Spring Cleaning

For the past two weeks, Scott and I have been "spring" cleaning. We got some water in our basement a couple of weeks ago, and figured that would be a good excuse to clean out all of the boxes and stored stuff we have down there. It's amazing how much stuff we pulled out to throw away. To be honest, Scott has been doing most of the basement work since we learned early on that it wasn't very smart to have Lincoln crawling around down there. To do my part, I cleaned my closet and remved a couple boxes worth of clothes to give away.

As you can see, Lincoln has not been helping very much with the effort. We've discovered a couple of foods that he likes besides crackers - Sweet potatos (which are artfull displayed on his face in the photo), bananas, and squash are his favorites.

Mother's Day Memoir

I celebrated my very first mother's day last weekend. Lincoln made me pancakes for breakfast (Scott had to help quite a bit), and we grilled pork chops for dinner. Overall a pretty relaxing day for me - although Scott was pretty busy. He managed to mow the lawn *and* play in an ultimate tourniment that day while Lincoln and I hung out at the house. Lincoln and I have been bonding a lot the last few days, since Miss Lucy took a vacation day yesterday.

Lincoln's new obsession is putting things inside other things - right now he's taking everything out of the diaper bag and occassionally putting things back in (as you can see in the photos). He loves putting his smaller toys inside boxes and then taking them out again. I've recruited cat food dishes (clean ones!), coffee containers, rubbermaid boxes, and tupperware containers to help him out.

Skillz

Lincoln was so impressed with Scott's half-marathon time last weekend, he decided to show us some new mad skillz. At Grandma and Granpa Hauner's house Lincoln showed us that he can now climb stairs (and climb them quickly, over and over again!), and that he can also do this:



Way to go kiddo!

Race Day!

This has been a very exciting couple of weeks! Most recently, Scott finished the Lincoln half-marathon in a very nice 1 hour 37 minutes. That's him crossing the finish line with the black shirt - gun time was 1 hour 39 minutes. It was rainy that morning, which (according to Scott) made for great running, but unfortunately was not good weather for a stroller. Lincoln stayed with grandma and grandpa during the race, and celebrated with daddy afterwards and tried on his finisher medal.

























Also, here are the promised photos from last week's Trolley Run. Lincoln really enjoyed the run, and even took the time to "check the equipment" before the race began with his new buddy Cade. Joni, Jayne, and Grandma King also walked the Trolley Run with us and we all had a good time!

Finals!

We had a fabulous weekend last weekend - what with Mary's baby shower, Amari's birthday party, and the Trolley Run (photos should be up shortly) but...what I'm really excited about this week is......FINALS!

I gave my final exam on Monday, and actually got them all graded yesterday. Once I turn in grades tomorrow, I am done for the semester! Now I just have to finish my dissertation. It funny that when you become a professor, all of the stress of finals goes on *after* the exam, when you're struggling to get everything graded by the end of the week.

I am currently looking for adjunct teaching positions for next fall, so if you happen to know of a local college or community college looking for Economics instructors, please let me know...I have to control my ego for now, since I recently reviewed my student evaluations from last semester and one student's comments consisted of "Bravo!" What can I say?

Is it a cracker?

There's a scene in the movie "Elf" where "Elf's" (Wil Farrell) dad says to him, "you really like sugar, huh?", to which "Elf" asks, "is syrup made of sugar? Then YES!". I'm starting to feel that way with Lincoln and crackers. People that know us, know that we've had a struggle with getting Lincoln to eat food. Well, it seems that we just weren't feeding him the right things. Lincoln loves anything and everything crackers - Graham Crackers, veggie crackers (which don't actually have veggies in them), Sweet Potato Puffs (once again, with no sweet potato in them), and Baby Cheetos (yes, they make baby Cheetos).

So I have this question/challenge for our readers - since I'm assuming babies can't survive on carbs alone, what other foods have a nice crunch, are easy for baby to eat, and have *any* nutrional value? Or, for those that have experience with children, what are good toddler foods that *aren't* pre-packaged by Gerber?

Just me an' Linc

This week Scott is on a business trip to Seattle, so it's just Lincoln and me until tonight. I admit, I was a bit worried about spending three days as the sole responsible adult in the house, but when Scott gets home I will have him confirm that the baby and cats are fed, the baby is clean, and the house is still in one piece!
Here is the scene from Monday morning after Scott left. Poor Lincoln, how will he get by with just Mommy to keep him company?
Of course! Joni can come over and keep him company. Joni watched Lincoln while I taught class on Monday, and lucky for Lincoln she's coming over tonight, too!
He can also keep himself happy by playing with daddy's sunglasses. Don't worry - no sunglasses were hurt in the creation of these photos.
And finally...Lincoln has kept himself happy remembering the wonderful weather last Saturday. Daddy took him outside and snapped this "sunny" photo in our yard. What a cutie!

