Fun things this summer, thus far...

So far this summer, we've done a few fun things and plan for many more.

San Antonio Zoo:
Lincoln and I went to the SA Zoo while waiting for Daddy to finish his conference sessions. They have a fun little kid's area with a "river" where the kids can splash around and get wet. Lincoln LOVED it! We went at the wrong time of day to see all the animals so the water area was a great way to spend some time there. It was way too hot by the time we got there and the animals were all either sleeping or hiding from the sun.

Linc loves older kids, especially girls! Every time I turn around he's kissing someone. Below is a picture of him trying to kiss the older girl in the water. Heart-breaker! I'm worried already!

Other activities include visiting the public library, swimming at the public pool, and playing in the back yard. Hopefully our trip to the beach will materialize soon and we are looking forward to our up coming trip to Nashville/Atlanta!!! We're trying to get a trip planned to go to Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve and some other swimming holes in the area! It's just too hot to do anything NOT water related!

Nine Days of Madness, but Many Blessings!

The last nine days have been very trying but have also made me realize how blessed my family and I are. Although things got pretty bad, it could have been WAY worse. Here is a list of the problems and difficult situations we faced the past nine days and the blessings hidden within all the chaos....

Thursday, May 28, 2009:

Josh called me on his way to work to tell me he got into a car accident. The road that leads from our house to his job is very curvy and he got distracted just long enough to miss one of the curves and careen off the road into a granite boulder. The car was totalled.

Blessing #1: He walked away from the crash without a scratch!

We JUST receieved the car as a gift from Josh's dad in Oklahoma who bought a new car two months ago. We got his old 2000 Pontiac Bonneville with airbags and comfortable seats and we happy we got a new car without a car payment (yet another blessing). So we sold my little "card-board" truck, that did not have airbags.

Blessing #2: He could have been SERIOUSLY injured (or worse) if he had been in the truck. It probably would have crumbled upon hitting the boulder.

Saturday, May 30:

My dad found a car he liked for us at his dealership in San Antonio. We drove down Friday night, then went to look at the car Saturday morning with my parents. We found a different car and decided it was the best option for us. Dad started to work on getting the car ready to purchase on Monday.

Blessing #3: My dad has a great job at a car dealership and got us his employee discount!

Monday, June 1:

Started preparing for a trip to San Antonio for a three day conference Josh was scheduled to attend. Linc and I tagged along for fun. While putting Linc to bed that night, he tripped and fell forehead first into the corner of his crib. He got a pretty good goose egg on his head, but was otherwise okay.

Blessing #4: He came really close to hitting the metal bracket that holds the crib together. Could have been worse.

Wednesday, June 3:

Drove to San Antonio, dropped off Josh and saw our friends Charly and Casey and their family. Also caught up with another friend Nicole Winmill for lunch. Very fun. When we tried to leave, our other car (Toyota Camry) wouldn't start. I let it sit for a little bit, then jumped the battery. It worked. I picked up Josh and went straight to my dad's dealership to have it looked at. They said it would need a new battery and alternator AT LEAST!

Blessing #5: We were given a free rental car to get us around the rest of the week. Also test drove another car, same model just cheaper, and made a decision about purchasing our

"new-to-us" used car.

Wednesday night at the hotel room, Linc was standing up on the bed, fell off backwards and bit a hole through his tongue. My shoulder was covering with blood as we tried to get him to eat some ice chips to slow/stop the bleeding, which worked.

Blessing #6: He could have bit all the way through and needed stiches.

Friday, June 5:

Josh finished his conference and we left to go pick up both cars. It was very disheartening to know we would have a car payment for a little while, but we got a great car that should last us for a very long time.

Blessing #7: We saved about $6,000 by using my dad's employee discount.

Saturday, June 6:

We were excited to sleep in and recover from our bery busy week. Josh went to clean the church building around 9 am, and I was planning a trip to the City Pool. At 11 am, Lincoln grabbed the cord to my iron and pulled it down on his leg, severely burning him. I rushed him first to the bath tub for some cool water, then to our closest emergency center. After 90 MINUTES of waiting, they surveyed his leg and assessed it as a second degree burn, which meant 3-4 weeks of burn cream treatments and lots of gauze.

