Georgetown/Duke Basketball Game & Lincoln's First Meal at the Table

This was cute, Lincoln was being a little fussy and really wanted to be held while we were trying to eat dinner, so we decided to put him in his Bumbo and put him at the table. He loved it! It was so fun, he kept laughing and smiling and watching us put our food in our mouths.

It was so cute, Sheridan kept tickling his feet and was getting Lincoln to crack up.

Happy Boy!! This is one of my quick "go-to" meals if I don't have a lot of time that day! So easy, just baked BBQ chicken and baked potato wedges with some salt and pepper on them :)

Sheridan was able to get tickets to the Georgetown/Duke basketball game in the Exxon Suite! It was really a lot of fun! We left early and met up with one of Sheridan's coworkers and his wife and had lunch near the arena. It was great to meet some other people our age! However, there was one major problem....we didn't really know where the arena was at, so we entered the address into our GPS. Well, for some reason our GPS put us about 7 blocks away from the actual arena. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal at all, however, there was a big snow storm that day and there was already about 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground and it was coming down heavy! I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't bring a coat and just had a very thin long-sleeved shirt on with a vest. I froze my little tail off!! We had Lincoln in the sling (no way his stroller would have been able to go through the snow on the sidewalk) with a blanket over him. We ended up getting drenched in snow - not fun!!

Here are some fun pictures of the game. It was a lot of fun! I have never been to a college basketball game with that much excitement before. We found out later that President Obama was at the game (which probably explains the extra tight security we had to go through). They had gray shirts on every seat to try and make the arena a "gray out".

Sheridan and I thought this was hilarious. Notice anything strange about the guys in suits? They are wearing tennis shoes with their suits! It looked so silly. The only thing we could come up with was maybe they are trying to promote a particular shoe label or something. Weird!

Duke did the same thing!

Here is a picture of the three of us in the suite we were in. I love Lincoln's face here!! He has been so squirmy the last few days, it was hard to keep him still! :) This is what it looked like when we got out of the stadium. It was a COLD walk back to our car! My jeans were drenched from my mid-calf down by the time we got to the car!

Sheridan and Lincoln walking into the house

New Adventure

I recently made a very hard decision! I have been struggling lately with the decision to go back to work. I love love love being a mom, but we have a significant amount of student loan debt, and I also miss the challenges of having career goals and being in the workplace. However, because we are living in Fairfax and have no family nearby I would have to put Lincoln in daycare if I were to go back to work outside of the home. This is something we really did not want to do. I had been looking at some pharmaceutical sales jobs in the area when I happened to start talking to my Aunt Andrea on the phone a few weeks ago. I have been ordering Scentsy products from her for years and was calling her to order some new spring scents (a Christmas gift from my parents). All of the sudden I remembered how she was always talking about what a wonderful, family-friendly company Scentsy was. I knew that you could work from home and choose your own hours as you are essentially running your own business. So, I started asking her a few questions and was very interested! Sheridan and I spent a lot of time discussing this idea. We spent a few days figuring out a business plan, goals -- Sheridan even created this large excel document with complicated formulas!! (Does that surprise you if you know Sheridan??) :) After lots of questions to Andrea and many more discussions we decided that this was a worthwhile business opportunity for us to pursue. I am VERY excited to start with this company and I feel so blessed that I found an opportunity where I can be at home with Lincoln and still provide income for our family.


Here is a picture of a few of the warmers that are offered. If you go to my website http://www.nh.scentsy.us/ you can see the full collection. If you live in my area I would love for you to stop by and test out all the various scents - I have all 80 at my house!



Another way for you to get free product is to host a party. You can do a "traditional party" where you invite people to your house and I will bring all my warmers and scents. Another thing Scentsy does is called a "basket party". This is a really popular way to earn free items and it is easy, easy, easy! I have a number of laptop-size cases that are filled with all of our wax scents in small testers. I will give that to you and you can bring it to work, church, ball games, etc. I will include everything you will need (catalogs, order forms, etc) and you keep everything for about a week and bring it back to me. I tally everything up and you have earned free product! The great thing about the basket party is that I can ship it to you if you do not live in my area (as most of my friends and family do not). It is very easy and very simple!



There is my two-cents on Scentsy. I am really excited to be working for this company. They have a quality product that I have used for years and feel proud putting my name behind. I am so excited that I can work for a company that is family-oriented and understands the importance of being there for your children. If you have any questions leave a comment or shoot me an email! I will keep everyone posted occasionally on how things are going with Scentsy and this new business endeavor.

