26 Weeks

Museum Schmoseum

We spent some holiday time today at the Boston Museum of Science!  As residents we can get free passes from our library.  We were saving up a museum for a cold holiday, so today was perfect.  So much to see and so little time; we are definitely coming back!

Wingtip Saddles

I was thinking about all the things I want to get done before the newbie comes, seeing as most of my friends with two children say not to have any big expectations or plans of getting anything done for the first couple months.  Since I'm not making a blessing dress out of my wedding dress, and the blessing tuxedo is already made, I wanted to make this little one some wingtip saddle shoes like Daddy's shoes on our wedding day!

 I felt so smart cutting up a pair of $1 shoelaces and finding the ivory scraps from the tux.  (The inside soles might be a polka-dot print :)

They're so tiny!  I feel like with every pair of baby shoes I make, its a rush to get the pictures taken before the boy busts out of the shoes.  Another reason I need a regular-sized boy.



15 Months

...is so close to nursury-age!  It looks like we'll get to drop Link-Link off in nursury and be child-free for a couple hours of church for a maybe two weeks, at best, before we add another little guy to the picture!  Lincoln is a hand-full, but so much fun! 

Crawling and pushing chairs are the prefered mode of transportation around here.  I think he could totally walk if he wanted to, but its just a confidence issue. 

This little guy warms my heart!  He gets comments that he has a 'cartoon happy' look to him, and that he is every bit just like his daddy.  I think Lincoln's hair is just about the exact color and texture of Jason's.  He's a great shopping buddy, listener, and pasta-eater.  He's into taking things apart to find the batteries, and will finally sit through a book without grabbing it out of our hands.  We haven't gotten any words out of him besides "dada", and unless he steps it up before his 15-month appt., he's gonna get signed up for speech early intervention!  "Why speak when Mom already interprets everything I grunt about?"

Only when I'm watching him very closely does he get to play with the money jar.  Oh the fascination with tiny shiny objects.  Or maybe he just wants to be like Dad who gets to play with money all day too :).

Introducing...

Our dear bird Edna Mode had a rough Thanksgiving.  Did I mention she had this dangerous habit of squeezing her head through her cage bars?  Well, I guess she was a little too lonely for the two days she was left with our friends, squeezed out of her cage, probably couldn't get back in, and...Edna is no longer with us.  Rest in peace, you silly bird.

 

 Saturday we field-tripped to the pet store! 

 After a long look-over, we picked the youngest and prettiest one!

Isn't she lovely?  Jason thinks its a boy and should be named Studebaker, Sparky, or Stu.  I'm deciding that she will be a girl because I need a female friend in this very-male household.  And so I'd like to introduce, in honor of the pageant broadcast this Saturday, there she is, "Miss America"!  After working with her just over the weekend, she'll already sit on our fingers and let us stroke her.  She has a beautiful tweet and I feel so cool having a pageant girl as a friend!

Hair Fluff Tutorial

For Christmas gifts, I made all the girls a headband accessory, a design that I made up and like to call a "hair fluff".  To start, for each hairpiece, cut out one big circle, maybe 18" in diameter, and one small felt circle, maybe 3" in diameter, or however large you want the accessory to turn out.

Pinch some fabric out of the center of the large piece, twist it, then place the felt behind it and secure with a needle and thread.

 Keep grabbing, twisting, and securing every centimeter or so, placing them close or far apart, depending on the look you want.

I tried to continue pinching/sewing as I went around in a circle.  When it looks full enough to you and circular in shape, flip it over and trim off the excess fabric, leaving an inch or so beyond the felt.

Bring the raw edges over and secure down with hand stitches.  You'll have to gather it a little because of all the excess.

The first one took me roughly 40 min. from start to finish, but the next ones went MUCH faster.  Just put on a movie and pull out some scraps!

 Hand-sew (or hot glue) ribbon and clips to the back.  I sewed on the fluffs in a slightly off-center place so that they would lie on the side of one's head and still have an even amount of ribbon in the back for a bow.

Ta da!  I kept the pink one for myself because I wondered if it looked too much like brains spilling out.

How I Knew I was Having a Boy

 About 25 years ago, three sisters all had baby girls. 

Camille, Carrie, and Erin became very good friends.

 So when Carrie and Erin got married and had baby boys, I knew what was coming!

Carrie has already had her 2nd boy, Erin's 2nd boy is due in February,

and our 2nd boy is due in May! 

(And heads up: Carrie is pregnant with her 3rd: a girl!)

Its all Fun and Games

And then the games really began.  We ate and played and teased and ate and played.

 We all got to be there for Evan's Eagle Court of Honor!  Good job little brother!

Lincoln started Christmas morning with a bad fever and slept most of the day.  We soon noticed he had atleast SIX teeth coming in all at once!  With this on top of a cough and runny nose, he was pretty miserable.  I took him to the doctor yesterday and turns out he also has possible thrush and TWO ear infections.  What a rotten way to spend vacation!  Get better soon, Link Link!

 My mom took all the girls to go get pedicures and frozen yogurt!  (I picked sparkly Barbie pink)  Oh what fun to have more girls in the house! 

 Jason and I were in charge of New Years games, so we pulled out some Newlywed Game questions, and it was surprisingly a very even match between all four couples, regardless of being married 26 years or having dated less than 3 months!

 Young's Dairy for ice cream and hitting petting the cows.  We'll work on that.

 Hiking through Clifton Gorge

Travis & Kelli,

Braden & Julia,

sittin in a tree, k...i...

Happy New Years!!

21 Weeks

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

We added my little family's stockings and our two Christmas guests, Kelli & Julia!  Everyone was quick to point out how unfair that I had two stockings, but technically I am two people right now, so I thought it was totally fair.

Since my mom had to work on Christmas Eve, we moved everything back a day.  Sunday was our Eve, and Monday was our holiday.  Sneaky, huh.

Holly berry fingernails!

Traditional Nativity

Mary and Joseph with Toddler Jesus

 "Help!"

Christmas Eve animal pajamas!

Stocking treasures: "Santa" filled mine with a coincidentally large number of dental products.  Perhaps he heard about my last dentist visit.

 Kelli & Julia flew in Christmas Eve around midnight and got to join in on the Hancock fun over the next week.  More to come!