Blessing #8: Lincoln was sitting down in a chair when he pulled the iron down. It could easily have burned his face, arms, chest, and more. But it didn't.

There is a country song on the radio right now that is called "You're going to miss this" by Trace Adkins. It talks about kids growing up, getting married, having screaming kids of their own, etc, and how even though it's tough now, you're going to miss this. I have to remind myself that these days go by so quickly and I ought to enjoy EVERY moment I have with my family. You never know when it could be gone.

Although we've had some very stressful situations come up this past nine days, we are grateful to have escaped serious injury in several instances. I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for reminding me to look for the positive in all things and to love my familiy each day!

GMA Cutest Baby Pics

Here are the pictures we considered submitting for the Good Morning America "Cutest Baby" Contest. I know we won't win against those frickin' super cute 8 month olds (they are REALLY cute), but it's fun to take a bunch of pictures of Linc anyway. Enjoy.

Our Colorado Trip!

We recently went to visit Josh's brother and his family near Boulder, CO. Our flight left on a Thursday morning at 8:30 am, so getting up and out the door with plenty of time was going to be difficult, especially since I like to pack everything in advance and Josh likes to do things last minute. We got everything packed except our toothbrushes and the clothes we were going to wear on the plane. The last thing I wanted to do was get Linc up and in the car, which actually happened.

We got to the airport, which is a good hour away, and I needed to change Linc's diaper and out of his PJ's. I went to change Linc and Josh went back to the car to get the car seat we forgot. Can you believe that the Austin airport does NOT have a baby changing station? So that made things a little more difficult. We got checked in and were finally on the plane, so I started to give Linc something to eat to keep his ears from hurting and we were in the air. Not ten minutes later....KIDDO PUKE!!!!! Lots of puke!! I felt really bad for him because everything I had given him for breakfast came up. Funnily enough, one of Josh's co-workers had just given Linc a t-shirt that reads "BARF VADER". Nothing could be more true!

After the inital vomit, everyone was okay. Denver was almost 30 degrees colder than Austin. It felt GREAT!! It was a little wet from some slight drizzle, but beautiful. Just cool enough for a light jacket and long sleeve shirt.

Instead of going through the whole trip, I think I'll list the good and bad things that happened.

Good: We had a non-stop flight.

Bad: Lincoln puked on the way there. And I mean puked up EVERYTHING!

Good: The weather was cool and a little wet.

Bad: The weather got more wet and cold, plus it was windy on Friday.

Good: We hung out at the house and just relaxed. No set schedule.

Bad: The kids (and us) got a little stir-crazy.

Good: All four adults shared a "VERMONSTER" Ice Cream BUCKET with 20 scoops of 4 different kinds of ice cream, 3 brownies, 2 bananas, 2 cookies, 4 ladels of hot fudge, 1 scoop of m&m's, 1 scoop of chocolate sprinkles, and a whole lot of whipped cream.

Bad: We ALMOST ate it all (we estimate we left about 6 scoops of ice cream in the bucket). And the boys gave up BEFORE the girls!

Good: Linc and his girl cousin loved each other.

Bad: Linc and his girl cousin didn't love each other (but only when Linc stole a toy). They made up very quickly! They are entranced with the DVD, since neither of them watch much TV.

Good: We played lots of games after bed time, including Guitar Hero!! (My secret addiction)

Bad: We had sore fingers from playing so much.

Good: We ate at home mostly and made some REALLY great hamburgers, sandwiches, and kabobs.

Bad: Josh made Queso and Pretzels (which also could be considered a good thing) but we ate it ALL.

Good: We went to the Denver Zoo on Saturday. It was very quiet, due to the cool/wet weather. Bad: Nothing! We had a great time!

Good: We relaxed at home the night before leaving and played games.