A clean baby

I think we've posted bath videos before, but this is again proof that Lincoln has been bathed. He's starting to enjoy the bath more now that he's mastered splashing. He also really enjoys his rubber duck...as you'll see.

A Healthier Mommy

I am happy to report that Lincoln and Scott took very good care of me, and I am feeling much better today! Thanks for all of your well-wishes. It's a good thing I'm well again, since Lincoln has a new "skill":

Yes, that's him pulling himself up on our coat rack. Lest you think that I let him risk toppling the coat rack on top of himself while I took a photo, I'd like to note that Lincoln is attracted to our camera like a moth to a flame. No sooner had a snapped this photo than Lincoln had climbed down and headed straight for me.

Here's an example of the type of photo I end up with if I have the camera out too long:

No Sick Days for Mommies

On Sunday night I woke up at 2am feeling achy and awful - and Scott used our new thermometer to confirm that I had a 102 degree fever. A year ago I would have spent the next day curled up in bed watching bad tv and resting. I've discovered, though, that there's no such thing as a "sick day" for mommies. Since Lincoln can't take care of himself, I took a couple of Advil and spent the day chasing Lincoln around the house. I did get a nap during Lincoln's afternoon nap, and Scott was my hero at lunch when he brought me a big jug of gatorade.

Luckily I feel a bit better today - and Lincoln's at Miss Lucy's so I can hopefully get some work done on my dissertation from home. I want to feel better so that tomorrow Lincoln and I can get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather we're having.

A Healthier Baby

We have good news - it appears that the antibiotic is working and Lincoln is feeling much better. If any of you have experience with kids and ear infections, though, you know that antibiotics have some...unpleasant...side effects. Since I've already grossed out everyone with my last "poo" post, I won't go into the gory details. I'll just say that Lincoln now requires a couple of clothing changes each day. The "incidents" only happen about twice a day, so I don't think he's at risk of dehydration, and he doesn't appear to be uncomfortable otherwise. Scott and I just have to remind ourselves that it's only for one more week (ONE MORE WEEK???) ugh.

Lucky for me, Lincoln's at daycare today (Lucy felt bad that Lincoln missed two days in the past two weeks), so I shouldn't have to deal with his afternoon "delivery".

Happy Easter, Sad Week

Last weekend Lincoln dressed up in a tie to celebrate Easter at Mary and Randy's house. He had lots of fun with some out-of-town visiters: Irene, Jerry, Andy and Cecilee Diamond (although Cecilee isn't officially out of town, she's just north of the river), and Carol and her two sons Chase and Austen. Unfortunately, it looks like Lincoln's cold from last week has come back with some bacterial friends. Yesterday he came home from the sitter's with a fever and was generally unhappy. We went to the doctor and it appears he has an early ear infection. Here is Dr. Giraffe displaying the Omnicef that we have to administer to Lincoln twice a day for 10 days.
And here Dr. Giraffe is showing off the digital ear thermometer I bought yesterday (Lincoln wasn't too keen on the rectal thermometer - I wonder why?). Lincoln's fever got up to 103 yesterday, but his temp is back to normal today even without Motrin (yay!). He didn't sleep very well last night, but he seems to be feeling a bit better today.

15 Pounds

Yesterday was Lincoln's 9-month checkup and he now weighs....15 pounds. Yes, that puts him at the 5th percentile for weight (which means out of 100 babies, only 5 would be smaller than him). His height is also at the 5th percentile, but his head (and brain) are 50th percentile. So we have a small, smart baby. The doctor says we need to get him to eat more. Anyone who has been around Lincoln for any length of time knows how difficult it is to make him do something he doesn't want to do.

The day before the checkup I attended a La Leche League meeting and had checked out "My Child Won't Eat" by Carlos Gonzalez. Dr. Gonzalez's premise is that babies know how much food they need, and it's futile to try to trick or scold them into eating more. I had just started feeling a bit better about Lincoln's eating habits when we were told by the doctor that we need to try to get him to eat more solids.

On the plus side, there were no new shots for Lincoln yesterday (yay!) He got his finger pricked for an iron test and he didn't cry at all at the sight of his own blood (although it was tough for mommy and daddy to watch). His iron levels are OK, and everything else is also ok.

