Here's the photo!!

Here's a picture of Mary and Lincoln from last night. Mary and Randy are having issues with their air conditioner, so Lincoln is enjoying the balmy temperatures sprawled out on his bouncer in front of the fan.

Lincoln goes to a dinner party

Yesterday Lincoln received an invitation to his very first dinner party! Last evening we went to Mary and Randy's (my sister and brother-in-law) for our very first dinner "out" as a family. It was very exciting - the adults ate turkey burgers and Lincoln had...breastmilk, of course. I had a lot of fun, but Lincoln somehow managed to sleep through the entire dinner. I guess that constitutes a nice evening for him, though.

Blogger's a bit slow this morning so I'll wait 'till this afternoon to post a photo from the event.

Some Birthday Photos

Here are some photos of Lincoln from today - he's one month and one day old. Notice how much he loves the teddy bear I made for him (and see what happens when we take the teddy bear away!)

Lincoln goes to school, and a Birthday!!!

Lincoln had two exciting events recently - he got to visit the university for the first time yesterday, and he's celebrating his month birthday today!

At UMKC Lincoln got to meet a couple of my classmates and professors, and see my office (he wasn't overly impressed). I also got the experience of feeding him in the backseat of the car on the way home. In case you're wondering, I did park the car before I fed him!

It's hard to believe it's been four weeks since he was born. Monday is his next doctor's appointment, so we'll have more to report then!

Lincoln's Throne

Since Lincoln is sporting a Caesar hair cut, I thought it would be appropriate to show him sitting in his favorite seat - the baby swing (otherwise known as his "throne"). His onesie says "Mommy's Little King" (Thanks to Natalia for the cute outfit!) and it's very appropriate. Not only is his last name King, but he is also currently the most powerful person in the household...he gets to eat on demand, sleeps when he wants, and generally decides how much sleep mommy and daddy get...that's a lot of power for such a little guy!!

9 Pounds 8 Ounces

Today was breastfeeding support group and weigh day, and Lincoln weighed in at 9 pounds 8 ounces - a very nice increase from last week!

We also got a visit from Tanya today - a friend from our Bradley class. Lincoln enjoyed meeting Amari, Tanya's daughter, and I enjoyed having "grown up" conversation (not that Lincoln's conversation isn't riveting...)

Why no photo today?

You may be wondering why there's no photo of Lincoln today...we have not taken any pictures in the past couple of days at Lincoln's request. Unfortunately, he has developed baby-pattern baldness. The entire front portion of his hair has fallen out, and we're wondering if the rest will fall out, too.

In case you're wondering, it is perfectly normal for babies to lose the hair they're born with - eventually it does grow back. We're hoping that we can convice Lincoln to let us take his photo so that you can see his new look.

Lincoln just hangin' out

Here's a quick video of Lincoln hangin' out on a Saturday afternoon.

Lincoln Wears Pants

We decided that it was time that Lincoln wore pants, but they turned out a little bit big. Scott decided to use this as an opportunity to try a new swaddling technique. Poor Lincoln was very concerned that he could no longer find his hands...

Week two pictures...

Here are some pictures from week #2 featuring Linda's parents.

A Car Ride for Lincoln

Today was a very exciting day for Lincoln and his mommy. We took our first car trip "alone" (without daddy) to the breastfeeding support group at a local hospital. I am happy to report that we made it there and back without incident. I enjoyed meeting and talking with other breastfeeding mothers at the meeting.

The best part of the meeting was that they had a baby scale there. Lincoln clocked in at a whopping **8 pounds 12 ounces**!!!! Yes, he's gained over a pound since his last doctor appointment a week and a half ago! My little baby is growing up so fast...

Some bonding time

Scott started back at work full-time this week, so Lincoln and I are getting some serious bonding time. So far we've had an excitng morning of eating, sleeping, one crying fit, three diaper changes, and a clothing change. Surprise, surprise, Lincoln peed on his onesie this morning - a move which I'm starting to think is his way of saying he wants to wear a different outfit...

Happy birthday, Linda!!

Today Linda is the big 30. Her 20's are behind her, but she's still this little ballerina at heart.

Two Weeks!

Lincoln is two weeks old today. I *think* he's getting bigger, but that could just be mommy's wishful thinking.