Bad: Lincoln only got about 4 hours sleep because he woke up at midnight and barely slept after that.....which meant neither did I. Here he is surprising refreshed after almost NO SLEEP!! Crazy kid!

All in All:

We had a really GREAT time visiting our family and playing with our one and only niece. We were also VERY glad to get home and sleep in our own beds. But we LOVED Colorado!

Easter 2009 Recap

Our Easter this year was not at all what I expected, but I guess with an 18 month old son, nothing can be EXPECTED!

Our plan this year was to visit the local library to pet some real bunnies on Thursday, visit with some old friends on Saturday and do an egg hunt at the park, then go to church on Sunday in our new blue and white plaid pants and matching (yet bought at separate times) sweater vest and white collared shirt. Here is what really happened....

Thursday, April 9th: We went to the Library for the "Easter Bunny" petting time. I was excited, thinking Lincoln would love to sit and pet the bunnies. Mistake No. 1. We got there after delivering some handmade Hand-print Lillies to Josh's co-workers, and found that there were about 12-15 kids already there grouped around three separate bunnies. Instead of being excited about the bunnies, Lincoln started squeeling with joy at the sight of all the kids. He started running around talking to all the little girls first (he is his father's son) then to anyone that would pay attention to him. All he wanted to do was run around or lay on the floor. I finally got him to take a couple pictures with the bunny, but even that was a struggle. He didn't want anything to do with that bunny, cute as it was. We managed to get ONE good picture.

Friday, April 10th: Lincoln started acting really grumpy and running a slight fever, so we gave him some Tylenol, lots of water, and put him to bed early, hoping he would feel better in the morning.

Saturday, April 11th: Lincoln's temperature was still high so we decided to nip-it-in-the-bud and give him a cool bath. Josh gets teary when he hears his sweet boy scream and cry during the bath so I did the bath and Josh got him dressed. He felt a little better after that, but still not himself. Our friends Dan and Tannie Smith brought their two boys over for the local Easter Egg Hunt in Marble Falls, then we were going to go back to our house to catch up and hang out.

Josh dropped Linc and I off at the egg hunt and then went to park the car. As Linc and I were walking to the designated little kid spot, we walked past the loud speaker exactly at the moment the announcer yelled into the microphone "Are we all ready?" It scared Lincoln and hurt my ears, so I'm sure it hurt his. He grabbed my neck and wouldn't let go the rest of the time. We practiced finding eggs and putting them in his basket at the house all week. Now he wouldn't even get down to grab one egg. I couldn't help but feel bad for him, so I didn't subject him to the terror of visiting the Easter Bunny, whose costume was very shabby and not the bunny I remember being as a Parks and Rec intern!!!

You can tell he doesn't feel great. Poor guy. He went home and slept most of the day and had to endure another cold bath.

Sunday, April 12th: Easter morning, Lincoln's temperature was still high and he was vomitting, so Josh went to his meeting before church then came home and we spent Easter in our pajamas nursing a sick kiddo. It wasn't fun for anyone, but we later found out that a stomach virus was going around and Linc had picked it up some how.

Needless to say, our Easter was a bust but we were happy to be together as a family. Last year, I made Linc a matching vest and tie and thought I would avoid that this year, but I ended up making him at least a tie on Saturday night. I'll post a picture once he wears it. Ah, life's little speed bumps.....they make you slow down and count your blessings!!!!

Tip-toe through the Bluebonnets!!

Lincoln and I went on a quick trip to Dallas last week. Our very good friend Rachael Bond is having her first baby boy and we were driving up to attend the baby shower. The fastest route from here to Dallas is up Hwy 281, which is west of IH-35 and has MUCH better scenery and traffic! So we got in the car and headed up on a slightly hazy day, which helped keep things a little darker and allowed Linc to sleep for a while.

On the way, I saw some patches of bluebonnets along the side of the road and since it was a very rural road, I pulled over and we ran through the bluebonnets to stretch.

Here are some of the better pictures we took. We had a GREAT time with Rach and can't wait for Lincoln to play with their little "baby boy bond".

I love that little laugh!