It's running season again

Last year, Linda and I were very disciplined, got up early, and went jogging almost every morning. This year, our training has been a little less structured. Less sleep, general laziness, and chasing Lincoln around the house have all contributed.

Regardless, it is running season again, and we're starting to get our races scheduled. If you're interested, here's what we'll be doing this year. We'll keep you posted as results come in.

Trolley Run (April 29) - This year Linda is pushing Lincoln in the stroller rather than carrying him in the womb.

Lincoln 1/2 Marathon (May 6) - This is my second year for the 1/2 marathon, so we'll see what happens.

Corporate Challenge 5K (May 12) - I need to do good at this race because my times are posted at work.

Mission Fun Run (TBD) - Linda and I did this two years ago and it was fun, so we're looking forward to it.

Kansas City Marathon (TBD) - I did this last year with some co-workers and am planning to do it again.

Healthy Baby?

Scott and I were very relieved to wake to a happy Lincoln this morning. We all travelled to Loup City over the weekend (with a stopover at the Hauners) for Scott's cousin's wedding. Unfortunately, Lincoln came down with a bit of a fever Friday night and was not feeling well or sleeping well all weekend. He seems to be feeling better today, and did a bit of munching on a stuffed Easter rabbit from Grandma and Grandpa Hauner. I think the fever is gone, and he managed to get a bit more sleep last night.

Lincoln was *very* spoiled by grandparents all weekend - and even though he was under the weather he really enjoyed all of the attention. Grandma and Grandpa King gave him a fun True Value Lunch Box (so much fun to open and close!) and a chewy car and Easter bunny.

Pulling Up: The Sequel

Scott and I learned this weekend that not only can Lincoln pull himself up on bookshelves and couches, he can also pull himself up in his crib. We discovered this when we woke up Sunday morning and were greeted by Lincoln standing in his crib, staring at us. As a result, we have now lowered the mattress in the crib to the lowest setting. So now he can lay on his tummy and stare at us, sit up and stare at us, but (at least for now) he can not stand and stare at us on weekend morning.

With all of Lincoln's new developments, he has become a lot more fun to play with. Some of his favorite games include crawling through "obstacle courses" of pillows, large stuffed animals, tunnels, and (unfortunately for Cheetara) cats. He has also been known to crawl over Scott and myself, although he prefers to "attack" us by grabbing our faces or belts, strings, etc. I have a feeling that if we could read his mind, we would just hear the mantra "gogogogogogogo - must keep gooooooooing!"

Pulling Up

It seems that every day Lincoln is reaching a new milestone. Yesterday I set him in the living room to do some work in the kitchen. After a couple of minutes I came back to check on him, and saw this:

Yes, Lincoln is pulling up now. He's been standing up against furniture for a couple of weeks. Now it seems he's able to stand up by himself using a table, couch, or (his most popular choice) the bookshelf. Miss Lucy thinks he'll be walking early, and I'm inclined to think so, too. Unfortunately, his ability to stand up is not matched with an ability to sit back down. So for now, Scott or I need to be close by in case he needs to do a quick landing.

His reading choice in the photo is the "Journal of Post Keynesian Economics". Apparently "Fluffy Chick and Friends" was no longer stimulating enough for him.

A Sunday Drive...

Lincoln likes to spend leisurely Sunday mornings sipping a nice mug of milk before he heads out for a relaxing drive around the living room in his Fisher Price baby car (you can't see the steering wheel from this angle, but it's there). He does all of this, of course, wearing his monster-truck hat set at a jaunty angle to impress the ladies.

Scott and I realized this weekend that Lincoln's noggin has officially outgrown this hat. We thought we'd let Lincoln wear it around the house, though, since it has so much personality.

Some Family Updates

I've done an awful lot of "Lincoln" posts lately, so I thought it was time for a "Linda" update (poor Scott will have to wait for his update). First, though, I want to mention that to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Lincoln wore his John Deere shorts outfit (courtesy of great-aunt Susan). For anyone familiar with farm machinery, you can guess the color of the outfit. No pinches for my boy!

As for me, I submitted a rough draft of my dissertation to my supervisor about two weeks ago. It clocks in at about 115 pages - much shorter than Eric's (my old officemate) dissertation - his was well over 500 pages!! I'm currently waiting for my supervisor to read it and give me feedback. There's a slim chance that I could graduate this semester, although that's looking less and less likely. I'll probably end up defending at the end of this semester and graduating at the end of the summer or fall semester. Meanwhile, I have a huge job of editing and proofreading to do. Scott has graciously agreed to help me proofread, and we've already had exciting debates about whether page numbers go before or after punctuation marks in quotes.