First Bath!!

Last week we gave Lincoln his very first bath out of the sink and/or without mom in the tub with him! Usually he loves bathtime but this one he didn't like so much. We got a few minutes and then he started screaming. Anyways...here are some pictures.

Fun!!!

Old Towne Alexandria

Last weekend the weather was really nice and so Sheridan and I decided to head to Old Towne Alexandria. It was a lot of fun! Alexandria has an older, very historical area to it that is really fun to walk around and see all the little boutiques and restaurants. Alexandria was a major trading place during the 1700's and was among the 10 busiest ports in America during the French and Indian war. George Washington was also very involved with the town of Alexandria. Lincoln was actually born in Alexandria, but we had never really ventured towards the area with all the shops. It was really nice outside and so we loaded the stroller in the car and headed out.

Here is Sheridan with Lincoln in front of one of the historical timelines. Me with Lincoln in front of the port area.

Some of the old buildings

There is a free trolley that goes from the top to the bottom of "Old Alexandria", about a 3 mile stretch.

We were laughing at this sign someone had put in their car.

There were lots of people out with their kids. It was a lot of fun!

Rice Cereal

About a week ago we were having some eating issues with Lincoln. He just always seemed hungry and for some reason I wasn't really providing enough milk for him! He actually lost about a half pound, and even though he is a big guy, it concerned me. One afternoon he was really really fussy and so I tried feeding him some rice cereal to see if it would help. Here are some pictures and videos from that day.

Before we started eating...

His first rice cereal (mostly breastmilk with just a little bit of rice)

Love this picture!! "Mom, what is this stuff???"

"Mmmm that is pretty tasty!"

Anyways....as you can see from the videos below...he ended up getting more on himself than in his mouth. I started taking something called Fenugreek (seed) and it has really helped with my milk production, so he is getting full and gaining weight again! I actually am going to wait until Lincoln is 6 months old before I continue to give him cereal. As I was doing research online, I found that the WHO and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) both recommend exclusively nursing until 6 months if you are able (this helps that baby's immune system and lessens a chance of developing allergies). And actually, nursing is much easier then a baby who spits out all his food anyways!

This next picture is funny. Sheridan was changing Lincoln's diaper and all of the sudden I heard him yell for me, "Natalie come here quick!". Sheridan had turned away for a second, and all of the sudden he turned back around and realized Lincoln had peed without his diaper on and it got all over his face and the wall!! It was sad but also so funny! The camera just happened to be sitting on the changing table so we snapped a picture real quick. You can kind of see the wet spots on his face.

Just a cute picture of Lincoln laughing the other day :)

Videos of Lincoln trying to eat rice cereal

Lincoln's New Favorite Toy and Some Laughing Videos

***I have been trying to get this post up for a while and have had it written for a week but unfortunately my video won't load :( It is on facebook if you want to see it though***

Our friends Steve and Jodi gave us this rattle with connectable rings and it is Lincoln's new favorite toy!! Each ring has a different texture and he loves putting each one in his mouth. Lincoln hadn't really been reaching for things yet and would only grab items it if you put them right in his hand. But, I have been putting one end of this rattle on his arm and he always grabs it with his other!


Hahaha, he has such a cute pouty lower lip! Some of these pictures are grainy because I put my camera on an "action" setting because he was so squirmy most of the pictures were coming out blurry! However, that setting does makes the pictures a little darker and a little grainy.

Laughing away!

Mesmerized by the camera...

Happy Baby!!

Even happier!

Lincoln and dad after a nice Sunday nap. Lincoln is getting so big! But, he still loves to be naked :)

Here is a super cute video of Lincoln laughing. He gets really camera shy whenever he sees the camera and so I had to try to "hide" my camera, which explains all the strange angles. Also, pardon the messy house, but this video was just too cute I had to share! We read together every day. At my baby showers multiple people gave me the advice to start reading to Lincoln from the time he is a newborn. I really took this advice to heart and we read multiple times a day. He doesn't really recognize any words, but loves the books where I make silly sounds or books that I sing (i.e. Old McDonald had a Farm, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc.). I was sort of getting tired of reading the same books to him and so yesterday we went to the library and checked out 25 new books!! It is really great, you can check out 50 books at a time and can keep them for up to six weeks! I am sure we won't keep them that long, but it is nice to have a few new books to read! While I was at the library I also found out that once Lincoln gets a little older there are a lot of really neat programs that they have for kids ages 1-5.