We also had another big milestone today: he finally lost his umbilical cord stump! This means that we finally get to give him a real bath. Lucky for us (but maybe unlucky for grandma?) - my mom is still here to help us with his first bath. I hope he likes the water!

Sleep...and more Sleep?

I never could have imagined all of the things that would cause me stress as a new parent...I expected to be woken up several times a night by a baby that needed to be fed/diapered/held/etc., but I never expected to worry about a baby that likes to sleep at night!! We've been waking Lincoln up twice a night to get fed, and I have no idea how long he would sleep without our "interruptions" (last night he went 5 hours without a feeding - oops!)

That aside, Scott and I are enjoying the repetoire of sounds that Lincoln is capable of: besides crying, he grunts, coos, belches and gurgles...and farts so loud you can hear it across the room. It's really quite entertaining, and we hope to capture some of it on film so we can show it to his girlfriend in 16 years.

Who has Lincoln peed on?

As many of our guests have discovered, Lincoln likes to "christen" friends and family by peeing on them. So far he has peed on both Scott and myself, with Scott having a surreal moment where he wondered if he had actually peed himself. I believe I was the first pee recipient with a special "spray" in the hospital. He's also peed on the doctor, the nurses, Scott's dad, my friend Jayne, and (just today) his soon-to-be aunt Joni.

My parents are coming into town this weekend, so they will have a "pee opportunity" soon. Other than that, Lincoln and I have had some bonding time the last couple of days and I have learned that he has a propensity towards hiccups...which makes breastfeeding that much more interesting.

Week one pictures...

Since Lincoln's one-week birthday was on Friday, here are a few pics from his first week. My parents were in town this week helping keep our lives in order, and everyone got a turn holding the baby.

Birth Weight Redux

Lincoln went to his first-week appointment yesterday, and just as we suspected he's doing great!! He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz yesterday, which means that he is already back to his birth weight. Babies lose up to 10% of their birth weight and then usually take 1-2 weeks to get back to their original weight, so Lincoln is right on schedule!! This makes me *extremely* happy, since it means that all of those midnight/midday/all day feeding festivals are actually doing some good.

Scott has dubbed our baby swing "baby crack" since whenever Lincoln is fussy (and not hungry) the swing instantly soothes him. Thanks to my sister Mary (auntie Mary) for buying the swing for us! We owe her an extra nap...

Speaking of naps...it's about time for our midmorning rest! More photos to come!

We also have a video...

This is a short video (~1.5 minutes) of our family meeting Lincoln for the first time.

The pictures are here...

We've posted some pictures from Lincoln's birthday. You can view all of them here.

A short break...

Whew!! I have a few minutes free to do a quick posting. Lincoln's been in a feeding frenzy this morning - almost a feeding every hour. He may get chubby yet! Feeding times are an excellent excuse to just sit back and relax...

As Scott said, the birth went almost exactly as I had envisioned it. Scott was a wonderful support person and got me through all 18 hours of labor with hardly a thought of pain meds (although he probably could have used some caffeine to stay awake all night). I think I was in shock when he finally arrived, and I couldn't believe he was actually mine - who could have thought that we could produce something so wonderful!

I'll have the full birth story shortly. Our family has just arrived for our July 4th celebration so I'll sign off for now. More photos are coming... and if anyone reading this is pregnant, I (like Scott) highly reccommend Bradley method classes - there were no surprises during the delivery, and even though it was a lot of work to go natural, I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Lincoln Thomas King has finally arrived...

Well, Lincoln has arrived, and we're back home. Everyone is doing great, and we're really enjoying life as a new family.

Here are the stats...

Name: Lincoln Thomas

Born: 8:34 AM, Friday, June 30th

Weight: 7 lbs. 6.5 oz.

Height: 19.5 inches

Linda was in labor for around 13 hours (~18 if you count the very early stages), and she did a great job all the way through. The entire birth went almost exactly as we expected. (Many thanks here to Summer and Casey, our Bradley instructors, for getting us so prepared.) I'll let Linda post all of the details...she has all ready started writing the full birth story.

Thanks for all the calls and best wishes. We're still trying to get in touch with everyone, but we've been a little busy.

Here are a couple of pictures...there will be many more to come.

This is Linda enjoying some well-deserved orange juice about 30 minutes after Lincoln was born.















This is Lincoln about an hour into his new life on the outside.