There's No Place Like Home

Yes, my daughter is using her Maisy book as a pillow as she sacked out in her activity play garden on Monday after coming home from vacation. Apparently, our quick vacation weekend had really caught up with her little self. Eric and I were relaxing in the living room, exchanging stories about each kid that we had missed for the past few days and next thing we knew, Elaina was snoozing without even a warning. At 5:00 in the afternoon! Even though her pillow was a hard cover book, I found myself envious of her napping, peacefully in the late afternoon. J-E-A-L-O-U-S.

Although it had only been 2 full days that I hadn't seen Lincoln, I came home to a bigger kid. Really. Who knew that my baby could grow into a bigger, fatter baby with dark hair growth coming in on his head and dark eyelashes to match in only 2 days? Seriously. I spent plenty of time squeezing him before I left to know that this kid had changed. Even Eric commented on Lincoln's rapid hair growth. Now mind you, it's not to the point that he's looking like a rock star yet, it's just much, much more obvious and brown. Let's hear it for my brown haired boy!

Here's a picture of my little chubbo-legged-child who is enjoying his mobile in his crib that he has yet to sleep in. But, really, doesn't it just look pretty and cozy? Since I'm so far behind with my blogging and regretting every moment that escapes my record keeping, I've been trying to make a mental list of all-things-cute and momentous for each of the kids. ( Confession: I LOVE using kids, plural!)

Very noteworthy for Lincoln is that he gave me his very first reaction smile. He's secretly been allowing some involuntary smiles to escapes his sweet lips, but on Thursday night, I was making eye contact and talking to him in the silly mommy voice which every mom has and he smiled back at me! Oh melt me! And of course, holding back my drippy tears of gladness, I kicked up my voice a few more octaves to try to make him smile at me again. Not so much luck the second time around. I think he may have been frightened of his overwhelmed, excited mommy squealing in his face.

Since I last mentioned, Lincoln has adjusted to his lactose free formula very nicely. For Eric. Eric reported that Lincoln has been drinking 5 ounce bottles now and kept every one of them down without any spit-up issues like he had before. He even slept 5 hour stretches during the night while I was gone. Happy to hear this news, I snuggled into the sofa to feed my hungry baby the same night I got home and he yacked about 3 ounces out of his nose and mouth all over both of us and the sofa. Way to welcome Mommy home, son. What a better way to make Mommy feel completely and entirely helpless to make things right for him. Talk about worry...

The last thing on Lincoln's progress report is that he is doing so well at beginning to hold up his head. His neck muscles are strengthening and he is much less of a bobble head than just a few short weeks ago. One more thing, just because I have yet to mention it, Lincoln loves his baths. From his very first bath on, he loves the water. I like to think that I am doing a good job of making him comfortable, but he doesn't ever yell, cry or even fuss when it comes to me giving him a bath. He is such a good boy all around! Especially around his little rolly belly and thighs!I am so happy to see how he's filled out so nicely. It makes me feel like Eric and I are doing a little something right by this kid! (that is, aside from loving him to pieces!)

What would my blog be without some Elaina stories? I've got more than plenty. Little Stinkerbell is absolutely priceless these days.

Oh where to begin... well, she has begun to call her new Lily Leapfrog doll, Winkin'. I told her that the frog's name was Lily and that her brother's name was Lincoln. She looked at me like I had three heads and giggled and said, "No Mommy, this is Winkin'," as she clung onto Lily the frog.She still thinks that the answer to every question about what color is this or that- everything is always "Or-annj." Daddy is orange. Our house is orange. Keegan is orange. Mommy's eyes are orange. She sounds safely intelligent when we ask her what color Zoe from Sesame Street is. "Or-annj!" it is.

Since my time at home for maternity leave, I have been having Elaina take her afternoon naps in what was to become her new bedroom. This bedroom has since been painted (pictures to follow) and decorated exclusively for our little girl. The wall colors look like pure cotton candy! Yummy! The day finally came last week that I was able to put all of her bedding together and clear out some clutter and she was able to transition into a new full-sized bed of her own in a new bedroom without a hitch. I still have a tough time peeling myself away from her bedside as all I want to do is stare at how sweet and angelic and little she looks lying in this giant bedroom of girly pink and purple.

On Sunday, friends of ours who live at a nearby lake invited us to enjoy the day at their place and out on their boat. Elaina was so excited about her first boat ride and stood on the bank patiently waiting to wear a life jacket, which she properly requested, and cautioned everyone to be careful as she held out her arm in warning. Maybe Mommy has rubbed off on her just a little bit in her 2 years. She was excited and scared all at the same time as we started off. As more time passed, her comfort level grew until our driver/friend decided to kick it up a notch and tear out, full speed racing across the water. At this point she was sitting in my lap as we clung to each other and she left me with a warm, wet puddle in my lap as all of her fright leaked out of her swim diaper. We decided to leave Lincoln is his carseat aboard the boat and safe on the floor covered in towels, clear of the sun. The boat ride must have agreed with him as we didn't hear even a peep from him until I pulled him out while the boat wasn't moving. All in all, we enjoyed our day of play and Elaina's fright only lasted a very short time without any negativity toward the water or boating in general. She did well.

So there, I've been wracking my brain trying to think of any little details that I have missed that I have wanted to remember, but all I can say is that we've been enjoying ourselves and taking advantage of my last days of freedom before heading back to work this Thursday! Pooey.