**This is the video that won't load (I think it is too long), check it out of facebook if you would like**

Usually Lincoln laughs when we do this little exercise, but of course he saw the camera and froze up! :)

Here I was trying to tickle him and he just got mad

A Few Videos of Lincoln

Lincoln started laughing recently and it is so cute!! Here I was trying to get him to laugh by tickling him...he didn't really want to laugh so just sort of "grunts" instead. Too cute!

The other day I had a ton of things to get done and so I let Lincoln watch the movie Dumbo in his bouncer. We hardly ever watch tv and it was so cute, he got so excited!! He was kicking his legs, punching his arms, and laughing like crazy! I didn't get the best of it on video, but here is a little clip. He is amazed by the tv!

BSU Fiesta Bowl

We were all very excited for the BCS Fiesta Bowl game!! Although Sheridan and I didn't go to Boise State we have always been big BSU football fans. I made this little Boise State shirt for Lincoln with an extra white tshirt of his.

We were all three geared up in our BSU attire. At halftime we tried taking a picture with the self-timer on our camera. It was the first time I have ever tried to use the self-timer and it took a few tries!

Ooops, didn't get there quick enough...

This one sort of looked, except Lincoln was more interested in looking at me than the camera (usually it is the other way around!)

Ok, I look psycho here but Lincoln was actually looking forward!

Oh well, I guess this is as good as we will get :)

I have been wearing this shirt to workout in lately and it is funny, I get so many comments on it at the gym! Most people just talk about the blue turf, or what a good game it was, etc. Yesterday someone even asked me if I was the girl that got proposed to on tv. Hello?? What a strange thing to ask.

If you have ever seen Sheridan watch a football game, you will know what I am talking about. He gets SO excited during games!! Especially at this game, he was jumping and yelling, it was so funny! However, Lincoln didn't think it was too funny. Sheridan would get excited about a play and jump up and Lincoln would start to quiver his bottom lip and cry! So sad, but also really cute. Here is Sheridan making fun on the Hornfrogs :)

This was the next day, but I kept catching Lincoln smiling in his sleep! It was so cute. Here he was sleeping....

And here he was smiling in his sleep! If only we knew what they were dreaming about...sometimes he randomly cries or screams in his sleep for a second and then goes right back to sleep. Sheridan and I always joke that when he smiles in his sleep he is dreaming about eating and when he cries in his sleep he is dreaming about the birth canal. :)

This was pretty funny. I was feeding Lincoln during the game, but he was really squirmy and wasn't eating very well. So, I was joking around with him and kept saying, "No food for you" and he was cracking up!! We got the tail end of it on video. It was too cute! Lincoln started laughing about a week ago and I love it so much when he laughs!

This was the next day. Lincoln started rolling over!! Unfortunately, every time I get the camera out he never does it. Here is one of him trying atleast.

New Years Eve!

We had a really fun New Years Eve this year. Sheridan and I decided to go see Avatar in 3D. I had actually already seen it with my family, but enjoyed it so much that we decided to see it again. Lincoln was really good the whole time and fell asleep about halfway through. I can't believe how expensive movies are now though!! We had gotten a free movie ticket through Huggies Rewards Program, but it still cost us $16 (the tickets were $14 each and the free ticket was redeemable up to $12). You are looking at around $50 if you want to do a movie date night (if you want to get popcorn/soda)! Probably why we don't go out to movies too often! Avatar was so good though that Sheridan did make the comment that he felt like this is one of the few movies he felt like he got his money's worth by seeing in theatre.

Although he didn't make it to midnight, we had Lincoln in this adorable outfit Teresa and my dad got for him!

Headed off to the movies!

Lincoln in his Exersaucer!!

We were only in Utah/Idaho for two weeks, but I felt like Lincoln grew so much since we had left!! He definitely got stronger and strengthened his head control while we were gone. I was so nervous before we left about him being around so many people (germs especially!). But, I think it was good for both of us. I am now less paranoid about people touching him, and it was also good for him to be around people other than Sheridan and me all day long. On the plane ride home he really enjoyed it when I would hold him up so he could bounce off my thighs with his feet. When we got home I decided to put him in his exersaucer to see if he would like it and he did! He loved it! Here are some pictures