to Boise with me. I would then head up to McCall with the family for a few days, then fly back to Scottsdale to supervise the movers and have a going away party with my work friends. Then fly back to Boise, be reunited with my husband, and live happily ever after. Oh if only life were so simple.

Instead, on Friday night as I was driving home from work I got a heart wrenching phone call from my mom. You know it's not good news when she's crying but won't tell you what's wrong until you pull over. My mom had been up at camp and had slipped down some steps - resulting in a horrific tib fib fracture (both bones of the lower leg). She was at the hospital in Sun Valley and was heading down to Boise that night. She was told she'd have to see her surgeon on Monday to plan surgery. She was crying for a lot of reasons - because it hurt, because she had just started getting back to normal after two surgeries to repair her patella (knee cap) on her other leg over the last two years, and because she felt bad she couldn't come help me move. Leave it to my selfless mother to worry that she couldn't help me when she herself is in the midst of a crisis. So instead of packing on Saturday I hopped on the first flight I could get to Boise. My mom actually ended up getting admitted to the hospital Saturday morning because of such severe pain. She had surgery and spent five long days in the hospital. Todd and I took turns staying overnight with her and dozens (yes dozens!) of friends stopped by to see her during her stay.

Casey was so awesome during this whole ordeal - he was so helpful and caring. If anyone needed anything he was on it. I remember one evening in particular in the hospital when he was helping my mom by putting her socks on. She was in the hospital bed and he squatted down and put her socks on just like you would help a little kiddo. It made me smile and reminded me of what a great dad he'll be someday.

The whole family was supposed to go up to McCall for 10 days a few days after she was discharged from the hospital. Those of you that know my mom know what a tough and determined woman she is. She decided she could recover up there as well as she could recover in her own house and insisted we carry on as planned. I won't go into detail, but it actually ended up going a little better than expected. We enjoyed some fireworks for the Fourth of July and I did something fun for myself and made a festive cake I had read about on a blog I frequent. It was a lot of work but it was fun to have a creative outlet. And it was cake - who doesn't love cake?

My festive cake...

...that looked like a flag when you cut into it!

Casey and I drove down from McCall early so that he could work and I could head back to Scottsdale to finish that darn packing. I flew back as planned and miraculously managed to get a lot together in just a few days. There was so much to do though - we had to pack up in three days what we had previously allotted six or seven days. Casey's new boss was so generous and flexible and let Casey have a few days off to come help me finish everything up and drive up to Boise with me. We slaved tirelessly almost all night before the movers came. I remember at one point we were working in the laundry room and Casey took something out of the cupboard, put it in a box, then took it out of the box and back in the cupboard. I knew at that point it was time for bed. I think we finally went to bed around 6 and then got up at 7 or 7:30. Not fun. It was so nice, though, to have other people load up all of our stuff though. First of all, we were exhausted. Secondly, it was 110+ degrees. Third, we didn't have to pay for it. Fourth, it was super hot. Did I mention that? That night we had some fun though at my going away party with my work friends. Yay! I had an absolute blast hanging out with all my Chandler ladies that night. They are so much fun to laugh with and are some of the best coworkers I have ever had. I miss them!

My Chandler girls + Nate :-)

The next day Casey and I loaded up my bug with our luggage, our file box, our bedding, and of course Alice and Scout. It was a tight, but surprisingly comfortable fit. We said goodbye to our next door neighbors and hit the road. We stopped for the night in Utah and finally made it to Boise the next day. It was the World Cup final that afternoon so we watched it with my mom and Todd before turning in for some much needed sleep.

It was one full bug!

A few days later our moving van arrived with all of our belongings. So far we haven't found any broken or damaged items. About half of our things are still in storage so we won't know about those until we unpack it in November, but I'm hoping for the best.

A week after we moved in Casey turned the big 3-0! I felt bad because his birthday seemed to get a little lost in the crazy shuffle. I threw a family BBQ for him at our new place, though. And we went tubing down the Boise River and BBQ'd with friends that weekend too. I promised him I'd throw him a rockin' 31st to make up for it.

Ridiculously oversized balloons - check!

I gave Casey a new snowboard and season pass to Bogus for his birthday.
Here he is with his mini me representing his gift.

So that's our summer in a very large nutshell. There was a lot going on - and I didn't even mention taking a frisbee to the nose from an adorable 4 year old flower girl, the freezer disaster at my mom's at 10pm the night before I was to fly back to Scottsdale, making a baby quilt for a dear college friend, or leaving my debit card at a Wendy's in Utah during our drive back up to Idaho.

But hey, life happens, and sometimes you can't do a darn thing about it. Sometimes you just have to smile and remind yourself that things will be back to normal soon. Whatever "normal" is :-)

*          *          *          *          *          *          *

More pics just for fun:

Nicki's Wedding

Aboard the sunset cruise the evening before the big day.
(Roomies!  Johanna, Nicki, Angie, me, Emily)

Dinner at The Crab Pot before the bachelor/bachelorette party.

Bachelorette party!

Bridesmaids!  Avi, me, Chelley, Breanne, and Cass

My fam: Grandma, Case, me, Dad, Mom, Ben, Kim

Casey's 30th Birthday BBQ

Gram & Mom helping me cook

I actually managed to make our rental look lived in
and ready for a party less than a week after moving in!

Kass, Rick, and Harv

Cute Kate

Aunt Sessie & Uncle Stevie

What summer BBQ is complete without croquet?

Apparently Mr. Babendure was feeling pretty zen about being 30.

And because I feel slightly guilty for taking and posting this picture I placed it last, expecting a few less people to see how glamorous my mom looked during her hospitalization.

Sorry Mom :-(