What A Week!

Lincoln turned two months old this week! Can you believe it? I can't really...but then again, it certainly seems like he has always been a part of our lives, so in some ways, I feel like he should be much older than that too. In the picture above, he is wearing a 3-6 month sleeper. There is a small part of my type-a personality that is bothered by the fact that his age and his clothes size don't match up correctly, but as with a lot of things, I'm learning to let it go. :) (FYI...the pillows in his crib are for the photo only, they don't stay there on a regular basis!)

I think it is safe to say that we no longer need to be worried about whether or not he is gaining enough weight. At his 2-month checkup he was a whopping 11 pounds, 10 ounces which puts him in the 71st perecentile for weight and 24 inches long, which is the 94th percentile for height. Everyone says that he looks just like his daddy (well, except for my mom who claims he looks just like me), but he certainly got his height from my side of the family (you are probably reading this thinking, "Heather isn't very tall", but I'm the short one in the bunch...my "little" brother is 6'4"). In fact, he is so tall that we are having trouble keeping him in sleepers, his legs outgrow them long before they are too small everywhere else.

Turning 2 months old brought his first set of shots. Our pediatrician recommended we keep him away from large crowds of people and children until he received this first set of shots, so I have been eagerly anticipating this day as the day when I could breathe a bit easier about taking him out in public. It's amazing how you can hear a cough or sneeze across a crowded room whenever you have a new baby. I have actually had to stop myself from reminding complete strangers to cover their mouths when they cough! Unfortunately, the shots made him awfully cranky and gave him his first fever. Poor guy! He is such a good little boy though, even when he was cranky he was happy once one of us cuddled with him a bit. I think in all reality, it was much harder on mommy and daddy than it was on Lincoln. Once his fever came down around 10pm, he slept the rest of the night...but we checked on him all night long. Thankfully, my mom came over the next day and watched the little guy so that I could get some rest.

Lincoln celebrated Father's Day with his first trip to church! He was such a good boy. When I was pregnant with him, he LOVED the organ music at church and would kick the entire time the organ played, so I was interested to see how he responded. He slept thru most of the music portion of the service, but woke up when everyone started clapping after the soloist. Once awake, he was fascinated by all of the lights in the sanctuary. After church he went on a nap boycott...I'm inclined to believe that he fell asleep and woke up in a new and interesting place and was afraid to go to sleep and miss anything else. He is definitely a curious little boy!

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Rick came over to join us in our Father's Day celebration and cookout. Lincoln decided to give up on his nap boycott for a very small amount of time while Grandpa Rick was holding him. Look at how his head is turned to the left in the picture above! Yeah! Have I mentioned that we had to take Lincoln to the neurologist earlier this month? Okay, "had" may be a strong word. At about 2 weeks old we noticed that Lincoln "jumped/twitched" in his sleep. It was a bit frightening, he'd be asleep and his arms and legs would jerk. We took a video of him doing this to our pediatrician who thought it was a bit odd and said that if it didn't resolve we "could" take him to a pediatric neurologist. Well, that was really all I needed to hear, we scheduled an appointment with the neurologist. Long story short, Lincoln is perfectly fine...(praise God!) but his nervous system is a bit immature during sleep which causes him to exhibit hypnic myoclonus (fancy words for jumping in his sleep). The jumping is something that he will grow out of, and indeed, we have already noticed that he does this less and less. The neurologist was much more "concerned" about his poor little flat spot and he encouraged us to try to get him to sleep on the other side of his head as much as possible...not an easy task for a little one who has an opinion about how he likes to sleep. John and I have constantly been turning Lincoln's head to the left while he sleeps to help the flat spot on his head resolve sans helmet, it looks like he is finally getting the idea, look how that little head is turned! Fingers crossed that our hard work is paying off and he won't need a helmet.
At two months old, he is starting to look like a little boy. Look at that sweet face. He is smiling and "talking" all the time (he also gets that from me!), and we are looking forward to the day when he laughs for us...it is right around the corner, I can feel it!

Hippo Hunter!

This past Saturday was our first official outing as a family. Sure, we've gone places since Lincoln was born (the doctor's office, Grandma and Grandpas, Babies 'R Us)...but Saturday was the first day that we didn't HAVE to go anywhere or DO anything in particular. Daddy didn't have to go into the office, the laundry was done and we had the whole day to spend at our leisure. Lincoln was all dressed up for the occassion in his camouflage hippo outfit. It had a sunhat, so it wasn't just cute, it was practical too (or at least this is what I told John).

So, what does one do on a leisurely day in the middle of the summer in Dallas, TX with a newborn? We were stumped! Our criteria for the perfect "outing" included staying out of the heat (it was 101 degrees here on Saturday), spending a minimal amount of moola and access to restrooms/rest areas where little one could take a bottle. So many things to consider!

We ended up heading to the Mall (ok, so this didn't exactly meet requirement #2, but it satisfied the others), making a stop at Half Price Books (I think since the books are a bargain, this meets all of the requirements), and then driving thru neighborhoods looking for our next perfect house (one of our FAVORITE pastimes, and while it's free at the moment, I'm sure this will cost us later)!

After all of this shopping, food was in order. So...where does one go to eat on a Saturday night in Dallas with a newborn? Nothing to hip, or too fancy, or too loud or too crowded...decisions, decisions! We went out to eat early (I'm talking...your grandma and grandpa eat this early, early) hoping to avoid the date night crowd and also hoping Lincoln would sleep thru our meal. He slept thru us ordering the meal, but luckily the restaurant we chose had Lincoln's trifecta of "cool" things at their disposal: windows, lights on the ceiling and music...so he was a happy camper once we rescued him from his carseat (I mean hunter...he was looking for hippos all day afterall!).

Lincoln ended his fun-filled day as all good days should end, with a warm bath, a good book and a bit of cuddle time.

John and I ended our fun-filled day exhausted, but armed with the knowledge that with a little more planning and effort, we can go out and do "normal" things!