Some 8-Month Portraits!

This morning we got up early to go to Portrait Innovations and have some portraits taken. Lincoln's first portraits (at 4 months) were taken at JC Penney's, and we wanted to see what the differences would be like. First, here's two of the pictures. In the first one he's standing all by himself!!:
In this next one he looks incredibly cute. Unfotrunately, he wasn't incredibly smiley today. Anyone that's been around Lincoln for any length of time knows that he loves to smile and laugh...unless he's getting his picture taken by a professional.
Portrait Innovations did a great job. The photographer had a hand-held camera so she could get pics from lots of angles, and the photos were taken on the floor - so no worries about Lincoln falling off the "stage"! Other big plusses were that we got to keep a CD of all of the pictures taken (low-res), and they stay "on-time" (so no waiting 2 hours past our appointment time). We ended up paying a bit more, but we got tons of pictures and a change of clothes. So a definite thumbs-up.

Hot "Poo"tato (not for the squeamish)

I'll apologize in advance for this somewhat graphic post, but as a parent of a baby the topic of "poo" seems to come up pretty often...

As Lincoln gets older, his digestive system has been maturing and his previously semi-liquid mild-smelling poo is tranforming into a semi-solid horrifically-smelling assualt to the senses. He has also become "irregular", sometimes pooing every day, sometimes going for 3 or 4 days without a "delivery". As such, Scott and I (along with our unwitting daycare provider) are playing a constant game of hot pootato. No one wants to be home alone with Lincoln when he finally poos, but as days pass wihtout a dirty diaper, we each know that the odds of either of us being stuck with changing duty goes up exponentially. The risk is exacerbated by the fact that Lincoln can't sit still long enough to do a quick "wet only" diaper change, which means that when he poos we risk having him try to crawl away while diaper-less and dirty...

I've decided that when Lincoln turns 16 I'm going to show him and his buddies this post and then maybe...just maybe...that will make it all worthwhile...

A Visit from the Hauners - and babyproofing.

We had a very exciting weekend this past weekend - Grandma and Grandpa Hauner came to visit! Lincoln was very excited to see them, and recieved lots of extra-special attention all weekend. The (older) boys went to the car show, and Lincoln and I went with my mom and sister to the Plaze to enjoy the weather and do a little shopping. I got to see the cute bed linens Mary picked out for her baby's room, and I bought a couple of "bath buddies" for Lincoln. Unfortunately, we were having so much fun visiting with my parents, I didn't take any pictures :(. Lincoln impressed his grandparents by sitting in the "big boy" chair at restaurants (also known as the hgh chair) and using the "big boy" stroller (ie not using the baby carrier).

In other news, now that Lincoln is mobile the term "baby proofing" takes on a whole new meaning. As I've been typing this, I've had to stop several times to: 1) Move the power cord so Lincoln won't grab it, 2) Move Lincoln out from under the rocking chair, 3) Rescue Cheetara from Lincoln's "petting", and 4) Set up a "tunnel" for Lincoln to crawl through. And I thought babyproofing just meant covering up outlets and setting up a baby gate!

Kings of the Mountain 2007

In February, we spent a few days at Copper Mountian with my parents. It was a great trip, and here's the proof...the annual King-family skiing video. Check it out if you've got a few free minutes.



Also, if you're interested, here's a link to the video from last year.

Kings of the Mountain 2005

Lincoln really gets around

Now that Lincoln's moving faster, it seems that I've been moving slower...at least, I've been slow at getting his crawling video uploaded. Here it (finally!) is. He can really get around the house fast. He can go from the kitchen to the living room to the tv room in a blink of an eye. Visitors to our house may notice that furniture is slowly disappearing - first our ottoman, then one of our coffee tables...nothing is more fun to Lincoln than a table leg these days!

Two More Ski Photos

I couldn't resist posting a couple more ski pictures. The first one is Joni and Lincoln wrestling on the fabulous quilt that Joni made.	The other photo is proof that I really did ski on this trip.
This has been a milestone week - On Monday Lincoln started crawling for real - moving without his tummy on the floor. He is pretty fast doing his army crawl, so I can only imagine what sort of trouble he'll get into when he gets up to true crawling speed! He also had another "first" - he went from crawling to sitting all by himself! I have video of him crawling so I'll upload that soon.